Monday’s review of Clemmie Bennett’s book was interesting to write and brought up a lot of questions for me and I was lucky enough to be able to pose some of them to the author.
Q. I was inspired to read about the Tudors after seeing a copy of the Hans Holbein portrait of Henry VIII at Chatsworth House. What do you think first inspired you to be interested in the Tudor Court?
A. I watched the Showtime series The Tudors . In France, where I grew up, we do not learn about King Henry VIII and his wives at school. It was for me a completely new world and it compelled me. After each episode, I found myself researching on the true people behind the characters. I figured out quite quickly that the show was taking liberties with history, big ones even, but the deed had been done: I was hooked. Before I even finished watching the show, I was reading non-fiction books on Henry and his wives… I haven’t stopped yet!
Q. How does it feel to send a character back to one of the most tumultuous times in history, especially for women? ere you worried for her or did you know she was going to be okay?
A. I knew she would be okay, at least physically. It was always in the plot to make her survive Henry, maybe as some sort of revenge for the formidable women who did not. What was unexpected however, was Ella’s moral and psychological evolution. Without getting into too much detail, there were times when she was writing herself, giving herself an arc that I had not planned for. I am glad that she did. In the end, it does go back to your question: sending a character, especially a woman, in this tumultuous time in history is so dangerous that it was never likely that she would remain unscathed.
Q. Did you decide Ella would break the golden rule of time travel – don’t change anything in the past?
A. It was always the plan. One of the goals in the novel, was to show that some events in history were meant to happen, even if not necessarily in the same way. To a certain degree, I believe in determinism. The English Reformation was always going to happen, whether or not Ella changed the past. Besides, to me, the golden rule of time travel takes all the fun out of writing a time travel novel.
Q. Taking into account the legacy of the Wars of the Rose, the death of his brother and his uneasy relationship with his own father. Do you have empathy for Henry?
A. I use to. But now, not really. The way I see it, his main problem was the education he received. He was very intelligent and skilled in many things, but never learned to cope with the frustration of not getting what he wanted. During his childhood, the blame fell on the women who raised him ( as the second son he was not raised with his own, predominantly male household, but with his mother, sisters and female attendants) but as he grew older, one could have also expected him to also grow in control of himself and his desires. He did not, and it is the people closest to him who paid the price. Not only his wives, but also the men he loved, like Sir Thomas More, cardinal Thomas Wolsey or Thomas Cromwell. It is difficult to have empathy for someone who destroyed so many lives as a result of his tantrums, whether they had legitimate foundations or not. I do sympathise with his quest for a son, considering the threat of civil war, but this is overshadowed by the way he behaved for it.
Q. Which of Henry’s wives do you identify with most? And which do you most empathise with?
A. Katherine Parr is the one I identify with most. She was, after all, the only one of them to publish a book. Under her name and written with her own hand! She was also the only one to survive Henry and even managed to marry the man she truly loved, Thomas Seymour. He was a questionable man, but that is another debate.
Queen Katherine of Aragon is the one for whom my heart breaks, because I believe she was the only one of the six, who actually loved her husband. The humiliation to be rejected by him would have probably have hurt her less than the rejection itself. Picture yourself in her shoes: married for over fifteen years to the man you love, only for him to unilaterally decide that your marriage has been a sham this whole time. If this was not cruel enough, his reasoning was: she had not given birth to a healthy boy, a male heir. Even in a world where losing a child was common, she had lost five of them and her grief was common knowledge. Henry used it, played on it, deciding that the death of their – born or unborn – children was God’s judgement on their marriage. Katherine had first been married to prince Arthur, Henry’s elder brother. When he died shortly after the wedding, the Pope granted a dispensation for her to marry Henry, on the basis that the marriage had not been consummated. By choosing to believe that God was punishing their union for it, Henry humiliated and dishonoured his wife; se was accused of lying for over a decade about her virginity, blamed for the death of her own children, separated from her daughter and exiled from court. I see her fate as the most tragic, most painful of the six.
Q. There are details about living in the sixteenth century that I have not found in other books, like people relieving themselves on the floor and even in the fireplaces. What made you include them?
