I encourage you to buy my books at your local independent bookstore. If they don't have them in stock, they can order them! In the San Francisco Bay Area, you can buy my books at Laurel Bookstore, and have them shipped. Bookshop.org
Gillian's articles on the months from May 1660 to January 1661, to
commemorate the 350th anniversary of the Restoration of Charles
II, the reopening of the playhouses that had been closed for
eighteen years under Cromwell, and the first appearance of an
actress on the English stage:
Gillian has two articles, "The History of Gingerbread" and "Doggett's Coat and Badge: the World's Oldest Rowing Race" in this compilation of essays by more than fifty authors of historical fiction on real-life stories and tantalizing tidbits discovered while doing research for their own historical novels.
Castles, Customs & Kings on Amazon.com
“Bagwell may be one of the newer writers in the historical fiction genre, but she is one of the most talented! ”
- Pittsburgh Historical Fiction Examiner
“Don't you just love it when you find a new favourite author!!!! ”
- Jaffa Reads Too book blog
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Gillian Bagwell's richly detailed historical novels bring to vivid life England in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
The Darling Strumpet puts the reader smack in the tumultuous world of seventeenth-century London, charting Nell Gwynn's meteoric rise from the grimy slums to triumph as a beloved comic actress through the cataclysmic years of the last plague epidemic and the Great Fire of 1666 to the licentious court and the arms of the king.
The September Queen (UK title The King's Mistress) is the first fictional accounting of the extraordinary real-life adventure of Jane Lane, who risked all to help the young Charles II escape after the disastrous Battle of Worcester in 1651, saving his life and the future of the British monarchy.
Venus in Winter, based on the first forty years of the life of the formidable four-times widowed dynast Bess of Hardwick, begins with young Bess's introduction to the court of Henry VIII just as the king weds Anne of Cleves. Bess quickly learns to navigate the treacherous waters and survives the turbulent reigns of five Tudor monarchs to become one of the most wealthy and powerful women in England.
Gillian's life-long fascination with British history and her dedication to research infuse her novels with a compelling evocation of time and place. She blogged her research adventures for The Darling Strumpet and The September Queen, (NellGwynn.Blogspot.com) and posted the day-by-day events of Charles II's dramatic escape after the Battle of Worcester (TheRoyalMiracle.Blogspot.com).
Gillian received a BA in Dramatic Arts from the University of California at Berkeley and a certificate from the Drama Studio London at Berkeley, a one-year professional acting program, and she's a member of Actors' Equity Association and SAG/AFTRA. She's performed extensively on stage and founded the Pasadena Shakespeare Company, which she ran for ten years as artistic director, producing thirty-seven critically acclaimed shows, nine of which she directed, as well as numerous concert readings, and has also directed at other theatres.
These days, Gillian uses her theatre experience to coach authors and others on public speaking. She lives in Berkeley, California, and is at work on her fourth book, a Gothic novel set mostly in Scotland in 1901-1902.
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Gillian also offers writing coaching and editing, performance coaching and deposition summaries. Read about these services at
