Pam Lecky's Blog, page 33

Dublin’s 19th Century Sweep School

One of the most deplorable uses of child labour in 19th century Ireland was for the sweeping of chimneys. A master sweep would obtain very young boys, some as young as seven, to train as apprentices. The boys were sent up the chimney flue to brush and scrape the soot loose. The dangers were numerous – suffocation from soot, getting stuck in the flue, falling from the chimney stack or even being badly burned. A contemporary commentator on Dublin city life wrote:

‘no class of the community has so much and so deservedly excited public commiseration as that of young sweeps, and we think the existence of such a trade is a reproach to the police of any state where it is permitted.’

However, it took a famous court case in Dublin to bring the subject into the public domain. It resulted in a master sweep being jailed for cruelty to his apprentice who he whipped repeatedly and burned with coals. The child was carried into court wrapped in a blanked and covered with ointment but died shortly after the trial. The sweep was sentenced to a public whipping and a huge crowd gathered to witness it.

This case led to the formation of the Society for the Protection of Young Chimney Sweeps in 1816. It emerged that many of the children were forced by their masters to engage in night-time burglaries as well. Once the children grew too big they were abandoned and left to fend for themselves.

A ‘School for Young Sweeps’ was set up in Drumcondra, Dublin, to look after these abandoned young sweeps.  On Sundays, the children gathered at the school and were fed and kitted out with new shoes, shirts and caps. They were given bars of soap and a few pennies to get them through the following week. A basic education in reading, writing and arithmetic was provided as well. However, the school closed down after accusations by Catholic clergymen that the school was a front for the conversion of Catholic children to the Protestant faith.

The practice of using children to climb chimneys ended in 1864 when the Act for the Regulation of Chimney Sweepers was passed.

A Conversation with Author Jane Risdon

 

This evening in the Library we have ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Jane Risdon, who has dropped in to say hello and to share some insights into her life as an author.

You are very welcome, Jane, please introduce yourself: 

I have been writing for the last 5 years. Marrying a rock musician when still quite young, and to help support our family, I worked at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in Whitehall where I indulged my love of mystery and intrigue. Later working in the International Music Industry managing recording artists, songwriters, record producers and actors, based mainly in Los Angeles, Singapore and Taipei, I began to garner information and experiences for my longed-for and much anticipated writing career. I read avidly and writing crime, sometimes with a touch of espionage and organised crime in the mix, reflects my love of this genre. I am published by Accent Press.

Did you read much as a child? Are you an avid reader now? Do you prefer books in your own genre or are you happy to explore others?

I always had my nose in a book as a child. It was my way of escaping a large family of so many younger siblings, who looked upon me as their other mother. When I could get time to myself, not that often, I would lose myself in Enid Blyton, Robert Louis Stevenson and similar writers.

I am an avid reader, always have been, but now time is an issue. I try to read a few chapters every night in bed. I used to read one or two books a week, but these days I seem to be able to manage only one per month. I do prefer books in my own genre. I adore reading crime/thrillers/mystery and espionage.  I find I like the books written mainly for men, though not exclusively I know. I have a TBR pile to panic even the most placid of folk.

Are you self-published or traditionally published?

I have a publisher although I am also free to go elsewhere with my work if they refuse anything for whatever reason, and so it (self-publishing) might be an option I’ll explore if that happens.

I have had work published (in anthologies) in aid of various charities and they are via whichever publisher or individual has invited me to participate. I enjoy doing short stories for them.

Which genre do you write in and why?

I write mainly crime and I suppose it is because it is what interests me the most and what I read mostly. I feel comfortable in this genre and I guess I must have a criminal mind, as I seem to find it easy enough to come up with dastardly deeds for my characters.

I do dabble in other genres if the story dictates. I have written humour and have turned my hand to a couple of Ghost stories for my publisher as well as one or two romances – as in pirate stories. I am not a romantic as a person so a full blown love story isn’t my thing. But, having said that, I have co-written with a long-term friend who is a successful romance writer, and our story could be called a ‘romance,’ but not in the strictest meaning. She is still writing her parts and our publisher is waiting to set a date for publication, probably 2017 now.

Who has been the biggest influence on your writing?

Agatha Christie of course, she’s had to have influenced every Crime and Golden Age of Detection writer going. I read a lot of Mickey Spillane, Raymond Chandler, Graham Greene, John Le Carre, and Fredrick Forsyth growing up so they had a huge influence on me. I adore Daphne Du Maurier too.

Latterly  I’ve read a lot of Patricia Cornwell and Michael Connolly (I adore his work) and Peter James, Peter Robinson, Nelson DeMille, Stella Rimington, Andy McNabb, Karin Slaughter, David Baldacci and Tess Gerritsen. I love so many authors in this genre it is hard to pick a favourite.

Kathy Reichs has been a huge influence and it is due to her real life role as a Forensic Anthropologist that I was minded to take some courses in Forensics, so that my writing would be accurate and up to date where modern technology is used in crime detection and the identification of the dead.

Has your country of origin/culture influenced your writing?

I am sure it has but to what extent I cannot say. I’ve spent my life living and working overseas. My family were in the army and later I married a rock musician and we travelled all over the world. Later we went into artist management and again spent our lives on the road, touring, recording and living overseas, mainly America, Singapore and Taiwan. So I imagine a lot has rubbed off.

They say write what you know, and I know the music business and, before that, life in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in Whitehall – one end of the spectrum of experience to another. That is where my love of all things espionage comes from. My stories often have elements of espionage in them and lots of music. The music business provides great fodder for a crime writer, especially in Hollywood.

What part of the writing process do you find most difficult? How do you overcome it?

I have been typing since I was taught at school and so my handwriting has gone to pot – hand-written stories don’t happen. But I also hate sitting at the computer for hours and hours physically typing. I’d like to do a Barbara Cartland and have someone sitting at my right hand, taking my dictated stories down in short-hand and then typing them up. Fat chance though.

Do you have a favourite time of day to write?

Whenever the urge is upon me, and that is often early morning. I might end up working all day until the early hours if I am left alone. It really does depend on outside forces. I have to force myself to have a life away from the desk. Of course if I run out of tea or liquorice – a major disaster – I have to replenish supplies or nothing works.

What is the best thing about being an author? And the flipside – what is the worst?

I have been asked this before and I am not sure I have an answer. I have nearly always been my own boss, in charge, so perhaps it’s not having to answer to anyone or being responsible for others.

When I managed the careers of singers, musicians, record producers and songwriters I had a lot of responsibility for their success and making sure they were given opportunities and made the most of them. It was uphill at times because some would sit back and wait for things to happen, rather than going after something themselves. If it succeeded, it was down to them, if it failed it was down to me, so they thought. Often, once management took over, the drive and ambition seemed to take a back seat with some of them.

I guess I like being able to motivate myself. I don’t answer to anyone and I don’t have to give someone else the credit or blame when/if things do or don’t pan out. And the flipside is just that, there isn’t someone to kick my backside, critique and guide, until my work is with the editor, but by then most of the hard graft has been done, by me, alone, and without a manager like me to encourage and cajole.

Is social media an essential chore or something you enjoy? Which forum do you prefer?

