Welcome to the Historical Fiction Online forums: a friendly place to discuss, review and discover historical fiction.
If this is your first visit, please be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above.
You will have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed.
To start viewing posts, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

The Crimson Petal & The White by Michel Faber

User avatar
Vanessa
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 4378
Joined: August 2008
Currently reading: The Farm at the Edge of the World by Sarah Vaughan
Interest in HF: The first historical novel I read was Katherine by Anya Seton and this sparked off my interest in this genre.
Favourite HF book: Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell!
Preferred HF: Any
Location: North Yorkshire, UK

The Crimson Petal & The White by Michel Faber

Post by Vanessa » Sat August 21st, 2010, 11:34 am

I've just read that BBC2 are doing a four part series of The Crimson Petal and The White, starring Gillian Anderson and Richard E Grant.

I loved the book so I shall look forward to watching this. I've no idea of timings yet but thought it might be of interest to some of you.
currently reading: My Books on Goodreads

Books are mirrors, you only see in them what you already have inside you ~ The Shadow of the Wind

User avatar
Leo62
Bibliophile
Posts: 1027
Joined: December 2008
Location: London
Contact:

Post by Leo62 » Sat August 21st, 2010, 12:14 pm

Yay! Thanks for the link Vanessa :) . I loved the book too, and will be fascinated to see the adaptation. Romola Garai is playing Sugar, with Gillian Anderson as Mrs Castaway!


ETA: Lots of interesting new drama coming from the BBC. They're doing an adaptation of Parade's End, Ford Maddox Ford's doorstop WW1 epic - always thought this would make a great TV series but never dreamed anyone would do it...

There's also new adaptations of Women In Love and Room at the Top, plus the Upstairs, Downstairs sequel.

Full list here:http://www.bbc.co.uk/tv/comingup/
Last edited by Leo62 on Sat August 21st, 2010, 12:22 pm, edited 2 times in total.
listen:there's a hell
of a good universe next door;let's go
ee cummings

User avatar
sweetpotatoboy
Bibliophile
Posts: 1641
Joined: August 2008
Location: London, UK

Post by sweetpotatoboy » Sat August 21st, 2010, 3:37 pm

Ooh, I read the book recently and still have mixed feelings about it. There was originally talk of a movie of it for some years, but a four-part TV series sounds a lot more appropriate. Could be interesting.

User avatar
Madeleine
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 5860
Joined: August 2008
Currently reading: "Mania" by L J Ross
Preferred HF: Plantagenets, Victorian, crime, dual time-frame
Location: Essex/London

Post by Madeleine » Sat August 21st, 2010, 5:20 pm

I'm looking forward to Upstairs Downstairs - I can just remember the original although I suspect most of the more grown-up stuff went straight over my head, I remember I used to like the ladies' lovely clothes, lol.

Jean Marsh is still in it as Rose, but she's now been promoted to housekeeper. She created the series along with Eileen Atkins, who is in the new version and is always worth watching.

Usually I don't like re-makes, I always think why? film something new instead, but I think in this case it could really work as they're moving things on by a couple of decades or so, so it should feel much fresher than a straightforward re-make.
Currently reading "Mania" by L J Ross

User avatar
CrimsonPetal
Reader
Posts: 72
Joined: August 2009
Location: Texas, USA
Contact:

Post by CrimsonPetal » Fri September 24th, 2010, 2:22 am

Thanks for this news! I loved the book and am looking forward to this.

User avatar
sweetpotatoboy
Bibliophile
Posts: 1641
Joined: August 2008
Location: London, UK

Post by sweetpotatoboy » Sat March 19th, 2011, 9:40 am

The adaptation screens next month.
Michel Faber wrote an essay in last Saturday's Times that was critical of historical novels, saying his wasn't one etc. (His first two sentences are: "I don't read historical novels. They irritate me....)

