Category: research
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What is real?
In our own way, we all need something to believe in. Walter, one of my favourite fictional characters, looks to nature in his attempts to understand the world. We first meet Walter in The Forgotten Children, when Emily travels to the isle of Anglesey, and on a clifftop walk she encounters a gentle stranger… ‘Today…
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Finding a voice
Last week we asked, What if new isn’t always better? looking at some of the implications of the Paris Peace Conference and the changes imposed on nations by the Treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations. It comes as no surprise that peoples who had suddenly gained new ‘masters’ found themselves questioning their rights,…
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What if new isn’t always better?
Is new always better? Are there some changes that can be justified in order to take the world in a new and different direction, or does human nature result in us merely duplicating past mistakes?
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Looking back to the future
If you have read any of my books, you will know I have a fascination with the recent past. My stories are all set during two eras: the Second World War years and the vibrant decade of the 1960s. Writing any fiction, whether about then or now, involves a certain amount of research. In fact,…
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Delving into the past
Anyone who has read any of my stories will know I have a fascination with the past, specifically the more recent past. Writing my first series of Sussex Crime novellas I spent happy hours researching what life was like on the Home Front in England during the Second World War. Research for my novels took…
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A chance to be heard
As I try to unpick the relationship between the people and the politicians in post-war Britain I’m reflecting on some of the key events when the populace had a chance to express their opinion. Labour Prime Minister, Clement Atlee, had enjoyed five years of leading a majority government, following Labour’s landslide victory just two months…
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From top down to bottom up…
To help me get into the mindset of my fictional characters I have spent the last few years researching recent history. Those of you who are familiar with my novels will know they are all set during the iconic decade of the 1960s, a time when Britain experienced a significant cultural shift. To explore the…
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Agatha Christie and Isabella Muir
I read my first Agatha Christie novel when I was thirteen years old. I don’t remember which one it was, but I do remember that it led me to read another and another. Like most authors I am a voracious reader. Having worked my way through Agatha Christie’s crime fiction I moved on through other…
Isabella Muir
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…when I’m 64
‘When I get older, losing my hair Many years from now’ Who remembers hearing these Beatles lyrics for the first time, back in 1967. Maybe we thought that by the time we reached 64 we would be ‘old’. It seems laughable now, when 64-year-olds choose to go trekking in their holidays and spend their weekends…
Isabella Muir
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Choosing a life of crime
When Agatha Christie’s first crime novel was published in 1920 she was thirty years old. She was a loved and loving daughter and is described as living in an ‘upper middle-class family’. When Jane Austen’s first novel was published in 1811 she was thirty-six years old. She too was a loved and loving daughter. Her…
Isabella Muir
Isabella Muir 