Remember, remember - by Ally Sherrick

The two main inspirations or story sparks for my first novel for young people, Black Powder, were a real life event – the infamous Gunpowder Plot of 1605 – and a place – Cowdray House on the edge of the historic market town of Midhurst in West Sussex.

The Gunpowder Plot – the reason why we light bonfires and set off fireworks every fifth of November – was the failed attempt by a band of desperate young Catholic men to assassinate the Protestant King James I and VI of Scotland, and many of the most important lords and bishops in the land as they met in Parliament.

Bonfire night revellers - copyright Elizabeth Doak

Cowdray, destroyed by fire in the late 18th century, is now a ruin. But when, on a visit several years ago, I discovered a certain Guy Fawkes had once been employed as a gentleman servant to the owner, the wealthy and influential, Anthony Maria-Browne, Lord Montague it proved too much for my writer’s imagination to resist!

Cowdray House ruins, West Sussex - author's own photo

It didn’t take long – asking the classic story question ‘What if’ – to come up with the outline for the story of a brave young Catholic boy, Tom Garnett who unwittingly gets caught up with the events culminating in the Plot.

Writing a story set in the past is a bit like doing a jigsaw puzzle with missing pieces. As a general rule, the further back you travel in time, the less likely you are to have a complete – or as complete as you can hope for – picture of the events, the places and the people who lived then. Records, if they were made, might have been lost. And if they survive, they often only tell one side, or a fraction of the story. For a real-life jigsaw puzzler, such ‘missing pieces’ would be terribly frustrating, but for an historical novelist, they are story gold.

This is true for all my stories, but particularly for Black Powder.

Thanks to surviving documents of the day – including the intelligence gathered by the king’s spymaster and chief minister, Robert Cecil, the confessions of the plotters and official reports of their trials – we have quite a few jigsaw pieces to help us build a reasonably accurate account of the people and actions involved in the Gunpowder Plot. But it’s always important, when using such sources, to think about who is setting down the ‘facts’ and whether they can be trusted to tell it as it was or have maybe altered it in some way to suit their own ends.

Some of the pieces I discovered in the puzzle box when I started researching the true-life story of the Gunpowder Plot included:

· the identities, backgrounds and motives of the plotters and their leader, Robert Catesby (not Guy Fawkes, as so many people believe)

· their arrangements for hiring the cellar beneath the House of Lords, and stacking the 36 barrels of gunpowder inside it

· the plotters’ plans – if they had been successful in killing the king – to raise a rebellion in the country, to put the king’s young nine year-old daughter, the Princess Elizabeth, on the throne as a ‘puppet queen’, and to have all the anti-Catholic laws which provoked them to take their extreme action, reversed.

The Gunpowder Plotters

But these things are, in the main, drawn from official records of the time. They do not – and could not – give details of everything the plotters did or thought. For example, their conversations with each other, the things that made them laugh, or that made them sad or angry – aside of course from how badly treated they felt, because of the religious persecution they and their fellow Catholics had had to endure for so many years. And they don’t account for everyone they might have met and kept company with in the days leading up to the fateful events of the fifth of November 1605. This is where I could have fun with my imagination and start creating my own pieces of the jigsaw to fill in the gaps and tell a tale, linked to the story of the actual plot, but which was all my own. Some of the pieces I created include:

• my hero, 12 year-old Tom Garnett, who accidentally betrays his father after he rescues a Catholic priest from the harbour and then has to try and right that wrong and save him from the hangman’s noose with the help of a mysterious stranger called the Falcon
  
  
• Cressida Montague, daughter of Lord Montague and the rich and privileged cousin Tom never knew he had. They dislike each other intensely at first but eventually become good friends and allies
  
  
• two fictional spies who Tom, his mouse, Jago and Cressida must outwit if they are to succeed in their mission to rescue Tom’s father before it’s too late.

Of course, when you’re writing any form of historical fiction, whether for children, or adults, it’s important to maintain a balance between presenting everything that’s known versus telling a good story. But as long as you respect the facts of any real-life events or circumstances which form the backdrop to your story wherever you can, and have done the research which suggests what might be plausible to help flesh out the bits you don’t know, then how you complete the rest of the puzzle is up to you.

Can you use a real-life historical person or event to spark a new story idea? Or perhaps a favourite place? Think of something that intrigues you and makes you want to ask the magic story question ‘What if?’ Keep on asking the question every time you come up with an answer and see where it might lead. Then do some research of your own to fill in the missing pieces.

