Kate Mosse: Labyrinth on tour
Kate Mosse: Labyrinth on tour
To mark 20 years of her best-seller, author Kate Mosse is taking the myth and legends behind the book out on tour…
Image credit: Felix Mosse
In 2005, everything changed for author Kate Mosse when her historical novel Labyrinth was published. It went on to became a global phenomenon, selling eight million copies and translated into 38 languages.
But the quest to write the book had been a long one. It all started with the purchase of a tiny house in the shadow of the medieval walls of Carcassonne. Her husband and mother-in-law had bought the property, Kate hadn’t yet seen it, but she was immediately enchanted by this corner of southern France. Kate explains: “I arrived there in November 1989, walked through the town and saw, in the dusk, the medieval citadel on the hill for the first time. I just fell in love with the place and had a very strong visceral feeling of belonging.
“We were there for four or five months a year, and I got to know the landscape, I read about the history. And little by little over the years, I realised that there was a story for me that I was going to tell set in this beautiful and extraordinary place. It was then a long period of research, of walking all the paths, of dreaming of writing, of rewriting, editing, and false starts.”
Two decades on, the time-slip novel that tells a story shared between two women separated by 800 years has captivated readers worldwide. A live show is going on tour, providing an immersive theatrical experience that evokes the myths, legends and landscapes of medieval France.
“I love performing. It’s a new career for me in my 60s,” says Kate. “I did a tour two years ago, inspired by my non-fiction history book, Warrior Queens and Quiet Revolutionaries, and one of the reasons I’m doing the Labyrinth tour is that every night on that show, people would come up with an old copy of Labyrinth and tell me their stories. So I knew that there was an audience out there who would like to think about the book again, even though it’s 20 years on. But the show is for everybody. You don’t have to have read the book at all.”
I ask Kate what has given Labyrinth such appeal. She says it is not for her to judge, but adds: “A lot of historical fiction follows quite traditional patterns, whereas Labyrinth is very much a story told between two women. All of my work is putting women’s stories at the heart of things, because we were always there. It’s the writing of history that has left women out, not the living of it.”
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Before Labyrinth, Kate had a successful career in publishing before becoming a writer herself. She has gone on to publish 12 novels and short-story collections. Kate describes her writing process: “I do years of research, I completely immerse myself in a place, both literally by being there all the time, but also in terms of the archives, museums, and galleries. When I’ve done all of that, I let my characters come. I know the sort of story that I’m going to write, but I don’t rush it.”
“Then of course, the real work is in the edit and the re-edit and the next edit…”
When she first started writing, she had a full-time job and a young family. She would get up at 4am to write and after the children had gone to bed. She advises aspiring writers: “Just write. If you’re waiting for the kettle to boil, write the description of the steam. That’s it. It doesn’t have to be significant writing.
“Often, people understandably feel they don’t have time to write the novel they’ve always dreamt of so they don’t do any writing at all. Whereas if you just do a bit of writing every day, when you have time to write that novel you’ve always promised yourself, you’re ready to do it. You no longer have the fear of the blank page.”
By continually being creative, you become more comfortable with something initially not working as you might hope. “Failure is inherent in creating. You have to do loads of things and get them wrong in order to get them right. I think that people forget that the books they read have been worked on for years so they get despondent about their own writing.”
Kate champions women writers, co-founding the Women’s Prize for Fiction, which is now reaching its 30th anniversary. “It’s wonderful that it continues to be such a force for good. We have transformed many writers’ careers and transformed millions of readers’ experiences.” Initially, Kate faced a backlash from some quarters. “Thank the lord there was no social media because, in those days, when people wanted to have a go at me, which they did, they had to write a letter or get my phone number. One man actually did get my number and rang up to tell my husband he should be ashamed of me.”
“Nowadays, women particularly are very vulnerable on social media. I have many friends who are in politics and the things they have to put up with daily are quite horrifying. So I didn’t have all of that to contend with, but at the same time, the media was quite determined to present it as something it wasn’t, that it was against men rather than for women, which is a very significant difference. We started the prize because it was very clear that although there were great women being published, their works were not being honoured and celebrated in literary prizes.”
She adds: “We’re all really proud of the difference the prize has made. That’s why marking these anniversaries are important – to remember that we need to keep moving. We need to remember there are countries in the world where girls are not allowed to go to school. Every year, we are saying the Women’s Prize matters, women’s voices matter.”
- Labyrinth calls in at Richmond Theatre on 27 March. Tour info here.
