Daunts bookshop in Marylebone is always a joy but to visit in an evening for a talk by an author just adds to the pleasure. The author was Harriet Walter and she was being interviewed by the historian and biographer Lucy Hughes-Hallett.
I often wonder what writers think of their agents and publishers demanding that they trundle around to bookshops and libraries to talk about their latest offering, obviously hoping to raise its profile and bring in more sales.
Writing is such a solitary occupation that some people must find it anathema to sit in front of people and talk, basically selling themselves. I have read of some authors who refuse to go on this roadshow, but not many I think. Anyway, in this case Harriet Walter is of course best known on the stage and in front of a camera so maybe it is a little different for her. She has a secure reputation as a truly peerless classical actor, having spent many years working with the RSC and of late she has very successfully played some very frosty matriarchs. She was wonderful; articulate, amusing and quite charming. Her book is called ‘She Speaks- what Shakespeare’s Women might have said.’ In so many ways women get short shrift in Shakespeare, as they do, come to think of it, in the Bible. Of its time, I know, of its time. However, these sometimes partially developed characters are a gift to someone who wants to flesh them out and hear their own voices more clearly.
Harriet Walter is so deeply imbued with Shakespeare’s language that iambic pentameter flows easily from her pen. It feels very natural and the poetry that she has written for her book shows deep insight into the thoughts and feelings of Shakespeare’s female characters.
The conversation, including questions from the audience, lasted an hour. Time very well spent, with a glass of wine and in the elegant rooms of Daunts Bookshop. Altogether a delight.