Eve and Her Sisters (44 page)

Now as I sit and write this it’s the beginning of September, and there’s a new and long-awaited member of the Bradshaw family in our midst. He has four paws, a tail and the sweetest face you’ve ever seen, and for such a little puppy he has turned our lives upside down in the very best way imaginable. Our beloved old dog, Pippa, was such an ancient lady when she died last year that we’d forgotten the sheer exuberance for life an eight-week-old puppy has, but we’re remembering fast! It’s early mornings and hectic days and I wouldn’t swop a second, but why hasn’t someone made nappies for pooches? Only joking!

So, a little bit about this story. The embryo of the idea for
Eve and her Sisters
came one day when I was reading about a pit disaster which claimed the lives of one hundred and sixty-eight men and boys, a terrible blow for a small Durham mining town. It made me wonder about the folk behind the statistics, both the men and boys who were killed and the womenfolk who remained. What would life be like for women and children who had lost all their menfolk in one fell swoop, no breadwinners left and yet still plenty of hungry mouths to feed? And then Eve began to speak to me . . .

I do hope you enjoy entering into Eve’s story and getting to know her and her two beloved sisters, the warm, homely Nell and the lovely, wayward Mary, and experiencing the way each girl deals with what life has thrown at them. May you go into another world for a little while, Eve’s world, and come out the richer for it.

 

Lots of Love

Rita

 

 

The Michaelmas Fair, which plays a pivotal part in
Eve and her Sisters
, was a huge event in the lives of folk in past centuries. It was always held on 29th September (the feast of Saint Michael), and in old English the day was called
Sancte Micheles Maesse
, Saint Michael’s Mass, after which a feast would be held in honour of the saint. Gradually over the years the Michaelmas Fair evolved and probably most working-class people of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries had no idea of the origins of the event many of them looked forward to from one September to the next. An event which lifted them from their often drab, work-weary lives into a world of colour and noise and excitement.

The Romany showmen arrived at the same place in a town or large village each year. In the case of towns it was usually a large park which hosted the event, but in the countryside the fair folk often used a farmer’s field in the middle of a cluster of small villages for easy access by foot or horse and cart for everyone, or a piece of waste ground at the edge of a large village which wasn’t quite a town. People would think nothing of walking several miles there and back, and sometimes lots of folk would get together and use a hay wagon pulled by a shire horse, young and old crowded in together with barely room to breathe.

Besides the coconut shies, shooting galleries, gypsy fortune tellers, boxing matches, merry-go-rounds, swing boats and umpteen side shows and stalls selling roast chestnuts, hot potatoes, toasted muffins and seafood, the fair provided an opportunity for a much more serious undertaking, the hirings. This was a great opportunity for employers of all types - farmers, inn keepers, hotel owners, rich landowners - to come and select potential servants, but it was less enjoyable for those seeking employment. Lined up in a special section of the fair, these men and women, often with children in tow, would stand like cattle before their potential purchasers. Because the Michaelmas Fair heralded the start of colder weather with the winter looming, it was generally acknowledged that those people waiting to be hired were in a fairly desperate situation.

Hirings took place at markets and in town centres in the spring and summer too, but by the end of September the employers knew they were fairly certain to get servants for far less than they would have had to pay at the beginning and middle of the year. In the time of the dreaded workhouses there was no social security net or anything else to save families from starving, and employers mostly had it all their own way, a fact the more unscrupulous among them were quick to capitalise on.

In this day and age it seems strange to think of men, women and children going to the fair and enjoying themselves, whilst in among the festivities and lined up for all to see and gawp at stand people so desperate for work and shelter they are prepared to work for next to nothing. Our present society may not get it right all the time, but the ‘good old days’ left a lot to be desired too!

1. Absolute top of the list: be totally passionate about and committed to what
you
want to write. If you try to write in a ‘popular’ genre because you think it more likely it will get published, forget it.You’ve got to be so sold out about writing from the heart that if you never earn a penny it’s still worthwhile because you’ve satisfied that need inside you. If you’re concocting a story by attempting to follow a formula or imitating a favourite author’s style and your heart’s not in it the fact will scream from the page.

2. Closely following tip number one: believe -
really
believe - in your characters. If you don’t, no one else will. You can make them somewhat larger than life, of course; in the real world folk are attracted to larger-than-life characters all the time. They can be good or they can be bad, but never, ever boring. Who wants to spend quality time with boring people?

3. The first couple of paragraphs of a novel are all-important. You need to grab your reader from the beginning so try to make the first page sparky in some way. If a reader has never picked up your books before they are likely to read the blurb about the story on the jacket and then open the book at the first page and scan quickly.

4. Discipline. Unartistic word but important, unfortunately! It’s not good enough to ‘feel’ like writing. Decide when and for how many hours a day you are going to write and then stick to it, come hell or high water.

5. Never rely on your memory. Make masses of notes all the time, it’ll save time and frustration ultimately. Don’t repeat names of characters and do keep a running schedule of time factors regarding events, birthdays, births and deaths - everything!

6. Research thoroughly. Readers are intelligent and perceptive and are sure to pick up on the smallest error. Never assume anything and if you aren’t sure about something, leave it out.

7. Don’t run out of steam in the middle of your story. If you can, leave something meaty for around that point. If the beginning is great and the end is wonderful but the middle section drags, you’ll be in for a re-write.

8. Try and convey something of the mood of the novel in your title.The title of a story, along with its cover, of course, is a tool to whet the appetite.

9. Keep to the number of words required for the genre. If, despite all your efforts, the story ends up too long or too short, take constructive criticism on the chin and be prepared to add another character or a twist to the story or, on the other hand, to cut and trim. Face the fact that you might be too close to the story to see it clearly.

10. Don’t be put off by rejection slips. Some of the most successful writers took decades to get their first break. Keep trying, don’t lose heart and
enjoy
your writing. Writing isn’t about money or selling millions of books - first and foremost it’s about you fulfilling that burning urge to transport the stories milling about in your head to the written page.

To any as yet unpublished writers out there -
good luck
!

 

 

We hope you have enjoyed reading Rita Bradshaw’s marvellous new novel,
Eve and her Sisters
. Don’t miss her other unforgettable novels of romance and family drama set in the north-east.

 

Above the Harvest Moon
tells how Hannah Casey flees her uncle’s unwelcome advances and finds love where she least expects it.

 

Skylarks at Sunset
is the moving story of Hope Woodrow’s struggles to keep her family safe during the dark days of the Depression.

 

The Rainbow Years
will transport you to the Second World War as you are caught up in Amy Shawe’s desperate search for happiness.

Always I’ll Remember
will grip you when broken-hearted Abigail Vickers joins the Land Army to forget the sadness in her past.

 

The Most Precious Thing
evokes the hardships of the 1920s when Carrie McDarmount’s happiness is threatened for ever by one terrible mistake.

 

Candles in the Storm
tells the heart-rending story of forbidden love in a small fishing village at the turn of the century.

 

The Urchin’s Song
shows the courageous rise of a young girl, saved from the Sunderland slums by her beautiful voice.

 

The Stony Path
will move you to tears as a terrible family secret shatters Polly Farrow’s dreams for ever.

 

Ragamuffin Angel
will enthral you when Connie Bell meets Dan Stewart and the dark and terrible history between their families threatens to destroy them.

 

Reach for Tomorrow
is a heartwarming tale of Rosie Ferry’s indomitable spirit and determination to survive no matter what.

 

Alone Beneath the Heaven
is a powerful and absorbing saga, moving from Sunderland to London in the 1940s, as Sarah Brown dreams of a better life.