It's funny how I always begin my books with an idea and it rolls into a series. That was the case with this series. I wanted to write Graeme's story and more stories formulated for the other men in the story. But first...let's start at the beginning. So I got the idea thinking about a young lass who was troublesome and the lad she tormented because we know girls always bother the boys especially at young ages. I always pestered my brothers and the boys who played outside on our street, but that's me...a minx.
The beginning of the story was inspired by the idioms don't throw the baby out with the wash water dates back to the 1500's. In medieval times, people shared bathwater and by the time the baby was bathed in it, the water was so murky the baby was in danger of being tossed out. Most believe this idiom means don't do something which you'll regret.
Also, I loved the spare the rod, spoil the child idiom. Since Bree was a little vixen and because she was so cute and adorable no one wanted to punish her when she did wrong (which was often.) The meaning: children would become weak or vulnerable if not chastised, physically or otherwise, for any wrongdoing. Perhaps that is true, but no spoilers here :)
I think it's fun to include sayings from earlier time periods, especially those that no longer exists or known today. And I loved King William in this story. In researching him, I found that he had some illegitimate children and I thought hmmm.... So Aubrey/Bree was born to him.
A lot of the scenes in this story was inspired by images I found on the web or those on the Pinterest board. Check them out here: https://www.pinterest.com/karagriffin/one-and-only-gunn-guardsman-1/
And a song that played on repeat while I was writing it was Mayday Parade's "We Were Kids In Love" Quite inspiration.
Also I have never been a good cook. I can be when I want to be, but I though I would make my heroine a great cook and everyone loves her food. The theme can be found throughout the book because it is Bree's "go to" when she's upset or needs something to distract her.
If you've read the book or may want to there are a good many researched themes within. For example, medieval people had many festivals and feasts in honor of all sorts of things. There is a wonderful holiday the ancients celebrated called Saint Swithin's Day. It coincided with the harvest festival. I find it sad that some of our ancestor's holidays fell by the wayside. Saint Swithin's Day is like America's Ground Hog Day in that it foretold the weather as an 'old wives tale.' There's a cute song that goes with it:
St. Swithin's day, if thou dost rain,For forty days it will remain;St. Swithin's day, if thou be fair,For forty days 'twill rain na mair.
In the story there are two lords who are featured: MacHethe and MackWilliams, who were indeed after King William's crown and then his son, Alexander's. There was a lot of turmoil embedded within their trying to usurp the kings, but all were squelched by the growing strength of the Scottish kings.
There's also reference regarding executions. In those times many people were mainly executed with men by hanging and women by drowning (pit and gallows). The Scots were superstitious and continued to practice Norse law (especially north and in the Highlands) where the men were sent to Woden (hanging by wood) and the women were given to Ran (a sea goddess, drowning.)
This was a fun series to research and I was like a kid in a candy store when I found bits of history to add to the story. If you've read One & Only, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Tune in next week and we'll talk about On A Highland Hill. Two of my favorite people - Kenneth and Elisa!
Happy Historical Reading,
Kara Griffin
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