RHYS BOWEN: I'm so thilled to have Deanna Raybourn as my
guest today. First she's a really nice and fun person, great to hang
out with, and second we both share an interest in spunky lady
explorers: those Victorian ladies who crossed deserts and fought
tribesmen while wearing corsets! ( And she looks like a young Joan
Collins, doesn't she?) So welcome, Deanna.
DEANNA RAYBOURN: Heaps of thanks to the Reds for
inviting me to come and hang out and chat about Veronica!
One of the questions all writers
dread is, “Where did you get your ideas?” The answer for me is usually some
strange alchemical reaction of research, imagination, and serendipity that I
can’t quite define. But not with Veronica Speedwell! The inspiration for her character
is one very intrepid, very memorable Victorian explorer by the name of Margaret
Fountaine. I have been studying the Victorian female explorers ever since I
graduated from college. When I’m between projects and can give myself up to
reading for pure pleasure, I often reach for the collected anthologies of travelers—in
particular the indefatigable 19th-century women who packed up their
corsets and crinolines and set out to see the world. My bookshelves are stuffed
with their exploits, my favorite accounts being journals written by the women
themselves on their expeditions. With great affection and tongue firmly in
cheek, I call them the parasol and petticoat brigade, but they were so much
more! Most of their formative years were spent in stereotypical 19th-century
households with tatting and tea-pouring their most demanding activities. But
for each woman there came a tipping point, a crossroads at which the traveler
realized she wanted much more than her narrow existence could offer.
That’s
when she packed her hopes into her carpetbag and set off to see the world. I
find their courage both extraordinary and incredibly inspiring; they faced
obstacles and setbacks with astonishing equanimity, pushing forward across the
next frontier, past the next horizon. They blazed new trails, sometimes forcing
a path through lands their male counterparts dared not attempt. Luckily for me,
many of them wrote about their experiences and those journals and letters make
for fascinating reading.
Many years ago--so long I don’t even
remember how or where I encountered it, I was lucky enough to come across
Margaret Fountaine’s first journal, a nondescript, twee-looking volume entitled
Love Among the Butterflies. (The
second book has an even more sentimental title--Butterflies and Late Loves.) A lepidopterist who hunted butterflies
on six continents, Fountaine enjoyed a career that spanned more than five
decades, giving her a measure of independence and even a certain acclaim
amongst butterfly-hunters. (There is a plaque marking the spot where she died
on the island of Santo Domingo at the age of seventy, butterfly-net clutched in
her hand.) I settled in to read her journal, expecting a serious journal about
lepidoptery with some pithy observations about foreign travel. Imagine my
surprise when it took a delightfully salacious turn as Fountaine described not
only her butterfly hunts, but her numerous flirtations! It was utterly
enthralling to read about her affairs, and the more I read, the more I knew I
would someday create a character with the same indefatigable energy, the same
zest for life and adventure. Veronica is influenced by all of these
unforgettable Victorian explorers, but her career as a lepidopterist is a
special homage to Margaret. Like her inspiration, Veronica is forthright,
dynamic, and uncowed by danger—in fact, she seeks it out and comes alive
because of it.
RHYS: Okay, I'm hooked instantly by the thought of royal secrets.
And Deanna will give away a signed copy to one of today's commenters.
