Q&A: novelist Imogen Edwards Jones

How did you research The Witch's Daughter, and what do you think makes a good historical novel?

I spent many days, months, years, reading all the books on that period that I could find. I travelled to St Petersburg to find the houses that they lived, and walked the streets that they walked in. The problem is that they were not hugely well-known figures and, as women and not the victors, they don't get to be in the history books. What makes a good historical novel is detail and pace. You need to wear your research lightly and be careful of hindsight. You know what direction you are travelling in and what happens at the end, but your character does not!