Tuesday, June 16, 2009

The world they lived in



My research library contains a number of ancient tomes. It's amazing how many are illustrated. For which I am grateful. When I'm setting a scene, the history nerd in me wants it to be as accurate as possible. Thus it's good to have actual pictures of the place. Floor plans are wonderful. And maps, of course. Since my new book, DON'T TEMPT ME, will be out soon (30 June, if anyone's asking), it seemed like a good idea to launch this blog with some helpful illustrations.

The story proper opens in White's, a gentleman's club in St. James's Street.

Here's St. James's Street. White's is at 37-38 St. James's Street.

Here's White's and the famous Bow Window where Lucien's friends have gathered.

Here's Berkeley Square, where the Lexhams live, in the lower left hand corner.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I came to torture myself with my personal countdown hunt for any exerpts and found links to such a lovely rabbit hole.

Thank you from another history geek who hadn't tripped across oldlondonmapsdotcom yet.

My sister, who reads you but doesn't keep any book, and I, who keeps everything I read, have a friendly competition going. The one who buys Don't Tempt Me gets to read it first. She takes days, my first read typically takes a couple of hours. If she wins I either suffer through it or buy another copy and hide it from her. She just doesn't understand the need for back up copies.