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BIO
Jacqueline Winspear was born and raised in the county of Kent, England. Following higher education at the University of London's Institute of Education, Jacqueline worked in academic publishing, in higher education and in marketing communications in the UK.
She emigrated to the United States in 1990, and while working in business and as a personal/professional coach, Jacqueline embarked upon a life-long dream to be a writer.
A regular contributor to journals covering international education, Jacqueline has published articles in women's magazines and has also recorded her essays for KQED radio in San Francisco. She currently divides her time between Ojai and the San Francisco Bay Area and is a regular visitor to the United Kingdom and Europe.
Jacqueline's novels thus far --- Maisie Dobbs, Birds of a Feather, Pardonable Lies, Messenger of Truth and An Incomplete Revenge --- are set in the late 1920's and early 1930's, with the roots of each story set in the Great War, 1914-1918.
Jacqueline's grandfather was severely wounded and shell-shocked at The Battle of the Somme in 1916, and it was as she understood the extent of his suffering that, even in childhood, Jacqueline became deeply interested in the "war to end all wars" and its aftereffects. As an adult her interest deepened to the extent that, though she did not set out to write a "war" novel, it came as no surprise that this part of history formed the backdrop of Maisie Dobbs and other books in the series. The unique and engaging character of Maisie Dobbs is very much a woman of her generation. She has come of age at a time when women took on the toil of men and claimed independence that was difficult to relinquish. It was a time when many women remained unmarried, simply because a generation of men had gone to war and not come home.
"The war and its aftermath provide fertile ground for a mystery. Such great social upheaval allows for the strange and unusual to emerge and a time of intense emotions can, to the writer of fiction, provide ample fodder for a compelling story, especially one concerning criminal acts and issues of guilt and innocence. After all, a generation is said to have lost its innocence in The Great War. The mystery genre provides a wonderful vehicle for exploring such a time," explains Ms. Winspear.
Jacqueline's first novel, Maisie Dobbs, was a National Bestseller and received an array of accolades, including New York Times Notable Book 2003, a Publishers Weekly Top Ten Mystery 2003, and a BookSense Top Ten selection. In addition, the novel was nominated for 7 awards, including the Edgar for Best Novel --- only the second time a first novel was nominated in this category. She subsequently won the prestigious Agatha Award for Best First novel, the Macavity Award for Best First Novel; and the Alex Award, which is presented annually by the American Library Association in conjunction with the Margaret Alexander Edwards Trust. Maisie Dobbs was published by Soho Press in hardcover and by Penguin in paperback, an edition that spent almost four months on the Independent Mystery Booksellers Bestseller list in 2004.
Jacqueline's subsequent novels have all been BookSense picks and have received award nominations, with the Agatha Award for Best Novel going to Birds of a Feather, and the inaugural Sue Feder/Macavity Award for Best Historical Mystery awarded to Pardonable Lies. An Incomplete Revenge was an instant New York Times Bestseller in 2008.
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AUTHOR TALK
 February 20, 2009
Jacqueline Winspear's most recent publication, AMONG THE MAD, is the sixth novel in her award-winning and bestselling Maisie Dobbs series about a female psychologist and investigator in post-World War I London. In this interview, Winspear recalls some of her first-hand experiences with psychiatric disorders, which figure greatly in the book, and discusses her fascination with the fine line that separates madness from "normal" everyday behavior. She also draws parallels between 1930s England and today's political and economic climate, reveals surprising statistics about women during the early decades of the 20th century, and hints at what's in store for Maisie in the next installment of the series.
Question: You are well known for your superb portrayal of post-World War I England, a fact that you’ve stated requires research along with imagination. In AMONG THE MAD, certain mental disorders are described and readers are taken inside of a few of England’s post-war mental institutions. What sort of research did you have to do to be able to write about these things?
Jacqueline Winspear: Some of my "research" was based on personal experience, some on observation and obviously reading. The "personal experience" came when I was about sixteen. I transferred to another school to do my "A" levels (pre-higher education exams in Britain) and at that school, which one attended six days a week, we were expected to engage in some sort of activity or community service on Wednesday afternoons. I joined a small group involved in social services, so we helped in different care situations --- initially a home for abused children and later a psychiatric hospital. The hospital had once been the original lunatic asylum for the area. Built in 1830, it was an imposing and rather gothic red brick building, still with bars at the windows and a wall around the grounds. My role as a volunteer was to talk to the patients, make their tea, walk with them and offer general companionship and conversation. Of course there were the wards where the patients were all elderly, some of whom were men damaged in the mind in one war or another. It was also disturbing to note that a few of the elderly women were never psychiatric cases, but had been sent to the asylum for being pregnant out of wedlock, and had been kept in so long that they could not live outside the hospital.
For the most part, I spent those Wednesday afternoons with patients who were probably in their middle years, and who at first glance might have seemed as "normal" (and I use that word with care) as anyone you might meet in your daily round. But they weren’t. I spent many hours chatting to one man who had once been an eminent doctor. But he was a murderer (though probably charged with manslaughter, otherwise he would have been in an even more secure situation). I was at an impressionable age, and upon reflection, spent a lot of time wondering about that fine line that separates what we consider to be "normal" behavior --- because to me at that time many of the patients seemed no more unhinged than the average person --- and the point at which that line is breached according to individual and collective opinion.
I think those early thoughts gave way to the observation mentioned in the first sentence. Writers are, I believe, innately curious people-watchers. There are behaviors one observes in everyday life which are passing --- road rage, a temper tantrum in a shop, a person overcome by some seemingly small slight, the depression that follows loss --- but which make observers uncomfortable if the behavior is continued because it does not come within what is accepted to be a normal range of behaviors. Those madnesses in everyday life are interesting to the writer --- and we’ve all crossed that line at some point.
Q: AMONG THE MAD portrays two types of mental instability resulting from highly stressful situations. The first is the criminal Maisie is searching for, who turns out to be a war veteran scarred by the trauma of war. The other is Billy Beale’s wife Doreen, who readers have seen slowly deteriorate since the death of her young daughter. Why did you decide to pair these two types of mental instabilities in this novel?
JW: I think the reader will see that "madness" extends beyond the criminal or Doreen Beale. It is there in various subtle ways with other characters: there’s Detective Chief Superintendent MacFarlane, a man who tends to keep people on edge with the odd tantrum; there’s Priscilla Evernden, who is finding life in London more of a challenge than she thought and who finds solace in her cocktails, and then there’s Maisie herself, who is apt to detach from those she loves --- her father, for example --- when she is steeped in her thoughts.
I didn’t make a conscious decision to have one or two types of madness; some things just happen organically as you write. However, Doreen’s descent into melancholia seemed to just flow onto the page, and comes as no surprise to the reader who remembers MESSENGER OF TRUTH and AN INCOMPLETE REVENGE --- the poor woman could not bear the loss of her youngest child and was burdened with a grief so deep that she needed help to navigate her way out of the abyss. Unfortunately, though there were advances in treatment of the mentally ill in the late 1920s and early 1930s, there were also practices steeped in the treatment protocols of the Victorian asylums.
Q: AMONG THE MAD deals with issues that are all too familiar in today’s world, namely war, economic crisis, terrorism, and the poor treatment of veterans. Are you ever surprised by the similarities between Maisie’s time and the present day?
JW: James Joyce famously said, "History is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake." No, I am not surprised by those similarities. You only have to walk the battlefields of the Somme Valley in France and to know something of the history of the place to lack surprise at such repetitions in the experience of peoples across the ages. Terrorism is nothing new, though the tools of terrorism change with time, and economic crisis is never new, and has made news ever since the South Sea Bubble almost three centuries ago --- and probably before. I am not surprised by the similarities of Maisie’s Day, though I am saddened by them.
Q: Why did you decide to set AMONG THE MAD during the final week of 1931?
JW: Again, it came about organically, as I wanted to set the book in a specific and limited period of time, and Christmas/New Year seemed a good place to start, especially as it is a time that brings its own emotions --- and many would say madness.
Q: Maisie is a woman ahead of her times. She is single, she manages her own business, and she has no trouble going head to head with men who attempt to intimidate her. AMONG THE MAD also features another strong and independent woman in the character of Dr. Elsbeth Masters. Meanwhile, Maisie’s friend Priscilla could be considering more of a traditional woman. What inspired you to include female characters that exemplify a range of social and cultural roles in post-World War I England?
JW: Because that is exactly how women were at that time --- and though Maisie may seem ahead of her time, as I said earlier, she is very much of her time. There’s more information on my website on this subject, however, in 1921 a young woman in Britain stood only a one in ten chance of marriage, given the loss of young men to war. The census of that year revealed that there were almost two million "surplus" women of marriageable age who would never marry. Of course there were those who floundered, and those who married, but there were others, the "bachelor girls" of their day --- across the social strata --- who blazed a trail in all areas of endeavor.
Q: Is there anything you’d like to share about the future of Maisie Dobbs?
JW: Ohhhh, I’d better not be a spoiler...but I can say that Maisie’s personal life takes on a rosier hue in the next novel.
© Copyright 2009, Henry Holt and Company, an imprint of Macmillan. All rights reserved.
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INTERVIEW
 August 12, 2005
Bookreporter.com Co-Founder Carol Fitzgerald and contributing writer Shannon McKenna interviewed Jacqueline Winspear, author of PARDONABLE LIES, the third installment in her Maisie Dobbs mystery series. Winspear talks about her fascination with history and the social, as well as emotional, resonance of setting her novel during the tumultuous period between the two World Wars. She also sheds light on aspects of her writing processes, her "influences," and the future of her literary heroine.
Bookreporter.com: What was it about penning a detective series that appealed to you? What made you decide on the character of Maisie Dobbs as the protagonist?
Jacqueline Winspear: The character chose me, I think! I didn't spend any time thinking hard about a character in the sense of "I need a character, who will she be?" Rather, in what I call a moment of "artistic grace" the character came to mind while I was stuck in traffic. OK, I confess, I was daydreaming! Having said that, character development was a two-way process in that as I added more depth and history to the character, so she revealed herself to me. And as I have said before, I have always been inspired by the spirit and resourcefulness of the generation of women who came of age in the Great War. Indeed, the time does lend itself to mystery, and opportunity to explore the question of what happens to ordinary people in extraordinary times.
BRC: How would you describe the books to those who are new to the series?
JW: I thought Maureen Corrigan's description of Maisie Dobbs (in her review on NPR's "Fresh Air") serves the series very well --- she said that it was a tale of terror, a war story and a love story. To that I would add that the series reflects the time and place, with characters living at a crossroads --- the wounds of one war are not yet healed, society is changing rapidly, and a fragile peace suggests that another war looms in the distance. And at the center is Maisie Dobbs, a woman who is both of her own time, yet easily recognizable in ours.
BRC: Did you enjoy studying history when you were in school?
JW: Absolutely! However, rather than dates, monarchs, generals and the macro issues, I have always been far more interested in social history, the details of how ordinary people lived, how they were impacted by the events of the time. For example, I could easily sleep through a whole lesson on the parliamentary acts of Elizabeth I, but tell me that her teeth were completely black, and I'm listening!
BRC: PARDONABLE LIES and the two previous books in the series, MAISIE DOBBS and BIRDS OF A FEATHER, are set in the years between the two World Wars. What drew you to this particular time period?
JW: It was a time of such change socially. Had there been no Great War, there may not have been the Roaring Twenties, no war debts crippling nations, and no Second World War in the distance. Of course, historians will argue until the cows come home about what might have been, and the international alliances that would have led to war in any case, but as the historian Niall Ferguson said in THE PITY OF WAR, the Great War ended "the first great age of globalization"; that comment alone leads in so many interesting directions. I have always been curious about the time between the wars --- the fact that on the one hand you have such innovation (it's interesting how many new inventions come about due to conflict), such movement in people socially and geographically, yet there was the General Strike in Britain in the mid-twenties, then the Depression, followed by war again. Social boundaries began to break down, to change, the geo-political map altered, attitudes were challenged --- the list goes on, and that's before you even look at the creative spirit in design and the arts. I find it fascinating.
BRC: How does Maisie's understanding of psychology influence her work as a detective? Is her ability to connect with people one of the characteristics that makes her such an effective investigator?
JW: Yes, most definitely. Being able to make a connection with a person opens doors and breaks down walls --- Maisie uses her intuition and training to her advantage, but in a manner that is respectful and compassionate.
BRC: What new territory does Maisie traverse in PARDONABLE LIES, physically as well as emotionally?
JW: In PARDONABLE LIES, Maisie goes through what might be described as a "dark night of the soul." If readers did not know before, in this book they will understand that Maisie has suffered her own kind of shell-shock, and must come to terms with the past, with the terrible experience of war, in order to recover, to move on (as we might say). The cases she takes on challenge her to look back and face the past, for it is in the process of truly accepting what has gone before that she will be released to the future --- though it is also clear that she can never completely forget those who have touched her heart individually and collectively.
BRC: Your attention to detail is one of the things that makes the books feel so authentic. For example, in PARDONABLE LIES two disparate references are made in the same scene --- one is about Coco Chanel making "sun-kissed skin a desirable accessory" and, in a bit of foreshadowing, the other is about the publication of Hitler's MEIN KAMPF and the rise of his party in the German polls. Where do you turn for information about the popular culture and political aspects of the time?
