The Tower of London is one of the most charismatic, dramatic places one is likely to find. To go there after the gates have closed and the crowds have dispersed is magical and at the same time strangely unsettling. Floodlights, at first glance so utterly beautiful, also bring out the echoes and the more sinister shadows. There on February 24th to talk with Alison Weir about the Tower’s more grizzly history and, above all, some of its ghosts.
The White Tower in the centre of the great fortress has an aura of chilling beauty.
Cold, serene and uncaring.
It is easy to imagine one is seeing ghosts everywhere. Who is that in the doorway?
Although at first we hoped to take the audience on a tour of the places where there had been sightings of some of the better known ghosts, the authorities decided that the size of the crowd made this impossible (you’ve guessed it, health and safety) so we gave the presentation in the large upstairs room of the New Armouries Building. The tickets had sold out within three hours of the box office opening, so it was with mixed feelings of glee and disappointment that we settled for the indoor site.
Seating for 200 – before they arrive.
Eventhe chairs have insignia!
Fate decreed that we went outside anyway, when a member of the audience was aken ill and we were asked to leave the building while the ambulance men did their thing We foregathered around Tower Green, the site of the scaffold.
Then back inside to resume our talk.
The inside of the room – red lighting and candles add to the atmosphere.
At the end we were served wine and delicious canapés, which was a great treat, and finally got the opportunity to talk to the audience and to the wonderful yeoman warders, one of whom told me he had heard a review of Lady of Hay on the BBC World Service while bivouacking in the desert during the 1st Iraq war. He said he sat up and listened when he heard the word Hay because it was his home town. When he came home he bought a copy of the book and had, since, read all the rest!
Canapés consumed it was time for some hard book buying...
and signing.
Don’t count the glasses!
At the very end, when the audience had gone and there were just a very few people left we had the chance to look at some of the architectural details in the silence of the night.
Thankyou to the Beefeaters who looked after us so well.
And thanks to Carole Blake for most of the photos
trac on 12/01/14
I was introduced to your books by a mutual friend because of my experiences at her home & also my interest in ghost stories & sightings. Having now eagerly read most of the books I look forward to my next encounter. The last one read was based around one of my favorite places, Glastonbury, which you described so accurately. Thank you for writing such wonderful stories & researching historical facts which bring the stories alive.
trac on 12/01/14
I was introduced to your books by a mutual friend because of my experiences at her home & also my interest in ghost stories & sightings. Having now eagerly read most of the books I look forward to my next encounter. The last one read was based around one of my favorite places, Glastonbury
Janice Sands on 28/12/11
I have just finished reading Lady of Hay again and are very tempted to buy the updated version. I love all your books once you start reading, I find them hard to put down.
Keep up the good work.
kind regards
Janice
Jan Funnell on 13/12/11
Hi Barbara,
Below is a translation (literal done by google) of the letter from the German lady. I thought it a shame that you could not read how much she admires your work as do I.
Jan
Hello from Germany. I do not know whether my words reach you or whether you can read German, but because my English is not so good I try it just once. I am a huge fan and have read the book "the shadow of mistley" feels like 100 times, and so it looks now:-), I can not describe this book in me has moved but I can feel it all the more. It has given me strength and also "the curse of the Belheddon hall" is simply indescribably beautiful to read. Since then I have a step up:-) I would say just thank you longing for a child and that hope the chance that at some point my read from copy of "the shadow of Mistley" offers to sign. Thank you for the wonderful stories. Janine
Lesley Smith on 10/10/11
I love all your book's and can-not wait for your next one. Cannot put your books down and can re-read them over and over again. From Brixham. Devon.
gwen on 08/10/11
hurry up with new book!!!.i can't wait...is it soon
i love your books so muc
marion on 04/09/11
Like all your other followers i have loved all your book i have read all of them now but the one i have read over and over and over again is "Whispers in the sands" i'm there down the Nile with Louisa and then with Anna i loved it so much i booked to go on the Nile and did the very same trip that they did i loved every moment of it i have always liked reading about Egypt but to go and see it was out of this world Thankyou for your books may you write many more i have just finished "on the edge of darkness"i will be reading "Whispers" again as i have just got it back from a friend she liked it just as much as me.
Angie Wright on 30/08/11
Since discovering your books a few years ago, I have now read all your (long) novels. I love the linking of the present with the past. It is such a clever idea and I look forward to the new books as they come out. When will there be a new one? I also like the fact that you write in good English unlike many of the popular writers!!!! Thank you for giving us such interesting stories.
Lana Jane Fenn on 17/08/11
I am totally enthralled by your books and cannot put them down but then hate to finish them. i am always waiting for your next book with great excitement !!
zeny on 07/08/11
i simply love your books.. unputdownable!
Iris Hardy on 05/08/11
I have just finished your latest book The Legacy and loved it,I have read all of your books and just waiting for the next one, can't wait!!!!!!
I coverted my sister and she loves your books also.
Helen Shields on 13/07/11
Loved,loved,loved reading Time's Legacy. Can't wait for the next one.
