I used to share a publisher with Phillipa Gregory and met her a few years ago, just as her new book was coming out. She was clearly incredibly smart and quite intimidating. Anyway, I saw the book and pinched a copy, thinking, I bet my mum will like this. About two days later I picked it up just to have a flick through and was instantly hooked, just like about six jillion other people worldwide, because the book was The Other Boleyn Girl and was about to eat the world. I don’t think people realised just how much room in their lives they had for sexy Tudors after school, but obviously, tons.
The follow ups have been here and there, but she’s still a brilliant comfort read, so I’ve been sinking gratefully into The Boleyn Inheritance. There are stomachers, shagging, and lots of gossipy goings on. Excellent stuff.
That’s also the trip I met Val McDermid, one of the funniest, toughest, most inspirational authors I know. Did you know she has robot knees? I’m working on a pilot for the BBC and had to describe a character who’s fierce, powerful and queen of all the witches in Scotland (don’t ask, you might see it one day, you never know). I wrote the character description then scored it out and just wrote, Val McDermid enters.
