Hope Adams On The Bonds of Female Friendship & Cooperative Creativity

In 2009, Hope Adams visited the Victoria & Albert Museum in London and came upon The Rajah Quilt, which she learned was stitched by female convicts in 1841 aboard a transcontinental voyage via the Rajah. This ship transported thousands of women, convicted of petty crimes, from London to van Diemen’s Land (modern day Tasmania) in the 1840s. On this 1841 trip, a group on board under the guidance of chaperone Keziah Hayter, who taught the women needle-working skills, formed the tapestry. The quilt now hangs in the Museum of Australia, in Canberra. Fascinated by this quilt, Adams imagined the desperate lives of these female prisoners—including the crimes they committed and why—and the result is this stunning novel.

Your novel, DANGEROUS WOMEN, was inspired by the Rajah quilt, which was stitched by female convicts during their transcontinental voyage. When dealing with the historical account, women are often sidelined and details can be sparse. How did you go about researching for this book, and are your characters based on real convicts? 

There is an awful lot we know about the real convicts on this trip. Online, you can access the records that the Captain and the Surgeon Superintendent kept. Kezia Hayter kept a diary. The scene where the women are asked their details must be true because we have their heights, eye and hair colours and details of their crimes, all written down.  And we have every name too, but I decided to NOT use the names of anyone who actually sailed on the Rajah. It gave me greater freedom to do what I wanted and to put the characters I’d created on to that ship. I also didn’t use the real names because there are people living in Australia and especially Tasmania who are descended from these convicts.

Female friendships and fast connections play a large role in the story. These women have all been forced together by chance and shadowy pasts, yet they manage to form bonds as they would in any other situation. Do you think there is something innately female about these bonds? 

I do think that girls in general find it easier to chat and find out about one another and find things in common than boys do. There’s an experiment where doctors looked at 2 nine-year-old girls in a doctor’s waiting room and 2 nine-year-old boys in the same waiting room. The children had no idea they were being looked at. The girls asked one another questions from the get go. ‘Where do you live? Do you have brothers or sisters? “etc. Within minutes they were chatting away and ignoring all the toys left out for them in the waiting room. The two boys did not exchange a word. They just approached the Lego and began building something together…

I read something in the newspaper the other day which said that women were coping much better in lockdown, Zooming and chatting with their friends on Whats App etc whereas men tended to chat and bond mainly in bars etc and felt the lack of them hugely while they are shut. Women find it easier to natter, I think. Hope it’s not sexist in any way to suggest such a thing. They also find it easier to keep up a connection once they’ve made it. 

DANGEROUS WOMEN is very much a closed room mystery. Everyone is trapped, and no one is safe on board the ship. With that in mind, how much did you have to learn about ships and sailing in order to deliver this tale?

I did the bare minimum. I went to look around a very famous Clipper ship in London called the Cutty Sark and for the rest, I relied on accounts on the internet. I did have help from the Royal Maritime Museum at Greenwich about portholes…. there were windows on board ship in those days. I’m not very good at research…would much rather be making up things than looking into them.

The characters on board the ship have mostly been convicted of petty crimes--some even committed as acts of desperation to escape violent husbands. Why did you choose the title DANGEROUS WOMEN? 

The book went through lots of titles. For quite a long while it was going to be called CONVICTION. I never liked that title because Denise Mina, the Scottish crime writer, had a book by that name which appeared in 2020. My wonderful US editor, Amanda Bergeron, came up with Dangerous Women and we all latched on to that most gratefully. For a while, the name of the book in my mind was THE WORK OF THEIR HANDS which has now become part of the dedication. 

What do you hope readers can take away from this historical tale, and what elements still apply in today's world?

I hope readers will enjoy this book on two levels. First, as a hopefully exciting mystery story with a really involving puzzle they can solve along with Kezia and the others.  I hope they’ll also see how important it is for everyone to realize that working together brings unexpected and sometimes extraordinary benefits. I think that cooperative work, and people doing something creative together (putting on a play, making a movie, or a podcast, or anything really…) yields amazing results which we often can’t achieve on our own.  I am also a firm believer in the message of George Herbert’s hymn Teach me my God and King  and I urge readers to find it online and read the whole thing. It’s the most beautiful poem. The message is: any work however humble is elevated if we do it for the right reasons…. not necessarily for the greater glory of God but to further the common good in some way.

Finola Austin on Stalking Dead People

by Finola Austin

It’s no secret that my generation—the much maligned millennials—is one made up of adept internet stalkers. Information about a new friend, a colleague, or that hot guy from a dating app is always just a Google search away, especially if the subject of your stalking has an unusual name, as I do. However, as a writer of historical fiction, I have to confess that, on an average Saturday night you’re much more likely to find me stalking...well, dead people. 

