THE TUTOR. Andrea Chapin

I am breathless, having just finished reading this sumptuous novel which as well as giving us a totally new version of Shakespeare the man, it is also a magnificent account of his poetical genius. But is he as wonderful as he appears?

'Since meeting you, dear lady, I have put quill to page every day. I write and write and write.'

Headstrong young widow Katherine de L'Isle lives a comfortable but solitary existence in her uncle's Lancashire home of Lufanwal Hall until events conspire to shatter her tranquillity. First, the family priest is murdered—for his Catholic sympathies—causing her uncle and protector to flee the country. Abandoned by their father figure, the Lufanwal residents struggle to cope and old rivalries fester beneath the surface. Into this midst of this upheaval, there arrives a new schoolmaster from Stratford by the name of William Shakespeare.

Rude, flirtatious and wickedly witty, Will appals Katherine. Yet the discovery of a mutual love of poetry draws them together and Katherine finds she can never stay away from him for long. First she is seduced by his words, then by his passion. Beneath her excitement, Katherine knows that Will already has a wife. She becomes his muse but will she ever be his true love?

Alone, vulnerable and entangled, Katherine is plunged heart and soul into a passion she cannot control. Meanwhile scandal and intrigue are growing around her family: murder, witchcraft, adultery and high treason loom on the horizon. Worst of all, the more she learns of charming young Will Shakespeare, the more it seems that he is not who he claims to be...

Newly published in the UK by Penguin, it has been already been critically acclaimed in the US. So I am honoured and thrilled to welcome an author new to me of a historical novel that has swept me away and ask her about THE TUTOR.

Welcome, Andrea. How does it feel that your novel that has already been published to acclaim in the USA is now being published here in the UK? Confident or apprehensive?

 AC: I feel excited and apprehensive.  A few weeks ago I did a radio spot here—the audience for which is considered high brow - and before the taping, when we were writing the introduction about my book, the producer said, We have to remember that half of these people will have never read or seen Shakespeare.  I may be wrong, but I feel that is not something that would be said in the same situation in the UK.  So, I’m fully aware that with the book launching in the UK I’m in Shakes-country, which is thrilling and yet anxiety producing at the same time.  The good news is, so far, The London Daily Mail called The Tutor, “hugely enjoyable,” “erudite” and “emotionally intelligent,” and the Hello Magazine Literary Loveliness blog described my writing as “brilliant” and said The Tutor has “politics, religion, romance, and literature, so whatever your favourite genre is, chances are this book will appeal.” While I’m still not confident, and maybe that’s my nature, those early reviews have been very encouraging.

William Shakespeare is many things to many people. Your portrayal of him is both eccentric and fascinating. I found myself falling in love with him like Katherine did! How do you see this enigmatic genius? 

AC: I see him as brilliant, extremely ambitious and fairly narcissistic.  I see him as sexy and seductive.  I see him as the type of person who is hard to ignore and who has an intrinsic need to dazzle, then to conquer and finally to feed on those who might be vulnerable to his charms.  In their review, Kirkus Reviews said: “Shakespeare is, ultimately, a sort of emotional vampire. He requires adoration, and he uses women—many women—as raw material for his art. This is an audacious move, but Chapin makes it real, and the scenes in which Katharine defends Will to her doubting lady friends will ring true to any woman who has ever uttered the words, “You just don’t understand him!” I love the way the reviewer brought the dynamic from 1590 right into 2015.  I wanted to convey a type that we all—or let’s say many of us—have fallen for and who in the end may break our hearts.

I love the witty and intelligent conversations about the art of poetry between William and Katherine. Were they as much fun to write as they are to read?

AC: I had so much fun with the conversations between William and Katharine, and to tell you the truth, most of the time I was shocked when they emerged and would ask myself, Where did that come from? They were some of the easiest parts of the book to write, so they come from deep within me.  I was talking to a friend recently about this, and the only thing I could come up with is that I went to very top-notch schools from 9^th grade on that had been all-male and had just accepted women, become co-ed, so maybe all of Katharine’s ability to express her wit and intelligence came from my not feeling that I could all those years with the male teachers and classes where I was often the only female.  I didn’t even see it or mind it then, but in retrospect, I see why some women prefer all-women schools until they go to university. 

