Tuesday, 24 September 2013
Brook Cottage Books is thrilled to have Lucienne Boyce on the blog talking about her new book, To the Fair Land.
Chasing Myths in the Age of Sail
Chasing Myths in the Age of Sail
To
The Fair Land combines my love of eighteenth-century
literature and history, and my fascination with mythical lands. I’ve been
reading the literature of the period for many years. When I did my MA
with the Open University in 2006 it was the eighteenth century I
specialised in.
Added
to that, I’ve always been attracted to tales of mythical lands – the
island of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Charlotte Perkin
Gilman’s Herland, Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Lost World,
William Morris’s Wondrous Isles, C S Lewis’s Narnia, El Dorado,
Camelot...all the dystopias and utopias that mankind has dreamed of for
centuries.
What was
striking about the eighteenth century – the great age
of exploration – was the way such myths underpinned
the rational, scientific quest for knowledge. It was the search
for an entirely invented continent that prompted the voyages
of Captain Cook and other great navigators.
Since the time of Pythagoras, people had believed in the existence of the Great Southern Continent which they thought lay in the southern hemisphere. It had to exist, they argued, to balance out the world. No one had ever seen it, but that didn’t stop them drawing maps of it –hydrographer Alexander Dalrymple produced a map of the Continent in 1769. Captain Cook was sceptical, and it was he who demonstrated once and for all that the Continent does not exist.
Since the time of Pythagoras, people had believed in the existence of the Great Southern Continent which they thought lay in the southern hemisphere. It had to exist, they argued, to balance out the world. No one had ever seen it, but that didn’t stop them drawing maps of it –hydrographer Alexander Dalrymple produced a map of the Continent in 1769. Captain Cook was sceptical, and it was he who demonstrated once and for all that the Continent does not exist.
But
in 1772, when the events at the heart of To The Fair
Land take place, Cook’s second voyage had only just begun and
it was still possible to believe that there was a rich prize in
the Pacific waiting to be claimed. So when Ben
Dearlove, a struggling writer stuck in the Grub Street
doldrums*, tries to find the anonymous author of a book about a voyage to the
Great Southern Continent, he discovers that he’s not the only
one on the trail. Before long he’s caught up in a web
of intrigue and murder that leads all the way to
the Lords of the Admiralty.
With
so many elements to combine – voyages, murder, fantasy, elopement –
the planning stage was crucial. It took a few goes before I had
an outline I was happy with. I know some writers prefer not to work
from outlines, but for me an outline comes naturally. I know where the
story starts, where it ends, and vaguely how it gets there. If I
didn’t, it wouldn’t be a story. But I don’t sketch out every detail:
that would kill it stone dead.
Nor do I separate research and
writing. Just as I am always writing something (if I’m not
writing I get tetchy!), so I am always reading something of or about the
period –
newspapers, novels, plays, poetry, history. I live
in Bristol, a wonderful city which has preserved much of its eighteenth-century architecture, and
Bath is only a few miles away. I look at paintings
and portraits, visit museums and houses, and share
information with other writers. So “research” is not
something special that I have to go out of my way to do.
I’ve
been immersed in the eighteenth century for years now and I’m
still there. The book I’m currently working on is about a Bow
Street Runner who is also an amateur pugilist. He’s in Somerset
investigating a murder amongst poachers…and I now know more about
pheasants than I ever thought I would!
*Doldrums:
part of the ocean where calms prevail; also used of someone who is
miserable. (Glossary, To The Fair Land.)
About the Book
About the Book
In 1789 struggling writer Ben
Dearlove rescues a woman from a furious Covent Garden mob. The woman is ill and
in her delirium cries out the name “Miranda”. Weeks later an anonymous novel
about the voyage of the Miranda to the fabled Great Southern Continent causes a
sensation. Ben decides to find the author everyone is talking about. He is sure
the woman can help him – but she has disappeared.
It
is soon clear that Ben is involved in something more dangerous than the search
for a reclusive writer. Who is the woman and what is she running from? Who is
following Ben? And what is the Admiralty trying to hide? Before he can discover
the shocking truth Ben has to get out of prison, catch a thief, and bring a
murderer to justice.
A gripping, thrilling
mystery...the plot is complex, exciting, and has a high degree of suspense
maintained right to the end. (
Sarah
Cuthbertson, Historical Novel Society )
About the Author
Lucienne
Boyce was brought up in the Midlands and now lives in Bristol with her husband
and hundreds of books. With its exciting maritime heritage, Bristol is the
setting for many of her stories. When she is not writing she is happiest
walking around the historic city and the surrounding countryside gathering
ideas and inspiration.
Find
out more at lucienneboyce.com.
Great book - lovely lady! Enjoyed the post, very interesting, thanks!