The local inhabitants so appreciated the stature she brought to their town that they built an enormous new hotel for her. The Regina Excelsior. it stands on a hill, overlooking the town and the bay. The queen came here for four years in a row, bringing a retinue of 100, including Highland pipers, her bedroom furniture and a pony and trap and took over an entire wing of this hotel, including her own kitchen staff to cook for her.
It seemed too good not to write a story around this. I'm not going to tell you what the story is but I do want to share how I filled in the pieces for this story:
First I visited the area with the hotel, now luxury flats:
Then I browsed local used bookstores for books and photographs of the era. I found several brilliant books: one on the history of Cimiez (where she stayed), another on the British on the Riviera, one on the villas of Nice and their history. I found plenty of old postcards showing me the city in 1890 as well as the Carnival procession, the parade of flowers, which are destined to play a part in my story. The queen loved to throw flowers at handsome young men! I have so many good tidbits for my book already!
In the central library I found a really helpful librarian who hunted diligently and finally struck gold: The brochure published when the Regina Excelsior was opened. It had images of all the public rooms, the floor plans, the list of servants that the queen brought with her.. in fact everything I needed. Hooray for librarians (but it is lucky that I have a degree in French).
I rode a bus up to the waterfall which she loved to visit. So now I know the layout of the place where I want to set the story. All I have to do is to write it... but that has to wait until next year.
So dear Reds and Readers, how do you set about researching a setting for your books? Do you feel it's necessary that you have to visit the place in person?
And the winner of Dianne Freeman's book is RAMONA. Ramona, please email me at authorrhysbowen@gmail.com and I'll put you in touch with her.
This book sounds so exciting, Rhys! I can hardly wait to read it . . . .
ReplyDeleteI don’t know that research would always require you to visit in person, but I imagine being able to see the place that will become the setting for your story, to walk around in that place, would give you a perspective for your story that you wouldn’t necessarily have if you didn’t visit . . . .
I think it's so much better if you can visit the place in person. Google is great, but you can never smell the air or watch the birds or hear just exactly the roar of the ocean if you never visit. Plus local people will always tell you stuff you'd never find out any other way.
ReplyDeleteNow you have me thinking about what it was like for the guy who directed her staff to make that move every year. I've squired 50 musicians and all the percussion equipment halfway across the country and back, which was an adventure, but I can't imagine organizing a move for 100 people plus pony and trap, kitchen staff and equipment, and all the other things that would make Nice feel just like home, only with better weather. AND lining up a reliable flower vendor when Her Majesty gets there. Well, actually, I can imagine it. It wouldn't have been pretty. Hats off to that guy.
Omigosh, she even moved her bedroom furniture? I guess when you're Queen you can get away with such excess. Or frugality. I mean, she could have had an identical set made to have at her home away from home, in theory.
ReplyDeleteAnd what a rascal she was, throwing flowers at handsome men. The Victorian equivalent of tucking dollar bills into g-strings at a Chippendale's show?
These are delicious details, Rhys!
Karen, how un-Victorian of Victoria!! Chippendale, indeed. Thank you for my first smile of the day.
DeleteThis really tickled me, too. What an old flirt.
Deletewonderful details and how lucky you were with your local library research
ReplyDeleteNot trying to be pushy or whining (too much) but why does it have to wait until next year? I can't wait to read your story about the Queen in Nice and I'll be picturing Judi Dench!
ReplyDeleteI have the next Georgie book to write first and can't start this until January, I'm afraid. But I have to confess I am dying to tackle it. So much good stuff!
Deletewhile I am waiting for the new Lady Georgie novel, I am rereading all of the Lady Georgie novels, which helps me pass the time :-) . Look forward to reading the new novel in August.
DeleteDiana
Such a beautiful area, it sounds like your digging paid off. Hope you took time for the Chagall museum!
ReplyDeleteI did that the last time I was there. I've stayed in the region several times
DeleteRhys, what fun! Even in the library--hunting down references--I miss those days of being able to lose myself in the library stacks, never knowing what treasures might pop up! Now all those juicy details have time to stew in your brain before you sit down to write.
ReplyDeleteI miss doing most of my research at the library too, Flora. It was such fun working with a reference librarian and digging up facts.
DeleteResearch is my favorite part of writing. Sounds like this was so much fun. Do you dictate notes to yourself or write things down to capture the details you'd never find in Google?
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to read this! Loved your research tidbits.I've been in Nice -it was sort of an unexpected trip that turned out to be just what we needed at that moment -so I have fond memories. And what a clever plan, to write about places you love to visit. (Note that I write about the place where I live. I was not thinking ahead on that!)
ReplyDeleteI don't actually visit places thinking I'd like to set a book there, Triss! The first time I was staying in Nice I saw this huge building and asked what it was. I was told it was where Queen Victoria stayed when she came to Nice in the winter. I had not known that so my interest was piqued.
DeleteI can hardly wait to read that book, Rhys! I never knew about Victoria's trips to Nice so I'm sure I'll learn a lot. Yay for helpful librarians!
ReplyDeleteNice, Rhys (see what I did there?)! I remember reading about this in the biography of Victoria I have.
ReplyDeleteI do make periodic trips down to the Laurel Highlands. Scope out new things, refresh the stock of photos, remind myself of the layout. Things like that. Fortunately, it's only 1.5 hour by car.
Mary/Liz
Rhys, I am already so excited about the book you're going to write! How could I not be with this fascinating information you've already presented? Queen Victoria is such great material to write about, and I'm sure her time in Nice was filled with great tidbits. And, how great that you were able, with the help of the librarian, to uncover that brochure.
ReplyDeleteI think if I were to write a book, I'd definitely want to visit the setting and absorb its ambiance. I have stood on battlefields, especially Gettysburg, and gotten such strong feelings of connection and, yes, even spirits of a sort. But, I would equally enjoy the digging into documents, perhaps happening upon an old love letter or deed of property or even a grocery list.
Thanks for sharing this with us today, Rhys.
It must have been such fun searching thru those bookstores & the library.
ReplyDeleteRhys, I love your research! I wish I'd known even some of that when I visited Nice years ago, but now I'm so looking forward to reading your version. I'm assuming this book will be a standalone? (If you can tell us that much.)
ReplyDeleteI do research the same way. As wonderful as it is to have the Internet and Google Maps, they are great for backup and filling in details, but are no substitute for the real thing. I have to go to a place, usually at least twice, and take in the sounds and smells and the physical geography. And I love finding pamphlets and local maps and histories, things you would never come across on the Internet.
Oh, this sounds fabulous! I had no idea Queen V resided on the Riviera in her later years. How fascinating and what fun to write! Looking forward to it.
ReplyDeleteRhys, these are gorgeous photos. I was reminded of the postcards that my great aunt gave me. She was born the same year as Maisie Dobbs. She went to the Sorbonne in the 1920s. She brought home many postcards from France and she gave them to me! I still have them.
ReplyDeleteDiana
What a treasure, Diana!
DeleteI treasure them, Rhys!
DeleteI can just see Victoria's pipers piping while she is tossing flowers at attractive young men going by. I'd love to know what the townspeople thought of this circus every winter!
ReplyDeleteInteresting. Can't wait to see what you come up with.
ReplyDeleteWOW. This sounds amazing. And you are an absolute treasure.
ReplyDelete