An Appetite for Violets (42 page)
Read An Appetite for Violets Online
Authors: Martine Bailey
The boatman is a mere smudge in the dirty gold of the waters now, setting out toward the further bank. The house has quieted. The last shaft of sun escapes in a beam and quickly dies. And I am glad of this book I have written for you, my curious reader, this memorial of love that celebrates the dishes of the dead.
This story was originally inspired by the wonderful kitchen at Erddig Hall, near Wrexham, and its collection of handwritten recipes. I then set off on a thrilling journey, both geographic and gastronomic, from Cheshire to Florence in the company of Biddy Leigh. My greatest debt is naturally to those shadowy figures who wrote down their recipes in Household Books or in early printed books. In addition, the following books and people deserve a special mention:
Elizabeth Raffald,
The Experienced English Housekeeper,
(Southover Press, 1996)
Gilly Lehmann,
The British Housewife: Cookery Books, Cooking and Society in 18th Century Britain,
(Prospect Books, 1999)
Hannah Glasse,
First Catch Your Hare (1747) The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy,
(Prospect Books, 2012)
Rebecca Spang,
The Invention of the Restaurant: Paris and Modern Gastronomic Culture,
(Harvard University Press, 2000)
Robin Weir, Caroline Liddell, and Peter Brears,
Recipes from the Dairy,
(The National Trust, 1999)
Laura Mason (Ed.),
Food and the Rites of Passage,
(Prospect Books, 2002)
Janet Theophano,
Eat My Words: Reading Women’s Lives Through the Cookbooks They Wrote,
(Palgrave Macmillan, 2003)
Stephen Mennell,
All Manners of Food: Eating and Taste in England and France from the Middle Ages to the Present,
(University of Illinois Press, 1995)
Barbara Ketcham Wheaton,
Savouring the Past: The French Kitchen and Table from 1300 to 1789,
(Simon & Schuster, 1996)
Laura Mason,
Sugar-plums and Sherbet: The Prehistory of Sweets,
(Prospect Books, 2003)
Piero Camporesi,
Exotic Brew: Art of Living in the Age of Enlightenment,
(Polity Press, 1998)
R. H. Barnes,
Sea Hunters of Indonesia: Fishers and Weavers of Lamalera,
(Clarendon Press, 1996)
Journals and letters of eighteenth-century travellers are my particular delight, especially John Byng and Tobias Smollett’s acerbic opinions of inns and their outspoken views of foreigners. I also owe debts to Samuel Sharp, Hugh Walpole, and James Boswell for their accounts of European travel, and to Hester Lynch Piozzi for details of dress and social nuance often missed by her male contemporaries. Servants’ diaries are uncommon, but John Macdonald’s
Memoirs of an Eighteenth-century Footman: Travels 1754–1779,
(Routledge, 2004) is a gem, describing a servant’s world of good eating, merrymaking, and opportunities for travel and romance at his master’s expense. In Macdonald’s own words ‘I thought my life was heaven upon earth.’
The guide book followed throughout is Thomas Nugent’s
Grand Tour,
(Ganesha Publishing) originally published in 1756.
Biddy speaks a Lancashire dialect in part remembered from my late granddad Alfred Redvers Hilton’s reminiscences, bolstered by the glossary of John Collier (‘Tim Bobbin’ or ‘The Lancashire Hogarth’) in
A View of the Lancashire Dialect,
(Lightening Source UK).
I would especially like to thank the following people for their help and inspiration: Ivan Day for a last-minute place on his Georgian Cookery Course, and the freedom to discover Taffety Tart in his library, and also for the treasure trove that is
www.historicfood.com
. Thanks also to the Lace Wars re-enactment group for the chance to discover what a skilled task cooking over a fire is. Philippa Plock and Rachel Jacobs of The National Trust were also kind enough to allow my husband and me access to Baron Rothschild’s Tradecard collection at Waddesdon Manor, Buckinghamshire.
My fascination with Indonesia stems from the childhood memories of my late mother Mary Witsenburg, whose family lived in the former Dutch East Indies from the 1750s. Thanks also to Mr Piter, of Floressa tours, for insights into magic and ritual on the fascinating island of Flores, and to my sister and brother-in-law, Marijke and David Snell, who braved that trip with me.
Two writer friends, Elaine Walker and Alison Layland, provided priceless feedback and inspiration at our monthly meetings. Yvonne Hodkinson and Lucienne Boyce also provided timely feedback and support. In New Zealand, thanks go to Philippa Branthwaite and Anne Cullen, while Nancy King generously provided a perfectly timed Creative Arts Scholarship at Muriwai Earthskin. My sister, Lorraine Howell, sparked my interest in eighteenth-century costume, and this book is in some part a product of our shared childhood obsessions. Similarly, my former teacher, Stuart Horsfall, reminded me that I was already writing this story at the age of ten, and needed to get it finished. My late father, Derek Hilton, who sent me enthusiastically scribbled recipes, was often in my thoughts. For their crucial encouragement and belief in the novel, thanks to Ella Kahn and Sarah Nundy at Andrew Nurnberg Associates, and Laura Macdougall at Hodder and Stoughton. And for ceaseless encouragement over the years, thanks to my son Chris, and my husband Martin, the latter for also tirelessly reading my manuscripts.
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
THOMAS DUNNE BOOKS.
An imprint of St. Martin’s Press.
AN APPETITE FOR VIOLETS. Copyright © 2014 by Martine Bailey. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
Trade card of Renzo Cellini © 2013 by Martin Bailey, courtesy of the National Trust,
www.waddesdon.org.uk
, Accession nos: 3686.1.89.182, 3686.2.14.32, 3686.2.75.190, 3686.3.4.11, 3686.4.7.13
Trade card of The Queen of England Hotel © 2013 by Martin Bailey, courtesy of the National Trust,
www.waddesdon.org.uk
, Accession nos: 3686.2.14.32, 3686.2.44.109, 3686.2.75.190, 3686.3.27.67, 3686.4.37.62
Map and illustrations © Clifford Webb
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First published in Great Britain by Hodder & Stoughton, an Hachette UK company
First U.S. Edition: January 2015
eISBN 9781466860711
First eBook edition: November 2014