Philippa Gregory (Author of The Other Boleyn Girl)

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Philippa Gregory

欧宝娱乐 Author

Born

in Kenya

Website

Twitter

Genre

Literature & Fiction, Historical Fiction, Nonfiction

Member Since

October 2012

URL

/philippagregory

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DR PHILIPPA GREGORY studied history at the University of Sussex and was awarded a PhD by the University of Edinburgh where she is a Regent and was made Alumna of the Year in 2009. She holds an honorary degree from Teesside University, and is a fellow of the Universities of Sussex and Cardiff. Philippa is a member of the Society of Authors and in 2016, was presented with the Outstanding Contribution to Historical Fiction Award by the Historical Writers鈥� Association. In 2018, she was awarded an Honorary Platinum Award by Neilsen for achieving significant lifetime sales across her entire book output. In 2021, she was awarded a CBE for services to literature and to her charity Gardens for the Gambia. and was elected as a Fellow of the Royal His ...more

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If you could live in another period of time, when would it be? Why?

Philippa Gregory I have a very strict rule on this! No woman should wish to live before 1960 鈥� life without reliable contraception was always a constant anxiety. No wo鈥辞谤别I have a very strict rule on this! No woman should wish to live before 1960 鈥� life without reliable contraception was always a constant anxiety. No woman who wants political power could be happy before we got the vote in the 1920s. No woman wanting an education should live in any period before women were admitted to universities and could graduate 鈥� so the 1920s for the UK. No married woman could own her own property before 1870 鈥� you fundamentally became part of your husband's estate. In short, despite the dresses and the jewels for the upper classes the best time to be a woman in the western world is probably now. (less)

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For some reason, your books draw more controversy than most other historical fiction books. I have never been sure why, since its clear that you do a tremendous amount of research. Any ideas why this is so?

Philippa Gregory Alas, poor me! I really hate the sort of trolling that occurs from time to time, and I am amazed at the tone that people think appropriate to write ab鈥辞谤别Alas, poor me! I really hate the sort of trolling that occurs from time to time, and I am amazed at the tone that people think appropriate to write about someone, or even to write to them. A lot of the most spiteful people are not trained historians 鈥� so they haven't learned the habit of detachment from the subject 鈥� they write as if they are defending an unjustly accused personal friend, whereas the reputation of these characters is something which can be rightly and carefully considered, and the people lived 500 years ago! At all the universities where I have taught or studied there is an absolute commitment to scholarly discussion which should never be personal or rude, and is supposed to get you 鈥� by the exchange of views and information 鈥� to a greater truth. So it is surprising and even shocking when people just rant. But often they forget that the books are novels, they are fiction and though based on fact they are supposed to be works of literature with their own narrative arc and language. I am not obliged to record everything that happened or even the whole of the life. The other thing that people seem to forget is that the books are almost all written from a point of view 鈥� often it's not what I think of a character, but what the narrator thinks of a character. You can see this really well in the contrast between The White Queen which was written from the point of view of Elizabeth Woodville, and The Red Queen which was written from the point of view of Margaret Beaufort. Their opinions of each other are those of rivals and sometimes friends and ultimately enemies 鈥� but I don't think of Elizabeth Woodville as a conniving sexually manipulative witch 鈥� that's Margaret Beaufort's opinion. My job is to get into her head, so as to invite the reader into her head and let the reader see the world through Margaret Beaufort's eyes with her prejudices and her mistakes. AND (as if this weren't complicated enough) Margaret Beaufort does not know all the history that I know, she does not know what happens after her death, so her account of the times is not what I would write if I were writing history. She's a fictional character in my novel and her view is a fictional account from a very limited idiosyncratic point of view. And finally 鈥� sorry for such a long answer 鈥� I think the controversy is the downside of success. More than 9 million people read my books 鈥� naturally a proportion of them won't enjoy them, or prefer one to another, or prefer the tv or the films. But on the other hand I enjoy a lot of praise and I get great reviews and I number some of the great historians of the period among my personal friends. The best response is from the readers who have been inspired to study history and read the records that I use for research so that they can find out for themselves what they think a character was like. That's so much more interesting than trying to shout other people down.(less)

