Denise Mina and Lucy Jago discuss their new novels, which tell the stories of transgressive women in history and the secrets and scandals of the royal courts.
It’s Saturday evening, 9 March 1566 and Mary Queen of Scots is six months pregnant. She’s hosting a supper party. Mary doesn’t know that her Palace is surrounded – that an army of men is creeping upstairs to her chamber. They’re coming to murder David Rizzio, her friend and secretary. Mary’s husband wants it done in front of her and he wants her to watch it done. Rizzio by Denise Mina looks at history through a modern lens and explores the lengths that men – and women – will go to in the search for love and power.
Frances Howard has beauty and a powerful family. Anne Turner has wit and talent – but no stage on which to display them. When these two very different women meet a powerful friendship is sparked. Frankie sweeps Anne into a world of splendour that exceeds all she imagined: a Court whose foreign king is a stranger to his own subjects and where ancient families fight for power. Based on the true scandal that rocked the court of James I, A Net for Small Fishes is an exhilarating dive into the pitch-dark waters of the Jacobean court.
Chaired by Dr Natalie Mears, Durham University.
This event will have Stagetext live captions.
Purchase a copy of Rizzio and A Net For Small Fishes through our Bookshop affiliate links.
