Research for this one proved wonderfully satisfying. I needed a suitable poison that would have been easy to get hold of at the time. Google led me to Google Books where I found the most amazing contemporary source from the later eighteenth century. The book was digitized so you could read it online. It was a lengthy treatise written by a doctor on poisons and covered absolutely every possible poison you could think of, particularly poisonous plants and their derivatives.
Not only that, this doctor gave exact descriptions of the symptoms in several cases, explained how and in what timeframe the person might die, and went on to describe what the post-mortem would show and how tests might be made. For example, the contents of the stomach could be given to a frog and if it died, they knew the poison had been in the body.
I ploughed through a number of possibilities before I settled upon opium. That immediately led me to research about opium-eaters, and I found another digitized book about the confessions of an opium-eater. The data here augmented what I had already found out and gave me much information about how much opium would kill, depending how it was taken, whether as liquor or grains, or as a laudanum sweet. The symptoms of being high on the narcotic were described, and how it felt afterwards. A tremendously revealing read.
Of course I then had to put this all together, using only what was pertinent to my story, and making sure it all made sense and worked. A fascinating exercise, I can tell you.
What I enjoyed most about this story was creating the Willow Court household – literally a madhouse – with their cross-currents of passion and secrets. Like Ottilia, I found myself pitying the unfortunate Tamasine, condemned to a terrible malady in spite of her extraordinary beauty.
I hope you are enjoying the development of Francis and Ottilia’s marriage, which, without giving any spoilers, is inevitably going to have its ups and downs. If you would consider leaving a review, it would be much appreciated and very helpful. Do feel free to contact me on elizabeth@elizabethbailey.co.uk or find me on Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads or my website www.elizabethbailey.co.uk.
Elizabeth Bailey
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Knight for a Lady
Marriage for Music
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Non-Fiction
What’s Wrong with Your Novel? And how to fix it
Musings from the Writer’s Desk
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Copyright © Elizabeth Bailey, 2018
Elizabeth Bailey has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work.
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No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organisations, places and events, other than those clearly in the public domain, are either the product of the author’s imagination, or are used fictitiously.
Any resemblances to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales are purely coincidental.
eBook ISBN: 9781912546480