Never Say "Never" With Research

Years ago, back in 1995, I read a book of oral history about living in the UK in the 1920s and '30s. A detail that sprang out at me immediately was recounted by a lady whose family started out in a house that was lit by oil-lamps. In those days, it was normal practice to prepare the bedtime oil-lamps in the kitchen, take them upstairs to bed and then bring them down again the next morning. The family then moved into a house that had - wonder of wonders! - electricity. At that point, they gave up their bedside oil-lamps for little electric lamps.... and brought them downstairs every morning, put them tidily away, and took them up to bed again the next night. Because that's what you do with your bedside lamps - right?

I loved that little detail because it said so much. I knew I was going to use it in one of my books.

This is why, whe we first meet Patience, at the beginning of Chapter 4 of The Surplus Girls, she is bringing her bedside lamp downstairs:

"Patience padded downstairs, carrying her bedside lamp, its flex neatly coiled. At the foot of the stairs, she passed the ornately carved monk's bench and opened the cupboard under the stairs to place the lamp on the shelf."

Later in the book, the Miss Heskeths are asked by a younger character why they do this.

I came across that detail way back in 1995 and it didn't get used until The Surplus Girls, which was written in 2019 and published in 2020.

All research gets used sooner or later - even if it has to wait for a quarter of a century!

Link to The Surplus Girls series on Amazon.