Hello Thomas. Thank you so much for joining me today. Can you tell us about your book, The Nightingale of Bath and what inspired it?

The plaque at Bath’s 11 Royal Crescent blandly says that from this house, Elizabeth Linley eloped with Richard Brinsley Sheridan on 18 March 1772 – but behind those words lies a much darker story.

Elizabeth was a stunningly beautiful teenager with a fabulous voice, ill-equipped for the adulation of stardom.

She was mercilessly exploited by her ambitious parents and prey to predatory men until she could stand it no longer and vanished, at the age of 17, on 18 March 1772. Her marriage to Sheridan proved to be no picnic, where her collaboration and authorship of two of his most celebrated plays, The Rivals and La Duenna, was given no credit, nor was any notice given to her involvement in his greatest Parliamentary coupin the impeachment of Warren Hastings.

Her passionate and loving nature was only fully recognised through tragedy.

The theme that strikes me strongly about her life was the shocking muzzling and disempowerment of women in this period, however strong and capable they were.

Her story, and that of her remarkable family, first came to my attention through an ancestral connection, through which I had several books recording her life.

What’s your typical writing day like? Do you have any writing rituals like needing
coffee or silence to write, for example?

Throughout my life, I have been an early riser in order to work undisturbed. So, for the writing of this book, my writing times would generally run from 4 am to 8.30 am, with a cup of hot chocolate to kick me off for sustenance.

How do you approach the writing process from idea, to research, first draft, editing
and final draft? How do you know when you’ve done research and editing?

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