For today's #HistFicThursdays blog, I am thrilled to be welcoming Rosemary Griggs to the blog with a guest post about her latest book Mistress of Dartington Hall , as part of her Coffee Pot Book Club tour! Read on to find out about her strong female character in what is largely thought of as a male world. But first, let's meet the book... Blurb 1587. England is at war with Spain. The people of Devon wait in terror for King Philip of Spain’s mighty armada to unleash untold devastation on their land. Roberda, daughter of a French Huguenot leader, has been managing the Dartington estate in her estranged husband Gawen’s absence. She has gained the respect of the staff and tenants who now look to her to lead them through these dark times. Gawen’s unexpected return from Ireland, where he has been serving Queen Elizabeth, throws her world into turmoil. He joins the men of the west country, including his cousin, Sir Walter Raleigh, and his friend Sir F...
I've just got back from a week away hunting for ancestors. Yes, this might not be everyone's idea of a fun holiday, but Judith and I adventured around many churchyards and churches, looking for any names on stones or monuments which matched those already in our family tree. As well as taking photos of graves and monumental inscriptions, we also took pictures of the fonts where our ancestors were baptised.
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| The font in Aldeburgh, where countless members of our family were baptised |
But one of my favourite discoveries was when we visited a library and raided their Local History section. In one of the books we found the most random section about Thomas Hudson, a local tailor, who used to work sitting cross-legged on the floor. It's a trivial thing but, at once, I felt I knew him better. These apparently throwaway facts take a name on the page - or stone - and turn them into a real character.
Ancestors are a great place to start with character-building. My most recent writing has been Mariner Hawkes: Charity Boy, built on a number of people from the Aldeburgh branch of my own family tree. From research we've done into our family, I had a pretty good idea of what had been expected from the young men of the family, most of whom were educated at the Greenwich Hospital School (where the title "charity boy" comes from), and then either into the navies, any branch of what later became the Coastguard Service, or as a Trinity Pilot.
This isn't the only ancestor-inspired character I've inserted into my writing. Everyone comes from a family of intriguing individuals. Have a go at uncovering your own family tree and find the ancestor whose story you'd most like to bring to life. They could go on to be the star of their own adventure, or remain as a peripheral character whose full significance only you will know.
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