I enjoy social media, it has been a great tool in the past for helping to promote my artists and I see it as essential for my work too. I love technology so this medium is wonderful for me. I can explore opportunities I’d never encounter otherwise. It can be a chore, and one can become a slave to it, but I see it as a way to reach people.

I had to work with all media – radio, television, the music press and so on in my former life, and to me social media is an extension of that work, only it’s now on my own behalf. It is the fan club newsletter, the event flyer, the word of mouth story to other like-minded folk. It is like running a band or artist, but instead of testosterone filled musicians and PMS inflamed female singers, I have little old me beavering away trying to get seen in amongst all the other cans of baked beans on the shelf.

If you weren’t an author, what would you be up to?

I’d be retired sitting back enjoying my freedom. I do enjoy the freedom from babysitting self-centred egoists I have experienced since deciding to get a life, so given the chance I would be relaxing on a yacht somewhere, with others to do my bidding for a change. Then again, I might get bored rigid and look for another artist to discover, mould and end up detesting. Nope, writing is a way of getting all those murderous thoughts and feelings out of my system and on to a page. I think I would still be writing and thus avoiding a stint in Broadmoor or similar. It’s safer I think.

It’s the last day and the earth is facing oblivion – what book would you read?

If it were the last day and I wasn’t surrounded by family and friends who’d never give me a chance to get a word in, I suppose I’d disappear into the woods or sit by a lake, and if I could concentrate I’d read Frenchman’s Creek by Daphne Du Maurier, and wait for the mushroom cloud there. I certainly wouldn’t be under the kitchen table with black sacks and tinned food as instructed in the 1980s, by the Government, in the event of a nuclear attack by Russia. We all know that’s silly.

Please tell us what you are working on at the moment.

I am working on several projects at the moment. There’s my novel Ms Birdsong Investigates: Murder at Ampney Parva, part of a series, featuring a former MI5 Officer ‘voluntarily’ retired, and living in rural Oxfordshire, following a disastrous mission with her lover and partner MI6 Officer Michael Dante.  She finds herself embroiled in the search for a missing woman, the Russian Mafia and People Trafficking and Ukrainian Arms Dealers. This is going to be a series; books two and three are underway. They will be titled: Murder at the Observatory and The Safe House.

Awaiting completion by my co-author friend, Christina Jones, our novel based in the 1960s music scene, Only One Woman, is set to be published by our mutual publishers, Accent Press, early next year.

In the meantime I have a short story included in the anthology, Madame Movara’s Tales of Terror, which is on pre-order now via Amazon, and is in aid of Save the Children. It features many exciting authors and their stories, and will be in paperback in October and also on Kindle. My story is Haunting Melody and is music related. Here is the link for Madame Movara’s Tales of Terror with foreword by Hammer Horror Icon Caroline Munro. http://www.bookgoodies.com/a/B01JXDVHGK

Pam, thanks so much for having me here and for indulging me, it’s been a blast. I do hope your readers find something to whet their appetite for my work which includes:

Wishing on a Star (Accent Press)
Shiver (Accent Press)
In A Word: Murder (Margot Kinberg Pub)
I Am Woman vol 1 (FCN Pub)
Telling Tales (Moonworks Pub)

Links to my books and publications can be found on my Amazon Author Page.

If you would like to know more about Jane and her work please click on the links below:

Amazon Author Page   Blog   Facebook   Twitter   Accent Press

The Mad Fighting Fitzgerald

One of the most notorious characters of 18th century Dublin was George Robert Fitzgerald. Contemporaries described him as a ‘reckless duellist’, who loved to duel so much that he would provoke fights with total strangers and is reported to have fought in eleven duels by the time he reached the age of 24. He fought duels with Lord Norbury and Lord Clare and he once narrowly missed killing Denis Browne, a brother of Lord Altamont when he fired a shot at him in the middle of Sackville Street (now O’Connell Street). On one occasion George was involved in a sword duel through the streets of Castlebar, which is still the stuff of legend. It commenced at one end of Main Street, and continued all along the street ending on Ellison Street.

He was born in 1746, at Turlough House, Castlebar, Co. Mayo, the eldest son of George Fitzgerald and Lady Mary Hervey, daughter of Lord Hervey, Vice Chamberlain to George II. His parents separated when he was young and he went to live in England with his mother and younger brother. He attended Eton and joined the army in 1765 aged 17. At 18 he visited the French court as a protégé of the Comte d’Artois, the King’s brother, but fell out of the royal favour by fighting duels and using loaded dice at the gaming tables of Versailles.

A Typical Duel Scene of the Time

George married Jane Connolly of Castletown in Co. Kildare and was obliging enough to spend her entire dowry on an extended honeymoon of nearly three years, taking in Paris, Rome, Florence and Brussels. He returned to his house at Merrion Square Dublin alone and almost penniless.

He was constantly at loggerheads with his father over money and the Turlough estate and on one occasion he handcuffed the poor man to a dancing bear for an entire day. He was later fined and sentenced for two years in Castlebar Goal for this and for imprisoning his father in a cave on the family estate with, it was claimed, the same bear guarding the entrance!

Execution at Castlebar

He was eventually tried and convicted for the murder of Randal M’Donnell, one of his neighbours, and was hanged at Castlebar on 12th June 1786, aged only thirty-nine. It was said that before his execution he drank a whole bottle of port and then threw himself off the scaffold, but the rope snapped in two and he fell to the ground. He told the sheriff to go and get another rope – but not from the same shop! But by the time a new rope was procured, he had sobered up and lost his nerve. He went to his maker crying and begging for forgiveness. His remains were removed to the family vault at Turlough where they were buried at midnight, as was the custom among the gentry at this time.

 

 

A Conversation with Author Cat Nicolaou

 

Today in the Library we have ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Cat Nicolaou, who has dropped in to say hello and to share some insights into her life as an author.

You are very welcome Cat, please introduce yourself:

I live on a small island in Greece with my family and many pets and I am 36 years old.  I have had my own business since 2000.

Did you read much as a child? Are you an avid reader now? Do you prefer books in your own genre or are you happy to explore others?

Although my mum has always been an avid reader and tried to make me read when I was a child, I must admit I didn’t read a lot back then. I started reading regularly when I was in my early twenties and I have never stopped since. I do love romance novels but I read all genres if a book intrigues me.

Are you self-published or traditionally published?

I am a self-published author. My debut was a romance novella “When Time Comes”, which came out in 2015, and this year I published a short story collection “Life, Love and Death”.  “When Time Comes” has been translated into Spanish and Italian as well. Both books are on Amazon Select now.

Which genre do you write in and why?

I started out as a romance writer because I am an old school romantic myself, but my second book was far from being a romance. Though my books will always have a romance element, I think I will experiment with genres for a while.

Who has been the biggest influence on your writing?

My mum thinks I write like Barbara Cartland, because she used to read her books when she was young, but I consider Jane Austen to be my idol as a writer.

Has your country of origin/culture influenced your writing?

Yes, definitely! My first published book was entirely set on a Greek island and lots of my future projects will also be. Besides that, however, I do find myself attributing traits to my characters that only Greek people possess, even if my characters are not from my country. It is something I always have to look out for.

What part of the writing process do you find most difficult? How do you overcome it?

Writing itself, of course. For two reasons, first of all, I write books in English though it is not my mother tongue and that makes my writing progress very slow, because I have to think twice of what I am writing, and secondly, I tend to overload myself with work, which in turn blocks my creativity. How do I overcome my writer’s block? A stroll by the beach always helps. Looking at the sea clears my mind and I feel my creative juices flow again.

