This is my first historical novel! I’ve always loved reading historicals, but never wrote one until now. Therefore it’s required more than my usual level of research (and more than my usual amount of poetic licence). Some of the stuff in this book is based in fact. Some, fairly obviously, isn’t.
Theophania might not have been a terribly fashionable name in the Regency period, but it did exist, and had for hundreds of years. It was sometimes given to girls born on the Feast of Epiphany in January. Tiffany was a shortened version of it, which eventually eclipsed the original name. There’s a whole historian’s issue named after it: The Tiffany Problem, where something is historically true, but it sounds modern so no one believes it. My thanks to Terry Pratchett for opening my eyes to that one. I think our Tiffanies would have got on.
The chalk drawings on ballroom floors were a real thing. Not only did they look impressive, they also helped to give dancers some traction on a highly polished floor. Some artists became highly sought-after for their designs, which could include pretty much anything the client wanted, including things like coats of arms. They probably didn’t come to life all that often, though.
It really did rain that heavily just before Waterloo, only—contrary to de Groot’s plans—it was the French guns that got stuck in the mud. Whoops.
The statue of Father Thames in the courtyard of Somerset House is real: you can go and see it for free. Oh—and Foulness is a real place, too. You can’t make up a name like that (my understanding is that it means something like ‘bird headland’). Emphasis on the second syllable. It’s actually harder to access now though: while there is a bridge leading to it, the land is owned by the Ministry of Defence, so it’s not a good idea to go wandering around unless you want to get blown up.
Madam Zheng was a real pirate queen, and possibly the most powerful pirate the world has ever seen. Would someone please make a movie about her!
Kate