ON NOVEMBER 9 at 7pm at the Baldwin Hall in Eton, Essie will be appearing alongside
Jane Johnson,
D E Meredith and
Lloyd Shepherd . The four historical novelists will be chaired by
Melanie Gow to discuss how - in varying ways - their stories weave elements of the exotic into more traditional English themes.
Hear about life in Moroccan harems and how those who then escape them discover the court of King Charles II. Hear about the South Sea islands from which plants then imported and grown in Kew Gardens might also have other more perilous uses - of a hallucinogenic nature. Thrill to the steamy descriptions of jungles as scientists travel to Bourneo, their discoveries then going on to affect the long-established religious beliefs in formal London drawing rooms. And listen to stories about events occurring somewhat nearer home in which, underneath the respectable surface, the Victorian demi-monde exists: a world full of sin and exotica.
Melanie Gow
