Guest Post: Historical Research for Contemporary Novels - Mist Na Mara Novels by Paula Martin @PaulaRomances

Historical Research for Contemporary Novels

by 

Paula Martin

I was a history teacher for over twenty-five years, and so I am used to people asking me why I don’t write historical novels. My answer is that I am too aware of all the research necessary to ensure the story is accurate – not only the facts, but also the ethos, manners, and customs of the period. I could also add that I’m not really interested in spending hours researching fashion and furnishings!

Having said that, I usually find that history, in some form, tends to creep into my contemporary novels, and actually plays quite a large part in some of them.

In IRISH INHERITANCE, the hero and heroine inherit a large Victorian house in the west of Ireland. It was built in the 1890s and refurbished in the 1930s, so I did need to research some details of furnishings, ranging from late Victorian to Art Deco, as well as Victorian fashions. My characters also have to investigate their own family histories, and fortunately my own family history research helped with this, because I know what resources are available online. Other historical questions cropped up, such as: when was the railway opened between Clifden and Galway, when was the post-World War One Spanish influenza epidemic at its height, and when was Dalkey Castle built?

History played a much larger role in IRISH SECRETS, when the heroine is trying to find her mother’s Irish birth mother. For this, I had to do a lot of research into the scandal of baby adoptions in Ireland, especially in the 1950s and 1960s. Movies like ‘Philomena’ and ‘The Magdalene Sisters’ helped, and I read several biographies and other accounts by the mothers who were forced to give up their babies for adoption, and by the now grown-up babies who have searched for their parent(s). For so many of them, there has been no closure, but at least I was able to give my story a happy resolution, as well as hopefully showing that not all the nuns were as cruel as they are sometimes depicted.

Nursery at Sean Ross Abbey

My fifth novel, IRISH SHADOWS (which hopefully will be published later this year) also required a lot of background research, this time into the Irish Civil War in the 1920s. Again, movies proved useful e.g. ‘Michael Collins’ (with a superb portrayal of Collins by Liam Neeson) and ‘The Wind That Shakes The Barley’, but I also read a large number of factual accounts. The heroine in my story discovers the part her great-grandfather played in the Civil War, and I probably used only 1% of the information I had researched, but of course, the other 99% was necessary to ensure I got that 1% accurate.

Excerpt from IRISH SECRETS:

‘What happened when they took Aileen away?’ Kara asked. ‘If you want to tell me, of course, because the memory must be painful for you.’

Margaret nodded. ‘It is, but you need to know, and your mother, too. When Aileen was ten months old, I was summoned to Reverend Mother’s office, and she said I had to sign some papers. I knew what they were, because the other girls told me, and I refused. She said, You must sign, and I begged and begged her to let Aileen stay with me. By this time, I was down on my knees, crying, but she pulled me up by my hair, pushed the pen into my hand, and said, Sign it, girl.’

Kara winced. ‘She must have been completely heartless.’

‘Indeed she was. She went on about me having to be punished for the sin I had committed, but, of course, that was drummed into us from the minute we set foot in the home. We were moral degenerates who could not be allowed to keep our children. Then came the ultimate emotional blackmail, about how selfish I would be to condemn my child to a life of poverty and deprivation, instead of letting her go to a family who would give her far more than I could.’ Margaret shook her head. ‘I couldn’t argue against that, because it was true. I had no job and nowhere to live, and so I signed the papers.’

‘And was that the day when Aileen was taken away?’

Margaret’s face creased. ‘It was. I ran up the two flights of stairs to the nursery, although I could hardly see through my tears, and as I got to the door, Sister Ursula came out carrying Aileen. While I was in Reverend Mother’s room, they’d dressed her in a lovely pale blue coat and bonnet, with white socks and little blue shoes – things I’d never seen before, and she held out her arms to me and smiled and said Mama. Sister Ursula let me hold her for a minute, and I was crying as I hugged her and kissed her. I kept whispering, I love you, I love you, please remember I love you.’

Margaret stopped and swallowed a few times, and Kara wiped the tears from her cheeks. ‘They only gave you a minute to say goodbye to her?’ she asked.

Margaret nodded. ‘Another nun came to the door, and she held me from behind, pinned me by both my arms, while Sister Ursula took Aileen from me and set off down the stairs. I struggled, even elbowed the nun’s bosom and managed to break free, but by that time they’d reached the bottom of the stairs, and the last I saw of Aileen was a wee glimpse before they turned into the corridor. Then I fell on the floor in a heap and broke my heart.’

While working at Mist Na Mara Arts Centre, Kara Stewart embarks on a search for her mother’s birth parents; she’d been adopted in the 1960s by an American couple. Kara soon realises the task is not as simple as she’d anticipated when she’s met with a wall of secrecy surrounding Irish baby adoptions.

Ryan Brady is hiding the secret of his real identity, but when he offers to help Kara trace her Irish family, his attraction to her is undeniable.

As the mystery unravels, secrets drive a wedge, not only between Kara and her mother, but also between Kara and Ryan.

Can they find a way to heal the rifts created by all these secrets and find love?

Links to all four of my Mist Na Mara novels are shown on my Amazon author page: Amazon US: http://amzn.to/2ELbXqo

Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/2om9MyM

and on my Tirgearr Publishing author page:

http://www.tirgearrpublishing.com/authors/Martin_Paula/

Paula Martin lives near Manchester in North West England and has two daughters and two grandsons.

She had some early publishing success with four romance novels and several short stories, but then had a break from writing while she brought up a young family and also pursued her career as a history teacher for twenty-five years. She has recently returned to writing fiction, after retiring from teaching, and is thrilled to have found publishing success again with her contemporary romances.

Apart from writing, she enjoys visiting new places. She has travelled extensively in Britain and Ireland, mainland Europe, the Middle East, America and Canada. Her other interests include musical theatre and tracing her family history.
    

Website: http://paulamartinromances.webs.com

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