What made you choose to write on Emma?

I fell over one of her letters – and fell in love. I was researching eighteenth-century women’s fiction and I was interested in how women expressed themselves in letters of the time. But I was hopelessly disappointed by every piece I found, for they were anodyne and dull. Then, I stumbled across a letter by Emma. I had never read anything like it – her voice literally poured off the page. I was gripped by the naked honesty of her voice – and compelled to call up more of her correspondence.

Did you immediately think of writing a biography?

No. I was just so entranced by her voice and excited to read more. But, as I did so, I began to realise that she had been misrepresented. History's view on Emma is often based on volumes of letters published in 1893-4, which were edited and bowdlerised to fit Victorian tastes. In the original letters, Emma’s voice is very different: intelligent, ambitious, and determined. As I continued to research, I realised that there were letters that had never been published or used before – all with new revelations about Emma.

How did you find a publisher?

I contacted an agent who told me that if I wrote a proposal – a long one – he’d sell it for me. It took me about six months to write the 30,000 word proposal, fitting it around my work for my DPhil. I finally finished it and my agent sent it off. There was suddenly a bidding war. One day I was a graduate student earning £7,000 a year, plugging away in my one-room hall of residence. The next, I was transported from the library to handsome central London offices, where great publishing people talked about how much they loved the book. I’d done quite a lot of work experience in publishing after university – mainly going through the slush pile, so it was a bit dizzying to be back in the same offices, but in the boardrooms.
The book was sold for a week – and I was overwhelmed. A few weeks later, I was wandering around Pompeii, notebook and camera in hand when my agent rang to say that the book had been auctioned in America. So, I was really an author….

Which parts of your research were the most enjoyable?

I loved finding new letters – but I also enjoyed following in Emma’s footsteps. In an age where many people saw no more than their home town or village, she travelled across Europe – from England to Naples, through all of Italy and overland through Germany and Austria – all at a time when Europe was racked by the Napoleonic Wars. Only the great explorers saw more of Europe than Emma.

How did it feel to find new letters that had never been published?

It was thrilling when I opened a box and found a letter that I’d never seen in print. Even more so, when the letter completely changed my view of Emma.

Did you ever find that you found a letter that completely changed what you had written?

Not really, because I did most of the research before I started writing. So I had a good idea of the story before I began to write it. And I tried to start out without any preconceptions – so I’d be ready for surprises.

Did you write your DPhil on Emma?

No. My doctoral work was on women and seduction in fiction in the eighteenth century. But my graduate work proved invaluable to writing the book, as it gave me a thorough grounding in eighteenth-century culture and history, and most importantly of all, taught me how to decipher manuscripts and plough through eighteenth-century handwriting. I'm glad I didn't write my PhD on Emma - doctorates have to be dry and they're not meant to be page turners.

I’ve been living in the eighteenth century for nearly ten years now – and I love it.

Did you always want to write?

From about the age of four. Where I grew up, children were not supposed to learn to read or write before they went to school. Unfortunately, I was determined, and taught myself to write and also to read. My poor mother got in terrible trouble with the teacher when I began. I still hold my pen in a very odd way, so its unsurprising, perhaps that I can’t really draw. I wrote my first book aged six. The story wasn’t bad, but my artwork was awful.

Do you find it difficult disciplining yourself to work?

No. I find it easy to start… but stopping can be tricky. I love working early in the morning, but then I find you get on a roll and you’re still working late at night.

Never. Not when I have all these amazing, colourful characters bouncing about in my head. When I read Hilary Mantel’s Beyond Black, her medium heroine reminded me of how it feels to write – your head is filled with these insistent, noisy voices demanding attention – and they just won’t shut up.

Do you avoid reading when you are working on a biography?

Many writers tell me they don’t read when they’re writing in order to keep their style pure. Unfortunately, I’m a hopeless addict to reading and can’t stop. I used to get in trouble at school for having raced to the end of my reading book as soon as I received it – and er, I still haven’t changed.

Could you help me get an agent/publisher for my book?

Unfortunately, I cannot recommend books or ideas for books to my agent or publisher. I would advise you to get a copy of the Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook (UK) or The Guide to Literary Agents (US) and contact agents with your work.

I am sure I am descended from Nelson and Emma. Can you help me prove it?

I have met many people who tell me they are descended from Nelson and Emma. Unfortunately, the notion of Horatia’s ‘twin’, abandoned by Emma, is now discredited. Horatia was the only child of Nelson and Emma. Her descendants appear frequently on TV and radio. Emma also had a child before she met Nelson, Emma Carew, who died without issue.

I have a dress/ mirror/ plate that I believe belonged to Emma and Nelson. If I send it to you, could you endorse it as their possession?

Sadly no. I’ve been shown many items that owners tell me belonged to Emma or Nelson. But if you are not a descendant and you don’t have papers proving it was actually in her or his possession, it is almost impossible to authenticate.

What writers do you admire?

I read most new history and biography books and I love the moving biographies of Amanda Foreman, Flora and Antonia Fraser, Stella Tillyard, Lucy Moore, as well as Alison Weir, Kathryn Hughes and Jenny Uglow. I recently enjoyed Maria Fairweather’s Madame de Stael. Almost any book of fiction can please me. My favourite book is Cao Xuequin’s eighteenth century Chinese novel, The Story of the Stone, as well as Middlemarch, Herman Broch’s brilliant The Sleepwalkers and Thackeray’s Vanity Fair, and John dos Passos’ USA. I’m trying to read the longest novel in every language, and I’m currently on The Tale of Genji and The Man Without Qualities – but I keep getting distracted by buying the latest hardbacks from Waterstones….

What are you working on now?

For my next book, I’m moving slightly farther forward in the eighteenth century and then into the Victorians. Random House will publish my second book in 2008-9

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