YouTube video by Morgen Bailey

I’ve blogged before about letters in historical fiction (and a longer essay here) and I’m happy to report a newcomer to the list of letter-inspired authors. Annie Elliott is almost local to me and …

Letters can be a powerful tool in your novel. Here's how to use them effectively.

YouTube video by Books and Things

When I first encountered Fanny Osbourne, she appeared as a footnote in Louis Stevenson’s story—emotionally fragile, grieving, and overshadowed. But the more I read, the more she demanded centre stage. Like my own heroine Frances Sitwell, Fanny was shaped by loss and resilience, but unlike Frances, she courted controversy and defied convention with unapologetic strength. Camille Peri’s A Wilder Shore and other biographies have only deepened my fascination with this remarkable woman—adventurer, writer, and the fierce force behind one of literature’s most celebrated figures. Without Fanny, there may have been no Louis as we know him.

Adapted from my my Beyond the Book newsletter of September 2024. Sign up for future issues here. If Frances Sitwell is my heroine, who is the hero? It would be easy to argue for Louis Stevenson (who has a way of taking centre stage even when he isn’t present!) but chief contender for male lead must surely be the third member of that curious love triangle, Sidney Colvin, Frances’s ‘companion’ for most of her life, also R.L.S.’s friend and literary mentor.

Three-times Booker nominated Scottish author Andrew O’Hagan on his novel Caledonian Road.

A Brilliant day in Bristol As in all the best stories from my childhood, the day of my book launch dawned bright and clear, so much so that as we walked down Park Street I worried guest might have chosen to head for the beach rather than the book launch. However my fears proved groundless as the room was soon filling up with friends and fellow writers while Linen Press intern Rosie Pundick, my interviewer Mike Manson and helpful staff from Bristol Folk House soon had things perfectly arranged.

If you can be at any of these events, please come and say hello! More on my Meet the Author page

The Absent Heart is very much a novel about letters and how they defined Frances Sitwell's relationship with Robert Louis Stevenson, but it's not a novel of letters. I’m actually quite a fan of the epistolary novel and, with all of the R.L.S.'s letters to my heroine at my disposal, I could have gone down that road. But these letters are published and have been for many years.

Explore the rules and guidelines for writing fiction featuring real historical characters