Do you have a favourite time of day to write?

I am a night owl. I cannot concentrate enough to write during daytime. Usually, I start my writing session right after midnight and I keep going till dawn.

What is the best thing about being an author? And the flipside – what is the worst?

I think the best thing about being an author is the ability to create new worlds out of nowhere; that suddenly the ‘voices’ in your head take a form and become ‘real’ people with problems like yourself and you desperately want to make them happy.

I think the worst part comes once you finish your first draft. Writers go through real agony after that. Besides the load of work we have to do in order to publish and promote our books, it can be a real drain to wait and see if people will actually like what you have produced.

Is social media an essential chore or something you enjoy? Which forum do you prefer?

I am a chatty person, so I do enjoy spending time on social media and meeting new people. I quite like twitter as a medium, though my online friends are on Facebook. Whether we like it or not, social media is a reality for all of us and I do think it’s a good way to promote yourself and your work.

If you weren’t an author, what would you be up to?

Well, I do have a day job, but let’s see… As a child, I wanted to be a singer. I do have a fairly good voice as well. Later on, I wanted to become a doctor, however. I became neither but I have a lot of respect for doctors and I think that is the thing I would like to be most, if I weren’t an author.

It’s the last day and the earth is facing oblivion – what book would you read?

I would read The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry because it always restores my courage.

Please tell us what you are working on.

I am planning to publish a second book this year and right now I am working on a romance titled “Teach a Teacher a Lesson”. It is a revenge story with a twist. A young man meets his old high school teacher after ten years from graduation and wants to take revenge on her because of the emotional pain she had caused him. It is not what it looks like for neither party actually and that’s where all the fun begins. Lots of steamy scenes coming up, as well.

If you would like to know more about Cat and her work please click on the links below:

https://www.facebook.com/CatNicolaou/

https://twitter.com/catnicolaou

 http://catnicolaou14.wixsite.com/cat-nicolaou

 

A Conversation with Author Tom Williams

Today in the Library we have ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Tom Williams, who has dropped in to say hello and to share some insights into his life as an author.

Tom used to write about boring things for money. If you wanted an analysis of complaints volumes in legal services or attitudes to diversity at the BBC, then he was your man. Now he writes much more interesting books about historical characters and earns in a year about what he could make in a day back then. (This, unfortunately, is absolutely true.) He also writes a blog (http://thewhiterajah.blogspot.co.uk/) which is widely read all over the world and generates no income at all.

Besides making no money from writing, Tom makes no money out of occasionally teaching people to tango and then spends all the money he hasn’t made on going to dance in Argentina.

Please save Tom from himself and buy his books.

Did you read much as a child? Are you an avid reader now? Do you prefer books in your own genre or are you happy to explore others?

I was a near obsessive reader as a child. I would walk along the pavement reading, the way that people walk and text on their phones nowadays. When I was a young teenager I could read a book a day. I don’t read nearly as much now, which is probably all for the best.

I do enjoy historical novels and I like to read the odd serious work of literature, but the sad truth is that most of the time I’m reading trashy thrillers with the occasional rom-com thrown in for good measure.

Are you self-published or traditionally published?

I’m published by Accent, which is one of the new breed of independent publishers who still produce books like a traditional publishing house.

 Which genre do you write in and why?

Historical fiction (Napoleonic wars and mid-19th century colonial). The first book I wrote was historical fiction and agents and publishers have told me to stick to one field – although I may branch out into something contemporary soon.

My son claims that I write historical fiction because I don’t have the imagination to make up plots for myself, and there is possibly some truth in this. 

Who has been the biggest influence on your writing?

Given that I write about the Napoleonic wars, I can’t help but be influenced by Bernard Cornwell. There’s also a touch of George MacDonald Fraser, but his books are straightforwardly funny and mine aren’t.

Has your country of origin/culture influenced your writing?

I’m English and I write from an English perspective. An Italian friend asked why I don’t write about wars in Italy and I explained that I don’t understand Italian history or politics and it’s much easier to write about things I know.

Writing books set in the Napoleonic wars gives me lots of opportunity to be rude about the French. As an Englishman I take full advantage of these.

My wife’s family are Belgian and you might notice that in Burke at Waterloo I do acknowledge the extreme bravery of some of the Belgian troops who fought alongside the British. The Belgians at Waterloo are often dismissed as cowards in the same way that we played down the Prussian contribution. This started as a straightforwardly propagandistic exercise boosting British prestige in 1815, but the myth continues to this day.

What part of the writing process do you find most difficult? How do you overcome it?

Putting words on paper. The actual mechanics of writing are horrible. For anyone who hasn’t done it, imagine just copying out the whole of a novel. It’s no fun at all. Dictation software helps.

Do you have a favourite time of day to write?

In theory I start in the morning and write all day. In practice I fiddle about playing games on the computer, doing housework and doing things like answering these questions until late in the afternoon, and then I panic and write something.

What is the best thing about being an author? And the flipside – what is the worst?

The best thing is that I get to tell stories, which I’ve always wanted to do. Because I write historical novels I also spend a lot of time on research which is always interesting and can be amazing fun. For Burke in the Land of Silver I rode almost to the top of the Andes with snow on the ground. It was a stupid time of year to attempt the climb, but my hero did it in the snow and I wanted to know what it would be like. It was amazing.

The worst thing is having to sell books. I’m told that once upon a time writers wrote and then handed the books to publishers who did all the sordid commercial stuff. If this was ever true, it certainly isn’t now.

Is social media an essential chore or something you enjoy? Which forum do you prefer?

It’s an essential chore. I have a blog (http://thewhiterajah.blogspot.co.uk/) which I really enjoy writing and I would almost certainly carry on with this even if I were hugely successful and didn’t have to. I’d probably still put the odd post on my Facebook author page (https://www.facebook.com/AuthorTomWilliams/), but I’m pretty sure that I would abandon Twitter. I’m not really a fan of Twitter, although it generates a lot of interest in my blog, so I do keep doing it. And it gives me somewhere to show off photographs. Some people obviously like it and so might you, so don’t let me put you off. (@TomCW99).

If you weren’t an author, what would you be up to?

I’d be dancing tango in Buenos Aires. Or street skating in London. Or skiing in France.

It’s the last day and the earth is facing oblivion – what book would you read? 

I’m all in favour of people doing a lot of reading, but I do worry that sometimes we fetishise books. If it’s the last day, you should be spending it with friends and family doing something you love together. It’s unlikely that this will be a reading group.

Please tell us what you are working on at the moment.

I am working on the next book about James Burke, which will be set in the Peninsular War. It’s on pause at the moment, though, because I’m preparing a talk on James Brooke of Sarawak, the hero of my first book, The White Rajah. I’ll be speaking at the Llandrindod Wells Victorian Festival on Friday (26 August). It would be lovely if you could come along.

 

A Conversation with Author Nora Fountain

 

This evening in the Library we have ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Nora Fountain, who has dropped in to say hello and to share some insights into her life as an author.

Hello, I’m a trad- and self-published author of contemporary and historical romances plus one crime story ‘Chain of Evil’, which also has a romantic thread.

