So how did I get involved with Queen Victoria. My usual focus is on the first half of the Twentieth Century, especially the two great wars. I had no intention of going further back in time and no particular interest in Queen Victoria. So this story came about entirely by lucky accident.
I was in Nice a few years ago and visiting Roman remains up on a hillside above the town. We saw this beautiful big white building stretching across the hillside. It had the words Excelsior Regina on it. A gardener was working in the garden and I asked him if it was a hotel.
"No Madame," he said. It was now apartments but it used to be a hotel because it was "built for your queen."
"For Queen Elizabeth?" I asked.
That was the first time I learned that Queen Victoria had visited the South of France. So I started delving into this and discovered that she had spent her winters there during the latter years of her life. So a clever businessman had built this hotel for her, hoping to lure the rich and famous from the rest of Europe to Nice as a winter destination. Victoria came on a private train with her bedroom furniture, her maids, footmen, cooks, ladies and gentlemen... oh, and a regiment of Highland Pipers, and then said, 'I don't want anybody to know I'm the queen."
Then she said, "I want to be known as simple Lady Balmoral while I'm here." Yes, right.
I found all this fascinating. The more I dug, the more I realized I had the makings of a good story. In 1897 there was scandal as she insisted on bringing her Indian servant, Abdul Karim with her. Her gentlemen realized he was a dangerous man who was privy to too much sensitive information and passing it along to the head of the Muslim League in India. In spite of their threats she still brought him with her and there were discussions on how to get rid of him! Also her son, the Prince of Wales, thought she'd gone senile and was trying to come up with a way to remove her from the throne.
So plenty of intrigue to write about.
Then I thought: she's coming to a new hotel with French chefs AND she brings her own cooks. How stupid is that? And I went one stage further: what if one of her cooks was a young woman with a terrible secret and becomes involved in a murder plot? And so Above the Bay of Angels was born!
I came back to Nice and started research in detail. I found a helpful librarian and the main library who dug out amazing stuff including the plans and brochure when the hotel was first build and who stayed on which floor. Then I really hit pay-dirt. In a small bookstore in Antibes I found a locally published volume on Queen Victoria in Nice. It listed who accompanied her, who she visited, who came to stay, where she went on excursions etc etc. Perfect.
So we have a young woman with a secret
Queen Victoria
The French Riviera
French cuisine
A whiff of royal scandal
A hint of danger
Would you say that's a perfect recipe for a book?
So a lot of what you will read in this book is true historical fact. And I'm interested to know: do you like to learn real history from historical novels? Does it upset you if the writer gets something wrong?
I'm really looking forward to reading your book, Rhys. It sounds so exciting!
ReplyDeleteI do enjoy learning some history from historical novels, but unless it's a blatant error, I don't get upset if the writer gets something wrong. I'm more likely to be enjoying the story than nitpicking historical facts . . . .
I know that authors twist things a bit to fit their fiction in historical fiction. But it upsets me if they get big things wrong, especially for no reason. If the author lets us know what they twisted for their own purposes in a note after the book is over, I am much more understanding. As I said, it is historical fiction, and we as readers need to remember that.
ReplyDeleteI love well researched historical fiction. It’s a wonderfully painless way to learn! I also appreciate authors’ notes that give more detail and explain where they veered from actual circumstances to further the story. I can’t wait to read your latest, Rhys!
ReplyDeleteI am so excited about your new book, Rhys! This is all so fascinating what you have posted here. The discovery of that book in Antibes must have been a dream come true. So hard to imagine that she would bring all that furniture with her. I love learning history through historical fiction. I often read other non-fiction items after finishing the fiction book. I do prefer the history is accurate, although I can live with some minor details being altered. I'm usually reading authors like you, Rhys, ones that I know do the research, so I don't have to worry about accuracy. Now, take me away to the French Riviera!
ReplyDeleteOf course it's a perfect recipe! In most historical novels I read I don't know the history well and trust the author did her research, yours most of all. I can't wait to read this new one.
ReplyDeleteThis book sounds amazing! Can't wait to read it! I love feeling that I'm learning about a different time and place and appreciate accuracy in the story, but I also realize it's historical FICTION. If I want nothing but facts, I'd read nonfiction.
ReplyDeleteEvey time I hear more about this book it makes me even more eager to read it, Rhys.
ReplyDeleteThe first historical fiction I remember getting really excited about was Herman Wouk's Winds of War. Which is when I realized why history had never been my strongest subject: it lacked women figures, and it was too dry. But wrap it around a good story and it suddenly comes alive to me.
