Friday, October 23, 2020

What We're Writing--Debs Tromping on Literary London

DEBORAH CROMBIE: I've been fascinated for years by the idea of literary Bloomsbury. This part of London near the British Museum is famous for its literary associations with the "Bloomsbury Set", a group of English writers, intellectuals, philosophers, and artists, which included Virginia Woolf, Vanessa Bell, Duncan Grant, Lytton Strachey, E.M. Forster, and John Maynard Keynes, among others. Many of the group lived near 51 Gordon Square. Charles Dickens lived for a time in Doughty Street, and Charles Darwin in Gower Street. This was all heady stuff for me and these associations influenced my decision to move Duncan Kincaid to the police station in Holborn, right in the heart of Bloombury. 

But Bloomsbury had surprises for me! In the book-in-progress, I put two of my characters in a flat in Guilford Street, the location chosen one night when I was walking in London in the rain. Imagine my delight when I discovered just recently that in the 1920s both Virginia Woolf and Dorothy Sayers had lived literally around the corner from my fictional characters in Mecklenburg Square (although not at the same time.) 

We usually see photos of both writers--especially Sayers--when they were older, but I like to think of them as they might have looked in the Mecklenburg Square period, when they were both establishing  independent and creative lives. Here's Sayers as a young woman.


The Mecklenburg Square connection drove me back to Sayers' biographies, which I hadn't read in decades, and I'd forgotten that she had a couple of passionate affairs and an illegitimate child. It was only when she found herself pregnant that she learned her lover was already married, and it was her lover's wife who arranged for her to bear her child in secret. Now that's the stuff of fiction! In Gaudy Night Sayers used her own first floor flat in Mecklenburg Square as Harriet Vane's home.

And then I discovered that Sayers later lived for many years at 24 Great James Street, which is right behind Holborn Police Station. How did I not know this before?

When I can go to London again, I'm going to be walking in Sayers' footsteps!

But in the meantime, here's a little snippet that introduces the flat in Guilford Street, which is not nearly as elegant as the one in the photo above.

 

Melody settled into the back of the panda car beside Kincaid. He was on his mobile again, now talking to someone that she assumed was his team’s case manager. “Who’s available as FLO?” he asked, then nodded as he listened. “McGillivray? Good. Tell her to stand by until we get an address for the family.”

Of course, they would need a family liaison officer to inform the next of kin, Melody thought, and she didn’t envy whoever had caught the rota on that job. Dealing with bereaved relatives had never been her strong suit, and she’d often envied the easy way Gemma seemed to connect with the families they interviewed.

As Kincaid continued organizing his team, Melody realized that her feet felt like blocks of ice. She hadn’t been prepared for standing in puddles in the park and her ankle boots were soaked. Beside her, Kincaid’s coat gave off the distinctive aroma of wet wool as it steamed in the blast from the car’s heater. She thought of Gemma, going home to a warm, dry house, and wondered if she’d been a bit hasty in asking to tag along on this interview when she could be home and dry as well. But the rain-blurred streets zipped by and in moments the car was pulling to a stop, just as Kincaid ended his call.

Glancing out, Melody saw the bulk of Great Ormond Street Hospital rising on the south side of the street. On the north side was a rather grim-looking building in dark brick, its color indistinguishable in the gloom. Kincaid scrolled through his mobile, apparently checking the address. Nodding as if satisfied, he said, “Let’s see if Doug is here yet,” and tapped out a text.

Melody realized this was the first time she’d been alone with Kincaid since the weekend in Gloucestershire when she’d made such a disastrous hash of her life, and felt herself coloring with sudden awkwardness. Kincaid, however, seemed oblivious, and when his mobile pinged with a reply, he put it away and leaned forward to speak to the driver. “If you could wait, I don’t think we’ll be long. And then we’ll need a run to the station.” To Melody, he added, “Doug says he’ll buzz us in.”

Melody followed him as he slid out of the car and crossed the street, picking her way around the rivulets running in the gutters.