I read from an early age, piecing words and text together in a wonderful book of nursery rhymes. This also introduced the rhythms of poetry. We did a lot of that at primary school and somehow poetry stays in the mind in a way that prose cannot. Later I was introduced to French romantic poetry and still love bits of Lamartine, such as Le Lac. I love the idea of feelings so powerful that they could be imprinted on the very rocks around the lake where they loved. I can also quote just four lines by the Spanish poet, Federico García Lorca. Just four – about the gypsies he loved, riding through an olive grove in the moonlight. Colourful stuff.

I still read, of course. What writer doesn’t? I’m not a fast reader, however, and time is scarce. Since that wretched accident two years ago my weeks have been punctuated by trips to hospital. I always read when I go to bed, paper or ebooks. I like the feel of a physical book but my Kindle is wonderful to read in bed. It never folds up and loses my place as a physical book can do. I also like the enlarged print facility for tired eyes. I’m currently reading an Anna Jacobs and a rediscovered Edna O’Brien. I loved Edna’s earlier books. I’m finding this one a trifle difficult to get into.

As I said above, I’m both trad and self-published. I was delighted when Hale took my first romance under a pseudonym – Lorna McKenzie, Lorna because I loved Lorna Doone which I read at the age of ten and McKenzie because it used to be my name. Hale went on to take four more romances before closing down the line because ‘no-one wanted to read romance any more’. Really? Really? As John Torode would say. After Hale there came the endless stream of rejections. I waited up to eleven months in some cases for their rejection letter. I decided that, rather than bat it back and forth (and we won’t look at it if it’s been sent elsewhere) to put ‘Blackthorn Child’, a historical set in the years 1848 to 1946, on Amazon Kindle. It soared up the lists, reaching top spot on one occasion and has attracted some wonderful reviews. My other historical ‘Love Thine Enemy’ has also attracted some great reviews. It’s set against the backcloth of the Second World War, one of my favourite periods.

I was undoubtedly influenced by the fact that the house was full of books when I was growing up. Dad had a bookcase full of Penguin classics and a whole set of red, gold-tooled Dickens novels. He read a lot of serious political and historical stuff, too. Mum ‘liked a nice love story’.

I’ve lived in various parts of the UK but I think Dorset’s the place my characters tend to come back to. Any trip abroad is liable to become the setting for a new book. I still have to write my Czech and Sicilian novels!

What do I find the most difficult aspect of writing? Beginning at the right place, so I sometimes make several false starts. Once I’m in, the only difficulty is finding the time and having the strength of mind to turn off the telly. I do so love quiz programmes – Eggheads, Mastermind, even Pointless. You learn so many strange facts but it’s all grist to the mill. I met the son-in-law of our own Mastermind winner at an RNA Christmas party and he very kindly suggested some reading on the fourteenth century which I’m finding most useful for one of my current WIPs.

I prefer to write early in the day but it takes me so long to get going these days that that hardly ever happens. I sometimes have a spurt of mental activity late in the evening so I go with the flow.

The best thing about being an author is having the freedom to indulge one’s thoughts and fantasies, and not be beholden to some boss. The flipside is the uncertainty of ideas continuing to flow, making a living from one’s efforts, maintaining a balance between being arrogant enough to think one can write and humble enough to take the knockbacks

I’m sure I don’t make the best use of social media. I can’t imagine anyone being that fascinated by my daily life. I mainly use Facebook but once on it, it’s so time-consuming. I have a dedicated author page. I tweet a bit (@norafount). I’m also on LinkedIn but that seems to have become a bit of a job site.

If I weren’t an author, I’d be wearing my other hat as a translator of French and Spanish. I also love painting, especially with oils. I love the fact that if you make a mistake it’s easy to cover up. It’s much more difficult with water colours.

If it was the last day and the earth was facing oblivion I don’t think I’d be reading. I’d be storing up the experience in case it wasn’t really happening and I could then write about it. If I had to read, it would be a bit of Lamartine.

I am currently working on two contemporary novels and a historical. I like multi-tasking.

I’ve mentioned Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook. I also have an author website: norafountain.co.uk, where all my books are listed, with covers, photos, etc. My ebooks are extremely cheap, even the long historicals. Please take a look and even write a short review if you like what you read and feel so inclined.

Thank you if you do, and many thanks to Pam  for this opportunity.

If you would like to know more about Nora and her work, please check out the links below:

Nora’s Books on Amazon

Nora on Twitter

Facebook

www.norafountain.co.uk

 

A Conversation with Author Catherine Kullmann

Today in the Library I am delighted to host Irish historical fiction author Catherine Kullmann, who has dropped in to say hello and to share some insights into her life as an author.

You are very welcome, Catherine and congratulations on the publication this week of your book, The Murmur of Masks.

Hello and thank you for inviting me to the Library. I was born and brought up in Dublin. Following my marriage I moved to Germany where I lived for over twenty-five years. My husband and I returned to Ireland in 1999 and celebrated our ruby wedding in 2013. We have three adult sons and two grandchildren. I have worked in the Irish and New Zealand public services and in the private sector. I took early retirement some years ago and was finally able to follow my life-long dream of writing fiction

Did you read much as a child?

As a child I always had my nose in a book. I had tickets for the public library and the children’s section of the RDS library and visited both several times a week. The librarian of the public library allowed me join the adult library early as I had read everything in the children’s library.

Are you an avid reader now?

Yes. I have to read every day. I buy a lot of new books, but also love second-hand bookshops, book fairs and charity shops as you never know what you might find.

Do you prefer books in your own genre or are you happy to explore others?

I generally read fiction for pleasure and non-fiction for research. I love historical fiction and detective stories set in all periods, but also read nineteenth and twentieth century fiction, contemporary fiction, paranormal and fantasy.

Are you self-published or traditionally published?

Self-published.

Which genre do you write in and why?

According to traditional publishers, my books fall between two stools—historical romance and historical fiction. I describe them as ‘historical fiction for the heart and for the head’. They are set during the extended Regency period, an era that has always fascinated me. It started with Jane Austen, I suppose, but as I came to know more about the period, I realised it was the one which shaped both the United Kingdom which came into being with the Act of Union in 1800 and modern Europe through the Napoleonic wars and their aftermath. Although a time of revolution, reform and transition, it was still a rigid, patriarchal, class-ridden society. I enjoy the challenge of creating characters who behave authentically in their period while making their actions and decisions plausible and sympathetic to a modern reader.

Who has been the biggest influence on your writing?

I would have to start with my English teachers and the essays I wrote every week, then my professional training in drafting accurately and, as far as possible, elegantly. Novelists who influenced me include Jane Austen, Anthony Trollope, Georgette Heyer to whom all ‘regency writers’ owe so much, and Dorothy Sayers. In Gaudy Night, when her heroine is faced with writing a very tricky letter, she has her ask herself, “Why can’t I write a straightforward piece of English on a set subject?” This question makes her identify the real reason for her difficulties. Once she realises what the problem is, she is able to deal with it.

Has your country of origin/culture influenced your writing?

Yes. In many ways the Ireland I grew up in was more similar to Regency society than to modern twenty-first century society. Attitudes to sex and sexuality were very different. Contraception was illegal, as was divorce. Pre-marital sex was frowned upon and it was almost unheard of for an unmarried mother to keep her baby. It was not usual for married women to work outside the home and many employers, including the civil service, refused to continue a woman’s employment once she married.

