Was CS Lewis a misogynist? Many people think he was, often based on what’s called the ‘Susan problem’ in The Last Battle. But while researching her debut novel, a mystery based on his life in Oxford in the 1940s, Maureen Paton found plenty of evidence to show that he was not; in fact, he challenged […]
The Queen’s Sister by Carol McGrath
At 19, Elizabeth Seymour is already a mother, has been recently widowed, and seen her Queen, Anne Boleyn, lose her life. Against the wishes of her father, she heads North, away from Wulf Hall and the court in London to Yorkshire, determined to establish a new beginning as a landowner and business woman. As her […]
Dora Maar: much more than a muse
Even now, Dora Maar is probably remembered for being Picasso’s lover and the subject of many of his paintings rather than as the innovative artist she was. Louisa Treger, whose latest novel retells her story, explains why Dora was much more than a muse. For years, the epithet ‘Picasso’s Weeping Woman’ has followed every mention […]
My problems writing about Jackie Kennedy and Maria Callas
Writing historical fiction about famous 20th-century people may mean that there are more records to draw on than are available for previous centuries. But it brings its own set of problems, as author Gill Paul found while working on her latest novel, The Second Marriage. Biographical novels have long been a popular form of historical […]