Eden Falls
Page 45
The descriptions of the Jamaican food are mouth-watering. Are you a fan of Caribbean cuisine?
I used to live in Kentish Town, North London, in the late eighties (goodness, that’s last century!) and there was a small restaurant just off the high street called Halfway Tree, where you could eat goat curry with rice and peas and a side dish of grilled plantain. That was my first taste of Caribbean cuisine, and I absolutely loved it. Since then, I’ve had perhaps three or four Caribbean-island holidays, so I’ve eaten snapper and herring fresh from the sea and tried salt cod fritters for breakfast, and I can confirm that it all tastes even better in a beachside shack with sand on the soles of your feet.
Back in England, the Earl and Countess of Netherwood have something of an open marriage. Do you think this was typical of the time?
In the section of society in which they frolic, their behaviour was not untypical. Edward VII’s philandering had set the tone for a sort of aristocratic free-for-all and certainly the king seemed to be able to help himself to whoever caught his eye, whether or not they were married. However, the fact that Tobias and Thea don’t yet have a son makes their behaviour more unusual; letters and diaries from the period make it plain that it fell to the woman to remain faithful to her husband until his heir had been born. I felt that Thea would have no truck with that sort of inequality, and that Tobias – who has never been a particularly possessive type – would also see the injustice in allowing himself dalliances but forbidding them for his wife. As the book progresses, however, both begin to question their choices and are drawn back to one other. This gives me considerable pleasure. For all their flaws, I believe Tobias and Thea make a good couple, and will also be good parents.
What do you think is the biggest difference in the national outlook of 1909 compared to that of 2013?
Having given this question a bit of thought, I ended up seeing a similarity rather than a difference. The concept of the ‘home-grown’ terrorist is a modern one, coined in response to the influence of Islamic fundamentalism on people born and raised in Britain, but in 1909 there was also a real and growing consciousness among the ruling classes of the enemy within. Revolution was a distinct possibility: the king and his cohorts looked anxiously to Russia (where the 1905 revolution had sent a warning shot to the tsar) because Britain, too, was on the brink of massive political and social change. Lloyd George was railing against privilege, unions across the industries were gaining in strength and number, and the campaign for women’s suffrage was growing increasingly violent and vocal. So 1909 was a time when the national outlook was turning away from the Empire and broader international concerns, and inward to the ferment of domestic issues – just as, in a different way, we do today.
Feminism is currently experiencing a huge wave of popularity among the women of today. Do you think this would make the trailblazing Henry happy?
I think Henry is a woman born before her time so yes, she would be extremely happy to see the advances we’ve made in women’s rights. Of course, by the end of Eden Falls she has pulled away from the WSPU, following the trauma of her imprisonment. But there’s more than one way to be radical, and from the very beginning of the series Henrietta has been an unusually strong woman, with a masculine outlook. Her competence at running the Netherwood estate and her practical preference for riding breeches over traditional skirts single her out as an independent-minded young woman with scant regard for convention.
Which character would be most shocked by how society has progressed?
That would have to be poor Clarissa, the Duchess of Plymouth. Her difficulties would lie not so much with technological advances or changing fashions, but with the breaking down of society’s barriers and the blurring of distinctions between the classes. Being a rather apolitical creature, she wouldn’t have been troubled by who was or wasn’t in government, but as the old feudal hierarchies were dismantled all her certainties would have crumbled to dust. Unlike her offspring, Clarissa isn’t adaptable or even particularly resilient. Her strength of character is only skin deep and her sense of self relies on position and privilege. One of the reasons she dislikes Thea so much is that the young American woman has not only breached the defences of the English aristocracy, but seems to feel no particular gratitude at being allowed in. I should add, of course, that Mr Parkinson, the butler, would probably stand shoulder to shoulder with the duchess in condemning the rules – or absence of them – in modern society. Together, they could reminisce about the old days while Parkinson waited on Her Grace’s every whim, thereby keeping both of them happy.