Happy plot puzzling!

Ally Sherrick is the author of books full of history, mystery and adventure including Black Powder, winner of the Historical Association’s Young Quills Award 2017. She is published by Chicken House Books and her books are widely available in bookshops and online. You can find out more about her and her books at www.allysherrick.com and follow her on Twitter: @ally_sherrick

Our book recommendations for Black History Month

This week on our blog, the Time Tunnellers are celebrating Black History Month by sharing some of our favourite historical reads by Black authors and/or featuring Black protagonists.

Jeannie Waudby

DIVER’S DAUGHTER by Patrice Lawrence
12 year old Eve and her mother scrape by in dangerous 16^th century Southwark. Eve’s mother Joan learnt to dive as a child in Mozambique, before she was kidnapped and taken to Portugal. Although she escaped, she and Eve are not safe from the greedy eyes of those who wish them harm.
When they travel to Southampton to dive for gold from a wreck, they find friends both false and true and dodge multiple dangers in their cruel and unstable country. The terror of the slave trade runs through this story like the dark London river, but Eve is brave and resourceful – a true adventurer.
I stayed up late to finish this gripping book.

100 GREAT BLACK BRITONS by Patrick Vernon and Angelina Osborne

This is an update of the 2003 campaign to find the most admired Black Britons: people who have overcome racial barriers to make an exceptional contribution. Although not specifically for children, I think many young people will enjoy this book. Each biography is 2 or 3 pages long and the style is vivid and engaging.
Entries from previous centuries include actor Ira Aldridge, nurse and war heroine Mary Seacole, anti-slavery campaigner and author Mary Prince, leader of the London Chartist movement William Cuffay and George III’s wife and consort Queen Charlotte – her cottage is featured in an earlier Timetunnellers video. It is a fascinating read.

Ally Sherrick

My first pick is a non-fiction book – Black Tudors – the Untold Story by the historian and academic, Miranda Kaufmann. It’s written for an adult audience, but many of the stories could also be used as prompts for discussions in the classroom too.
It shines a light on the lives of ten men and women of African descent who lived and worked in England during the reigns of the Tudor and Stuart monarchs. From Jacques Francis, salvage diver (see Jeannie’s picks for a fantastic fictional story inspired by him) at the wreck of the Mary Rose and Diego the circumnavigator, manservant to Sir Francis Drake to Cattelena of Almondsbury, a woman of independent means who sold milk and cheese from the cow she owned to her neighbours in her village in rural Gloucestershire. Each portrait combines to provide a vivid picture of Black lives lived free in Renaissance England, and the attitudes to race and slavery of the wider society in which they moved, before the English became heavily involved in the slave trade. My own personal favourite, is John Blanke, royal trumpeter, who played at King Henry VIII’s coronation and who received a wedding gift from the king when he married. 
For a brilliant article including a summary of each of the individuals featured visit: blackhistorymonth.org.uk        

The second book I’ve chosen is Empire’s End – A Roman Story by Leila Rasheed in the excellent ‘Voices’ series published by Scholastic. This is the story of Camilla who travels with her family to Britannica from her home on the coast of North Africa as part of the Emperor’s entourage. But when the journey goes terribly wrong, Camilla is forced to fall back on her own resources to survive in a world very different from the privileged one she was brought up in. A tense and thrilling read packed full of fascinating details about life in the Roman provinces when the Empire was still at its height.

Catherine Randall

Son of the Circus: A Victorian Story by E. L. Norry

Based on the life of Britain’s first Black circus owner, Pablo Fanque, Son of the Circus tells the story of Fanque’s son Ted as he struggles to adapt to circus life when he joins his father at the age of 12. Full of vivid, authentic details about the Victorian circus, the story highlights the bravery needed to survive and flourish in a society both fascinated by and scared of difference. Inspiring and empathetic. E. L. Norry has done a great job of resurrecting a Black hero of the Victorian age.

Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History, written and illustrated by Vashti Harrison

In Little Leaders, Vashti Harrison has brought together forty beautiful, stylised portraits of outstanding Black women in history, accompanied by text explaining why each woman is important. Starting with Mary Prince, born into slavery over 200 years ago and ending with Lorna Simpson, a ground-breaking photographer working today, Harrison explains each woman’s impact on the world, introducing us to many fascinating, lesser-known characters along the way. Because the book combines appealing illustrations with informative text, this is an excellent book for all ages.

