Ian Pears Tackles Edwardian Intrigue

I was just reading the NYT book review and caught sight of a review of Ian Pears latest book, Stone's Fall, which seems to focus on intrigue in pre-World War I England. It sounds fascinating - especially given its non-linear approach - switching from 1953 to 1909 and back to 1867...I'll have to get a copy and post my review. Who knows maybe there's a revival of interest in Edwardian politics...we can only hope! Later this week I'm off to the Historical Novel Society's North American Conference so I'll have to find out on the scoop of what's hot and what's not in historical fiction.

Ulster Crisis

Imagine my surprise when I received a used copy of A.T.Q. Stewart's The Ulster Crisis; Resistance to Home Rule 1912-1914 only to find a handwritten inscription from Ian Paisley. I had to wonder was this the behemoth of Ulster - the Ian Paisley? As a teenager I was obsessed with Northern Ireland and read as much as I could about it, so the possibility that it was gave me goosebumps. Even if it isn't his signature, I still have to admire the thrill I get when I get into historical research. You just never know what you might find in a second hand book.

James Larkin

I'm just starting James Larkin, Lion of the Fold edited by Donal Nevin which is billed as a compilation of writings about the larger than life Irish labour leader. I'm principally interested in the Dublin lock out strike of 1913. This infamous strike pitted Larkin against one of the most powerful employers in Dublin - William Martin Murphy owner of the Dublin United Tramway Company, newspaper proprietor, and director of two railway companies. I am intrigued by how Ursula, my main character, would react to the strike given she is now an independent business woman of her own but still has strong socialist tendencies. I'm looking forward to reading more about James Larkin and the events of 1913 - the turmoil in both Britain an Ireland was such a heady combination of industrial as well as political unrest - driven in part by the formidable characters of the era.

Ulster cicra 1912

After 1910, political conditions changed in England such that prime minister Asquith's majority had all but disappeared and he was now dependent upon the Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP) for support. Although willing to provide such support, it came on one key condition - the establishment of home rule for Ireland.

By 1912, Ulster was a powder-keg. Divided between the protestant pro-Ulster forces and the Irish republicans, both sides were seeking to arm themselves to defend their opposing political positions. Within the pro-Ulster movement there already was a secret committee established to buy arms from abroad to resist any moves toward home rule. On the republican side, the 1910s would provide fertile ground for resistance, rebellion and frustration over stalled home rule efforts. By the start of the third Ursula Marlow book, tensions over home rule are running high and the stakes for betrayal even higher.

One book I'm reading at the moment as part of my research is Richard Killeen's A Short History of the Irish Revolution 1912 to 1927 - certainly recommended as providing a nice overview and a great starting point for further research. Be sure to check back here next week as I continue my series of blogs on Irish history in the late Edwardian era.

Lord Wrotham Short Story

On my website yesterday I posted the first part of a short story about one of the characters in my Ursula Marlow novels, Lord Oliver Wrotham. It's the first time I've ever written anything from his POV - both Consequences of Sin and The Serpent and The Scorpion are written from Ursula's perspective - so this time I get the chance to delve into the mind of this enigmatic man - which was as challenging as it was fun. I also had to up my research into Irish history - which I'm already doing as I continue the manuscript for the third Ursula Marlow book, Unlikely Traitors. It occurred to me that readers would probably like to start learning more about this period in Irish history too - so I'm proposing to write a series of blogs as I continue my research, the first focusing on the year 1912 in Irish history. So stay tuned for this. In the meantime, here's the link to the online story:

http://www.clarelangleyhawthorne.com/pdf/Reunion_PartOne.pdf

Weird and Wonderul

Well as I investigated spiritualism further I stumbled across two great books - the first called Independent Spirits, Spiritualism and English Plebians, 1850-1910 by Logie Barrow; the second called The Place of Enchantment, British Occultism and the Culture of the Modern by Alex Owen. I'm also lucky I have a neighbor who is a professor of comparative religion who is also an expert on Hinduism and she and I have been gabbing away about spiritualism and occultism in Britain in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Fascinating stuff and though only a tiny proportion will ever make it into my books, it's still a topic begging for further research. I still love the opening line of the Place of Enchantment: "In September 1898 two respectable Victorians met in a private house in London for the express purpose of traveling to the planets."
That could be the start of a novel - and I'm certainly already engrossed in the whole spiritualism and occultism movements of this time - fascinating stuff!

Spiritualism and The First World War

As part of research for my current project I am looking at spiritualism and the first world war. It's a fascinating subject and I can't wait to delve deeper into the issue once my manuscript is finished. Not only was it an issue that fascinated Arthur Conan Doyle it was also one that struck a cord with many families devastated by the loss of their loved ones during the war. Two books which I highly recommend on the impact of the war - Sites of Memory, Sites of Mourning by Jay Winter and The Great War and Modern Memory by Paul Fussell touch briefly on the issue of spiritualism but it is the amazing digitized books now available that I can read Sir Oliver Lodge's Raymond as well as other books of that era that show the power of loss and the need for spiritual consolation. My current WIP is set in 1915 so I can only touch upon the early stirrings of spiritualism in the context of the first world war. As I move further on into the war with subsequent books it will be fascinating to see how I can incorporate my research further.