Indian Soldiers on the Western Front

My research for my current book has unearthed so many amazing facts that I simply wasn't aware of but one that has become increasingly more important for the book is the role of the Indian sepoy soldiers. I have a book of letters that Indian soldiers sent home - as cut by the censors - and their experiences and thoughts are fascinating - so too is the reaction of the English. Although welcomed at the front, the English still wanted to ensure contact with sepoy soldiers and English women was kept to a minimum so they ensured wounded Indian soliders were cared for in their own separate hospitals with usually native orderlies and doctors etc. They were afraid white nurses may be lured into temptation...The book compiled by David Ormissi is called Indian Voices of the Great War and together with Gordon Corrigan's Sepoys in the Trenches I have found a wealth of material that provides a new perspective on the first world war and what was truly a battle for empire.

The Home Front in The Great War

As part of my research for a non-Ursula book set in WWI I picked up a terrific book, The Home Front in the Great War, by David Bilton. A little light on the old references and no footnotes but still, a treasure trove of information. I was particularly struck by the section on the boys scouts and their role on the home front. At the start of an air raid the 'all clear boys' would assemble at the police station with their bugles and cycles and then at the end of the raid, cycle off in the dark to blow the all clear - now that's a great image - endearing as well as chilling, given the boys in question were between 14 and 18 years old. For my new book I'm immersing myself in the home front and discovering just how much change occurred to the 'old order' during the war.

Jerusalem 1913

After succumbing to the flu and sundry colds I'm now emerging from the fog, and on my visit to the VA Book festival a few weeks ago, I stumbled across a new book entitled Jerusalem 1913, The Origins of the Arab Israeli Conflict by Amy Docker Marcus. The title alone drew my attention (and that of some fellow travellers as I sat reading it). As the second book in the Ursula Marlow series, The Serpent and The Scorpion, concerns events in Palestine in 1912, I was immediately intrigued to read on. The book turned out to be a short yet comprehensive assessment of how events in the early teens of last century helped shape the current conflict. The reaction to early Zionist nationalism and the impact of the First World War were all discussed in very readable terms. I only wish, perhaps, that a more detailed examination could have been made. It whetted the appetite though, and has prompted me to investigate more fully the events that I touch upon in my second book. You never know it could even provide fodder for more books to come...

Home Rule

I just got two new books that focus on the Irish question that plagued (and continued to plage) the Edwardian era. The first of these is a biography of the rabble rouser James Larkin and the second is A Short History of the Irish Revolution (1912 to 1927). As I continue working on the third book in the Ursula Marlow series I am becoming more and more fascinated with the thorny issue of Home Rule for Ireland and how significantly it impacted late Edwardian politics. By 1912 the Liberal government needed the Irish Nationalists on their side, profoundly altering the possibility of Home Rule for Ireland. But then protestants in Ulster, determined to thwart any moves to give Ireland independence from Britain, started to mobilize. I am just starting to learn about the 'arming of Ulser' and the militant view many Ulstermen took of defending their right to remain part of Britain. Interesting, disturbing and ultimtaely so sad when you think how many years the Irish question and Irish 'troubles' would linger and how many lives would be lost in the fight for Irish freedom.

The Lost World

I have been watching the films of Mitchell & Kenyon on DVD and am amazed at the quality of these rare archival images of Edwardian Britain. The British Film Institute have produced two fantastic DVDs - one entitled The Lost World of Mitchell & Kenyon, Edwardian Britain on Film; the other entitled: Edwardian Sports. I Have not (as yet) watched the Sports one , but 'The Lost World' really provided a 'time traveling' experience. The films are so clear visually and the images of daily life in the North of England so fascinatingly 'ordinary' - whether it be children playing outside school or factory workers clocking off - the film provides a glimpse into aspects of the the Edwardian world which would otherwise have gone unnoticed and long forgotten.

Resource Books for Edwardian Period

I'm starting to compile my own bibliography (before I forget!) of resource books for the Edwardian period. Here are just a few of the ones on my shelf at the moment:

• George Dangerfield, The Strange Death of Liberal England, 1910-1914, Capricorn Books, 1961 (I have my father's copy from his university days and I fear this is well out of print now)


• Roy Hattersley, The Edwardians, St. Martins Press, 2005


• Robert Cecil, Life in Edwardian England, Batsford/Putnam, 1969


• Peter Stansky, On or about December 1910, Early Bloomsbury and its Intimate World, Harvard University Press, 1997


• Juliet Nicholson, The Perfect Summer, England 1911, Just Before the Storm, Grove Press, 2006


• Max Arthur, Lost Voices of the Edwardians, Harper Collins, 2006


• Barbara Tuchman, The Proud Tower, A Porait of the World Before the War: 1890-1914, Macmillan, 1966


• Andre Maurois, The Edwardian Era, Appleton-Century, 1933


• Gretchen Wilson, With all her Might, The life of Gertrude Harding, Militant Suffragette, Holmes & Meier, 1998


• Colin Clifford, The Asquiths, John Murray, 2002


• Jad Adams, Pankhurst, Haus Publishing, 2003

Now I just have to dig out the other references (lest I forget) Speaking of which, I shouldn't overlook my well thumbed (and much cried over) copy of Vera Britten's Testament of Youth.

EM Forster

EM Forster remains one of my favorite writers despite recommending Howards End for my book group and having many friends proclaim it to be 'hard going' and even a 'little dull'. They all preferred the movie. Howards End came out in 1910 and I still think EM Forster captures the Edwardian sensibility with both humor and a sense of regret for a way of life that seemed to be passing. Of all EM Forster's novels, I appreciate Howards End and A Room with a View the best. Passage to India never quite had the same appeal for me and I've always found Where Angels Fear to Tread to be a rather strange novel - caught between the light and the dark. There is certainly humor but also the darker elements that often reside beneath the surface of Forster's work seem to declare themselves in ways that aren't quite as satisfying as his other work. I haven't, I must confess, read Maurice (nor have I even seen the movie) so perhaps it's time to revisit Forster and see whether my opinions have altered with the passage of time.