The fanlight-topped black door buzzed open as they reached it, and they stepped into a dingy hallway with a scuffed linoleum floor. The door to the ground floor flat opened, framing Doug Cullen. His eyes widened as he took in Melody. “What are you—” He shook his head. “Never mind. You’d better come in.”

He stepped back to allow them into a sitting room. The place was furnished in student chic—including the rice-paper globe covering the hanging ceiling bulb—but looked clean and relatively tidy. A rolling rack filled with women’s clothing had been positioned in front of the window, providing a curtain of sorts. There were a couple of squashy armchairs and a futon covered with layers of Kantha throw blankets and some sequined pillows. The flat smelled faintly of curry.

A high, shallow shelf above the futon held a row of the oddest dolls Melody had ever seen. They had distinctly individual clay faces, some with hats, some with molded hair, and they were dressed in random scraps of colorful cloth. Melody had the uncomfortable feeling that they were watching her.

REDS and readers, do you enjoy walking in literary footsteps? What famous writers' homes have you visited?

76 comments:

  1. This is quite intriguing, creepy dolls and all . . . I’m looking forward to reading the story.

    Visiting a famous writer’s home . . . something for my bucket list as I’ve never done this . . . .

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    1. I'm not quite sure where the idea for the dolls came from, but I love them.

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  2. Oh, how I do love these characters and the places you take them, Debs. I can’t wait to learn more about yet another part of London through this story. I’m hoping Doug and Melody are going to work through their problems. I just can’t wait to read more.

    I do like to walk in literary footsteps and historical footsteps. I’ve been to Poe’s house in Richmond, Virginia and the home where Robert Frost stayed in Key West. I’m trying to think of others, but my brain is taking one of its breaks.

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    1. Robert Frost stayed in Key West? I had no idea! Another thing to put on my itinerary for the next visit, along with the Truman White House.

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    2. It was after his wife died. He stayed there with friends, and they had a little cottage on their property he used. He didn’t stay there year round. I can’t remember what time of year he went there. When I visited, the house of his hosts was open to tour but not the cottage.

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    3. Ann’s comments below reminded me that I left off Hemingway’s House in Key West, which I visited several times and loved it. The wrap-around porches on both the first and second floors are fabulous. And, Hemingway’s writing space that’s separate from the house is thrilling to see. Of course, the famous cats are a must find.

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  3. The most famous writer's home I've visited is that of Deborah Crombie, and then only the outside!

    Then there was the home of Tante Leonie in Combray, France. She was Proust's aunt, and this is where the madeleine was regarded and had a chapter devoted to the memories it evoked. This home I got inside, even used the facilities!

    And I mustn't forget the Hemingway house in Key West although I didn't see Lucy Roberta there, just lots of polydactyl cats.




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    1. I can't remember when you visited KW Ann? Next time we must have dinner!

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    2. I envy you Tante Leonie, Ann! And I loved the Hemingway house.

      Next time you come to visit here, you will certainly have to see the inside of my house. Oh, the days of wine in the kitchen seem so far away now...

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  4. Debs, Key West has a huge literary backstory too, not London-sized, but still robust. Now you have me wondering how I could use that. And meanwhile--keep writing! we want to read this soon...

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    1. Lucy/Roberta, I think that you already do use the literary characters and history of Key West in your stories. It is part of what makes Key West come alive for those of us who do not know it well.

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    2. Oooh, I love literary backstories, and I'll bet you can come up with something!

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  5. A rack of women's clothing as curtains! Interesting.

    I can only think of a couple writers' homes I've visited, although surely there are more. A friend took me to the home of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, who lived in a cracker house in rural central Florida. She wrote The Yearling. A cracker house is unique Florida architecture, and almost as interesting as the author.

