Interviews with historical novelists

Pepys’s diary has been a source and an inspiration for a wealth of historical fiction. As part of examining that legacy and the portrayal of the Restoration and eighteenth century in recent fiction, Kate Loveman interviewed two novelists.

Catherine Johnson and Deborah Swift each combine thrilling stories with imagining the experiences of groups whose lives are hard to trace in historical records.

Catherine Johnson

Catherine Johnson is an award-winning writer and the author of many exciting historical novels for young adults and children. These are set in the ‘long eighteenth century’ (the period c.1660-1832) and foreground the experiences of characters who are Black or of mixed heritage.

Catherine’s books include A Nest of Vipers (2008), Sawbones (2013, winner of the Young Quills Award for best historical fiction for over 12s ), The Curious Tale of the Lady Caraboo (2015, shortlisted for the Booksellers’ YA Award), and Freedom (2018, which was nominated for The Carnegie Medal).

Stream or download the interview with Catherine Johnson here. (opens in new tab)

You can read a transcript of the interview with Catherine Johnson using this link. (opens in new tab)

Deborah Swift

Deborah Swift is the author of over 10 historical novels, and has been published by Pan MacMillan, Headline Accent, and St Martin’s Press. Her historical interests range from the 1600s to the 1940s, but she is particularly fascinated by the seventeenth century.

Among her novels set in this period are a trilogy of books based on women who feature in Samuel Pepys’s diary: Pleasing Mr Pepys (2017), A Plague on Mr Pepys (2018), and Entertaining Mr Pepys (2019). Each book weaves a gripping story around information presented by Pepys, foregrounding the woman’s perspective and imagining what Pepys never knew.

Stream or download the interview with Deborah Swift here (opens in new tab)

You can read a transcript of the interview with Deborah Swift using this link (opens in new tab)