Susan Higginbotham

Susan Higginbotham earned her undergraduate degree from Virginia Commonwealth University, and her master's degree in English literature from Hunter College in New York City.[1][2] She received her Juris Doctor degree from Campbell University law school, and began working for a legal publisher, a position she still holds today.[1][3]

Higginbotham is married, with two children. They live in Brunswick, Maryland.[1][2]

Higginbotham began working on her first novel, The Traitor's Wife in 2003, and after reading some articles on self-publishing, she self-published in 2005.[4] It won ForeWord magazine's 2005 Silver Award for historical fiction and the 2008 Independent Publisher Book Awards' Gold Medal for Historical/Military Fiction.[1] According to WorldCat, the book is held in 252 libraries.[5] It is a fictional account of the life of Eleanor de Clare, wife of Hugh le Despenser the Younger.[6] Sourcebooks contacted her in 2008, and offered to republish it,[4] resulting in it reaching number 8 in The Boston Globe's list of fiction best sellers.[7] Her next novel was Hugh and Bess (2007), a sequel to her first novel, depicting the life of Eleanor and Hugh's eldest son, Hugh. It was reissued in August 2009.[2] Her next book, The Stolen Crown, was published in 2010 and is a fictional depiction of Catherine Woodville, Duchess of Buckingham. Her 2011 novel, The Queen of Last Hopes, features Margaret of Anjou.[8] Higginbotham's most recent works, Hanging Mary, The First Lady and the Rebel, and John Brown's Women, are set in 19th-century America.

• The Traitor's Wife (2005)
• Hugh and Bess (2007)
• The Stolen Crown (2010)
• The Queen of Last Hopes (2011)
• Her Highness, the Traitor (2012)
• The Woodvilles: The Wars of the Roses and England's Most Infamous Family (2013)
• Margaret Pole: The Countess in the Tower (2015)
• Hanging Mary (2016)
• The First Lady and the Rebel (2019)
• John Brown’s Women (2021)

• Higginbotham's official website