    My favorite author's home was Mark Twain's in Hartford, CT. It's a big, handsome Victorian, but in place of the usual gingerbread the surface interest of the house is provided by contrasting brick designs. It's gorgeous inside, but my favorite part of the house was his study on the third floor. It has an enormous desk surrounded by shelves and interesting objects, and overlooking the rest of the room. Between the desk and a large glass door leading to a balcony (where he smoked) is a pool table. I could just imagine him practicing shots or breaking a rack in between furiously scribbling.

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    1. What a great memory Karen. I live very close by. When did you visit the Mark Twain House? I don't have to tell you but, if you are ever in the area again, I'll bake for us!

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    2. Oh, Judy, that would be such fun!

      I was there in 1981, when I spent a month in training at the Aetna School. I loved the area.

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    3. Karen, I saw the clothing rack used in a curtain in a flat in Bloomsbury. Such an interesting detail, which gave rise to a lot of ideas about the characters who might use something like that.

      I would love to visit the Mark Twain house some day!

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    4. You are also invited, and I will surely bake if you ever come this way!

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    5. My first apartment after college was just down the street from the Mark Twain House, walked by every morning to catch the bus. But did I ever go inside, of course not. Silly girl!

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  6. I love this so much, Debs. The dolls...

    Our SINC chapter had a fabulous field trip to the Mark Twain House in Hartford, CT a few years ago. So amazing to see where he lived and wrote. And I've been in the John Greenleaf Whittier home museum many times. It is a quarter mile from my house, I was a docent for a while, and he's a character in my historical series.

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    1. Thanks, Edith! I'd love to visit the Whittier home someday.

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  7. Debs, what have you done to poor Melody in this one? OMG! Or, is that sudden embarrassment a reference to the last book? This snippet is too tantalizing for words. Who doesn't love your secondary characters? When will we see more of this book?

    As for authors, I live about 3 miles from the Mark Twain House and museum in a Hartford suburb. Karen's memory of his study is amazing. He occasionally spent all his money on inventions that didn't work out so well. There is a printing press that takes up a lot of space in the house and was one of his boondoggles.

    Otherwise, I must confess that I am more likely to have seen Revolutionary War locations than author's homes. My father used to take me around to sites of troop encampments and graves of heroes, and Irwin and I certainly visited forts and other sites in Upstate NY and in Boston when the kids were small.

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    1. Judy, yes, this book follows very closely on the last one, so Melody is still very out of sorts. Poor Melody...

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  8. Oh, Debs, you have me so hungry for more Gemma and Kincaid! And Melody and Doug, too. Cannot wait, although I do know I will have to.

    Sadly, I can't think this early if I have visited a famous author's home or not. I'm thinking I have, but who? It may come to me later, probably much later.

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    1. Thanks, Judi! I'm plodding away on the book, I promise!

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  9. The next time I visit London, I'm going to have a prowl around Mecklenburg Square in homage to Dorothy Sayers as well as Virginia Woolf and the Bloomsbury gang.

    I've visited Eudora Welty's home in Jackson,MS, very homey, with a large garden and a framed fan letter from EM Forster! Eudora wrote in her spacious bedroom next to the windows overlooking the street.

    And Faulkner's home, Rowan Oak, in Oxford, MS, where he wrote in a small room off the kitchen. Faulkner's hung his typed drafts on the wall during revisions, lined up in a row. When his daughter had a gentleman caller stay the night, Faulkner put a snake in the guy's shoe.

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    1. Margaret, I love the Faulkner story! EM Forster was considered one of the Bloomsbury set, although if I remember he was older and not involved with all the couples swapping!

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  10. This is so great! Your books are so much fun to read – – you have such a seamless way of combining the procedural and the emotional. Brilliant!
    And every year – – in normal years – – during the summer when we are in western Massachusetts, we visit Edith Wharton’s house. The Mount. She is my idol and inspiration, and I love to go pay homage.
    Do you know how she wrote? In bed, on paper, and then she would drop the pages has onto the floor where her secretary would pick them up and take them to type.

