00:00 Shifting the perspective to women in history leads to different historical protagonists, different questions, and a different view of politics, highlighting the importance of gender history.

04:11 Historical fiction blurs the line between fiction and nonfiction, allowing for a different perspective on history and the ability to reach a wider audience, as demonstrated by bestselling author Philippa Gregory and her focus on the women of the Wars of the Roses.

08:28 Philippa Gregory was drawn to the setting of her novels in England in the 15th and 16th centuries after researching a novel about English pirates and stumbling upon the story of Mary Bolin, which led her to the stories of Catherine of Aragon and the White Queen, and she believes that the fascination with this time and place is due to the vivid historical context, the presence of historical sites in England, and the relatable themes of power, succession, and love.

12:44 Henry VIII is often portrayed as a comical and eccentric figure, but he was actually a psychopath and serial wife killer, and his actions should be taken more seriously in historical context.

17:11 The historical record is lacking in terms of social history, particularly when it comes to women, and historians are having to dig deeper into archives and read documents in different ways to uncover a more accurate and inclusive history.

21:53 Philippa Gregory was inspired to write her series on the Wars of the Roses, focusing on characters like Elizabeth Woodville and Margaret Beaufort, after discovering a scandal involving Elizabeth of York and Richard III, and wanted to explore the motivations and agency of these women in a time when historical accounts often portray them as passive.

27:09 Elizabeth Woodville, the widow of Edward IV's enemy, appealed to him directly for her rights and they fell in love, leading to their marriage within six weeks, which was seen as scandalous and resulted in accusations of witchcraft against her and her mother.

31:34 The author discusses the challenge of writing relatable characters in historical fiction while still maintaining the reality of a different world, emphasizing the similarities between the struggles of women in the past and present, as well as the importance of respecting the historical context and language of the time period.

35:56 The challenge of writing historical fiction is to balance the perspective of a modern author with the understanding of a medieval world, where individuals saw themselves as part of a community and had strong obligations to the church, village, and family.

40:28 Historical fiction offers a variable and subjective view of the past, with different authors selecting and interpreting events based on their own interests and imagination, reflecting the step that historians themselves take when they step back from the facts and parlay it through their imaginations.

45:01 When reading historical fiction, it's important to understand that you are reading a selection of facts that have been selected from a record, which itself was selective, and that the actual events of the past are something we will never truly know and can only guess at.