Scala Radio Book Club: The Siege of Loyalty House by Jessie Childs
It was a time of climate change and colonialism, puritans and populism, witch hunts and war
Last updated 19th May 2022
On Thursday 19th May 2022, Mark Forrest invited award-winning author and historian Jessie Childs into the Scala Radio Book Club, to discuss her brand-new novel The Siege of Loyalty House: A new history of the English Civil War.
It was a time of climate change and colonialism, puritans and populism, witch hunts and war.
A greater proportion of the British population died in the civil wars of the seventeenth century than in the world wars of the twentieth. Jessie Childs recovers the shock of this conflict by plunging us into one of its most extraordinary episodes: the siege of Basing House. To the parliamentarians, the royalist stronghold was the devil's seat. Its defenders called it Loyalty House.
We follow artists, apothecaries, merchants and their families from the revolutionary streets of London to the Marquess of Winchester's mist-shrouded mansion. Over two years, they are battered, bombarded, starved and gassed. From within they face smallpox, spies and mutiny. Their resistance becomes legendary, but in October 1645, Oliver Cromwell rolls in the heavy guns and they prepare for a last stand.
Drawing on unpublished manuscripts and the voices of dozens of men, women and children caught in the crossfire, Childs weaves a thrilling tale of war and peace, terror and faith, savagery and civilisation.
The Siege of Loyalty House is an immersive and electrifying account of a defining episode in a war that would turn Britain - and the world - upside down.
Mark began the interview by asking, ‘At this time, the civil war has the parliamentarians on one side, and on the other side the Royalists. You decided to centre the book on a siege that takes place at Basing House. Why is this house, so central to the story you tell?’
‘Well, two reasons, really,’ said Jessie. ‘One is that I think the Civil War is the most important episode in the most important century of our history, but for whatever reason, it hasn't really been taught. It sort of frightens a lot of people. I think they find it daunting.
So, my way into it was to tell what I think is the best story, and for me, that was by focusing on this one house. I can tell the whole story of the war in a microcosm but through people. That's what really interests me. There are so many fascinating people whose lives I can trace back. Through these lives, I can sort of open up the whole vista and hopefully it blossoms, and you can tell the whole story of the war.’
Mark said, ‘You know an awful lot about the individuals you mention in the book, but you chose not to tell your story through the creation of dialogue. Sometimes when you read historical fiction, that's the way it's done. You don't go down that road. Why not?
‘I'm a historian, and I think there are set rules,’ said Jessie. ‘You cannot make stuff up and you don't need to. If you dig deep enough in the archives, there's enough material there. I think the truth is always stranger than fiction. What I do try to do is quote a lot and that can be dangerous. You can put a lot of people off, especially with early modern language, but I do think there’s poetry in this language. I think as long as you contextualize it the right way, you can make the narrative flow. So I don't think there's any need to make a single thing up.’
Mark said, ‘As you quite rightly say, we are very uninformed about the Civil War. Why is it so intimidating and scary? Why don't we want to know more?’
‘I think we do!’ said Jessie. ‘I think if I was to point the finger, I would point to the people who set the agenda. I think it should be more central in the curriculum. I think it should be on more television screens. It should be in documentaries. I think there is the sense that, “Oh, we love the Tudors, so let's give people the Tudors and always the Tudors!” And I love the Tudors! But I actually think knowing about the Civil War helps you understand the Tudors because a lot of the sources come from that period.’