The White Princess

I have thoroughly enjoyed all of Philippa Gregory’s Cousin’s War series. Each one has told of the war between the Yorks and Lancasters from a different pivotal woman’s viewpoint – Jacquetta Rivers, Elizabeth Woodville, Anne Neville and Margaret Beaufort. This latest book in the series sees the turn of Elizabeth Woodville’s first daughter Elizabeth of York, who becomes Queen of England when she is forced to marry Henry VII, son of Margaret Beaufort. As she will become mother to Henry VIII and grandmother to Mary I and Elizabeth I, she is one of the most important women in British history.

Elizabeth’s story begins at the point where The Red Queen novel and The White Queen BBC television series both ended, at the result of the Battle of Boswoth. Elizabeth’s uncle Richard III, who in Gregory’s series, she has been in love with and had a relationship, has been killed as a result of Henry Tudor’s invasion and quest to be king. She must now marry the man who was the cause of her Uncle’s death. Interestingly, if this version of the story is true, Elizabeth would have been Queen of England no matter who was the victor of the battle.

Elizabeth has to go through with her mother’s previous agreement with Margaret Beaufort that she will marry her son to strengthen his ties with England, as he has lived abroad in exile for most of his life. Margaret behaves worse than ever in the beginning of this book, treating Elizabeth as a breeding machine and making sure that she is pregnant with Henry’s heir before the marriage ceremony. As she lives such a pious and devout life, she uses ‘God’s will’ to her own advantage. Margaret also takes the best rooms and a higher position than the Queen with her own title of My Lady, the King’s Mother.

As Elizabeth lives a life of giving birth to the Tudor heirs, her mother Elizabeth Woodville is plotting with the remaining Yorks and when a ‘boy’ claiming to be her long-lost song Richard (the Prince she managed to get away to freedom before being locked away in the Tower of London), returns to England to make a claim on the throne, Elizabeth must choose between her duties as wife and Queen and her love of her mother and little brother.

Portraits of Elizabeth of York and Henry VII

The White Princess is full of threat and emergences of ‘the boy’ Prince Richard. It does get a little repetitive as each time Henry VII hears of the boy, he becomes frightened, leads an army out and returns when he disappears. There are not any huge events in the novel as in the previous ones in the series and although Elizabeth Woodville and Margaret Beaufort feature heavily in the beginning of the novel, the second half lacks their big characters. This is not a criticism of Gregory, as she cannot change the main account of history, but it makes the book possibly the weakest in the series. Saying that, I was completely engrossed as ever and although I knew what would happen at the end, I could not put this book down.

It was refreshing to learn more about Lady Katherine Huntley who marries ‘Prince Richard’ and in this version of events, becomes the object of Henry VII’s affections. I had not heard of her in history before (I would love a Gregory book from her viewpoint!) and as usual when reading historical novels, I have been researching all of the main characters and family trees.  It was also fascinating to read of Henry VIII as a baby and young child. I had never thought of him as an innocent toddler before!

Reading the books in the Cousin’s War series has given me a huge interest in the York and Lancaster families and I am now reading historical accounts, other novels and watching films and documentaries on the subject. This is a fascinating and dangerous part of history, when families in power could not trust life-long friends and allies or even family members with their own husbands, wives, parents or siblings ‘turning coats’, making life-changing or life-ending decisions and betraying those closest to them. Thanks to Philippa Gregory for igniting my interest in this era of history!

There is lots of further information at www.philippagregory.com
I also found some great related articles at www.bbc.co.uk/history   

Greenway - Agatha Christie's Devon home

Greenway

Back in May I visited Agatha Christie's Devon holiday home which is now managed by the National Trust. Although Agatha lived in Torquay, her relaxing summer house is based just along the coastline and up the River Dart in a remote setting. There are several ways to arrive, from walking or catching a steam train or vintage bus. We chose a beautiful 20 minute boat ride on the Christie Belle　from Dartmouth which rewards you with a glimpse of the stunning house on the high up on the hill-top. There is a very small car park for visitors unable to climb the steep hill to the house, although this must be booked in advance.