So put me in the "yes" column. I do like it best when it sticks as close as possible to fact, but there's also nothing wrong with re-imagining a new twist, too.
Can’t wait for this book next week! I do like learning history from novels. The history actually sticks with me better when it’s tied to a story. If some small changes/errors are made I probably wouldn’t notice, to be honest. Unless there’s a big mistake that pulls me out of the story I’m usually fine.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the new book Rhys--I know the Reds will love it as much as I did! I'm with some of the others, I'm not a history buff so I'm happy to learn through fiction.
ReplyDeleteRhys, this book sounds delightful! I can hardly wait for it.
ReplyDeleteI really do enjoy learning real history from novels. And while I don't know enough history to be too picky about the details, it is BECAUSE I like learning from my novels that I expect the author to get the historical stuff right. It's fine to set it in a fictional location and populate it with fictional characters, but I assume the bigger picture details about what life was like at the time and what was in the news are fact-based. I'm likely to accept them into my understanding of history, so if they are inaccurate, I am set up to feel like a fool at some future point.
I'm so looking forward to Above the Bay of Angels Rhys.
ReplyDeleteHistorical novels were me first love and I learned a lot through them. When they are coupled with mystery, especially yours, it is greatly enjoyable.
Congratulations on your new release! I wonder if PBS Mystery would be interested?
ReplyDeleteI enjoy learning history from reading mysteries, though for Brother Cadfael, I had to look up so many things. Maud or Stephen? Inheritance laws. All the herbs and their medicinal properties.
Me too! I knew so little about that period before Cadfael.
DeleteAnd I'd love PBS to be interested!
This is so wonderful, Rhys! As for history as fiction… Well, I’m not sure I would know, always, if something was “wrong. “ But it is always annoying when I do know, or when I find out later. Because I think… Why not tell me what really happened? I was quite baffled when some episodes of The Crown were said to be made up… I thought, why would you do that?
ReplyDeleteBut I think in a book like yours, readers like me assume it is fiction inspired by fact. “Inspired” gives you a lot of leeway. Also, this is where your acknowledgments and authors notes can come into play, right?
Congratulations! Hooray! You are a force of nature!
Hank, and so often the "real" story is just as interesting, if not more so, than the made up one.
DeleteObviously in any historical fiction we have created characters who did not exist and who alter the course of real history. Eddies in the space time continuum as Douglas Adams would have said!
DeleteI'm looking forward to the book, Rhys!
ReplyDeleteI have a biography of Victoria that I've read often, so I knew about her trips to Nice and the Indian manservant - but I didn't know there was such a plot to get rid of him (I did know it didn't make people happy he was around).
I like learning history from fiction. It doesn't make me sigh when people get things "wrong," but I don't like it when authors make things up and try to pass them off as "fact." If you are going to manipulate real events for the sake of the story, please be up front about it!
Wasn't there a movie about the Indian and Victoria?
DeleteYes, there was Victoria & Abdul, with Judi Dench. Another great Victoria movie, Mrs. Brown, also starred Judi Dench. That was about another man people liked to gossip about.
DeleteI happened upon an ARC of "Above the Bay of Angels," and have been enjoying it thoroughly. Like Edith, I rarely know more about any particular historical period than the author, so I'm not likely to notice little things that might not be precisely right, and I don't usually bother to fact check any author who is telling an entertaining story. It's clear in this one that Rhys has done her research, and I'm happy just to go with the flow of the story. Congratulations, Rhys! I think your recipe is a keeper.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Gigi!
DeleteWaiting for this one! I can't wait for a nice detour into a different time and place! I do enjoy historical mysteries, especially. I don't nitpick the small details, but it is usually apparent when an author hasn't bothered to do much research and you get a cliched view of time/place. But those sorts of books don't usually do much with character or plot, either, so are quickly discarded. And I know quite well, Rhys, how interesting your books turn out to be, so no worries about picking up your latest!
ReplyDeleteRhys, your new book sounds delightful. I wonder if Queen Victoria had to deal with the paparazzi or did they exist back then?
ReplyDeleteWhen I read historical fiction, I am inspired to read up on the real history background. Believe it or not, when I was a teenager, I read Barbara Cartland novels, which inspired my interest in history.
Though I knew some real history based on my schooling, I remember reading some historical fiction and biography. Once in a while they would get a historical date wrong like a biography about the royal family, saying that Princess Margaret was born in 1934 when we know she was born in 1930. If it is historical fiction and they change something from a historical fact, then I tell myself that the book is FICTION and in fiction, I think it is ok to change things ? Unless the novel is supposed to take place in the 16th century and you have mobile phones in the story, this would not fit unless it was a time travel novel?
