Writers of historical fiction often discover interesting tidbits to flavor their novels or events that alter the direction of their plot. Sometimes, they learn information about a real-life figure that doesn’t jibe with what they knew or imagined. In an article for Writer’s Digest, Wendy Holden says what she learned about Wallis Simpson – the woman for whom Edward VIII abdicated the throne of England – surprised her.
Holden had long been fascinated by Simpson, an “American social climber who had stolen England’s king.” However, while researching The Governess, the first in a planned trilogy of historical novels, Holden began to reimagine Simpson. Rather than portraying her as a hand-wringing cartoon villainess, Holden came to view Simpson as a woman covering for the immaturity and bad decisions of the man she loves. Her research soon bore out the accuracy of her instincts.
“The more I read, the less evidence there seemed to be for the traditional idea of her as a heartless gold-digger who schemed to be Queen of England,” Holden explains. “Before long I had a whole alternative narrative, a much more sympathetic one.” That simple reimagining of Wallis Simpson also led Holden to view the abdication in a new light. “The traditional version of events, as already mentioned, has always been that the socially ambitious American used the king,” she says. “But was the truth in fact the opposite; that the king used Wallis to escape his royal destiny?”
