If Objects Could Talk--Or Maybe They Do!

 

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: We're watching Bridgerton, are you? And we'll talk about that someday soon here. But in looking at the clothes, and the settings, and the opulent everythings, I realized we have a reading chair that dates to 1811. It's wonderful, and I 'll show you a photo someday. I has an attached swing arm, with a wooden easel that's designed to hold a book at lap level. 

It ever has a little metal page holder so the pages don't turn. And it made me think--someone in Bridgerton could have sat on it. (In a kind of magical realism sort of way.) But that chair certainly has stories of its own to tell. Who sat in in it? And what did they read? So many possibilities.

 Our dear friend of the Reds, Jane Cleland, has made her glorious career writing about stories like that. And we are thrilled to welcome her today! (And look for her generous giveaway at the end!) 

 If Only Antiques Could Talk, the Stories They Would Tell 

           by Jane K. Cleland 

 The Nature of Meaning 

As I ferret out the facts and lore behind each antique I write about in my Josie Prescott Antiques Mysteries, I think about the person who designed it, created or crafted it, bought it, sold it, gave it as a gift, left it as a bequest, stole it, coveted it, or cherished it. I want to know the truth, but, of course, the truth is lost in the annals of time and can never be known. 

All I can do is speculate about why a certain object holds value to a specific person—I use facts to write fiction. 

 Meaning Is in the Eye of the Beholder 

As I look around my home, I see so many objects that are significant to me for the memories they inspire, and for the love, respect, or affirmation they represent. Have you ever considered which object in your home is most significant to you? For me, it’s not an easy assessment. For instance, it might be the crown my students gave me to celebrate their semester with “Queen Jane.”

Or perhaps it’s the tile designed by Rex Stout, one of my favorite authors, given to me by his daughter, Barbara Stout, a generation after his death. I had it framed and it sits where I can see it as I write.

I don’t have to choose only one object, of course. Not in real life or in my novels. The most recent entry in my series, Hidden Treasure, weaves together stories about three antiques, each intriguing and mysterious in its own right—a cat sculpture, a steamer trunk, and a gold book.

Hidden Treasures 

In ancient Egypt, the cat was the sacred animal of the goddess Bastet. Statues of elegant cats were often left at temples in her honor. The cats usually wore gold jewelry, earrings or nose rings, and were frequently presented in ornate bronze, silver, and gold boxes ornamented with precious jewels.

 Nineteenth-century wood and tin dome-top steamer trunks were huge, often four feet long and nearly as high. I spent some time speculating on who might need so large a trunk. Someone who traveled with the circus, who had no home? A sailor, shipping out for months or years at a time? A grifter, moving operations from one high-end resort to the next?

The oldest known book was found more than 70 years ago in a tomb uncovered while digging for a canal along the Strouma River in south-western Bulgaria. The book, which includes six gold “pages” held together with golden rings, was produced around 3,000 years ago. It’s illustrated with various soldiers, a mermaid, and a harp. Who commissioned its creation? What do the illustrations symbolize? Who owned it? I want to know the details… I hate half a story!

My Most Significant Object 

 The idea that objects hold meaning beyond their form or function is, to me, captivating. Value, after all, is based on perception—what one person holds dear is likely to be profoundly different from what another person holds dear. Sometimes, though, the meaning is inherent in the object and doesn’t require context or additional explanation. Consider, for example, this wedding photograph, which was rescued from a flood, and is the only picture my darling husband Joe and I were able to salvage. If this photo could talk, it would report on the joy Joe and I felt that day.

It would recall my running to show Joe how beautiful it looked in its fancy frame. It would recount nearly drowning, and drying in the sun, and wishing it wasn’t so washed out. It would be thrilled it was back in its place in the living room, an enduring symbol of love and hope and dreams. 

What object in your home is most significant to you? Why? I’d love to hear the stories your objects would tell, if only they could talk. 

 HANK: And the wonderful Jane is offering a signed copy of Hidden Treasure (U.S. address only). We'll choose a lucky winner from the comments. What object is most significant to me? Impossible. But I will think about it as I read your answers!

Jane K. Cleland writes both fiction and nonfiction, including the long-running and multiple award-winning Josie Prescott Antiques Mysteries [St. Martin’s & Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine] and the Agatha Award-winning bestsellers Mastering Suspense, Structure & Plot and Mastering Plot Twists [Writer’s Digest Books], recommended by Dan Brown, Louise Penny, David Baldacci, Hank Phillippi Ryan, and Neil Gaiman. Jane is a contributing editor for Writer’s Digest Magazine, and the chair of the Wolfe Pack’s Black Orchid Novella Award (BONA), in partnership with AHMM. She is a frequent workshop leader and guest author at writing conferences and MFA Residencies. Jane offers free monthly workshops on the craft of writing in the “We’re All in It Together,” series. Details can be found at www.janecleland.com

The newest entry in the Josie Prescott Antiques Mystery series, Hidden Treasure, tells the story of dreams, desperation, and second chances.