Looking forward to reading Above the Bay of Angels!
Diana
I think you're very forgiving, Diana. If I see a glaring error I don't want to read that book any more because the author has told me that her world is fake and untrustworthy!
DeleteThanks, Rhys. It also depends on what the error is. If I was assigned to do homework for a history class, then that makes a big difference! I remember having to read a boring and DRY book for a college history class. I read a historical fiction novel by Jean Plaidy about a sister of Henry the 8th and I asked my professor if that sister was a real person and he said yes. Ironically, the boring and dry history book did not mention her at all! Her novels were entertaining and I learned a lot of history from her books.
DeleteDiana
I love learning from historical mysteries and I can hardly wait to read this one, Rhys! I pre-ordered the Kindle version and am counting the days until this book magically appears on my Kindle. :)
ReplyDeleteMistakes don't bother me unless they are so glaringly, obviously wrong that I can't believe the author or editor missed it. I never have that problem with your books!
Congratulations on your upcoming book birthday, Rhys. I've ordered it already, a surprise for Julie, who is one of your best fans, and of course I'll enjoy it too. And we don't fuss about mistakes. All history is revisionist anyway, written by the winners, no?
ReplyDeleteYes, I enjoy getting immersed in history with a novel. My historical knowledge is limited enough that I rarely recognize mistakes.
ReplyDelete"All history is revisionist anyway, written by the winners, no?" Well said, @Ann
Rhys, I love the way that one simple question turns into an itch to do some research, which yields an idea, turning on more research, throwing up more ideas - this is a map for beginning writers on how to develop a layered plot with interesting characters.
ReplyDeleteDoes not bother me at all if the author gets something historical incorrect. It's historical fiction :)
ReplyDeleteI like to learn real history from historical novels.
Rhys, I totally agree with Julia. You've just given everyone a glimpse of how books are brought to life.
ReplyDeleteI LOVED this book. I could tell that you not only had done your research, but how much you'd enjoyed the research, and that the historical details were essential to the development of the plot. When I'm reading historical fiction I want to feel that the writer has got the essentials correct, but I don't mind little adjustments that make the story work the least bit.
What a great story-about-the-story, Rhys! I love historical mysteries, and like the others here, I enjoy learning from them. I assume the main info is correct and that any major deviations will be explained in an author's note, and that the details, the things we couldn't know, are a mix of real and imaginary, based on research. As long as they seem to fit and feel real, I'm good.
ReplyDeleteI read The Tuscan Child on our way to France 2 weeks ago to see the Leonardo exhibit, with no idea that your story would involve paintings from that era. I don't know whether paintings were lost and found the way you described, but it certainly felt plausible. I felt like I was there, making the discoveries with your characters, which was extra fun because of what we'd just seen!
So many works of art vanished- looted, destroyed or hidden during the war. And my monastery is based on Monte Cadino, bombed by the allies
DeletePerfect illustration of the mix of real facts and "inspired by" details. I assumed the movements of the Allies were real -- they're documented; why make them up -- including the bombing and the reasons for it, but that the events and discoveries in the ruins were "what might have happened."
DeleteI love reading fiction with history and I do prefer that the historical facts are true. Although certainly stories can be based on historical facts, after all no one really knows exactly what was said to whom at most any time.
ReplyDeleteIt must have been wonderful doing that research.
I think a believable context is critical so the reader can relax and suspend disbelief - and that’s what you’re so brilliant at doing , Rhys!
ReplyDeleteI love historical fiction and grew up reading it with my parents. I want it to be accurate or have the changes explained in the final notes. If the author tells us in the notes what happened to the historical characters that is wonderful. "The rest of the story" as Paul Harvey says.
ReplyDeleteVictoria came on a private train with her bedroom furniture, her maids, footmen, cooks, ladies and gentlemen... oh, and a regiment of Highland Pipers, and then said, 'I don't want anybody to know I'm the queen." LOL this sounds like it could have been written yesterday; just change the title from Queen to Duchess.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a perfect recipe to me . . . eagerly anticipating it! I love learning historical details from fiction and appreciate those who work to get it right. I wouldn't probably catch most errors, but I pay attention to writers I can trust. Hmm, traveling incognito vs. having the comforts one is used to . . . that is a dilemma. ;-)
ReplyDelete