fairies

The little details

When writing historic fiction, the little details are the things that bring the story to life. At the beginning of the pandemic I was writing Plagued and I was totally immersed in the world as it was in 1918. I’d read several books of soldiers personal accounts of their time in the trenches, books written by a nurse on the Western Front, details of the chain of evacuation, information about Netley Hospital and about the Spanish Flu. The photographs I found helped me get the feel for what it would have been like, both in France and in England, but it was the little details about the era that made all the difference.

Beware of trolls

With Commando on furlough, I suddenly found myself with a walking companion. I’d been telling him about the fairy doors I’d seen on the Butterfly Trail and the fact that many had been removed. He suggested a little circular walk to have a look at what was left. The idea of walking down to the sea was appealing, although from what I’d seen on social media, it was so crowded down there that actually walking along the shingle wasn’t going to be an option.

One of the upsides to the lockdown, at least at first, was that people had time on their hands. For some, this might have been considered a downside but many people were using the time to be creative. Social media was full of people making things, baking bread, sewing, knitting, creating art. In some ways it felt like a reminder of gentler, less frantic days. Apparently, there were also fairy doors springing up along the butterfly walk. It was 15 April, the day before the lockdown restrictions were due to be reviewed, and, still glowing with the success of my two bridge walk, I decided to risk a look.

M	T	W	T	F	S	S
	1	2	3	4	5	6
7	8	9	10	11	12	13
14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27
28	29	30