We were lucky enough to have the author of this book, Mike Hobbs at our meeting, who answered our questions about this character and the book: Le Chevalier (Charles-Geneviève-Louis-Auguste-André-Timothée d'Éon de Beaumont (5 October 1728 – 21 May 1810) was a real person, a transvestite or perhaps an hermaphrodite who was co opted to spy for Louis XV. The charming and feminine Chevalier d'Eon de Beaumont has popped up in history and historical fiction before, but this book lays down a family and reason that he did what he did.
Below a few of the questions we asked:
Q Where did you get your inspiration from?
A While browsing the book shops of Hay on Wye I came across an old biography called Royal Spy, which outlined her fascinating story. I became intrigued and wanted to write about her.
Q How many drafts/outlines do you do of the story?
A This was the 3 or 4th draft, I always had a good idea of what the story was going to be in my mind, so it was just a matter of writing it!
Q What happened to Le Chavalier?
A He died in Lambeth, London, having lived the last 16 years of his life as a woman, although when his
body was inspected she was found to have full male genitalia as well as
the rounded limbs of a woman including breasts.The real Chevalier died in abject poverty at the age of 81.
Q How much research did you do for the historical detail?
A I try to do enough to make the details accurate, but not so much that it impedes the story. You can get bogged down in detail if you aren't careful.
Q Which part did you agonize over most?
A The Introduction and the second journey. The intro lays down the foundation of the story and is the most important chapter, the second journey as it links so many details together.
Words used to describe the book:
wonderful, imaginative, pleasurably detailed, enthralling, excellent for reading about France, informative, amusing
Marks out of 10 between 6 - 9
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment