An Interview with Wench Susan Holloway Scott by Wench Loretta Chase
It’s nearly July, which means the arrival of a wonderful new Susan Holloway Scott historical novel, and a chance for me to turn the tables and interview her, starting today and continuing on Monday with Part II.
Susan’s July book The King’s Favorite, like its predecessor, Royal Harlot, takes us to Restoration England. Once again, Susan plunges us into the thick of things in the second half of the 17th century, bringing to life its enigmatic king, his Court, and his people. For more about the era, you might want to look at the interview for Royal Harlot, where Susan gives us the lowdown on the Restoration, King Charles II, and his Court.
This time, however, we see Restoration London from a very different perspective--because the heroine, Nell Gwyn, comes from another world entirely. Though completely unlike Barbara Villiers Palmer, Lady Castlemaine, the heroine of Royal Harlot, Nell, too, had a place in the capricious king’s heart, and was part of his life for a long time.
To read an excerpt from The King’s Favorite, please visit Susan’s web site. And not only does Susan have a brand-new page on Facebook, but so does Nell Gwyn herself. Stop by and become a friend to both of them.
Also: Susan will be giving away an autographed copy of The King’s Favorite to a reader who posts a comment or question to this interview, so please post away!
Loretta: Susan, would you bring Nell on stage for us and tell us a little about her world: the London she
grew up in and the way she grew up in it?
Susan: Nell Gwyn (one of her portraits is to the right) is a considerable departure from any other heroine I’ve ever written. Born around 1650, at the very end of the English Civil War, her circumstances were sadly all too common at the time: soon after Nell’s birth, her Royalist father was killed in battle, and her widowed mother drifted into prostitution in London to support her two young daughters. Her childhood was as grim as anything in Dickens. Raised in one of the poorest neighborhoods in the city, she lived in lodgings over a brothel, where her now-alcoholic mother brought her male customers. There was never enough to eat, let alone clothing, and as a very young child barefoot Nell was soon working to earn what she could, first sweeping cinders in the street (a real-life Cinderella), then selling herring from a basket. It was a considerable step up for her when, around age ten, she began serving ale and singing songs in the bawdy-house where her mother and older sister worked. She was tiny for her age (and remained so throughout her short life, likely from malnutrition), yet astonishingly beautiful, and blessed with both a sunny, light-hearted personality and a very quick, saucy wit –– and a fierce determination to rise in the world.
She couldn’t have chosen a better time in which to be a young person, poor or rich, in London. In 1660, Englishmen decided that they’d had enough of grim Puritan rule, and welcomed back the monarchy and Charles Stuart from exile. London after his Restoration was a delightful place to be, once again full of music, dancing, and frivolous fun. To a girl like Nell, the handsome young king must have seemed like a fairy-tale ruler come to life, especially with his habit of wandering freely among his people. Like most every woman in the realm, Nell dreamed of Charles, but unlike most of them, in time she managed to make her romantic dreams a reality
Loretta: You make Nell so real that it’s hard to believe you had so little to work with in realizing her character. She was illiterate. She never wrote letters or journals or memoirs. You had only scraps to work with in creating a woman who is the most famous of the king’s many mistresses and who must have had a considerable comic gift. But as you’ve mentioned previously, comedy is hard, and recapturing it –– from mere wisps of information –– seems nigh impossible. What among the scraps of information provided the keys to unlocking her character and what it was that people found so captivating?
Susan: In some ways, there was too little, and in others, too much. There is almost nothing remaining in Nell’s own voice, and yet because she was such a popular, public figure in her time and afterwards, there are a great many stories and anecdotes about her. The trick was sifting through all this to decide what sounded true and right, and what clanged false. I also tried to place her in the context of her world –– or rather, the better-documented version of her world as described by contemporaries like the famous
diarist Samuel Pepys –– and create a character that was both true to her time, and to historical fact.
I think the greatest single key to Nell’s personality was her constant need to be the center of attention, which, given her wretched childhood, was understandable. Seventeenth-century ladies were expected to languish gracefully. They weren’t supposed to be as witty as the gentlemen, or to enjoy outrageous pranks and pratfalls. Nell did: but then Nell was not a lady (another portrait of her, looking solemnly lady-like, is to the right). Laughter can be a very potent weapon, and early on Nell learned that being both uproariously funny and very pretty could be an unbeatable combination for attracting –– and holding –– men. She was an excellent mimic, combined with a gift for biting satire and word-play that entertained even the most jaded courtiers. Humor can also be an excellent way to hide insecurities and doubts, which, I imagine, plagued the barefoot girl from Coal Yard Alley as she scampered among the peers at the palace.
Loretta: Nell became an actress, a highly popular one. Would you tell us something about the theater of her time and her distinctive place there?
Susan: The rollicking English theater of Shakespeare’s time had been one of the first things banned by Cromwell’s Puritans, and one of the first that Charles restored. But he also introduced an innovation 
from the French theater: the women’s roles were no longer played by men and boys, but by women. (That's the original patent for the King's Company, granted by Charles and featuring his portrait.) Overnight there was a demand for actresses, yet it was a rare woman who had the required beauty, talent, and sheer fortitude to withstand the raucous audience interaction that characterized 17th century English theater, particularly the bawdy comic roles. Most of the new actresses were at least middle-class and literate. Only Nell made the considerable leap from selling oranges in the pit to leading roles on the stage, but it was a gamble that paid off handsomely for the playhouse’s owners. Nell was a born comedienne, and while still in her teens she became such a draw that playwrights like John Dryden were writing specific roles for her. Her presence could make a play a success. She was recognized in the street by her fans, famous artists painted her portrait, and prints of her picture were sold by the score.
Loretta: King Charles had a number of lower-class lovers. He frequented brothels. He slept with actresses. What was it about Nell that made her more than a one-night stand, that raised her to the level of The King’s Favorite?
Susan: While Nell truly believed she was fated to love the king, she was also wise enough not to tumble into his bed at once. She was already a success in her own right; she could afford to withstand his considerable royal charm. For a woman who cheerfully called herself a whore all her life, Nell was not
promiscuous, especially not for the wanton times in which she lived. Only four men can be documented as having shared her bed (though many others claimed to have done so), and none of those four were chosen on impulse.
The king was no exception. Nell became Charles’s friend long before she was his lover, and remained his friend until his death. Charles expected his friends to entertain him; he was a clever, restless man, easily bored and with little patience for tedious company. Nell’s audacity, humor, and boundless energy captivated him, and they both enjoyed decidedly un-royal pastimes like swimming, fishing, and long walks in the country (though just like many modern city-dwellers who don't have driver's licenses, Nell was terrified of riding horses, one of Charles's great country passions.) While unlike his other mistresses, Nell seldom meddled in politics, she did often say things to him that were so outrageously frank that she would surely have been banished from Court if she’d been a man. Her mimicry and sarcasm could be so sharp that it might have been viewed as subversive, especially coming from a common-born woman. But Charles delighted in her honesty, especially when it was worded to make him laugh, and in many ways, Nell was his perfect match.
To be continued . . . .
Please join us Monday for the second part of this interview, and more about Nell and the extraordinary world in which she lived and loved.
And do please comment: It's your chance to win a signed copy of THE KING’S FAVORITE!