Welcome, Vanessa! Over to you...
Historical
fiction is based on real life events, or at least they establish the backdrop
to the story. Part of the appeal, both for readers and writers, is the weaving
of fiction around fact. Some periods of history are especially popular hunting
grounds for authors seeking inspiration. For example, there seems to be an
inexhaustible interest in the romantic lives of the Tudors and in the turmoil
of the two world wars.
For
me, the choice of topic to write about is rarely the result of a conscious
plan. Small snippets, stumbled upon unexpectedly, spark off inspiration. I
didn’t set out to write either of my published novels, but they wouldn’t leave
me alone until I had.
It’s
purely by chance that I set my first two novels on the Mediterranean island of
Corsica. While on holiday there a few years ago, we chose one of two guest
houses in a village on the coast of Cap Corse.
In our room we noticed some old letters that had been framed and hung on the walls. The Corsican owner told us that when he was restoring the house, a workman found the letters in a box walled up in a niche in the attic.
In our room we noticed some old letters that had been framed and hung on the walls. The Corsican owner told us that when he was restoring the house, a workman found the letters in a box walled up in a niche in the attic.
They
turned out to be love letters, written in the 1890s by the village schoolmaster
to the daughter of the house, a bourgeois family who would have disapproved of
their relationship. They were star-crossed lovers. She had to marry someone
else for family reasons (not uncommon on Corsica) and it was not a happy
marriage by the sound of it.
Who
walled up the letters? Why? What happened to the schoolmaster? What was it like
to live in a Corsican village at the turn of the century? This story intrigued
me, so my first novel, The House at
Zaronza, fills in the gaps in the real-life story. It follows the life of
the young woman, whom I named Maria, from 1899 up to the early 1920s, via World
War I.
My
second novel, The Corsican Widow,
which has just been released, was inspired in a similar way. While carrying out
some research on another topic, I happened upon an article about female
criminality in 18th-century Corsica. You might think this is a
somewhat abstruse topic, but the article contained a fascinating snippet from a
contemporary chronicle. This related the story of a wealthy widow who is lonely
after the death of her husband. She falls for her shepherd and scandalises her
neighbours and the rigid, traditionalist Corsican society in which she lives.
I
can’t say much more without giving away the plot, but suffice it to say that
this story kept creeping into my mind. I had to put aside my other project and
write The Corsican Widow first.
To
write both novels I had to do considerable research about the history and
culture of Corsica. When writing historical fiction, it’s not enough just to
tell the story. You also have to get your facts right!
Vanessa
Couchman is a novelist, short story author and freelance writer and has lived
in southwest France since 1997. She is fascinated by Corsican and French
history and culture. Vanessa has published two novels, The House at Zaronza and The
Corsican Widow, in the Tales of Corsica series, and plans further Corsica
novels as well as historical novels based in France. Her short stories have won
and been placed in creative writing competitions and published in anthologies.
Twitter: @Vanessainfrance
All
of Vanessa’s books are available in Kindle and paperback formats from Amazon.
Thanks for having me, Sue!
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