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    1. This is what I need, a secretary to pick my pages up as they drift to the floor... I cannot write in bed, however, but our Lucy could give Edith a run for her money there! I do write in longhand sometimes, usually sketching things out in a notebook right before I go to sleep, and I would dare anyone to transcribe those pages. Sometimes I can't even figure out what I meant.

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  11. Many years ago, before Louise Penny was such a mondial success, I went to a tea party on her home grounds it was a fundraiser for a no kill animals shelter. I met Louise and her husband. They had a beautiful large lot in the countryside where the received people.
    In 2018, I visited Colleen McCullough' s home. From the exterior it seemed a very ordinary house but inside, it was full of beautiful objects of art. What impressed me the most was her very large library of references books. I also visited all of Norfolk Island where she lived her 35 last years and where one character of my favourite book was sent as dépotée, became a free man and established his life and family.
    Deborah, I'm so looking forward to read this book, thank you for the snippet.

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    1. Danielle: What a marvelous memory to have of Louise and Michael in the 'before world success' times!

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    2. Thank you, Danielle, and I envy you having visited Louise and Michael's home. He was such a lovely man, and so sorely missed.

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  12. Wonderful snippet, Deborah. My feet are cold now.

    Although I have read all of her books, I had no idea about Sayers' backstory. That is fascinating.

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  13. I enjoyed that small look into the next book, Deborah, and I realize I shall have to re-read the most recent one, as I cannot remember the details of Melody's gaffe with Doug. I love the secondary characters as much as the primary ones, so am always interested in the evolving saga of their lives.

    It's possible my mum dragged me to a Bronte sister house once (would that have been in Yorkshire?), but that may or may not be accurate. Clearly I was too young to appreciate and remember it!

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    1. I love writing about the secondary characters, and they both have big parts to play in this book.

      Yes, the Bronte parsonage! I visited there too, but it was years ago and I don't remember it all that well.

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  14. It's a perfect morning to read that bit about cold, rainy London, as it's cold and rainy here in Texas, too. I can't wait to see more of this book. I know you're writing as fast as you can but write faster!

    As for famous authors' homes, I can only think of two unless we're counting science fiction author Warren C. Norwood, novelist Viqui Litman, and crime fiction writer Deborah Crombie. Those two would be the homes of Laura Ingalls Wilder and Robert E. Howard. The Wilder home and museum is in Mansfield, Missouri, and the Howard house is in Cross Plains, Texas. Both are modest frame farmhouses in the middle of nowhere. Howard slept and wrote in a narrow room that had once been a porch, directly outside his mother's bedroom.

    I'd love to visit the Twain house, and also all the lovely historical places on Key West. One of these days . . .

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    1. Ha, Gigi, I can just imagine my house on the famous writer tour, "And this is where she and her writer friends drank wine in the kitchen and hatched out many book ideas!"

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    2. My mom was born in Cross Plains but she was unfamiliar with him. But then her family moved a lot because of the Depression.

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    3. Gigi: My mum and I always fantasized about doing a Laura Ingalls Wilder driving tour, but never actually achieved it. Instead, we both read The Wilder Life by Wendy McClure that details the author's "adventures in the lost world of Little House on the Prairie". It's a fun read through the author's experiences with everything from churning butter herself to spending a weekend with people who turn out to be 'end timers'; they use the Ingalls' lifestyle as sort of a blue print for surviving the 'end times'.

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    4. How interesting, Amanda! I grew up loving those books and read them all, but these days they have fallen from grace because of their really racist depictions of Native Americans and other folk she encountered along the way. The books could probably be salvaged as teaching tools with the proper classroom discussions of what were--like it or not--widespread attitudes in her day.

      And Pat, I don't think many people in Cross Plains had heard of, or understood, Robert E. Howard, even when he was alive and actively writing. These days they do host an annual literary festival, and a home grown "Barbarian Days" celebration, but I'm still not sure some of the church ladies are completely onboard.

