Later this year, a Ravenser Odd exhibition will be shared at Cleethorpes and Grimsby, not far from where the ill-fated island was situated. Last year, I was delighted to chat with Emily, whose PhD has been instrumental in the research and promotion of Yorkshire's Atlantis, and we talked about how the island had inspired this story, adding to the cultural evolution of the legend of of Ravenser Odd. It's a long read, but I hope you enjoy it... Ravenser Odd I had lived all of my fifteen years in Ravenser Odd. In my earliest memories it had been a busy town, the docks lined with ships of all sizes, carrying garments and foods from the mystical continent beyond the mouth of the Humber. Then, aboard one of those ships, arrived the plague. Forced to anchor at the toll on the peninsula, the ship had paid a deadly tax upon Ravenser Odd, carrying away half its population on the riptide of the Black Death. When the low-lying land had flooded, forcing out many of the surviving inhabi...
Writing historical fiction, it is impossible to ignore the overwhelming impact religion had on people's lives. It was not only the structure of organised religion, but the interwoven beliefs which dominated people's lives. Christianity, the religion which runs through most of my historical fiction, grew and survived with its ability to adapt as it spread from place to place and culture to culture, absorbing certain traditions as it powered on. I love Theology. I did my undergraduate degree in it, and it continues to remain a real interest of mine. I also love the idea of holding hands across history, seeing what my characters saw, and holding the same objects in my own hands as they or their peers did. Given the significance of religion and superstition throughout history, these things were common - although not necessarily accessible - and would have been understood by all. Religious iconography dominated Pre-Reformation Europe, speaking as a universal language to all. These ...