elizabeth Chadwick

I worked in shops to earn a crust before I became an author and I have a higher qualification in retail management, but it was always only just a job to make ends meet. In an ideal world and if I weren't an author I would either still work in publishing as a commissioning editor, or I would be an archaeologist or historian. I did consider taking a history degree after A levels, but for various reasons it remained a pipe dream and I went to work at Debenhams instead - in the lingerie department....not much difference!

Out of curiosity how many books do readers on the forum buy new as opposed to second hand/swap/library? What do you do when you've read a book? Keep it? Pass it on for free? sell it, or bin it?

Urgh, I've been updating my blog and now my formatting's gone weird - can't put the quote at the top. Never mind. I reckon it'll all snap back into place once I've shut down the PC overnight. It's hard to know what to recommend off the cuff. I think I would say start out with Shadows and Strongholds. It's based on the story of what happened to some of the inhabitants of Ludlow Castle and the Welsh Marches in the mid 12th Century and it has been generally well received. I know historical fiction isn't for everyone, but one of my passions is bringing history right into the here and now while never losing sight of the fact that I am showing the reader a different world.

It is a double edged sword. I can read material in say the Tudor or Regency period and the errors pass me by unless they are glaringly enormous, but with fiction set in the Middle Ages I'm a lot more sensitive. Pillars just doesn't get the mindset and some of the scenes would never, ever have happened back then. The first time I read it, I knew less about the period and got on with the book quite well, but when I re-read it for an online reading group a couple of years ago, I was wall-banging it every few pages.

The historical detail in Pillars of the Earth is way off base. It's a page turner, but it's terrible history!

I was asked by his publishers to give a quote for Under The Eagle when Simon Scarrow was on the verge of having his first novel published. I'm very chary about giving quotes because I need to be honest about the content, but I needn't have worried. Under The Eagles was a thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining read.

The Harry Potter Books, Lord of the Rings. I have very much enjoyed as far as I have read, George R.R. Martin's Ice and Fire series, although it takes some stamina and sorting out (but then so does Tolkien!). The first in the series is A Game of Thrones. Terry Pratchett is in a league of his own. Guards! Guards! is my favourite.

Katie Fforde is a personal friend, but I read and enjoyed her books long before that. I don't know that I have a particular favourite, they're all entertaining and warm and enjoyable. Her books are my mother's particular comfort read. If there's nothing she fancies or she's got the reading blahs, she re-reads a Katie Fforde.

Hello Louiseog! Okay, you can have Hugh Berenger. John Marshal is my special guy with William a close second! Yes, Daughters of the Grail I was commissioned to write by a TV producer and it is slightly different to my usual. He had a basic treatment he wanted fleshing out and turning into a full blown novel that he was hoping to make a three part series from. It never happened, but the novel was born. The Greatest Knight solidified my foray into biographical fiction. I guess I am on the periphery of the Philippa Gregory market. I write a similar genre, but I'm happy to write about men as well as women and obviously I write an earlier period. There is a follow up to The Greatest Knight - The Scarlet Lion which tells the second part of William Marshal's life and has more input from his wife. A Place Beyond Courage is the story of William's father, John. (what a guy!) Yes, I am a full time author and have been so since 1990, although I didn't properly start earning a living from writing for several years and it's only in the last three or four that I've gone bestseller. As Joanna Trollope once said, it's taken a decade (longer in my case) to become an overnight success!

Hello Angel, Pleased to meet you! I first began writing at the age of 15, but I was born to write I think. From earliest memory I know I told myself stories with beginnings, middles and ends. I have a particular memory of telling myself a story when I was 3 years old and sitting up in bed one light summer evening, making up a tale about the fairies on my cotton handkerchief instead of going to sleep! I didn't actually write anything down until my teens when I fell madly in love with Thibaud, le Chevalier Blanc in a children's TV series. You can read about Thibaud and his effect on me here on my blog. http://tinyurl.com/42a8ox To write my own story about the crusades I had to start researching the Middle Ages and the more I researched the more fascinated I became. Once having written my first novel, originally inspired by Thibaud, I was hooked. To be actually able to re-read one what one had created rather than have it disappear forever as the spoken word was a definite bonus and my career decision was made. Obviously it took a lot longer to realise that goal, but I knew it was what I wanted to do for a living if I could get my foot in the door. Authors who have influenced my love of historical fiction include: Dorothy Dunnett - in a league of her own Roberta Gellis - showed me that it was possible to write intelligent historical with a romantic element Grace Ingram - Red Adam's Lady is a classic Graham Shelby - The Knights of Dark Renown and The Kings of Vain Intent Mary Stewart's Arthurian novels, especially The Crystal Cave and The Hollow Hills - poetry in novel form Cecilia Holland - Hammer for Princes, Until The Sun Falls, Great Maria - showed me that heroes came in many shapes and sizes and that the most memorable love scenes are not always the most perfect ones. Valerie Anand - King of the Wood Sharon Penman - Here Be Dragons Ellis Peters - The Cadfael books, particularly the early ones. Don't tell anyone but I had a huge crush on Hugh Berenger!