At the time I moved to Germany, air-travel and international phone calls were very expensive and there was, of course, neither  internet, Skype, Facebook, texting nor anything of that sort, so I know what it is like to be isolated in a new environment and dependent on letters to maintain relationships and friendships.

Some people have asked me why I don’t set my books in Ireland but it would be impossible to do that and ignore the political and social situation in Ireland at that time. That would result in a different, bleaker book that I don’t want to write.

What part of the writing process do you find most difficult? How do you overcome it?

Because my books are pure fiction, I do not start with a real storyline or characters. It is usually something quite small that triggers a book—a ‘what if?’ or ’what then?’ In the case of The Murmur of Masks, it was a small throwaway line in another book Perception & Illusion which, although it was written first, will not be published until next year. The most difficult thing is fleshing out that little idea. First I create the characters and then work on an outline of the plot, although that will change considerably as I write the first draft.

Do you have a favourite time of day to write?

I prefer the mornings but write in the afternoon as well.

What is the best thing about being an author? And the flipside – what is the worst?

The best is when a book takes flight, when your characters suddenly determine the route of their journey. The worst is when they stubbornly refuse to budge.

Is social media an essential chore or something you enjoy? Which forum do you prefer?

As you know, I came very late to social media and regard it more as a chore than an essential part of my life. To my surprise, I find I enjoy Facebook, especially the interaction with other writers. I also blog about historical facts and trivia relating to the extended Regency

If you weren’t an author, what would you be up to?

That is a hard one. I am retired and have no wish to return to the day job. I think I would have to find something else creative to do, but am not sure what.

It’s the last day and the earth is facing oblivion – what book would you read?

I wouldn’t read; I would listen to Bach’s St Matthew Passion and Handel’s Messiah

Please tell us about your latest published work.

My debut novel, The Murmur of Masks, is now available on Amazon as an e-book and paperback. It is a story of loss, love and second chances set against a background of the Napoleonic wars, culminating in the Battle of Waterloo. It is available worldwide on Amazon.

If you would like to know more about Catherine and her work please check out the social media links below:

Blog   Website: Facebook  

or you can send messages to my Page at

m.me/catherinekullmannauthor.

 

 

A Conversation with Author Dianne Ascroft

Today in the Library I am delighted to host author ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Dianne Ascroft, who has dropped in to say hello and to share some insights into her life as an author.

You are very welcome, Dianne, please introduce yourself:

Hi everyone. I’m an urban Canadian writer. I moved to Britain more than a quarter of a century ago and gradually downsized until I’m now settled on a farm in rural Northern Ireland with my husband and an assortment of strong willed animals.

I write historical and contemporary fiction, often with an Irish connection. My current series The Yankee Years is a collection of Short Reads and novels set in World War II Northern Ireland. After the Allied troops arrived in this outlying part of Great Britain, life there would never be the same again. The series weaves tales of the people and the era. My previous writing includes a short story collection, Dancing Shadows, Tramping Hooves and an historical novel, Hitler and Mars Bars. Online I lurk at www.dianneascroft.com.

Did you read much as a child? Are you an avid reader now? Do you prefer books in your own genre or are you happy to explore others?

I’m an only child and my mother and grandfather were voracious readers so I learned to love reading early. I have happy memories of reading, sprawled in a Muskoka chair (a big wooden lounge chair) in our back garden during the summer holidays. I never lost my love of reading and still squeeze in a few minutes with a book every chance I get. There is rarely a day that I don’t spend some time reading for pleasure.

I read a wide variety of fiction. I especially enjoy historical fiction set in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and contemporary women’s fiction. I sometimes review books for blog tours and, as a result, read books outside my usual genre preferences. This has broadened my reading tastes and I’ve discovered that I really enjoy cosy mysteries, as well as crime novels and thrillers, if they aren’t too gory.

Are you self-published or traditionally published?

The Short Reads in my series, The Yankee Years, as well as my first historical novel and my collection of short stories, were all self-published. I’m currently working on a novel in The Yankee Years series. When it’s ready I intend to submit it to a traditional publisher for consideration. A traditional publisher has the contacts to introduce the book to a wider audience than I can reach so I would like to try this publishing method. But if I don’t find a publisher that thinks the book fits their market, I will be happy to self-publish this one too. I really enjoy being involved in the whole process and watching the project come together.  

Which genre do you write in and why?

I write historical fiction and contemporary women’s fiction, and my work includes short stories and novels. Recently I’ve been concentrating on The Yankee Years, my historical fiction series set in Second World War Northern Ireland.

I like to tell stories sparked by interesting items that catch my attention and I’ve found inspiration in a many different places, hence my wanderings between historical and contemporary writing. My current series was inspired by the area where I live in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. The county has a rich and varied wartime history and, after I moved to the area more than a decade ago and learned about this history, I became fascinated by it. During the Second World War army camps and flying boat bases sprung up throughout the county, and approximately a quarter of the population were military personnel. It must have been so different from the quiet rural area that I know. I started rooting in books, original newspapers and personal accounts to learn about the era, and many of the ideas for my stories were sparked by snippets of information I stumbled across during my research.

Who has been the biggest influence on your writing?

I’m not really sure who has been the biggest influence on my writing but Irish author Jennifer Johnston’s Shadows On My Skin made a huge impact on me when it was first released in the late 1970s. Her ability to breathe life into characters and unveil a story in an understated way, as well as her skilful use of language, are wonderful skills that I aspire to emulate. I also admire Diana Gabaldon’s storytelling skill and her ability to interweave stories that unfold over several books. Both authors have taught me valuable lessons.

Has your country of origin/culture influenced your writing?

Although my stories are set in Northern Ireland, the country where I’ve lived for more than a quarter of a century, I’m sure Canada, my country of origin, influences the way I view my adopted home. On one hand, I hesitate to tackle writing about a society very different from the one I grew up in. It is difficult to capture the nuances of life in this complex society where the tensions between the communities stretch back well before the Second World War and influence many aspects of life. On the other hand, viewing the society as an outsider gives me unique insights that I can use to convey the place and the people to my readers.

What part of the writing process do you find most difficult? How do you overcome it?

Probably the most difficult aspect of the process for me is deciding what the theme of the story is and how the plot has to develop to reflect this. I spend time thinking about a new story and jot down my ideas before I begin to construct the plot. Once I have a list of ideas and information about the characters and the events in the story, I try to pull them together into a coherent plot. I then check to be sure the story flows in a believable way and each character’s actions and the reasons behind them make sense. When I begin writing the story I frequently refer back to my plot outline to be sure it is still on course.

Do you have a favourite time of day to write?

I like to write early in the morning. I’m always the first one up each morning so the house is quiet and I can write without any distractions, other than the cats clamouring for their breakfast. In this atmosphere it’s easy to gather my thoughts and put them on paper before my mind gets filled with the other tasks that I have to tackle that day.

 What is the best thing about being an author? And the flipside – what is the worst?

I love conjuring up ideas and scribbling down the stories that flow from them. When a story is finally completed, it’s exciting to see the finished work. The hardest or worst part is the slog in the middle when you must revise your original draft, more than once, so that it conforms to the wonderful idea you started with and turns into the book you imagined when you started writing.

