I somehow
agreed to become a part of a blog chain based on meeting an author’s main
character. The idea originated on
England, I believe. I began reading with
M.M. Bennetts’ post about a character who grew out of her book, Of Honest Fame, and demanded a book of
his own. Author Helen Hollick then picked up the thread to re-introduce her
main character Jesamiah Acorne, a sexy fellow with an uncanny ability to get
himself into – and out of – all sorts of pirate adventures. Now Helen has
passed the baton on to me in this series of posts by historical fiction authors
in which we introduce the main character of our work in progress
or soon to be published novel. We all
start with the same set of seven questions, so think of this as something of an
interview. 1) What is the name of your
character? Is he/she fictional or a historic person? Jonathan
Edwards Grenville is the main character in my first real historical novel. My previous books have built creative
biographical studies of real people. Jonathan has the distinction of being a
purely fictional character, although many of his experiences are based on those
of historical figures during the Civil War. 2) When and where is the
story set? The
story takes place in and around Charleston, South Carolina It opens shortly before the start of
American’s Civil War and continues for a few years after the war has worn
itself out. 3) What should we know
about him?  Jonathan
was raised in Massachusetts and educated at Harvard. His upbringing made him
passionately proud of his country and its
founding fathers who preached the virtues of liberty and equality. If he did not openly profess abolitionist
views, he still felt strongly that the institution of slavery was wrong. He sought a career in teaching and came to
South Carolina around 1840 to teach American history in the country’s first
free public institution of higher education provided especially for young men
of the working and artisan classes.
Within a year or two he fell in love – first with a charming young
Southern Belle who stood in line to inherit her family’s extensive cotton and
rice plantations – and then with the whole aura of Southern charm and culture
that surrounded her. They married, raised a delightful family of seven
children, and seemed to spend their charmed days in a world full of music, art,
stimulating intellectual conversations, and gracious living. This isn't a picture of Jonathan Grenville. I don't know who it is. But it was taken in 1860, and it seems to me to look like my imaginary Jonathan. He has the same sort of stunned, haunted look -- as if his world is collapsing around him. 4) What is the main
conflict? What messes up his life? And
then came 1861! And for the first time in twenty years, Jonathan was forced to
face the contradictions of his own life.
He spent his days in the classroom lecturing about the American ideal of
freedom. And then he went home to a
house full of slaves and a lifestyle funded by the income from plantations
worked by hundreds of slaves. He was a Yankee in a hotbed of Secession. He was North; his wife was South. And he
could not escape the war that raged around him. He lost his teaching job
because he was a “Damned Yankee.” The family lost one plantation to the invading
Union forces that attacked Port Royal Sound. They lost another to the Confederate
Army that confiscated their land to protect a vital railroad line. The Great
Charleston Fire of 1861 burned their house to the ground. And through it all,
Jonathan blamed himself for his failure to live up to the virtues he preached. 5) What is the personal
goal of the character? Above
all else, Jonathan remained determined to hold his family together – to protect
them from the ravages of the war and to find a way to reconcile the political
and ideological differences that threatened to tear them apart. 6) Is there a working title
for this novel, and can we read more about it? There
was only one possible title for this story: Damned
Yankee. And its sub-title is The
Story of a Marriage. For background,
the reader may want to turn to my previous South Carolina books. A
Scratch with the Rebels told the story of the invasion that robbed the
Grenvilles of their cotton plantation in the Low Country. Beyond All Price was set in the same location and painted a
clearer picture of what life was like in the early years of the war. And The
Road to Frogmore focused attention on the whole issue of slavery. When I wrote those books – all of them based
on Northern characters -- I did not know that they would lead me into a novel
about a Confederate family. But I can see now that they provided exactly the
background I needed for this story. 7) When can we expect the
book to be published?  Publication
is so close that I can taste it. Damned Yankee is currently available for
pre-orders – both in paper and in electronic formats. Click here to go to my website for
details. The final printed proof copy
sits on my desk at this moment. The formal launch date is set for May 1, 2014,
which is just about ten days from now – unless, of course, some of the
calamities that surround Jonathan Grenville attack us here at Katzenhaus Books.Thanks for visiting ... here is the next author to follow me; she will post about her main character on Tuesday, 29th April (next week). |
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