Author Biography | Interview | Books by this Author | Read-Alikes
Anne Fortier was born in Denmark in 1971 and grew up in the town of Holstebro in Western Jutland. Anne began writing her first novel at age 11 and submitted her first manuscript to a Danish publisher at 13.
She emigrated to the United States in 2002 to work in film. She co-produced the Emmy-winning documentary Fire and Ice: The Winter War of Finland and Russia and holds a Ph.D. in the history of ideas from Aarhus University, Denmark.
Her works include Hyrder pe bjerget (in Danish, 2005), Juliet (in English, 2010), Julie (co-written with Nina Bolt in Danish, 2013), Amazonerne's Ring (in Danish, 2013) and The Lost Sisterhood (in English, 2014).
Anne currently lives in Quebec with her family.
Anne Fortier's website
This bio was last updated on 09/19/2014. In a perfect world, we would like to keep all of BookBrowse's biographies up to date, but with many thousands of lives to keep track of it's simply impossible to do. So, if the date of this bio is not recent, you may wish to do an internet search for a more current source, such as the author's website or social media presence. If you are the author or publisher and would like us to update this biography, send the complete text and we will replace the old with the new.
How did you become interested in writing a novel that supposed the famed Romeo and Juliet actually came from Siena, Italy rather than Verona? What was your starting point for the novel?
As soon as I set foot in Siena in March of 2005 I knew I had to set a novel there. Even for a European the place is spellbinding with its medieval architecture and fascinating history. I was there with my mother, and I remember walking around next to her with a notepad, gathering juicy bits and pieces and wondering how to construct a story around the Tolomeis and the Salimbenis – two feuding families that lived in Siena in the late Middle Ages. Then, out of the blue, my mother came across the amazing fact that the first version of Romeo & Juliet was set right there in Siena, and not in Verona. It was published in Italy in 1476 by a writer called Masuccio Salernitano, and although the story went through many hands and underwent a number of changes along the way, this was essentially the story that ended up on Shakespeare's desk more than a century later. As you can imagine, as soon as I learned this marvelous fact, I knew right away I had my story.
It's one thing to build a novel around a relative unknown ...
Benet Brandreth, an expert on Shakespeare's language and times, is the rhetoric coach to the Royal Shakespeare Company. The Spy of Venice is his debut novel. (more)
If you enjoyed:
Juliet
Try:
The Spy of Venice
by Benet Brandreth
Dan Brown is the author of many bestselling novels, including the #1 New York Times bestseller, The Da Vinci Code. He is a graduate of Amherst College and Phillips Exeter Academy, where he spent time as an English teacher ... (more)
If you enjoyed:
Juliet
Try:
The Da Vinci Code
by Dan Brown
We recommend 6 similar authors
The House on Biscayne Bay
by Chanel Cleeton
As death stalks a gothic mansion in Miami, the lives of two women intertwine as the past and present collide.
The Stone Home
by Crystal Hana Kim
A moving family drama and coming-of-age story revealing a dark corner of South Korean history.
The Funeral Cryer by Wenyan Lu
Debut novelist Wenyan Lu brings us this witty yet profound story about one woman's midlife reawakening in contemporary rural China.
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
