MINETTE WALTERS
The third historical work from the best-selling British crime writer is set in England’s Civil War
What was it about England’s Civil War that appealed as the setting for your new historical novel?
The middle decades of the 17th Century saw deep political division in the British Isles, with civil war being the inevitable result of the struggle for power between King Charles I and Parliament. I was interested in how this impacted on ordinary people, who were forced to take sides whether they wanted to or not. My county of Dorset changed hands several times during the war and saw fierce fighting, particularly during the sieges of Lyme Regis and Weymouth, and this caused many to question where the allegiances really lay. The Swift and the Harrier follows the stories of families from both sides of the divide and how they cope with the triumphs and defeats in what seems to be a never-ending conflict.
Was the main character inspired by any historical figure?
A woman called Alice Leevers practised medicine in the 16th century when the law said only men could perform as physicians. She was said to be highly skilled and greatly respected by her patients, but, even so, she was put on trial in 1586 as a common criminal. The charges were dismissed after Elizabeth I’s Lord Chamberlain interceded on Alice’s behalf (almost certainly with the Queen’s blessing) and Alice was given leave to practise medicine until the end of her life. The most interesting element of the story is that it was a man who championed Alice, albeit with the Queen’s permission!
What’s the best book you’ve read?
This question is impossible to answer. There have been so many! But one of the best, because of its influence on realism in literature, was Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert.
A book that had a pivotal impact on your life?
Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin. The book you couldn’t finish?
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkein.
A book you wish you had read but haven’t got to?
A la Recherche du Temps Perdu by Marcel Proust.
The book you are most proud to have written?
The Ice House. It was my first novel and led me into a career I love.
Your favourite place to read? Bed.
What book do you re-read?
I re-read many books but one of my favourites is The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle. What books are on your bedside table?
The Dry by Jane Harper, Bloody Jeffreys by Robert Milne-tyte, French Country Cooking by Elizabeth David.
What are you writing now?
I’m exploring the Monmouth Rebellion and the brutal vengeance exacted by Judge Jeffreys against Monmouth’s followers during the “Bloody” Assizes of 1685.
The Swift and the Harrier by Minette Walters, Allen & Unwin, $33