The Chestnut Roaster: History and Make-Believe - the Perfect Recipe by Eve McDonnell

Hands up: who enjoys history class in school? Truth be told, I loved history lessons, but I found it all a little bit hard. I was focusing so hard on all those dates and names that I missed something special – something hidden between the pages and beyond the facts! With a bit of digging, I discovered wild adventures that were rarely told. I found little triumphs and forgotten struggles, coincidences, intriguing inventions and strange fashions. I also learned about the personal lives of the stars of our history books (how did 18-year-old Victoria spend that one lonesome hour she’d requested when she was first told she was Queen?). 

Over time, I found myself seeking out the stories behind the stories, and I found what I was looking for in several places: in a fiction book with a hint of history; in a fact-filled documentary on TV; in a brilliantly re-imagined moment of history at the movies; in dug-up treasures; in paintings. I soon realised that any mash-up of history and make-believe grabbed and held my fullest attention. The perfect recipe!

Cover design and illustration by Holly Ovenden

And this is why being an author is fun – we have the freedom to dig deep into our history books and pluck out tantalising facts before adding a splash of magic, a dash of peril, a big scoop of make-believe with a sprinkle of truth (or the other way around!) Stone-age girls might time-travel, Vikings might find a fascinating island covered in gold, and Charles Darwin might fly if he touches a toucan’s tail feather. In my first book, Elsetime, an 1800s mudlarker (someone who searches for treasure along the muddy shores of a river) would find himself saving people from a flood that really did happen sixty-four years into his future. So, what about my second book, The Chestnut Roaster? Is there a mash-up of history and make-believe in there too?

Of course there is! The history bit goes as follows: the story is set in Paris 1888, one year before they hosted a spectacular World Fair known as the Exposition Universelle. Great minds of the world marvelled at the fair’s mind-blowing exhibits, and visitors feasted their eyes on intriguing inventions. Even before arrival at the Exposition, visitors were greeted by something extraordinary – the newly built grand entrance to the exhibits: the Eiffel Tower. 

And that is where I added make-believe to history: when I found a series of photographs showing the growing Eiffel Tower, I tried to imagine how everyone felt on seeing such a giant rise slowly before their eyes. How would the people of Paris have reacted if they went to sleep one day in 1888 when the tower was only small, and woke up forgetting the whole of the last year? To them, the tower would have grown into a monster overnight, from the first image in the row of towers shown above, to the fifth! 

The Eiffel Tower was not the only historical Parisian marvel I included in the book. Paris is the location of possibly the best place in all the world for a game of hide and seek: its underground maze of tunnels, some barely big enough to wriggle through. These underground quarries were the birthplace of the stone used to build many of the great buildings of Paris. Though the existence of the underground city comes as some surprise to The Chestnut Roaster’s main character, Piaf, the estimated nearly 200 miles of tunnels made their presence known throughout Parisian history. 

In the 1770s, a deadly sinkhole known as the ‘Mouth of Hell’ swallowed houses at Rue d’Enfer. A few years on, the hidden chambers were used as burial sites during the French Revolution, and later, during World War II, the French Resistance fighters used the dark and deep tunnels as hideouts while other chambers were converted into bunkers by German soldiers. Secret parties and concerts were held underground, explorers explored, and artists left their mark with wild and wonderful murals. 

To add a dash of fiction, I added several wondrous underground spots for Piaf and her brother to explore: a Museum of Objects, Tagine Pot Hollow, and the Apothecary, to name a few. 

You can visit one small section known as the Catacombs today, and it has some very strange inhabitants indeed – the bones of six million people! At the end of the 18th century, Paris’s cemeteries were overflowing. The streets held the stench of corpses, bones collapsed into neighbouring buildings. By cover of night, the corpses were carried by horse and black cloth-covered wagons to the Catacombs where workers fashioned impressive displays out of the bones themselves. As odd as that may seem, you can see for yourself that the bones are not make-believe! They had to star in Piaf’s story! 

Illustration from The Chestnut Roaster, copyright Ewa Beniak-Haremska

But sometimes the mash-up of history and make-believe is not so clear: Piaf and her brother were never alone on their adventures, for the ghost of poor Philibert Aspairt, a man said to have disappeared underground, is said to roam the darkest routes (and also the pages of The Chestnut Roaster!) If that is history or make-believe, we have yet to tell!

So, as you can see, history provided so much inspiration for The Chestnut Roaster – it is indeed one big mash-up of history and make-believe! I wonder, if you picked a page from your history book today, what stories could you imagine when you read between the lines?

Perhaps you can create your own?

Cover designs and illustrations by Holly Ovenden

You can watch Eve's video on how she came to write The Chestnut Roaster here.

Author photo: copyright Brownes Photography

Eve McDonnell is a children’s author and artist who lives in Co Wexford with her husband, twins, a dog and three cats. Having recognised the similarities between a blank canvas and a blank page, her writing career kicked off following a visit to a fortune-teller who told her to Write! Write! Write! Eve provides creative writing and crafting workshops to libraries, schools, writing clubs and festivals. Find out more about Eve and her books on www.evemcdonnell.com, or say hello via Twitter @Eve_Mc_Donnell or Instagram @Eve_Mc_Donnell.

