The Telegraph

23 Apr 2012

Apocalypse always seems imminent, whether financial, spiritual or an oil tanker strike. Here, in the country house hotel in North Yorkshire where I meet Philippa Gregory to discuss her new novel, the Four Horsemen couldn’t feel farther away. She sits, a petite figure framed by the blaze of sun, her hands crossed calmly in her lap, as hotel guests clatter around us and a tinny radio plays.

Known as a writer of (as she calls it) “fictionalised biography” – The Lady of the Rivers, set during the Wars of the Roses, is currently riding high in the bestseller lists, while The Other Boleyn Girl has been adapted into a film – Gregory has now produced a book for the burgeoning young adult market.

The Changeling is set in 15th-century Italy, when the Ottoman Empire was flexing its muscles and the Christian Church was convinced that the world was about to end. It features a good-looking young monk who is sent out by the mysterious Order of Darkness to investigate strange phenomena – nuns having visions, rumours of werewolves – to map out what people fear. Even now, “we have a hunger for the miraculous,” says Gregory. Barely a year goes by without “statues moving or bleeding or crying or giving milk”.

The 15th-century suited her purposes – that sense of imminence, coupled with its liminality as the borderlands between medieval semi-savagery and the Renaissance. The idea of Armageddon is particularly appealing: “Europe was absolutely on the brink,” she says. And this is compelling in terms of our contemporary crises too.

“Quite a lot of world religions have an end of days concept in them,” she says. “I suppose it’s part of our vanity as conscious beings that, because we know we’re going to die, we have a fantasy that the whole world might end, so it’s not just us, it’s everything.”

So, why the move to YA? “I don’t think there’s a real transition,” she says. “I think it’s just a marketing description. It’s to help the booksellers know where to put the books.” When I was 12, we went straight from children’s books to reading George Orwell, Agatha Christie and Evelyn Waugh, without any hand holding, I say. Gregory agrees.

There are children, she says, of seven and eight who read her “adult” novels. The only real difference with this one, as far as she is concerned, is that she is writing about fictional characters. And, as she points out, YA is not read exclusively by teenagers. The format has been quite freeing for her – “you can just make up anything you like, it’s just such good fun,” she says gleefully.

It’s not the first time that Gregory has written for a younger audience. She wrote three books in the Princess Florizella series, feminist fairy tales. She smiles when she talks about it. “I had girls writing to me asking why she didn’t want to marry the Prince!” Such pigeonholing, though, does not suit her. “I don’t really believe in categories at all.”

Rudyard Kipling was one of her favourite writers as a child, and he wrote across the board. “You could stay with the same author and grow up with that author.” She remembers reading Somerset Maugham and not really understanding what lay behind the story, but “it didn’t matter, because what you read was for the dialogue and the characters”.

The characters in The Changeling seem calculated to appeal to a broad base. There is the aforesaid monk, Luca, whose forensic mind brings him to the attention of the priestly authorities. When sent to investigate a nunnery where Satan is said to have taken hold, he falls for the aristocratic, intelligent and beautiful abbess, Isolde, who’s been disinherited by her brother and wants her lands back.

After conspiracies, witchcraft, the dissection of a corpse and the unveiling of a werewolf, the two set out on their quests. With them are Frieze, Luca’s grumpily witty servant, and the Abbess’s companion, Ishraq, a young Muslim woman who can hold her own in a battle.

The plot is deftly conceived, if predictable for the more astute reader, and the setting richly detailed. And more importantly, Gregory’s heroes battle internal and external forces as they discover more about themselves and their changing world. “Changing” is the operative word – Luca is the “changeling” of the title, and the theme runs through the book. “In a way, that theme gets you into a sort of liberal tolerant view of difference, which I think is really interesting to write about.”

The clash of cultures in her book, Gregory thinks, is fascinating “to young people today, because what you’re talking about is the conflict between the Muslim world and the Christian world at its very roots. Historically it’s an amazing time, and all sorts of aspects are manifested, because of people’s anxiety. It’s a spiritual battle as well as a material one.”

Her message of tolerance is a clear one, without being heavy-handed. “I would be very, very uncomfortable at teaching, at dreaming to teach, people things.” People read her historical books and then go on to study history. “So maybe this is an entry into thinking about these things.”

More books are planned for the world of The Changeling, in which everything is an omen, and the characters must interpret whether it comes from God or the Devil. Gregory loves the idea of the unreal. “I mean the idea that there is this tiny membrane between us and everything… in some ways I have a sense of that myself, when I think about time, which isn’t the straightforward linear thing, so we’re sitting here now, and a 100 years ago there are people sitting here probably talking about books.”

She is silhouetted by the light. For a moment the room is quiet, the radio off, the tourists gone. She leans forwards. “You know,” she whispers, “how close is that?”