However, he did have some interesting things to say about the Victorian era and our own.
Unfortunately, the Times online is subscription only so I can't post the article.

User avatar
Perdita
Reader
Posts: 146
Joined: August 2008
Location: London
Contact:

Post by Perdita » Sun March 20th, 2011, 1:21 am

[quote=""sweetpotatoboy""]The adaptation screens next month.
Michel Faber wrote an essay in last Saturday's Times that was critical of historical novels, saying his wasn't one etc. (His first two sentences are: "I don't read historical novels. They irritate me....)

However, he did have some interesting things to say about the Victorian era and our own.
Unfortunately, the Times online is subscription only so I can't post the article.[/quote]

He's irritated by HF? :confused: Did he say why? I really enjoyed The Crimson Petal and the White and will deffo watch the tv series. It's just a shame that sometimes HF authors try to deny their genre. Suzanna Dunne is another one who seems embarrassed by the whole thing even though she writes about the Tudors.

User avatar
Divia
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 4435
Joined: August 2008
Location: Always Cloudy, Central New York

Post by Divia » Sun March 20th, 2011, 1:39 am

And thats like Nick Sparks saying he doesnt write romance novels. :rolleyes:

Dude, why deny something that made you famous, or something that your are good at? If someone told me. "you write hf novels." I'd be like hell yeah! I love it. I love history. I embrace it and my readers and thank you very much.

Some people are never happy. :rolleyes:
News, views, and reviews on books and graphic novels for young adult.
http://yabookmarks.blogspot.com/

User avatar
EC2
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 3661
Joined: August 2008
Location: Nottingham UK
Contact:

Post by EC2 » Mon March 21st, 2011, 1:31 pm

I DNF The Crimson Petal and the White - lost interest and motivation about a 3rd of the way in, but I might watch a TV adaptation.
Les proz e les vassals
Souvent entre piez de chevals
Kar ja li coard n’I chasront

'The Brave and the valiant
Are always to be found between the hooves of horses
For never will cowards fall down there.'

Histoire de Guillaume le Mareschal

www.elizabethchadwick.com

User avatar
Margaret
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 2440
Joined: August 2008
Interest in HF: I can't answer this in 100 characters. Sorry.
Favourite HF book: Checkmate, the final novel in the Lymond series
Preferred HF: Literary novels. Late medieval and Renaissance.
Location: Catskill, New York, USA
Contact:

Post by Margaret » Mon March 21st, 2011, 8:18 pm

Michel Faber wrote an essay in last Saturday's Times that was critical of historical novels, saying his wasn't one etc.
That's funny. Hilary Mantel, I believe, also used to say that her novels were not historical fiction, until Wolf Hall was such a grand success and everywhere described as historical fiction, and we didn't hear much more about that. In the early days of developing my website, I contacted a few authors to ask whether I had included all their historical novels, gotten the thumbnail descriptions right, etc., and I had one author write back to me in a huff saying she didn't write historical fiction, and I must have mixed her up with someone else. I wrote back to doublecheck that she was not the person who wrote the WWI novel listed on my website (maybe someone else of the same name?), and she said, oh, yes, I am, but I've never thought of it as historical fiction.

It puzzles me what people think a novel set in the past would be, if not historical fiction. Hilary Mantel, if I recall correctly, said her novels were "contemporary fiction set in the past," which is a clever description, suggesting that the story comes alive in a way that the typical historical novel might not - but, really, what sense could this make as a category? It evokes the scenario of someone contemplating whether to classify a novel as (a) contemporary fiction set in the past or (b) historical fiction set in the past. Really, what I think people are trying to suggest is that there is good historical fiction and lifeless, dry, historical fiction, and classifying their novels as the former, while trying not to come off as braggarts.
Browse over 5000 historical novel listings (probably well over 5000 by now, but I haven't re-counted lately) and over 700 reviews at www.HistoricalNovels.info

Post Reply

Return to “Movies, Television, Radio, and Music”