The vintage bus

Greenway was bought by Agatha Christie for £6,000 which also included 30 acres of land. The house is one the most welcoming National Trust properties I have visited as visitors are invited to explore, opening drawers and relaxing on sofas to read about the house and its most famous inhabitant. There are plenty of ‘scrapbooks’ around, full of newspaper clippings, letters, excerpts from books, quotes and photos. The first room we enter is the drawing room which features a beautiful piano. We learn that Agatha loved music and in a confessional said that she would have loved to have been an Opera singer.

The house features many of Agatha’s collections, from china and fans to books and ornaments. There are cupboards lit up with her possessions and a closet in her bedroom is full of ‘dress-up’ clothes for games and parties. It is clear that Greenway was a house for relaxing and entertaining. The dining room was used extensively for family meals and events and a menu for her 80th birthday celebrations is displayed here.

The boathouse in the grounds which
inspired the murder in Dead Man's Folly

 


Agatha used the cost of things that she desired as a motivation for writing. Although Agatha did not write any of her books at Greenway, she made revisions and read her latest stories aloud to her family during the evenings. Greenway inspired the murder in Dead Man’s Folly, which sees the extensive grounds used for a summer fair and a body found in the boathouse.

Books on sale in the gift shop

We enjoyed a slice of cake and some coffee in the tea-rooms based near to the house and I loved the shop which stocked an array of Christie books and memorabilia. I purchased a copy of Dead Man’s Folly, which was stamped with the Greenway mark at the till. There are beautiful views over the River Dart on the steep walk down to the battery and boat house. We took our dogs with us for the day who loved the walks around the grounds and the boat rides!

View across the River Dart from the house

Since visiting Greenway, I have been inspired to read more of Agatha Christie’s books and I am really enjoying them. It is pretty much impossible to guess the result of any of the mysteries and the huge casts of eccentric characters are great fun to read about.

Find out more about visiting Greenway at www.nationaltrust.org.uk/greenway/

www.agathachristie.com is also a great website for information all about the author and her huge collection of books and plays.

Calling Me Home

This is a quick, easy book to read. Described on the cover 'for fans of The Help', Calling Me Home tells the story of sixteen year old Isabelle, who falls in love with her black housekeeper's son Robert. This is an impossible relationship in 1939 Kentucky and they must fight against the hate and violence from the surrounding town and Isabelle's own family. Seventy years later, Isabelle is heading back to a mystery funeral, travelling with her hairdresser and friend Dorrie. As they drive across the country, Isabelle finally tells the story of her past.

This was a book group choice and as we discussed it over a cup of tea, we realised that there are lots of holes in the plot and it didn't quite make sense why everything would all be okay after seventy years of hurt. At the funeral, everyone is suddenly happy to reveal secrets which have lasted a lifetime and it didn't make sense that this had not happened before with the changing times and results of the Civil Rights Movement. Dorrie's present day story is uninteresting and although the author is trying to get across that our problems today are nothing compared to the unjustness of Isabelle's history.

However, this is a moving story which you will be willing to end in a different way.

The Austen Project - Sense and Sensibility

Joanna Trollope's modern re-telling of Sense and Sensibility is part of the Austen Project which will see all of the Jane Austen's six novels re-written in contemporary style by six well-known authors. Sense and Sensibility is one of my favourite novels of all-time and I was interested to see what changes could be made.

I felt that Trollope had a good understanding of the characters and the story, with the dialogue updated to today's style - expect plenty of 'What evs' and 'hilairs'. The three sisters are also contemporised to good effect - Elinor has hopes to be an architect and is the breadwinner of the family, taking on the strain seen in different ways in the original novel. Marianne suffers from asthma, which makes her breakdowns through the novel more plausible and Margaret is an I-pod loving, spoilt younger sister, mortified by being dropped off at her new school in Elinor's old car.

The society that Elinor and Marianne end up in during their time in London now seems to be full of Chelsea it-girls, and Marianne's reaction to seeing Willoughby becomes public knowledge for different reasons. I enjoyed reading this updates and thinking about what would be coming next.

