Background
Philippa Gregory was born on January 9, 1954, in Nairobi, Republic of Kenya. She is the daughter of Elaine (Wedd) and Arthur Percy Gregory. When she was two years old, her family moved to Bristol, England.
Cheltenham Rd, Bristol BS6 5RD, United Kingdom
Colston's Girls' School where Philippa Gregory studied.
University of Sussex, Sussex House, Brighton BN1 9RH, United Kingdom
The University of Sussex where Philippa Gregory received a Bachelor of Arts degree.
Old College, South Bridge, Edinburgh EH8 9YL, United Kingdom
The University of Edinburgh where Philippa Gregory received a Master of Letters and a Doctor of Philosophy degrees.
Philippa Gregory
Philippa Gregory
Philippa Gregory
Philippa Gregory
Philippa Gregory
Philippa Gregory
Philippa Gregory
Philippa Gregory with Simon Mayo on BBC Radio 2.
Philippa Gregory on BBC Radio 2.
Philippa Gregory at Cheltenham Literature Festival.
University of Sussex, Sussex House, Brighton BN1 9RH, United Kingdom
Philippa Gregory with Vice-Chancellor Michael Farthing at the event at the University of Sussex where she was awarded a fellowship.
Philippa Gregory with Rebecca Ferguson and James Frain. Photo by Amanda Edwards.
Philippa Gregory at the signing 1000 books at S&S.
Philippa Gregory talking to CNN in New York City.
Philippa Gregory
Philippa Gregory
Philippa Gregory with her dog Ben.
Romantic Novelists' Association Award which Philippa Gregory received in 2002.
(Princess Florizella isn't like other princesses! She isn'...)
Princess Florizella isn't like other princesses! She isn't beautiful. She wants to share her palace with people who don't have homes. She loves eating huge meals, and she refuses to be rescued by a handsome prince. Worst of all, she tells her parents that she doesn't want to marry anyone ever!
https://www.amazon.com/Princess-Florizella-Kestrel-Philippa-Gregory/dp/0670821535/?tag=2022091-20
1988
(Princess Florizella is no ordinary fairy-tale princess. S...)
Princess Florizella is no ordinary fairy-tale princess. She doesn't sit around the palace looking pretty and waiting for her prince to come. She's much too busy riding her horse Jellybean, swimming underwater with her eyes open or looking for adventure with her best friend, Prince Bennett.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Florizella-Wolves-Princess-Philippa-Gregory/dp/0744572576
1991
(Growing up as an abandoned outcast on the moors, young Al...)
Growing up as an abandoned outcast on the moors, young Alys’ only company is her cruel foster mother, Morach, the local wise woman who is whispered to practice the dark arts. Alys joins a nunnery to escape the poverty and loneliness she has felt all her life, but all too soon her sanctuary is destroyed. King Henry VIII’s followers burn the holy place to the ground, and Alys only just manages to escape with her life, haunted by the screams of her sisters as they burned to death.
https://www.amazon.com/Wise-Woman-Novel-Historical-Novels-ebook/dp/B0017SWTMQ/?tag=2022091-20
1992
(A witty contemporary satire on the pitfalls of political ...)
A witty contemporary satire on the pitfalls of political correctness. From New Men and earnest academics to New Age Travellers and pig farmers, nobody emerges unscathed. Dr. Louise Case has the right career, the right country cottage and a commitment-free relationship with a fellow academic. According to contemporary codes, it’s all very correct – except that Louise begins to suspect that it’s far from perfect. Then along comes Rose, eighty if she’s a day, who effortlessly disrupts everything. Soon both campus and cottage are in chaos, while the old lady commences setting her own house – a decrepit old van – in order. And this includes an unthinkably traditional role for Louise.
https://www.amazon.com/Perfectly-Correct-Philippa-Gregory-ebook/dp/B005Z4QT56/?tag=2022091-20
1992
(Statuesque Alice Hartley of the khol-eyes and the gypsy s...)
