Lin Wilder Author Interview

I, Claudia follows the life of Claudia Procula wife of Pontius Pilate. What was the inspiration that made you want to write this book?

This book was not my idea. In fact, I planned to write the fifth in the Lindsey McCall series. Until a March day last year when this title and overall story appeared in my head. Pilate is a man with whom I began to feel a powerful affinity once I started praying the prayers of the Catholic Church. Not only could I sympathize with his awful dilemma, I felt that I could “stand under” it, having faced my own.

When Pilate was confronted with an impossible choice, he was wholly clear on the right action to take— and what was at stake if he didn’t— yet he was entirely incapable of bringing it to fruition. In his case, this was because of an oath. In my own, it was because of a promise.

You are able to weave fact with fiction in this book so well that it all seemed possible. How did you fill in the historical gaps with your story?

In bringing Pilate— and especially his bride— to life, I was moved to allow my imagination to embroider upon the little that is known about them. From the moment I began to conceive of this book, Claudia was Greek— a Delphine. Like anyone who has had the privilege of visiting Delphi, I found the place haunting and holy. There is mysticism in each pebble and echoes of the Oracles in the ruins of the temples. On a journey there alone, I could literally hear the whispered prayers of the ages as I made my way down through the crumbling ruins of the shrine. It is a sacred place. Claudia Procula could have been from no other place on earth. Giving Claudia a bit of a philosophical bent provided me with an excuse to revisit friends from a time when I believed in nothing.

The story is very well told and the world seems so vivid. What research did you undertake for this novel to keep things accurate?

The research necessary for this story, actually for every one of my books is considerable. Because I need to study and read enough to convey authenticity of character, place and time. Somewhere around a dozen books, scores of articles and many, many online virtual ‘tours’ of the ancient Roman, Israeli and Greek architecture, travel, geography, dress and cuisine.

Do you plan on writing other books in this blended fiction and historical fact format?

Yes, My Name is Saul; A Novel of the Ancient World is my next novel scheduled for release at the end of the year.

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Claudia Procula–wife of one of the most controversial figures in ancient history–comes alive to twenty-first-century readers in a groundbreaking new novel by the award-winning author of the Lindsey McCall medical mystery series.

For decades, the daughter of the last Oracle at Delphi has suppressed the secrets of her birth, extensive education, and marriage to the notorious Fifth Prelate of Judea–Pontius PIlate. Now, at age seventy-nine, she feels compelled to leave behind her story for the world and set the record straight about the beginnings of modern history.

He has had his arms raised for how many hours now? Shouldn’t there be a Joshua to help this Moses? I suppressed a smile at my wittiness, knowing better than to voice the thought aloud. My ladies would be shocked by my allusion to the great Jewish prophet. Well aware of my reputation as an empty-headed nitwit among those who served my husband, such low expectations had served me well. Best to maintain the fiction.

In a surprising change of genre and style, Wilder brings her extensive research and wide-ranging imagination to bear on the seminal story of our time: the passion of the Christ. The result is a compelling and harrowing love story replete with historical figures such as Seneca, Socrates, and Pilate himself. It is sure to captivate both believers and skeptics alike, and remain in readers’ minds long after the last page is turned.