May 15, 2018
Kate Mosse's vivid, evocative portrayals of landscapes come alive in her descriptions of the land and history that inspire her best-selling books, as you might expect from someone who’s sold over 5 million copies of her novels across the globe. The author talks about her love of rural France, Paris, Amsterdam, North America and also of literature, art and history in such a delightful way you will be left inspired to explore, read and maybe even move to France.
Subjects covered include:
Selling over 5 million copies
The joy of being successful
How she got published
Advice for new authors
Her pregnancy book
The emotional aspect of being pregnant
The inspiration being ‘the French connection’
Why her fiction ‘comes from place’
‘Landscape is the lead character’
‘Place and character and plot are inextricably linked’
Falling in love with Carcasonne
‘The whispering in the landscape; stories started to come’
Finding her writers’ voice
The connection of history and land and character
The South West of France – the most magical part of france
Hot summer, hot winds, the garigue brush land, the bastides walled cities, grape vines, wines, the Mediterranean, the Pont Vieux, the Pyrenees.
The beautiful turning of the seasons
How she researches the history
16th century France
The wars of religion
The new book the Burning Chambers
The Burning Chambers being first of four
The Huguenots versus the Catholics
Toulouse, Paris, London, Amsterdam, South Africa
The St Bartholomew’s Day massacre
The sparsely populated rural France
The best thing about Paris
Why people think the Parisians are arrogant
Henry IV
The rise and persecution of the Hugenots
The ‘great Protestant republic
Amsterdam’s canals in the 17th century
Her plans for a month in Amsterdam in January
Lisa’s time in Amsterdam
Free beer!
The Museum of the Resistance
Her favourite novel of all time - Wuthering Heights
The Bronte sisters
Haworth in Yorkshire
The book ‘I Am Heathcliff’ in tribute to Emily Bronte
The haunting Bronte family history
The Yorkshire Moors and landscape
How Anne Bronte is the most feminist writer of them all
The landscape reflecting how people feel
American pioneering writers like Willa Cather
The relationship of land and emotion
Kate’s international book tours to America; Minneapolis, Denver, Raleigh Durham, Scandinavia, Oslo, Iceland, Reykjavik, Slovenia, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Sussex, England, Chichester, The South Downs, the English Channel, Kingley Vale.
Being the founder director of The Women’s Prize for Fiction
‘Making sure that all the voices are heard’
Using historical literature to reflect on current politics
Women’s rights
Black Lives Matter
How people turn to theatre, books and painting to deal with difficult subjects
History repeating itself
The echoes of contemporary the world in her fiction
Jacques Brel