The Lady and the Laird!

I had such fun making this little video trailer and I can see myself getting quite carried away and creating a whole series of videos using my gorgeous Scottish photographs as background. Technology has to very simple for me to be able to use it and the Animoto site was brilliant. I hope you like the results – you can view the trailer here:

The Lady and the Laird Video

The premiere is on here (!) and I’ll be posting it on Facebook and Twitter soon!

©2013 Nicola Cornick. All Rights Reserved.

©2013 Nicola Cornick. All Rights Reserved.

The existing buildings date from the 13th to the 16th century but the castle stands on the site of a previous fortification that may date back as far as the 6th century AD. As such, Urquhart’s history is steeped in myth and mystery. The first written record of the castle dates from 1296 when it was captured by King Edward I of England. It then played a role in the 14th century Wars of Scottish Independence, changing hands several times between the English and the Scots until it became a Royal castle of the Scottish crown, taken by Robert Bruce in 1307. The English were not the only enemy to threaten Castle Urquhart; during the following 200 years the MacDonald Lords of the Isles (more on them soon), the powerful rulers of a semi-independent “kingdom” to the west, repeatedly raided the Great Glen and their attacks culminated in the Great Raid of 1545 when they carried off 2000 cattle and other animals, and sacked Urquhart Castle as well.

During the Jacobite uprisings of the late 17th century the castle was held for the crown with the garrison blowing up the gatehouse in 1690 to prevent its future use by the Jacobites.  By the 1770s it was ruined and had become one of a number of romantic ruins that served as tourist attractions to artists and poets and other visitors to the wild Highlands. It’s also a splendid vantage point to look out for that most mysterious of Highland creatures, the Loch Ness Monster.  I remember sitting there one stormy September afternoon scanning the waters and soaking up the atmosphere. I’ve blogged about the history of the Loch Ness Monster here, for those who would like to read more.

©2013 Nicola Cornick. All Rights Reserved.

Over the years, though, I have noticed a lack of just one thing at the Swindon Festival of Literature – talks featuring genre fiction, especially romantic fiction (well, I would notice that, wouldn’t I!) These have been a little thin on the ground and this omission interests me since a well-established festival of literature usually covers a range of literary and commercial fiction as well as non-fiction.

This brings me neatly on to PD James because of course she is a genre writer, a crime writer.  PD James told us that it has always been her aim to write “good” (ie literary) fiction and that within the genre of crime writing she wants to “tell truths about men and women.” I remember Joanna Trollope saying something very similar at a Romantic Novelists’ Association conference I attended a few years ago: that the best romantic fiction reveals deep truths about relationships.

Anyway… Back to PD James. She was talking in the main about her book Death Comes to Pemberley, a  novel that arose out of her love of Jane Austen’s work and out of a curiosity to see what would happen if the elegant world of Mr Darcy’s Derbyshire estate should be disturbed by violent crime. She made some very interesting observations about the social background of the Georgian/Regency period, the place of women in society, and the culture and elegance on the one hand and the violent underworld on the other.

She acknowledged that although Darcy is seen as the perfect romantic hero to many people and has all the qualities of a hero, she found much of his behaviour in Pride and Prejudice to be unattractive, particularly in relation to his first proposal to Elizabeth which was arrogant and rude. I found this an interesting point; there is no doubt that Darcy’s words here are a precise reflection of his belief that in marrying Elizabeth he would be marrying beneath him and that this was something reprehensible. I agree with Elizabeth on this. He does not express himself in a gentlemanly fashion. She puts him straight, he takes this on board, I’m happy with that.

PD James and I are at one though in that we both prefer Frederick Wentworth as a hero. PD likes the naval men and pointed out that Jane Austen liked them too, having several in her family. In general she feels that men seem rather weak in Jane Austen’s books (though they are often painted as attractive characters such as Mr Bennett) and mothers frequently come across as having bad judgement or behaving badly. She observed that Jane Austen writes courtship books and never shows the developing relationship, which was one reason why Death Comes to Pemberley was set several years in the future because PD wanted to show a version of what might have happened next.

One observation that particularly interested me was that PD James feels Jane Austen writes poor proposal scenes where the reader is left wanting far more detail and emotion. Her contention is that as Jane had never experienced a happy proposal, she cannot write one.