Statuesque Alice Hartley of the khol-eyes and the gypsy shawls can no longer arouse the interest of her pompous husband, the adulterous professor. Despite her spirited rendition of the Dance of the Seven Veils, her heightened consciousness, her organic carrot cake, and her many-colored pop-socks, she still leaves him cold. Just as she is compelled to face this chilling truth she meets Michael, a young gullible student with an excessive libido. In Michael, Alice discovers an endless supply of all she has sought: revenge, sex and a large house suitable for conversion.
https://www.amazon.com/Hartley-Growth-Centre-Philippa-Gregory/dp/0140240225/?tag=2022091-20
1992
(Fallen Skies takes readers to post-World War I England in...)
Fallen Skies takes readers to post-World War I England in a suspenseful story about the marriage of a wealthy war hero and an aspiring singer he barely knows. Lily Valance is determined to forget the horrors of the war by throwing herself into the decadent pleasures of the 1920s and pursuing her career as a music hall singer. When she meets Captain Stephen Winters, a decorated veteran, she's immediately drawn to his wealth and status. And Stephen, burdened by his guilt over surviving the Flanders battlefields where so many soldiers perished, sees the possibility of forgetting his anguish in Lily, but his family does not approve.
https://www.amazon.com/Fallen-Skies-Novel-Historical-Novels-ebook/dp/B001M5B0FG/?tag=2022091-20
1994
(It isn't easy when your family doesn't have much money. B...)
It isn't easy when your family doesn't have much money. But you can dream. James dreams of owning a greyhound puppy that will grow into the fastest dog in the world. Then one day he finds his heart's desire - but is it a dog?
https://www.amazon.com/Little-Philippa-Gregory-14-Jul-1994-Paperback/dp/B013PRESU2/?tag=2022091-20
1994
(Bristol in 1787 is booming, a city where power beckons th...)
Bristol in 1787 is booming, a city where power beckons those who dare to take risks. Josiah Cole, a small dockside trader, is prepared to gamble everything to join the big players of the city. But he needs capital and a well-connected wife. Marriage to Frances Scott is a mutually convenient solution. Trading her social contacts for Josiah's protection, Frances finds her life and fortune dependent on the respectable trade of sugar, rum, and slaves. Into her new world comes Mehuru, once a priest in the ancient African kingdom of Yoruba, now a slave in England. From opposite ends of the earth, despite the difference in status, Mehuru and Frances confront each other and their need for love and liberty.
https://www.amazon.com/Respectable-Trade-Historical-Novels-ebook/dp/B000NY12S2/?tag=2022091-20
1995
(Diggory and the Boa Conductor is a collection of three st...)
Diggory and the Boa Conductor is a collection of three stories about Diggory. He is quite ordinary, so why do things keep happening to him? Like the incredible Boa Conductor, the fantastic desk that isn't a desk, and the very special, very unusual furry babysitter. Anyone would think there was some magic going on.
https://www.amazon.com/Diggory-Conductor-Young-Hippo-Magic/dp/0590559508/?tag=2022091-20
1996
(It was easy for Elizabeth. She married the man she loved,...)
It was easy for Elizabeth. She married the man she loved, bore him two children and made a home for him which was the envy of their friends. It was harder for Ruth. She married Elizabeth’s son and then found that, somehow, she could never quite measure up. Isolation, deceit, and betrayal fill the gaps between the two individual women and between their different worlds. In this complex thriller, Philippa Gregory deploys all her insight into what women want and what women fear, as Ruth confronts the shifting borders of her own sanity. Laying bare the comfortable conventions of rural England, this spine-tingling novel pulses with suspense until the whiplash double-twist of the denouement.
https://www.amazon.com/Little-House-Philippa-Gregory-ebook/dp/B005Z4SKVC/?tag=2022091-20
1998
(Delicious combination of confused identities, personal dr...)
Delicious combination of confused identities, personal dramas and moral dilemmas in a contemporary chiller from one of our most outstanding novelists For years, Isobel Latimer has composed serious novels for serious people, but to dwindling acclaim and ever-more dwindling financial gain. Now her husband is ill and she must carry the burden of their house and his hopes alone, and in secret. But if the public doesn’t want careful moral fables any longer, why not provide them with an outrageous tale of sex and satanism, and an author to match? Isobel, together with her agent, Troy, resolves to change her writing and her appearance, for one book only: the blockbuster that will make her fortune and save her marriage.
https://www.amazon.com/Zeldas-Cut-Philippa-Gregory-ebook/dp/B00BAJ3WLE/?tag=2022091-20
2001
(A collection of short stories from one of our most popula...)
