Alice Loxton’s Eleanor: A 200-Mile Walk in Search of England Lost Queen was published on 13th November by Pan Macmillan. Eleanor’s incredible launch was at Poets’ Corner in Westminster Abbey, and was an amazing event. You can watch the Tiktok of the launch on the Hardman & Swainson Tiktok account here.
As well as an amazing launch, there has been an exciting buzz around Eleanor’s publication. Alice was featured on Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour, which can be listened to here. Alice spoke to Kylie Pentelow about her journey retracing Eleanor’s 200 mile funeral cortege, 734 years later. Alice was also interviewed on BBC Radio London by Shay Kaur Grewal on launch day, and was part of ITV News’ Hidden London segment. Ahead of publication, for BBC bitesize, Alice recommended her five favourite historical fiction books.
Alice was also featured on the Women’s Prize Podcast last week where she spoke to Vick Hope about her five most influential books by women, including Northanger Abbey and Hamnet. Bookshelfie x Alice can be listened to here.
In a guest article for Sky History, Alice detailed her epic adventure, concluding that ‘Though the Eleanor Crosses may be cold and inanimate in their physical form, these blocks of stone tell a story of people doing extraordinary things. Those stories – those threads – form an ever-growing, every-changing tapestry. And though the picture that is woven is one of upheaval, and destruction, it is also one of brilliant creativity, uplifting beauty and – as is the case with the Eleanor Crosses, constructed by a grieving husband, 700 years ago – a love to last the ages.’
Continuing on Alice’s exploration of what this walk meant to her, she wrote a piece for The Telegraph about how the ‘200-mile walk healed her’, proving that faith is not a prerequisite for a spiritual journey. The feature can be read here. Alice did an Instagram collab with the Telegraph, exploring this further.
This weekend, Alice was reviewed in the Mail on Sunday, where Kathryn Hughes praised how the book ‘is packed full of historical facts likely to hook anyone who has ever visited an abbey, market town or even shopping centre and wondered about the ancient human stories that lie hidden in its silent stones.’
Eleanor can be ordered now.