Philippa Gregory is one of the world’s foremost historical novelists. She wrote her first ever novel, Wideacre, when she was completing her PhD in eighteenth-century literature and it sold worldwide, heralding a new era for historical fiction. Her flair for blending history and imagination developed into a signature style and Philippa went on to write many bestselling novels, including The Other Boleyn Girl and The White Queen.
We are pleased to share a conversation with Philippa Gregory and links to videos so you can find our more about her writing and the Fairmile series.
A Conversation with Philippa Gregory
This is the third book in the Fairmile series. How did the writing of this novel differ from the writing of the first two books of the series? Did you encounter any obstacles you hadn’t anticipated?
A practical difficulty was not being able to travel during the pandemic. I would usually have gone to all the places that I described—this novel I had to draw on my memory of Hadley, Connecticut, and Amsterdam. I was able to go to Barbados, and the scenery and history were very inspiring. A writerly difficulty that I hadn’t anticipated was the immense attraction that I felt toward some of the characters. It was very hard to let Alinor go—I loved her so much when I first described her in Tidelands. And Livia too is a character who just takes over the story.
This novel is rich with detail of the natural world, particularly in Rowan’s sections, both in New England and in Barbados. What drew you to the story of her and her people? What kind of research did you conduct about early colonial history?
I have been honored with the trust and friendship of the Pokanoket elders whom I met when researching Dark Tides, which is partly set in their ancestral homeland, the Dawnlands, in New England. They talked to me about their history and showed me around their land, and I also read extensively about precolonial America and consulted many historians. The idea of a cooperative egalitarian society that lives aligned with nature is very inspiring—especially at this time when we are suffering from inequality and destruction of climate balance.
As this series has gone on, the viewpoints have become more and more kaleidoscopic, and you balance a huge number of characters flung across the world. Was this large scope something you always intended? How do you balance each of the characters’ stories?
This was the plan of the book from the very beginning! Many English families have dispersed around the world as invaders, colonizers, explorers, merchants, and pilgrims, and I always thought that the family founded by Alinor would be one that would be part of global trade and travel. It’s a huge ambition! In practice, I balance the characters’ stories as they develop—so as long as they are interesting (hopefully fascinating) I move from one to another as they change through time. Some things have to happen at a given time, since they are linked to real events, and they give me the timetable of the book around which other stories can be narrated. Sometimes, as in the Monmouth rebellion, almost all the characters are directly involved, and you will see how I move from one scene to another so the timings fit together. My hope is that the reader moves to another character and story with pleasure and interest. When I find as a writer that I don’t want to leave one thread—I usually stay with it, letting my storyteller’s instinct guide me.
You’ve written three books about these characters. Is there anything about them that still surprises you
Oh yes! That’s part of the pleasure of writing the book. The events and how they respond to them surprise me. I know they’re going to happen, but the actual writing is always a discovery. I hadn’t planned how the real-life allegation of the baby in the warming pan would play out in the story, and I was surprised and delighted (as ever!) by the manipulative skills of Livia. I was amazed at the development of the deep tenderness in Ned, and by Johnnie’s mercenary nature. And I really didn’t know—till I was writing it—how the great love between James and Alinor would end. Her understanding of what went wrong between them seemed very surprising and important when it just came to me as I was writing.
Tidelands takes place in the midst of the English Civil War, and this book also is centred during a time of great political turmoil and unrest. What draws you to this time period—and in particular the republican leanings of characters like Ned, who want to build a country centred on liberty?
By instinct and education I am a democrat and someone who believes in a free and equal society, so the history of England during the seventeenth century, when people were thinking through ideas about equality and freedom, speaks very profoundly to me. It’s a time of great hope for those who went abroad to found new communities that they thought would be equal and free. Ironically, the colonialists became slavers and their new countries became oppressive in their turn. This is such a picture of a dream turned sour that of course it’s very interesting to both a historian and a novelist. How do we build a better world—when we take in our bags the old temptations of greed and snobbery?
Who is your favourite character to write in this series and why?
I genuinely can’t pick a top favourite. I love Ned for his principles and his compassion, and Rowan for her courage and humour. I have loved the character of Alinor through three books; I am sorry for James and the mistakes he makes. I can’t help but adore Livia, who is such a wicked woman but has self-knowledge and no hypocrisy. I feel that I understand Johnnie, whose desire for wealth comes from such a poor childhood, and I love the honest straightforward affection between Alys and her husband, Captain Shore. I’m very interested in Mia, Gabriella, and Hester—we’re going to see more of them with their friend and kinsman Matthew.
A major spoiler for anyone reading ahead! This novel contains the death of Alinor, the matriarch of the Reekie family, and the main character of Tidelands. What was it like for you to bring her story to a close?
It was certainly time! She nearly drowned at the end of book one. I felt very satisfied in bringing her back to the Tidelands in the house where she had been a servant. I felt that her story was complete, and at the final meeting with James she understood how he had failed her, and why. I liked that they were finally together, dying at the same time and—as his flowers for her funeral showed—that he knew they would be together in death.
You’re best known for your series of Plantagenet and Tudor novels, which draw back the historical curtain on court life. Why did you want to return to that (in this case the Stuart court) in this novel?
I am interested in the courts when they are places of historical events and change—also there are good records kept of courts, whereas for working people there are often no records at all. For these reasons, it’s interesting to base fiction at a court. In this case it’s a wonderful court—Mary of Modena is England’s Marie Antoinette! Struggling for her own personal happiness in a monarchy that is fighting for its own life. The details of her visit to Bath, the disastrous weakness of her husband, his overly confident mistress, and the queen’s escape at night over the river with her baby in a rowing boat are all on the historical record. It’s a quite extraordinary story and very little known—only the addition of Livia is fiction.
Want to know more?
Watch the playlist of Phillippa Gregory discussing Dawnlands.
Phillippa Gregory welcomes visitors to her site www.PhilippaGregory.com.
