With the country on an indefinite lockdown, I recently reached out to author Elizabeth Macneal and we had a lovely chat about books. Last year we met briefly in Bath when I spotted the author in one of my favourite bookstores and picked up a signed copy of her novel. I read The Doll Factory last summer and it was one of my favourite releases of 2019.
I’m now delighted to share with you my mini interview with Elizabeth Macneal, bestselling author of The Doll Factory:
I’m now delighted to share with you my mini interview with Elizabeth Macneal, bestselling author of The Doll Factory:
What is your writing process like?
Macneal: I try and treat writing like a normal job as far as I can, and stick to office hours – it’s so easy for it to leach into every area of my life and I have to remember to be a relatively normal wife, friend and person too.
With The Doll Factory being set in 1850’s London, what kind of research did you do, and how long did you spend researching before you began writing?
Macneal: I’ve always been interested in Victorian Britain, so I already had a fairly sound knowledge of it – and I’ve always been fascinated by the Pre-Raphaelites.
I adore Victorian literature, whether it is Thackeray or Eliot or Sarah Waters or Sarah Perry. This all meant that I was able to start writing almost immediately and didn’t need to front-load my research. I researched as I went along: I laid out all the letters, diaries and journals of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and integrated them into the plot.
If William Rossetti referred to a rowing trip to Richmond in the P.R.B. journal, I made sure that my characters joined those present on the same day; if Louis were to visit his fictional painting in the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, Millias’s Mariana was hanging in its true location and room.
Do you have a favourite moment in The Doll Factory?
Macneal: I enjoyed writing the moment when the characters saw The Great Exhibition for the first time – and I describe this from each of their perspectives. I particularly enjoyed Iris’s perspective; the sense that this magnificent museum filled her with a sudden belief in her own potential.
Which other novelists have inspired you over the years?
Macneal: It is hard to trace inspiration, but I do absolutely adore the novels of Maggie O’Farrell, William Makepeace Thackeray and Sarah Waters. I would say that the romance in The Hand That First Held Mine and O’Farrell’s extraordinary pace and conciseness really informed my work. I reread it as I wrote as a kind of textbook – how did she do it?
Your first book has been hugely successful and extremely popular with readers and reviewers. Do you feel this has changed the way you write or view your own work?
Macneal: I have found the act of writing my second novel quite difficult for this reason. It is difficult to shut out the idea that I have an audience for the first time – and for that audience to feel so nebulous and varied in their response. I definitely worry about letting people down and have tended towards being too self-critical. Ultimately, I’ve had to have a few stern words with myself, to get a grip, and to write the book I want to read.
What do you hope readers of The Doll Factory will come away with?
Macneal: I hope that, above all, a reader is entertained. I like nothing more than to feel thoroughly immersed in a book when I’m reading it, and for all of my concerns to melt away. So, too, do I hope they will be challenged, and that the historical setting will resonate with their own concerns – for example, around misogyny and the treatment of those who are worse off than us.
What advice do you have for new or aspiring writers?
Macneal: To read. Whenever I’m struggling to write, I read a book, and I find the brilliant work of others to be incredibly inspiring. Also, practice and persevere. It took me ten years to write a book that was good enough to be published. There were times when it would have been easy to give up.
What have you been reading in 2020 so far?
Macneal: I’ve been a bit of a reading machine this year. The stand-out reads for me have been The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave, Heartburn by Nora Ephron, Such a Fun Age by Kiley Read, Girl Woman Other by Bernadine Evaristo, and The Confessions of Frannie Langton by Sara Collins.
Those are great choices! Several of those are on my TBR already, and I loved reading Such a Fun Age recently too. What can we expect from your second novel? I’m really looking forward to reading it!
Macneal: Thank you! It’s set in a Victorian circus, and it’s about celebrity, spectacle, madness, belonging, display, illusion and reality. I really hope you enjoy it!
I really enjoyed catching up with Elizabeth Macneal who kindly spared some time to talk with me.
She is still busy working on her second novel, and I'm eagerly awaiting being able to read more from this wonderful author.
Macneal: I try and treat writing like a normal job as far as I can, and stick to office hours – it’s so easy for it to leach into every area of my life and I have to remember to be a relatively normal wife, friend and person too.
With The Doll Factory being set in 1850’s London, what kind of research did you do, and how long did you spend researching before you began writing?
Macneal: I’ve always been interested in Victorian Britain, so I already had a fairly sound knowledge of it – and I’ve always been fascinated by the Pre-Raphaelites.
