Alison

Alison asked Jo Baker:

Hi Jo, I recently read and enjoyed "Longbourn," in part for the sense of getting a better feel for daily life in that era. Did you have to do lots of historical research to get details right about how to make soap, what groomsmen did while waiting to drive carriages home from a ball, who washed the diapers, etc? And how did you choose which chores fit the narrative (aside from shoe roses, of course)?

Jo Baker Yes, I did - I tried out some of the methods and recipes of the period, though I didn't make soap (my friend does but she uses olive oil!). There are a couple of excellent books on domestic life in the period (by Amanda Vickery and Carolyn Steedman). I wanted to give a sense of difference alongside repetition (I mean, it's hard work that the characters experience, but I didn't want the reader to feel that getting through it was hard work for them too). One thing I loved to learn was that balls were timed along the phases of the moon - so that people could get home by moonlight (carriage lamps were more to indicate the carriage was there to other traffic, than to light the carriage's way)

More Answered Questions

Mary Lou

Mary Lou asked Jo Baker:

Hi Jo, During your recent talk in McHughs, you mentioned that it is the choices they face which help bring fictional characters to life. Do you think you would be the same sort of writer if you hadn’t chosen the academic route you followed – or is your innate ability to observe and read people so well the more important influence?

Jason Howell

Jason Howell asked Jo Baker:

Hi Jo. I'm asking this question of several writers, some friends, some strangers... Do you consider your writing process a "spiritual" practice? If yes, what makes it so? If no, why not? What, in your mind, either qualifies or disqualifies writing as a spiritual practice? Please feel free to either share concrete personal views on this, or approach it as a concept apart from you. Or both.

Milly

Milly asked Jo Baker:

Hi Jo. Firstly just wanted to say how much I enjoyed your book Longbourn. There are many places that spiral in the story around Arholme which is about 10 minutes from where I live in Kirkby Lonsdale. How do you find a way of incorporating direct places into a novel and are places considered before the novel or not? Milly

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