There are a few parts of the story which do seem a bit odd in today's world - for example the Dashwood's being thrown out of the family home in favour of a male heir - but Trollope does her best to explain and without these parts of the story, it would not be Sense and Sensibility. It also felt a bit odd to read Edward Ferrars being referred to as Ed and John Willoughby as Wills throughout the novel, but then I guess that is the romantic Janite in me! Colonel Brandon is described as dreamy as always!

Fans of Jane Austen will find this amusing as they compare to the original novel. Good fun and I'm looking forward to the other five novels being told in this way!

Find out more about The Austen Project at www.theaustenproject.com

Join in the conversation on Twitter with #austenproject

Q and A with Rachel Hore

After reading The Silent Tide, I was lucky enough to be offered a Q and A with author Rachel Hore. I really enjoyed Rachel's writing style throughout the novel and will be looking forward to reading more of her work. The Silent Tide tells the story of two women working in publishing. Isabel moves to post-war London to make a new life for herself, while the present day story of Emily is linked as she becomes involved in Isabel's past as she starts to discover why Isabel seems to have been erased from history. Both women become involved in relationships with authors which don't turn out quite as they had hoped and I enjoyed the parallels between their lives and relationships.

I was particularly interested in the story of Isabel and Hugh. Isabel was using the post Second World War ideas to her advantage, moving away from home at a young age and finding her own job and home. Hugh seems to admire this in her at first, but when she becomes a mother, he expects her to become the traditional 'stay-at-home' wife figure, which she cannot adjust too. I also wondered why Isabel and Emily both became attracted to the romantic, creative authors who they admire and ultimately become disappointed in as they realise that they are not the men they had hoped them to be. I was really excited to ask Rachel about these two themes in particular...
A quote at the start of the book is taken from Only Halfway to Paradise: Women in Postwar Britain by Elizabeth Wilson – ‘Women were wanting to escape the net just as men were climbing back into it.’ How did you want to explore this in the relationship of Isabel and Hugh? Do you think their relationship was very typical of the era?

Following the Second World War there was a tendency, enacted in government policy and expressed by the popular media, to assume that women would withdraw from paid employment and get back to the kitchen once their menfolk were demobbed and wanting 'their' jobs back. At the same time,  more women were actually becoming better educated and wishing for greater independence.   Whilst it was considered socially and economically acceptable for girls to take on certain kinds of 'female' employment -  teaching, secretarial, nursing - marriage and children were still presented as the ideal, and once married, or certainly after having children, they were definitely expected to retreat to the home.  However, in some more liberal-minded areas of the workplace, publishing being a notable one, educated women were able more strongly to make their mark, and Isabel in The Silent Tide is an example.

I've portrayed Hugh, her husband-to-be, in some respects as forward looking.  He admires Isabel's talents as an editor and intellectually he's very much aware of the dilemmas that young women face.  At the same time, he's a product of his environment, and deeply conservative underneath it all.  Although they love each other deeply, he and Isabel have false expectations of each other in their marriage, and it's these that they need to overcome. Diary evidence suggests that many couples must have had versions of Hugh and Isabel's experience at the time, even if they broadly accepted the social norm. 

Isabel and Emily both work in publishing and both have relationships with authors they are representing. Did you base either of their stories on your own experiences in publishing or did you think about the opposite of what could have happened in your own life?

I met my husband (the writer D.J. Taylor) after I published the paperback of his first novel when I worked at HarperCollins.  As we know, very many people meet their partners in the workplace.  However, I was never his editor in the sense of being involved in the creative process - that was the prerogative of his hardback publisher.  In The Silent Tide I became fascinated by the idea that the professional, the personal and the gender-political could become mixed up to the extent that Isabel, Hugh's editor then wife, unwittingly becomes his muse for a book that's basically about their marriage!  One does hear about writers who fictionalize their own marriages (Hanif Kureschi being one, Philip Roth another), but I assure you that I haven't done such a thing and nor has my husband (yet)!   

Did you decide Isabel’s fate when you first began writing the book, or did it proceed or change as her life went on?

Before starting the novel, I knew that Isabel had been swept away in the great floods of 1953 and it was towards this plot point that my past narrative was working.  The issue of interest for me as a writer, however, was not her demise, but why her story had been suppressed by Hugh's second wife.  Some might see variants of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca in this, though this wasn't in my mind as I wrote.  