In Fall 2016, I came across the woman, Lydia Robinson, who would become the protagonist of my debut novel, the old-fashioned way—in a book. I’m a long-time lover of all things nineteenth-century; in fact, I have a Master’s in Victorian literature, and the Bronte sisters (Charlotte, Emily and Anne) have always been among my favorite writers of the period. I was reading Elizabeth Gaskell’s biography of Charlotte, the first Bronte biography, when I stumbled upon her paragraphs about Lydia, the older woman rumored to have had an affair with Branwell, the dissolute Bronte brother. Gaskell described her as “wretched” and as “tempting [Branwell] into the deep disgrace of a deadly crime.” She even blamed Lydia for Branwell’s death and those of two of his three sisters! Somebody, I thought, has to have written a novel from this woman’s perspective. So what was the first thing I did? Reader, I Googled it. 

I discovered that, while the ill-fated affair was mentioned in other works inspired by the Brontes, no one had thought to put Lydia and her perspective at the center of a novel. So began a year of intense (largely digital) research, as I stalked Lydia within an inch of her life—that is, I would have, had she still been living!

So how did I go about it? First, I read whatever I could find on the internet, sourced and unsourced, reliable and less so, about Lydia Robinson and the Branwell Bronte affair. I took notes on everything, especially when accounts differed (e.g. was Lydia’s second husband much older than her as many blogs claimed, or was in fact her peer?). 

At the same time, I consulted Bronte biographies—the compendious and scholarly, like Juliet Barker’s The Brontes, which had great endnotes pointing me to primary sources, and the older biographies, such as Daphne du Maurier’s book on Branwell, which did not cite sources and felt in some ways closer to historical fiction. I also searched JSTOR for all journal articles that touched on the affair, and asked an academic friend to send me countless PDFs. 

Digitized census records were another window into the world Lydia inhabited. Who were her servants and her neighbors? Where did her family live? Who were her friends? Using sites designed for family historians, and leaning on my mother, a family tree enthusiast, for support, I built up a sprawling web of knowledge that went far beyond what Bronte scholars had focused on. (Lydia’s second husband was her age FYI.)  

As luck would have it, a Yorkshire carpenter, George Whitehead, who lived near Lydia and her family, had kept four diaries (of births, deaths, marriages, and sundries) recording events in the local area. These had been published locally in the 1990s, but, thanks to the wonders of Amazon, a secondhand copy was soon winging its way to me in New York. I remember sitting in a Manhattan tapas bar, feverishly recording gems from this book, between mouthfuls of calamari. Bronte academics had mentioned rumors of a gardener uncovering the illicit affair, but now I knew who this gardener was, his name, how many children he had, where and when he died.

I could have stalked my growing collection of dead people forever, but I limited myself to a year of research. Then I had to start writing. And it was a joy! Part of the novel felt written for me, because of the spreadsheet of dates and details I’d compiled. I drafted the novel that became Bronte’s Mistress in under six months, before flying to England to do some more research on the ground. 

There, I visited archives, graveyards, and the grounds of Lydia’s old house (sadly destroyed, though the building where Branwell slept is now a private home). And every step of the way, I was aided by my digital preparations. I’d emailed the local vicar, who introduced me to amateur historians, and the school, which now stood on the site of Lydia’s home, in order to win admittance. I’d emailed the Bronte Parsonage Museum so I could look at the Robinson Papers, which included eighteen letters penned by my protagonist—Lydia herself. 

The internet is often thought of as being very much of the “now,” but my digital literacy, learned from years of watching silly cat videos, sharing memes, and, yes, stalking with abandon, has been my window to the past. Digitization of records is the best thing that’s ever happened to historical fiction, and, as I know from the book I’m working on next, there are so many gems of stories out there, just waiting to be found.

Finola Austin, also known as the Secret Victorianist on her award-winning blog, is an England-born, Northern Ireland-raised, Brooklyn-based historical novelist and lover of the 19th century. Her first novel, Bronte’s Mistress, was published in 2020. By day, she works in digital advertising. Find her online at www.finolaaustin.com. 

Researching Great Historical Fiction

By Sharon Virts  

Ernest Hemingway said of writing fiction that “the dignity of movement of an iceberg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water. A good writer does not need to reveal every detail of a character or action.” Hemingway’s Iceberg Theory applies equally to the research and writing of historical fiction.  Too much historical detail will burden a story and weigh down both the pacing and the reader. For me, one of the major challenges in writing historical fiction is walking down the treacherous path of including endless historical details in the story. I find that often this detail is irrelevant to both the development of the plot and the characters’ journeys. It’s not that details are bad. It’s just that including a large number of them creates a less immersive and engaging experience for the reader.

