Laura Hilly of Gloucester asks: How difficult was it to carry out the research for this book [The Winter Sea/Sophia’s Secret]?
I would use the word “challenging” rather than difficult. Certainly it took a great deal of time and study, because in the past story I was using a number of real people as characters and their lives had to be re-created as faithfully as I could manage. In the case of John Moray, this meant doing a bit of amateur geneaology to fill in the gaps of his immediate family records, identifying his brothers and sisters and using found bits of his personal correspondence to help track his movements and get a good feel for his character. I had to do this with many of the characters, in fact, trying to make each person as real as I could while attempting to piece together the puzzle of what happened that summer and autumn, and why. But as frustrating as it could sometimes be, I absolutely loved that part of the research. Sitting in the British Library and reading letters Moray wrote – actually touching the paper he touched over three hundred years ago – that’s just a moment I’ll treasure, and ne
Related Questions
- Many, many fans have asked me recently: Why is the same book being published under two different titles – The Winter Sea and Sophia’s Secret?
- THE RESEARCH GRANT APPLICATION FORM ASKS ABOUT GOVERNANCE OF MY RESEARCH PROJECT. WHAT DOES GOVERNANCE MEAN?
- Why is winter a critical time to Steller sea lions? What research papers show that this is important?
