Belinda Murrell: Bringing Australian History To Life | Page 54
INSPIRATION
A french TWIST
WHILE THE MODERN-DAY GIRL IN THE RUBY TALISMAN IS AUSTRALIAN, WHEN SHE FALLS BACK IN TIME
SHE FINDS HERSELF IN FRANCE IN 1789. HERE’S WHY BELINDA DECIDED TO WRITE THIS NOVEL . . .
Paris was so fascinating Belinda was
compelled to set one of her books there.
I
have always been fascinated with the French Revolution
and the beautiful and tragic Queen Marie-Antoinette.
This fascination was deepened in 2007 when I spent
several weeks living and travelling in France, exploring
the catacomb tunnels under the streets of Paris, wandering
the gilded salons of Versailles and experiencing Paris and the
surrounding countryside.
The catacombs
The tunnels under Paris are amazing. There are hundreds
of kilometres of old limestone mines and corridors that
wind under the city. In one section of these tunnels are the
catacombs where, during the eighteenth century, thousands
of human skeletons were stored. Many of these people were
killed during the French Revolution, including Queen MarieAntoinette’s best friend, the Princesse de Lamballe, and King
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Louis XVI’s sister Elizabeth. These tunnels were so spooky and
atmospheric that I felt I had to write a book set during this
tumultuous time and with a scene set in the catacombs.
Imagination and fact
While much of this story is my imagination running wild, much
of it is also based on real people and true events, particularly
the violence and bloodshed surrounding the fall of the Bastille
and the start of the French Revolution.
To research this story I read many books, both non-fiction
and fiction. Some of these were written by people who
experienced the Revolution firsthand, such as Memoirs of the
Private Life of Marie-Antoinette by Madame Campan (1818).
Others were written many, many years later, such as Marie
Antoinette: The Journey by Antonia Fraser (2001), all of which
gave me lots of facts to base my story on.