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    5. I'm a little ashamed to admit that I have never read them. Even as a child my head was turned towards England...

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  15. I would imagine it was quite exciting when you made your discoveries about Bloomsbury when writing your new book. It connects one to the past in an intimate way. I can see why you want to return and visit the area again. Dorothy Sayers was a good looking woman. From what you wrote, she pushed the norms back then which took courage to do. I enjoyed your post.

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    1. In Sayers' later photographs, she looks rather dumpy and stolid, so I think it's so interesting to imagine her as a younger woman. She was apparently quite attractive and she certainly pushed the norms, both in her desire for a career and independence and in her personal life. There are quite a few good recent biographies, and another one coming out in December this year, I think. Really a fascinating woman and writer.

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  16. I will wait just as impatiently for this book as I have all the others. Whenever it comes out, it will be like a holiday!

    Can't remember at the moment if I've ever visited a famous author's house, but love exploring vicariously through everyone else's stories.

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    1. Thank you, Flora! When I send off this manuscript, it will certainly feel like a holiday to me:-)

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  17. Years ago, I visited the Bronte parsonage in Yorkshire, but I don't remember it well. I was absolutely fascinated by the Hemingway House when Roberta took me in Key West, especially the room where he wrote.

    I visited James Herriott's surgery in Thirsk, Yorkshire, where he signed books for me, so that memory is a treasure. I've also been to Jane Austen's house in Chawton, Hampshire, which was wonderful. And not exactly an author's home, but when on my first trip to England I visited The Eagle and Child pub in Oxford (known as the Bird and Baby) I was just beside myself, I was so thrilled. This is where Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and sometimes Dorothy Sayers would meet and talk about their work in progress. I wanted to be an Inkling!

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    1. Wondering if Sayers’ time spent in the Bird and Baby with C.S. Lewis was when she was working on her religious/theological study and writing.

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  18. I love that part of London -- We stayed there on one of our trips. Debs, I love this excerpt!

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    1. I agree. I've stayed in Bloomsbury and Russell Square. Such a storied area. Years ago, I did a literary tour and later visited Dickens house which is exquisitely decorated in period detail.

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  19. Oh of course...the Brontë parsonage. I loved it.

    My local favourite is L M Montgomery's manse in Leaskdale, Ontario. Absolutely a must on anyone's itinerary when in or near Toronto. (Whenever that can happen again) I've taken visiting friends there. It so happens, it's right on the way to our cottage north of Toronto, so we drive past it all the time. (I should drive past it less and visit it more.)

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    1. I loved L. M. Montgomery's books when I was a child.

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  20. As a student at London university Bloomsbury was my old stomping grounds. Lectures at University College, dances at the student union. And more recently my UK publisher on Russell Square. It’s a fabulous part of the city to write about. I’m longing for this next book

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  21. I'm wracking my brains trying to think if I've been in famous authors' homes. Definitely Hemingway's in Key West. I've seen O.Henry's and J.Frank Dobie's in Austin, but only from the street. The Dobie house was still occupied at the time. This probably shouldn't count but we visited the room at Appomattox where the surrender was signed by Lee and Grant. The furniture, the desk, all of it was there and gave me chills.

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    1. Pat, when I was in my teens, my uncle, the writer A.C. Greene, held the Dobie Paisano Fellowship. So I not only visited the Dobie ranch, I stayed there. Unfortunately, what I remember most was getting into lots of trouble with my cousin Geoff, A.C. eldest. Geoff and I were the same age and best buddies, and could always find mischief to get into. Here's a link to the ranch if you're interested, and thanks for the reminder! https://dobiepaisano.utexas.edu/

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    2. Lucky! Never went by the ranch. The house in town always caught my eye. It stood out from its neighbors as its style was different. One of UT's libraries has an author's office with original furnishings transplanted. Or did way back when. It was either Erle Stanley Gardner or James A. Michener.

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  22. I love all the background on Sayers. I didn't know any of it. And what a delightful snippet.