You clearly know the works of Shakespeare through and through. How much background research did you do? Your love and appreciation of his words shine through this novel so you must have done a great deal. I find myself marvelling your use of 'quotes' of his well known (and even obscure) lines. Tell me about when and how your love for the poet, playwright - and the man himself began.

AC: When I was nine years old, my class at my local community school in New Hampshire put on Macbeth.  I was Lady Macbeth.  We built a theatre-in-the-round in the gymnasium, and we performed an edited version of the play.  We loved it.  I’m an advocate of teaching Shakespeare to children—the earlier the better!  I had seen most of Shakespeare’s plays by the time I started writing The Tutor, but while writing it I immersed myself in his Sonnets—spent months with different editors versions and notes spread out before me.  I felt I needed to get under the poetry, deep into it, to be able to have scenes where they spoke about it, and where Katharine acted as his editor. It was daunting—I took one whole summer with the Sonnets, much of those scenes landed on the cutting room floor, but I had to do it, to attempt to understand and to create his writing process.  And the same goes for his narrative poem Venus and Adonis, that racy, juicy, and delicious poem that Katharine and Shakespeare work on together.  I cut over two hundred pages from my first draft—and in that first draft I had fallen in love with the verse, had gorged on it, put much too much of it in the book.  Same goes for the other poets’ work in the book: Ovid, Sir Philip Sidney, Edmund Spenser—I had pages and pages of their verse, but had to snip most of it because it got in the way of the pace and the plot.

I have read before that Shakespeare was a Roman Catholic. Have you come across  'In Search of Shakespeare,' by Michael Wood, a well-regarded UK historian? What particular historian or Shakespearian scholar research influenced your novel. 

AC: James Shapiro’s excellent non-fiction book, 1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare is what got me started on this journey.  When I read about Shakespeare’s “lost years” in Shapiro’s book, I was immediately and obsessively drawn to the idea of how the mystery of what Shakespeare was up to during those years would be the perfect territory for a fiction writer.  I did watch Michael Wood’s terrific ‘In Search of Shakespeare.” And I read books by other scholars and writers, including Jonathan Bate, Stephen Greenblatt, Charles Nichols, Peter Ackroyd, Rene Weis, two great short books by Bill Bryson and Frank Kermode, and Germaine Greer’s book, Shakespeare’s Wife.  I found a worn paperback on a friend’s parents’ bookshelf that I love, Shakespeare of London by Marchette Chute, published in 1949.

Your next novel? Can you give us some insight into its subject matter. 

AC: I can.  My next novel is called Lord & Lady Strange—that glamorous, golden real-life couple, who glide in and out of The Tutor, are getting a whole novel for themselves and their three daughters.  In 1590, their life seems near perfect, but just four years later all that comes crashing down, and I’m interested in that fall, and the mystery that still surrounds it today.

Thank you, Andrea. It was a pleasure to 'speak' to you. I wish The Tutor the success it deserves here in the UK. ( The Tutor is available now in paperback and e-book format in the UK, published by Penguin.

Waiting

Waiting for Spring to finally arrive. I know that most of you already have daffodils brightening up you garden borders and roads but I live in the north east of England. Our daffs have been raring to go for what seems like ages. Their buds are tipped with yellow but will they flower? They. Will. Not. What are they waiting for?

Waiting for the very first stage of the very first Tour de Yorkshire to race 100 yards from our house on May 1st! We're having a bit of a party. I only hope and pray it doesn't rain. Hooray for Rosedale Abbey. If you're watching on TV, don't blink or you'll miss it. Just think of us next week as they finally resurface the main road through the village in anticipation.

So what else am I waiting for? You name it. I'm waiting for everything to happen. The eclipse this morning was pretty amazing. I have no pics because I only caught a quick glimpse of the actual crescent sun but the way the light dimmed to dusk and I felt really weird was something I'll never forget. (I hear the south of England did not really see it. But here there was only wisps of cloud which soon cleared into a very nice day. Yes, the sun does shine in Yorkshire! (Sometimes.)

No, not the moon, but the sun.