Buying link: uk.bookshop.org

Guest Blog: Did I time travel to the Great Flood of London 1928? by Eve McDonnell

This week we are delighted to introduce our first guest blog post, by longstanding friend of the Time Tunnellers, Eve McDonnell. Eve is the award-winning author of Elsetime, a beautifully written time-travel novel which we all loved. As well as being a writer, Eve is also an artist and designer, and designed the wonderful Time Tunnellers’ logo and banners for us.

 

Read Eve’s guest post to find out more about her time travelling, her unforgettable characters - Needle and Glory and their pet crow, Magpie - and the true story behind the devastating flood in Elsetime.

 

And look out for more guest posts from children’s historical fiction writers on the Time Tunnellers blog in the months to come!

 

Children's author Eve McDonnell

If you had one superpower, what would it be?  

Without question, mine would be the ability to time travel. Sometimes, perhaps when I am on a bustling shopping street or a quiet country lane, I close my eyes for a second and imagine that, when I open them, I will have travelled one hundred years back in time. What would I see? Would the air smell unusual? What sounds would I hear? Would the birds even sing to a different tune? I guess it was this curiosity that led me to one of my favourite pastimes, treasure hunting – searching the pebbles alongside a river or the sea for something sparkling: an old button once part of a queen’s gown, perhaps, or a key to a mythical treasure chest, or a war medal from a hero who saved countless lives. With the help of my imagination, I guess I do time travel – I can see and feel each treasure’s history by simply holding it in the palm of my hand.

It’s no wonder a hobby so rich in possible stories was the inspiration for my children’s novel Elsetime with its tale of a young 1860’s mudlark called Needle, searching the foreshore for treasures he could sell. Glory, a jeweller’s apprentice, sprung to mind too, and I imagined her taking those muddy finds and transforming them into treasures to behold under the eyes of her strict mistress, Mrs Quick. Glory and Mrs Quick had to be from the 1920s, my imagination assured me, but I wasn’t quite sure what was going to happen to my new-found friends.

Then I found a newspaper clipping. It told of a real-life tragic event almost lost to history: the Great Flood of London in 1928. At its epicentre was Needle’s haunt – the stretch of foreshore alongside the Tate Gallery (now known as Tate Britain). I needed to know more, and my research began.

 

Almost a century ago, at the source of the Thames, families enjoyed a snowy Christmas akin to those portrayed in picture-perfect postcards. But, quick as a wink, the snow thawed, sending torrents of water along streams and brooks that fed the Thames. A deluge of rain in the days that followed raised the level of the great river higher and higher as it twisted and turned its way towards the bustling centre of London and out towards the sea.

As Londoners partied away the Twelfth Day of Christmas or snuggled their loved ones into bed in old basement flats, the raging river met its match: a powerful storm in the North Sea. At the turn of the tide, waves swelled higher at the mouth of the Thames than any ever seen before. Seawater tunnelled its way up the river, clashing with the deluge of snowmelt and rainwater. X marked the spot where the river narrowed and its depth deepened following foolish dredging to allow passage to larger ships. Not long after midnight, the embankment walls near the Tate Gallery gave way.

 

Freezing cold water raced down stone steps and into the homes of poor basement-dwellers, trapping them before they even knew their fate. Muddy water inundated the basement galleries of the Tate Gallery, destroying many fine pieces of art, including several priceless Turner paintings and drawings. Big Ben was surrounded, the Underground submerged. The moat at the Tower of London filled for the first time in nearly a century.

Fourteen souls lost their lives that night and, as my research deepened, so too did my shock and sadness when I read the names listed on that Daily Mirror 1928 newspaper clipping. One name stood out: Mrs Quick – a name I had already created for the owner of the Jewellery Emporium where Glory worked. That was a big gulp moment.

As I stared down at Mrs Quick’s name, it felt like a message from the past. Perhaps, with Mrs Quick’s help, I really did time travel to the night of the 6^th of January 1928. Maybe that newspaper clipping was my time machine, my imagination its fuel, and my planned destination would ensure the story of the Great Flood of London in 1928 was finally told.

To when would you time travel?

 

Eve grew up in Dublin before moving to the beautiful countryside of Wexford where she lives halfway up a hill with her husband, twins, Happy the dog and Fusspot the cat. Eve embarked on a career as an artist and worked in graphic design, brand development and marketing. Having recognised the similarities between a blank canvas and a blank page, Eve’s writing career kicked off following a visit to a fortune-teller who told her to Write! Write! Write! On the rare occasion where her head is not stuck in a children’s story, Eve enjoys facilitating creative writing and crafting workshops, and painting everything from rather grown-up pieces to fun children’s murals.

Eve’s debut novel for 9-12 year olds, ELSETIME, was published in 2020 by Everything With Words and was inspired by a real-life tragic event: The Great Flood of London in 1928. 

Meet mudlark Needle and an impetuous jeweller’s apprentice called Glory; a special crow and a hard-nosed taskmaster; a distinguished inventor and a deadly flood – all living their lives in Inthington Town just a stone’s throw from each other but with many decades between. 

Cover and internal illustrations by Holly Ovenden.

Order a copy of ELSETIME from your local independent bookshop or you can visit The Rocketship Bookshop in the UK or Halfway Up The Stairs in Ireland.

Find out all about Eve on www.evemcdonnell.com and follow her on Twitter @Eve_Mc_Donnell.