A Pact Fulfilled - Eleanor Swift-Hook - Qs&As

For today's #HistFicThursdays blog, I'm delighted to be welcoming Eleanor Swift-Hook onto the Crowvus blog, to talk about her story, A Pact Fulfilled, which is included in To Wear A Heart So White, the new Historical Writers Forum anthology. Read on to hear all about her inspiration, writing real people, and the importance of research...

First of all, can you please tell us about yourself and your writing?

According to my mother I’ve been writing stories ever since I first learned how to form words with a pencil. In those days I even illustrated them as well, but sadly my artistic talent did not keep pace with my literary enthusiasm.

Although I have written other things, I started writing historical fiction relatively recently, driven by my passion for the early modern period, especially the tumultuous times in the 17th century. My Lord’s Legacy series of books is set in the First English Civil War, one of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, and my latest series explores the grim events of the Thirty Years War.

In relation to A Pact Fulfilled, where did your inspiration come from?

The man himself - John Dee

That story was inspired by research into the life of John Dee who is a huge influence on both my Lord’s Learning and Lord’s Legacy series, although they are set decades after his death. He and some of the key figures in his life cast long shadows across the years and a couple even appear in my books. As a part of my research for Lord’s Legacy I read his spiritual diaries - or as much as I could access as I am no Latin scholar. It was there I found the story behind A Pact Fulfilled - indeed the title is taken from a line in the diary and is a translation of it: ‘pactum factum’.

What are the pros and cons of writing about real people?

The problem with historical fiction based on real people is that history itself is usually a spoiler! One has to write with the awareness that your audience might already know the end of the story, which is why I prefer in general to write about fictional characters in a historical setting as then the outcome is not a given.

The pros are that you often have a lot about them and their life story to give impetus and structure to your own. But that can also be a downside when it restricts what you can plausibly write about them. That said, I believe that as long as one is not writing something utterly against what is known about a historical character, fictional works should feel free to speculate as it suits the plot. I always point to the great Dorothy Dunnett who turned Margret Douglas into an utterly despicable individual in order to provide the antagonist she needed, whereas history suggests the poor woman was nothing like as nasty. But then unlike biographies or history books, historical fiction has the implicit leeway to interpret a historical character as suits the author best for the purposes of their story.

The author’s note explains where a lot of your research came from, but was there anything you uncovered which really surprised you?

I think what surprised me about John Dee is how such an apparently astute man could have fallen for a confidence trickster like Edward Kelley. To a modern reader of the diary it is so obvious what is going on, but Dee himself was seemingly oblivious and had faith that Kelley really was communicating with angelic beings. Right up to the end of their relationship, which was imposed by Kelley not Dee, John Dee had faith in his scrying.

Kelley must have been incredibly intelligent. He even invented a language for the angels - perhaps during his long absence from Mortlake before they left for Europe when he was supposedly treasure hunting. One can understand the frustration of being a man of intelligence and having no way to progress within a society that was largely set against social mobility. For all his faults, he certainly did his best to ensure his step family had a good education and thus every opportunity in life. 

While the story is told from Jane’s perspective, there are a number of sympathetic characters in it. Did you have a personal favourite among them?

Kelley's step-daughter,
Elizabeth Weston

Jane herself is undoubtedly my favourite. She was born Jane Fromond and had been a lady in waiting to the Countess of Lincoln before she married John. There are many references to her in Dee’s diaries and one gets the impression of a very strong individual: a woman who can manage to travel with two young children whilst pregnant with a third, face near shipwreck and the perils of journeying across 16th Century Europe, often alone as there were several times she was separated from her husband. She is someone I can admire.

But I also think it is hard not to have a lot of sympathy for Kelley’s wife, Joanna. Kelley was a man given to violent outbursts and cannot have been easy to live with. She was very loyal to him though, up to the end of his life she was trying to petition the emperor on his behalf. 

And no parent can fail to feel for young Arthur, desperately trying to live up to what his father asked of him. The experience impacted him profoundly because until he died in 1650 he believed in the power of alchemy and the truth of what his father had been doing.

Without giving too much away(!), there is a clear protagonist and antagonist. What do you think are the benefits and disadvantages of writing crime stories in this way?

There is in all of us a desire for simplicity, for good and evil to be clearly labelled and easily defined. But real life is seldom like that. The vast majority of people are shades of grey. Very often one perspective’s antagonist might be another perspective’s protagonist. The benefit in exploring that makes for far more complex and interesting characters. The antagonist can even be quite a sympathetic person despite committing whatever crime. That kind of deeper characterisation is something I enjoy doing so in all my writing where I can. The disadvantage is it takes page time to properly characterise such an antagonist, to show the subtlety of how they are who they are, and not every story can allow for that.

Also sometimes the focus of the story is on the experience of one character told exclusively through their perception. Then someone that character views as an antagonist is cast in sharp relief as being so. If we dislike someone we seldom see their good points. However, that antagonist might appear very differently if the story was being told by a different character. 

And finally, what’s next for you and your writing?

I have just brought out The Fugitive’s Sword, the first volume in a new Seventeenth Century historical fiction series Lord’s learning. It is set in 1624, 400 years ago this autumn, and has as its backdrop the tumultuous events that were going on in Europe as what would become the Thirty Years War got underway. The book traces the early experiences of Philip Lord, the hero of my already published Lord’s Legacy series, and follows him through adventures on land as a mercenary and a spy, and at sea as a Dunkirker pirate. At the moment I am working on preparing the second book, The Soldier’s Stand, for publication and it will be out next year.

To Wear a Heart So White is available here on #KindleUnlimited

So let's meet the book...

A cost for every action, and a price for every deed.

The Historical Writers’ Forum proudly presents seven stories of Crime and Punishment, from across the ages. From an anchoress to a war hero; from Italy to Missouri; this anthology has a story for everyone.

Included stories are:

The Ignoble Defence - Virginia Crow

Agatha’s Eyes - Rachel Aanstad

A Pact Fulfilled - Eleanor Swift-Hook

Carte de Viste - Ronan Beckman

A Dish Served Cold - Brenda W. Clough

Shadows of the Adriatic - Tessa Floreano

A Dangerous Road - D. Apple

Now, lets meet the author...

Eleanor Swift-Hook

Eleanor Swift-Hook enjoys the mysteries of history and fell in love with the early Stuart era at university when she re-enacted battles and living history events with the English Civil War Society. Since then, she has had an ongoing fascination with the social, military and political events that unfolded during the Thirty Years’ War and the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. She lives in County Durham and loves writing stories woven into the historical backdrop of those dramatic times.

Her six-book series, Lord’s Legacy, traces the story of Philip Lord, a mercenary commander with a reputation for ruthlessness gained in the wars raging across Europe, who has returned to England at the opening of what will become the First English Civil War. But he returns with a treason charge hanging over his head and in search of his identity and heritage. The truth about that lies in the hands of a mysterious cabal calling itself the Covenant, and their secret conspiracy which began a century before.

The story is largely told through the eyes of Gideon Lennox, a young London lawyer who has some growing up to do. He is honest, and intelligent, struggling with the changing reality as war overthrows the things he values. His worldview is broken apart and remoulded by the extraordinary people he is thrust into contact with and the demands made on him.

You can learn more about Eleanor and her books on her website: eleanorswifthook.com