Desert Island Castaway Nancy Bilyeau tells me her choice of books

Nancy Bilyeau is the author of the new historical fiction smash, The Crown. Nancy has spent her life working with words - she has worked on the staffs of Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, and Good Housekeeping. Most recently, she served as deputy editor at InStyle magazine.

Nancy has interesting ancestors. In 1661, Nancy's ancestor, Pierre Billiou, emigrated from France to what was then New Amsterdam when he and his family sailed on the St. Jean de Baptiste to escape persecution for their Protestant beliefs. Pierre built the first stone house on Staten Island and is considered the borough's founder. His little white house is on the US national register of historic homes and is still standing to this day.

Nancy lives in New York City with her husband and two children.

Whilst I am over at Unabridged Chick and at History and Women Nancy is keeping herself busy on my Desert Island reading her three books, and cooking up a wonderful meal - sorry Nancy it will be on an open fire, but you can always use it as research for your next Tudor blockbuster!

Nancy's choices:

Classic: "The Age of Innocence." The descriptive writing is gorgeous; the character work is so subtle. Only problem is how desperately I want Newland Archer to climb the stairs, in Paris, to see Ellen Olenska again. Oh, Edith Wharton...

Contemporary: If I am to be airlifted to the desert island right now, then I must bring Deborah Harkness's "Shadow of Night." I'm about one-third of the way through, and I have to know what happens next. It's set in my beloved Tudor era--the late Elizabeth age--and I've already discovered that certain legendary poets were actually demons. Explains a lot!

Nonfiction: "The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook." Because on a desert island I am obviously going to be barefoot, but on this particular island I'm hoping for a state-of-the-art kitchen and fresh ingredients so I can work on my cooking.  My family will be delighted. Too bad they won't be on the island.

THE CROWN  - An aristocratic young nun must find a legendary crown in order to save her father—and preserve the Catholic faith from Cromwell’s ruthless terror. The year is 1537. . .

Read more about Nancy and her books at www.nancybilyeau.com

Gabrielle Kimm tells me her Desert Island Book Choices

Gabrielle Kimm is the best-selling author of His Last Duchess and The Courtesan's Lover. I have dragged her away from Renaissance Italy where she is researching her next novel for a stay on my Desert Island whilst I am on my blog tour. Today Gabrielle is holding the fort here whilst I am at Legacy of a Writer and So Many Precious Books so Little Time. There is an interview and Giveaway of THE GILDED LILY too at Unabridged Chick.

Gabrielle says,

"I first thought I might like to be a novelist when I was a child, and my mother bought me a copy of a book called ‘The Far Distant Oxus’, written by two schoolgirls: Katharine Hull and Pamela Whitlock. (The book was re-issued by Fidra Books last year.) I was entranced by it, and it began a longing in me to write my own novel. Being only twelve, and the two authors being fourteen and fifteen, I reckoned then that I had at least two years in which to fulfil my ambition! But as my first novel hits the shelves, some thirty six years later, perhaps in hindsight I have to admit that that assessment was just a little optimistic …"

Gabrielle's time is now divided between family, writing and teaching English in a secondary school, and she will be able to take some time out from that busy life on my island.On her website she lists the things she loves as peace and quiet (something of a rarity !), and watching the changing of the seasons. Both of those she can enjoy on the island, but the other things, well I won't tell her there's not a hope of Radio 4, playing the piano, walking her dog, that perfect cup of tea, or chocolate.

(Well, ok, I'll allow her a small bar of chocolate as emergency rations), but she will have her choice of three books - here they are:
 

Classic:  Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck.  A book I've taught to GCSE students over a number of years.  Each time I re-read, I find another perfect phrase, another beautiful comparison, another heartbreaking instant of tragedy.  A stunning book. Current:  Florence and Giles, by John Harding.  So hard to choose a current novel - I've been reading voraciously for months!  But this extraordinary homage to Henry James's The Turn of the Screw is the book which I think has stayed with me the longest after reading, which has burrowed its way into my thinking. Non-Fiction:  It has to be Daily Life in Renaissance Italy, by Elizabeth Cohen and Thomas Cohen.  This book has been my bible since I began researching for His Last Duchess.  I'd be lost without it! Find Gabrielle on her website: www.gabriellekimm.com

Gillian Bagwell chooses her Desert Island Books

Gillian Bagwell is a very clever woman. Not only has she managed to write two stunning historicals, and is working on a third, but she's also able to be in two places at once. She's on her way to the Historical Novel Society Conference in London, and she's also here minding my deserted blog, my Desert Island, whilst I'm touring the blogosphere.

Today The Gilded Lily is being reviewed at Unabridged Chick, pop over to see what the verdict is. I am also a guest on Passages to the Past with my post on the artists that inspired The Gilded Lily.You can win a book at both sites by entering the Giveaway.

Now - more about Gillian.

Gillian Bagwell grew up in Berkeley, California, and began her professional life as an actress, studying at the University of California Berkeley and the Drama Studio London at Berkeley before relocating to Los Angeles to pursue a career in film and television. She moved into directing and producing theatre, founding The Pasadena Shakespeare Company, where she served as artistic director for nine years, producing thirty-seven critically acclaimed productions.

She united her life-long love of books, British history, and theatre in writing The Darling Strumpet, based on the life of Nell Gwynn.

Her second novel, The King's Mistress, is about Jane Lane, an ordinary English girl who risked her life to help the young Charles II escape after the Battle of Worcester.

Here are Gillian's choices.

Classic – Complete Works of Shakespeare

I have to choose this – pound for pound it provides more material, and more compelling material, than just about anything else.  Having acted in, directed, and produced a lot of Shakespeare, I find that it’s in my blood.

Current – Ian Rankin. He’s a best-selling author in the U.K. and not very well known in the U.S. for some reason. I’ve read all of his Rebus series, and now I’m loving his new series with a new protagonist, Malcolm Fox of the Complaints – the internal investigation bureau of the Lothian and Borders police. Both are crime fiction set in contemporary Edinburgh, and are just want I want to read when I’m writing historical fiction, i.e., something that is completely different than historical fiction!

Non-fiction – all of Liza Picard’s books: Elizabethan London, Restoration London, Dr. Johnson’s London, and Victorian London. Ms. Picard provides a great deal of information about people’s everyday lives—what they ate, how much things cost, how they got around, entertainment and leisure, sex, health, etc. Just what I need when writing historical fiction!

I am a great fan of Liza Picard's books too, so I hope Gillian will leave her selection behind when she leaves!
You can find out more about Gillian and her books at

www.gillianbagwell.com

www.facebook.com/gillianbagwell

www.amazon.com/author/gillianbagwell

Twitter - @GillianBagwell