Patrick Gale and Ellen Alpsten Making Fiction Out of Fact

How do you take a true life story, especially one known to many, and weave a novel? When is it acceptable to imagine scenarios, and when is it too audacious? Patrick Gale is one of the UK's most popular authors and his latest, Mother's Boy, imagines the life of the poet Charles Causley. Ellen Alspten is the highly-acclaimed author of Tsarina and The Tasarina's Daughter, described by Daisy Goodwin as making 'Game of Thrones look like a nursery rhyme'. Shortlisted for the Author's Club best First Novel Award and the HWA Debut Crown, the novels are a fictionalisation of the House of the Romanovs.