After waiting long enough, Philippa has decided to dedicate part of her website to the genre of fantasy. Having started out with Redwall books by Brian Jacques when she was younger (alongside all the Georgette Heyers 😉 ) becoming inspired by the way Jacques could so vividly bring to life a world by his descriptions, never patronizing a young reader and allowing her to get lost in his worlds, Philippa then moved onto Narnia.

Even now, Philippa admits to occasionally re-listening to the Narnia audio cassettes that she used to fall asleep to as a child with her little sister in their shared room. Now that she’s fully grown, she still enjoys fantasy, especially Alison Croggon’s Pellinor books which brought to life a world with such complexity, such history and such humanity that Philippa was lost there for a long time! And then there’s Joe Abercrombie whose sharp characterisation and anti-heroes are incredibly admirable.

So, maybe you’re thinking, what’s a historical romance novelist doing writing fantasies? Well, Philippa initially started writing in a variety of genres, the products of which are largely kept for her own perusal rather than anyone else’s! These two genres seem so different, but the thing is, the main elements that underlay the stories are the same. There are good people and bad people, there is love and there is hate, there is fighting and there is peace. Philippa loves creating worlds people want to escape into, she does that in her historical romances and now in fantasies.

You can look at the blurb for The Edict, and you can even read Chapter 1 here. As ever, enjoy it!