Lisa Love on 09/07/11
Barbara, I love your books, have them all. That combination of history, time travel and haunting magic has fascinated me since I left Finland, my native country, where there is so much of that magic in the saga of Kalevala. In Iceland I was again surrounded by it. Now my journey has brought me to Mexico, and it was last night that made me look for your website. I was cleaning up the book shelf after a heavy rain (humidity) and, to my great alarm, saw that termites had gotten into your books! I went through all those thick volumes, shaking and slapping, and then packed them into plastic boxes with tight lids (cat sand containers!) where no more damage can be done. So, there!! Lady of Hay prompted me to put my obsession of Lucrezia and Cesare Borgia into a novel, "Reincarnation of Lucrezia Borgia", a time travel version of their life (in Amazon). I also wrote another one, staged in my old house here in Puerto Vallarta, "Casa Amelia, House of the Hill", another "ghost story", also in Amazon. I had to self publish them, because I am an unknown in this very competitive world. Thank you for your inspiration, and mostly the great read! I can't wait to get the new one. Lisa
Alison Taylor on 08/07/11
Hi
Barbara I love all your books, and have most of them in Hard Back on my book case:) I am now buying them for my kindle - that way I can take all them with me were ever I go:)
Janine S. on 07/07/11
Hallo aus Deutschlan. Ich weiß zwar nicht ob meine Wörter dich erreichen oder ob du Deutsch lesen kannst, aber da mein Englisch nicht so gut ist versuche ich es einfach einmal. Ich bin ein sehr großer Fan und habe das Buch "die schatten von mistley" gefühlte 100 mal gelesen und so sieht es jetzt auch aus :-) ich kann nicht beschreiben dieses Buch in mir bewegt hat aber dafür kann ich es umso mehr fühlen. Es hat mir Kraft gegeben und auch "der Fluch von Belheddon hall" ist einfach unbeschreiblich schön zu lesen. Seitdem hege ich auch einen intensivieren Kinderwunsch :-) ich möchte einfach nur Danke sagen und hoffe das sich irgendwann die Chance bietet mein ausgelesenes exemplar von "die Schatten von Mistley" signieren zu lassen. Vielen Dank für die wunderschönen Geschichten. Janine
Sorry I don't speak German, but thank you - I hope what you say is nice. B !
Shirley on 27/06/11
Have read all your books over and over again. Kingdom of Shadows and hidibg from the light most read. Just ordered Lady of Hay again as lost my copy and need a fix. Keep writing we appreciate your hardvwork.
Shirley on 27/06/11
Have read all your books over and over again. Kingdom of Shadows and hidibg from the light most read. Just ordered Lady of Hay again as lost my copy and need a fix. Keep writing we appreciate your hardvwork.
annbennett on 02/06/11
i first read lady of hay and then all the books i can find by u and my daughter we both love history and time slip novels thank u very much and please keep writing them
Fabienne Coghlan on 21/04/11
Hi Barbara,Just a quick note to thank you for your wonderful writting, i have read every single one of your books and enjoyed them all intensely...and when i read the last page it almost feels like loosing that little companion that usually comes with me everywhere.(between school pick-ups etc). I have just finished Time's Legacy and i feel that was your best ever maybe because of my personal interest and involvement in Healing Therapies, i have felt particulary drawn to the story and the Characters....As usual i 'll await eagerly for your next book...As i live in the Middle East, my wonderful Mother- in- law knows well to buy it for me as soon as it comes out in the Uk...
Ps: My sister caught the bug as well and she is reading through some of your books available in french..
Warm Regards. Fabienne
Carole on 18/04/11
Baerbara, I have been a big fan of your books since the release of Lady of Hay. I love historical novels, yours areaways so gripping, that I don't want the books to end. I will always buy your novels as I know I will not be disappointed..I am a bookseller in B.C. Canada and love to introduce your books to other readers. The customers are always happy with my Barbara Erskine suggestions......I Really enjoyed reading Time Legacy, such a fasinating story, so haunting and yet so real.....I can norm wait for your next book!
jackie moran on 17/04/11
Hi Barbara,
I have read every one of your books and they never fail to delight me, once I start I just can't put them down. They are so enthralling. My mum loves them too.
Your books appeal to my love of History, Mythology and Spiritualism.
Thank you for writing them x
Emma on 23/03/11
Back in October 2009 I attended a promenade play at Hampton Court Palace called 'A Little Neck'. No prizes for guessing that it was about the fall of Anne Boleyn! It was a real privilege to be given access to the palace at night and the whole experience somehow made the past seem very accessible. I think that this is also why I love time-slip novels; they allow us to access the past and in doing so give us a better understanding of the historical context of our own lives. There is a certain magic to that.
As you might tell, I am very much looking forward to the next novel, Barbara!
gwen on 09/03/11
when is your next book out,and whats it about.i love....your books
Maggie on 01/03/11
It must have been fascinating to be in the tower after dark without all the tourists and a little spooky. Another place I have come across in my travels that is amazing at night , after most of the tourists are gone and all the shops covered up is the old city of Rhodes. It is literally like stepping back centuries. Thanks for sharing the photos.
