Nancy Bilyeau tells Female First about her new novel The Crown

In her words, Bilyeau describes the novel as ‘a young novice named Joanna Stratford in the Dominican Order in Kent, set in 1537 and 1538, when the monasteries were under direct attack by King Henry VIII. She gets caught up in a conspiracy and a dangerous quest to find something that they hope will stop the destruction of their way of life.'

Like many other writers the urge to put pen to paper came early, ‘when I was very young in my third grade class, I wrote a report after we took a field trip and the teacher made a little sign that said, 'have you heard of Nancy Bilyeau, the famous wrtier?; I was embarrassed but I was proud too. In high school, I took a writing class and loved it. When I graduated from university, I became a magazine editor and writer, so I made my living with words, but it was nonfiction. About seven years ago, I took a fiction workshop, we met every Monday night. That’s when I came up with the idea for this novel.'

As with all historical fiction there is a great deal of research that has to be undertaken before embarking on a novel from so long ago. ‘I already owned about 20 books on Tudor England because of my lifelong interest in this period. I ordered more books specifically on the Dissolution of the Monasteries and biographies of people at its centre. I read books about the history of Catholicism and the saints. I found creative inspiration by going to the Cloisters of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan. It has 3000 works of art from medieval Europe. I also corresponded with a historian knowledgeable about Malmesbury Abbey with a curatorial intern at the Tower of London and most of all with a manager of the Dartford Borough Museum. I travelled to Dartford and London to continue my research.'

Given the abundance of historical fiction on the books shelves presently I was curious as to how Bilyeau’s differed from them all. ‘Mine is different in two ways; First; Most historical fiction set in the 16^th century re-creates the lives of actual famous people. But my novel is not the story of a queen or princess, my protagonist is a fictional Dominican novice, though I placed her in a real family, the Staffords. And second; most thrillers are set in the third person and if they are historical, they jump around in time. Mine is written in the first person and is entirely in the 16^th century.'

Bilyeau believes the secret to writing success is to ‘take classes and workshops so you can try out you story on editors and find out if it’s working, if people are understanding what you are doing and having the responses you’d hoped for. Read other books in your genre and be patient with yourself. Writing is revision.'

The story continues in Bilyeau’s follow on novel The Chalice which has just been accepted for publication by Orion Books. 'I am very excited about it. A bit darker and more frightening than the Crown I think.'

I was intrigued by how Bilyeau reacted to television series about this era, ‘I worship ‘The Six Wives of Henry VIII’ and Elizabeth R’ and also the lesser known BBC series called the ‘Shadow of the Tower.’ The writing is superb. Keith Mitchell as Henry VIII, Glenda Jackson as Elizabeth I and James Maxwell as Henry VIII- all three are amazing actors. And I do enjoy the recent production ‘The Tudors.’ People get worked up over its historical inaccuracies, but often the series has captured the essential truth of these historical characters. The acting was good- my personal favourites were Natalie Dormer as Anne Boleyn, Sam Neill as Cardinal Wolsey and Joely Richardson as Catherine Parr. Really stand out music by Trevor Morris!’

I was curious to find out whether the characters in this novel were all based loosely on people the author knew. Bilyeau believes this to be true, ‘although I knew no nuns or monks or friars when I launched this project. My main characters have bit of behaviour or traits that see around me, I suppose. I did give Sister Joanna failing of mine. I have no natural sense of direction. Now neither does she. And for a woman who’s literally searching for something that has been hidden for centuries, this is a rather fun complication.'

Lucy Walton