The Secret Diaries of Juan Luis Vives by Tim Darcy Ellis
Adult Fiction (18 yrs +), 246 pages
Literary fiction, historical fiction, religious historical fiction
Publisher: Tellwell
Release date: 2020
Synopsis
The Secret Diaries Of Juan Luis Vives chronicles the epoch-making adventures of Spanish humanist Juan Luis Vives. The novel begins as Vives writes in self-imposed exile in Bruges, Spanish Netherlands in 1522. He is on the run from the Spanish Inquisition which has devastated his Jewish family in Valencia. Later, Thomas More invites Vives to the English court to tutor princess Mary Tudor, daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. The plot reaches its climax as Vives navigates the murky world of English politics during the reign of King Henry VIII, ever trying to negotiate an escape from Spain for his family, and for the Jewish people. The early modern period in Europe was a time of incredible instability. Economic depressions were the norm in Northern Italy, the Holy Roman Empire, and large swaths of England and France. Wars were endemic, with power politics and religion playing leading roles in massive bloodletting. Despite the darkness, great men and women of courage and intellectual curiosity also defined the age as one of scientific discovery, humanism, and scholarship. One of the great titans of the early modern period was Spanish scholar Juan Luis Vives. In the novel, Vives is the embodiment of the cosmopolitanism of the intellectual elite during the Renaissance. As a secret follower of Judaism, and thus a major outlaw according to the thinking of his own Catholic monarch, Vives walks a swaying tightrope. He was a genius and a philosopher who had a lot to say (he has since been dubbed ‘The Godfather of Psychoanalysis,’ Zilboorg 1941, and the ‘Father of Psychology,’ Watson, 1915), however, if he speaks too loudly not only his survival but that of his entire people hangs in the balance. Along the way, the reader is given close up and intimate and unique views of well-known figures such as Henry VIII, Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Sir Thomas More and his devoted daughter, Margaret Roper.
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Praise
“A fast-paced and richly engaging story about an intriguing historical figure… Ellis writes all of this with marvellous gusto that’s more reminiscent of Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall (2009) than of a more traditional Tudor novel.” – Kirkus (starred review)
“In this beautifully detailed, thrilling historical novel, author Tim Ellis brings back to life the largely forgotten Juan Luis Lives, a Spanish Jew and leading Renaissance humanist…This enthralling story is sure to please lovers of high drama, international intrigue, momentous history and psychological thrillers.” – Blueink (starred review)
“With its clear portrayal of inner conflict, The Secret Diaries of Juan Luis Vives is a provocative, multicolored historical novel that examines hidden faith… Ellis’s intricate biographical novel approaches the Spanish scholar and Renaissance humanist through absorbing journal entries.” – Foreword Clarion
“A fast-moving, highly enjoyable historical drama, which features one of Western civilization’s most interesting men during the dazzling age of the Renaissance. Ellis draws his characters so wonderfully, and none is better than the lead. The smart, charming, and earnest humanist is depicted as the embodiment of a better world to come.” – Indiereader Review
Guest Post
How did your personal experiences shape your life as a writer?
It is a fascinating question; thank you. The question affords me the luxury of looking back over my reading life and tying it into the periods of my life that have shaped me into the writer that I am today.
At the age of five, I inherited the four weighty, leather-backed volumes of ‘Hutchinson’s Illustrated Story of the British Nations.’ It was England in the early seventies, winters were cold and dark, and apart from festivities and family functions, there wasn’t always a lot else to do but to read. The original volumes were written between the two world wars, and the images, from the stone age through to the end of the First World War, were so vivid that they gave me an indelible blueprint of British and world history. I lingered over the Tudors and Stuarts, so full of passion, plot and treachery.
I lost myself in the wandering of what life was like for the ordinary people during that period. I wondered what life had been like for immigrant and minority communities. Watching Alex Hailey’s Roots (1976) made me question how assimilation happened and what part of folk and family memory could be passed down to succeeding generations? That questioning has played out in The Secret Diaries of Juan Luis Vives, set in London and Flanders’ secretive Spanish and Portuguese communities in the 1520s.
After standard English children’s fiction such as Enid Blyton (much criticised but much loved), I read classics such as The Lord of the Rings (JRR Tolkein, 1955) and the War of the Worlds (HG Wells, 1898). I studied the Greek classics at school. I swore that EV Rieu’s 1950 translation of Homer’s The Iliad would be my desert island book. At the time, south-east England seemed so safe and boring, although I can see that that sense of safety was, in retrospect very hard-won. It was indeed a precious time and place to be brought up.
I studied Medieval archaeology at University in York (1985- 1988), which was a great adventure, travelling on digs throughout England and northern France. Archaeology, being more scientific than I had imagined, took me away from literature, somewhat, but furthered my connection to material culture. If I am writing about sixteenth-century England, I know what the houses of the poor looked like what those houses were made from. I know what working Londoners ate and how they scraped a living. I have seen and felt the ceramic ware they had at their dinner tables, the rubbish they discarded, and I can understand the consequences of the population shift to London, and other cities, from the country. This inside awareness of day-to-day life has given me an ability to write historical fiction with confidence and authenticity.
While working for the Museum of London in the late eighties and nineties, I read the great European writers such as Dickens, Hardy, Chekhov and Zola, who still influence me. It was a time when to read the classics, was essential to your social standing, and I was playing catch-up. Later I found relief in American Literature such as Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird (1961) and JD Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye (1949). There was a clarity and a crispness about those books that felt new to me. With my newfound interest in twentieth-century American fiction, I then read and studied Maya Angelou, Alice Walker and Toni Morrison. Poetry was always at the forefront of my reading, and writing and I was a longterm subscriber to Stand Magazine and Poetry Review.
I have been fortunate to have lived in different countries. Through my work in health (having changed careers on moving to Australia in 2000), I have met many interesting people, many of whom are also great readers. These relationships have inspired me. The internet allows me to connect with peers who are fascinated in niche history, culture, and philosophy. For example, a patient of mine recently inspired me to listen to an interview with the 92-year-old linguist, Noam Chomsky, still sharp as a knife. I am interested in the process of ageing; what keeps some engaged and vital right up until the very end, and how others fade away so soon. I have written this into my novel, with a touching relationship between Vives and the ageing physician to King Henry VII, Thomas Linacre.
My healthcare work has also helped me understand the kinds of diseases and injuries that plagued sixteenth-century Europe populations. Men like Vives came from the Spanish Jewish tradition, where understanding health and medicine was considered essential. He used that knowledge in his quest to build sanitary hospitals and care facilities for the poor and disabled, both mentally and physically. Although there is room for improvement, I certainly don’t take the healthcare systems we have today for granted. Yes, I can undoubtedly say that my life events have presented me with a rich playing field of ideas and plenty of material to continue writing historical fiction.
About the Author
Tim Darcy Ellis (BA BSc, MHSc) is a writer, physiotherapy business owner and formerly a professional archaeologist. Tim studied Archaeology at the University of York (BA Hons 1988) and as a professional archaeologist, worked on sites throughout England and Wales. He held posts at the Museum of London and the British Museum’s medieval galleries. Tim is currently Managing Director and Principal Physiotherapist of Excel Physiotherapy and Wellness. He qualified as a physiotherapist at the University of East London in 1998. He moved to Sydney in 2000 where he completed his master’s degree in 2002. Tim is chief writer of Excel Life magazine: writing and teaching extensively on health and wellness and specializing in the treatment of complex hip and pelvic pain.
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