Anne Gracie, author of the recent Regency historical novel The Stolen Princess, is interviewed by the Word Wenches.
Mary Jo Putney: You're our first Australian guest. Why do you think we independent, republican colonials, whether Australian, Canadian, or Americans, love Regency historicals so much? Despite the glut of Regencies, predictions of the death of historicals, and now an expanding range of settings, the Regency historical subgenre is still doing just fine. Do you think this will continue?The interview also includes the news that Gracie has written a novelization of the first six episodes of the first season of the television drama, "The Tudors" - this was released in the US last November.Anne Gracie: I think "our" Regency era is, in a way, a fictional world loosely created from history by a whole body of marvelous fiction. And the more good books and movies set in that era are published, the more that world becomes real and beloved and familiar to more people, so it's very easy to step into it. I suspect the subgenre faltered when that world became too rigid and limited, but once people stepped outside of Almacks etc, it got a whole new lease of life. The actual Regency era has everything any novelist could want -- glamour, war, lords and ladies, rituals, poverty, social climbing, great art and architecture, exclusivity, technological innovation, revolutions -- there's no end to the fodder -- and we can approach it as an insular society or in the wider world context. I believe that as long as people bring their own unique take on it and write fabulous new stories, the subgenre will continue to flourish. I certainly hope so.
Anne Gracie's website
