Dipping in and out of history books
Alison Weir, most recently, of Jane Seymour, the Haunted Queen ,says Burke’s Guide to the Royal Family could give Meghan Markle ‘cultural context for the rarefied world into which she’s marrying’
WHAT BOOKS ARE ON YOUR NIGHTSTAND?
A book of general knowledge crosswords and an advance copy of Elizabeth Fremantle’s novel The Poison Bed. It’s about a famous Jacobean murder, the poisoning of Sir Thomas Overbury in the Tower of London, at the hands of the bewitching Frances Howard, wife of King James I’s favourite, Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset. This is a subject I’ve long wanted to tackle, and Fremantle gives it her elegant and engaging best.
WHEN AND WHERE DO YOU LIKE TO READ?
In bed, at breakfast and travelling on trains. These, sadly, are the only opportunities I get for reading nowadays.
WHAT WAS THE LAST TRULY GREAT BOOK YOU READ?
Ken Follett’s The Pillars Of The Earth, which I reread recently after watching the DVD of the mini-series. At about 1,000 pages, it’s a tour de force that brilliantly evokes the spirit of an age — and a vibrant, pageturning read. The research underpinning it is impressive.
AS A WRITER, YOU’VE MOVED FROM WRITING HISTORY TO WRITING FICTION. HOW ABOUT AS A READER? DO YOU READ MORE FICTION OR NONFICTION, AND WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE GENRE?
I always keep two books on the go at once. At breakfast, I read nonfiction — recent titles have been Shakespeare’s Wife, by Germaine Greer; The Last Great Edwardian Lady, by Ingrid Seward; and
Executed At Dawn: British Firing Squads On The Western Front, 1914-1918, by David Johnson. At other times, I read fiction, but rarely of the historical variety. I love domestic noirs and psychological thrillers.
And, of course, I’m dipping in and out of history books all the time in the course of my work.
ANY GENRES YOU AVOID?
Literary fiction. Generally (with honourable exceptions), it drives me mad!
IF YOU HAD TO NAME ONE BOOK THAT MADE YOU WHO YOU ARE TODAY, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
Mary Queen Of Scots, the biography by Antonia Fraser. This was the book that, above all others, inspired me to write history.
WHICH BOOKS BY CONTEMPORARY HISTORIANS — BOTH ACADEMIC AND AMATEUR — DO YOU MOST ADMIRE?
There are far too many to name. Eric Ives’s The Life And Death Of Anne Boleyn is about as perfect as a historical biography can be. Sarah Gristwood’s Blood Sisters and Game Of Queens are amazing, elegant examples of how to write about multiple subjects. Deborah Cadbury’s The Lost King Of France is an incredible piece of historical detective work. I could go on and on.
YOUR OWN WORK EXCLUDED, WHAT BOOKS WOULD YOU RECOMMEND ABOUT THE ROYALS?
On the modern royal family, anything by the wonderfully knowledgeable Christopher Warwick (Princess Margaret: A Life of
Contrasts, for example), Sarah Bradford’s Diana or In Royal Fashion, by Kay Staniland, a fascinating study of the surviving clothes of Queen Victoria and Princess Charlotte. One of the best history books I’ve ever read is Helen Rappaport’s A Magnificent
Obsession: Victoria, Albert, And the Death That Changed The Monarchy.
IF YOU COULD REQUIRE THE PRIME MINISTER TO READ ONE BOOK, WHAT WOULD IT BE? AND MEGHAN MARKLE?
I would give the prime minister Martin Gilbert’s The Will Of The People: Churchill
And Parliamentary Democracy, because she could benefit from its example. In authorising airstrikes in Syria without a parliamentary mandate, she has aroused a lot of anger in Britain. I’d give Meghan Markle Burke’s Guide To The Royal Family, because I think it would give her a sound cultural context for the rarefied world into which she’s marrying.
YOU RAN A SCHOOL FOR A WHILE. WHAT WAS YOUR FAVOURITE BOOK TO ASSIGN AND DISCUSS WITH YOUR STUDENTS?
Romeo And Juliet. I gave out the texts to my class of adolescents and announced we’d be reading Shakespeare, only to be greeted by groans of “Boring” and “Nooo!” But, by the end of that lesson, they were gripped and begging to stage the play. We studied it for a term, during which the school’s inspector came around and was treated to the duel scene where Mercutio is killed. In the end, we didn’t have enough people for a staged performance, so we enlisted some pupils from my daughter’s school and made a 90-minute audio recording, after I’d spent a whole weekend abridging the play. It makes me smile now
WHAT’S THE MOST INTERESTING THING YOU’VE LEARNT FROM A BOOK RECENTLY?
In researching Anne of Cleves, the fourth wife of Henry VIII, for my forthcoming novel, I reread the Letters And Papers, Foreign And Domestic, Of The Reign Of
Henry VIII and the standard biographies by Elizabeth Norton, Mary Saaler and Retha M. Warnicke, and detected a hitherto unnoticed thread of evidence that merited further investigation, which led to my evolving a new — and probably controversial — theory about her. I can’t say more as it’s under wraps until the novel comes out next year!
THE LAST BOOK THAT MADE YOU LAUGH?
Philippa Gregory’s brilliant Alice Hartley’s Happiness, one of the funniest books I’ve ever read. I was crying with laughter.
THE LAST BOOK THAT MADE YOU CRY?
It was years ago, in 1997, and it was my own book The Life Of Elizabeth I .AsIwrote the final passages, tears were streaming down my face.
WHAT KIND OF READER WERE YOU AS A CHILD? DID YOU HAVE A FAVOURITE CHARACTER OR HERO?
A diligent reader. I loved strong narratives — and still do. My parents chose a wonderful range of titles for me, and I was brought up to know that a new book was a special treat. My favourite character was Cinderella; I was obsessed with the story, and still love it.
WHAT BOOKS MIGHT WE BE SURPRISED TO FIND ON YOUR BOOKSHELVES?
A huge collection of ghost stories and books on the supernatural — it fascinates me!
WHAT THREE WRITERS, DEAD OR ALIVE, WOULD YOU INVITE TO DINNER?
Geoffrey Chaucer, William Shakespeare and Clive James. What an amazing combination! Imagine the conversation — and the wit.
I was brought up to know that a new book was a special treat. Alison Weir