Author photograph by Fabio De Paola
An Interview with Minette Walters – author of The Players – by the Queensland Reviewers Collective
Queensland Reviewers Collective:
In the historical fiction genre, there can be a tension between a novel’s historical authenticity and the fictional narrative. How does an author resolve that tension – to remain true to the history but, at the same time, create an engaging fictional narrative? I might add that I believe the tension is resolved satisfactorily in The Players.
Minette Walters:
I’m helped by being an author who writes through character rather than to a pre-designed plot. A great amount of research is needed to understand the people and events that shaped a particular period of history, and there’s always a strong temptation to place a higher importance on the history than on the fictional characters. By writing through my characters, their stories remain at the forefront of my mind, and the history unfolds through their interaction with the real people of the time. It’s an exploratory and exciting form of writing. When I weave fictional characters into a set period of history and encourage them to make their marks on real events, I am as intrigued as my readers to learn what happens next!
QRC:
In common with your other novels. The Players has a number of strong intelligent women in the forefront – Lady Jayne, Althea and Elizabeth for example – countering any suggestion that ‘women were inadequate and inactive’ prior to the 19th century. But in this novel, there are two young men – Adam and Matthew – differing in rank but equally thirsting for knowledge. Does this show that intelligence is everywhere and simply needs to be identified and encouraged?
MW:
I’ve never doubted that, as now, intelligence existed in both sexes and in every social class in history. As soon as the poor had access to education, and learnt to read and write, the professional middle class expanded exponentially. As for strong, intelligent women, the idea that they had never existed before female writers such as Jane Austen and the Bronte sisters ‘invented’ them in the 19th century is patently absurd, since it would mean that women’s intelligence is evolving at ten times the speed that men have ever achieved! If history proves anything, it’s that patriarchal societies – where men in authority deny education to those they fear – do not progress but remain stuck in a medieval time loop.
QRC:
Necessarily no doubt because of the Bloody Assizes, there is a certain amount of legal discussion through the novel. How challenging is it to, first, become familiar with the laws in place over three hundred years ago; and second, to share the impact of the laws with the reader and not lose the dramatic tension of the narrative?
MW:
For anyone interested in law and how it has developed down the centuries, there’s a wealth of information in books and on the internet. To answer the second part of your question, I conceived Althea as the ‘maker’ of many of the legal arguments. Because of her reclusive personality and awkward inexperience in social situations, coupled with her extensive knowledge of the law, philosophy and language, her arguments are often framed in the form of a challenge. Hard to impress, Elias finds her discourteous directness refreshing, and engages with her willingly, allowing the reader to absorb the law along with their stories.
QRC:
In my interview with you in 2021 – shortly after the publication of The Swift and the Harrier – you said ‘I love the 17th century … it was a time of drama and turbulence’. You have now published The Players which continues the story of Lady Jayne Harrier [as she is now]. And it is indeed a story of drama and turbulence concluding with the Glorious Revolution. Will you continue to write about the 17th century or is there another period which attracts you?
MW:
I’m setting my next novel in the 18th century when organised crime in the shape of gangs smuggling illegal contraband across the English Channel was at its height. It’s truly said that history keeps repeating itself!
QRC appreciates the opportunity to pose these questions to Minette and thanks her for such thoughtful and considered answers.
To read QRC’s review of The Players, click on the title.
QRC has also reviewed The Swift and the Harrier and The Turn of Midnight – to read the reviews in full, click on the book’s title.