FAQs |
About the books |
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Q. Tell me more about your next book? When is it to be released? The Other Queen has been a wonderful book to research and write – I have quite transformed my view of Mary Queen of Scots and to research Bess of Hardwick, her rival and gaoler, has been enormously interesting.It is due out in the UK in September and in the States in October. And yes – I have started work on a new series which I think may end up being more than a trilogy – the first one released will be called The White Queen and will be about Elizabeth Woodville who is a marvellous character, then will follow the others, but I cant say more about them yet until I am further into the work. Q. In your newest novel, The Boleyn Inheritance, you depict the life of King Henry VIII and his court through the eyes of three very different characters. Why did you choose to narrate this story through multiple voices and why these three women in particular? I have a great liking for the first person narrative because I think it gets the reader into the head of the character; it’s a very immediate style. I realized that I wanted to tell the story from the point of view of the three women who were so intimately involved in the perils of being Queen of England at this time. Anne of Cleves, the wife that Henry chooses and rejects, Katherine Howard the girl he adores but who is too young to keep herself safe, and the woman who advises them both to their great danger: Lady Rochford, Jane Boleyn. Q. How much of what is written about the characters in the Boleyn series is fact and how much is fiction? This is an almost impossible question to answer since each character and each novel is different. By and large the fiction fills in the gaps of the known historical record and brings it to life. In a story such as that of Elizabeth 1 when we know so much about what she thought and did the fiction animates the story that we know (and sometimes gives us a different slant on the well-known material) In a story like that of Mary Boleyn we know only the slimmest outline and the fiction fills in the gaps. Q. In what order did you write the newest series of books? It happens that I wrote the books out of order. But if you want to establish the time line of the novels they would go: The Constant Princess (Katherine of Aragon); The Other Boleyn Girl (Anne Boleyn); The Boleyn Inheritance (Anne of Cleves and Katherine Howard); The Queens Fool (Mary Tudor and Elizabeth 1) and The Virgin’s Lover (Elizabeth 1). And, to be published in 2008, The Other Queen (Mary Queen of Scots). Q. Where might I be able to get a copy of The Other Boleyn Girl in Japan? Here is a list of international publications from my website - http://www.philippagregory.com/international-publications/index.php Foreign language publications as well as audio recordings and the large print books are usually available through Amazon or Barnes and Noble.
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