Hello Inver! A difficult question to answer without going into ego-freak sales-woman mode:blush: However I'll have a go. I receive very little promo and publicity from my publishers and I have to rely on word of mouth recommendation, but since I am now considered to be a 'best-selling' author, I guess that's a good accolade for the material I write. I research very thoroughly. I won't say I always get it right, no author of historical fiction ever can, but I do my best, and this means that I don't just read reference books for my research. It's inter-disciplinary. Yes I read books - primary sources and academic secondary sources. I also use the Internet for books and articles and for networking with experts. In addition to that I re-enact with an early medieval society - Regia Anglorum. They are hot on authenticity and being a member means that I get to explore my chosen research subject in 3D. I know what it feels like to walk in medieval clothes. I know how to spin with a drop spindle, or to cook using Norman cooking pots and cauldrons. I have worn a mail shirt and donned a bucket helm. I talk to the guys involved about what it's like to fight in a mail shirt or get on a horse wearing one. All of this underpins what goes into the novel. I also use psychic research as one of the strands, which involves 'time-travelling' to speak with some of my subjects. All of the above disciplines are geared towards me making it feel as real as possible for a reader. I am always aware that I am writing for a modern audience, but I also feel a need to have integrity with the past. I hope that anyone who reads one of my novels will actually feel as if they are there in the moment - that they have been transported back to the life and times of Henry II for e.g. It's about us as we were then. Yes, society's rules were different, but we are still the same animal. There are some fantastic stories lurking in our history, many of them forgotten or as yet untold and just crying out to be brought to life. My novel The Scarlet Lion has been nominated by the founder of the Historical Novel Society as one of the landmark historical novels of the last decade. A Place Beyond Courage recently won the Best Historical Novel category (as opposed to best historical romance,it's not a romance as such although there is romance in it) by Romance Reviewers today. I've been 4 times nominated for the RNA Major award in the UK - an award chosen by readers, and I won a Betty Trask Award for my first published novel The Wild Hunt, which is being re-issued this December. So I guess those are reasonable credentials for recommendation. As always though, it boils down to personal taste as well:)

Hello Lilywhite, I hope I've come to the right place! Thank you so much for asking me onto your forum for July. I think, having had a glance around, I might even stay on. I love to talk books and I read across all genres, not just historical. My favourite time period to write about covers the timescale 1066-1250, with a leaning towards the middle of that period. It's where I've done the most research and I feel comfortable in that era. When I go to write in that time period it's just like opening a door to another room in my own house. If I suddenly decided to write a Regency or Tudor novel, it would be more like going out of my house and staying in a hotel. I could do it, but it wouldn't be as natural. There are some wonderful stories waiting to be told from this time period and I don't think I'm going to run out any time soon. A Place Beyond Courage is the story of John Marshal - 1105-1165. He's a man who is perceived by a modern audience to have been a callous father with nothing but his own gain in mind. 'Root and branch of hell' is what a bishop called him back in his own day. But is it the truth? What were the real circumstances of his life. That was what I set out to discover, and in doing so, my own life has been enriched beyond measure. Also in October The Time of Singing comes out in hard cover. This is again based on fact and is the story of Roger Bigod, builder of Framlingham Castle in Norfolk and his marriage to Ida de Tosney, mistress to King Henry II and mother of Henry's son William Longespee, later Earl of Salisbury. I have the trailer up at my blog at the moment. http://livingthehistoryelizabethchadwick.blogspot.com/ Before the end of the month I'll organise a prize draw with a forum moderator for a set of the Marshal novels - i.e. A Place Beyond Courage, The Greatest Knight and The Scarlet Lion, and also a copy of the new hardback. They won't get sent out until October though! Hope to speak to some of you later on. Back to the coal face of the day job! Elizabeth