ANNA JACOBS
The romantic novelist shares her five favourite reads with Judith Spelman
Judith Spelman
Shelf life:
To say that Anna Jacobs is a prolific writer is an understatement. In September 2017 her eightieth novel, Saffron Lane, was published. Yes, that is not a misprint.
Anna has written over eighty novels in modern fiction, historical fiction, science fiction and fantasy. They are categorised in series – Ellindale, Rivenshaw, Honeyfield, Grey Ladies, Chronicles of Tenebrak, The Hope Stories – in all about seventeen different series. They all have a strong romantic theme running through them and it is not hard to believe that she is the fourth most borrowed author from British libraries. She still had time to talk about her five favourite books. ‘I re-read each of these books every few years – and love them all over again.’
FRIDAY’S CHILD
Georgette Heyer
Georgette Heyer had more influence on me as a writer than anyone else and Friday’s Child is my favourite book of hers, a Regency romance.
The first thing I love it for is the sheer enjoyment I get from reading it. She was a witty wordsmith, who could make you laugh or bring tears to your eyes. Reading her historical novels made me want to find out more about the people in history. I’d been put off history at school in the 1950s by the politics/battles/kings emphasis and the tedious rote learning of lists. She produced one historical romance a year which I saved up to buy in hardback. Soon I too wanted to write historical novels. I went on to read factual history, only to find out that women, and especially working class women like my grandma and her nine sisters, all born before 1900, were poorly represented in textbooks. (It’s much improved nowadays.)