• About Me
  • Books for Writers
  • Contact
  • Genealogy
  • Latest News
  • Novels
    • Mr Cavell’s Diamond
    • The Daughters of Red Hill Hall
    • The Drowned Village
    • The Emerald Comb
    • The Forgotten Secret
    • The Girl from Ballymor
    • The Pearl Locket
    • The Secret of the Château
    • The Stationmaster’s Daughter
  • Short Stories
    • Shortcut Through Time
  • The Forgotten Gift
  • The Girl from Bletchley Park
  • The Girl with the Emerald Flag
  • The Lost Sister
  • The Storm Girl
  • Work in Progress

Kathleen McGurl

~ Where past and present collide…

Kathleen McGurl

Tag Archives: Genealogy

From Family Tree to Emerald Comb

24 Wednesday Sep 2014

Posted by kathmcgurl in Books, Writing

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

book, Genealogy, Promotion, Writing

In the summer of 2009, the 1911 census was made available online. A friend told me about it, and one evening I thought, hmm, I wonder if I can find my grandparents on that census? I decided to have a look for my mum’s father. He’d had an unusual surname, and I knew he’d been born in Worthing, so I thought I’d be in with a good chance of finding him.

That idle thought was the beginning of an obsession with genealogy. I found my grandfather easily, then began tracing back through the censuses and other records, as far as I could go. Over time this led me to not only find out loads about my family tree, but also to discover and meet distant relatives I hadn’t known about, and eventually to the inspiration for genealogy-based novels.

My first novel was based on some characters and events from my own family tree, but one problem I had with that one is that I felt too constrained by the truth, by my own research. My characters had to marry, give birth and die on the dates my ancestors had. They couldn’t be completely free. But of course writers love making stuff up, and I’m no different, so the obvious next step was to write a novel based on an entirely fictitious family tree. What if you’d researched your whole family tree and thought you knew your ancestry for the last couple of hundred years, but your ancestors had secrets they’d buried deeply? What if you really did find a skeleton in your family history closet?

The Emerald Comb V3 cover small

And so began the story which became The Emerald Comb. It was a lot of fun to write. I outlined the two plots – the contemporary story and the 1840s story – and drew up an entire family tree spanning two centuries. Actually I had to draw up two trees – the ‘real’ one and the one my character Katie had discovered in her research. They’re not quite the same, as readers of the novel will discover.

My own genealogy research helped with this novel – I knew what you can find out online, and what processes researchers will go through. Katie’s not based on me, but I reckon if she was real and I met her we’d have lots to talk about!

The Emerald Comb explores the idea of identity. Just who do you think you are, and how important is it important to know your ancestry? Katie thinks it’s crucial, but her husband who was adopted, thinks not. Both of them change their beliefs during the course of the book.

Launched this week, and available to buy as an ebook from all outlets. Price is £3.79 at the time of writing. It’s been well received so far – I’ve had some wonderful early reviews!

Buy from Amazon.co.uk

Buy from Amazon.com

For more blog posts related to this book, click on the book title at the top of the page!

Advertisement

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 245 other subscribers

Blog post categories

  • Blogging (14)
  • Books (70)
  • Campervan (6)
  • Challenges (2)
  • Competition (1)
  • Free Download (1)
  • Goals (7)
  • Holiday (4)
  • News (1)
  • Running (2)
  • Uncategorized (40)
  • Writing (39)

Tags

Alps book book deal books bournemouth Carina characters charity Christmas cock-up Competition covers CreateSpace Daughters of Red Hill Hall editing Emerald Comb endings English language free Genealogy Gertie Ghost Stories Girl from Ballymor goals good news grammar Hengistbury Head how to inspiration Lake District Melvyn Bragg middle third Morgen Bailey motivation mountains Mr Cavell's Diamond Mum nanowrimo New Years Resolution novel Pearl Locket pier to pier planning podcast poll pretty things projects Promotion recommendations review RNA Running Sales self-publishing short stories Simon Armitage skiing storm swimming The Drowned Village The Forgotten Gift The Forgotten Secret The Girl from Ballymor The Girl from Bletchley Park The Lost Sister The Secret of the Chateau The Stationmasters Daughter Tignes time time management weekend work-in-progress writers block Writing writing advice

Archives

Follow me on Twitter

My Tweets

Pages

  • About Me
  • Books for Writers
  • Contact
  • Genealogy
  • Latest News
  • Novels
    • Mr Cavell’s Diamond
    • The Daughters of Red Hill Hall
    • The Drowned Village
    • The Emerald Comb
    • The Forgotten Secret
    • The Girl from Ballymor
    • The Pearl Locket
    • The Secret of the Château
    • The Stationmaster’s Daughter
  • Short Stories
    • Shortcut Through Time
  • The Forgotten Gift
  • The Girl from Bletchley Park
  • The Girl with the Emerald Flag
  • The Lost Sister
  • The Storm Girl
  • Work in Progress

Blog Stats

  • 33,641 hits

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Follow Following
    • Kathleen McGurl
    • Join 245 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Kathleen McGurl
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...