A book often starts with what I call 'unaware
research'. I read a newspaper article or listen to a Radio 4 programme and
something fires in my mind. My fourth novel, The History Room, came into being because I was at a school open
day and thinking what a perfect crucible a school is. All those teenagers with
their angsts and stresses. The teachers with their own anxieties. Exams. Sports
matches. Friendship troubles. But at open days everything can appear perfect
and glossy.
I knew my book had to start with a bang:
something had to happen which immediately threatened the serene appearance of
the school. Originally I thought of having a real baby in my first scene, but
for reasons that will be clear to anyone who’s read The History Room, I couldn't bring myself to do it. A friend on a
writers’ forum put me on to reborn dolls: dolls that are lifelike facsimiles of
newborn babies. I researched reborns further by looking at YouTube videos and
reading newspaper articles like this
one.
Researching the book’s setting was also important.
I looked at photographs of large country houses on the web. The History Room is set in a beautiful
country house and there are plenty of those where I live, in Oxfordshire. Some
of that research took place organically, as I drove around the area. My editor,
Will Atkins, also sent me a great photograph of a house he’d come across on a
walk.
I also needed to know about the Prague
Spring in Czechoslovakia and when the Russians would have reached various parts
of the country. In addition, I wanted information about the layout of the
western suburbs of Prague and of the area bordering the German border. I have
visited both parts of the country, but years ago. Here, my best friend was
Google Maps. It allowed me to have a bird’s eye view of both areas. I also
found books about Czech history during the 20th century and read
some biographies and autobiographies of artists and writers who’d lived through
WW2 and/or the Prague Spring.
As fantastic as the web is for research, I still err on the side of preferring books,
archives and museums, mainly because I probably spend long enough at my laptop,
anyway. However, Wikipedia and the BBC website and associated forums are very
good. I have also used The National Archives online to obtain copies of
documents.
If it comes to a stand-off between 100% historical or geographical
accuracy and the story/characters, the latter always win. But that happens very
rarely, I find. What I'm trying to do is avoid someone throwing the book down
in disgust because they know it's completely unlikely that events would have
happened in the way I portray. Nonetheless, every time a book of mine is
published I lie in bed fretting that I’ve forgotten to check something. I’m
sure it’ll be just the same where The
History Room is concerned!
But whatever the anxieties it can create, research is fun. It leads to
new openings, new ideas. I’m enjoying going through the process for my fifth
novel at the moment.