Susan Brownrigg

A Nest of Vipers by Catherine Johnson

This is a thrilling adventure set in London during the Stuart era, for children aged 8+. The story bookends with a gripping first person narrative from Cato Hopkins a boy criminal.
Cato is locked up in Newgate Prison, a notoriously vile institution, awaiting his execution.
The story then rewinds a year and switches to third person. Where we learn that Cato is part of a team of con artists and pickpockets under the tuition of ‘Mother Hopkins.’
This time their target is a cruel slave owner.
The story has lots of twists and turns, and I was on the edge of my seat as I turned the pages to find out if Cato would escape prison.
Johnson brings the period vividly to life. I especially enjoyed the mention of the Frost Fair and the Russian with a bear and squirmed at the depictions of squalor. The book shows the contrast between those who have money and those who do not. I also really liked the characters, especially Cato and Prince Quarmy.

The Mighty Miss Malone by Christopher Paul Curtis.

I absolutely adored this wonderful award-winning book set in Gary, Indiana, in the U.S during the Great Depression.
The story is told by Deza Malone – a fabulously chatty, ambitious 12-year-old whose family is uprooted and torn apart after a terrible accident. The Malones face a run of bad luck and one character’s down spiral really brings home the mental health impact on families in the 30s. There are several very moving scenes, and the ending had me in tears.
I am in awe at Curtis's skill in creating voice, and Deza is a character you won't forget.

Barbara Henderson

The first book I would like to recommend is Windrush Child by Benjamin Zephaniah, a writer I have long admired for his poetry and his contemporary books for young people. The novel is about Leonard, a boy from Jamaica whose father sailed to Britain on the famous ship Empire Windrush after the end of the Second World War. Leonard and his mother reluctantly follow, leaving the boy’s beloved Grandma behind. Leonard is unprepared for the cold, both in the British weather and the hostile attitudes he encounters in so many aspects of everyday life. Leonard’s character gives us a real glimpse into the injustices faced by the Windrush generation and, unforgivably, their children, and I so admired their resilience. Historical fiction at its best, making us think about the country we were, the country we are, and the country we hope to be.

My second recommendation is Oliver Twisted by Jasmine Richards, written under her pen-name JD Sharpe. This one is a teen horror-mash-up of the classic Victorian novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens, which is both a lovely original idea, and perfect for Halloween – and it is October after all! Vampyres, ghastly orphans, a shadowy Dodger and a soul-eating Fagin – perfect if you like your fun a little scary.

How to grow a time-tunneller - by Ally Sherrick

Physics and I have never got on. It’s a lot to do with the maths. But also because the laws of physics say time-travel isn’t possible – at least not in the way I’ve always wanted it to be. But I decided early on that it wouldn’t stop me from trying. If you’ve got a few spare minutes, why not hop on board my trusty time-machine and let me take you back to where my adventures in time-travel first began ...

The Tardis

First up there were all those brilliant time-travelling TV programmes I used to watch. Doctor Who was the first, though I probably saw more of the back of our sofa than what was happening on the small screen, especially when the dreaded daleks arrived on the scene. Of course, The Doctor is the ultimate time-traveller – a Time Lord who uses an amazing police-box tardis to travel through space and time. 

But other intrepid explorers who also flirted with a spot of time-travel were Star Trek’s Captain Kirk and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise. In the original series, they did a lot of travelling back to the 1960s – no prizes for guessing why! But the episode called ‘The City On The Edge Of Forever', where a temporarily insane Dr. McCoy beams down to a planet and accidentally changes history by travelling back in time through a mysterious archway called The Guardian of Forever, is a bit of a classic. It even has its own Wiki page!

 

Star Trek

And then there were was The Time Tunnel, the story of the top secret Project Tic-Toc, a time-travelling experiment gone disastrously wrong. I thrilled as brave scientists Doctors Tony Newman and Doug Phillips were pitched into a new time, place and set of perils each episode, while the team back at base battled to snatch them back from the spiralling vortex that was the Time Tunnel of the title.