We occasionally get to read parts of Isabel’s memoir in her own words. Why did you decide not to tell her whole story in that way?

Isabel is a girl carried along by the tides of her time.  She's not a person who's naturally very self-aware, nor does she consciously stand with or against the social norm. She's a person of feeling who acts intuitively.  I wanted the past story to be a little more knowing than the way she would have told it herself - hence the third person narrative.

 

If you could write the biography of any author, who would you choose? What questions would you want answered?

Oh dear, everyone's been written about.  I'd be interested to ask Harper Lee why she wrote no more books after To Kill a Mockingbird.  Surely she had some more things to say. 

 

The covers of your books are always so beautiful and intriguing; I am always drawn to them in book shops. How much input do you have in these?

Thank you.  It was the cover of A Place of Secrets that instigated the concept of looking through a gate or doorway to a lovely secret world beyond.  After the novel became a bestseller, my publishers suggested that the backlist should be rejacketed in a similar way and that the design of future books should build on the idea, too, and this seemed sensible. I fully understand that my books have to have the branded look that we're told retailers and many readers need. However, my publisher has always asked my opinion of different versions of covers within the general style, and my response has been largely heeded.

 

What is your usual process for writing a novel? What kind of research do you find most valuable?

 I tend to develop a general feeling for the setting and atmosphere of a novel and develop everything from there.  I read a great many books about all aspects of my subject, and after a while characters and situations start to grow in my mind.  After that I write a two page synopsis, whilst continuing to read and think and work out details in a notebook.  I always know where the book is going to go before I start to write it, but not always how it's going to get there. Sometimes, as with The Silent Tide, the unexpected happens!

Which authors do you enjoy reading? If you could recommend a list of ‘must-read’ books to a book group, what would they be?

I belong to a book club myself and some of our most successful discussions have been around books that have polarized the group.  We Need to Talk about Kevin is the classic example.  Thinking about it, an issue that often crops up is whether or not the group 'likes' the central character or finds them 'sympathetic', and Eve in that novel is exactly the kind of narrator who flies in the face of that requirement. There's something satisfying about concluding that one might not particularly like a book but might still recognize that it's fascinating, gripping and intellectually challenging, and that it has maybe changed the way one looks at the world.  Other recent books that come into this category include The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas, Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn and The Dinner by Herman Koch. My personal perfect list of recent titles? And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled, Hosseini, The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri, The Kill by Richard House, The Summer House by Santa Montefiore, The Great Silence by Juliet Nicolson (non-fiction about the aftermath of WWI), and Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal by Jeanette Winterson (memoir).

A huge thank you to Rachel Hore for taking the time to answer these questions and for Dawn Burnett at Simon & Schuster for arranging this.

You can follow Rachel on Twitter @rachelhore and find out more about her books at www.rachelhore.co.uk

 

 

Longbourn review

When I first heard about Longbourn - a kind of Downton Abbey meets Pride and Prejudice, telling the stories of the staff serving The Bennet family - I was very excited and couldn't wait to start reading. I was very fortunate to receive an early proof copy a few months back and eagerly began to read while on a break in Devon. I wanted to love it. I ended up feeling the complete opposite...

I am a huge fan of Pride and Prejudice. I read it about once a year to enjoy the wit, romance and the cast of brilliant characters. I think it's fair to say that most fans of the book enjoy it for the same reason - some escapism into Georgian society. So why did Jo Baker decide to include so much grimness into Longbourn? I can kind of see why. The elegance and gentleness of the Bennet girls is in stark contrast to what the servants have to do on a daily basis - scrubbing soiled clothes and sheets, making soap from pigs fat and plucking chickens. But do we really need to know about Elizabeth Bennet's monthly courses - I think the all round answer is a firm no.

So, to the story. It follows maid Sarah, who works for housekeeper Mrs Hill and her husband alongside a younger girl called Polly. The team are joined by a mysterious footman called James, who suddenly appears and there is instant antagonism between him and Sarah. Meanwhile, Sarah meets the charming Ptolemy, a member of Mr Bingley's staff across at Netherfield, who shows an unhealthy interest in Sarah. Sound familiar? The second part of the book, follows James' history serving his country in war and the horrors of what he had to endure. Again, I can see what the author was trying to do, to explore the juxtaposition between life in Meryton and the life of a soldier, but it just sends the novel astray and it never quite comes back to the world of Pride and Prejudice.

