Philippa Stockley Interviewed by George Miller

Novelist Philippa Stockley introduces her new book Black Lily, a dark and fast-paced work set in 17th-century London.

The action centres around two women—one white and born into poverty who realises her only way out is to capitalise on her looks, the other black and brought to London on a slave ship and living as a kept woman. Both find themselves pitted against a ruthless magistrate. Stockley paints a vivid portrait of a rapidly changing multi-national London with its plague pits, prisons and pastry kitchens.

Stockley has worked in a variety of roles as journalist, artist, costume designer and interior designer. She has written two previous novels, The Edge of Pleasure and A Factory of Cunning. Here she talks to George Miller, a former editorial director of Oxford University Press and Granta and co-author of Rough Guide to Food.