Oh and I'm waiting to see whether the partial I submitted to a certain publisher is successful. No name or details as I refuse to tempt fate. I've had too much bad luck lately to face it again.

Sorry. That's it for now. As you can tell, I have no fascinating facts to reveal. But I'm okay. I am merely waiting for things to happen - eventually. And for out phone to be fixed. As we have no mobile signal here, it's a complete pain in the proverbial.

What do historians think of historical fiction?

I do so admire the historian, Simon Schama.

He has recently written what I consider to be the most balanced and fair article on historical fiction. It was published in last weekend's Financial Times, which, incidentally, and maybe surprisingly to some, has a highly readable weekly arts section.

You can find it by clicking on this link.

On a personal note, I would like to thank everyone for your recent comments on my decision to consider
self-publishing, both on this blog and on Twitter and Facebook. I have gained great support and encouragement. Thank you, one and all. I also have received emails suggesting publishers I could approach. I am seriously considering every option.

In the meantime, I intend to self-publish an anthology of my published stories of which I have all rights, nor any contractual ties. I then plan to self publish my short story writing 'course' which was werll-received when I ran it years ago on my 'elephant' blog. The idea is that if I don't get my knickers ion a twist making them readable and looking okay, I will proceed with my published novels.

As I said, all is up in the air. Nothing has been written in stone.

Crossing the Rubicon

I have done it. What? Political commentators call it a U-turn. Poets might call it a sea-change. To some writers I have betrayed them. To others I have finally seen sense.

Here goes.

I have decided to give up chasing moonbeams. I have given it my best shot but with only one novel published and which sunk without trace, I have decided to give up the unequal struggle and will concentrate on what I alone choose to write (whilst not forgetting the people who might read it), not try to second-guess the fickle market. I will self-publish. Those who want to read what I write can and those who don’t have the choice to ignore me. 

I know, I know. I have pontificated and bored for England in the past why I didn't do so. Of course I was looking for validation. I never did and still don't believe that I deserve to be published. I still maintain that following the traditional, validated path to publication is the best way forward. I still believe in hard work rather than luck and 'who you know.' I will continue to advise every wannabe writer to perfect one's art, style and genre, find the right literary agent, and that, after working with together and forging a close relationship, submits the resulting typescript to the right editor at the right publishing house. 

That is the dream I have been pursuing for over 20 years since I seriously pursued a writing 'career'. I have bored everyone about my halting progress following the distant star luring me on, only to end up with my hubris splattered across the concrete—more than once—on my former blog: The Elephant inThe Writing Room. In fact, my writing career has been nothing more than an exercise in how to do everything wrong. My first mistake was that I started too late in life. Look, I started to study French at Reading University which was when, as I now realise, depression first hit me during which I did secretarial/admin work, realising after two years, it was as boring as hell. I then went back to education with an English BA course at Queen Mary College, University of London, which is based on the Mile End Road. I loved it but spent most of my time eschewing the union bar, assiduously never missed a lecture, seminar or tutorial. I worked in bookshops then became a translator for the Metropolitan Police in New Scotland Yard, then a wife and mother in Yorkshire. Not exactly exciting but I was happy apart from the occasional blip before finally deciding to take up writing. Now at 64, with two adult sons, one lovely daughter-in-law and the brightest grandson in the whole world, of course, the hands of the clock are whirring around like mad. 

Now I can see my 'writing career' for what it really is. Don't get me wrong. I am not bitter or regretful. I believe we are totally responsible for the way our lives turn out. Writing is what I will always want to do and I will continue writing for the good of my spirit and my soul for as long as I can. I intend to keep on well into my dotage.

I have no complaint against the realities of the art as well as the business of writing.  As I said, no-one owes me anything. Times are tough for everyone and rightly or wrongly we live in a capitalist society (although, I hope money isn't the be all and end all of human ambition. Until someone finds a way, we cannot live on words. 

Then again I am eating mine as I type this. 