The Time Tunnel

Their itinerary was a history-fest of seminal moments in the past – the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, the eruption of the Indonesian island of Krakatoa in 1883 and a fictitious Viking-infested Cornwall of 544 where they meet a young man called Arthur Pendragon and a magician by the name of Merlin. Sometimes characters from history got caught up in the Time-Tunnel too – the Renaissance writer and scholar Machiavelli joined Tony and Doug at the American Civil War’s Battle of Gettysburg. And there were cliff-hanger endings aplenty. For a young Time-Tunneller in the making, what was not to love?

And of course, as an author, how can I not talk about the books? A Traveller in Time by Alison Uttley about a young girl called Penelope Taberner who travels back to Tudor England and gets caught up in the infamous Babington Plot to rescue Mary, Queen of Scots from imprisonment by her great rival and cousin, Queen Elizabeth I of England. The Ghost of Thomas Kempe by Penelope Lively (who also wrote the classic A Stitch in Time). Not a time-travel story in the traditional sense – but it features a 17^th century apothecary poltergeist, the Thomas Kempe of the title, who haunts a young boy, James in a bid to make him his apprentice.  And The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by the superlative Joan Aiken, which transports the reader to an ‘alternate history’ and the time of King James III of England, when courageous young cousins Bonnie and Sylvie must do battle with their wicked new governess, Miss Slighcarp in a country prowled by packs of ravenous, wild wolves.

The Ghost of Thomas Kempe, The Wolves of Willoughby Chase

and A Traveller in Time

With all those brilliant time-travelling tales to feed my imagination, it was only a matter of time before I took the plunge and began digging back into the past to create my own stories. So far I’ve travelled to London in 1605 and the events surrounding the infamous Gunpowder Plot in Black Powder; wartime Suffolk in 1940, a year after the discovery of the famous Sutton Hoo Ship Burial in The Buried Crown, and 1520 and the court of King Henry VIII and his first queen, Katherine of Aragon, in The Queen’s Fool. As for my next stop? Well, I can’t say too much about that right now! But if you’re planning to join me, you might need to bring one of these with you to help light the way ...

A lamp to cast light on the past!

Activity

Build your own time-machine

Calling all Time-Tunnellers big and small! You’ve been invited by a top secret research project to design and build a time-machine for the 21^st century. What materials will you use? Maybe you’ll decide to repurpose it from an existing object like Dr Who’s police-box tardis? Or will you assemble it from recycled or ‘found’ bits and pieces? Or you could build it using revolutionary new materials that have yet to be invented. When you’re ready, put your design down on paper, using labels and a description to explain how it all works. Then give it a name and let your time-travelling adventures begin!

Ally Sherrick is the author of books full of history, mystery and adventure including Black Powder, winner of the Historical Association’s Young Quills Award 2017. She is published by Chicken House Books. 

 

You can find out more about Ally and her books at www.allysherrick.com and follow her on Twitter: @ally_sherrick

 

Finding stories in old places - tips from author Jeannie Waudby

For as long as I can remember, old buildings have filled me with a longing to know who lived there before. Very often, there is no way of knowing, and for me this meant trying to think up their story for myself.

I grew up on a little island in Hong Kong. It had been taken to be a leprosy treatment centre and most of the buildings were built in the 1950s. But the old ones, from hundreds of years ago, always fascinated me. As a child, I thought that the people had left long ago – whereas in fact they had to leave not long before the hospital was built.

Jetty valley

One of the oldest buildings was a little temple. It’s the tiniest building at the bottom of this picture in the middle, near the steps.

Then there were the graves. These were beautiful white tombs, shaped like the moon, always on a hillside. I wondered whose graves they were, and what their lives had been like on this island that was home to us now. The tombs made a deep impression on me so that years later, when I was studying art, they slipped into my pictures.

Moon grave

This woodcut shows a tomb with some burial pots. Most of the tombs were in the emptier part of the island where it was wild and grassy.

And in this watercolour the tomb is on the left, looking over the sea towards a neighbouring island.

Hillside tomb

Although we lived in Hong Kong, every few years we visited the UK, which to me was a huge exciting foreign land. On my first visit we travelled by ocean liner because planes were still very expensive. I remember the journey well even though I was little. It took one month, and one of the places we visited was Pompei. I recall arches, painted walls and the fact that life had stopped suddenly and tragically here because of a volcano.

When we went to the Highlands, where my mother came from, I felt at home straight away. To me, the mountains and sea felt just like the ones back home in Hong Kong. Even the rocks on the shore had the same yellow lichen and green seaweed, like hair. But I did get to see something I had never seen before: castles.