None of the new characters introduced are likeable and the author does not show much understanding of the staple Pride and Prejudice characters, never quite catching their voices or characters. (Apart from maybe Mrs Bennet, but then she is such a caricature, she is a very easy character to recreate). Every now and again, the author seems to remember the original story and will throw in a reference here and there, but it hardly ever seems authentic.

As the books goes on, it just gets more offensive for me. Not only does it not capture the essence of Pride and Prejudice, but it actually tries to rewrite the much-loved characters and their history. This includes - do not read any further if you do not want spoilers - an affair, illegitimate child, a miscarriage, a Bennett son and a gay relationship. Its almost as if the author had a list of controversial plot lines and was ticking them off as she went along. All completely unnecessary and something which could ruin the original novel for fans. Some of the vulgar language was also uncalled for and terms of endearment such as the over-used 'sweetheart' hardly seem Georgian.

I have read many a spin-off or version of Pride and Prejudice, and while they seem indulgent, they are usually quite fun, light-hearted and 'fan-girly' - a celebration of Jane Austen's work. But Longbourn just made me a little frustrated and angry and includes none of the reasons why Pride and Prejudiece is such a timeless classic and has such an army of fans. I have heard mixed reviews for Longbourn, so maybe this is just one that will divide people. I would love to hear your thoughts on the comment section below!

The Cripple of Inishmaan review

The Michael Grandage season at the Noel Coward Theatre is proving to be in demand from theatre audiences and a great success with rave reviews of all three plays so far. With the very best production teams and cast members performing in such a beautiful theatre, I was lucky to be able to purchase £10 tickets for Peter and Alice starring Judi Dench and Ben Whishaw (my review here) and the third play in the season – The Cripple of Inishmaan.

 

The Cripple of Inishmaan has received an enormous amount of press as it stars Daniel Radcliffe, once again out of his comfort zone portraying a ‘cripple’ called Billy – an orphan, obsessed with reading and watching cows and living in an Irish village full of colourful characters. Although Radcliffe has been receiving all the headlines, this is very much an ensemble piece, with a fantastic Irish cast all providing plenty of laughs.

 

The village is used to lots of big new stories being spread around the inhabitants by notorious gossip Johnniepateenmike, such as a cat attacking a goose and eggs being broken, but one day an American film crew arrives to make a film on a nearby island and Billy persuades a local sailor to take him across so that he can possibly be an extra. Much to the whole village’s surprise, Billy is taken off to America for a screen test which could change his life forever...

 

The Cripple of Inishmaan is an hilarious, clever play. There are lots of red-herrings as the audience tries to find out the truth about both Billy’s trip to America and ultimately about his parent’s mysterious and tragic deaths. Although darkly funny and politically incorrect, with some amusing stereotypes and use of language, there are some really heart-warming and poignant moments.

 

The whole cast cannot be faulted. I particularly enjoyed performances by Sarah Greene and Conor MacNeill as quarrelling siblings Helen and Bartley, obsessed with throwing eggs and eating imported American sweets respectively. Laughs also come from Billy's two 'aunts' who have adopted them as their own to live in their shop which just seems to stock tins of peas and one of whom has a penchant for talking to stones when she is worried. But the play belongs to Daniel Radcliffe as he shuffles around the stage with an impressive Irish accent. This is a very committed and impressive performance – just halfway through the first act, I completely forgot that this is the child actor we watched grow up as Harry Potter for over 10 years. He has matured into a brave, risk-taking and very accomplished actor and he very much deserves his solo bow at the end of the performance, even though he looked embarrassed at being singled out from his extremely talented cast members.

 

I would really recommend catching this wonderful play before it closes at the end of August – a fantastic set, wonderful cast, big laughs and a lot of heart – what more can you ask from a West End production?!

 

The trailer for The Cripple Of Inishmaan is below and tickets can be purchased from www.michaelgrandagecompany.com