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An Interview with Brandy Purdy by Susan Higginbotham, author of THE TRAITOR'S WIFE, visit her website at www.susanhigginbotham.com
SH: We're talking today with Brandy Purdy, who's recently published her novel about Edward II's favorite, THE CONFESSION OF PIERS GAVESTON What made you decide to tell Gaveston's story in the first person?
BP: The challenge of trying to give this man a voice. In the historical records, he's very silent. I read somewhere that Gaveston's personality is largely "lost in the mists of history," that everything written about him was written after he became notorious. Taking into account everything I could find out about him, good and bad, from every side, I wanted to try to, I guess you could say, resurrect that lost personality. Also, I noticed that of the many novels about the reign of Edward II, none of them that I read or read about, that were written in the first person ever told the story from Gaveston's viewpoint, it was always Edward, Isabelle, someone else, or a fictitious lady-in-waiting or courtier. Even Chris Hunt's novel GAVESTON is written in another man's voice--Edward's. I thought the object of that obsession deserved a chance to speak for himself.
SH: Did you find it limiting, as opposed to the third person?
BP: In the case of this book, I really didn't. I consider myself to have been very lucky with the writing of this book, it just flowed out for the most part. I spent more time trying to get it published than I did writing it. My second novel, THE BOLEYN WIFE (VENGEANCE IS MINE) is also written in the first person, and it was much more difficult.
SH: As a female, did you find that writing from the point of view of a man posed any special challenges?
BP: When it comes to things like battles or sports, most definitely yes. I've got the kind of mind that just can't follow sports and I know I would be hopeless at blow-by-blow descriptions of battle scenes. Gaveston was a champion jouster and an excellent soldier and I do worry that I didn't do justice to those parts of his story, that readers might feel my descriptions of these things are like watching a war movie on fast-forward. And if I've let anyone down with that, I am sorry, I really did try.
SH: Some people in the publishing industry have said that female readers prefer to read historical fiction with female main characters. What are your thoughts on this? Do you yourself have a preference?
BP: I know for a fact that the publishing industry is very reluctant to take a chance on a historical novel written from a male perspective. I spent five years trying to get Gaveston published. My agent told me that Crown, one of the major publishers of historical fiction, wouldn't even look at it because of this. As for my own personal tastes, it doesn't really matter to me, I like a good book, an interesting story and characters. But when it comes to reading a novel about a male subject it really depends on who it is and/or what the focus of the novel is, for instance I would probably find a novel about Alexander the Great's personal relationships very interesting, but I wouldn't even attempt to plow through a book about his battles.
SH: I was struck in your interview with Nan Hawthorne by your remark that you saw a parallel between Gaveston and Anne Boleyn. Can you expand on that?
BP: First of all, Edward II was definitely not the king Henry VIII was, but, after that is said, both are stories of obsession; kings who were willing to risk all to have the object of their desire. Piers Gaveston and Anne Boleyn were both famous for their wit, both inspired great resentment, jealousy, and hatred, they were people who stood out, didn't really fit the mold, and rumors of witchcraft swirled around both; both were said to have bewitched the king. Both Kings fought to have the person they desired most; Henry won his battles but Edward lost his, and both objects of these royal obsessions lost their heads in the end.
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