Books and more books

First of all, I want to recommend The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins who is a new name to me whom I hope to hear more of. If you want to read my review it's a five star Amazon review. Basically, I thought it a fine psychological thriller by an author who knows exactly what she is doing. (It has three first person viewpoint narrators for a start.) In my Amazon review, I also mentioned something that annoyed me about the title: the trend of calling young women 'girls' when they are in their late twenties and thirties with lovers, husbands, jobs or children. I know it can be used amongst ourselves in a light-hearted self-deprecating way but it seems it's everywhere now.

Anyway, I was heartened to find this opinion piece in Publishing Perspectives about this very novel. 
What do you think? Am I behind the times and old-fashioned? (Don't worry, I don't like 'lady' or 'ladies' either.)

I am now reading quite a different novel, Solace by Emily Mackie. I am still in the middle of it so I am unsure of whether it appeals to me. If it does, I'll let you know.

 I have two novels on order I am really looking forward to. They are Kate Atkinson's, A God in Ruins,  the 'follow-up' to the stunning Life After Life and A Spool of Blue Thread by the inimitable Anne Tyler. This said to become final novel. I hope it isn't.

New Year. New Beginnings

Winter is well and truly here. The snow is no more than a sprinkling, fortunately, but it's been a day when I haven't been tempted to venture beyond my four walls. Roll on summer.

But I have news to report. I have finally submitted my manuscript of my finished (I hope) novel manuscript. (working title: The Rosedale Miracle.) That's why you've not heard from me for a while. I'm fine but I have kept my head down. I haven't been blogging. I've hardly been tweeting. I haven't done much in the way of housework. I've been a boring writer with my eyes fixed to my screen and not much else.

I have been reading, of course. But nothing has grabbed me as much as The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton did in 2014 that I blogged about back on the old elephant blog. Here and again here. But then, it is very early: only the 17th day of this year, to be precise.

But it's a good excuse to stick its cover up here again with a suggestion that you buy it especially if you still have Christmas book tokens left. And here's a lucky coincidence. Before Christmas I was asked to vote on-line for my favourite novel of 2014,offering me the chance to win National Book Tokens for £50. Of course, I immediately forget it. I never win anything. Do you? Guess what? I got an email yesterday that I'd won and would I supply my postal address? This very morning I got the modern answer to those old paper book-tokens - a plastic swipe card -  to spend in any participating book-store. Yippee!

What a lovely way to ignore that empty feeling having submitted my novel today my agent. I know I will have to wait some time for a verdict. I feel, however, not so much as if I'm waiting for the jury to return from their deliberations but like an empty-nest mother. I was so fed up with the manuscript. It's taken me far too long and has driven me crazy. I've hated it and loved it in  equal measure. So, today, to avoid twiddling-thumb and mourning, I'm updating my blog and deciding what to do with myself, writing-wise. I will not mention the novel again UNLESS: a) it makes it to a publisher after much revision b) even more unlikely, it is accepted for publication. Otherwise I will not complain, moan or go on about the trials of an ignored novelist or the so-called idiocy of agents and publishers. That's life and I refuse to ever be bitter and twisted.

So how am I going to fill my time?

1. My next novel, of course. I've got an outline in my head and some of it already on file, but not much. It's set two hundred years or so after the one I've just finished, but  in exactly the same place but has more width of focus with scenes in London as well - Spitalfields to be more specific, as we're talking Huguenots.

2. I've signed up for an on-line fiction-writing at an intermediate level in order to improve and a chance to offer my work for the appraisal of a tutor who is a published novelist.

3. I have promised myself to be a better blogger about my writing life. But as I have proved recently, when one is immersed in writing a novel that may not ever see the light of day, it's not that easy to be interesting and informative!

Now I think I'll trot over to Twitter and see who's talking...

My Christmas Message

I am finally drawing to the end of revising my latest attempt at a novel. As you probably know, I only write historical novels. but my WIP is a total departure of period for me (14th century). It is my interpretation of what few facts there are about the small nuns' priory that once existed in 500 yards from home. As I come up for air, I find it's also high time for me to mull over my 2014. And what a year it's been. 