Interestingly it is Emma that is PD James’s favourite Austen novel rather than Pride and Prejudice. She likes it because it is so perfectly constructed. She likens it to a detective story with all the clues as to people’s true relationships laid out, and she thinks Jane Austen would be a marvellous crime writer if she was writing today.

On crime writing in general she commented that one of the reasons women are good at writing crime is because they observe the detail in life.  Many of the best women crime writers have secrets or displayed emotional reticence.

Her advice to aspiring authors – There will never be a “perfect time” to start writing. You just have to start.

PD James left Swindon with a zimmer frame as a souvenir of her visit, which I think is marvellous, and left us with the news that the BBC is making a dramatization of Death Comes to Pemberley, to be shown at Christmas. Who will play Elizabeth and who will play Darcy this time round?

©2013 Nicola Cornick. All Rights Reserved.

The May website contest is to win a $30/£20 Amazon gift voucher to spend on the books or gifts of your choice. You can enter the contest here. Treat yourself!

Tomorrow I will be blogging about a recent talk I went to by PD James at the Swindon Festival of Literature. She was discussing her Jane Austen homage Death Comes to Pemberley.  Please drop by if you would like to hear her thoughts on Jane Austen, the Regency period and why women make good crime authors!

©2013 Nicola Cornick. All Rights Reserved.

©2013 Nicola Cornick. All Rights Reserved.

Finally a great big thank you to everyone who signed up again for my newsletter or who joined last month. I appreciate it very much and we’ll be making the prize drawing next week. Have a great weekend!

©2013 Nicola Cornick. All Rights Reserved.

©2013 Nicola Cornick. All Rights Reserved.

The whole of the first chapter of The Lady and the Laird will be posted exclusively here on the website on Wednesday to give readers what I hope will be a delicious taste of the book. In the meantime don’t miss the last few days of the April contest here!

Each week on the blog I’m also going to be posting up my choice of Scottish Castle of the Week. These could be famous places like Eilean Donan Castle or smaller and less well known castles with a fascinating history and even castles you can stay in. First up is Muckrach Castle near Grantown-on-Spey in the central Highlands near Aviemore. Muckrach was built in 1598 by Patrick, the second son of John Grant of Feuchie (the 4th Laird of Grant). Patrick was knighted by King James VI and was the ancestor of the Grants of Rothiemurchus. Muckrach was their original ancestral seat. Over the door is the motto of the Grants: “In God Is Al My Trest.” Muckrach is a 16th century tower house, heavily fortified against the tempestuous times in which it was built. It was originally constructed with a square keep and courtyard. The keep had a vaulted basement. The great hall was on the first floor and there were two further floors above accessed by spiral staircases in the turrets. It has the look of a classic fairytale castle. You can imagine Rapunzel at the top of one of those turrets!

Muckrach lay in ruins for centuries before being restored in the 20th century. For a tour of the fabulous accommodation, click here. You can even book to stay there! And if you would like to know more about the Clan Grant, click here!

What is your favourite Scottish castle? Are there any that you would like me to feature on the blog?

©2013 Nicola Cornick. All Rights Reserved.

Ingredients:

• 85g (3oz) butter,
• 115g (4oz) fresh white breadcrumbs,
• 450g (1lb) rhubarb, 85–115g (3–4 oz) caster or soft brown sugar and the grsted rind and juice of one orange.

1. Melt the butter in a heavy frying pan, add the breadcrumbs and cook over moderate heat, stirring continuously to prevent burning, until the crumbs are light golden in colour.
2. Cut the rhubarb into 2.5cm (1in) lengths, then mix with the sugar, orange rind and juice.
3. Butter a 1.2 litre (2 pint) ovenproof dish and fill with alternate layers of rhubarb and breadcrumbs, finishing with a layer of crumbs.
4. Sprinkle with extra sugar and cover with foil.
5. Bake in the centre of a preheated oven at 180°C, 350°F, gas mark 4 for 20 minutes, then remove the foil and continue cooking for a further 25–30 minutes, or until the top is brown and crisp and the rhubarb underneath is soft.
6. Serve hot with Vanilla Custard Sauce or cream.

Brown Betty can be made with a variety of different fruits. Enjoy!

©2013 Nicola Cornick. All Rights Reserved.