‘Equality is what makes men, women strong’

sharjah — Literary tools help “give women a voice”, English novelist Kate Mosse said in a virtual session of the Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF) on Saturday.

“Women’s physical situations do not restrain their imagination or intelligence,” said the historical fiction writer, best known for her book Labyrinth and whose writings has been translated in 38 languages.

History is never a straight line, she stressed, things may go backward and forward. “So, often, it is presented that women are only at home and they knit, sew, look after children and they don’t do anything else.

“But in the periods of history I wrote about, it isn’t true, because the men had been at war on and off for 30 years... So, then you realise someone was doing all the other chores while men were away.”

She later said: “That’s when it dawns upon you that the stories that project women’s life as being very confined are being told by male viewers. It is not from a woman’s point of view.”

Historical women

Women have had a big impact on world history, Mosse said. But they have something in common.

“What all the real historical women have in common is a husband who respects women, his wife or sister, you have fathers who respect daughters or brothers who revere their sisters. When you see equality, men and women respecting each other and working together, then you have strong women and strong men.

“Otherwise you will see a lack of insight and a great deal of fear and bullying. That is somebody with a narrow focus, who is not listening,” she said.

Covid-19 impact

Shedding light on how the coronavirus has affected authors, Mosse explained that through their characters, many writers had already experienced what it was like to live with a pandemic.

Drawing parallels between 17th century historical moorings and the current Covid-19 crisis, she pointed out that “one of the famous works of its time, King Lear, was written when Shakespeare was in the equivalent of a lockdown in a completely different period”.

“But it’s been an extraordinary thing as a writer where there is a constant threat of a pandemic and how it impacts lives. Now we are witnessing that ourselves. It reinforces the idea that the human heart does not change very much.”

What all the real historical women have in common is a husband who respects women, his wife or sister.” Kate Mosse,

English novelist