Jenni Keer shows us around Thistlewick House
The Peculiar Incident at Thistlewick House
Jenni Keer shows us around Thistlewick House…where there is something peculiar happening it would seem…
Jenni Keer (c) Boldwood Books
Book map for Thistlewick House
Thanks for having me pop by your lovely website to talk about the setting for, and inspiration behind, my next novel.
BookTrail – Well you can come back again!!
Book map for Thistlewick House
As is often the case, I was merrily heading down a research rabbit hole for a previous book when I stumbled across an online article about the church tower at Dunwich in Suffolk. It was precariously balanced on the edge of the cliff in 1922 after centuries of land erosion. I’d long known that this bustling port had been claimed by the sea, and read about the accompanying legend that on certain days you could still hear the ghostly church bell toll. It occurred to me that if the church had been lost to the ocean, then so had the graveyard, so I went scampering off on a tangent, googling graveyards that had succumbed to coastal erosion came across another article about a church in Sidestrand, Norfolk.
Sidestrand, Norfolk
Book map for Thistlewick House
And here’s where it got interesting… I read that as the land fell away, over one hundred years ago, and St Mary’s church tumbled from the cliff, the bones of the dead and their coffins rained down on the beach. Suddenly, I could picture this scene and I knew I wanted to write a book where this happened – even though I had absolutely no idea at that point what the story would be about.
West Runton or Thistlewick Tye?
Book map for Thistlewick House
I love setting my books in East Anglia and thought that the dramatic erosion on the North Norfolk Coast would make a great backdrop so I invented Thistlewick Tye. My very good friend, saga author Rosie Hendry, suggested I visit West Runton for my research and consequently, in my mind, Thistlewick Tye is a version of this lovely seaside village, (although without the branch line or large hotel). The flint-littered beach, grassy common and cliff-top location between Cromer and Sheringham were perfect. There was even a landslide on the day that I visited, so I really got a sense of the erosion in action.
Book map for Thistlewick House
All the other elements of the plot had been bubbling away for many months. I even wrote my parallel universe book, The House of Lost Whispers, whilst I was still wresting with how to include this dramatic scene of the bones raining down into a future story. Eventually, I decided it would be more exciting if they weren’t bodies from the churchyard but instead an unexplained grave, adding a layer of mystery to it all. But who could these skeletons belong to? Sailors from a shipwreck? Pirates? Smugglers? Gypsies? And then one of my sons suggested a travelling circus and, just like that, the story emerged.
Book map for Thistlewick House
I don’t want to give any spoilers but I really loved writing The Peculiar Incident at Thistlewick House. The location was suitably gothic and now familiar to me, and I added my usual speculative element with an alleged spiritual possession and the tagline When the bones fall, the spirits rise!
Book map for Thistlewick House
I enjoyed researching Victorian spiritualism, which was on the rise during the latter half of the nineteenth century. It was fun investigating the parlour tricks used by mediums and how this movement almost became a religion of its own. I also looked at the history of circuses, learning that they started out as equestrian displays – and even rewatched The Greatest Showman. But, most of all, I had enormous fun with this story and am immensely proud of how it came together. I hope there are at least two moments in this book where I pull the rug from under the readers’ feet, and that they enjoy Edward Blackmore’s journey. It was also hugely enjoyable to write from a male point of view – although I have done this before in The Legacy of Halesham Hall.
Thank you for letting me share how the book came about.
Jenni x
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