Philip Womack is the author of The Other Book and The Liberators

At Hay Fever

The Changeling is published in May by Simon & Schuster. Philippa Gregory will be talking about it at the Hay Festival on June 2 at 10am. To book tickets, go to hayfestival.org

Philippa Gregory, world-renowned author and historian, together with leading academics, lend their support to museum with connections to The War of the Roses, Samuel Pepys, Charles Dickens and Elizabeth Taylor

Internationally acclaimed author of “The Other Boleyn Girl”, Philippa Gregory, has backed a local campaign to save Barnet Museum. Approached by one of the museum’s supporters via her Official Fan Facebook page, Ms Gregory has signed the petition and agreed write letters to local MP Theresa Villiers, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Eric Pickles and Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, in support of the museum which is threatened with closure.

In her best-selling novel “The White Queen”, Ms Gregory writes of the Battle of Barnet, fought on Easter Sunday 1471.  It was a decisive engagement in the Wars of the Roses which along with the subsequent Battle of Tewkesbury, secured the throne for Edward IV.  Historians regard the battle as one of the most important clashes in the Wars of the Roses, since it brought about a decisive turn in the fortunes of The Houses of York and Lancaster and resulted in the death of the powerful Earl of Warwick (known as the ‘Kingmaker’). Edward’s victory was followed by fourteen years of Yorkist rule over England.

In her latest novel, “The Kingmaker’s Daughter” due for release on 16^th August this year, Philippa tells the gripping and ultimately tragic story of the Earl of Warwick’s daughters, Anne and Isabel Neville. In the absence of a son and heir, Warwick ruthlessly used the two girls as pawns but they, in their own right, were thoughtful and powerful actors growing up against the backdrop of the court of Edward IV and friendship with the family of Richard Duke of York.

A supporter of the museum, Julie Tucker, of Mill Hill, is an avid reader of Ms Gregory’s work and made the connection while trying to come with ideas to help the museum. Mrs Tucker simply posted a message on Ms Gregory’s fan page and was surprised and delighted when a week later she received a positive response.

Adding her name to the online petition, Ms Gregory wrote: “As a historian and international best-selling author I was shocked to hear of the museum’s problems from one of my readers. I urge councillors to support the continued use of the building by the museum team. It offers an invaluable insight into local history which should be celebrated not forgotten!”

Mrs Tucker has also been in touch with leading academic, Professor Michael Hicks, Head of History at The University of Winchester, who is an expert on Richard III and the Wars of the Roses. Professor Hicks has already signed the online petition and agreed to write letters on the museums behalf.

Professor Hicks also added a comment to his signature on the petition: “The museum is a major resource much used for my article ‘Friern Barnet’ in the Victoria County History of Middlesex VI (1980). It is also in close proximity to the Battle of Barnet, surely the most important historical event in the history of Barnet area, and contains a considerable display. New battlefield work will make the museum more significant. In current stringencies, the withdrawal of funding is understandable. £40,000 annual rent (indeed any rent) is excessive and an act of cultural destruction.”

High Barnet is an area of significant history and possibly the site of the only battle fought within London, the record of which is listed in the Barnet Museum which an energetic team of local people are fighting hard to keep. Barnet Council however plan to charge the museum the market rate rent for the property which the museum simply cannot afford.

Understandably, heritage is not a statutory obligation for the Council and therefore not a priority, but with its current short-term approach not only would the loss of the museum be detrimental to the life and history of Barnet but also directly contradicts the vision of the Mayor, the Department for Communities and Local Government and even the Prime Minister.

Meanwhile, the online petition, picked up by members of the Philippa Gregory Facebook Fan page, has gone global with signatures coming in from as far afield as Austria, Australia, Canada, India, Ireland, Spain and the USA. The total number of online signatures now stands at 1280 and growing with over 8,000 people having signed paper versions of the petition. To add your voice to the growing numbers please go to: http://www.gopetition.com/petition/41281.html

Not only is the Barnet Museum a place of interest and the natural interpretive centre for the Battle of Barnet, but the area around has much to interest historians including the market, the fair, the taverns, the hospitals, the almshouses, the Byngs, Ravenscroft, Monck, Birt Acres and the Physic Well, once visited by kings, noblemen, poets and authors such as Charles Dickens, Samuel Pepys and Arbella Stuart (grand-daughter of Bess of Hardwick and once considered a possible successor to Queen Elizabeth I).

Barnet Museum is an entirely voluntary staffed charity which has provided a popular and educative community service since 1938.  It keeps the institutional memory of the town and promotes it to others, so far this year it has hosted 6-7 classes from 4 different schools (some 200 children).

