On Saturday, I did an interview with Marese O'Sullivan, a young Irish student here in London who is fascinated by the Gonnes' relationship with WB Yeats and wanted to know more about my motivation for writing the trilogy.

Marese had a lot of questions, so we're breaking the interview into three parts (so fitting for a trilogy!).

In this one we discuss what drew me to writing books about these people and which of the three I like to write about most.

And Marese describes WB Yeats and Maud Gonne as the iconic “non-couple” of the 20th century and asks me to describe their relationship as I see it.

We had fun.

Here's the video:

And here are the questions we'll be discussing in Part Two & Three.

4. Despite WB and Maud's fame, why do you think Maud's daughter Iseult has faded so much to the background?

5. What would you ask Yeats if you could meet him in person?

6. Is there anything that you would love to know about Yeats or The Gonnes but it's now impossible to find out?

7. What's the most interesting thing you've come across in your research of the trio?

8. Why do you think Yeats was so attracted by the occult?

9. Which of Yeats' poems inspire you the most?

10. What do you think is the modern-day perception of Yeats and has it changed much since he was first published?