Sadly destroyed and with nothing extant to see. But the Savoy Hotel is built on the site and, viewed from the Thames, it gives a superb idea of the extent and dominance of this incredible building that was completely laid waste. One of the finest palaces in Europe with a wealth of valuable items collected by the Duke, it remains a matter of great regret that it is lost to us along with all its treasures.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savoy_Palace

Kettlethorpe

There is little left of the manor that Katherine would have known, but the gateway arch to the present Kettlethorpe Hall, an eighteenth-century building, is certainly fourteenth century and so probably constructed by Katherine. There are also the remnants of a deer park that Katherine acquired.

The church was much rebuilt in the fifteenth and nineteenth centuries and sadly has no Swynford memorials.

www.britainexpress.com/counties/lincs/churches/Kettlethorpe.htm

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

I was born in the West riding of Yorkshire. After gaining a BA honours degree in history at Manchester university and a Master’s degree in education at hull, I lived in beverley in the east riding for many years as a teacher of history. Always a prolific reader, I enjoyed historical fiction and was encouraged to try my hand at writing. Success in short story competitions spurred me on.

Leaving teaching—but not my love of history—I wrote my first historical romance, a regency, which was published by Mills & boon in 2005. To date ten historical novels and a novella, ranging from medieval through the english Civil War and restoration and back to regency, have been published in the UK, North America and Australia, as well as in translation throughout europe and in Japan.

I now live with my husband in an eighteenth-century timber-framed cottage in the depths of the Welsh Marches in herefordshire. It is a wild, beautiful place on the borders between england and Wales, renowned for its black-and-white timbered houses, ruined castles and priories and magnificent churches. It is steeped in history, famous people and bloody deeds, as well as ghosts and folklore, all of which give me inspiration and sources for my writing, particularly in medieval times.

My previous historical novels published by MIRA:

Virgin Widow, the story of Anne Neville, wife of richard III. What if there truly was an emotional connection between Anne and richard…?

Devil’s Consort, the marvellous story of a medieval queen, eleanor of Aquitaine, who fought to hold her own power in a world dominated by men.

Dynamic, charismatic, she divorced one husband to claim another. As for going on crusade…

The King’s Concubine, the dramatic ‘rags to riches’ tale of Alice Perrers, infamous mistress to King Edward III.

The Forbidden Queen, telling the story of beautiful yet tragic Katherine de Valois, wife of Henry V and, of course, of Owen Tudor, with whom she founded the Tudor dynasty.

For my next book I am writing about Elizabeth of Lancaster, younger daughter of John and Blanche of Lancaster. Spoilt, wilful, but talented, Elizabeth had to learn the high price her royal blood demanded. How could she choose between love for her husband, John Holland, Duke of Exeter, or loyalty to her brother, Henry IV, when rebellion against Richard II put them on opposite sides? Would it be possible for Elizabeth to escape heartbreak?

WHY I WRITE…

I recall the days, when I was still teaching history, when I wanted to write but found it difficult. What to write, how to construct a plot, how to make it interesting—I never seemed to make any progress. What do I write about? That was the real problem. I felt an urge to write, but the subject matter defeated me. When I did, short stories were as much as I could cope with and I admit to still finding it hard to write stories set in contemporary situations. The inspiration hit me when I realised that I could use what I knew: when I discovered the rich vein of history as subject matter, my imagination was fired. Now I find writing a compulsive necessity in my life, the ideas springing from a combination of events, characters and conflicts that enable me to visualise a situation. When my interest is caught, I feel a need to breathe life into a scene or situation by allowing the characters to speak. I particularly enjoy writing about medieval women. Their lives may be very different from our own, the pressures of family and politics and religious mores of the day, the place they are expected to occupy in society, yet their emotions are no different. What a delight it is to make these women come alive again.

I write because I enjoy the experience—both the process of it and its end result.

Q&A ON WRITING

What do you love the most about being a writer?

I think it is the control factor. Manipulating and directing characters to allow them—or sometimes to force them—to tell the story so that distant historical events come alive through conversation and the interaction of characters, proving that in some ways we are not too different today from our ancestors. We are driven by the same ambitions and motivations. I love seeing the scenes develop as the characters speak.

Where do you go for inspiration?

In general, my garden. Weeding a flower bed or picking raspberries frees the mind to allow ideas to flow. but ideas come in the most unlikely places. I once plotted the whole of an historical whodunnit on a motorway in a traffic jam. If I need a specific atmosphere I might visit a place associated with the character. When researching Anne Neville I visited Tewkesbury Abbey and the adjacent battle field—Tewkesbury is quite close to where I live. I know Middleham Castle well from my days of living in Yorkshire. eleanor of Aquitaine presented me with some difficulties, but a visit to Goodrich Castle gave me the atmosphere of a small border fortress in the early twelfth century. I have also visited the magnificent Angevin tombs at Fontrevault, as well as the castle at Chinon and the remarkable ruins of old Sarum, both fortresses where henry kept eleanor imprisoned.

For atmosphere for both Alice Perrers and Katherine de Valois, it has given me an excellent excuse to revisit some of the royal palaces in London. It is a great pity that many of the manors and palaces—such as havering-atte-bower— associated with Alice and edward no longer exist. Leeds Castle is a true gem, and very redolent with Katherine’s love affair with Owen Tudor.

I am in the enjoyable throes of visiting the haunts of Katherine Swynford and John of Lancaster. Kenilworth has so many vibes since John’s hand is on much of the building. My next stop— probably next year now—will be Lincoln Cathedral and Pontefract Castle.

Elizabeth of Lancaster, my new heroine, is buried in a superbly carved tomb at Burford, near Tenbury Wells, very close to where I live.

Music helps for atmosphere and inspiration too. I have just discovered the Mediaeval Baebes. Their take on medieval music is stunning.

I have discovered another source of inspiration after visiting a re-enactment of the Battle of Mortimer’s Cross. The re-enactment community was something completely new for me. I don’t think I had realised their commitment to all things authentic. I loved it.

What one piece of advice would you give to a writer wanting to start a career?

To sit down and write. It is so easy, as I know, to make excuses of lack of time, lack of ideas, lack of somewhere to sit and write. I made these excuses for years. Whether it’s longhand or by PC, it will not happen unless you accept that it’s a time-consuming, often inconvenient and almost always lonely exercise. On the other side of the coin, it can become an all-embracing way of life, bringing amazing enjoyment and fulfilment.

But you have to make a start—and persist by working out a routine and sticking to it, even if it’s a somewhat haphazard routine.

Which book do you wish you had written?

I think it has to be Dorothy Dunnett’s The Game of Kings, and the other five to complete the Lymond series. I was seriously hooked when I read the first of them. I don’t think I will ever find a better advocate of historical fiction. In 2012 I felt it a great honour to be invited to speak at the Dorothy Dunnett Literary Lunch in Manchester in July.

How did you feel when your first book was signed?

Astonished, I think. The timescale from starting writing, through agents and publishers, and the inevitable rejections, is so vast and success seems to be an impossibility. It is difficult to remain confident and patient. The acceptance of my first book was wonderful—and definitely worthy of a bottle of champagne with my husband. It is still a great delight to see my books on the shelves…

How do you begin writing characters based on real historical figures and do they ever surprise you as you write?

Reading to begin with—any biography of the historical character. Once I have a plan of their life—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 recognise these as it is the explosively important ones. Although sometimes it surprises me—that scenes I’ve jettisoned demand to be included when I begin writing.