ELIZABETH KNOX’s latest novel, Kings of This World, is a gripping fantasy and thriller story set at boarding school. We caught up with the author to ask about her novel and what’s on her bookcase.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Vex is used to people being afraid of her power, the ability to persuade others to do what she wants.
But when she arrives at a new school, it is packed with people who have the same power, and who might even like her.
There is her roommate Ronnie, a coolheaded high achiever; and Ronnie’s friend Taye, who is recovering from a brain injury. There is witty, lordly Hannu, whose father happens to be a billionaire. And then there’s Ari: troubled, blessed, honourable, terrifying Ari.
Vex is enchanted by her new friends when, five weeks into term one, they are kidnapped.
They find themselves chained in the basement of an abandoned factory, trying to figure out how to escape, all the while tormented by questions like: Why were they taken? Why do the kidnappers seem to hate Vex, and at the same time want to recruit her?
Can Vex and her friends save themselves? And if they do, will they ever feel safe again? What kind of reckoning will they face afterwards? And will Vex once again feel responsible for all the bad things that happened?
Q&A WITH ELIZABETH KNOX
What are you reading now?
I’m reading Ursula le Guin’s Lavinia. It’s a late novel of hers, just out in 2008 when I saw her onstage at the Vancouver Writers Festival. It was the only time I saw her. In our house we are currently sorting our accumulated library for a move. The sorting turned up Lavinia. The novel is about a character in Virgil’s Aeneid who is central to the plot of the poem, but who never speaks.
If you were stranded on a desert island and you could only have five books – what would they be?
Difficult question. All I can think is how I could keep the books dry!
I’d take my huge and heavy Complete Works of Shakespeare, because that would keep me going. Then I guess I’d go for my favourite books – in no order – George Elliott’s Middlemarch, Jane Austen’s Persuasion, Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita, and Charles Dickens’s Our Mutual Friend.
Where is your favourite place to read?
Bed. My favourite place to write too!
Do you read one book at a time or multiple?
One at a time, always.
Do you use a bookmark or fold the corners of pages?
Mostly when I close a book I memorise the page I’m on and go back to that.
What inspired Kings of This World?
Kings of this World, like many of my other novels, came from an idea formed in the lifelong imaginary game I share with my sister, Sara. It was something we played in 2008 (which was bit of a key year!). I entirely invented the thriller plot for the novel, but the boarding school setting and some of the characters’ backstories are close to the source game.
What can you tell us about Vex and her friends and their powers?
Kings of this World is a friendship story. Two of the five friends, Vex and Ari, have the power of Persuasion. About 1% of the population of their country have this power, mostly just mildly. So, for example, someone might be able to jump a queue simply by saying ‘let me in’.
Vex and Ari, on the other hand, have powerful P. Vex mostly uses hers in ways that help confuse other people about its size and scope. She has reasons to hide the scope of her P. Ari has beautiful and spooky P that he can’t control.
What was the most challenging part of writing Kings of This World?
Because I was writing a Southland book like The Dreamhunter Duet and Mortal Fire I saw it as a multiple point of view novel. It took me a long time to realise it needed one narrator, Vex, the lonely, self-reliant girl with an appetite for intimacy.
What book character would you be, and why?
If I could be any book character I’m obviously going to choose somebody who is having a really good time. I’d like to be someone joyful, and useful, and a bit wild – so, Pippy Longstocking.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photo by Grant Maiden
Elizabeth Knox is one of New Zealand’s leading writers. She is the author of fourteen novels, most recently Kings of this World, three autobiographical novellas and a collection of personal essays. Her best-known books are The Vintner’s Luck; young adult novels Dreamhunter, Dreamquake, Mortal Fire and The Absolute Book. She is the recipient of many awards and fellowships.
Elizabeth was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (CNZM) in 2020. She lives in Wellington.
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