In both narrative timelines, geographical locations are generally intended to replicate real places, but there are some exceptions.
In Western Australia: the university where Alice teaches is a composite of a few Perth campuses, and her home with Duncan is in a nebulous setting; Sally’s home in Claremont and Simone’s home ‘in the hills’ are fictional, as are the details of the streets that lead to them; though pelvic pain clinics can be found in capital cities in Australia, this one is made up; the café where Alice and Ena meet is imaginary; and Wrigleys Point has similarities to coastal communities north of Perth, but is not identical with any one place.
In England: Isaac Baker Brown may have practised in Connaught Square, London, but his surgery there is imagined; Herdley, its buildings and surrounding landmarks are fictional, but inspired by Chinley in Derbyshire, England; and Almsford is a fiction.
All the characters in the Perth timeline are fictional, including the women in the vulvodynia support group. Isaac Baker Brown was a real person, as were the Victorian-era politicians, headmasters and published physicians referred to, but all other characters in the Victorian timeline are imagined.
On vulvodynia: informational and self-help books were useful in the writing of this book, as were articles in medical journals; the Journal of Reproductive Medicine has published material on the subject since the 1980s. The Gynaecological Awareness Information Network (Australia), the International Society for the Study of Vulvovaginal Disease, the Australian and New Zealand Vulvovaginal Society, the National Vulvodynia Association (US), The Vulval Pain Society (UK) and a number of Facebook groups provide information and support to women and their families.
An earlier version of chapter one was published as ‘That Hand’ in the anthology Other Voices (Peter Cowan Writers Centre Inc., 2013).
A small amount of material in the novel has been previously published in the following of my personal essays:
In visualising Arthur’s walks through 1860s London, I relied on the ‘Map of London 1868’, by Edward Weller, sourced online at Mapco (london1868.com). Quotations in the novel have been drawn from the following publications:
A full listing of texts used in the research and writing of this book can be found on my website.