Q & A with Anne O’Brien

What sparked your interest in the tumultuous reign of Edward IV and the Wars of the Roses?

Medieval history has always appealed to me but I had no thought of writing about the Wars of the Roses.  I considered it to be a minefield of political manoeuvring and complicated alliances that switched all too frequently from York to Lancaster.  Some of the characters interested me, but the vast sweep of history did not.

And then I moved to live in Herefordshire in the Welsh Marches.  Loving all things historical, I visited the local historic sites and houses.  Ten minutes drive away is the battlefield of Mortimer’s Cross where Edward of York, before he became Edward IV and barely seventeen years old, defeated a Lancastrian army advancing out of Wales.

Today it has a main road running through it and a busy crossroads, but the surrounding countryside is mostly unchanged from what it would have been in the fifteenth century.  Even on a hot July day, it touched my imagination.  I could almost see Edward’s troops drawn up there in battle order, and the magical effect of the parhelion that was occurred on the morning of the battle, the three suns rising together, created by the refraction of light through the early mists.  Edward had the presence of mind to use this striking vision to fire his troops with confidence, and later incorporated it into his personal heraldic device, the Sun in Splendour.

When I also learned that Owen Tudor, second husband of the ill-fated Katherine of Valois was executed in the market place of Hereford after the battle, his bloody head and hair washed and combed by a woman mad with grief, I was well and truly hooked.

Finally I visited Ludlow Castle, a wonderful fortress that dominates the little market town in the Marches.  This is where Richard stayed as a young boy with his mother Duchess Cecily and his brother Clarence.  In the market place the Duchess and her two young children stood, beleaguered, and defied the mob that pillaged and robbed the town around them and threatened their lives.

How could I resist so much potential drama for a novel?

What inspired you to write The Virgin Widow?

I wrote simply to answer the question: who was Anne Neville? Her connections were illustrious: she was Queen of England, wife to one of the most infamous Kings, Richard III, and daughter of the ambitious Kingmaker, but Anne herself is a shadowy figure. Other than the date of her birth and death and a brief record of the significant events in her life, we know nothing of her preferences, her opinions, or her personal responses to the influences that shaped her. None of her emotions, none of her intimate thoughts have filtered down to us: no personal reminiscences or letters exist, nor are there any accurate contemporary portraits. She was described as gracious and fair, but that was the ideal of womanhood, and would have been said of any newly created royal Princess.

It has to be said that, on first glance, Anne left little imprint on history.

Despite this lack of evidence—or perhaps because of it—I saw such possibilities for her as a heroine.  During her short life she was involved with the most important men and women of the day.  Would she not have something to say about this?  Our knowledge of politics tends to be from the view point of men.  I thought it would be interesting to give a young woman’s take on the happenings of the time, and how they affected her life.  Anne, on the verge of adulthood, was the obvious choice.

Since we know nothing about her character, I considered this “blank sheet” of Anne’s personality to be a gift. How could I resist putting words into her mouth and encouraging this young woman of the fifteenth century to emerge as a living entity?

So I was inspired to re-create her.

What makes Anne Neville such a fascinating subject?

When she appears in novels, Anne is never a dynamic character: she is weak and mild with nothing to say for herself.

But why?

There is no historical evidence to indicate her character.  Without doubt, Anne was used as a pawn in the unscrupulous political dealings of the Wars of the Roses, but what if she was not simply a cipher?  What if she had inherited all the strength and pride of her Neville and Beauchamp ancestors?

It seemed to me that, surrounded as she was by strong characters, Anne Neville too might have been a young woman of considerable spirit. I could not believe that, coming from the Neville household, and from such strong-willed parents, she would have been a nonentity.  There were other dominant female role models apart from her mother for Anne to observe and perhaps copy during the period.  Cecily Neville, Richard’s mother; Margaret of Anjou;  Elizabeth Woodville, Queen of England;  not one of them was a shrinking violet.  Why must Anne be portrayed as such?

So I gave her spirit, courage, impatience, outspokenness, all the attributes of a young girl growing into a politically harsh maturity.  Understanding the sort of life she would lead as an important daughter from a highly ambitious, power-hungry family, it was simply a matter of putting Anne into a situation and asking: what would Anne think about this …?

And so, for me, her character developed.  Sometimes she surprised me.  She was more than ready to speak up for herself, as when, a prisoner guilty by association of treason, she was prepared to challenge King Edward IV.  I allowed her to do it.  Youth often has more spirit than discretion.

I hope that by giving Anne the character I have, I have remained true to her and honest to the age in which she lived.

Your characters are based on real historical figures. Do you feel that the facts constrain your writing in any way? Or do they assist you in your creativity?

Something of both, I think.

