Alexandra Walsh is the author of The Marquess House Trilogy, a dual timeline conspiracy thriller series with an ingenious twist on a well-known period of Tudor history.
At the start of 2019, I was a brand new book blogger and had just discovered Netgalley. My very first request was The Catherine Howard Conspiracy by Alexandra Walsh. I was approved (hooray!) and the rest, as they say, is history. I fell under the book’s spell and fell more in love with each subsequent book.
You can read my review of the three books here: The Catherine Howard Conspiracy, The Elizabeth Tudor Conspiracy and The Arbella Stuart Conspiracy.
The third and final book came out earlier this year and it took my awhile to pick it up and read it because I knew once I finished reading the last page, then that would be it. In order to prolong the enjoyment, I contacted the author, Alexandra Walsh, for an interview and her answers were just what I needed to say farewell to a wonderful trilogy.
Tell us a little about yourself.
My name is Alexandra Walsh, known mostly as Alex, and before I wrote fiction, I was a journalist and also worked in film and TV. I was born in London but now live in Pembrokeshire, Wales.
List three fun facts about yourself that we wouldn’t read in your ‘official’ bio.
Three fun facts: (this has been the hardest one to answer!). When I was six years old, I won a fancy dress competition dressed as Queen Elizabeth I. I have a tattoo of a mermaid and, for a while, I worked as a professional Tarot card reader.
Who were your favourite authors when you were growing up?
My favourite authors when I was growing up were varied: Enid Blyton, Jean Plaidy, Anne Digby (The Trebizon school series), Jilly Cooper, Jeanette Winterson, A S Byatt, Noel Streatfeild. (J K Rowling was not published until I was an adult!)
When did you first realise you wanted to be a writer? And have you always wanted to write historical fiction?
There was a never a time that I can remember when it was not my ambition to become a writer. From childhood, I was always writing stories and poems, with the knowledge that I would never do anything else. It was why I became a journalist. I needed to earn a living and as a journalist, I could sit and write all day, while at the weekends in the evening, there was time to work on fiction.
My plan was never really to write historical fiction, the first few things I wrote were comedies and romances but none of them ever seemed to be quite right. Then one day, the plot for The Marquess House Trilogy floated into my head and everything changed.
How did you come up with the idea for The Marquess House trilogy?
It happened, one dark evening in November, while watching a TV drama about The Gunpowder Plot. I began to think about what might happen if Tudor history was different. Obviously, to tell you the big secret which began my idea would spoil the reveal in the books but the whole idea seemed to flow into my head, so I grabbed by laptop and began to write. Over the next few months, I researched the basic outline of the history to see if my idea was viable and rather uncannily, it fitted into the real timeline of the Tudors with surprising ease. The present day section then began to appear as I worked out how and what to do with this unexpected idea.
Were you worried that Tudor enthusiasts would take issue with your revisionist version of history?
Extremely worried! The Tudor period is so well-known and has been written about extensively, so to begin messing about with such famous and loved figures, was a huge risk. If there had been any doubt in my mind that the story pushed the boundaries too far for believability, I would have stopped but, as I said, every twist and turn of my conspiracy theory was quite easy to slot in to the accepted version of events. There was some wiggling occasionally but not much.
Who is your dream casting for the main characters in The Marquess House trilogy?
[Before you read Alexandra’s answer, I need to tell you that the entire time I read these books, I had imagined Richard Madden – Robb Stark from Game of Thrones – as Kit Mackensie. So I almost laughed out loud to read who Alexandra had pictured as Kit!]
Dream casting is tricky! Perdita and Piper are so clear in my head and there are very few actors who fit the roles entirely. There are many female actors who I thing are extremely talented and would be possibilities: Emma Watson, Emilia Clarke, Jessica Brown Findlay or Jenna Coleman. Kit is easier, in my head he is Kit Harington (Jon Snow from Game of Thrones). Alistair reminds me of a British actor, Robert Glenister, and my friend, Emma Gregory, who has narrated the audio books would be perfect as Jenny Procter – who in real-life is my cousin!
When you’re not writing, what do you like to do for fun?
Sleep! Only joking but I’m quite dull really. Reading is a favourite thing and living near the sea, I also love walking on the beaches. Until recently, I had always had greyhounds or Great Danes but sadly, my last boy died a while ago and I haven’t yet got a new canine friend. I love to swim and also the usual meeting friends, going out for meals, cinema, theatre and visiting castles. I do love exploring a castle and listening to the walls whisper their stories!
In your opinion, what is the hardest part of writing or being an author?
The hardest part is the length of time the process takes. The story is there swirling around my head but putting it on paper can sometimes be frustrating because no matter how fast I write/type I can’t keep up with the words in mind. The other difficult part is knowing when to stop, knowing that once I do, the story has to go out into the world and that is terrifying, in case no one likes it!
Do you have any writing projects coming up that you’d like to share with us?
My current project is another dual timeline novel but this time it is set in the present day and the late Victorian era (1880s). It draws on some of my own family history, too, as well as my love of fairy tales and mythology.
[Alexandra’s next project was recently announced by her publisher, Sapere Books. Click here to read more about it!]
Keep up to date with Alexandra and her writing:
This is a wonderful Q&A, Stephanie! You asked such great questions and I loved reading Alexandra’s answers. It was interesting to read that she had never considered writing historical fiction before this series, and also her thoughts on the length of the writing process.
Sorry it’s been a long time since I last visited your blog. I hope you are well and having a great week!
Thanks so much Stephen! I can’t believe it’s October already! I hope you’re doing well too and reading some good books!