A collection of short stories from one of our most popular novelists - the perfect gift. A rich and wonderful selection of short stories. A TV chef who specializes in outrageous cakes tempts a monk who bakes bread for his brothers; a surprise visitor invites mayhem into the perfect minimalist flat in the season of goodwill; a woman explains her unique view of straying husbands; straying husbands encounter a variety of effective responses. Just some of the delicacies on offer in this sumptuous box of delights!
https://www.amazon.com/Bread-Chocolate-Philippa-Gregory/dp/0007145896/?tag=2022091-20
2002
(Midsummer’s Eve, 1648, and England is in the grip of civi...)
Midsummer’s Eve, 1648, and England is in the grip of civil war between renegade King and rebellious Parliament. The struggle reaches every corner of the kingdom, even to the remote Tidelands – the marshy landscape of the south coast. Alinor, a descendant of wise women, crushed by poverty and superstition, waits in the graveyard under the full moon for a ghost who will declare her free from her abusive husband. Instead, she meets James, a young man on the run, and shows him the secret ways across the treacherous marsh, not knowing that she is leading disaster into the heart of her life.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07KWBYH6W/?tag=prabook0b-20
2019
(The Wideacre trilogy consists of Wideacre (1987), The Fav...)
The Wideacre trilogy consists of Wideacre (1987), The Favored Child (1989) and Meridon (1990). Set in the second half of the 18th century, it follows Beatrice Lacey's destructive lifelong attempts to gain control of the Wideacre estate.
https://www.amazon.com/Philippa-Gregory-Wideacre-Trilogy-Favoured/dp/B0087DYMAG/?tag=2022091-20
(Tradescant series consists of Earthly Joys (1998) and Vir...)
Tradescant series consists of Earthly Joys (1998) and Virgin Earth (1999). John Tradescant’s fame and skill as a gardener are unsurpassed in seventeenth-century England, but it is his clear-sighted honesty and loyalty that make him an invaluable servant. As an informal confidant of Sir Robert Cecil, an adviser to King James I, he witnesses the making of history, from the Gunpowder Plot to the accession of King Charles I and the growing animosity between Parliament and court.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FK6R6SQ?ref_=dbs_r_series&storeType=ebooks
(The Plantagenet and Tudor Novels consist of fifteen novel...)
The Plantagenet and Tudor Novels consist of fifteen novels: The Other Boleyn Girl (2001), The Queen's Fool (2003), The Virgin's Lover (2004), The Constant Princess (2005), The Boleyn Inheritance (2006), The Other Queen (2008), The White Queen (2009), The Red Queen (2010), The Lady of the Rivers (2011), The Kingmaker's Daughter (2012), The White Princess (2013), The King's Curse (2014), The Taming of the Queen (2015), Three Sisters, Three Queens (2016), and The Last Tudor (2017).
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07T32LX32/?ie=UTF8&%2AVersion%2A=1&%2Aentries%2A=0
(The Order of Darkness series consists of Changeling (2012...)
The Order of Darkness series consists of Changeling (2012), Stormbringers (2013), Fools' Gold (2014) and Dark Tracks (2018). Dark myths, medieval secrets, intrigue, and romance populate the pages of this teen series.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074BWP1TR?ref_=dbs_r_series&storeType=ebooks
Philippa Gregory was born on January 9, 1954, in Nairobi, Republic of Kenya. She is the daughter of Elaine (Wedd) and Arthur Percy Gregory. When she was two years old, her family moved to Bristol, England.
Philippa Gregory attended Colston's Girls' School. She then went to the National Council for the Training of Journalists course in Cardiff and spent a year as an apprentice with the Portsmouth News before she managed to gain a place on an English literature degree course at the University of Sussex, where she switched to a history course. There she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in history in 1978. Then in 1980, she got a Master of Letters degree from the University of Edinburgh. In 1984 she received also a Doctor of Philosophy degree in 18th-century literature at this university.
