We chat with author Lizzie Pook about her latest release Maude Horton’s Glorious Revenge, which is a mysterious, transportive tale about the unbreakable bond of sisterhood and the things we are driven to do by both love and greed.
Hi, Lizzie! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Hi there! I’m an author and travel writer based in London. When I’m not off on adventures – I love exploring remote places and seeing rare wildlife, my favourite encounters being snow leopards in Ladakh and polar bears in Greenland – I’m sat at my desk writing (or at least thinking very hard about writing) historical mysteries with a strong sense of place.
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
I can’t remember ever not being occupied with stories. I certainly tormented my parents with terrible poems, plays and handmade ‘books’ from a very young age. I distinctly recall writing a ‘horror’ story about the abominable snowman for them to read. I cut the book out in the shape of a yeti and fastened it crudely with staples. I found it last year when I was searching through old boxes. I re-read it. Wasn’t too bad, actually.
With it being the new year, are you setting any goals or resolutions for 2024?
I’m an obstinate realist and can err on the side of pessimistic. I want to give myself permission to be more hopeful and optimistic in 2024. Oh, and I need to finish my third book…
Your latest novel, Maude Horton’s Glorious Revenge, is out January 16th! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Grisly, adventurous, surprising, fun, transportive.
What can readers expect?
Maude Horton’s Glorious Revenge is a tale of adventure, forbidden love, vengeance and sisterhood set against the backdrop of the icy High Arctic and the seedy underbelly of Victorian London.
It follows sensible, staid Maude, who is thrust into the ‘murder-mania’ that has gripped Victorian London as she investigates the truth behind the death of her sister, Constance, on board an Arctic exploration ship.
It’s filled with bone shops, poisons, grisly hangings and dispatches from the remote High Arctic (think narwhals, polar bears and the northern lights). I hope readers will enjoy the escape.
Where did the inspiration for Maude Horton’s Glorious Revenge come from?
The first spark came while I was browsing through the British Library’s digital catalogue. I came across a short article which alleged that, in the nineteenth century, the popular British travel company Thomas Cook offered tours for people to go and witness public hangings around the country. I was shocked and absolutely fascinated, so I started researching these early days of ‘dark tourism’. I became totally immersed in stories of the ‘Murder Mania’ that gripped England so fervently in the mid-nineteenth century. I was riveted by stories of Madame Tussaud’s famous Chamber of Horrors, and how people would pay to ogle murderers awaiting trial in their cells or visit the recent sites of murders on day trips. I wanted to explore this Murder Mania in my book and delve into the concept of monetising and popularising crime.
I was also interested in other ‘spectacles’ that were garnering newspaper inches at the time. The disappearance of British explorer Sir John Franklin was a HUGE global story in the 1850s. The world was fixated on the mystery of the disappearance in the Northwest Passage (at the top of Canada), and the considerable rescue efforts around it, gobbling up tales of polar adventure and tragedy as greedily as they did stories of murder and crime.
I wanted to connect these two things – exploring their surprising similarities – and that’s where my two sisters, Maude and Constance, came in.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
I love stories of sisterhood (I’m an identical twin myself) so very much enjoyed writing Constance and Maude. However, the real thrill came in writing my antagonist, Edison Stowe. Edison is Maude’s nemesis throughout the book. He’s the bad guy we want to see get his come-uppance at the end.
He was fascinating to write, because he’s an extremely complicated person, and that was a (fun) challenge to try and capture. Edison appears pompous, he thinks he’s cleverer than everyone else, he thinks he’s untouchable and that there will be no consequences for what he does. But as the book goes on, we learn that there are reasons for that. I was inspired to write him when I was listening to a psychologist speak about dangerous people. She said that quite a lot of the time, these dangerous people aren’t always the most outwardly violent or aggressive. But that often they can be very damaged and, certainly in the case of Edison, extremely deluded. It was fascinating to explore that to create somebody bad, who isn’t a pantomime villain, but somebody we can look at and think ‘I can see how you’ve ended up like this.’
Quick lightning round! Tell us:
- The first book you ever remember reading: Meg & Mog by Helen Nicoll and Jan Pienkowski
- The one that made you want to become an author: The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson
- The one that you can’t stop thinking about: The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward
With this being your second novel, what are some of the key lessons you learned between writing the two?
My first novel involved lots of rewrites. I did plan it, but ended up flip-flopping with the plot and making big changes to the storyline in the drafting process. It created a lot of work. I was determined to plan better with this novel, so I laid it out beat by beat and ensured I was happy with everything before I started writing. And… exactly the same thing happened. Endless changing of my mind. So, I suppose my answer is: I’ve learned nothing!
What’s next for you?
I’m excited to be finishing the draft of my third book and sending that off to my agent. Then, I’ll get cracking on the fourth. It never stops!
Lastly, are there any 2024 book releases that you’re looking forward to?
Too many to count but I’m particularly looking forward to One of the Good Guys by Araminta Hall, The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley and The Bullet Swallower by Elizabeth Gonzales James.
Maude Horton’s Glorious Revenge is available to purchase from any retailer.
