I would like to thank my agent, Juliet Mushens, and my editor at Penguin Random House, Victoria Savanh, for helping make this version of my novel a reality.
I honestly would not have made it through the last year without my husband Kevin picking me up when I fell down. He earns the most important thanks of all for his unending supply of patience and all-round goodness.
I would also like to acknowledge the people, both living and dead, whose work has contributed towards the content of my story. The understanding of consumption, or phthisis, from the Georgian era until the discovery of the tubercle bacillus in 1882 was both confused and confusing. My ‘radical’ Dr Pinecroft wrestles with some of the theories debated during the Victorian era, and so after his time, but most of his reasoning is based on the work of Thomas Beddoes published in Bristol during 1799, the treatment undergone by George Ill’s daughter Amelia between 1809 and 1810, Primitive Physick by John Wesley (1747) and Pharmacopoeia Extemporanea by Thomas Fuller (1710). It may interest readers to know that Dr Pinecroft’s ‘bold notion’ of a cave colony also had a real-life inspiration. In 1839, the American doctor John Crogan opened a sanatorium for tuberculosis patients in Mammoth Cave, Kentucky, believing the steady climate would benefit them. His experiment ended in failure in 1843.
While bone china was being produced as early as the 1740s, the formula used by my fictional Nancarrow factory was actually discovered by Josiah Spode and introduced to the world in 1796. I do not mention the exact location of Morvoren House in Cornwall, since it is a place entirely of my invention. However, I drew inspiration from a visit to Carlyon Bay and Charlestown, the harbour of which was built specifically to ship china clay. Further west, one of the first china-clay setts was opened on Tregonning Hill – not many miles from Rinsey Head. Since writing this book, I have discovered the existence of the iconic house built on this clifftop location. Although it was constructed in the early twentieth century, it fits my image of Morvoren House wonderfully!
For Esther’s household first-aid and cosmetic treatments, I am particularly indebted to two books: Lavender Water and Snail-Syrup: Miss Ambler’s Household Book of Georgian Cures and Remedies (2013) and The Duties of a Lady’s Maid (1825).
The story of the Willow pattern was an English invention, written after the print had already enjoyed considerable success. It first appears in published form in the Family Friend magazine in 1849 – some decades after Esther’s story is set, but I could not resist bringing it forward in time to share.