Today’s guest blog is by Imogen Robertson who talks about the background
to her latest novel Circle of
Shadows. Imogen Robertson is the author of the Westerman and Crowther series. Island
of Bones the fifth book in the series was shortlisted for the CWA Ellis
Peters Historical Dagger Award in 2011. She
has also been long-listed for the 2012 Dagger in the Library for her body of
work. Circle of Shadows is the sixth book in the series
Every novel comes
about through a mix of accident and design.
Circle of Shadows was born out of a very selfish desire to find out more
about the Holy Roman Empire in the 18th century, a book on an alchemist who set
up his own version of Freemasonry, a silver swan and a carnival mask.
I read German at
university, and while I loved the literature it was not until I picked up a
short biography of Goethe recently that I realised how little I knew about the
context in which his work was written.
This was also about the time that Simon Winder’s wonderful Germania came out and his colourful accounts of some of the
eccentricities of the small Courts of the 18th century sharpened my appetite
even more. When the time came to start thinking of the next Westerman and
Crowther mystery I knew where I wanted to set it. The states of the Empire that make up modern
Germany were packed with the sort of colours and contrasts that make research
of the period such a pleasure. I sucked
in stories of cabinets of curiosity, the subtleties of social hierarchy, the
forward looking rulers who aimed to be philosopher kings and those whose energy
and wealth were spent purely in the pursuit of pleasure. The accounts of British travellers of the
period are wonderful - fascinated, bemused impressed and uncomprehending in
turn. What, I thought, would Harriet and
Crowther make of this?
I cannot remember
how I came across Iain McCalman’s book The Seven Trials of Cagliostro, but I’m very glad that I did. This shaman or charlatan, depending on your
perspective. He had a colourful and
varied career that took him across Europe, healing the sick, growing diamonds
for the Cardinal de Rohan and setting up his own version of Freemasonry on the
way. Through him I found myself tumbling
into the history of Freemasonry and its many offshoots which spread across
Europe in the 1700s; some mystical, some philanthropic and some political. He also sent me off looking for the
philosopher’s stone. Most people know
that Newton was a dedicated alchemist, but I admit I was surprised to discover
to what degree alchemy as a practical and spiritual practice was still being
pursued long after his death.
The silver swan
automaton in Bowes has been entertaining visitors to that gorgeous museum for
generations. I remember it vividly from
when I was a child, and I filmed it in my previous incarnation as a children’s
TV director. I knew I wanted to have
someone in the Court who was an outsider like Harriet and Crowther. A skilled craftsman, a foreigner who shared
some common ground with them would be ideal, and so Adnan and Sami brothers who
design and build automata were born.
Then finally the
carnival mask. My partner and I headed
off to Germany and spent a couple of weeks travelling in and around what is now
Baden-Württemberg in the South West of the country. We fell in love with the region. The history of this part of Germany is
complex and runs deep. We saw the plain
crowns of 11th century Kings, Roman bath houses and basilicas and the great
baroque palaces built in imitation of Versailles. We also went walking in the Black Forest and
found, in a beautiful town called Gengenbach, the Museum of Fools. It celebrates the customs of carnival where
people dress in the masks of witches and party through the night to prepare for
the arrival of Lent. The masks worn in
this and similar festivals across the area fascinated me and I thought of a
man, drugged and confused, in the midst of those celebrations believing he was
surrounded by monsters, then waking under guard accused of murder and with no
memory of his innocence or guilt. I had
my opening scene. So, accident and
design. It’s like a good stew; you gather
up the ingredients and simmer.
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