In case you haven't figured it out yet, I love historical novels ... and movies ... and anything else besides. So what is it that I, and many others like me, find so attractive about the old days?
I could say it's the costumes - from doublets and wimples of medieval times to crinolines and bustles in the 1800s - they alone are enough to hook me in.
Or perhaps it's the language when flying one's colours meant nothing to do with flags, and pinchpenny and doddypoll were serious insults.
It could be the simplicity of living (not saying I would survive happily without the mod-cons of computers and air-conditioning), where the cow had to be milked and the butter had to be churned, but no-one had to jump in their car and sit in peak hour traffice just to get to their workplace for the day. Or the fact that marriage meant marriage - in the Biblical sense, because there was a Scripture reference next to the dictionary meaning of the word in those days. And evolution hadn't been invented yet, so most people had a belief in creation and God.
But then again, maybe it is just the absolutely amazing things men and women accomplished without the tools we now have, and often gave God the credit for it. Some of our own explorers, for instance, survived miraculously in an impossible desert environment, just to open up the land to further exploration and settlement.
Some days I simply stand in awe of our heritage, and writing about it is like entering a whole other world. Now that I've surfaced to tell you all this, I'm getting back in my time machine and heading back to 1855. Lucky me!
Amanda Deed resides in the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne where she fills her time with work, raising a family, church activities and writing historical romance novels. Her new novel, Ellenvale Gold was released at the beginning of November, 2011. For more information, see:
http://www.amandadeed.com.au/
http://amanderings.wordpress.com/
I hear you, Oh how I hear you!!!
ReplyDeleteI think for me it's so similar to you Amanda. I love to read about a society where Godly values were so tightly woven into the fabric of life, even the dictionary included God's ideal in definitions.
Not sure I'd like to live without my computer or medical advances, but I wouldn't say no to keeping a goat for milk. Pity no one else in my home agrees. So I get that 'fix' from fiction too. xx
Kindred spirits - we are. XXOO
DeleteIf I had a time machine, I'd go forward. Bring on eternal life!
ReplyDeleteI have to admit I am with Peter! :)
DeleteLOL Peter. I might even join you on that one!
ReplyDeleteI agree with all the points you made in your post. It was a totally different world indeed.
DeleteEven the lifestyles of some of the senior citizens we have among us were radically different. My parents, who were born in the 1930s, still lived in that different world and have stories to tell about being children during the war, etc. My dad, who turns 80 this year, remembers having a wear around his neck at primary school a medallion with his blood type on it, and he used to be terrified that Hitler and his army would march down the streets of Adelaide.
Perhaps life changed to how we know it for those who belong to Gen X, like us, or maybe the Baby Boomers.
PS, I'd love to whiz back but I'm relieved to live in a time where Caesarian births are possible or I'd be dead. For me, your novels and those of others are time machine enough :)
I love listening to the elderlies stories. Fascinating stuff. Thanks Paula. :)
DeleteAmanda - I really do need to read some of your books!
ReplyDeleteI'm a bit of a historical movie fan. Been currently enjoying Lark Rise to Candleford.
Haven't seen many good Aussie ones though - have you any suggestions?
Peter - yep. :)
I love Lark Rise to Candleford. I just downloaded the audio book onto my phone. And Cranford. :)
DeletePenny, The Man From Snowy River is an all time favourite for Aussie historical. A good one I saw recently was Twin Rivers, which Meredith Resce was involved with. Really good value.
DeleteI don't mind historicals and have been dabbling about doing one. I just am not on big on research so....
ReplyDeleteBut i think we don't give God enough credit nowdays. We always have science or society or something to thank for the things that we do.
We need to bring people thinking back about how things were 100+ years ago
MEL
So true Melanie. The world is so self-sufficient these days, it's almost as though we forget God is even there sometimes. Sad.
DeleteI have to admit I am not big on historical novels. Although I have read a few and have enjoyed them. I am pretty glad I am alive in this day and age with so many perks in being a Writer - compared to the old days. I am glad I don't have to wait 6 months to hear from my family overseas! :) I am glad I can send an email at the click of a button to my Mum whose thousands of kilometres away and even get a reply instantly. I am glad that life is so easy and 'stress free' and that we can move from A to B very easily and so have a very widely fufilling life as it were. I am glad we have the wisdom of those who lived before us. I am glad..... I think I can go on and on.
ReplyDeleteBut thanks Amanda for opening my eyes to another perpsective. I did enjoy all 3 episodes of Back to the Future and think it would be cool to be able to travel back and forth in time!
Hi Anusha. Yes, I have to agree that I enjoy the way technology removes distance and time to a great extent. I don't think I could actually live in the 1800s, but I love to visit in my imagination. :)
DeleteIm joining you in going back only I fear I would be a servant. I love historical books and I think its for many of the reasons you said.
ReplyDeletePaula I have to say Im just a baby boomer and I remember how much things have even changed in my lifetime. I was recently thinking when I babysat at a few places they had computers with some games on there that I was able to play. I didn't own a computer and it was so much fun. We also were one of the last getting a colour tv so use to love babysitting a colour tv.
Life was simpler in the historical days.
Probably most of us would be servants I think, Jenny. Or married to one. Us girls were not considered for voting rights or employment other than teaching or domestic work for a long time - most of us only looked forward to being a wife and a mother. We have a lot to be thankful for in this present age, come to think of it. :)
DeleteSnap! That about sums it up - and Penny, please stop with the period drama references - I'm such a fan of Lark Rise, and Cranford, and Downton Abby, Dickens, Austen...But I have to get my mind back to more modern pursuits that are at hand - but keep up the writing Amanda.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that I write contemporary fiction is a bit of a mystery to me. I love, love, love the 'olden' (golden) days too, and you do a great job of bringing it to life, Amanda.
ReplyDeleteI think for me, the reason I like history so much is that it is simple a world that is different than the one I am living in. That is why the genres of historical fiction and science fiction often have both readers and writers in common - both of these genres take us somewhere "other".
ReplyDelete