The progress of this novel has been incredibly slow and faltering. far slower than I ever intended. The third stroke I suffered November 2013 affected me in more ways than the first two. First my hands are stiff and uncoordinated and I now type as if I'm wearing boxing gloves which makes for loads and loads of silly typos. These have always been my downfall but now they are even worse. (In fact, I have found that many of the mental and physical ills I have always struggled with, (physical coordination, balance plus reading long sentences as found in writers such as Henry James as well as arithmetic I always had low marks for) have deteriorated further. I also struggle now with areas I have never struggled with before,  like spelling, vocabulary and sentence structure. That is annoying enough but is also compounded by the fact that my brain does not work as quickly or as efficiently as it used to. My brain synapses are made of weak lengths of string and can easily unravel, especially when I am tired. This has resulted  in a rethink of my writing and reading programme. I have had to teach myself patience for myself as well as others and to accept my snail-like progress. I could never undertake NaNoWriMo these days - not that I've ever wanted to. Just as well.

This all makes me think again about Julian of Norwich who has been at the forefront of my thoughts as I wrote the novel. (I'm not a believer in organised religion of any sort. If pressed, I might call myself a Humanist although I have great affection for Quakers.) 

Despite the horrid start to the year, health-wise which continued when Jon underwent a major heart operation six months later. The rest of the year became a slow and wobbly climb-back for both of us but, at last, we are both bursting with plans and ambitions for 2015.

So I shall leave you with this remarkable 14th century woman whose dates are actually later than my novel which is set in the early years of the century and well before the catastrophic Black Death. The novel could have extra-added oomph if I could have mad use of it. Only, one problem with historical fiction is that you can tinker a little when it comes to interpretation and tone but not with facts and especially not dates. 

Anyway, I leave you with my best wishes for Christmas and the New Year and leave you with Julian of Norwich's words I have have whole-heartedly adopted and on which I have based the premise of the novel as well as used as frontispiece. I dedicate it to all you lovely people who read my blog and have supported my over 2014.

"All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well"

The Home-Maker by Dorothy Canfield Fisher

One of the first Persephone books I ever bought was in the last century. Well, 1999, actually. It was about then they began to re-publish excellent books that had been allowed to go out of print. And what discoveries I have made between there and now; not only fiction, but glimpses into a different world, ranging from novels, both light and dark, cookery books, social history, social comedy, biography - you name it, they publish them. And not only from this side of the pond...

...which brings me to The Home-Maker by Dorothy Canfield Fisher. It is now being re-printed as the eleventh Persephone Classic. Looking back, I have a horrible feeling I didn't read it at the time, always intending to do so at a later date. Many I did indeed but somehow missed this one. No longer. And I love it.

So, before I discuss The Home-Maker as a novel with characters, a plot and much to say, please pop over to Persephone Books and take pleasure in everything there is to know about these wonderful books.

Dorothy Canfield Fisher (1879-1958) was born in Kansas was a home-maker (in the UK we use the term, 'housewife') who also added significantly to the household budget by her writing. She was also an advocate of Montessori children's education system. Today, much of what it encouraged is seen as vital and, yes, normal. At the time when this book was written it must have sounded very odd. Not only were children not heard, they certainly weren't seen and more importantly, weren't actually listened to. Even today, it is still rare in many societies.

The society in which The Home-Maker is set  is dominated, as one might expect, by church and chapel and the Ladies Guild. Everyone knows one another and all shop at the department store, Willing's Emporium, which sells everything. Events takes place not long after the end of the Great War.  The novel concentrates on one family: Lester and Evangeline Knapp and their three children, in descending order of age: Helen, Henry and Stephen.

They are a loving couple we are told. As is de rigeur, Lester has a clerical job in the accounts department of Willings. Evangeline cooks and cleans and cares for the children. Helen and Henry attend school. Stephen is not old enough. Although they have enough to eat, they are well-clothed, thanks to Evangeline's talent with a needle and cooker. Only, all are miserable and some have medical problems. Lester loathed his job and is not very good. Both he and Henry have problems with their digestion and must eat bland food. The youngest, Stephen, is even though to be an impossible child, naughty, even wicked. He is prone to outbursts of hysterical crying and fits of wild anger. Even the perfect, clever, efficient Evangeline is always on the go and suffers from eczema.

