All the Parts of the Soul
The story behind the book... how and why I wrote my first historical novel, and its journey to publication.
All the Parts of the Soul, a dark historical novel about witch-hunting in sixteenth century Switzerland, is now available to pre-order from Quill & Crow Publishing House. I’m really excited but also a little nervous, because this book does not make for easy reading. The writing process took me to a very dark place, both historically and emotionally. Check out the trailer, then read on for a glimpse behind-the-scenes…
I have always been interested in the Reformation, and when I moved to Geneva, where John Calvin is still the symbol of the city, I became aware of how much Calvinism has shaped Swiss culture. I spent a lot of time walking around the Old Town and reading books about Geneva in the sixteenth century. One of these was called Plagues, Poisons and Potions by William Naphy, and it was about the sinister and possibly mythical concept of plague-spreading. Plague-spreading accusations were often entangled with witchcraft, and I was fascinated by this link, reading case after case. The city archives are incomplete for this period and many cases are confused and fragmented, so I began to piece together a story for myself.
Researching this book was an absolute joy. My degree is in history, specialising in the Reformation, but that was (shhh) over twenty years ago, so it was wonderful to go back to the textbooks and see how scholarship has developed since then. I was also able to use local primary sources, and best of all, visit all the book’s locations. It was a beautiful autumn and I wandered the vineyards and forests of Satigny, writing in my head or stopping to jot in my notebook, before heading back into Geneva to pace out the scenes within the city walls. I admired the elaborate door handles which had struck such terror into the citizens afraid of plague-spreaders; I found Calvin’s house, drank coffee in Place Molard where Froment taught the children of Geneva to read, sat in the cathedral where the new hymns of the Reformation were sung, walked the route prisoners would take from the dungeons to the execution hill on Plain Palais.
The book also took me to a very dark place, as I read about the sadistic violence of the European witchcraze as it played out in Geneva. Thousands of people tortured and executed, most of them women, based on the most flimsy evidence and hearsay. It is questionable what Calvin really thought of witch burnings, but he certainly didn’t prevent them in a city where he controlled everything. And his most infamous act was to burn his former best friend, Michael Servetus, in 1553.
Consequently, there is a lot of violence in this book. Some readers will find it upsetting; one of my beta readers even refused to finish it. But I didn’t need to embellish anything, and indeed the book gives only a small glimpse of what really happened, of the depravities that were committed in the name of religion. We do not serve history by glossing over it.
I wrote this book in 2019, when the #metoo movement was in full swing. Positive changes, but shocking revelations and depressing statistics brought to light, and I felt angry on behalf of all women. My daughters have a brilliant new series of history books called Stories For Rebel Girls, and many of the women in those books I had barely heard of, despite having a degree in History. It wasn’t that their stories were insignificant, it was just that the (male) writers of history had ignored them. All this found its way into All The Parts Of The Soul – Henry Aubert’s misogyny, and the way people like Louise de Peney were systematically written out.
Now as we appear to be witnessing a new epidemic of violence against women, I wonder just how far we have come since 1545.
All The Parts Of The Soul has interesting parallels to be made between sixteenth century attitudes to infectious disease, and the COVID pandemic. But in fact the writing was finished before COVID started and a short period came when, like my protagonist Henry Aubert, we all became isolated, afraid of touching door handles, afraid of mingling in society. It then took a long time to set this book on the route to publication. I was signed with Liverpool Literary Agency and Clare did a heroic job of submitting it to all the big publishing houses. We got close a few times, but fundamentally, my writing is sort of indie. The day after the agency and I parted ways, I submitted the manuscript to Quill & Crow, an ultra-cool new US gothic publishing house that I had had my eye on for a while. And I was beyond excited when Editor-In-Chief Cassandra signed me up. Since then it’s been smooth sailing, with Quill & Crow providing a superb editing process, gorgeous aesthetics, professional marketing and a lovely new community of authors.
Make sure you pre-order All The Parts Of The Soul, and subscribe here for more sixteenth century stuff!