Sarah-Jane Stratford’s “sparkling historical fiction” (LitHub) is about women who reinvent themselves, while her essays—published in The Guardian, The Boston Globe, The Los Angeles Review of Books, Marie-Claire, Bitch, Slate, Salon, Guernica, and elsewhere—are about virtually everything under the sun. We were delighted to be able to talk to her not only about projects past and present but also about things like the nature of curiosity and knitting.
You have a master’s degree in medieval history. Yet your novels Radio Girls and Red Letter Days both take place in the 20th century. Why did you decide not to write a medieval novel?
I tend to go with what inspires me in a moment and though there have been some stories from my medieval research that I’ve thought could be the basis of an interesting fiction project, nothing quite struck me the way Hilda Matheson of Radio Girls did. That said, I have a medieval novel I’m noodling with, so we’ll see.
What is Radio Girls about and what drew you to the subject matter?
Funny enough, it’s about women working in radio. Specifically, it’s about women in the early days of the BBC. As mentioned above, I was inspired when I first came to read about Hilda Matheson, the first Director of Talks for the BBC. I came across her quite accidentally and was astonished I’d never heard of her. Before she even got to the BBC, she worked for MI6 and was then political secretary to Lady Astor, the first woman to serve as an elected MP in the British Parliament. She came to the BBC just as broadcasting was beginning and essentially invented radio as entertainment and information. A show she created in 1928 runs to this day. The story of Radio Girls follows the trajectory of Hilda’s stint at the BBC while centering on Hilda’s fictional assistant, Maisie, who navigates the changing world of women in the 1920s and her own changing world as a woman in a workplace that is inventing itself around her.
What is Red Letter Days about and what drew you to the subject matter?
Also inspired by real people and events, Red Letter Days tells the story of two women targeted by the Hollywood Blacklist of the 1950s. They find refuge in London, where they can still work and live freely. Or so they think; it turns out the long arm of the House Un-American Activities Committee and the FBI stretches further than they’d imagined. Another extraordinary woman drew me to the story: Hannah Weinstein, a liberal journalist who saw which way the wind was blowing and left New York before she could get caught up in the Red Scare. She reinvented herself as a television producer in Europe and came to create the hugely successful show, “The Adventures of Robin Hood,” in 1955. Publicly, it was remarkable for its cinematic production values and exceptional scripts. Privately, it was famous and beloved because every single one of those scripts was written by a blacklisted writer. All during the run of the show, Hannah kept as many writers employed and fed as she could—at great risk to herself.
Which of your books would make the best film or TV series and why?
I’d be particularly pleased to see Radio Girls adapted, as it seems the natural apotheosis of Hilda’s life. And really, everyone should know her. It would be a very smart, brisk, female-driven show that would delve into a comparatively recent, but not well known, history—a history that has a lot more in common with the present than might be assumed. And the costumes would be fabulous.
Who would be perfect to play some of the most important roles?
Ah, I love fantasy casting, though it’s so hard to choose! I could just as easily see Hilda played by Cate Blanchett as I could someone like Gemma Whelan, though they are so different. Whoever ends up getting the gig, I cannot wait to see them bring this extraordinary woman to life. She deserves to be popular.
As a historian, do you begin a historical novel by totally immersing yourself in the time/place research, or does the research happen side by side with plot and character development?
It’s a little bit of both. I love research and spend ages doing deep dives into minutiae. Then my agent and editor remind me that I have deadlines to meet and I start writing properly. By then, though, it can move along well because I’m so familiar with the world. But I can never resist going back to read more about this detail or that. I always love thinking about what a character is reading, listening to, or eating. And if they’re having a scone or cake, well, no reason I shouldn’t join in.
Does your great love for theater inform the way you write?
I do like to write long scenes of dialogue—which I then often edit down, as it would only work on stage. But my love of putting words in characters’ mouths, and imbuing them all with distinct voices, definitely comes from a lifetime of hardcore theatre-going.
Do you have any desire to write a play?
Do I ever! I’ve written a few, but the problem is I want to write a good play, and I’ve yet to quite manage it. Watch this space.
Your essays have found homes in top magazines and newspapers, and even in knitting publications. But even more impressive than where they’ve landed is the range of the essays themselves. Who else would think to write about the sale of Ray Bradbury’s house (and the McMansion/preservation issues it brings up), video games at MoMa, and the wild names of various heirloom vegetables! You are clearly curious about everything. How can people enhance their own scope of curiosity?
I’ve always loved to read and read widely. That’s how I became interested in a lot of different things. A habit I developed early on was reading the newspaper, and especially going past the headlines to look at the smaller, quirkier stories. My boyfriend’s seven-year-old niece was curious about what I was looking at and I told her it was a review of a book about women doctors who wanted to serve during World War I, something I’d not heard about. She was interested in the story, and also in the whole concept of a newspaper and what it could offer. Who knows if I can make that one stick, but I do know that curiosity is built by, if I may paraphrase Jane Austen, the improvement of the mind by extensive reading.
What do you knit? And how does someone as busy as yourself find time for knitting?
It used to be that I’d knit when I was on the train or bus. Now that we’re in the midst of quarantine, and travel feels like something from another lifetime, I knit while my boyfriend reads aloud. Possibly taking the Blitz spirit thing a bit too far. I’m currently knitting a light wool cardigan, which pre-climate change would have been useful in a British summer. Some people like the heat, but personally I miss the sort of summers when it was cool and wet the whole time except for that one week in August when all the sunscreen would sell out.
What’s are you working on now and when will we see it?
I’m exploring the lives of the young women who were children in London during the war and whose world was defined by women working, only to come up in a time when women were supposed to be homemakers. Their confusion breeds anger and then rebellion. It should be fun. I’m not sure when it will be out in the world, but hopefully sooner than later. I can’t get to the library in a pandemic, but one thing is certain; I have a lot of time to think about the past.
Please list links where our readers can find out more about you and your books and magazine articles.
Do come find me at my website: www.sarahjanestratford.com. I answer mail! I can also be found spouting opinions on Twitter: @stratfordsj and posting photos on Instagram: @sarahjanestratford.
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