{{short description|American novelist}} {{notability|Biographies|date=July 2015}} {{infobox writer | name = Susan Higginbotham | image = Susan higginbotham 5213006.jpg | imagesize = | alt = | caption = | birth_date = | occupation = Author | language = English | nationality = American | education = Virginia Commonwealth University<br>Hunter College<br>Campbell University (JD) | period = | genre = Historical fiction | subject = | movement = | notableworks = | awards = {{awards|Silver Award for historical fiction|2005}}{{awards|Independent Publisher Book Awards' Gold Medal for Historical/Military Fiction|2008}} | signature = | signature_alt = | website = {{URL|www.susanhigginbotham.com/}} }}
'''Susan Higginbotham''' is an American historical fiction author and attorney. She has written on the Middle Ages and the Wars of the Roses. Her historical fiction deals especially with female figures.
==Personal life== 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.<ref name=PBTP/><ref name=CT/> She received her Juris Doctor degree from Campbell University law school, and began working for a legal publisher, a position she still holds today.<ref name=PBTP>{{Cite web| last = | first = | title =Interview with Susan Higginbotham, author of The Stolen Crown and Giveaway | pages =| newspaper = Peeking Between the Pages | location = | date = 26 March 2010 | url =http://www.peekingbetweenthepages.com/2010/03/interview-with-susan-higginbotham.html | accessdate = 5 January 2010}}</ref><ref name=OW>{{cite web |url=http://www.susanhigginbotham.com/about.html |title=About me |author=Susan Higginbotham |publisher=Official website |accessdate=5 January 2011}}</ref>
Higginbotham is married, with two children. They live in Brunswick, Maryland.<ref name=PBTP/><ref name=CT>{{cite web |url=http://favoritepastimes.blogspot.com/2009/08/interview-with-susan-higginbotham.html |title=Interview with Susan Higginbotham |author=Cindy Thomson |publisher=Favorite PASTimes.blogspot.com|accessdate=5 January 2011}}</ref>
==Publishing career== 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.<ref name=ST>{{cite web |url=http://steventill.com/2009/04/14/interview-with-author-susan-higginbotham/ |title=Interview with Author Susan Higginbotham |author= Till, Steven and Susan Higginbotham |date=14 April 2009 |publisher=StevenTill.com |accessdate=5 January 2011}}</ref> It won ''ForeWord'' magazine's 2005 Silver Award for historical fiction and the 2008 Independent Publisher Book Awards' Gold Medal for Historical/Military Fiction.<ref name=PBTP/> According to WorldCat, the book is held in 252 libraries.<ref name=wc>[http://www.worldcat.org/wcidentities/lccn-n2008-61456 WorldCat identities record]</ref> It is a fictional account of the life of Eleanor de Clare, wife of Hugh le Despenser the Younger.<ref name=CAO>{{cite web |url=http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itw/infomark/28/855/16070586w16/purl=rc1_CA_0_H1000199202&dyn=3!xrn_1_0_H1000199202?sw_aep=clic_stthomas |title=Susan Higginbotham |author=|work=Contemporary Authors Online |date=2011 |accessdate=31 October 2013}} {{Subscription required}}</ref> Sourcebooks contacted her in 2008, and offered to republish it,<ref name=ST/> resulting in it reaching number 8 in ''The Boston Globe''{{'}}s list of fiction best sellers.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-30035116.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131110125202/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-30035116.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 10, 2013 |title=Best Sellers |work=The Boston Globe |date=November 6, 2011 |access-date=October 31, 2013}} {{Subscription required}}</ref> 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.<ref name=CT/> 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.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-268309496.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131110125159/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-268309496.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 10, 2013 |title=The Queen of Last Hopes |work=Renaissance Magazine |date=July 1, 2011 |last=Obeso |first=Dionne |access-date=October 31, 2013}} {{Subscription required}}</ref> Higginbotham's most recent works, ''Hanging Mary'', ''The First Lady and the Rebel,'' and ''John Brown's Women,'' are set in 19th-century America.
==List of works== * ''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)
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [http://www.susanhigginbotham.com/ Higginbotham's official website]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Higginbotham, Susan}} Category:Living people Category:21st-century American novelists Category:American historical novelists Category:Writers of historical fiction set in the Middle Ages Category:Virginia Commonwealth University alumni Category:Hunter College alumni Category:Campbell University alumni Category:American women historical novelists Category:People from Apex, North Carolina Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:21st-century American women novelists Category:People from Brunswick, Maryland