For the most part, historical characters and events help me to be creative.  I love writing about history and the research it entails.  There are so many excellent stories to investigate, some the stuff of childhood history lessons, some completely unknown and breath-taking when first discovered.  Here is all the excitement and drama a novelist could ask for.  There is no need to ‘make things up’ – although I admit to being guilty of this too.  When evidence of a life or an event is thin on the ground, a novelist must recreate a realistic background to make it a good read.

The difficulties come when the historical views are diametrically at odds and strongly polarized, with heated opinions argued by both sides.  I have to accept that in writing about Richard III, even his early life, I will find it an impossibility to please every reader of historical novels.  But that is the burden of a novelist.  The areas open to debate have to be considered and handled carefully of course, with attention to the evidence and the period of history.  But in the end, since this is a novel and not a history text, and since I chose to write it as a romance from a young woman’s point of view rather than a straight history, the selection of evidence to make the most of the tension and the drama, and Anne’s relationship with Richard, is mine.

Share with us a little about the process you undertake when researching your novels.

I begin with some very general reading.  I need to immerse myself in the period so that I know how people lived: what they ate and wore, what leisure pursuits they might have, and, as far as it is possible to determine, what they thought about the events that determined their lives.  In other words I need a sense of place and time for my characters.  I have a good selection of reference books – I live near Hay on Wye, the Town of Books, an awesome place for browsing – on food and fashion, architecture and gardens, health, sex and witchcraft, so that I can put my characters into a scene.  I use the Internet of course but I much prefer the hands-on quality of books with pages that I can turn.

From there I turn to specifics, focusing on the lives of the characters at the centre of the novel as I first envisage it.  For the most part I research from secondary rather than primary sources, although the opinions of contemporaries are invaluable.  So I read, biographies, diaries, contemporary literature, anything I come across relevant to the period.

Once I have a plan of the life of my leading characters – main dates and events – with overlapping plans to indicate where they interact with the other characters in the story – then I make a list of the scenes which will obviously bring some element of tension or excitement or emotion into the story.  This is most important, I find.  I also make a list of areas which can be omitted or given a mere passing reference, with the pace of the story in mind or its relevance to the overall novel.  Sometimes events just don’t fit and it’s as important to recognize these as it is the explosively important ones.  Although sometimes it surprises me – that the scenes I’ve jettisoned demand to be included when I begin writing.

Perhaps the most enjoyable research comes from visiting places associated with the characters to give me ‘atmosphere.’  Sometimes I use contemporary music to set a mood.  I use a local group who specialize in medieval and renaissance costume and dancing to give me some visual stimulus.  Poetry and literature can help me to visualize the words and ideas that influenced my characters.

I do not complete all my research before I begin writing.  I become too impatient to see how my characters begin to develop.  I need to make a start on creating my hero and heroine and the secondary subjects very early in the process.  For this reason my research is ongoing – and when my characters surprise me, my research also leads me into areas I had not at first considered.  I think it is important to preserve an open mind and to some extent allow the story to dictate its own direction.

Have you visited places associated with the characters in your book? If so, do you have a favourite location?

Inspiration from locations for The Virgin Widow was very easy for me with a handful of splendid sites within a two hour drive .  The one that I enjoyed the most was Tewkesbury Abbey and battlefield where some of the most dramatic scenes in the novel took place.  It was a very icy, grey day when I went there, enough to draw a cold finger down my spine, and I could imagine the bloodshed and destruction when the town was sacked. The Abbey contains the mausoleum of Anne Neville’s de Clare and Despenser ancestors.  Her grandmother Isabel Despenser has a superbly carved tomb and chantry chapel beside the main altar. Anne’s sister Isabel and George of Clarence are also buried here.  In the chancel floor is a modern plaque commemorating the death of Edward of Lancaster, Prince of Wales.  I used this even though the site of Edward’s death is a matter of debate.  I make no apology for chosing the version that was the most dramatic.  What a blood-chilling scene it made.

Warwick was an essential place for me to visit.  The Church of St. Mary does not appear in the novel, but the Warwick tombs there are quite magnificent, and the church contains one of the finest chantry chapels of medieval England, that of Anne’s grandfather, Richard Beauchamp.

Warwick Castle, which Anne and Isabel would have known very well, is in an excellent state of preservation, a magnificent example of a medieval castle, in beautiful surroundings on the banks of the River Avon. Some of the later building work was done by Richard of Gloucester after his marriage to Anne.

Middleham Castle is much further away from me in Yorkshire.  Although it is severely ruined, it is an impressive place, dominating the little village of Middleham, and it has all the atmosphere I could need.  This is where Anne spent much of her childhood, and where Richard was raised in Warwick’s household.

I find visits to such places so important for firing my imagination, making me think: what would it be like to live here when …?

Describe for us a day in your life when you are writing. Do you follow any rituals?

I try to write every day, for the sake of continuity, and because I suffer from withdrawal symptoms if I miss more than a few days.  What will my characters do without me? I also worry that I will lose the thread of the story and not be able to find my way back into it.  On the other hand, I am not obsessive about it.  Sometimes real life intervenes.

