Writing Worth Reading
Writing Worth Reading
If you read them all as one book – and you can – it is the most outstanding historical novel that I have ever read. It is effectively the history of England, seen through the eyes of each generation of the owners of a medieval house, from 1380 through to the 1950s.
You’ve started with Norah Lofts’s House Trilogy (The Town House, The House at Old Vine and The House at Sunset), which dates back to the late 1950s/early 1960s.
It’s a bit cheeky [to choose a trilogy], I know. But if you read them all as one book – and you can – it is the most outstanding historical novel that I have ever read. It is effectively the history of England, seen through the eyes of each generation of the owners of a medieval house, from 1380 through to the 1950s.
So you learn the history of England without having to read a dull history?
Yes, but it’s not just that. There are wonderful vivid characters, sinister undercurrents, and so many different story lines and themes. Sometimes there is a little gap between the stories where the reader is wondering what’s happened in between, and there are dark hints… The whole thing is a joy. I’ve been instrumental in getting it republished, and all three books are now available.
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Alison Weir is a British author and historian. She has written numerous popular history books, including, most recently, Captive Queen, about Eleanor of Aquitaine, and The Lady in the Tower, about the last days of Anne Boleyn.
