Eden Falls (56 page)

Watching this, Ruby wondered if she would grow to like Amos Sykes. He seemed a pugnacious sportsman, although he’d been friendly enough to her so far. When the ball hit the batsman, Anna had gasped and brought a hand to her mouth in shock, and now Ruby could see her looking at Amos with a curious expression of vexation mixed with pride, as if she admired his wildness but wanted him tamed.

She scanned the immediate area for Roscoe, and saw him with Angus and the girls on a flat gravelled walkway, not even watching the cricket. Eliza was dancing to the music in her head and soon, Ruby thought, she would be going away to Paris to live with a chaperone and dance with a distinguished ballet company. Ruby was sad to be losing Eliza so soon after finding her. She was a special girl, with a loving nature and a talent for kindness. If Eliza were her daughter, she didn’t think she could bear to let her go. Beside her on the path, but oblivious to her performance, Roscoe sat on the gravel with Ellen and Angus, and Ruby could see from the way he was speaking, and the way that Angus leaned against him in a state of bliss, that he was telling a story. This was how he had captured Ellen’s cautious little heart so quickly; he had a fund of Jamaican tales with dark middles and happy endings, and she had found them impossible to resist. Ruby had no worries about Roscoe. He was a chameleon child; he adapted to new places and made them feel like home.

On the cricket pitch, the match seemed to be proceeding in a manner more to everyone’s liking. Amos Sykes still had the ball, but he bowled it in such a way that the batsman had half a chance of hitting it. Still, Ruby thought, everyone had seen what he could do and might do again; this made him a powerful man. Anna and Eve, who really weren’t interested in cricket, had stopped watching and were chatting about this and that, and Ruby knew that if she wished to be included, she could be. But she was happy for now only to observe, letting her attention wander and her gaze alight where chance took it. There was so much to see, and everything was different from her small, tropical island home: different in ways she hadn’t been able to comprehend until she arrived. If she’d sailed to the moon it couldn’t be more of a contrast.

‘Ruby?’

This was Eve, who had placed a solicitous hand on her shoulder.

‘Are you all right? You look a bit sad.’

Ruby considered the question. ‘I think perhaps I am a little sad,’ she said. ‘But that’s not to say I’m unhappy.’

Eve moved closer to her on the tartan rug and put an arm around her shoulders. ‘Everything will be fine,’ she said. ‘More than fine.’

Ruby nodded and smiled, to reassure Eve that she believed this too. But truthfully, what Ruby felt was that neither of them knew how fine, or otherwise, the future might be. What she did know was that their journey from Jamaica hadn’t ended when they arrived here in Netherwood; rather, it had only just begun.

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Jamaica is a brand new setting in the series. Why did you choose to move some of the action there?

It’s important – indeed crucial – that a novel holds the author’s interest as well as the reader’s, and I was ready for a change of scene. I’d done a small amount of research during the writing of
Ravenscliffe
into the banana trade between Bristol and the West Indies, and because of that I knew the tourist trade to Jamaica from England was just starting, at the turn of the twentieth century. This opened up tremendous opportunities for my third novel. The dashing but dastardly Silas Whittam was already well established, and moving some of the action to the Jamaican end of his business empire seemed like a natural progression, as well as an exciting new direction.

Tell us about how you researched the Jamaica of 1909. Were you tempted to make a special visit to the island yourself?

I’ve come to understand, in the course of writing my novels, that a little information goes a long way. Accurate historical detail is essential for authenticity, but it must be used lightly and I think it’s always apparent when the author has let their new-found knowledge of a period run away with them. So although I was making a dramatic move into the unknown, I knew that with the help of a few excellent history books I would be able to paint a picture of Port Antonio by dropping in, fairly sparingly, references to actual places – such as the port and Musgrave Market – and place names – including Spanish Town and Frenchman’s Cove. Other books – novels such as
Wide Sargasso Sea
and
A High Wind in Jamaica
– taught me the names of indigenous plants and birds, and introduced me to Jamaican folklore. Lots of people asked if I’d be taking a trip to the island and it would have been terrific, of course, to have done so. But I could learn what I needed to know from my books, and although I’ve never been to Jamaica I have been to other Caribbean islands, so I know how it feels to be caught in tropical rain and to swelter in that very particular, humid Caribbean heat.