Eilean Donan

This aquatint shows Eilean Donan Castle and the Five Sisters of Kintail, with my impression of the light beaming onto the loch. A house where we often stayed had a cannon ball in the fireplace, from a battle long ago that left the castle in ruins.

Later, when I was older, my dad, who was English, would take us to visit famous historical places in England: the Tower of London, a Roman villa, the Victory warship and the wonderful Roman baths which you could still have a warm dip in if it was allowed. Inside the Victory, I smelt for the first time the sharp tang of centuries-old wood. To me it felt as if stories were humming just below the surface of the walls.

 

I started writing novels when I was a child, although I didn’t ever finish them. This is the first page of one I started when I was 11. It was set in England in the nineteenth century because we had just come back from the UK and while we were there, we stayed in a flat in a Victorian house.

For me, old places have always been doorways to stories.

Ickworth

Writing Prompt

When I am somewhere old, I can never shake off the possibility that it might turn out to be a time machine… and where would it take me? Think of an old building or place that you know. If it was a time machine, where would it take you? Who would you be? What would you be doing there? Would there be a hidden danger? 

 

One Of Us by Jeannie Waudby is a YA thriller/love story, published by Chicken House. It was shortlisted for the Bolton Children's Fiction Award and the Lancashire Book of the Year 2016 and has been adapted by Mike Kenny as a play in the Oxford Playscripts series.
One Of Us is published by Chicken House
The Oxford Playscripts play is published by Oxford University Press

 

For more information about Jeannie and her books visit her website.

 

Meet the Time Tunnellers!

 Meet the Time Tunnellers! We are five children's book authors who write historical novels.

Ally Sherrick

Ally’s dream job as a child was to be an Egyptologist and dig up mummies and treasure. Her favourite subjects at school were English and History and she loved nothing better in the holidays than exploring ruined castles and decaying mansions and imagining what it must have been like to live in them with no electricity or hot and cold running water.

After studying for a BA in medieval history and French at the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, she pursued a successful career in public relations and marketing. Then, in 2010, she took a break to study for an MA in Writing for Children which led to a publishing deal with award-winning children’s publishers, Chicken House Books.

Books:

BLACK  POWDER, is about a boy caught up in the infamous Gunpowder Plot. (Aug 2016.) 

Ally’s debut won the 2017 Historical Association’s Young Quills Award and the North Somerset Teachers’ Book Award 2017. 

 

THE BURIED CROWN is set during World War Two and links to the discovery of the celebrated Sutton Hoo Anglo-Saxon ship burial. (Apr 2018.)

THE QUEEN’S FOOL is a Tudor-set adventure which sees Cat Sparrow travel to the wondrous Field of Cloth of Gold in search of her sister. (Feb 2021.)

All three books are published by Chicken House.

Ally is currently working on a new book for Chicken House due for publication in early 2023.

Ally is married and lives with her husband and assorted garden wildlife in West Surrey.

Why I chose this hat!

It’s a crown really. It might even be the crown from my story World War Two set adventure The Buried Crown. If it is then it’s very old and belonged to a famed Anglo-Saxon warrior who was rewarded with it and the kingdom by a grateful king for saving him and his people from the ravages of a treasure-thieving dragon. It has a runic inscription on it which reads: ‘He who has me has the kingdom’. And it might, just might, have a touch of magic welded into it too. But to find out more you’ll have to read the book!

Where would I time travel to?

That’s such a tough question! There are so many possible destinations to choose from. But top of my current time-travelling bucket-list is Holy Island, Lindisfarne in Northumbria, a magical place connected to the mainland by a causeway that disappears under water when the tides come in. The time I’d pick is just before the start of the first Viking raid in 793. It would give me the chance to admire the wonderful Lindisfarne Gospels in the monastery scriptorium where they were produced, interview the monks about how they made such beautiful and inspired art and meet a fearsome Viking warlord or two. Though I probably wouldn’t hang around for too long once they started waving their swords and battleaxes and demanding treasure with menaces!

Find out more about Ally:

Website: allysherrick.com

twitter: @ally_sherrick

Susan Brownrigg

Susan wanted to be an author for a very long time! So in the meantime she did lots of other jobs. A graduate in journalism, film & broadcasting, Susan worked on a series of weekly local newspapers, then was promoted to sub editor where she came up with headlines, checked articles for accuracy and laid out pages. Susan then switched careers to heritage and wildlife education, working at a zoo, science discovery centre and for the National Trust. Her duties included looking after animals and living history. Until recently she was Learning Manager at a museum and gardens on the grounds of a former medieval priory. She now works as a library information assistant.

