Rosie Andrews

Rosie Andrews was born and grew up in Liverpool, as the third of twelve children. She studied History at Cambridge before becoming an English teacher. The Leviathan is Rosie's debut novel. It is published by Raven Books on 3rd February and you can find The Leviathan on our catalogue.

Who were your heroes as you were growing up and when did you first start to write?

Where I grew up, it wasn’t fashionable to have heroes. We didn’t lionise sportspeople unless they were footballers, and I wasn’t really a fan. I had great admiration for some of the historical figures I learnt about at school, like Maximilian Kolbe and St Thomas More. I liked (and still like) people with the courage of their convictions.

I did write early. I have excruciating memories of writing my own panto (Cinderella) and subjecting the whole school to it when I was about ten. I loved writing until I was a teenager, then I had a long break from it and only picked it up again a couple of years ago.

Your novel was auctioned before it found a publisher. That must have been a nerve-wracking experience for a debut author?

My agent Sam Copeland is multi-talented (he is a children’s author), and one of the many things he is good at is keeping everyone’s feet on the ground. He didn’t let me get carried away, which was great. I was a headhunter in the City before I started teaching, so I know nothing is ever in the bag until the contracts are signed. I can’t say I wasn’t nervous, but it was okay.

Can you tell Suffolk readers a little about The Leviathan?

Many readers in Suffolk will be familiar with the East Anglian witch hunts of the seventeenth century. The Leviathan takes some of those events as its starting point. The protagonist, Thomas, is returning home from fighting on the side of Parliament during the Civil War, and when he gets back to Norfolk he finds his father gravely ill and his sister, who has accused one of the servants of witchcraft, in a near-hysterical state. He is a rational man who doesn’t believe in witches, making him slightly unusual for the time, and he feels compelled to investigate.

From that point on, the mystery deepens. As he gets closer to the truth, he faces a powerful threat that forces him to question his beliefs and fight for his family’s future.

What led you to choose Norfolk as your location?

East Anglia, and especially Cambridge, was a centre of Protestant or reformist thought from the mid-sixteenth century onwards, and then it was a stronghold for the Parliamentarian cause during the Civil War, so I knew the novel would be set in that area. Specifically, I chose Norfolk because the novel has such a such strong connection to the sea and the plot requires both a coast, and a certain isolation. Norfolk was ideal, and when I visited places like North Walsham, Worstead and Happisburgh, they perfectly matched the brooding atmosphere I wanted to create.

When you started writing did you know roughly where you wanted to go with the story and at what point did you have the idea of switching between the timelines for 1643 and 1703?

Such a difficult question! I dread talking about the writing process, because I don’t always remember the evolution of an idea. Other writers seem to talk about how they wrote their books with a great deal of confidence, but I often feel like ideas just arrive and – in a strange way – write themselves (my current project isn’t doing this!). When I look back on writing The Leviathan, it feels like the timelines and plot came together very naturally. I know the 1703 voice was formed first, but I knew there would be an immediate time shift back to the mid-seventeenth century. The core of the mystery – what is actually happening behind the scenes – was probably the hardest thing to work out in detail. I find that is true of my current project as well. You don’t want to create mystery with no, or inadequate, revelation.

The Leviathan is rich in historical background and language from the time. How did you research this?

I studied the Tudor and Stuart periods for a significant part of my History degree, particularly political and social history, and political thought, so I read a lot of sources that helped me internalise the diction of the time and understand the psychological landscape of belief and common values. Then there was a lot of research that I think of as more ‘mechanical’ – locations, buildings, how people lit their homes, what they ate, how they travelled, etcetera. That was a process of collecting the right books and consulting them. Malcolm Gaskill’s work was very useful. John Milton’s Paradise Lost provided some of the mythological and theological background. I read some really fun books on cryptozoology – I won’t say too much about that because it’s bound up with the mystery of the novel.

Is there anything you can share with us about your latest project?

I’m writing a nineteenth century gothic mystery, with the working title The Puzzle Wood. It’s a lot of fun to research and write. It has deep woods, coal mines, a high death count, and a certain otherworldliness.

One book, piece of music or work of art that everyone should experience?

I struggle to think of anything as universal in that way. I do love medieval cathedrals. They’re some of our greatest works of art. Winchester may be peerless.

What is the best piece of advice you were ever given?

My mum always told me to wear matching socks to bed in case there’s a gas blast.

Can you tell us one thing about yourself that your readers may not know?

I love science in a very amateurish way. I studied Physics at A-Level, so I’m a geek at heart, although my maths skills aren’t fantastic, so my scientific interest outstrips my ability.