Today is my stop for Rosie Fiore and her book. Bram Stoker's Dracula was one of the first paranormal books I read, so Im excited to learn about this new take on the story. Here's a little about Rosie's novel:
The Death and Life of Lucy Westenra
What desperate steps will Lucy Westenra take to save her own life? Hillingham in Hampstead, once the home of the well-to-do Westenra family, is now divided into apartments. When teacher Kate Balcombe sets about renovating her flat in the attic, she finds an unsent letter written 130 years before by Lucy, the nineteen-year-old daughter of the house.
But what if the monsters who hunt Lucy are much closer to home?
As Kate begins to investigate Lucy’s story, she meets James Harker, Mina’s great-great grandson, and together they uncover a long-hidden story of deception and murder.
Author Bio –
Rosie Fiore is the author of eight published novels, including Wonder Women, After Isabella and What She Left, as well as The After Wife, written as Cass Hunter. She is a teacher of creative writing and a Royal Literary Fund Fellow. She lives in North London with her family, and can frequently be found wandering on the Heath or haunting a churchyard.
Social Media Links –
https://www.facebook.com/rosiefiorewriter
https://bsky.app/profile/rosiefiore.bsky.social
Now for a little 'Question and Answer Session. (I do love finding out more about my author guests and their books
What made you make the shift from contemporary fiction to historical fiction?
I’ve always been an avid reader of historical fiction. I love a dual timeline story, like those Kate Morton writes, where we look for the echoes of the past with a modern-day character. I wanted to have a go at a Dracula retelling, and in doing so, absolutely fell I love with research. I write the first draft in lockdown, when I had all the time I the world to go down all sorts of online rabbit holes. It’s such fun to add depth and colour to a story with things you have learned.
What part of the research did you enjoy most?
I bought a Victorian A-Z, which shows maps of London. I spent hours with a magnifying glass, planning where my characters might walk, or live, or visit. Knowing modern London well, it’s fascinating to find how names and places have stayed the same and changed. For example, the rather plainly named Regent’s Park Road in Finchley, near where I live, was once called Ducksetter’s Lane. Much more exciting!
Lucy Westenra in your version of the story is feisty and feminist and acts in quite a modern way. Have you given her twenty-first century views in a Victorian story?
I was really careful about that: I wanted her to think and behave like a young woman of her time. So I did lots of research into what books and magazines she might read to think in the way she does. It seemed within the realms of possibility that she might pick up a copy of the North American Review in March 1894, and read Sarah Grand’s famous article, “The New Aspect of the Woman Question”:
“Man deprived us of all proper education, and then jeered at us because we had no knowledge. He narrowed our outlook on life so that our view of it should be all distorted, and then declared that our mistaken impression of it proved us to be senseless creatures. He cramped our minds so that there was no room for reason in them, and then made merry at our want of logic.”
Stoker references this article in Dracula, and suggests that Mina and Lucy may have read it. It made me feel that the version of Lucy I was writing really could have existed and been as brave and forthright as she is.
Do readers need to have read Dracula to enjoy the book?
I think everyone should read Dracula! Seriously… it’s so brilliant, and it’s very modern. There are Kodak cameras, phonographs and typewriters and speedy train travel across Europe. You don’t need to have read it to enjoy The Death & Life of Lucy Westenra, but there are so many little easter eggs which will enhance your enjoyment if you have read it!
Tell us something about Dracula and Bram Stoker we don’t know!
Dracula is the most adapted story ever: more than 700 film versions and 1200 stage, comic and other adaptations! Many people also don’t know Bram Stoker was a theatre manager at the Lyceum Theatre in London, where the Lion King is performed! There’s a plaque with his name on it at the back of the theatre.
Thank you so much, Rosie, that was fascinating. I'm off to purchase your book!
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