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Karen Maitland

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Karen Maitland

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Member Since
June 2012


Karen Maitland, who also writes as KJ Maitland, has a doctorate in psycholinguists and lives in the beautiful county of Devon, close to Dartmoor where Agatha Christie had her writing retreat and Sir Arthur Colon Doyle wrote 'The Hound of the Baskervilles', one of Karen’s favourite childhood books.

Writing as KJ Maitland, 'A Plague of Serpents,' the final historical thriller in her Jacobean quartet, is now out in pb. Set in the aftermath of the infamous Gunpowder Plot of 1605, Daniel Pursglove is ordered to infiltrate the 'Serpents', a desperate band of Catholics plotting the death of the King, or face his own execution. The 1st book in the series -'The Drowned City', the 2nd - 'Traitor in the Ice', and the 3rd - 'Rivers of Treason', are all
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Karen Maitland I've always been inspired by something Rudyard Kipling wrote – "If history was told in stories it would never be forgotten."

I write about characters …more
I've always been inspired by something Rudyard Kipling wrote – "If history was told in stories it would never be forgotten."

I write about characters who represent the forgotten people of history, those on the margins of society, the outcasts, misfits and maimed who ordinary lives were really extraordinary. They live and died without a voice, without anyone listening to their amazing tales. But I am fascinated by these people, their lives and beliefs You can glimpse the shadows of these hidden people lurking behind the great events of history and they are what makes me want to write.

I like to think that in a strange way by creating fictional characters and giving them a chance to tell their fantastic and sometimes chilling stories, that readers might discover the hundreds of real people they represent and in that way those nameless, forgotten people from our past will be heard and remembered. (less)
Karen Maitland Don't write about what you know. Write what you really want to know.
If you're fascinated by a character or place or time, and are excited to find out…more
Don't write about what you know. Write what you really want to know.
If you're fascinated by a character or place or time, and are excited to find out about it, then you'll pass on that excitement and fascination to the reader. It's like being newly in love or making a new discovery. It will make you bubble over with enthusiasm and you will want to share it with everyone. That sense of excitement will also keep you going through the sticky patches when you are writing and there will always be some. (less)
Average rating: 3.83 · 30,940 ratings · 3,568 reviews · 28 distinct worksSimilar authors
Company of Liars

3.86 avg rating — 16,413 ratings — published 2008 — 53 editions
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The Owl Killers

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The Gallows Curse

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The Vanishing Witch

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The Plague Charmer

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The Raven's Head

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The Falcons of Fire and Ice

3.68 avg rating — 1,179 ratings — published 2012 — 13 editions
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A Gathering of Ghosts

3.92 avg rating — 685 ratings — published 2018 — 7 editions
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Liars and Thieves

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Wicked Children: Murderous ...

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More books by Karen Maitland…

Found Between the Pages

I’ve just been reading a John le Carré novel, A Most Wanted Man followed by his amazing autobiographical collection of stories - The Pigeon Tunnel: Stories from My Life. I was fascinated to learn from ‘The Pigeon Tunnel’ how he drew on elements in the life of a man he befriended to inspire the main character in ‘A Most Wanted Man,’ even though the fictional character is so very different. But one Read more of this blog post »
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An Officer and a Spy
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Still Life (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #1)
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Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami
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Quotes by Karen Maitland  (?)
Quotes are added by the Goodreads community and are not verified by Goodreads. (Learn more)

“You've heard tales of beauty and the beast. How a fair maid falls in love with a monster and sees the beauty of his soul beneath the hideous visage. But you've never heard the tale of the handsome man falling for the monstrous woman and finding joy in her love, because it doesn't happen, not even in a story-teller's tale.”
Karen Maitland, Company of Liars

“Rain slips through your fingers as easily as words blow away in the wind, and yet it has the power to destroy your whole world.”
Karen Maitland, Company of Liars

“Home is the place you return to when you have finally lost your soul. Home is the place where life is born, not the place of your birth, but the place where you seek rebirth. When you no longer have to remember which tale of your own past is true and which is an invention, when you know that you are an invention, then is the time to seek out your home. Perhaps only when you have come to understand that can you finally reach home.”
Karen Maitland, Company of Liars
tags: home

Polls

April mystery/thriller tie-breaker. Voting open through March 17.

