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Philippa Gregory pulls out of Edinburgh Book Festival

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LoveHistory
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Post by LoveHistory » Tue September 7th, 2010, 6:44 pm

Any chance PG wrote the Gandhi book under a pseudonym?

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Miss Moppet
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Post by Miss Moppet » Tue September 7th, 2010, 8:30 pm

[quote=""LoveHistory""]Any chance PG wrote the Gandhi book under a pseudonym?[/quote]

She wrote the foreword. It can be read at Amazon.

The author was her supervisor for her PhD and apparently commented once that he couldn't abide historical novels which featured real people. PG, haunted by the remark, wrote to him before starting TOBG to see if he thought it was all right for her to write about Mary Boleyn. He gave her the go-ahead, so she did, and she thinks he read her books 'with some pleasure.' I can only imagine the feelings my own former tutor, whose specialist subject was the Tudors, would have read them with.

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Michy
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Post by Michy » Tue September 7th, 2010, 10:24 pm

I would bet that her foreward for this book was much nicer than those she wrote for Anya Seton's books! ;)

M.M. Bennetts

Post by M.M. Bennetts » Tue September 7th, 2010, 10:25 pm

Honestly, I have just been reading this thread and laughing...and I keep laughing...

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Post by Miss Moppet » Tue September 7th, 2010, 10:41 pm

[quote=""Michy""]I would bet that her foreward for this book was much nicer than those she wrote for Anya Seton's books! ;) [/quote]

Actually it's mostly about her and her books. Haven't read the Anya Seton forewords but I know people were very annoyed by them.

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Post by Michy » Tue September 7th, 2010, 10:50 pm

[quote=""Miss Moppet""]Actually it's mostly about her and her books. [/quote] Why am I not surprised? ;)
Haven't read the Anya Seton forewords but I know people were very annoyed by them.
I found them off-putting and wondered why the publishers even included them, since they weren't all that complimentary to Seton's works. It felt like Gregory was trying really hard to find somethng positive to say about the books, and she wasn't all that successful!

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Post by Misfit » Tue September 7th, 2010, 10:57 pm

[quote=""Miss Moppet""]Actually it's mostly about her and her books. Haven't read the Anya Seton forewords but I know people were very annoyed by them.[/quote]

Oh, those were awful. I think I hated the one for Devil Water the most as she went and tried to insinuate a sexual relation between father and daughter. Must she see incest everywhere? Thankfully she wasn't doing them by the time My Theodosia came out. That would have been a father daughter relationship for her to snark :mad:
At home with a good book and the cat...
...is the only place I want to be

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Post by Miss Moppet » Tue September 7th, 2010, 10:58 pm

[quote=""Michy""]Why am I not surprised? ;) [/quote]

:D I nearly wrote that.

I found them off-putting and wondered why the publishers even included them, since they weren't all that complimentary to Seton's works. It felt like Gregory was trying really hard to find somethng positive to say about the books, and she wasn't all that successful!
Alison's Weir's afterword in her Katherine Swynford biog about Seton's Katherine wasn't too complimentary, but at least it wasn't attached to the book itself. She had some interesting points to make, but I find it hard to take her that seriously.

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Michy
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Post by Michy » Wed September 8th, 2010, 12:14 am

[quote=""Misfit""]Oh, those were awful. I think I hated the one for Devil Water the most as she went and tried to insinuate a sexual relation between father and daughter. Must she see incest everywhere? [/quote]

I know that one annoyed a lot of people. Actually, when I read Devil Water I did feel that Seton was implying the beginnings of something more than "fatherly affection" in Charles for his daughter; but it never went any further than a kiss on the mouth, due to the fact that Jenny immigrated to America. If you recall, the family priest (can't recall his name) was relieved she was going to America, because he felt she should be separated from her father for that reason. But I think that by drawing attention to it in her foreward, Gregory magnified it and made it more than it was.
Thankfully she wasn't doing them by the time My Theodosia came out. That would have been a father daughter relationship for her to snark :mad:
Hmmmmm .... I did notice that she didn't do forewards/afterwards for all of the books, but hadn't considered it in light of when the books were re-released. Was it only the earlier ones that had Gregory's remarks? If so, perhaps the publisher realized she wasn't doing Seton any favors, and stopped having her write forewards. I certainly didn't miss them!!

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Post by Michy » Wed September 8th, 2010, 12:19 am

[quote=""Miss Moppet""]
Alison's Weir's afterword in her Katherine Swynford biog about Seton's Katherine wasn't too complimentary, but at least it wasn't attached to the book itself. She had some interesting points to make, but I find it hard to take her that seriously.[/quote]

I listened to an audio version of Weir's book and do remember her after-comments about Seton's book. However, I took it as an honest critique, something more constructive than Gregory's comments. Gregory implies that if she had written Seton's books she could have done a better job (at least, that's how they sounded to me!).

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