Books:

GRACIE FAIRSHAW AND THE MYSTERIOUS GUEST A mystery adventure set in Blackpool. Can Gracie work out which of the guests has taken Ma, as the clock ticks down to the 1935 Illuminations switch-on? (Jul 2020)

KINTANA AND THE CAPTAIN’S CURSE  A treasure hunt adventure with lemurs and magic set in Madagascar during the golden age of piracy. (Jul 2021)

 

GRACIE FAIRSHAW AND THE TROUBLE AT THE TOWER Accidents, pranks and poison pen letters - someone is trying to spoil the Blackpool Tower Children's Ballet's Christmas show. Gracie and her friends must stop the saboteur before their final act!  Published Oct 7, 2021.

All three books are published by Uclan Publishing.

Susan lives with her husband in Skelmersdale, Lancashire.

Why I chose this hat!

This is a 1930s style felt cloche hat! In my book, Gracie Fairshaw and the Mysterious Guest, Gracie’s Ma vanishes. Gracie finds Ma’s hat, squashed on the floor along with her handbag, and determines to seek out more clues, assisted by her younger brother, George, new friends Tom and Violet, and Phyllis the maid. I love the fashions of the 1930s and wish we all still wore hats like this! If you want to know how Gracie works out which guest is responsible for her disappearance and if she can rescue her in time you’ll have to read the book!

Where would I time travel to?

I am fascinated by the story of the thylacine (the Tasmania Tiger.) It is extinct, though every so often stories pop up of sightings. The thylacine was a semi-nocturnal large carnivore that looked like a dog/wolf but was a marsupial – so it had a pouch! It had stripes on its hide – hence the nickname. Originally, they were widespread across continental Australia. There numbers declined due to habitat destruction, introduced disease from wild dogs, and hunting by humans. The last known thylacine, Benjamin, dies at Beaumaris Zoo, Hobart, in 1936. If I could go back in time, I would love to see them roaming wild as darkness beckons.

Find out more about Susan:

Website: susanbrownrigg.com

twitter: @suebmuseum

Instagram: @susanbrownrigg

 

Barbara Henderson

Barbara Henderson moved to Scotland 30 years ago and has somehow since acquired an MA in English Language and Literature, a husband, three children and a shaggy dog along the way. Her day job as a drama teacher gives her ample opportunity to try out her story ideas on youngsters.

Based in Inverness, Barbara is the author of six acclaimed novels for children. Five of them are historical fiction and all are published by Cranachan. She has won several national and international writing competitions and been shortlisted for both the Crystal Kite and the Kelpies Prize.

This year has seen the publication of her new Viking adventure The Chessmen Thief, an origin story for the famous Lewis Chessmen, and Scottish by Inclination, Barbara’s first adult non-fiction title.

She says: ‘To me, the past is the most interesting country of all. I could not be more excited to be a Time Tunneller.’

Books:

FIR FOR LUCK Highland Clearances novel based on real events in Sutherland, Scotland. (Sep 2016)

PUNCH Victorian boy-on-the-run tale based on real events in 1889 and set against a lively backdrop of travelling entertainers. (Oct 2017)

WILDERNESS WARS A contemporary eco-thriller for children asking: 'What if Nature fights back?' (Aug 2018)

BLACK WATER A smuggling novella based on real events and featuring the poet Robert Burns.(Oct 2019)

THE SIEGE OF CAERLAVEROCK A medieval castle adventure based on the real-life siege in the year 1300. (Aug 2020)

The Siege of Caerlaverock has been shortlisted for the Historical Association's Young Quills Award 2021.

THE CHESSMEN THIEF A Viking adventure and inventive origin story for the famous Lewis Chessmen. (Apr 2021)

Barbara's childrens books are published by Cranachan.

Why I chose this hat!

Well, with my head firmly in the late Viking age, I had to choose a Viking helmet, right? What most people don’t realise is that Viking helmets did NOT in fact have horns – the Norsemen used hollowed-out horns for drinking out of, though.

Where I would time travel to?

