I’m so tired of the slave narratives where people are all, “I just love my master”.

I was determined to not take the easy way out. It wasn’t always comfortable to read, but I thought it was realistic and powerful to read the way Hild worked through the power dynamic between herself and Glwadus. So it was a challenge to have her care for a man, especially with the additional complication. I’ve always written about women having sex and falling in love with women. I wanted to make Hild a real person, and I think that real people feel for more than one person. For most of the book I thought that the main romance would be between Hild and Glwadus, Hild's slave. I was interested in the romantic elements of Hild as they pertained to Hild and Glwadus and Hild and Cian. Everything is very specific, and I think specificity is what makes reality. Why was including that level of detail so important to you?īecause I think having that level of detail is what makes it feel real. There’s a very high level of specific detail in Hild. They all have their own perspectives and agendas. And one of the things I enjoyed doing was giving each of these women their own playground. People have to interact with the world on their own terms. They gave birth to dynasties and that was their role. But you know – who wrote these histories? Basically, if you look at Bede as the first English historian, he was writing with a very particular perspective. There’s this idea that women in the Middle Ages were just chattel. On writing about women in the Middle Ages: There are some spoilers here, specifically relating to romance. Nicola shared her perspectives on the importance of detail in historical fiction, writing about women in the Middle Ages, and Hild’s complicated romantic life. Hild is not a romance, but it does have many romantic elements as well as a large and vibrant cast of women. Nicola Griffith is the author of Hild, a historical fiction novel about Hild of Whitby.

Hild nicola griffith review