The characters in Louise’s upcoming novel are based on real women who experienced the First World War.

The journey began in 2012, when Louise was shelving books and stumbled across forgotten stories of three women who lived through World War I.

She said: “These women didn't know each other and to my knowledge, they never met. But their lives could not have been more different, yet they forged paths way beyond the normal accepted limits for women at the time.”

The first of these women was Dorothy Lawrence, who serves as the inspiration for the character Edie Lawrence. According to her memoir, Dorothy had always dreamed of becoming a journalist and when the war began, she saw an opportunity.

“Dorothy had an idea for a stunt, it was a risky stunt and it was a secret stunt,” Louise said.

“If she could somehow get to the battlefields, she could report the truth from the front lines and in the process, become the first British female war correspondent.

“It was bold, brash, and bonkers!”

Dorothy befriended some Royal Engineers who were on a brief rest leave, and managed to persuade them to lend her one of their spare uniforms. She bound her chest in bandages, padded out her shoulders and cut her hair off, and rubbed Condy fluid into her face to make it look like she had stubble.

It was when deep in the library stacks, researching Dorothy’s life that Louise then discovered Dr Louisa Garrett, who is behind the character Dr Lucinda Garland.

Louisa’s mother Elizabeth Garrett, was the first woman to qualify as a doctor in Britain, and her aunt Millicent Garrett Fawcett, led the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies and was the first woman honoured by a statue in Parliament Square.

Louise explained: “Louisa was brought up by some extraordinary women, and it's no mystery to me why she went on to achieve extraordinary things herself. She followed in her mother's career path and qualified as a doctor in 1900.”

Unfortunately, Louisa was barred from working in a general hospital as female doctors weren't allowed to treat men.

The third woman in the story was Louisa’s medical colleague and life partner, Dr Flora Murray.

Together, they founded the Women's Hospital Corps, and successfully ran two all female-staffed military hospitals in France, as the War Office would not accept their services back home in Britain, but things soon changed.

Louise says: “By the early months of 1915, Louise and Flora had so impressed the English War Office with their feats in Paris and Wimereux that they were invited back to Britain to set up a new military hospital in an abandoned workhouse in Endell Street in the heart of London.

“The 573-bed hospital is the only British ArmyHospital to have been staffed entirely by women and more than 24,000 soldiers were treated there.

“Over a dozen doctors worked alongside Louise and Flora, some as far afield as Australia. There were more than 30 trained nurses, including a matron, and over 90 orderlies.

“There were also a few token guards on detachment from the RAMC and the nursing staff and orderlies were employed as female tommies, receiving equivalent army pay.

“Louisa and Flora were made Commanders of the Order of the British Empire in 1917.”

At the front, Dorothy fought alongside the men, struggling to survive on battlefields fought with new weaponry and facing the threat of bacteria that creates gas gangrene.

Eventually, her luck ran out and her secret identity was revealed and she was arrested on suspicion of being a spy, and was court marshalled and underwent interrogation.

In her memoir, Dorothy wrote: “I'll see what an ordinary English girl without credentials or money can accomplish.”

Lady Jane Grey is best known as the nine-day queen, whose life was tragically cut short when she was just 17 years old.

However, Dr Tallis’s research reveals that myths and legends have become entwined with her story, often obscuring the reality of who she truly was.

One line in particular stands out to Dr Tallis, a line in Jane’s prayer book that she wrote in her final days.

It reads: “There was a time to be born and a time to die, and the day of our death is better than the day of our birth.”

Although Dr Tallis believes Jane had no wish to be queen, there is evidence to suggest in the form of proclamations that she was determined to make the best of it.

Unfortunately, it was not enough, and Jane was deposed from the throne by Queen Mary, tried, and found guilty of treason.

Dr Tallis added: “Throughout these days of imprisonment, we do have some indication as to how Jane spent her time. She's known for being incredibly scholarly, and we know that she did spend a great deal of her time reading and in prayer.”

Even when Queen Mary’s chaplain, John Feckenham, attempted to persuade Jane to convert from Protestantism to Catholicism before her execution, she never wavered.

“Feckenham appeared to be confident that he could persuade Jane to embrace Catholicism, but actually his confidence appeared to be misplaced,” Dr Tallis explained.

“Jane remained steadfast, and her final declaration to Feckenham was ‘I am sure unless you repent and turn to God, you are an evil case’.”

Anne Boleyn has become one of history’s most well-known figures, but Dr Alison Weir argues that this is due to myths, novels, and films distorting the facts.

For example, a common belief is that Anne was accused of witchcraft, but there is no mention of it in the indictment against her.

Touching on Anne as a feminist, Dr Weir commented: “She has come to be revered as a feminist heroine, until recently I would have dismissed as anachronistic, arguing that feminism was unknown in Tudor England.

“In the Low Countries where Anne spent her formative years, there was an intellectual debate that questioned traditional attitudes towards women and looked forward to an era in which they would enjoy more power and autonomy.”

Anne had served Margaret of Austria and Margaret of Valois, both women were devotees of the movement, known as the ‘Women Question’.

Dr Weir argues Anne has to be studied in this context to understand the cultural influences to which she was exposed in youth, which gave her the confidence to pursue the path that she did.

Despite the best efforts of Anne’s enemies to remove her from history, her memory was rehabilitated when her daughter became queen. In a pageant staged for Elizabeth's coronation, figures of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn were shown together.

Writers portrayed Anne sympathetically as a victim of others' malice, and her works were published and praised more than ever before, surpassing the recognition she received in her lifetime.

Ending her talk, Dr Weir said: “Anne Boleyn's importance stems not only from her considerable influence over Henry VIII. The banned book she gave him to read did indeed presage the momentous changes of the Reformation, but also from the fact that she gave England arguably its greatest monarch, Elizabeth I.”