Of course, there is a major crisis. (no plot spoilers here.) The result is that Evangeline becomes the wage-earner and Lester, the home-maker. And, with a twist at the end, their health and happiness, both mental and physical improve beyond measure. What begins as an emergency measure becomes essential. Many people have seen this as a novel that advocates women's rights, but this novel is as much about men's rights as well. What's more important the main thrust is children's rights.

As Lester thinks it through: "How about the children? Did anybody suggest to women that they give to understanding their children a tenth part of their time and real intelligence and real purposefulness they put into getting the right clothes for them? A tenth? A hundredth!" The living, miraculous, infinitely fragile fabric of the little human souls they live with - did they treat that with the care and deft-handed patience they gave to their filet-ornamented table-linen. No, they wring it out and hang it up to dry as they did their dish-cloths."

I actually find that Evangeline is the least sympathetic character in the novel. Even though she becomes a happy and fulfilled woman, who is also able eventually to love and enjoy her children, everything she stands for is far less interesting and impressive to me than what Lester learns about his children. I also fail to see that the marriage is a truly loving relationship because they never understand the truth of the situation at the novel's conclusion. They both realise the truth of the situation but they do not talk about it together. Perhaps the point is not so much them, but human society in general.

PS. I cared about Stephen the most. To me he is the most interesting, engaging and sympathetic character in the whole novel. Lester notices that, despite his early struggles handling his intelligence, he is the outstanding member of the Knapp family. Many other readers have remarked on the scene where Lester watches him learning to handle the mechanics of an egg-whisk (without any egg). You must read this short section, if nothing else, if you want to understand the beast way to understand children learn without adult intervention (or rather) interference.

I'm up to my ears with revision/editing my WIP...

...but I'm still reading because I can't not read in the same way I can't not breathe.

So, if, like me,  you're interested in anything to do with writing and reading, I would like to recommend Where I'm Reading From by Tim Park. If nothing else, it gets writers and readers discussing, agreeing and disagreeing. I'm all for that.

It's a compilation of articles first published in the New York Review of Books.

Here's the blurb:

"Should you finish every book you start?

How has your family influenced the way you read?

What is literary style?

How is the Nobel Prize like the World Cup?

Why do you hate the book your friend likes?

Is writing really just like any other job?

What happens to your brain when you read a good book?

As a novelist, translator and critic, Tim Parks is well-placed to investigate any questions we have about books and reading. In this collection of lively and provocative pieces he talks about what readers want from books and how to look at the literature we encounter in a new light."

***

If my house had enough bookshelves and I had unlimited time to read every single book published by ONE publisher, that publisher would be Persephone Books.  If you haven't heard of this publisher (if not, why not?) please take a mo and visit the lovely website. You will soon tell if it's your sort of publisher. If you're not, that's fine. But I absolutely adore everything about them. And have lots of its books (all with such wonderful wend-papers, bookmark etc.) My only complaint is that I have never been in the shop and probably will never get there - unless I'm asked by anyone willing to may my travel and accommodation expenses. Well, an old girl can dream. After all, that's one of the reasons  why I love to write fiction. 

Anyway, Persephone Books has ambitions to make one of its most popular titles The Home-Maker by Dorothy Canley Fisher into a best-seller. So, they are inviting readers to ask for a free copy - yes a free copy - and blog about it or tweet about it using the hash-tag (#homemakerbook). They are about to republish it as a Persephone Classic and as an e-book. Why not join in? Your can also join in on the conversation on their forum here. 

So, although I already own a copy and have read and enjoyed it, I am going to re-read it and blog about it. I would love you to ask for a free copy so you can join in the discussion with me. This will probably be in January  2015 at which point I hope to have finally submitted the finished version of my WIP to my agent. If you hear nothing more from me about it, you will gather it will have reached the end of the line. My fingers are crossed as I am an optimist with plenty of plans. But I shall never stop writing and reading.  I may pop into Twitter and Facebook from time to time and am happy to reply to emails from my friends and fellow writers but otherwise I shall be busy writing or, as it's winter, ...

PS...

You've asked me splendid questions and I so wanted  to reply...but yet again I can't add any comments on my own blog for the moment either using Chrome or Explorer! So I'm adding a postscript which I hope will help.

