‘I like to keep my shoes on,’ he said.
She laughed. ‘Would you like me to put mine back on too?’
He shook his head. ‘Is it too odd?’
‘Well, a little strange, perhaps.’ Mirabelle glanced at his arms. He was more muscular than she had expected. She pulled him towards her again. ‘Whatever you like,’ she whispered. They started to move together. It felt like disappearing. This is exactly what I need, she thought. And outside, high above them, the moon rose over the surf.
Author’s Postscript
I didn’t know anything about the Mau Mau Uprising until I bumped into Richard Lewis at the Central Library in Edinburgh and told him I was writing about the 1950s. He suggested I take a look at what was going on in Kenya and I was shocked by what I found. The history of Colonial and Empirical Britain often does not cover us in glory. Between 1952 and 1960 a conflict rose between the British Army in Kenya and an anti-Colonial, economically deprived, mostly Kikuyu tribal group who (quite rightly in my view) wanted land rights and more freedom. The British did not take kindly to their economic and social grievances and the conflict escalated quickly into violence after the Mau Mau killed a British woman in 1952. The openly racist British Establishment effected swift reprisals including confiscating livestock and land and imposing collective fines as well as declaring a State of Emergency and suspending civil liberties. They also began rounding up the Mau Mau into internment camps, where widespread malnutrition and illness quickly developed. In Operation Goodwood it’s pictures of these internment camps that Dougie Beaumont smuggles out of Nairobi and Reuben Vinestock risks his life to try to publish in the end. In post-war Britain, the conflict was covered scantily in the press and always with a highly anti-Mau Mau bias so my fictional characters were brave in trying to expose the camps. They were horrible places and thousands of Kenyans interned in them died. At the time of writing the British Government is in negotiation with the last of the survivors over compensation.
Questions for readers’ groups
1 How much of today’s Britain is overshadowed by the country’s Empirical past?
2 Should Mirabelle have left it to McGregor? How would the story have been different if she had done so?
3 What is the best and the worst of the 1950s?
4 To what degree was Mrs Beaumont responsible for not knowing what was going on around her?
5 What is the difference between a major and minor character in any story?
6 Do women get off lightly when it comes to crime?
7 How does your own political affiliation affect your judgement of Elrick Beaumont?
8 Given the choice, after WWII, would you go back to the world of country house parties, or go forwards, to forge a new life?
9 Is Mirabelle too good for McGregor?
10 What is the Beaumonts’ greatest crime? Which member of the family is the ‘worst’?
11 Did Enid deserve the death sentence that she would, in all likelihood, have faced, had she not died?
12 Is it possible to read historical fiction without hindsight?
The quotations and misquotations used to open each chapter are taken from the following sources:
‘Ten people who speak make more noise than ten thousand who are silent’: Napoleon Bonaparte. ‘The path that leads on is lighted by one fire’: Helena Blavatsky. ‘There is nothing permanent except change’: Heraclitus. ‘The true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible’: Oscar Wilde. ‘It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see’: Henry David Thoreau. ‘The first and simplest emotion is curiosity’: Edmund Burke. ‘Question everything. Learn something. Answer nothing.’: Euripides. ‘There are no secrets that time does not reveal’: Jean Racine. ‘Every day is a journey’: Matsuo Bashō. ‘There are only two forces that unite men – fear and interest’: Napoleon Bonaparte. ‘True friends are a sure refuge’: Aristotle. ‘Truth is the torch that gleams through the fog without dispelling it’: Claude Adrien Helvetius. ‘Investigation: a formal inquiry or systematic study’: no credit required. ‘Our life is frittered away by detail’: Henry David Thoreau. ‘The world is but a canvas to our imagination’: Henry David Thoreau. ‘It is always necessary to be loved’: Samuel Johnson. ‘To expect the unexpected shows a thoroughly modern intellect’: Oscar Wilde. ‘Know how to listen, and you will profit even from those who talk badly’: Plutarch. ‘We have the best government money can buy’: Mark Twain. ‘Give every man your ear but few your voice’: William Shakespeare. ‘Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance’: Confucius. ‘Change in all things is sweet’: Aristotle.
Acknowledgements
This book is dedicated to the wonderful Jenny Brown, but there’s more! Thanks so much to the many people who helped me – from Richard Lewis who brought the Mau Mau to my attention, to readers who made suggestions about locations, characters and subjects, to people I contacted along the way to help me with their specialist knowledge. A big thank you goes out to everyone at Goodwood who hosted me twice while I made my investigations. From the staff at the Goodwood Hotel and at The Kennels to James Peill, the curator of Goodwood House, and, of course, Lord March himself, who kindly agreed to the book’s title and also invited me to a very glorious day out at the racecourse. Your generosity was just so kind. Doug Nye, who is a wonderful expert on vintage racing and all things CAR (I am Mirabelle, not Vesta, when it comes to matters of the motor), kindly shared his expert knowledge as did Euan Grant and the Goodwins, who helped with all things Diamond. In the case of making mistakes – the facts are yours, the errors mine. A big shout out is also due to the new publication team at Constable and Robinson who steered me through the ins and outs of a different kind of publication – so thanks to you too. Rebecca at VHA keeps me on track when it comes to matters of broadcast and what to expect. We have excellent phone calls (and occasionally a drink). Chin, chin. And, last of all, big love to my family who put up with me typing in the middle of the night, being distracted at meals and even on holiday and wait patiently while I trawl vintage shops and market stalls because Mirabelle or Vesta might have left something behind . . . Thank you, thank you, thank you. There, I’ve said it.
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