I believe that historical facts should not be incidental to a story—part of a blurry background that distracts—but instead embedded deeply in the fabric of the story—the characters, scenes, settings, costume, customs, etc.—to lift the story and carry it forward. So how does one research a historical fiction novel and use that knowledge without bogging down the story?

The most critical aspect of researching (and writing) historical fiction is determining the timebox for the piece. In my experience, the smaller the time window of a story, the better. Just as an artist paints a portrait of a person at a specific age, I find it more effective to write a character in a specific chapter of his/her life than to attempt to create a story that spans a lifetime.

Once the timebox is set, I narrow the focus of my research to events within that window. Franky, I have no idea how authors of historical fiction survived in the days before Google and the Internet. And while Google searches are a great start, I find that I spend a preponderance of my time using sources like Newspapers.com and Ancestry.com for my research. Establishing search terms is another aspect of research that can prove tricky. While there are obvious search terms—the names of historical characters, specific events, etc.—there are others that are less obvious. I have learned to allow the research itself to guide me in expanding my search for information. For example, if I learn that my protagonist worked for a certain individual or lived in a particular place, I add those to my list to research.

As most of my stories are set in the 19th century, information is more accessible online, although I still find myself at the library reeling through microfilm. Old chronicles and newspapers are extremely helpful, not only for gleaning information about events driving my story, but also for providing unique insight into the tone of the period. From advertisements to weather reports, I find content in those old journals invaluable for creating the ambiance of my settings.

Equally important to researching newspapers is using genealogy databases, like Ancestry.com, to study the real lives of historical characters. Life events, such as birth order; number of siblings; ages when parents, siblings or spouses died; ages when married or when a child was born, etc., shape the personalities and determine motivation. Census data prior to and after the timebox of a story can not only provide added insight into the households where my characters lived, but serve as a compass pointing to newspapers to search for further information. For example, when I discovered that my protagonist had lived in another town the decade before my story began, I contacted the historical society of that area and found a trove of correspondence written by him in which he expressed his opinions on such controversial topics as the death penalty, slavery, and women’s suffrage. While none of those subjects were directly relevant to the story I was writing, his opinions were useful for understanding his attitudes toward women, people of color, etc., which I used in my portrayal of him. Researching female characters for historical fiction often proves tricky since women had little voice in society in the past. Researching the men in their lives (fathers, brothers, uncles, husbands) can provide valuable insight into their lives. I also consult non-fiction books related to the events, people, and time-period of my story. I use all of this to create the backdrop upon which I build my plot and my characters.

Once I have pulled my initial research together, I develop a timeline for my story. Using post-it notes,  I write out the major events and put them on a wall in my office that I use to assemble the timeline. I repeat the exercise for each of my characters, identifying the major events in their lives, writing them on different color post-its, adding them to the wall. The timeline helps to identify clusters of events and allows me to easily see where the inciting event (10%), major plot points (25%, 50% and 75%) and concluding event (90%) are, or should be. This is the point where I make adjustments, combining events, moving events, omitting events, and in some cases, adding events, in order to build my story structure and arcs for my characters.

The key to researching and writing great historical fiction is to stay true to the spirit of the story. Staying true to the spirit of the story does not mean that every aspect of the story is historically accurate. That’s the job of non-fiction. My job, as an author, is to write page-turning stories that bring the past alive. And while all my research may not end up in the manuscript, its depth will most certainly be reflected in the subtlety of my scenes and in the fabric of the  historical characters I portray. Because after all, it is fiction!

Sharon Virts is a successful entrepreneur and visionary who, after more than 25 years in business, followed her passion for storytelling into the world of historical fiction. She has received numerous awards for her work in historic preservation and has been recognized nationally for her business achievements and philanthropic contributions. She was recently included in Washington Life Magazine's Philanthropic 50 of 2020 for her work with education, health, and cultural preservation. Sharon’s passion truly lies in the creative. She is an accomplished visual artist and uses her gift for artistic expression along with her extraordinary storytelling to build complex characters and craft vivid images and sets that capture the heart and imagination. Sharon and her husband Scott live at Selma, a prominent historic residence in Virginia that they saved from destruction and restored to its original stature. It is out of the love and preservation of Selma that the story of the life, times, and controversies of its original owner, Armistead Mason, has given root to her first novel, Masque of Honor.