For this week's #HistFicThursdays blog, I'm delighted to be welcoming Rosemary Hayward to the blog with a guest post about her new release Strait Lace , as part of her Coffee Pot Book Club tour. Read on to discover the history surrounding this fabulous book. But first, let's meet the book... Blurb It is 1905. Edwardian England. Harriet Loxley, the daughter of a vicar and niece to a prominent Nottingham lace manufacturer, spends her days playing cricket with her brother, scouring the countryside for botanical specimens, and never missing an opportunity to argue the case for political power for women. Given the chance to visit the House of Commons, Harriet witnesses the failure of a historic bill for women’s voting rights. She also meets the formidable Pankhurst women. When Harriet gets the chance to study biology at Bedford College, London, she finds her opportunity to be at the heart of the fight. From marching in the street, to speaking to hostile c...
Historical fiction is not a new idea, and the nineteenth century teemed with it. Literary giants like Walter Scott, Charles Kingsley and Robert Louis Stevenson all delved into the realms of the past to set their adventures, many of their stories recalling the bygone idealism of chivalry which was deemed as sorely missing from their own times. The restructuring of the class system, as the industrial revolution grew, created a certain amount of nostalgia and, from this, grew a renewed readership for the past.
This wasn't just happening in Britain and, in the spring of 1844, Alexandre Dumas serialised what was to become one of the best known stories in the world: "Les Trois Mousquetaires" or "The Three Musketeers". This remains a title thousands of people recognise, but only a fraction of them have read.
The Three Musketeers - yes, I read it in English because my French is limited to saying hello and goodbye - is my favourite book and I keep hoping to find a film which actually lives up to it. But I have finally come to accept that part of what I love the most about the book is the narrative and the shrewd observations made in the narrator's passing comments. It's witty, light-hearted, adventurous and fun, but it also features storylines which are dark and, in some cases, vindictively evil.
With spies and devious actions from both the politically-minded Cardinal Richelieu and the loyal musketeers, both sides are vying to out-do the other in wit and cunning. But, as in all good plots, nothing is black and white and, while modern interpretations have made the cardinal into the "bad guy", he is only persevering to protect what he deems important.
The final portion of the book is the part which elevates it far and away above most of its movie counterparts. If you're looking for a happy ending, be prepared for it to be tinged with sadness. The conclusion to this book is brilliantly real, with strong emotions, love, heartbreak and remorse all playing their part.
Overall, read this book! On the surface it is a fantastic swashbuckling adventure, but you can also delve deeper into the political undercurrents which run through every storyline in the book - and, yes, there are a good many of those!
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