:00:00. > :00:00.each day this week, Nick Higham talks to one of the writers in line
:00:00. > :00:00.for the prize. Today he's with the writer Frances Hardinge to discuss
:00:00. > :00:07.her book The Lie Tree. Frances Hardinge, this is a cracking
:00:08. > :00:10.yarn, if nothing else. It is set in the mid-19th century
:00:11. > :00:13.on a slightly fictional Channel Island where a family has
:00:14. > :00:16.just arrived fleeing scandal. The father is a natural scientist
:00:17. > :00:18.and he has a daughter, Faith, a 14-year-old daughter,
:00:19. > :00:20.who is passionately interested in science, which is a shame
:00:21. > :00:23.because it is the mid-19th century After her father dies
:00:24. > :00:32.she is the only person convinced She investigates and discovers that
:00:33. > :00:40.one of his specimens is a tree that, according to his notes,
:00:41. > :00:47.feeds on lies. There is a lot of slipping out
:00:48. > :00:55.of the house, caves, exciting events that the daughter
:00:56. > :00:59.gets involved in, but what makes it appealing to me as an adult
:01:00. > :01:05.is the stuff about science, religion, approaches to evolution
:01:06. > :01:07.in the 19th century and the plight of an intelligent young woman
:01:08. > :01:13.in Victorian times who was trapped. There was no way I could not address
:01:14. > :01:19.the question of gender. Because I had a young girl
:01:20. > :01:22.who is passionate about science, she will run into rejection
:01:23. > :01:24.and obstacles at every turn. That is something I feel angry
:01:25. > :01:28.about. I consider education for girls to be
:01:29. > :01:31.an important issue globally, so of course a bee in my
:01:32. > :01:36.bonnet came out to buzz. Are you exploring something darker
:01:37. > :01:44.about Faith She also has a dark side
:01:45. > :01:55.and that is something explored. I like complicated heroes
:01:56. > :01:58.and heroines, A lot of my protagonists
:01:59. > :02:07.are angry in different ways, although they do not always
:02:08. > :02:18.immediately realise it. It is different from your earlier
:02:19. > :02:20.books because it is set
:02:21. > :02:22.in a historical period, not an alternative world
:02:23. > :02:24.you have created. You have introduced an element
:02:25. > :02:26.of the supernatural. What is the appeal of something
:02:27. > :02:31.rooted in historical actuality? Originally, I was not certain
:02:32. > :02:35.where I would put my idea of a plant that feeds on lies and produces
:02:36. > :02:38.fruit that you can eat in order At first I thought of putting it
:02:39. > :02:48.in a fantasy world but when I thought in those terms the idea
:02:49. > :02:53.seemed to be rattling around and it was when I thought
:02:54. > :03:01.of a historic setting And I realised
:03:02. > :03:08.where it belonged and it developed
:03:09. > :03:09.a certain emotional power. A passage shortly after
:03:10. > :03:19.the father has died when the house goes
:03:20. > :03:20.into mourning and you talk
:03:21. > :03:36.about the clock being stopped. "It was a house of
:03:37. > :03:44.the dead now, footsteps were trespasses, dead
:03:45. > :03:46.people bled silence", You are not one of those writers
:03:47. > :03:50.who automatically strikes No, I am afraid I have
:03:51. > :03:54.a long-standing love I do strike out purple passages,
:03:55. > :04:00.it is just that a few are left.