Is social media an essential chore or something you enjoy? Which forum do you prefer?

I enjoy meeting readers and other writers on social media. Socially and professionally, it’s a great place to be. Facebook is where you will find me most often. Finding enough free time to spend on social media is often a problem for me so, although I have a Twitter account, I don’t pop in there as often as I do to Facebook. I’m not on Pinterest or Instagram either for the same reason. A writer friend and I founded a Facebook group called The Second World War Club to bring readers and writers of wartime fiction together (we have expanded it to include World War I fiction too). In the group I enjoy working with other writers to help each other with our writing projects and chatting with readers about wartime novels. It’s lively and fun and I learn so much from my fellow members. There are several other Facebook groups I’m also active in. I just need more hours in the day to spend all the time I’d like to online.

If you weren’t an author, what would you be up to?

Since writing isn’t my fulltime job it isn’t really an either/or choice. Throughout my writing life I’ve worked in administration jobs so I haven’t given up another career to write. I have to fit the writing in around everything else.

History has always fascinated me and I love to research so, if I weren’t writing, I might have put more time into delving deeper into my family tree. I did quite a bit of work on it about twenty years ago but have never had the time to go back to it after I started writing.

We live on a farm and I enjoy the outdoors so when I’m not writing, I go for long walks and also spend time with our animals. If I weren’t writing, I would spend more of my free time outdoors. Maybe I should get something like Dragon software and dictate my stories while I’m walking.

It’s the last day and the earth is facing oblivion – what book would you read?

I don’t think I could pin it down to one book, but if I knew that it was the end and there was nothing I could do about it, I might want to find something I could lose myself in for those last few hours. Two authors who would do that for me immediately spring to mind. Although their writing styles are very different, both create vivid, memorable characters and settings that nearly jump off the page. They also have the ability to tell gripping stories. So my choices would be Diana Gabaldon (Outlander series) or M C Scott (Boudica or Rome series).

Please tell us what you are working on at the moment.

My current series, The Yankee Years, is a collection of novels and Short Reads set in World War II Northern Ireland. After the Allied troops arrived in this outlying part of Great Britain, life there would never be the same again. The series weaves tales of the people and the era. I have released Books 1, The Shadow Ally, and 3, Keeping Her Pledge, in the series, and will release Book 2, Acts of Sabotage, in late July. All three of these stories are Short Reads or Book Blasts as James Patterson describes short stories. I’m also working on a novel, An Elusive Enemy, and other Short Reads for the series. One of the new Short Reads in the series will be included in Pearl Harbor and More, a collection of short stories set in December 1941 by ten authors who write wartime fiction. Pearl Harbor and More is a limited edition ebook which will be released at the beginning of November 2016 and available on Amazon until January 2017.

 If you would like to know more about Dianne and her work, check out the links below: 

 Websiste    Facebook    Twitter

 

A Conversation with author Dianne Ascroft

Today in the Library I am delighted to host author ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Dianne Ascroft, who has dropped in to say hello and to share some insights into her life as an author.

You are very welcome, Dianne, please introduce yourself:

Hi everyone. I’m an urban Canadian writer. I moved to Britain more than a quarter of a century ago and gradually downsized until I’m now settled on a farm in rural Northern Ireland with my husband and an assortment of strong willed animals.

I write historical and contemporary fiction, often with an Irish connection. My current series The Yankee Years is a collection of Short Reads and novels set in World War II Northern Ireland. After the Allied troops arrived in this outlying part of Great Britain, life there would never be the same again. The series weaves tales of the people and the era. My previous writing includes a short story collection, Dancing Shadows, Tramping Hooves and an historical novel, Hitler and Mars Bars. Online I lurk at www.dianneascroft.com.

Did you read much as a child? Are you an avid reader now? Do you prefer books in your own genre or are you happy to explore others?

I’m an only child and my mother and grandfather were voracious readers so I learned to love reading early. I have happy memories of reading, sprawled in a Muskoka chair (a big wooden lounge chair) in our back garden during the summer holidays. I never lost my love of reading and still squeeze in a few minutes with a book every chance I get. There is rarely a day that I don’t spend some time reading for pleasure.

I read a wide variety of fiction. I especially enjoy historical fiction set in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and contemporary women’s fiction. I sometimes review books for blog tours and, as a result, read books outside my usual genre preferences. This has broadened my reading tastes and I’ve discovered that I really enjoy cosy mysteries, as well as crime novels and thrillers, if they aren’t too gory.

Are you self-published or traditionally published?

The Short Reads in my series, The Yankee Years, as well as my first historical novel and my collection of short stories, were all self-published. I’m currently working on a novel in The Yankee Years series. When it’s ready I intend to submit it to a traditional publisher for consideration. A traditional publisher has the contacts to introduce the book to a wider audience than I can reach so I would like to try this publishing method. But if I don’t find a publisher that thinks the book fits their market, I will be happy to self-publish this one too. I really enjoy being involved in the whole process and watching the project come together.  

Which genre do you write in and why?

I write historical fiction and contemporary women’s fiction, and my work includes short stories and novels. Recently I’ve been concentrating on The Yankee Years, my historical fiction series set in Second World War Northern Ireland.

I like to tell stories sparked by interesting items that catch my attention and I’ve found inspiration in a many different places, hence my wanderings between historical and contemporary writing. My current series was inspired by the area where I live in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. The county has a rich and varied wartime history and, after I moved to the area more than a decade ago and learned about this history, I became fascinated by it. During the Second World War army camps and flying boat bases sprung up throughout the county, and approximately a quarter of the population were military personnel. It must have been so different from the quiet rural area that I know. I started rooting in books, original newspapers and personal accounts to learn about the era, and many of the ideas for my stories were sparked by snippets of information I stumbled across during my research.

Who has been the biggest influence on your writing?

I’m not really sure who has been the biggest influence on my writing but Irish author Jennifer Johnston’s Shadows On My Skin made a huge impact on me when it was first released in the late 1970s. Her ability to breathe life into characters and unveil a story in an understated way, as well as her skilful use of language, are wonderful skills that I aspire to emulate. I also admire Diana Gabaldon’s storytelling skill and her ability to interweave stories that unfold over several books. Both authors have taught me valuable lessons.

Has your country of origin/culture influenced your writing?

Although my stories are set in Northern Ireland, the country where I’ve lived for more than a quarter of a century, I’m sure Canada, my country of origin, influences the way I view my adopted home. On one hand, I hesitate to tackle writing about a society very different from the one I grew up in. It is difficult to capture the nuances of life in this complex society where the tensions between the communities stretch back well before the Second World War and influence many aspects of life. On the other hand, viewing the society as an outsider gives me unique insights that I can use to convey the place and the people to my readers.

What part of the writing process do you find most difficult? How do you overcome it?

Probably the most difficult aspect of the process for me is deciding what the theme of the story is and how the plot has to develop to reflect this. I spend time thinking about a new story and jot down my ideas before I begin to construct the plot. Once I have a list of ideas and information about the characters and the events in the story, I try to pull them together into a coherent plot. I then check to be sure the story flows in a believable way and each character’s actions and the reasons behind them make sense. When I begin writing the story I frequently refer back to my plot outline to be sure it is still on course.

Do you have a favourite time of day to write?

