SOVAY

On writing Sovay…

Sovay began with a ballad of the same name which I first heard when I was at university. It is the story of a girl who dresses as a highwayman and holds up her lover, demanding that he hands over everything, including a ring that she has given him. It is a test. If he parts with the ring, she will shoot him. Very romantic and dramatic and it has always stuck in my head. I wanted to write about Sovay, to give her a story, but when to set the novel? There were female highwaymen, and ballads and broadsheets about them, but they could ride at any time from the 16th Century to the coming of the railways.

I chose 1794, at the height of the Revolution in France. This would allow me to bring in bigger themes and expand the scope of the story to include the turbulent politics of the time and momentous historical events. As William Wordsworth said: 'Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive, but to be young was very heaven!'. Many, like Wordsworth and the Romantic poets, welcomed the Revolution, including young women like the feminist philosopher, Mary Wollstonecraft and the writer Helen Maria Williams who both travelled to Paris to witness what was happening there at first hand. Sovay would be a young woman of her time, part of a new genus, brave and intrepid, brought up in a Radical reforming household, familiar with the ideas of Liberty and Equality that had sparked the French Revolution. In Britain, the unfolding events in France engendered a growing atmosphere of fear and repression and Sovay quickly becomes enmeshed in a terrifying web of deceit and suspicion. What begins with reckless adventure swiftly moves on to become something altogether more sinister and dangerous.

Such a time suited my purposes perfectly. 1794 also marked the publication of Mrs Radcliffe's The Mysteries of Udolpho, so I couldn't resist adding a dash of gothic to the already powerful mix.

Press…

Amanda Craig interviewed Celia for The Times's book section, about Sovay and her other books, 24th May 2008.

Sovay was Sunday Times Book of the Week by Nicolette Jones, 1st June 2008.

More reviews…

“Sovay is a gorgeous, breathless, headlong romp of a read, whose heroine takes on every challenge of the period, from being captured by a Gothic villain to being incarcerated in the notorious Conciergerie prison hours from execution at the guillotine.” - Amanda Craig

“a compulsive, rollicking read full of colour and facts (some racy) about a feisty highwaywoman in 18th-century England, and about France in the worst days of the Terror… a swift, intricate plot scattered with handsome rogues and heroes” - Nicolette Jones

“Sovay is a strong-willed, independent character who frequently outshines her male peers, and in this respect the novel is valuable in promoting teenagers not to bow to traditional ideals of femininity and submission if they don't want to.” - Sarah Fletcher, Times Educational Supplement, 30th May 2008

“A really clever and intelligent read that doesn’t overawe or patronise, but simply walks that fine line of a damn good read.” - Freya Sykes, 19th June 2008