I love maps. I keep a road atlas in the car and for years resisted the new-fangled corner-cutting of Satnav (although I’ve learned to embrace that particular technology). Here’s how one map got me into trouble. In the early days of researching To The Wild Horizon, I downloaded this map from Wikipedia, drawn in 1907. I […]
How the wrong map led to re-writes Read More »
How I look back over the previous year and plan for the next one. The difference between dreams and goals
Using the peaceful time between Christmas and New Year to look back and look forward Read More »
My novel has this dedication: For my daughter Rebecca, whose bravery and determination inspired this book. 1991 -2018. I thought I might tell you more. When I was breastfeeding my daughter, I got lots of reading done. For night feeds I couldn’t read in the dark, and a strange thing happened. The stories started to
Why I wrote Under a Gilded Sky Read More »
One of the attractions of writing about the dawn of the Gilded Age was that I love the shape of the dresses worn at that time. For several decades in the mid 19th century, American women’s dresses had been a one-piece with a tight bodice and bell-shaped skirt. In the 1870s this all changed. Influenced
What Women Wore : could you cope with a bustle? Read More »
In the opening of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Mr Bingley causes a stir by being worth £5,000 a year. He is then eclipsed by the even bigger catch – Mr Darcy – who is rumoured to have £10,000 a year. Yes, £10,000! But what do these sums actually represent? (As a side observation, Mr
Women barbers, summer farm hands and auctions – researching money Read More »
To begin with, I wrote for myself, to help get through the hardest time of my life. I’ll tell you about that one day, but not yet. We don’t know each other well enough. Then I wanted to make the story into a book good enough for others to read. I went through lots of
A rite of passage for debut authors Read More »