The Harrogate History Festival only began in 2013 and is. as yet. far less crowded, frenetic or boozy than the Crime Festival nor does it overwhelm the town and fill every hotel. However,  it is rapidly becoming THE place to go if you write, read or are interested in any kind of historical fiction. In the same way the Crime Festival also features 'real' crime and the detection of crime (I seem to recall interviews with a criminal pathologist and also a detective on police procedure in previous years), the History Festival also features talks by and interviews with historians and museum curators. In 2013, THE  sell-out events was a talk by the determined lady who discovered Richard III's bones interred in a municipal car-park in Leicester.

The main difference is the time of year. Although the weather was unseasonably warm this year, it is held in October so no sunbathing on the grass or quaffing iced Pimms in the shade! (instead, this year, we got a horde of Vikings storming us in the dark brandishing flaming torches!)

And in the same way as the Crime Festival features all kinds of crime writing from, say,  Scottish 'Noir' to a reappraisal of Agatha Christie, (who famously was discovered incognito in the very hotel where both Festivals take place) the History Festival  is for every kind of historical fiction writer or reader. There's something for everyone. After all, what you did yesterday is now history. So the range is wide-open.  And it'n not only the kind of history you learned at school. You can enjoy alternate history. (The Germans invaded Britain. The Confederate Army won the American Civil War etc etc. Steam-punk is a historical fiction genre. So, if you're a historical crime writer, or whether you write about Romans. Vikings, Incas, Greeks, Nazis, Victorians or the Swinging Sixties, you're welcome. As for time-slip, the keynote speaker in 2013 was Kate Mosse who wrote the Labyrinth series. The sky's the limit when it comes to historical fiction as well as crime. 

Do come. I hope to see all of you there in 2015. 

Harrogate History Festival Miscellany

It's hard to believe it all happened over a week ago. It's only now I've come down to earth and can put it all into perspective. These events are always do that to me (poor old soul).

So where do I start?  Well, you'll get a clearer picture than anything I'm going to write if you read Alison Morton's accounts Read parts one and two here. It was great to meet her again this year and we both had a whale of a time even though she skipped off in the middle to speak at the RNA chapter meeting. (I've almost forgiven her.) Alison is an inspiration to all historical fiction writers;  and full of humour, knowledge and clear thinking, all of which I lack these days.

First of all, praise and a wreath of laurels should be garlanded around Manda Scott's brow. She is the doyenne and the brain that launched the whole event and she continues to be a brilliant organiser and grande dame. She is so busy and yet totally unflustered. In a word, she is brilliant.

I am going to pick out some of my highlights, in no particular order. (That is, as they occur to me.) Manda interviewed the inimitable Sandi Toksvig in a conversation called Desert Island Books. In it Sandi chose 8 books in the manner of the enduring radio programme. Some of them relate to her childhood reading and others books she has found inspiring or thought-provoking - or both. I jotted down some books I was was prompted to read for myself as well as those enjoy again: such as my all-time favourite: Dickens' Bleak House. It was a wonderful evening. That was on the Friday night.

I shall now jump back to the very first evening when the whole proceedings were given a rousing opening by the arrival of a torch-bearing horde of Vikings that had marched through Harrogate before arriving at the Old Swan. These were actually some very well-informed and entertaining Viking re-enactors, some of whom I chatted to and quizzed after the opening event which was the awarding of the prize for the best début historical novel in 2014. (More of which later. Well, I did say I would be doing everything out of order.)

I waqsw also pleased to meet again the wonderful historical novelist, Elizabeth Chadwick whose novels I love as much as those by Philippa Gregory. She is part way through a fascinating trilogy featuring the amazing Eleanor of Aquitaine. I was able to buy the second novel in the trilogy, having enjoyed the first and can't wait for the third after which she will return - hooray - to William Marshall.

And, before I forget, how about reading Alison Morton's series of alternate Roman novels? She knows I am not particularly enamoured of things Roman, having had the Roman Empire rammed down my throat between the ages of 11 and 13 but still talks to me! 

