Touching the Past

I have always been fascinated by snippets from history, anecdotes from parents, aunts or grandparents. Moments in time, held fast and passed down through the generations. I missed out where grandparents were concerned, but made the most of my conversations with an aunt, who, although from a lowly background, had a most interesting war. Her ‘carnation from the king’ features in ‘The Mouse in the Teapot’ and the story of ‘Joe’s Ark’ was based on one of her stories and a newspaper cutting from the 1920s.
In a similar way, an object that evokes a memory or is a souvenir from a moment in time, makes my pulse race and my fingers itch to start writing. I have in my possession a tiny sphere of metal, barely a centimetre  in diameter – shrapnel from an Allied anti-personnel shell, found in a German trench. I roll it regularly in the palm of my hand, aware of its weight, its coldness, its potential for killing. There is so much history, anguish and horror in that tiny object. If only it could speak!
Hence the rowan tube in ‘The Bridge Makers’ and the crudely-carved mouse in my latest book, ‘The Mouse in the Tea Pot’, not yet released. Each can claim to be a traveller in time, uniting past and present, drawing together lives from vastly different spheres. I never cease to be fascinated by objects from the past, however ordinary and worthless they might seem to be. Contemplating them and their possible history provides a great starting point for a journey into the imagination – and, hopefully, a great story.

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