Annette Ranald's Blog: Annette's History Reads - Posts Tagged "settings"

Suppose you want to write a book about a midwife in the South during the Revolutionary War (which I am). What tools would she have at her disposal? What herbs or remedies would she use? Supposed your story is set in Tudor times. How did people in those castles eat, get dressed, bathe, or even go to the bathroom? What was life like in Tudor London if you weren't one of the great or the good? How about the peasant villages of medieval Europe around the time of the Black Death (1346-53)? How did those people go about their daily lives knowing that Death could snatch them at any moment. Did Romans in the days of the Caesar have kitchens in their homes? What was their wedding ceremony like?

In this day and age, who cares? You do if you're a historical novelist. You have to get the little details right because there are readers out there who know these answers and they'll rip into you in a nasty review if you don't. Little details like these set the ambiance for a story. Catriona Gordon, for example, uses her skills to keep both Patriots and Loyalists, Redcoats, Legionaries, and Continentals, and their families alive. She has to. It means her family's survival. I wore out my copy of Southern Folk Medicine: 1750-1820, by Kay Moss, making sure I got the necessary details down. I told you about the settle/bench controversy I had with Mom the other day. I wasn't about to make the mistake one author made, by calling a piece of furniture in the 17th century a couch. Couches, sofas and ottomans, by that name, didn't exist back then. Maybe they had a similar piece of furniture that served that purposes, but it wasn't a couch. Get it right.

Southern Folk Medicine, 1750-1820Life in a Medieval CastleThe Ties That Bound: Peasant Families in Medieval EnglandDaily Life in Ancient Rome: The People and the City at the Height of the EmpireElizabeth's London: Everyday Life in Elizabethan LondonDaily Life in Johnson's LondonHenry VIII: The King and His CourtHere are some other references that might help if you're writing a book about a certain era. Life in a Medieval Castle, by Joseph Gies; The Ties that Bound, by Barbara Hanawalt (about medieval peasant villages); Daily Life in Ancient Rome, by Jerome Carcopino; Elizabeth's London, by Eliza Picard; Henry VIII and His Court, by Alison Weir; and Daily Life in Johnson's London, by Richard Schwartz are just a few of the handy reference tools you'll need. Good luck.