How did the idea for Between Two Seas and The Lady In The Tower originate?
I had the idea for The Lady in the Tower while I was visiting Farleigh Hungerford Castle in Wiltshire. I heard that Lady Elizabeth had been locked in the tower by her husband for four years and that no one knew she’d escaped. I thought that was a great premise for a story.
A local history book in a museum gave me the idea for Between Two Seas. It was about Danish fishermen who sailed to England to sell their fish and it sparked off a story idea about a girl who was half Danish and half English (like me). In the end I set the novel further back in time so that I could write about the town of Skagen in the days when it was still isolated from the rest of Denmark, with no railway and no road.
Although I had the idea for The Lady in the Tower earlier, I wrote Between Two Seas first.
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How long did it take you to write, and what special research was involved?
All my novels have required extensive research. Even though I knew the place and time in Denmark very well, it still wasn’t nearly well enough to write a book about it. I used the libraries and archives in Skagen and Frederikshavn as well as the museums.
The Lady in the Tower I researched mainly on the internet and in my local library. My biggest research project of all, however, was for my first Viking novel, Daughter of Fire and Ice. That took me to Iceland twice – once with my family, a car and a tent for six weeks – where we explored and visited many of the Viking sites around the country. It was a very exciting trip. I don’t think I could have written about the Iceland and the Viking era without getting to know it like that, no matter how many books I’d read.
My next book is also Viking, and so I’d already collected most of the information I needed – although I needed to spend a few days in York.
How much of The Lady in the Tower is based on fact, and how much is fiction?
Quite a few of the happenings in the novel are based on facts as far as they are known, but I’ve invented a lot too. Sir Walter Hungerford, his wife Lady Elizabeth, her new husband Sir Thomas and the characters of Little Walter, Thomas Cromwell, Dr Horde and the castle chaplain are all based on real historical characters and what happened to them. Eleanor, her cousin Gregory and Philip Stanton on the other hand are figments of my imagination. I also invented the royal visit and the tournament. The executions however, are based on written accounts….
What was one of the most surprising things you learned while creating your books?
I think the thing that surprises me most is the inaccuracy of historical books. I assumed they’d be correct! I found three different dates and two different locations for Sir Walter Hungerford’s execution, and needed to visit the Tower of London to be sure. My new novel is another prime example: I’m researching Georgian Bath and I can’t find two history books that agree on what was where when and many have obviously relied on each other’s mistaken accounts. It’s very misleading!
What about young fictional heroines appeals to you as a writer?
Many things! I think the late teen years are a fascinating time of life. It’s a time of growth, change and transition: from youth to adulthood, from innocence to experience. It’s also a time where you feel everything with such passion and intensity. I remember it so clearly, and it was such an important, formative time. It’s also a time of huge potential: everything is still possible, and the steps you take at this age begin to shape your life.
What do you like most about writing historical fiction?
I love having all the eras of the world to choose from as a setting. I love the escapism and romance of writing about the past and the freedom from the modern restrictions that hedge today’s teenagers about.
What are you working on next?
I’m always a long way ahead of the books on the shelves of the bookshops – as are all authors. My second Viking book was completed earlier this year, and has now finished going through the editing and copy-editing process. It’s called Sigrun’s Secret, and is publishing January 2011. The cover is already on the internet. It continues the story begun in Daughter of Fire and Ice into the next generation.
My current project, as I mentioned above, is Georgian Bath. I’m excited about this story. Bath is where I live, and it has a long and fascinating history – it was the summer haunt of the fashionable aristocracy for most of the 18th century. The story will be a mixture of adventure, danger, daring and romance.
I’m always a long way ahead of the books on the shelves of the bookshops – as are all authors. My second Viking book was completed earlier this year, and has now finished going through the editing and copy-editing process. It’s called Sigrun’s Secret, and is publishing January 2011. The cover is already on the internet. It continues the story begun in Daughter of Fire and Ice into the next generation.
My current project, as I mentioned above, is Georgian Bath. I’m excited about this story. Bath is where I live, and it has a long and fascinating history – it was the summer haunt of the fashionable aristocracy for most of the 18th century. The story will be a mixture of adventure, danger, daring and romance.
