Philippa Gregory: Books that changed my life
1st Jan 2015 Meet the Author
Philippa Gregory is the best-selling historical novelist of over 30 books, including The Other Boleyn Girl, adapted for the big screen, and The White Queen, made into a BBC series. Her latest book The Taming of the Queen is out now.
A Room With a View
By E M Forster
Available On Amazon
Growing up, I used to go and stay with my aunt, who was one of the first women to graduate from Oxford. She had a wonderful library, including Forster first editions, and would let me take them out into the countryside to read.
At 14, I was exactly the right age to enjoy this deceptively simple coming-of-age story and to embrace proper literature for the first time—freely, deeply and with real pleasure.
The Making of the English Working Class
By E P Thompson
This is the Bible of Marxist history. During my first year at Sussex University everybody was talking about it, so I felt I had to tackle it too.
I’d always been interested in history and left-wing thinking, so Thompson’s knowledge and outrage at the way the working class has been treated really shaped my politics.
He has a lovely sense of humour and writes with enormous sympathy, so his love of England shines through.
Simple Gifts
By Joanne Greenberg
Picked up by chance in a bookshop some 30 years ago, this is the book I’ve reread more than any other.
It’s an entertaining story about a poor farming family in Colorado, secretly brewing alcohol to make ends meet, who have to step back in time and live and dress like pioneers when their farm is chosen as a heritage site, where stressed New Yorkers come to sample simple living.
Obviously things go wrong, but it’s Greenberg’s meditation on time, the differences between living in the past and the present, which I take to heart each time I read it.
Feature image via Oxford Scientific
*This post contains affiliate links, so we may earn a small commission when you make a purchase through links on our site at no additional cost to you.
