Episode 06: Nancy Bilyeau (The Joanna Stafford Trilogy; The Blue; Dreamland)


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Jan 12 2020 61 mins  

Charlie Place and Nancy Bilyeau (The Joanna Stafford Trilogy; The Blue; Dreamland) discuss the lifestyle of Dissolution-era nuns, using a website's 'contact me' form to great success, there being more relics than there were items, using your family's name in your work, and the grand amusement parks and luxury hotels of New York's past.

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Nancy will be discussing Dreamland at the Astoria Bookshop (31-29 31st Street, Astoria NY) on Thursday 16th January, 19:00-20:00
Dartford Museum's website
Elizabeth Vigee Le Brun, the artist who painted Marie Antoinette

Question Index

00:50 You’ve been on the staff of various magazines – did you always hope to write novels?
04:23 Where do you head to, sources-wise, when you’re first thinking about a book?
17:48 How much work was it to get around the issue of Reformation?
23:13 Was there a particular reason you wanted to focus on Catherine Howard rather than Henry’s other wives?
27:20 Is Joanna based on anyone in particular?
29:56 The Athelstan crown – is it real object or inspired by anything?
33:18 The part about the nun’s having to host a Lord for a feast – was this something that happen in convents at that time?
39:18 What was the position of women artists in the 1700s?
42:02 How much of the idea about shades and discovering what other factions were doing is based on fact?
44:13 So Genevieve’s grandfather’s surname is Billiou…
49:00 (Introducing Dreamland)
55:09 What can you tell us about The Ghost of Madison Avenue?
58:56 Do you have a favourite time period to write in out of the three you’ve used so far?

Purchase Links

The Crown:
Amazon UK
Amazon US
Amazon Canada
Waterstones
Hive
Book Depository
Barnes & Noble

The Chalice:
Amazon UK
Amazon US
Amazon Canada
Waterstones
Hive
Book Depository
Barnes & Noble

The Tapestry:
Amazon UK
Amazon US
Amazon Canada
Waterstones
Hive
Book Depository
Barnes & Noble

The Blue:
Amazon UK
Amazon US
Amazon Canada
Waterstones
Hive
Book Depository
Barnes & Noble

Dreamland:
Amazon UK
Amazon US
Amazon Canada
Waterstones
Hive
Book Depository
Barnes & Noble

The Ghost Of Madison Avenue:
Amazon UK
Amazon US
Amazon Canada

I am an Amazon Associate and earn a small commission on qualifying purchases.

Photograph used with permission from the publisher. Credit: Joshua Kessler.