At the beginning of her career, Philippa Gregory worked on BBC radio for two years. After receiving a Doctor of Philosophy degree, Philippa Gregory published her first novel Wideacre (1987) which became an instant worldwide bestseller. On its publication, she became a full-time writer. Wideacre was followed by a haunting sequel, The Favoured Child (1989), and the delightful happy ending of the trilogy: Meridon (1990). This was followed by The Wise Woman. A Respectable Trade, a novel of the slave trade in England, set in 18th-century Bristol, was adapted by Gregory for a four-part drama series for BBC television.
Philippa Gregory was an established historian and writer when she discovered her interest in the Tudor period and wrote the novel The Other Boleyn Girl (2001), which was made into a TV drama and a major film. It has subsequently spawned sequels - The Virgin's Lover, The Constant Princess, The Boleyn Inheritance, and The Other Queen. Then The Order of Darkness series and some non-series works were written. Her new The Fairmile series begins with the book Tidelands (2019).
Philippa Gregory has also written for children. She taught at the University of Durham, the Open University, and the University of Teeside. She also reviews for The Washington Post, the LA Times, and for UK newspapers, and is a regular broadcaster on television and radio.
Her great interest is the charity that she founded nearly twenty years ago - Gardens for The Gambia. She has raised funds and paid for almost 200 wells in the primary schools of this very dry and poor African country, and thousands of school children have been able to learn market gardening and grow food to eat in the school gardens watered by the wells. The charity also provides wells for women's collective gardens and for The Gambia’s only agricultural college, at Njawara.
(Delicious combination of confused identities, personal dr...)
2001(Growing up as an abandoned outcast on the moors, young Al...)
1992(Fallen Skies takes readers to post-World War I England in...)
1994(Statuesque Alice Hartley of the khol-eyes and the gypsy s...)
1992(Midsummer’s Eve, 1648, and England is in the grip of civi...)
2019(A collection of short stories from one of our most popula...)
2002(Bristol in 1787 is booming, a city where power beckons th...)
1995(Diggory and the Boa Conductor is a collection of three st...)
1996(A witty contemporary satire on the pitfalls of political ...)
1992(Princess Florizella isn't like other princesses! She isn'...)
1988(It isn't easy when your family doesn't have much money. B...)
1994(Princess Florizella is no ordinary fairy-tale princess. S...)
1991(It was easy for Elizabeth. She married the man she loved,...)
1998(The Plantagenet and Tudor Novels consist of fifteen novel...)
(The Order of Darkness series consists of Changeling (2012...)
(The Wideacre trilogy consists of Wideacre (1987), The Fav...)
(Tradescant series consists of Earthly Joys (1998) and Vir...)
Philippa Gregory's commitment to historical accuracy is a hallmark of her writing. Writing as a feminist, Gregory always puts women center stage in her work.
Quotations:
"For Harry Potter, I have all the time in the world."
"I believe in me, in my view of the world. I believe in my responsibility for my own destiny, guilt for my own sins, merit for my own good deeds, determination of my own life. I don't believe in miracles, I believe in hard work."
"I have given my word that only death will take me from you."
"Good god what men can do to their brains when their cocks are hard."
"But young hearts mend easily, and hearts that own half of England have something better to do than to beat faster for love."
"One’s lover is one’s partner in observing and understanding the world. Marriage is a place where joint narratives are composed. If the lover is a liar then all your joint observations are unreliable. You will have to start all over again."
"It is always harder to make time for the truly precious experiences; there is always the ordinary to do."
Philippa Gregory is a patron of The United Kingdom Chagos Support Association, which supports the Chagos islanders in their legal disputes with the British government. Gregory often speaks about the Chagossians' situation and lobbies the government to take action.
Philippa Gregory is a feminist.
Quotes from others about the person
"Gregory has made an impressive career out of breathing passionate, independent life into the historical noblewomen whose personalities had previously lain flat on family trees, remembered only as diplomatic currency and broodmares. Gregory’s historical fiction has always been entertainingly speculative (those tempted to sneer should note that she’s never claimed otherwise) and comes with lashings of romantic license." - Helen Brown
Philippa Gregory is married to Anthony Mason. She was previously married to Paul Carter, with whom she has a son Adam, and Peter Chislett, with whom she has a daughter Victoria.