Venerable bestseller Barbara Erskine got her start in the 80s with The Lady Of Hay, weaving romantic supernaturalism into meticulously researched Welsh history. Now with a decades-spanning career under her belt, Sarah-Jane Outten finds she’s still going strong on the same theme with The Story Spinner, out this summer.  

I’m looking forward to your next book The Story Spinner, out in August. What’s it about?

I love Welsh history, several of my books are rooted in it, and I particularly love the very early stuff where history and legend overlap. The Story Spinner is set in one of those periods, at the very end of the Roman empire. It’s about a Welsh Princess who marries a Roman General who went on to become Emperor. This may ring bells with your readers as the Welsh will be familiar with the stories in theMabinogion, where I got the inspiration.

The Story Spinner is half modern-day and half rooted in that history, as most of my books are. My modern-day heroine, called Cadi, is a poet and novelist writing her version of this story. Cadi then becomes aware of this impending threat on her doorstep – a village in the southern Welsh hills. She discovers that the beautiful ancient meadow next to her cottage has been bought by a developer who plans to build houses on it. The story then revolves around Cadi and her friends’ efforts to prove that there’s a Roman villa buried in the meadow. That villa turns out to be the family home of Elen, who is our princess, the heroine of the historical side of the story.

Of course, in my usual style, there are weird and supernatural happenings in the meadow and Cadi quickly finds herself surrounded by archaeologists, Roman soldiers, gossiping villagers – even ghostly horses! – as well as many supportive people but also vicious enemies, and all the while she’s writing the story about Elen. The story takes them on a trip to Italy and back to Wales. 

Did you enjoy writing this book?

Yes, it’s been great fun to write and I enjoyed researching this book. I love the research so much that I get absorbed by it. I hope my readers will enjoy that as well. 

When you’re planning a book, where do you start? Is it the story from history, is it the location or is it simply a spark of an idea?

I think it usually begins with a place. This one, I have to say, was reading The Mabinogion. I was doing a course on Celtic literature and legend and it caught my eye – it was so different from all the others. It made me ask: what a Roman emperor was doing in south Wales?! I looked him up and found he was real, and that this, in a way, did happen. Not in the way I tell the story but I do try and follow up the actual history at the same time as making it an historical novel. I put my spin on it, but the bones of the story are based on fact. 

Did your research find a connection to Caerleon in south Wales? 

Yes indeed – that’s mentioned in the book. Elen goes there because it’s very close. I had a wonderful time there myself researching it. The amphitheatre there, I have to say, was extremely spooky. If one is looking for a ghostly vibe, you should visit. And if you imagine all the people that have died down there, it isn’t surprising! 

How long did it take you to research this particular book?

Because research is a passion of mine, I always do too much. But I suppose it took about two years from beginning to end. At the moment I’m doing the final proofs ready for August. But I guess it’s a few months just on research, depending on the weather because I’m destined to walk around ruined castles in the pouring rain! Luckily there’s lots of history packed into museums in south Wales and that really helped. My research also highlighted the fact that people assume the Romans didn’t come to south Wales and this research proved that they very well did. 

What’s the biggest challenge when writing your books?

I think it’s the proofreading at the very end. Because I love the research and I love the first draft when I’m writing flat out and get really involved in the story. And then there is a second draft that I do a lot more slowly and carefully and I enjoy that bit too. But by the time the proofs come around I have to check the spelling and things like that which is very boring! And the Roman names and the names of the places… it’s quite a strain. Some of the place names are very long and it becomes a nightmare. 

As a historian, is it challenging to add a magical spin to a factual story?

I use magic and supernatural elements to link the two worlds within my books, so it’s not very difficult at all. That’s why I used this method in The Lady of Hay [Barbara Erskine’s debut novel]. I have to have, what is to me, a credible link to take people into the past. The actual past I don’t really make magical unless it has magical people – which, of course, it always does! You know, magicians, druids and all those types of people knew how to do magic so they fall into the plot naturally. 

When I describe your books to others I always say that you are very good at thinning the veil. Would you agree?

Oh, thank you. Yes, that’s a great way to describe what I do. The Story Spinner also contains a wormhole. It’s a term used in magical circles that links places and people between thin places – for instance, objects disappearing and then suddenly appearing somewhere else or appearing again where they were and no one can explain it. I’ve experienced this in my own life and I’ve brought this element to The Story Spinner. 

Many of your books include ghosts – have you ever encountered one? 

There has been a feeling of an uncomfortable presence at several of the locations I have visited for research over the years. There was something no one could explain whilst taking a family photo some years ago: I sat with my family during a meal and several photos were taken, this was using a film camera at the time when you had to take your photos to Boots and get them developed.

When the photos came back there was this extraordinary spiral light across the top of the table. We all looked at it and wondered how some light had got into the camera or it was down to sunshine etc., we just couldn’t explain it. I sent the negative back to Kodak as you could do that back in those days if you wanted something explained. People were always taking photos of ghosts in the window, you know, when they hadn’t seen it whilst taking the photo themselves. And they said it wasn’t a camera fault and couldn’t explain it. 

Which of your novels is your personal favourite? Is it always the latest one?

It’s usually the next one, to be honest. By the time a novel is finished, you’re normally a bit fed up with it. When I stop writing I get a sort of lost feeling. Suddenly all these characters that have meant so much over months and months disappear. Then you have to send the book off to the publisher and it’s a bit like mourning. But then there is always the excitement of the next one, you see, and the process starts again. 

Are there any particular characters that have always stayed with you, long after the book is written and published?

I think that has to be The Lady Of Hay because that was the first one. I spent such a long time writing about her because I was doing other things at the same time. To be honest, I don’t think I ever expected The Lady Of Hay to get published. 

How did you feel when it was published?

Well, I was amazed! I feel so lucky. I mean, it was published around the world. It was so exciting. And then the publisher had the nerve to ask what the next book was about. I couldn’t quite believe it!

What was life like before you were a published author?

I read history at university and I worked at a publisher as an editor/copy editor. I got a wonderful grounding there on how to correct spelling and things. I then went on to do picture research, which I loved doing, it gave me entry into museums and libraries everywhere. It was the most brilliant job in the world, apart from being a writer, of course.

Eventually, I went freelance and slowly did more and more writing: short stories, a lot of them historical, and I got an agent through doing that. Then I started writing my first novel. This was in the 80s and I didn’t want to write ‘bodice rippers’ as they were known then! 

Ah, like Jilly Cooper novels? 

Yes! I didn’t want that. I wanted to be a bit more serious. I’d come across this business of hypnotic regression at university funnily enough. It suddenly dawned on me that the history people talk about under hypnosis is real and you can write stories from that. As far as most publishers were concerned it was a complete no-no. But then one brilliant publisher said, ‘Actually, this might work’ and commissioned me to finish what is now The Lady Of Hay. And the rest is history…  

Barbara Erskine leads a Historical Fiction Writing Workshop at the Hay Castle Clore Learning Space, Hay-On-Wye on Fri 31 May.

Tickets: £100. Info: here

The Story Spinner is published by HarperCollins on Thurs 1 Aug. Info: here

words SARAH-JANE OUTTEN