Читать книгу The Blacksmith's Wife - Elisabeth Hobbes - Страница 3

Author Note

This story takes place in and around my home town of York and the North York Moors, an area I consider one of the most beautiful and dramatic in Britain. I’d urge everyone to visit—especially when the heather is in bloom and there is purple in every direction.

All but two of the locations mentioned in the book are real. Around a third of the way through writing I was delighted to find a female blacksmith named Johane on the lists of guild members working from St Andrewgate. Ravenscrag and Wharram Danby are my creations, but owe a lot to the centuries-old villages on the moors, including Wharram Percy which is managed by English Heritage and can be visited.

Sir Terry Pratchett died while I was writing this book, saddening me more than I can articulate here. When Joanna decided to adopt a dog—nothing to do with me…I didn’t know she was going to!—he became my tribute to Gaspode the Wonder Dog. There’s also another of his characters I’ve borrowed. Please let me know if you spot him.

The dog belongs to a friend who agrees with me that dogs with human names are extremely funny, and that Simon is by far the best example. His name was an unplanned but amusing coincidence—I love it when completely unrelated areas of my life collide.

As with all my stories, a particular song acted as a focus for my writing. This time it was Every Day by Stevie Nicks.