I like to write early in the morning. I’m always the first one up each morning so the house is quiet and I can write without any distractions, other than the cats clamouring for their breakfast. In this atmosphere it’s easy to gather my thoughts and put them on paper before my mind gets filled with the other tasks that I have to tackle that day.

 What is the best thing about being an author? And the flipside – what is the worst?

I love conjuring up ideas and scribbling down the stories that flow from them. When a story is finally completed, it’s exciting to see the finished work. The hardest or worst part is the slog in the middle when you must revise your original draft, more than once, so that it conforms to the wonderful idea you started with and turns into the book you imagined when you started writing.

Is social media an essential chore or something you enjoy? Which forum do you prefer?

I enjoy meeting readers and other writers on social media. Socially and professionally, it’s a great place to be. Facebook is where you will find me most often. Finding enough free time to spend on social media is often a problem for me so, although I have a Twitter account, I don’t pop in there as often as I do to Facebook. I’m not on Pinterest or Instagram either for the same reason. A writer friend and I founded a Facebook group called The Second World War Club to bring readers and writers of wartime fiction together (we have expanded it to include World War I fiction too). In the group I enjoy working with other writers to help each other with our writing projects and chatting with readers about wartime novels. It’s lively and fun and I learn so much from my fellow members. There are several other Facebook groups I’m also active in. I just need more hours in the day to spend all the time I’d like to online.

If you weren’t an author, what would you be up to?

Since writing isn’t my fulltime job it isn’t really an either/or choice. Throughout my writing life I’ve worked in administration jobs so I haven’t given up another career to write. I have to fit the writing in around everything else.

History has always fascinated me and I love to research so, if I weren’t writing, I might have put more time into delving deeper into my family tree. I did quite a bit of work on it about twenty years ago but have never had the time to go back to it after I started writing.

We live on a farm and I enjoy the outdoors so when I’m not writing, I go for long walks and also spend time with our animals. If I weren’t writing, I would spend more of my free time outdoors. Maybe I should get something like Dragon software and dictate my stories while I’m walking.

It’s the last day and the earth is facing oblivion – what book would you read?

I don’t think I could pin it down to one book, but if I knew that it was the end and there was nothing I could do about it, I might want to find something I could lose myself in for those last few hours. Two authors who would do that for me immediately spring to mind. Although their writing styles are very different, both create vivid, memorable characters and settings that nearly jump off the page. They also have the ability to tell gripping stories. So my choices would be Diana Gabaldon (Outlander series) or M C Scott (Boudica or Rome series).

Please tell us what you are working on at the moment.

My current series, The Yankee Years, is a collection of novels and Short Reads set in World War II Northern Ireland. After the Allied troops arrived in this outlying part of Great Britain, life there would never be the same again. The series weaves tales of the people and the era. I have released Books 1, The Shadow Ally, and 3, Keeping Her Pledge, in the series, and will release Book 2, Acts of Sabotage, in late July. All three of these stories are Short Reads or Book Blasts as James Patterson describes short stories. I’m also working on a novel, An Elusive Enemy, and other Short Reads for the series. One of the new Short Reads in the series will be included in Pearl Harbor and More, a collection of short stories set in December 1941 by ten authors who write wartime fiction. Pearl Harbor and More is a limited edition ebook which will be released at the beginning of November 2016 and available on Amazon until January 2017.

 If you would like to know more about Dianne and her work, check out the links below: 

 Websiste    Facebook    Twitter

 

Victorian Murder: The ‘Barnes Mystery’

The terrible crime at Richmond at last,

On Catherine Webster now has been cast,

Tried and found guilty she is sentenced to die.

From the strong hand of justice she cannot fly.

She has tried all excuses but of no avail,

About this and murder she’s told many tales,

She has tried to throw blame on others as well,

But with all her cunning at last she has fell.

Julia Martha Thomas

One of the most notorious crimes of the late Victorian era in Britain was the murder of Julia Martha Thomas by her Irish maid, Kate Webster in March 1879. A widow, Julia Thomas lived at 2 Mayfield Cottages on Park Road in Richmond. It was a quiet and respectable area. A small, well-dressed lady of about fifty, Julia was said to have had an excitable temperament and was regarded by many as eccentric. She was not particularly wealthy, but she always dressed up and wore jewellery to give the impression of prosperity. Her employment of a live-in maid was more to do with status than practicality. However, she had a reputation for being a harsh employer and she had difficulty finding and retaining servants.

Kate Webster

Kate Webster was born as Kate Lawler in County Wexford, Ireland, around 1849. She was said to be “a tall, strongly-made woman of about 5 feet 5 inches in height with sallow and much freckled complexion and large and prominent teeth.” Much of her early life is unclear but she claimed to have been married to a sea captain called Webster by whom she had four children, all of whom died, as did her husband, within a short time of each other. She was imprisoned for theft in Wexford in December 1864, when she was only about 15 years old. She moved to England in 1867 and fell into a life of crime, being frequently imprisoned for robbery. However, she was recommended as a maid to Julia Thomas by someone who had employed her temporarily. Julia engaged her immediately without checking out her character or past.

Their relationship rapidly deteriorated with Julia disliking the quality of Kate Webster’s work. Kate said of Julia Thomas: “At first I thought her a nice old lady … but I found her very trying, and she used to do many things to annoy me during my work. When I had finished my work in my rooms, she used to go over it again after me, and point out places where she said I did not clean, showing evidence of a nasty spirit towards me.” The situation reached a crisis point and it was arranged that Kate Webster would leave Julia’s service on 28th February. Julia recorded her decision in what was to be her last diary entry: “Gave Katherine warning to leave.”

But Kate persuaded her employer to give her a few days grace until Sunday 2nd March. She had Sunday afternoons off as a half-day and was expected to return in time to help Julia prepare for evening service. But Webster returned late, delaying Julia’s departure. The two women argued and several members of the congregation later reported that Julia had appeared “very agitated” on arriving at the church. Julia returned home and confronted Webster. According to Webster’s eventual confession:

“Mrs. Thomas came in and went upstairs. I went up after her, and we had an argument, which ripened into a quarrel, and in the height of my anger and rage I threw her from the top of the stairs to the ground floor. She had a heavy fall, and I became agitated at what had occurred, lost all control of myself, and, to prevent her screaming and getting me into trouble, I caught her by the throat, and in the struggle she was choked, and I threw her on the floor.”

The neighbours heard a single thump like that of a chair falling over but paid no heed to it at the time. Next door, Webster began disposing of the body by dismembering it and boiling it in the laundry copper and burning the bones in the hearth. The neighbours later said that they had noticed an unusual and unpleasant smell. However, the activity at 2 Mayfield Cottages did not seem to be out of the ordinary, as Monday was traditionally wash day. Over the next couple of days Webster continued to clean the house and Thomas’ clothes and put on a show of normality for people who called. Behind the scenes she was putting Thomas’ dismembered remains into a black Gladstone bag and a wooden bonnet-box. These were disposed of in the Thames. She was unable to fit the murdered woman’s head and one of the feet into the containers and disposed of them separately, throwing the foot onto a rubbish heap in Twickenham. The head was buried under the Hole in the Wall pub’s stables a short distance from Julia’s’ house, where it was found 131 years later.