Heart of Deception Heart of Deception by M.L. Malcolm M.L. Malcolm
 
  2 votes, 66.7%

The Owl Killers The Owl Killers by Karen Maitland Karen Maitland
 
  1 vote, 33.3%

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Topics Mentioning This Author

“My grandfather always said that living is like licking honey off a thorn.”
Louis Adamic

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
Theodore Roosevelt

“The story so far:
In the beginning the Universe was created.
This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.”
Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

“As my mother once said: The boys throw stones at the frogs in jest.

But the frogs die in earnest.”
Joanna Russ, The Female Man

“Stories are spells and we have to careful how we cast them.”
Jon Collins

48527 Q&A with Richard Godwin — 436 members — last activity Jan 20, 2016 12:51PM
Crime Pays.



Comments (showing 1-8)    post a comment »
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Sandra Karen wrote: "Dear Sandra,
So glad you've discovered it and that you want to read it. Thank you! I do hope you'll enjoy it,
warmest wishes,
Karen"


Moreover, I just picked up and finished your short story to A Company of Liars! It was absolutely wonderful and probably made my week! I loved Company of Liars so much and the short story brought me right back into that wonderful setting and atmosphere you created in CoL! Thank you, thank you! Absolutely amazing! (Sorry to seem so overly gushing, but it's sincere! Company of Liars is probably my favorite book next to classics like The Lord of the Rings and new classics like Harry Potter! Sometimes I wish I could just read it again without already knowing it!)
Best,
Sandra


message 7: by Karen

Karen Maitland Dear Sandra,
So glad you've discovered it and that you want to read it. Thank you! I do hope you'll enjoy it,
warmest wishes,
Karen


Sandra Dear Karen,

why do I only always find out you have a new book out around 6 months after it's published! Aaaah!
Such a wonderful surprise though! I will pick it up as soon as I can, I'm really thrilled! :)


message 5: by Raven

Raven Dane Hi Karen, I had no idea you lived in lovely Lincoln, I was up there for the Steampunk festival , launching a new book and for all I know we may have passed in the street! Mind you, I was dressed up to the nines with bustle and a fascinator with a dragon on it and you would have steered well clear! Just starting The Falcons of Fire and Ice and already completely hooked as always
Raven Dane xxx


message 4: by Karen

Karen Maitland Liza wrote: "Hi Karen,
Just to let you know I finished The Gallows Curse last night and LOVED it as much as the others. I'll post a review here and on Amazon, after it appears in Words with Jam magazine.
Cheers..."


Thanks Liza. It was so kind of you to read and I am so thrilled that you enjoyed it. It was a strange book to write as so many things popped up in that I didn't plan. I was walking down that underground passage in my head and saw things in the cages I really wasn't expecting as I wrote. I don't know if that happens to you when you write.


message 3: by Liza

Liza Perrat Hi Karen,
Just to let you know I finished The Gallows Curse last night and LOVED it as much as the others. I'll post a review here and on Amazon, after it appears in Words with Jam magazine.
Cheers,
Liza


message 2: by Karen

Karen Maitland Michael wrote: "Hello again Karen, An excellent book I have just finished is 'All That I Am' by Anna Funder. It's a brilliant and challenging book to read. A book that needed to be written and needs to be read. It..."

Thanks Michael. It sounds really interesting. I suppose I've been much preoccupied these last couple of years with research on the Inquisition and Reformation for 'Falcons of Fire & Ice'. Similiar situations in many ways to Nazi Germany. The evil man is capable of and the extraordinary courage people can demonstrate in the face of evil, never ceases to fill me with awe. I am always left asking the question about what I'd have done if I'd lived through that. Sounds like a book I must read, thank you.


Michael John Hello again Karen, An excellent book I have just finished is 'All That I Am' by Anna Funder. It's a brilliant and challenging book to read. A book that needed to be written and needs to be read. It's all about a group of people living in Germany at the time that Hitler came to power. How they struggled to tell the world of his evil and yet struggled to be believed.
Michael


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