Hello, I’m Essie Fox, and it’s lovely to be here on the Books By Your Bedside blog.
I was born in Herefordshire and left home at eighteen to study English Literature at Sheffield University. From there, I moved to London where I worked for the Telegraph Sunday Magazine, and then the publishers Allen & Unwin – before becoming self-employed as a commercial illustrator which was around the time when I also had my daughter.
Always an avid reader, these days I live in Windsor with my husband a dog, and I spend most of my time writing historical gothic novels. My debut, The Somnambulist, was shortlisted for the National Book Awards, and featured on Channel 4’s TV Book Club. The Last Days of Leda Grey, set in the early years of silent film, was selected as The Times Historical Book of the Month. My latest novel, The Fascination, a Sunday Times bestseller, is set in Victorian country fairgrounds, the glamour of the London theatres, and an Oxford Street museum full of morbid curiosities.
I’m also the creator of the historical blog: The Virtual Victorian.
Meet Essie Fox
Questions on Writing
What is the hardest part of your writing experience?
I suppose the hardest thing for any writer to cope with is when a book is sent off to an agent, or publisher. It can be weeks before you hear any response to the work, and after living so intensely with your characters and story, sometimes for months on end, that sudden separation can be a nervous, lonely time.
What have you learned about yourself while writing?
Whereas I used to love paint, I now find I’m happier painting scenes by writing words. I’ve learned that I’m determined to see a book through to the end, and that I’m also obsessive about the genre that I write in. I’ve discovered that writing a novel is addictive, and something magical as well. To live in the real world, but also time-travel through fiction is something very special.
Do you make yourself write everyday/regularly, or only when inspiration strikes?
I wouldn’t make myself write, unless I had a deadline. But, having said that, I do write almost every day once I start working on a book. Usually the story grabs me and I don’t want to let it go. However, having said that, when I finish a book, it’s almost always six months before I start another one. In that time I won’t be writing, but I will be doing research as I think about new characters, plot, themes, and narrative.
What does literary success look like to you?
For me, to see a novel published and to know that my story is living in the outside world – and hopefully that readers like it. I also won’t pretend it wasn’t like a dream come true when The Fascination became a Sunday Times bestseller.
How much planning/world building do you do before writing, and how much comes along as you write?
I do a lot of background research. It’s important to me to get the details right – such as the clothes of the era, or the type of food, or what was going on in the much wider world in which my story will be set. But when it comes to beginning to write the actual story, I try to wear that research lightly. Instead I concentrate on how my characters would speak, or how they might fit in to social classes of the era. I also tend to have a theme in my mind. So, in The Somnambulist the theme was how a girl can be blind to the truth of her life’s realities, stumbling naively into dangers that other people might avoid. The Fascination’s theme is how people who are different – whether physically, or because of being social outcasts – find their way in a world which is often very cruel. Once I have a theme in mind, I never plot a novel out, but I will always have a strong opening scene in my mind, and an idea of how it ends. What comes in the middle is a mystery to me. I only decide when I sit down to write each scene.
What is it that attracts you to a particular genre?
My genre is Victorian, and early Edwardian – for now anyway – and I think it attracts me because, as a child, I loved Victorian-themed films such as Wuthering Heights, and also books set in that era. Black Beauty was a favourite, as was The Water Babies. In fact, I referenced the latter in my novel Elijah’s Mermaid, as well as The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen. My books often have references to fairy tales and myth. Now, in The Fascination it’s Snow-White and Rose-Red, and also Beauty and the Beast.
At university, I studied Victorian classic fiction and I loved the gothic themes, and the mysterious ‘sensations’. Since then, I’ve always tended to look out for recent novels that also echo these themes. I don’t know why they attract me. Perhaps it’s an escape from the contemporary world and all of its realites.
How do you celebrate when a book is published?
Well, hopefully there’s a launch party, when close friends and relatives can come along and celebrate. But most of all, the generosity and warmth from other readers is what makes me happiest.
Questions on Books and About You
The most important question, what books are currently ‘on your bedside table’?
I can’t tell you all of them as I’m currently a judge for the Historical Writers Association Crown awards, and the long list is a secret.
Apart from those, I have The Warlock Effect by Andy Nyman and Jeremy Dyson because I’m interviewing them at this year’s Capital Crime festival. It’s a cold war spy novel, full of magicians’ illusions. It is quite brilliant! Other titles on the pile are the novel Birthright by Charles Lambert, My Swordhand is Singing by Marcus Sedgwick, and The Birdcage Library by Freya Berry. I have proof copies of Mary by Anne Eekhout, and Helle & Death by Oskar Jensen.
Then, I have a lot of research on the go at the moment. Here’s a taste of factual books tottering next to my pillow and threatening to suffocate me if they should fall while I’m still sleeping! Gothic Remixed by Megen de Bruin-Mole. The Old Straight Track by Alfred Watkins. Leys. Secret Spirit Paths in Ancient Britain by Danny Sullivan. Half Lives. The Unlikely History of Radium by Lucy Jane Santos. The Botanical Mind. Art, Mysticism and The Cosmic Tree – edited by Gina Buenfeld and Martin Clark.
What children’s book would you suggest every adult read?
I know they’re a little out of fashion nowadays, but I would say The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, and then all the other books that follow on in that series. The universal themes of good and evil with allusions to ancient myth and bible stories are so cleverly formed into the most compelling stories full of mystery and magic. For more contemporary children’s books I am a huge fan of Emma Carroll. She is a wonderful writer.
What does your writing space look like?
I have two writing spaces. One is a lovely shed at the bottom of my garden. The other is my bed. I won’t admit which I use most, but let’s just say that apart from heading downstairs for a coffee first thing in the morning, I very often don’t get dressed until it’s time for lunch.
How many books do you think you own?
Hundreds. It could even be more. And I’m not including audible or those I have on Kindle. I have a big room where every wall is now book shelving. When my mother comes to visits she looks at all the books with an expression of dismay and asks ‘have your read them…and if so, why don’t you burn them? They’re only gathering dust.’
Who is your literary icon?
It’s so hard to choose! I’m not sure I can. I’ve always admired Thomas Hardy. I love a book that makes me cry, and must have read Tess of the D’Urbervilles at least five times. For the present day, perhaps I’ll say Kate Atkinson because I love all her books, and it was reading Behind the Scenes at the Museum that first inspired me to write. But then again, I am a little bit obsessed at the moment with the books of Barbara Vine, and…I could go on…and on.
If you could own one rare/1st edition copy of a book, which would it be?
Wuthering Heights
Is there an author who you always read?
Quite a few. Off the top of my head – Kate Atkinson, Lucy Atkins, Kate Griffin, Emma Carroll, Emma Donoghue, Maggie O’Farrell, Sarah Waters, Kazuo Ishiguro – and I’m sure there must be more.
And finally, are there any plans for any new books? If so, what teasers can you give us
I’m interested in the theme of ancient Celtic myths linked to woods and forests. I’ll probably start writing at the end of the summer when I’ve finished all my research. The characters are calling…
Thank you Essie for your thorough answers 😊 We’re going to have to have a word with your mother about this book burning suggestion
Essie Fox’s Books
Books By Your Bedside 