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Liora Claff Thank you for your long answer.
Listening to Normal Women now. Because I'm new to your works, and so affected by the facts I did a search on you to see ...more
Nov 04, 2024 08:08PM

Debbie Zessin Well said and exciting! The art of bringing the reader into the character's head, to see the world through the character's eyes, is truly captivating. ...more
Mar 21, 2025 11:51PM

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Combine Editions
Philippa Gregory鈥檚 books

Average rating: 3.94 · 1,771,188 ratings · 91,255 reviews · 168 distinct works 鈥� Similar authors

	The Other Boleyn Girl (The Plantagenet and Tudor Novels, #9) 4.09 avg rating — 506,326 ratings — published 2001 — 13 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The White Queen (The Plantagenet and Tudor Novels, #2) 3.96 avg rating — 179,495 ratings — published 2009 — 140 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Constant Princess (The Plantagenet and Tudor Novels, #6) 3.93 avg rating — 165,218 ratings — published 2005 — 10 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Queen's Fool (The Plantagenet and Tudor Novels, #12) 3.88 avg rating — 99,374 ratings — published 2003 — 104 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Boleyn Inheritance (The Plantagenet and Tudor Novels, #10) 3.91 avg rating — 93,773 ratings — published 2006 — 51 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Lady of the Rivers (The Plantagenet and Tudor Novels, #1) 4.05 avg rating — 89,485 ratings — published 2011 — 108 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Red Queen (The Plantagenet and Tudor Novels, #3) 3.82 avg rating — 76,142 ratings — published 2010 — 141 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Virgin's Lover (The Plantagenet and Tudor Novels, #13) 3.74 avg rating — 56,450 ratings — published 2004 — 92 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Kingmaker's Daughter (The Plantagenet and Tudor Novels, #4) really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 48,841 ratings — published 2012 — 94 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The White Princess (The Plantagenet and Tudor Novels, #5) 3.94 avg rating — 47,427 ratings — published 2013 — 84 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Philippa Gregory…

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Dawnlands pre-order bonus

I know some of you can鈥檛 wait to read the next instalment so my publishers are offering a sneak peek of my new novel Dawnlands to everyone that has pre-ordered it. Submit your receipt for either a hardback, ebook, or audiobook purchase and you鈥檒l receive an exclusive excerpt emailed directly to you.

Head to the links below to find out more - you have until 7 November at 11.59PM GMT to submit.
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Published on October 07, 2022 05:57 • Tags: dawnlands

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Series by Philippa Gregory

The Plantagenet and Tudor Novels (15 books)
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Philippa Gregory (欧宝娱乐 Author)

3.97 avg rating — 1,532,065 ratings

The Tudor Court (8 books)
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Philippa Gregory (欧宝娱乐 Author)

3.97 avg rating — 1,034,431 ratings

The Cousins' War (6 books)
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Philippa Gregory (欧宝娱乐 Author)

3.96 avg rating — 473,038 ratings

The Fairmile (3 books)
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Philippa Gregory (欧宝娱乐 Author)

3.87 avg rating — 55,018 ratings

Wideacre (3 books)
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Philippa Gregory (欧宝娱乐 Author)

3.55 avg rating — 53,700 ratings

More series by Philippa Gregory鈥�

At the beginning of each calendar month, 欧宝娱乐鈥� crack editorial squad assembles a list of the hottest and most popular new books...

Polls

Historical Fiction won the poll for our next genre. Choose the historical title you would like to read for our discussions on Twitter starting Tuesday, February 15.

C.W. Gortner

4 votes, 57.1%

Philippa Gregory

2 votes, 28.6%

Catherine Delors

1 vote, 14.3%

Sena Jeter Naslund

0 votes, 0.0%

Michelle Moran

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Manda Scott

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7 total votes

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