Francesca looks back to the past, at some artifacts that would have been around in World War 1
As some of you might already have gathered, my second Valleys book, War in the Valleys is out in a couple of days. Writing it has brought to mind some relics of that era that I have stored in my bedroom drawers and in a box left for the children by their paternal great grandmother, that would have been around in the First World War.
First, there’s one of the lovely brooches my grandmother-in-law, Betty, gave me, back in the 1990s. The gold hallmark dates it at 1907, four years before Betty was born, and some research suggests it was a very popular design of the time. I know it belonged to her mother, Elizabeth, so I wonder if her father, Robert, bought it for her.
Another of the brooches, a silver Mizpah brooch, dates back even further, to 1889. Has anyone come across a Mizpah brooch before? The word ‘Mizpah’ is from the Bible and 
apparently means ‘watchtower’. The brooches became popular in the Victorian era, exchanged between lovers or good friends who were due to spend some time apart. As you can imagine, their popularity increased once more during the First World War. The age of it makes we wonder if it belonged to Betty’s grandmother, Hannah.
In Heartbreak in the Valleys and War in the Valleys, Elizabeth Meredith or her mother, Margaret, would possibly have been the only women in the village able to afford the gold brooch. Most of the other characters, Violet Jones in particular, would have struggled to afford either. In fact, if Violet had owned one, she’d likely have sold it, as she did some of her furniture, to make ends meet. Working four days a week at the mine, sorting, coal from rock, would only have earned her around ten shillings and sixpence a week.
The items I found that all my characters would have had are the pre-decimal coins. Among them, the oldest coins are three Victorian pennies dated 1895, 1897 and 1898. Next are the three George V coins: a halfpenny dated 1911, a penny dated 1918 and a farthing, also dated 1918. Old coins like this have a particular smell, which I can only describe as sweaty metallic, with a bit of dank thrown in. It’s fascinating to consider how many hands they’ve been through. If each could have its journey mapped out, I’m sure it would make a fascinating tale. Although they ended up on Tyneside, maybe somewhere along the way they passed through the Rhymney Valley, where my characters lived. We’ll never know!
War in the Valleys is out on the 25th November and is currently on special offer at 99p on Kindle for a limited period.
Heartbreak in the Valleys, the first in the series, is also on offer at 99p on Kindle and Kobo, again for a limited period.
Links
War in the Valleys: amzn.to/2HxbDhT
Heartbreak in the Valleys:
Amazon: amzn.to/2XUSTyB
Kobo: https://bit.ly/3flinf1
Do come and find me on social media and have a natter:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FrancescaCapaldiAuthor/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/FCapaldiBurgess
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/francesca.capaldi.burgess/
As the pre-Christmas activities begin, we welcome Jean Fullerton to tell us about her settings, characters and her writing day
When the local girls’ school gets bombed out in December of 1942, Michael Brogan and his friends are forced to share classes with the young ladies of Stepney Green. And when Michael meets Jane in one of those lessons, he knows it’s the best thing that has ever happened to him. He may only be 12, but he’ll love Jane forever.
Hello Nicola, and welcome to Write Minds. First off, do you see yourself in any of your characters?
Tell us about your setting and why you chose it?
Bodmin, the Moor, and the River Fal where we also sail. The Cornish Lady is set in Trelissick House and A Cornish Betrothal in Trerice.
I love the research aspect of writing historical novels. I usually have a theme I want to explore. Each book centers round different aspects of the history in Cornwall, 1793-1800 and a lot of my information is gleaned from academic papers or books written specifically about the subject. We are so lucky having google at our fingertips! However I can’t get my head into my characters until I can prove something happened at exactly the time I want it to happen, to a group of people I want to represent, in a specific place, at a specific time. That gives me the authority I need. For example, in A Cornish Betrothal, I have a lady herbalist, a young physician, and others on the infirmary committee which has been called to raise funds and approve the design of the New Infirmary in Truro. Imagine my delight when I found the actual minutes of the 
committee meeting held in 1790 in the Records Office in Truro. All the records and archives are now housed in Kresen Kernow in Redruth and I have enormous fun making sure I have proof of what I’m going to include in my books. It’s not always easy to read some of the handwriting though, even armed with a huge magnifying glass.
Believe it or not, I’ve written each of my books in a different place. Once I’ve finished writing a book, it’s as if I have to move on. I just can’t write another in the same place. It’s very strange. I wrote my first book at the kitchen table, my second at the dining room table. The third was written in my daughter’s bedroom and the fourth in my son’s. By the time I was writing my fifth book my grandchildren were older so I could move the cot out of the back bedroom to make an office. Now, writing my sixth, I’ve turned my desk to face the opposite wall and that seems to have done the trick. Any more books and we’ll have to move house. And no, my new office is never usually this tidy!
Eighteen months have passed since Midshipman Edmund Melville was declared missing, presumed dead, and Amelia Carew has mended her heart and fallen in love with a young physician, Luke Bohenna. But, on her twenty-fifth birthday, Amelia suddenly receives a letter from Edmund announcing his imminent return. In a state of shock, devastated that she now loves Luke so passionately, she is torn between the two.
Write Minds 