However, the next day, the box was found washed up in shallow water next to the river bank about a mile downstream. The discovery was immediately reported to the police. Around the same time, the foot and ankle were also found. Although it was clear that all of the remains belonged to the same corpse, there was nothing to connect them and no means to identify the remains. The doctor who examined the body parts erroneously attributed them to “a young person with very dark hair”. An inquest returned an open verdict and the unidentified remains were laid to rest in Barnes Cemetery on 19 March. The newspapers dubbed the unexplained murder the “Barnes Mystery”, amid speculation that the body had been used for dissection and anatomical study.

Webster continued to live at 2 Mayfield Cottages while posing as Julia Thomas, wearing her late employer’s clothes and dealing with tradesmen under her newly assumed identity. On 9 March she reached an agreement with John Church, a local publican, to sell Thomas’ furniture and other goods. By the time the removal vans arrived on 18 March, the neighbours were becoming increasingly suspicious as they had not seen Julia for nearly two weeks. Her next-door neighbour, Miss Ives, asked the deliverymen who had ordered the goods removed. They replied “Mrs. Thomas” and indicated Webster. Realising that she had been exposed, Webster fled. The police were called in and searched 2 Mayfield Cottages. There they discovered blood stains, burned finger-bones in the hearth and fatty deposits behind the copper, as well as a letter left by Webster giving her home address in Ireland. They immediately put out a “wanted” notice giving a description of Webster.

Scotland Yard detectives soon discovered that Webster had fled back to Ireland. The head constable of the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) in Wexford realised that the woman being sought by Scotland Yard was the same person whom his force had arrested 14 years previously for larceny. The RIC were able to trace her to her uncle’s farm near Enniscorthy and arrested her there on 29 March. She was escorted back to England to stand trial.

The murder caused a sensation on both sides of the Irish Sea. When the news broke, many people travelled to Richmond to look at Mayfield Cottages. The crime was just as notorious in Ireland; as Webster travelled under arrest from Enniscorthy to Dublin, crowds gathered to gawk and jeer at her at nearly every station between the two locations. The pre-trial magistrates’ hearings were attended by many. Webster went on trial at the Old Bailey on 2 July 1879. The prosecution was led by the Solicitor General, Sir Hardinge Giffard. Webster was defended by a prominent London barrister, Warner Sleigh, and the case was presided over by Mr. Justice Denman. The trial drew intense interest from all levels of society; on the fourth day, the Crown Prince of Sweden – the future King Gustaf V – turned up to watch the proceedings.

Over the course of six days, the court heard a succession of witnesses piecing together the complicated story of how Thomas had met her death. Webster had attempted before the trial to implicate the publican John Church and her former neighbour Porter, but both men had solid alibis and were cleared of any involvement in the murder. She pleaded not guilty and her defence sought to emphasise the circumstantial nature of the evidence and highlighted her devotion to her son as a reason why she could not have been capable of the murder. However, Webster’s public unpopularity, impassive demeanour and scanty defence counted strongly against her. A particularly damning piece of evidence came from a bonnetmaker named Maria Durden who told the court that Webster had visited her a week before the murder and had said that she was going to Birmingham to sell some property, jewellery and a house that her aunt had left her. The jury interpreted this as a sign that Webster had premeditated the murder and convicted her after deliberating for about an hour and a quarter.

Shortly after the jury returned its verdict and just before the judge was about to pass sentence, Webster was asked if there was any reason why sentence of death should not be passed upon her. She pleaded that she was pregnant in an apparent bid to avoid the death penalty. The Law Times reported that “upon this a scene of uncertainty, if not of confusion, ensued, certainly not altogether in harmony with the solemnity of the occasion.” The judge commented that “after thirty-two years in the profession, he was never at an inquiry of this sort.” Eventually the Clerk of Assizes suggested using the archaic mechanism of a jury of matrons, constituted from a selection of the women attending the court, to rule upon the question of whether Webster was “with quick child”. Twelve women were sworn in along with a surgeon named Bond, and they accompanied Webster to a private room for an examination that only took a couple of minutes. They returned a verdict that Webster was not “quick with child.”

Before she was executed, Webster made two statements. The first was false in which she tried to implicate two others; the second in which she took full responsibility. She was hanged the following day at Wandsworth Prison at 9 am, where the hangman, William Marwood, used his newly developed “long drop” technique to cause instantaneous death. She was buried in an unmarked grave in one of the prison’s exercise yards. The crowd waiting outside cheered as a black flag was raised over the prison walls, signifying that the death sentence had been carried out.

The trial was a sensation and was widely reported in the press, both in Ireland and Britain. Within weeks of her arrest, and well before she had gone to trial, Madame Tussaud’s created a wax effigy of her and put it on display for those who wished to see the “Richmond Murderess”. It remained on display well into the twentieth century. Within days of her execution an enterprising publisher rushed into print a souvenir booklet for the price of a penny, “The Life, Trial and Execution of Kate Webster. The Illustrated Police News published a souvenir cover depicting an artist’s impression of the day of the execution. The case was also commemorated, while it was still ongoing, by street ballads—musical narratives set to the tune of popular songs.

Webster herself was characterised as malicious, reckless and wilfully evil. Servants were expected to be deferential; her act of extreme violence towards her employer was deeply disquieting. At the time, about 40% of the female labour force was employed as domestic servants for a very wide range of society. Servants and employers lived and worked in close proximity, and the honesty and orderliness of servants was a constant cause of concern.

Another cause of revulsion against Webster was her attempt to impersonate her dead employer for two weeks, implying that middle-class identity amounted to little more than cultivating the right demeanour and having the appropriate clothes and possessions, whether or not they had been earned.

Perhaps most disturbingly for many Victorians, Webster was seen as having violated the expected norms of femininity. Victorian women were supposed to be moral, passive and physically weak. Webster was seen as quite the opposite and her appearance and behaviour were seen as key signs of her inherently criminal nature. Her behaviour in court and her sexual history also counted against her. Being Irish was a significant factor in the widespread revulsion felt towards Webster in Great Britain. The depiction of Webster as “hardly human” was of a piece with the public and judicial perceptions of the Irish as innately criminal.

In 1952, the naturalist David Attenborough and his wife Jane bought a house situated between the former Mayfield Cottages (which still stand today) and the Hole in the Wall pub. The pub closed in 2007 and fell into dereliction but was bought by Attenborough in 2009 to be redeveloped. On 22 October 2010, workmen carrying out excavation work at the rear of the old pub uncovered what turned out to be a woman’s skull. It was immediately speculated that the skull was the missing head of Julia Martha Thomas, and the coroner asked Richmond police to carry out an investigation into the identity and circumstances of death of the skull’s owner. Carbon dating found that it was dated between 1650 and 1880, but it had been deposited on top of a layer of Victorian tiles. The skull had fracture marks consistent with Webster’s account of throwing Thomas down the stairs, and it was found to have low collagen levels, consistent with it being boiled. In July 2011, the coroner concluded that the skull was indeed that of Thomas. DNA testing was not possible as she had died childless and no relatives could be traced; in addition, there was no record of where the rest of her body had been buried.

The coroner recorded a verdict of unlawful killing, superseding the open verdict recorded in 1879. The cause of Thomas’s death was given as asphyxiation and a head injury. The police called the outcome, “a good example of how good old-fashioned detective work, historical records and technological advances came together to solve the Barnes Mystery.”