One of the things that I love about being an author is learning. I love learning. My point of view is I will stop learning when I die, though I might be learning far more about the afterlife.
It is my attempt to add some reality in each of my stories. Not all, but most. You should see all the files I have on my computer of so many threads I want to learn more about to add to another story. This makes me happy to add something factual amongst the fiction.
In my book Pemberley Quaking, there is an earthquake near Pemberley. Though the story is not on the same timeline, as the event started several years prior than the 1812 time frame. There was an earthquake which struck Derbyshire. In another book, Darcy’s Continental Escape, I describe the sights of the towns, villages, and historical buildings, in Vienna and along the Danube, as Elizabeth and Darcy, along with others, escape from the French forces. There was a lot of history in the journey, describing places which have been destroyed between wars and decay.
Other stories have medical information and procedures that were done at the time. Many of the medical procedures coming out in that time frame were from Edinburgh Medical School, in Scotland. Edinburgh, which has been in existence since 1726, was rated the number one medical school in the UK in 2022. The school was associated with 13 Nobel Prize laureates. Alumni of the school include a long list of the top in their fields, including authors of many medical journals that have been updated and still used today.
Here is a website where you can learn more about the Edinburgh Medical School if you would like to learn more about them. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Edinburgh_Medical_School
I have been asked about using modern known techniques to identify people and prove innocence. Being a forensic examiner for a police department, there are very few methods available in the early 1800’s. One that was available, which I used in one of my books, showed the handprint from one person was much larger than from the other. At the time, ridge details of fingerprints (hand, feet, toes) were not commonly known. Some of the countries such as China and India, used an inked fingerprint on documents, while others placed a patent print on the bottom of the pottery they made, as they believed that prints were unique and individual. Most people didn’t believe in the prints being so unique. Having been a crime scene/crime lab technician, being an expert witness on fingerprint comparisons, and having worked more than 10,000 fingerprint cases, friction ridges on fingers, palms, foot, and toes are so unique that there are less than 10 similar points in any comparison between people’s prints, including identical twins. In the top digit of each finger, there can be anywhere between 75 to 120 points to compare. In a recent book, I mentioned Erasmus Darwin. Beside his grandson Charles Darwin, another grandson was Francis Galton. Galton was one of the leaders of researching fingerprint comparison. His research brought about Galton details, showing how to code the fingerprints to make it easier to file print cards by the details, not by name (as many criminals were dishonest with giving their names). Galton lived from 1822 to 1911, yet in 1993 we were still using his system and using his points to make identifications. Ok, yes, I am getting my forensic freak on. HAHA. The computerize system made a HUGE difference in the filing, though his details were still being used when I left the department in 2009. Having rolled many inked prints, go through the procedure to file the cards appropriately, and running the prints through an early AFIS system (it was so old, it was dot matrix), seeing what they can do now with live scan and other systems, I can tell you it is night and day difference. I can remember when we moved all of the inked cards to storage. That was a happy day, so was the day we got rid of the dot matrix system. But because I have seen fingerprint systems being extremely confusing, to this day, I still do not use a fingerprint as security. I know it has been improved over the years, but it still makes me leery. Oh, and interesting fact…beside humans, gorillas, and most breeds of monkeys, koala’s have friction ridges on their digits. I actually got to fingerprint a koala while it was in Hogle Zoo (on loan from San Diego Zoo. It was sooooo awesome. I have inked prints from the silver back gorilla, that zoo staff rolled for me when they did their annual physical).
In the book In Search of Beauty, the story revolves around the theft of property which had been stolen by the French when they had plundered art. The Bruge Madonna was the only piece of Michelangelo’s work to leave Italy before his death. There were 2 times in history that the sculpture was stolen, during WWII, when Hitler was acquiring all the art he could, and prior to that, it was stolen by Napoleon’s troops which stole much of the art they could find. Also, in the story I described locations in the area of Burge, Belgium. Their lace work is extraordinary, and there are still people who hand make their lace, rather than turning it over to machine manufactured. Not only was this the only piece of Michelangelo’s work that left Italy before his death, it was considered to be a unique view comparison to other Madonna and child pieces. The image of Jesus standing, not as an infant in his mother’s arms. The reason I researched this was in the movie The Monument Men. When I learned that the sculpture had also been stolen, as well as other famous pieces, by Napoleon’s troops. Some of the names in the story were actual members of the French army.
In another story, it was spoke of Elizabeth’s stepmother being mulatto. It described how the stepmother came from the islands, and information regarding life and events which had taken place on the islands.
There are many events which can aid in the writing a story. The only issue I have is when I go down the rabbit hole of research, it is hours later when I come out, and with research into many other topics, some topics I have to go back in the rabbit hole to learn more. Sometimes I will post that I’m in a rabbit hole, toss food in the hole for me.
Hope you learned some information from this. Thank you so much.
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