However, I had one of those 'road to Damascus' moments when I attended a conversation between Charlotte Higgins and Richard Hobbs. The latter is the curator of Romano-British collections in the British Museum and the former is the chief arts writer for the Guardian who has written of her account of a trip around Britain in search for the impact of the Romans on the landscape. The ensuing book is Under Another Sky which I have found a fascination and inspirational read.

  On the Saturday evening, there was yet another inspirational event which I hope will become the first of many. This was the Author Dinner and the theme was food in history. In the small library three large tables had been set out to which all those who had bought a ticket had a seat. Each table was hosted by an author and I was delighted to be on Andre Taylor's table. What's more, in addition to a share in the wine to oil the wheels of conversation (not that any was needed) we each were given a hardback copy of Andrew's novel The Silent Boy which he later signed. I was seated with some fascinating fellow guests whose conversation sparkled about many topics that had nothing to do with history or books such as Yorkshire's Tour de France. Andrew Taylor was great company and spoke to every one of us individually at the table with quiet charm and  politesse. I am now an even greater fan.

Before I bore you all to tears, I can't end without mentioning that Kate Worsley won the Crown for 

Début Historical Fiction with one of my favourite recent novels: She Rises. Congratulations, Kate. A worthy winner.

I know I've missed too much out. There was so much that inspired and invigorated me and also, alas, tired me out. Thank goodness for a lovely room and comfortable bed, not to mention great hospitality (not to mention food)  courtesy of The Old Swan Hotel, Harrogate. It was such a fulfilling three days, I am definitely attending next year, Deus Veult. Maybe I'll see more of you!

Harrogate History Festival 2014

I had such a good time last year that I booked as soon as I could for this year's event that starts this very Thursday! I have spent the last few weeks in nervous anticipation, dreading that something might prevent me attending. But I am now packed and prepared and once more looking forward to returning to my old home town of Harrogate to be part of things. There are even more people I am longing to hear and will buy too many books, I am sure from my much loved (and erstwhile employer) Waterstones, Harrogate, where, incidentally, I enjoyed a fabulous signing-session  for my novel Hope Against Hope.  Take a look at the details of the Festival.

If you're also attending and possibly staying at the Old Swan Hotel, do seek me out. I'll be around - probably in the bar which is not, I hasten to add not so crowded than it is during the annual Crime Festival. I can confirm that historical-fiction writers enjoy a drink but not in such quantities as crime readers and writers whom through you have to fight to get to the bar or even sit down. We hist-fictioners are far more restrained!

I will write about it when I get home on Sunday and have recovered. These writing events are always tiring, whatever the genre.

The famous Old Swan, here and below.

It's a shame the History Festival is held in October when the Crime event enjoys summer weather!

Just because I'm currently immersed in revising...

...doesn't mean I'm not still reading avidly. I have heard that some novelists daren't read anything other than their work in progress. Their reasoning? Either they're far, far too busy (some people have deadlines - lucky them) or they fear they'll end up copying the style of whichever author's novel they pick up.

I couldn't be more different. I'm never not reading a book - usually a novel but not necessarily. It could be history, biography or something for research and background reading, be it a recipe book, topography and nature. A few months ago I read all about keeping bees, now or in the past, cooking with honey etc. However, it's more likely to be fiction. As I've said before, I am book-mad, a bookaholic as it were.

As for inadvertently copying someone else's style, it has never happened to me. I can't do party tricks or impressions or speak in another accent from the one I'm stuck with now. I  admire certain writers more than others, love certain paragraphs and read them twice while trying to pin-point why they work so well. But I can't copy them. however much I wish to. I write like me. It's either good or bad, boring or even interesting, depending on the reader. I can't do anything else. I am what I am although I'me always learning and improving - I hope.

Anyway, here are a few books from the many I've read lately and loved for different reasons. But don't ask me to judge which I enjoyed the most.

I won't give any reviews or recommend you read any of them. But I have read them all with differing amounts of admiration. All all had their good and bad points and will appeal to different readers. Some you may hate. And - surprise, surprise. They're all historical novels.  .

Here is the exception. to my list. I have yet to read the following novel. But I will. It's on its way. Its companion (and first novel) is The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. As I loved that novel to bits and because the reviews of 'Queenie'  have all been favourable, I'm bound to love it, too. I'll tell you later...