‘Original and intriguing – I absolutely loved this book. A feisty heroine, a walk-off-the-page historical setting, a romance and a twisty mystery – The Same Side of the Moon has it all.’
Christina Jones, award winning author
Two dreams; one threat to life
It’s 1846. When sixteen-year-old Will sees Frances in the rectory garden, he can’t get her out of his head. He takes his chances and knocks on the rectory door. Frances is lonely but when they’re together, none of their past troubles matter. But disaster strikes and he moves impossibly far away.
As the story unfolds, Frances suspects something sinister going on at a girls’ reformatory. She becomes a detective, enlisting an unlikely bunch of people from her past, to help her investigate. When her life is in danger, is Will able to put aside his prejudice to rescue her?
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PLACES you may recognise – you may even live there! Appleton Wiske, Brompton near Northallerton in North East Yorkshire and Long Newton (Longnewton) over the Tees river into county Durham feature strongly in part one. Here’s a challenge: can you find 6 mentions of the village of Long Newton (Longnewton) or unique things about it that no-one else would know? Longnewton was the home of Frances, both in the story and for real. I used old maps and census records to portray village life as acurately as possible.
The rectory where Will met Frances is a product of my imagination but the setting isn’t. I’ve put it squarely in Brompton, opposite the church-yard where the pair first hold hands. Brompton would be on the way to the mills from Appleton Wiske and as I had Will driving the linen cart, he would have often passed through.
Later when the story moves to Hartlepool there are real landmarks, such as the unusual station building on the headland, created from an old ship. The coast-line, lighthouse etc are portrayed as nearly as possible without being there. In real life William and Frances Bell lived on the headland at 26 Ropery Lane, near where the Globe is now. In the book I used creative licence to change the name to Railway Row to help the story along.
The detective story comes to a head when Frances and Will move to Bishopwearmouth, Sunderland. The Sunderland Ragged School and Reformatory was real, although the layout and other details are imagined. There will be a lot more about Silver Street reformatory in the next book.
PEOPLE: Will and Frances, the main protagonists, were real people. It was fun imaging their characters and challenges, given what we know about the times and Will’s changing occupations, first as husbandman, then working for the North Eastern Railway Company. Writing about the railways has its drawbacks because details tend to be encyclopaedic, especially to railway enthusiasts! I’ve done my best not to make any serious errors. It was harder to find out real life details about Frances and I make no apologies about making her a feisty heroine.
I also absolutely loved creating the fictional characters of Ruth Beard and The Important Railway Engineer. I think my favourite chapter is The Meeting on the Sands, where Charles Lamb meets Frances and we see her through his eyes. Will and Frances’ first child Ann was illegitimate, as portrayed. The first sequel WRITTEN IN SILVER will follow Ann’s eventful life where she also has to solve mysteries. Frances Bell’s influence continues.
