August 20th, 2010
It has not been quiet in my head. I am furiously working on the edits for ‘The Novel in the Viola’ and am currently lost in spring 1940. Thank you so much for all the gorgeous comments you’ve been posting about ‘Mr R’ — I will reply to you all, it is just taking me a little longer than usual.
Did you know that the winter of 1939/ 40 was so cold that the newspapers were banned from mentioning it? They didn’t want the Germans to know the effect that the freeze was having on the nation. Weather forecasts were forbidden anyway but mention of the snow and ice was specifically banned. I do wonder how they managed… not with the cold, we British take pride in our stoicism, but fancy not being able to discuss the weather? Whatever did people find to talk about?
August 8th, 2010
I have had a couple of e-mails from relations of ‘Mr Rosenblums’ and they’ve been wondering how Jack got his name. I’ve blogged before about how Jack came to be called Jack (he was ‘Sam’ for a while — so wrong) but not about the origin of Rosenblum. It is not a family name — I have no relations called Rosenblum.
My grandfather was Paul Schwartzscheld (a German name meaning Blackshield) but when he arrived in England with his brother, they split the name in two, my grandfather becoming Mr Shields and his brother Mr Black. I always found this very sad, and I knew that this name-splitting was a scene I wanted in the novel. So, I needed Jack to have a German name that could be split in two, not simply anglicised. The breaking of names and tradition is a central theme in the book. However, so is landscape and Jack-in-the-Green and I also wanted a name that evoked that sense of nature and wildness.
Rosenblum is perfect as it is a Mondegreen*: the locals call Jack ‘Mr Rose-in-Bloom’ – a lovely version of his name with wonderful connotations of Jack and Sadie blooming in Dorset, wild roses etc.
*A ‘Mondegreen’ is a mishearing of a phrase due to near homophoney. The American writer Sylvie Wright coined the phrase, explaining that as a child she misheard the final line of a ballad: ‘They have slain the Earl O’ Moray, and Lady Mondegreen,’ instead of the correct line ‘They have slain the Earl O’ Moray, And laid him on the green.’
A quick note… the lovely people over at Bookhugger are running a brilliant competition where you can win a week’s holiday in Mr Rosenblum’s Cottage (the real cottage that my grandparents bought after the war, which inspired me to create Chantry Orchard). Check it out and you might win!
July 30th, 2010
Mr S and I went to the New Forest yesterday, and it was our first book group with chickens. Disappointingly, they had not read the novel, though they did have a little peck at my toes. Once again we were given triumphant cake — the best Victoria sponge I have ever eaten. There was much cake related discussion as the village show is on Saturday and the feared lady from the WI is judging once again. Last year, the cakes were scored publicly and the written reviews presented for all to see… comments included ‘next time, turn out your sponge onto a tea-towel NOT a wire rack as otherwise you will have faint wire lines on the base of your cake’… ‘I’m sorry to say that technically a Victoria sponge must be spread with raspberry jam not strawberry jam’. A strawberry jam sponge cake is an Abomination not a Victoria. Who knew?
