Philippa Gregory: ‘I read 100 of the 18th century’s most popular novels – the perfect author’s apprenticeship’ — SkimNews
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- Philippa Gregory read and analysed more than 100 of the most popular 18th-century novels for her PhD, including Don Quixote, Clarissa, Gulliver’s Travels and Moll Flanders, learning structure, characterisation and tempo as the novel was being invented.
- The Little White Horse became Gregory’s childhood favourite; its combination of history and gothic fantasy started her love of historical fiction and later became a family favourite for her own children.
- Jane Austen was read early in Gregory’s life, teaching her economy of style and precision; Gregory calls Austen the finest writer in the English language.
- EP Thompson’s The Making of the English Working Class was a revelation to Gregory as a young woman, demonstrating the importance of writing history and becoming a model for finding and writing hidden history in her own work.
- Dombey and Son became one of Gregory’s favourite Dickens novels after she came to enjoy him later in life; she praises its combination of sentimentalism about a beautiful, frail child with a story about a merciless social climber.
- The Sea, the Sea is Gregory’s reread for comfort; she describes it as both an engaging story about a vain, gossipy theatre director and a profound exploration of love, vanity, greed and deep companionship.
- Molly Keane entered Gregory’s life only recently; Gregory says the novels portray the eccentric Anglo-Irish wealthy elite while remaining acutely aware of the injustice beneath it, with Good Behaviour a favourite portrait of a vanished society.
Why it matters: Gregory says EP Thompson’s radical history changed how she understood the importance of writing history, while her analysis of more than 100 novels taught her structure, characterisation and tempo. She presents both as models for her own work, including how to find and write a hidden history.
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