The Popish Midwife by Annelisa Christensen

Annelisa Christensen

      

Since I was about eight, I've written dozens of half-finished novels. One year - 2007- I decided to reach the end of one. I wrote 'Sole Possession', a University of Lights book as a NaNoWriMo. I then wrote a couple more. But it wasn't until I won some 300 year-old pages of a trial book in an auction that I was determined to not only finish but publish a book.

The reason was simple. The 17th century defendant - Elizabeth Cellier - in the trial was fascinating and intriguing. Researching her, I found she was known in three different fields of study - for her part in The Popish Plot, for writing a book and for her role as a midwife. Putting it all together, it was a wonderful story that had to be told. This became the award-winning The Popish Midwife.

While researching Cellier, I discovered a whole group of strong and interesting women, whose stories were just waiting to be told - The Seventeenth Century Midwives. I'm telling them one at the time.

I also enjoy writing zappy rhyming poems, which have been compared to those of Roald Dahl and other zany authors.