A. I once read that Katherine of Aragon asked for male courtiers to stop relieving themselves in the fireplaces. I remember being appalled, thinking about the tench this would have created. It was important to me to include this aspect of Tudor life in the story. Very often, when we think about Royal Courts of Kings and Queens of the past, we picture the dances and the beautifully dressed women, dripping in jewels. I myself am guilty of this. I wanted Ella to remind the readers that hygiene was a real issue underneath the velvets and the diamonds. It was also a way for me to show a historical setting, peopled with historical characters that we only see portraits of, in a more human light.
Q. Was it important for you to represent the daily struggle of the women in the court? Ella finds the underwear situation weird and there are details of dealing with bodily functions too, like when Ella gets her period.
A. Absolutely. Ella’s character had to be the most relatable possible, so that when she would be sent five hundred years to the past, she would have concerns and struggles that would be understandable to the reader. Any woman reading a novel set before tampons were invented once asked herself how women used to go through their period – or am I the only one? I even did the last time I watched the Disney cartoon Mulan. Besides the most obvious difficulties that would come with time travelling to Tudor times, I honestly believe my most burdensome would be very trivial – sanitary products, underwear, shampoo etc.
Q. I was surprised when Queen Katherine’s lady in waiting gave birth to Henry’s last wife, Katherine Parr, during the book. It really made me notice the differences in age and power. Was it a conscious choice to highlight inequalities like this?
A. When I wrote the scene when Ella finds out about Maud parr’s daughter, I gave her my own reaction. A man marrying the goddaughter (Katherine Parr) of his first wife (Katherine of Aragon) was to me, quite surreal. I sometimes think people forget about the age differences between Henry and his wives. He was six years younger than his first one, but twenty-one years older than his last one … and thirty-three years older than the previous one, Katherine Howard! For time, and for his contemporaries, it was not necessarily shocking. I was once told that Katherine Parr had made some sort of choice in accepting the King in marriage, but I disagree; the choices that could be made as a woman were in a completely different category to the choices that could be made as a man – especially the King of England. This imbalance is reflected later on in the novel, in the very limited life choices presented to Ella.
Q. Ella’s grandmother Lolly says we can’t judge people from the Tudor period by our 21st Century values. Do you agree?
A. Yes. This was the main reason why I wanted a main character born in the 21st century. She had to be relatable to the reader, in a way that her thinking process would be more similar to them than the other characters in the story. As time passed, she would understand more their point of view, and her own thinking would change on certain topics. It is the duality that I wanted to show.
On a personal note, I think it is unfair to judge sixteenth century people with twenty-first century lenses. The world changes, people evolve. What would be shocking now could have been perfectly normal five centuries ago. And vice versa. However, I still maintain my judgement on Henry’s treatment of his wives, considering that even his contemporaries were divided by it, to say the least.
Q. I know a lot of book bloggers are aspiring writers so can you tell e a little bit about your writing routine and your route to getting published?
A. I actually do not have a writing routine. In the past I tried to follow other writers’ routines and pieces of advice – anything to feel in my heart that I was ‘doing it right’. It never really worked for me. i write when I can, mostly on evenings and weekends. I do try to write every day, but I work full-time so it is not always possible. When I have enough energy and inspiration, I usually pour myself a cup of tea and a sugary drink and I write. No music for me, as I end up focusing on the lyrics instead of my words. My current favourite spot is on my armchair by the window, but it can also be at my desk, my bed or even on the floor. It really depends on my mood.
The route to getting published was rocky. I queried many literary agents and publishing houses, hoping I would be traditionally published. It did not work out. It also brought to my attention the existence of something called a vanity press, which was an oddity to me, and I declined several of their propositions. In the end, I decided to use some of my savings to self-publish. I found lovely professionals on Reedsy: Matthew Kilburn for editing, Danna Mathias Steele for cover design and interior formatting, andJaime Witcomb as a publicist. It allowed me to keep complete control over my story and I am very happy with the final version.
Q. What are you writing next?
A. I am writing the sequel to The Apple and the Tree. I am not entirely sure yet if Ella’s story will be a duology or a trilogy, but it will be followed by a prequel on Lolly’s upbringing.
With Thanks to Clemmie Bennett and her P.R. Assistant Jaime Witcombe
The Lotus Readers 