Barnet Council is empowered to grant the Museum a long term lease at peppercorn rent or transfer the property (which was originally bought by Barnet UDC to house a museum service in perpetuity).  It has granted peppercorn rents to other organisations (e.g. Saracens, the allotments) so there is precedent.  The Council quotes Section 123(2) of the Local Govt Act saying that it is not allowed to dispose of property at less than market value; that is not true – it can apply to the Secretary of State (DCLG) for an exception or if the “undervalue” is less than £2million, it has discretion itself (and the Museum’s case is far less than £2m).  It is all a question of whether the Council and/or its officers can see the longer term value that is provided by the Museum and is prepared to help and facilitate or, as has been the case, hinder and obfuscate.

Commenting on behalf of the museum, Mike Noronha, Museum Treasurer said: “It would be a tragedy to lose this vital community asset which is so valued not only by the people of Barnet but, as we have seen from the online petition, much much further afield.

“The support of Philippa Gregory and Professor Wicks is truly appreciated and will hopefully help to persuade Theresa Villiers, Eric Pickles and Boris Johnson that this is a valuable and irreplaceable community and national resource, with visitors coming from far and wide.”

ENDS

Media contact: Julie Tucker – 020 8906 2225, 07974 632278

A selection of the original story contributors attended the event including William Fiennes, Joanne Harris, Amanda Craig, Rachel Billington, Susan Elderkin, Terence Blacker, Maria McCann and Tracy Chevalier.

Clive Anderson, President of the Woodland Trust, introduced the evening’s events which included an ‘In Conversation’ between Sandi Toksvig and Tracy Chevalier and readings from the book by Terence Blacker, Sue Perkins, Roger Lloyd Pack and Tracy Chevalier.

A silent auction was also held, the donations and proceeds from which will pay for trees for Jubilee Woods and help double native woodland cover across the UK.

All the tales included in the book focus on UK native species. The authors have also had a tree dedicated in their name at Heartwood Forest in Hertfordshire, where for the last few years the MAN Booker judges have symbolically planted trees to represent those felled in order to produce the hundreds of books submitted to the panel.

The book is published by Indie Books in hardback priced £12.95. Copies are available to buy through a dedicated Why Willows Weep landing page, accessed via the Woodland Trust website: www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/whywillowsweep

The book will also be available in late November from Five Dials, the online magazine published by Hamish Hamilton: www.fivedials.com

For every copy of Why Willows Weep sold, the Woodland Trust will be able to plant five native trees.

Trees are being planted as part of the Woodland Trust Jubilee Woods Project to celebrate the

Diamond Jubilee of HRH Queen Elizabeth.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywZHwvPK9VQ

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UK

15th September – LONDON – Kings’s Place, talk and signing with Foyles, 7:00pm
16th September – BISHOP STORTFORD – Rhodes Art Centre, talk and signing with Waterstone’s, 7:30pm
19th September – WARWICK – Guy Nelson Hall, talk and signing with David Baldwin and Michael Jones. Warwick Books, 7:30pm
20th September – NOTTINGHAM – The Broadway Cinema, talk and signing with Waterstones, 6:00pm
21st September – MANCHESTER – The Royal Northern College of Music Concert Hall, talk and signing with Waterstone’s Deansgate, 7:00pM
22nd September – YORK – Shepherd’s Hall,St Peter’s School York, talk and signing, with Waterstone’s, 7:00pm

USA

16th October – NEW YORK – New York Times 2011 Great Literary Conversation, The Times Centre, 11:00am. With Rita Mae Brown, Lee Child, and Sapphire.
17th October – NEW YORK – Landmark on Main Street with Port Washington Library, Jeanne Rimsky Theatre, 7:30pm
18th October – ATLANTA – Ivy Hall Writers Series with Savannah College of Art & Design, 6:30pm
20th October – MILWAUKEE – Shully’s High Tea at Shully’s Garden Pavillion with Next Chapter Bookshop, 2:00pm
23rd October – CHICAGO – Wentz Concert Hall at North Central College with Anderson’s Bookshop, 2:00pm
25th October – SAN FRANCISCO – Commonwealth Club of California, 6:00pm
26th October – SAN FRANCISCO – Diablo Country Club with Rakestraw Books, 7:00pm
27th October – SAN FRANCISCO – Osher Marin Jewish Community Center with Book Passage, 7:00pm
29th October – MADISON, CT – Polson Middle School with R.J. Julia, 4:00pm
30th October – ROCKLEIGH, NJ – Rockleigh Country Club with Books & Greetings, 10:00am

Canada

1st November – TORONTO – St. Barnabas Church with Indigo Books, 7:00pm

The other nominees are :
Whiter Than Snow by Sandra Dallas
The Red Queen by Philippa Gregory
The Irish Duke by Virginia Henley
The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley
The Wives of Henry Oades by Joanna Moran
The Betrayal of the Blood lily by Lauren Willig

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