Marie Benedict biography

Interview

Marie Benedict's historical fiction sheds light on the lives of key historical women. Her recent books have explored the lives of Rosalind Franklin, whose work was central to unlocking the mystery of DNA structure; the mysterious disappearance of Agatha Christie; and Winston Churchill's wife, Lady Clementine; and, more recently, the lives of the Mitford sisters.

The Mitford Affair

It's clear that despite her own beliefs, Nancy found it very difficult to act against her sisters, especially before the outbreak of war. When writing a character like Nancy, are you ever tempted to add more fiction or push her into a more active role than she took in real life?

Yes! In actuality, while the record reflects that Nancy did report about her sister's activities to MI5 and that report played a role in Diana's incarceration, I was not able to locate documentation that Nancy engaged in the more active spying activities that I depicted in the book, although she must have been collecting information on her sister's whereabouts and companions informally for years, particularly as the political landscape shifted. Consequently, I did add more action than I was able to verify in the record, in part because I found Diana and Unity's behavior so unbelievably appalling and Nancy's inaction in those earlier years difficult to fathom, aside from the obvious internal conflict. That said, hindsight is twenty-twenty, and of course, Nancy would not have been privy to everything we know now—but still! I didn't want to stray too far, however, from what the record reflects, and the book reflects that ...