I am a morning writer.  In summer when the days are long I can start work at 6.00 am – it is harder in winter when I am usually underway by 8.30 am.  I work until lunchtime, about one o’clock, with a coffee break.  I have an office where I can leave all my books and papers around so that I can find them when I start again.  If I tidy up, I lose things.

I work straight onto my PC or laptop but I also keep a notebook and pen to hand.  I write notes on images and scenes, conversations between the characters, anything that comes to mind – ideas tend to appear at the most inopportune times.  Sometimes I rough out whole scenes by hand but only with the bare minimum of detail.  I am an inveterate list-maker so pen and paper are essential.

I work in silence when I’m first putting scenes and plots together.  When I’m reviewing or redrafting or polishing towards the end of a novel I often listen to music.  Baroque choral music works for me when I’m writing.

I rarely work all day.  I think I do my characters less than justice at the end of a long day’s writing, and my ideas become stale.  In the afternoons when the weather is fine I enjoy my garden, a large, rambling area where I and my husband grow vegetables and soft fruit.  The seasons are a delight with herbaceous flower borders, a wild garden, a small orchard and a formal pond.  With an interest in herbs and their uses, I have a herb garden constructed on the pattern of a Tudor knot garden and enjoys cooking with the proceeds.  It is a perfect time for me to mentally review what I’ve been doing as I keep the flowerbeds in order and wage war on the weeds.  I find writers’ block not to be a problem – hacking at weeds can create interesting ideas.

Housework is fitted in as and when.  My priority is writing, but I am driven to cleaning when I can write my name in the dust on the furniture.

Early evening is a time when I sit with a glass of wine to make contact with my husband.  It is a very important hour which we put aside for ourselves with music and a wood fire in my cottage.  Often I read through and edit what I have written in the morning, or research the next scene.  Then we eat – I am an enthusiastic vegetarian cook so it is a pleasure to fit this into my day.

I’m sure that you have read many books in your life that have inspired you. Do you have a favourite?

I have just discovered Ariana Franklin’s medieval crimes novels set in the reign of Henry II – the first one is the Mistress of the Art of Death – and I have now read all four of them.  I love the humour, the authentic detail of the state of medicine in the twelfth century, the fine characterisation and the understated romance.  To have a female ‘doctor’ from Sicily as a heroine appeals to me.

I suppose the first historical novels I read, many years ago now, that truly awoke my interest in the genre were those of Georgette Heyer.   These Old Shades is the one I recall making the strongest impression.  I enjoyed the sheer romance of it.  I have read it again since and find it just as magical.  I recall wishing that I could write with such atmosphere and accuracy of detail and period.

If I have to select any novels that inspired me it has to be Dorothy Dunnett’s The Game of Kings and the other five novels in the Lymond series.  I remember finding The Game of Kings, reading it avidly and then being frustrated at having to wait until the rest were written to discover the final ending.  I really did not want the series to end.  The quality of the novels impressed me so much, the excitement, the action, the high romance, were all aspects of writing that I would seek to emulate.

What book/s do you recommend for people wanting to learn more about the life of Anne Neville?

Anyone wishing to read an historical biography of Anne Neville must read the most recent and the only one of any depth:

Michael Hicks: Anne Neville, Queen of Richard III

Are you currently working on any new novels?

My next novel, to be published by NAL in June 2011, is Queen Defiant, the excitingly dramatic story of the early years of Eleanor of Aquitaine.  Most historical novels focus on the period when she was Queen of England, when her marriage to Henry II became increasingly sour, Eleanor supporting her sons in rebellion and paying for it with years of captivity at Henry’s hands.  I realised that her early life held just as much adventure and passion and romance.  Her marriage to Louis of France, her illicit lovers, her determination to go on Crusade, her pursuit of divorce and a second marriage – all are perfect material for an historical novelist.  Eleanor was a charismatic but ruthless woman, willing to flout the accepted social mores of the twelfth century.  I think she has made a splendid heroine.

Now I am writing the first in a serious under the heading of Wives and Mistresses, covering the period of the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries.  This first novel plots the career of Alice Perrers, the notorious concubine of Edward III.  She has acquired a vicious reputation, and I think not wholly undeserved, but I decided that a more balanced look at her life was long overdue.  Her critics were nothing if not self-interested.  Alice was certainly not a victim of circumstance: she has the makings of another strong-willed heroine, if somewhat unconventional.  I am enjoying the challenge of writing about her.

If you were given the task of writing a few lines for a memorial plaque for Anne Neville, what would you say?

If Anne was anything like the young woman I have created in The Virgin Widow, I suppose I would like the following:

Anne Neville.

Her father’s daughter.

Her husband’s wife.

Destined to be overshadowed in a power-hungry age,

But a woman not unaware of her own worth.

Her spirit and her courage shine brightly.