Story Stitching with Gail Kittleson

Stitching together an historical novel requires so much research. My husband Lance and I just returned from two full weeks filled with World War II museums, POW camps, citizens’ stories, and site visits.

This arrangement of all the literature we gathered resembles my brain after so much exposure, although I seem never to tire of this era. And, as

Francis Bacon wrote, “By far, the best proof is experience.”

Fiction requires many types of information beyond basic historical facts. Often, what strikes me might seem trivial to others, but it’s the little things that flavor a novel.

For example, at the Yorkshire Eden Camp Museum, 29 buildings with incredible WWII displays, the Women’s Land Army stood out to me. In this an entire building devoted to women’s roles in the battle against Nazism, a specific corner still makes me smile:

About a thousand Land Girls specialized in...what would you guess? Repairing tractors? Harvesting hay? Hoeing endless rows of carrots? They did all of that, but the answer is...

KILLING RATS

Since rats ate food destined to feed British troops, the land girls pursued them like Hitler’s henchmen. Called to work farms in place of deployed men, these young women devised methods of attack. Sometimes they simply routed them from granaries or storage bins and whopped them to death with shovels, other times they gassed the ravenous creatures.

One element of this display boasts a hen’s roosting box. You stick your hand in to count the eggs... ARGH! You recoil and lift the lid to a sharp-toothed rat. Stuffed, of course. Talk about bringing the past to life...

Westminster Abbey

Sooner or later, I’ll probably stitch this gleaning into a novel, along with so much else. From the beach and D-Day museum at Portsmouth, the launching point for Allied troops on June 6, 1944, to the large granite slab in Westminster Abbey engraved with three simple words:


REMEMBER

WINSTON

CHURCHILL

to Blenheim Palace, where the down-to-earth Prime Minister who saved England was born prematurely, to the laburnum tree that shaded me in Oxford, these tidbits will surface when I need them.

 This laburnum in glorious full bloom captivated me—I’d taken a day to rest my painful feet, and in the garden of our hotel...voila! Exactly like the one Addie planted to honor her fallen soldier husband in In Times Like These, but now I could truly embrace its beauty.

What we find online or in textbooks serves us well, but our tour convinced me that site visits meet our research needs even better. It’s one thing to craft facts into fiction, another to enter an era’s very heartbeat.

Hats off to Francis Bacon!

You can see more photos from Gail’s trip at www.gailkittleson.com, as well as her World War II series, Women of the Heartland. 

About Gail:

Lest you think Gail flies off to England any old time, this was her very first visit to the magic island, but she definitely wants to return. Normally, her quiet life passes in a little north Iowa town where she and Lance enjoy grandchildren and gardening. In another life, she taught college expository writing and ESL, and still facilitates writing and creativity workshops and retreats. She loves connecting with her readers.

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English Brown Betty Teapots

A cherished bit of English history resides in its traditional Brown Betty teapots. Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, a city 160 miles northwest of London, became famous for making pottery in the Middle Ages. In fact, the village was nicknamed the Potteries due to the region’s abundance of a superior form of red clay that retains heat more than any other clay.

Tea drinking spread beyond the upper class to all families in British society in the early 19^th century. This demand increased the production of china teapots and teacups by the Wedgewood, Spode, and Royal Doulton companies, rivaling their Chinese porcelain counterparts, and brought renown to the Staffordshire clay teapots.

I’m a tea drinker who believes the Brown Betty teapot makes one of the best pots of tea. Several cups of hot tea can be poured before it is necessary to replenish the teapot with fresh tea and hot water. The teapot’s round shape enables loose tea leaves to swirl in the boiling water, ensuring complete infusion. The dark manganese glaze, known as a Rockingham glaze, gives the Brown Betty its distinct color, hiding tea stains over time.

How are Brown Betty teapots made? Once they were thrown on a potter’s wheel with the hand and spout added afterward. Now they are poured into a mold using a slipcasting method. After the teapot is released from the mold, it is allowed to dry naturally. Then it is smoothed (fettled) and fired in the kiln for the first time. Next, the teapot (in biscuit form) is dipped into the Rockingham glaze and left to dry naturally again. Excess glaze is removed from the bottom (footswiping) and the lavender-colored pot is fired in the kiln a second time to create the glossy chocolate-syrupy color of the Brown Betty teapot.

If you would like to own a new Brown Betty teapot, two Stoke-on-Trent companies still make these treasured heirlooms, Cauldon Ceramics, Ltd. and Adderley Ceramics, Ltd.. Of course, you can find Sadler or Alcock, Lindley & Bloore Brown Betty teapots in antique stores and vintage shops. To determine if you own an authentic Brown Betty teapot, turn it upside down to see if you can see the unglazed red clay and the words “Made in England” on the bottom.Other countries have copied the Brown Betty style teapot and I own an Old Amsterdam Porcelain Works teal green teapot that is a close cousin to my favorite Sadler teapots in various sizes.

            Do you own a teapot? Enjoy sipping tea? Or have you visited England, the land of tea? Please share and leave a comment to place your name in the drawing for Amanda's Beau by Shirley Raye Redmond! The winner is announced in the Weekly Windup on Feb. 1. Check out all of our great gifts on the Prizes Galore page.

Cheers!

Deb