MKB VIP Naomi posed a couple of questions to Debutantes author Cora Harrison, here's what she had to say . . .
How did you research the
1920's era so thoroughly?
In a way I found this
easier than the research for the previous historical novels that I wrote for
the YA market – ‘I Was Jane Austen’s Best Friend’ and ‘Jane Austen Stole My
Boyfriend’. You see not many novels, except Jane Austen’s own, are written in
the late 18th century whereas I had already read and enjoyed about
twenty or thirty novels which were written by people who were living in that
time and were writing about what lay around them. This gave me a wonderful
background to draw on and meant that I didn’t have to look up so many details.
For instance someone living nowadays would automatically talk of using their
mobile phone whereas someone living in the 1920s would mention picking up the
receiver (which connected with the telephone exchange) and saying into it
something like ‘Central 4000’ – this occurs in an Evelyn Waugh novel. The
novels that I found most useful were: ‘Love in a Cold Climate’ by Nancy
Mitford; ‘Hons & Rebels’ by her sister Jessica, most of the Evelyn Waugh
books, Agatha Christie: ‘The Secret of Chimneys’, Dorothy Sayers, ‘Lord Peter
Wimsey’ books and the P.G. Wodehouse books.
In order to write the
‘Debutantes’ books, I have now accumulated a shelf of reference books about
photography, clothes, cars, etiquette, kitchens and cookery, about the family
of King George V and Queen Mary – all those sons of theirs – and also about
country houses in that period.
In addition I have a few
DVDs based on that period, such as ‘House of Elliot’ and the films based on
books about that period.
And, of course, the
Internet is useful, though sometimes inaccurate, if you want to check up on a
detail as you write. Using the Internet is not the whole answer, though, as you
need to have a feel for the period before you start to write – for instance you
need to know that sending a telegram was a normal way of communicating. Nowadays
that seems quite strange, but in the 1920s people did it all of the time – just
as now they send text messages.
So the answer to your
query is – a lot of ground work has to be done before you start to write a
historical novel!
Which
of the four sisters would you say you are most like?
I
think that probably Rose would be the nearest to me. As a child I was always
ill – did not go to school much between the ages of seven and fourteen – and I
was, like Rose, a great reader of authors like Dickens and did try to teach
myself French by ploughing through Victor Hugo’s book Les Misérables a book which
was written in the 1880s. When I was Rose’s age I was very keen to be a writer
– a journalist first, perhaps, I used to think and then I would write a
world-famous novel.
I find Rose an interesting character,
though the reader doesn’t get to know her as well as Daisy. I would like, some
time, to write a third book from her point of view. I wonder how she will grow
up… And will she achieve her ambitions?
READ AN EXTRACT OF DEBUTANTES HERE