    Around me we have the home of Mary Roberts Rinehart (which my SinC chapter visited, but I missed that day) and I've been to Mark Twain's home in Buffalo.

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  23. I really can’t wait for your next book to come out. The snippets look great!

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  24. Oh! Love this! And share your interest in the Bloomsbury Set.
    Literary walks, visits where favorite authors lived and "hung out" is such fun thing to do.
    Can't wait to read this.
    xxoo

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  25. Gaudy Night is one of my absolute favorite mysteries! I had no idea about Sayers's life - fascinating. I love your snippet, Debs, you left me desperately wanting to know more.

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    1. Jenn, she was quite the free spirit for 1920! Even though her parents were happy to support her, she was determined to live on her own in London and make a career for herself as a writer. Very inspiring.

      And thank you on the snippet. I'm desperately wanting to know more, too:-)

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  26. Looking forward to reading the rest of this! The only author’s home I’ve visited is Hill Top, Beatrix Potter’s home in the Lake District, unless you count Shakespeare’s home in Stratford-upon-Avon. Hill Top was Potter’s hideaway and I fell in love with it. It was filled with her knickknacks and simple oak furniture and I felt right at home.

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    1. Oh, I would love to visit Hill Top! In fact, I'd love to set a book in the Lake District. It's in the idea file...

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  27. Years and years ago, like closer to 15, there was a website that showed writers' "caves". I tried to find it via the Wayback Machine website (which is a fabulous resource, by the way, and can often find web pages that are long gone), but no joy. It was fun to see where everyone wrote, though, and how cavelike some actually were. It's too bad it's gone.

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    1. I love writer's caves! What a fun idea. I think it's so fascinating to see where writers actually wrote.

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  28. Deborah, thank you for noting that Harriet Vane lived in Mecklenburg Square. My brain was pounding with “I know something about that address” which was distracting me from reading on! Now back to your writing.

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    1. I'd forgotten that until I just read it while looking up Sayers in Bloomsbury!

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    2. But for you, I would have had to gone searching on-line. A couple of years ago, I purged all my old yellowing, musty smelling,falling apart Lord Peter mysteries. Good to remember that in pre-COVID days getting rid of stuff was done.

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  29. Deborah, sorry I am late to the party again. Love that Harriet Vane lived in the same flat where Dorothy Sayers lived. The photo of young Dorothy Sayers reminded me of Lady Mary from Downton Abbey.

    Love your excerpt from your next Gemma and Duncan mystery. The maps are among my favorite things about your mysteries.

    Literary walks are among my favorites. I remember a William Shakespeare literary walk in Stratford upon Avon. And there was an abundance of literary walks in London and Oxford when I lived in England. And now they have blue plaques for famous literary figures who lived in England.

    When I was in London the last time, I visited the British Museum. So that was Bloomsbury. When the pandemic is over and we can travel again, I would love to see more of Bloomsbury.

    Diana

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    1. Me, too, Diana!! My photographer friend has done a whole fun series on Blue Plaques with a little twist! https://ullathorne.photoshelter.com/portfolio/G0000ZJhhEoWvq4A These prints are really fun, and they also available in the US on ebay now. (Christmas presents!)

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    2. Debs, I just sent you a message via IG. I asked in a random poll with a photo of Dorothy Sayers and the results are interesting....

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  30. And, finally, Deborah, to you snippet! You left me wanting more, right now, a bit of normal living in the cold and the damp of London, with Kincaid, Gemma, Melody, and Doug with tea and family meals to make things dry and bright. Looking forward to the whole of this story.

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  31. I visited Anne Hathaway's cottage and Shakespeare's birthplace, also. I enjoyed Sir Walter Scott's house in Scotland and James Fenimore Cooper's in New York. Those are the only ones I remember. Since I used to travel a lot, it seems as if there should be more. Stay safe and well.

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  32. Flannery O’Connor’s Andalusia Farm in Milledgeville, Ga, peacocks and all

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