About the author… Philippa Gregory

She was born in Kenya and lives on a farm in Yorkshire, England. She was studying for a PhD in history when she started writing novels. Her other great interest is a charity she founded, Gardens for the Gambia, which raises funds to help schoolchildren in this poor African country learn to grow their own food.

I chose to write a story set in the England of 1648 because...

“Actually I didn’t! I’d originally planned to start a little earlier, but during my research, I realised that Charles I was imprisoned nearby on the Isle of Wight before his execution in 1649. The tension of the civil war was at an all-time high as the king continued to plot and bargain his way out of captivity. So it felt like a great time to start the novel.”

The character of Alinor was inspired by…

“I realised I was so interested in the lives of ordinary women so

I created a fictional family, who I think represent the many ordinary families surviving on the margins of society at this time.”

The most challenging thing about writing this book was… “It’s never a challenge to write – I always adore the writing stage. Writing about a fictional character has been incredibly freeing. I usually have to keep to a researched timeline or known history when I’m writing about a real person, but in this case, I was able to step more fluidly in and out of the historical record.”

The most fascinating part of researching it was… “My heroine, Alinor, is a midwife and a herbalist. Some of the recipes for the medicines of the day were fascinating. Many of them could be nothing but placebos, but a couple, like lemongrass or feverfew, seem to have stood the test of time.”