I adore Victorian literature, whether it is Thackeray or Eliot or Sarah Waters or Sarah Perry. This all meant that I was able to start writing almost immediately and didn’t need to front-load my research. I researched as I went along: I laid out all the letters, diaries and journals of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and integrated them into the plot.
If William Rossetti referred to a rowing trip to Richmond in the P.R.B. journal, I made sure that my characters joined those present on the same day; if Louis were to visit his fictional painting in the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, Millias’s Mariana was hanging in its true location and room.
Do you have a favourite moment in The Doll Factory?
Macneal: I enjoyed writing the moment when the characters saw The Great Exhibition for the first time – and I describe this from each of their perspectives. I particularly enjoyed Iris’s perspective; the sense that this magnificent museum filled her with a sudden belief in her own potential.
Which other novelists have inspired you over the years?
Macneal: It is hard to trace inspiration, but I do absolutely adore the novels of Maggie O’Farrell, William Makepeace Thackeray and Sarah Waters. I would say that the romance in The Hand That First Held Mine and O’Farrell’s extraordinary pace and conciseness really informed my work. I reread it as I wrote as a kind of textbook – how did she do it?
Your first book has been hugely successful and extremely popular with readers and reviewers. Do you feel this has changed the way you write or view your own work?
Macneal: I have found the act of writing my second novel quite difficult for this reason. It is difficult to shut out the idea that I have an audience for the first time – and for that audience to feel so nebulous and varied in their response. I definitely worry about letting people down and have tended towards being too self-critical. Ultimately, I’ve had to have a few stern words with myself, to get a grip, and to write the book I want to read.
What do you hope readers of The Doll Factory will come away with?
Macneal: I hope that, above all, a reader is entertained. I like nothing more than to feel thoroughly immersed in a book when I’m reading it, and for all of my concerns to melt away. So, too, do I hope they will be challenged, and that the historical setting will resonate with their own concerns – for example, around misogyny and the treatment of those who are worse off than us.
What advice do you have for new or aspiring writers?
Macneal: To read. Whenever I’m struggling to write, I read a book, and I find the brilliant work of others to be incredibly inspiring. Also, practice and persevere. It took me ten years to write a book that was good enough to be published. There were times when it would have been easy to give up.
What have you been reading in 2020 so far?
Macneal: I’ve been a bit of a reading machine this year. The stand-out reads for me have been The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave, Heartburn by Nora Ephron, Such a Fun Age by Kiley Read, Girl Woman Other by Bernadine Evaristo, and The Confessions of Frannie Langton by Sara Collins.
Those are great choices! Several of those are on my TBR already, and I loved reading Such a Fun Age recently too. What can we expect from your second novel? I’m really looking forward to reading it!
Macneal: Thank you! It’s set in a Victorian circus, and it’s about celebrity, spectacle, madness, belonging, display, illusion and reality. I really hope you enjoy it!
I really enjoyed catching up with Elizabeth Macneal who kindly spared some time to talk with me.
She is still busy working on her second novel, and I'm eagerly awaiting being able to read more from this wonderful author.
Elizabeth Macneal was born in Edinburgh and now lives in East London. She is a writer and potter and works from a small studio at the bottom of her garden. She read English Literature at Oxford University, before working in the City for several years. In 2017, she completed the Creative Writing MA at UEA where she was awarded the Malcolm Bradbury scholarship.
The Doll Factory, Elizabeth’s debut novel is captivating and authentic. Set in historic London of 1850, it is both dark and beautiful. I was expecting good things, but what I found within its pages was even better than I had hoped for. It’s an absorbing and gritty historical fiction novel with fantastic characters, great writing and some unexpected twists along the way. Highly entertaining and a very satisfying read. The book is now available in paperback and really is the perfect choice if you’re looking for something to keep you entertained whilst stuck at home over the coming weeks.
The Doll Factory, Elizabeth’s debut novel is captivating and authentic. Set in historic London of 1850, it is both dark and beautiful. I was expecting good things, but what I found within its pages was even better than I had hoped for. It’s an absorbing and gritty historical fiction novel with fantastic characters, great writing and some unexpected twists along the way. Highly entertaining and a very satisfying read. The book is now available in paperback and really is the perfect choice if you’re looking for something to keep you entertained whilst stuck at home over the coming weeks.
Thanks again to Elizabeth for answering my questions!
And stay tuned for more content as I have a few more author interviews coming soon!
And stay tuned for more content as I have a few more author interviews coming soon!