The descriptions of the Jamaican food are mouth-watering. Are you a fan of Caribbean cuisine?

I used to live in Kentish Town, North London, in the late eighties (goodness, that’s last century!) and there was a small restaurant just off the high street called Halfway Tree, where you could eat goat curry with rice and peas and a side dish of grilled plantain. That was my first taste of Caribbean cuisine, and I absolutely loved it. Since then, I’ve had perhaps three or four Caribbean-island holidays, so I’ve eaten snapper and herring fresh from the sea and tried salt cod fritters for breakfast, and I can confirm that it all tastes even better in a beachside shack with sand on the soles of your feet.

Back in England, the Earl and Countess of Netherwood have something of an open marriage. Do you think this was typical of the time?

In the section of society in which they frolic, their behaviour was not untypical. Edward VII’s philandering had set the tone for a sort of aristocratic free-for-all and certainly the king seemed to be able to help himself to whoever caught his eye, whether or not they were married. However, the fact that Tobias and Thea don’t yet have a son makes their behaviour more unusual; letters and diaries from the period make it plain that it fell to the woman to remain faithful to her husband until his heir had been born. I felt that Thea would have no truck with that sort of inequality, and that Tobias – who has never been a particularly possessive type – would also see the injustice in allowing himself dalliances but forbidding them for his wife. As the book progresses, however, both begin to question their choices and are drawn back to one other. This gives me considerable pleasure. For all their flaws, I believe Tobias and Thea make a good couple, and will also be good parents.

What do you think is the biggest difference in the national outlook of 1909 compared to that of 2013?

Having given this question a bit of thought, I ended up seeing a similarity rather than a difference. The concept of the ‘home-grown’ terrorist is a modern one, coined in response to the influence of Islamic fundamentalism on people born and raised in Britain, but in 1909 there was also a real and growing consciousness among the ruling classes of the enemy within. Revolution was a distinct possibility: the king and his cohorts looked anxiously to Russia (where the 1905 revolution had sent a warning shot to the tsar) because Britain, too, was on the brink of massive political and social change. Lloyd George was railing against privilege, unions across the industries were gaining in strength and number, and the campaign for women’s suffrage was growing increasingly violent and vocal. So 1909 was a time when the national outlook was turning away from the Empire and broader international concerns, and inward to the ferment of domestic issues – just as, in a different way, we do today.

Feminism is currently experiencing a huge wave of popularity among the women of today. Do you think this would make the trailblazing Henry happy?

I think Henry is a woman born before her time so yes, she would be extremely happy to see the advances we’ve made in women’s rights. Of course, by the end of
Eden Falls
she has pulled away from the WSPU, following the trauma of her imprisonment. But there’s more than one way to be radical, and from the very beginning of the series Henrietta has been an unusually strong woman, with a masculine outlook. Her competence at running the Netherwood estate and her practical preference for riding breeches over traditional skirts single her out as an independent-minded young woman with scant regard for convention.

Which character would be most shocked by how society has progressed?

That would have to be poor Clarissa, the Duchess of Plymouth. Her difficulties would lie not so much with technological advances or changing fashions, but with the breaking down of society’s barriers and the blurring of distinctions between the classes. Being a rather apolitical creature, she wouldn’t have been troubled by who was or wasn’t in government, but as the old feudal hierarchies were dismantled all her certainties would have crumbled to dust. Unlike her offspring, Clarissa isn’t adaptable or even particularly resilient. Her strength of character is only skin deep and her sense of self relies on position and privilege. One of the reasons she dislikes Thea so much is that the young American woman has not only breached the defences of the English aristocracy, but seems to feel no particular gratitude at being allowed in. I should add, of course, that Mr Parkinson, the butler, would probably stand shoulder to shoulder with the duchess in condemning the rules – or absence of them – in modern society. Together, they could reminisce about the old days while Parkinson waited on Her Grace’s every whim, thereby keeping both of them happy.