JW: I have many sources of such information, but the truth is that my life-long interest in this era has led me to retain so many details about the time. I think I first read about Chanel's impact on women's looks and clothing when I was in my early teens; I even kept a scrapbook of articles about her. Then when I had my first job --- as an assistant in the sales department of a publishing company --- I was surprised to know that the company published MEIN KAMPF. I was even more surprised to know that all royalties were paid to the German Red Cross.
BRC: Why do you think the character of Maisie has resonated so strongly with readers? When you began writing the first book, MAISIE DOBBS, did you envision such an enthusiastic response from readers, reviewers, fellow writers and booksellers?
JW: I don't know that I envisioned anything, really. I just wanted to write my book. However, I always saw it as a book --- from the time I began, I could see the cover in my mind's eye, could see it as a book, not a pile of papers on my desk. I have to confess that I never imagined that the books would have such a diverse readership --- men and women, teens and seniors, and even adolescent boys! As I have said before, Maisie is both a woman of her own time, and a woman of ours. She is alone and independent, but goes through familiar emotions. For example, she knows that her loneliness is in part due to her concentration on her work, but doesn't really know how to change things.
For many women of the day, life was never to be as they might have imagined it to be when they were younger --- the 1921 census revealed that there were almost two million "surplus" women of marriageable age in Britain, for whom there would be no husband, no children, for the men they might have married had been lost to war, dead or with terrible injuries. Those women had to then forge a life alone, take care of their financial future, build community and nurture companionship. If you read any women's magazine today, you will see that so many women are facing the same challenges --- and men, for that matter. For many readers, the attraction of history is compelling. And there's another thing: we are living in very uncertain times, as uncertain as the times in which the novels are set. I have heard many readers say that they are drawn to the novels by that similarity, and are heartened to know that "life goes on."
BRC: Does writing these books make you feel connected to England, your native country? What brought you to live on this side of the Atlantic?
JW: Fate brought me to live on this side of the Atlantic! I don't know if writing the books makes me feel closer, in fact I think I am better able to write the books from this distance. I can look back at England in the time I have created and not be distracted by the truth of the country today. The place where I grew up was quite rural and at that time had changed little, in the grand scheme of things, since Edwardian times. I can remember back --- to the people, their language, their ways of moving, of addressing each other --- and I can create Maisie's world with a blend of those recollections, my research and my imagination. Oh, and I go back to England several times a year for research purposes.
BRC: Do you enjoy the research aspect of the writing process? You mention on your website that you visited World War I battlefields in France to research PARDONABLE LIES. What is your most memorable experience from that trip? How important is it for a writer to conduct hands-on research?
JW: I love the process of research, though I am very judicious in my use of the information I gather --- use too much and I might as well be writing something completely different. I am a storyteller first! For me, hands-on research is important, but that is of course dependent upon the demands of the story. In PARDONABLE LIES, I knew that Maisie had to go back to France, and I wondered what that might be like for her. Part of that "imagining" was to go to the Great War battlefields of France and Belgium. The journey was part research and part personal pilgrimage. My grandfather was badly wounded during the Battle of The Somme in 1916, and to walk those fields almost ninety years later, to reach down and pick up live ammunition from that bloody battle, to stand at the place where thousands died in hours, was a deeply moving experience. There were many memorable experiences from that visit, but the most moving inspired a pivotal scene in the book, so I had better not recount it!
BRC: Where will your travels take you next?
JW: Have just come back! I have mainly been in Kent and Sussex, back to the Romney Marshes and the area known as the High Weald.
BRC: How long had you wanted to be a writer? What finally made you take that leap to writing a novel?
JW: I've wanted to be a writer since I was about six years old, but when I began writing professionally (of course, while having a day job!), I was more interested in nonfiction, with articles and essays. It was Maisie Dobbs that made me take that leap to writing a novel. The character --- and other characters --- came into my life with a story, and I had to write it.
BRC: What authors have influenced your work?
JW: There are writers I admire; however, I wouldn't say they influenced my work. My influence is the time, place and character of Maisie Dobbs as she develops in my mind's eye. It is people I know, people I have met, people who have touched me, or made me think twice about a thing, who have influenced my work --- and not other writers. However, writers I love include F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, John Dos Passos, Arnold Bennett, Jane Austen, Muriel Spark... (how long do you want this list to be?). I admire Susan Howatch immensely --- the way she blends spellbinding storytelling with fact and philosophy is something to aspire to.
BRC: Are there more adventures in store for Maisie? If so, when can readers expect to join her on the next one? Is there a set number of titles in the series?
JW: Definitely more adventures, no set number of titles, and the next one will appear in a year or so.
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