I always think I would like to experience the Middle Ages – I love so much about that period – the poetry and the architecture, the literature and the pageants with live theatre (as a drama teacher I really enjoy theatre). I adore seeing illuminated manuscripts too, and knights and jousting just add to the magic. People in the Middle Ages loved stories and many of our legends started then. However, I would avoid the Crusades and the wars, and I’d run from the plague – I’m too much of a wimp, I’m afraid!

Find out more about Barbara:

Website: barbarahenderson.co.uk

twitter @scattyscribbler

Instagram @scattyscribbler

Facebook: barbarahendersonwriter

Catherine Randall

Catherine’s love of history began at the age of 6 months, when her history-teacher mother took her into lessons in her pram. After that there was no looking back as family holidays involved lots of castles and classical ruins, with her mother often able to provide a running commentary on the people who’d once lived there. Catherine also devoured all the children’s historical fiction she could find, as well as writing her own stories (often about families with large numbers of children) because writing had become a passion from the age of six.

After studying history at university (no surprise there), Catherine worked as an editor in publishing before taking time out to bring up her three children. The urge to write wouldn’t go away and when her youngest child started school, she did an MA in Children’s Literature which confirmed that writing for children was what she really wanted to do.

Books:

THE WHITE PHOENIX Catherine's debut children's book is set in London in 1666, it features forbidden friendship, prejudice, plague, a bookshop and of course the Great Fire of London. (Aug 2020)

The White Phoenix has been shortlisted for the Historical Association's Young Quills Award 2021.

Catherine is currently working on her second children’s historical novel.

Catherine is very proud of coming from Shropshire, but now lives with her husband and varying numbers of grown-up children in Teddington, Middlesex.

Why I chose this hat!

A few years ago, while I was researching the Great Fire of London for my first novel, I realised that I knew a ridiculous amount about the subject and wanted to share it even before the novel was finished. A kind lady at the local theatre made me a seventeenth-century costume (including this cap) and also produced some aprons and cloaks. Now when I visit schools to talk about the Great Fire, I can go in costume and the children can dress up too. I love talking to children about the Great Fire!

Where would I time travel to?

I’ve spent so much time imagining I’m in seventeenth-century London that I just have to choose that. Although London in the 1660s was noisy, smelly and dirty, it was also a very vibrant, colourful place, with lots of interesting people busy discovering exciting new things about science, art and astronomy, and then discussing it together over meals of pies and oysters. However, I have to say that the 1660s would only be fun if you weren’t poor, and it would also be better to be a boy than a girl. Girls in 1660s London probably had more freedom than they did in some later periods, but they were still not treated as equals with boys. This is one of the reasons why Lizzie in The White Phoenix has to fight so hard to save her bookshop.

Find out more:

Website: catherinerandall.com

twitter: @Crr1Randall 

Jeannie Waudby

Jeannie grew up on a little island in Hong Kong, which was a leprosy treatment centre. Almost all the buildings were quite new but there was a tiny old temple, an original hamlet and several centuries-old graves. Maybe because none of the original inhabitants now lived on the island, Jeannie used to wonder about the people who had been there long ago. Going into old buildings still sparks this fascination for her, and is probably behind the story she is currently working on. Jeannie is half Scottish and half English and this story is set in the Highlands and near London, where Jeannie lives.

Books:

ONE OF US (Chicken House) is a contemporary YA story (12+), set in a parallel reality, so although time is not going backwards, it shifts sideways.

ONE OF US was shortlisted for the Bolton Children’s Fiction Award and the Lancashire Book of the Year 2016. 

It has been adapted by Mike Kenny as a play in the Oxford Playscripts series, and is also an audiobook read by Melody Grove.

Why I chose no hat!

I am wearing a shawl rather than a hat, because when the Clearances force my main character to leave the Highlands in 1848, she takes with her a shawl she made herself. In the background you can see the current Inverness harbour, taken from the site of the old Thornbush Pier, which is where the Steam Packet sailed from Inverness to London before the railway.

Where would I time travel to?

I wouldn’t like to be limited to just one time if I could time travel! I would love to see what life was like when my parents were young. I think I would want to be able to come back whenever I wanted, and that being the case, I would love to see London in the mid nineteenth century and to travel across oceans on a sailing ship. I’d like to make the journey my character makes – four days in a steam ship down the east coast of Britain – a journey I’ve made so many times by rail. Whenever I visit a grand old house, I wish I could time travel back to meet the servants. 

Find out more

Website: jeanniewaudby.com

twitter: @jeanniewaudby