Kate Mosse’s vivid, evocative portrayals of landscapes come alive in her descriptions of the land and history that inspire her best-selling books, as you might expect from someone who’s sold over 5 million copies of her novels across the globe. The author talks about her love of rural France, Paris, Amsterdam, North America and also of literature, art and history in such a delightful way you will be left inspired to explore, read and maybe even move to France. 

Subjects covered include: 

Selling over 5 million copies

The joy of being successful

How she got published

Advice for new authors

Her pregnancy book

The emotional aspect of being pregnant

The inspiration being ‘the French connection’

Why her fiction ‘comes from place’

‘Landscape is the lead character’

‘Place and character and plot are inextricably linked’

Falling in love with Carcasonne

‘The whispering in the landscape; stories started to come’

Finding her writers’ voice

The connection of history and land and character  

The South West of France – the most magical part of france

Hot summer, hot winds, the garigue brush land, the bastides walled cities, grape vines, wines, the Mediterranean, the Pont Vieux, the Pyrenees.

The beautiful turning of the seasons

How she researches the history

16th century France

The wars of religion

The new book the Burning Chambers

The Burning Chambers being first of four

The Huguenots versus the Catholics

Toulouse, Paris, London, Amsterdam, South Africa

The St Bartholomew’s Day massacre

The sparsely populated rural France

The best thing about Paris

Why people think the Parisians are arrogant

Henry IV

The rise and persecution of the Hugenots

The ‘great Protestant republic

Amsterdam’s canals in the 17th century

Her plans for a month in Amsterdam in January

Lisa’s time in Amsterdam

Free beer!

The Museum of the Resistance

Her favourite novel of all time – Wuthering Heights

The Bronte sisters

Haworth in Yorkshire

The book ‘I Am Heathcliff’ in tribute to Emily Bronte

The haunting Bronte family history

The Yorkshire Moors and landscape

How Anne Bronte is the most feminist writer of them all

The landscape reflecting how people feel

American pioneering writers like Willa Cather

The relationship of land and emotion

Kate’s international book tours to America; Minneapolis, Denver, Raleigh Durham, Scandinavia, Oslo, Iceland, Reykjavik, Slovenia, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Sussex, England, Chichester, The South Downs, the English Channel, Kingley Vale.

Being the founder director of The Women’s Prize for Fiction

‘Making sure that all the voices are heard’

Using historical literature to reflect on current politics

Women’s rights

Black Lives Matter

How people turn to theatre, books and painting to deal with difficult subjects

History repeating itself

The echoes of contemporary the world in her fiction

Jacques Brel