Mystery. Book one, The Bodies in the Library, concerns murder among an Agatha Christie fan-fiction writing group, and in book two, Murder Is a Must, an exhibition manager is found dead at the bottom of a spiral staircase. Wingate also writes historical fiction: Glamour Girls follows Spitfire pilot Rosalie Wright through both the physical and emotional dangers of the Second World War. Wingate writes two further mystery series: the Potting Shed books feature Pru Parke, a middle-aged American gardener transplanted from Texas to England, and the Birds of a Feather series follows Julia Lanchester, bird lover, who runs a tourist office in a Suffolk village.
Wingate prefers on-the-ground research whenever possible, and so she and her husband regularly travel to England and Scotland, where she can be found tracing the steps of her characters, stopping for tea and a slice of Victoria sponge in a café, or enjoying a swift half in a pub.
Here the author dreamcasts an adaptation of her new novel, The Orphans of Mersea House:
The Orphans of Mersea House is set in 1957 Southwold, a small town on the Suffolk coast. It’s a story of post-war life in England, where rationing ended only three years earlier, thirty-seven-year-old women were considered spinsters, polio continued to strike fear in the hearts of parents, and the de-criminalization of homosexual practices was still ten years away. We drop into this time and follow the intertwining stories a ragtag group of adults and children at a boardinghouse.Visit Marty Wingate's website.
Characters in books are sometimes inspired by (or based on) real people. Occasionally, an actor in a certain role will be the model for how a character looks or acts—I am doing that in my work-in-progress. But while I was writing Orphans, I had no inner vision, and it’s only now that I’ve thought about trying to match character to actor. I’ve found it not that difficult.
First, Olive, because she’s the center. Carey Mulligan will do, and not only because she is, at this moment, the same age as Olive, but also for her acting in The Dig (2021), a movie based on the story of the discovery of an Anglo-Saxon burial ground in Suffolk. I appreciate her quiet commitment, which I believe is one of Olive’s strengths.
For Margery, who owns the boarding house and believes she’s in charge, I must reach back in time to the 1989 comedy series The Labours of Erica with Brenda Blethyn. This is not Brenda Blethyn as Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope, but rather a smartly dressed woman who can be a bit sharp, but caves easily. She is driven and a loyal friend.
Charlie Salt is Olive’s driving instruction. He’s a bit officious, but kind-hearted, much like some of the characters played by Martin Freeman. Not Freeman’s recent role in the recent series Responder, but instead, Freeman with a touch of Bilbo Baggins.
I’d like to see Dominic West as Hugh, because he does kind, sad, and damaged so well. Orphans doesn’t take up the entire French revolution, but I like to think West would bring a touch of Jean Valjean to Hugh.
What of Miss Binny, the conduit of most of the gossip around town? My husband suggested Imelda Staunton, and now I cannot get her out of my mind. Even though Staunton is a wee bit shorter than I envisioned Binny, I can just see that pheasant tail quivering on her hat.
At first I thought that there was no one who could play Juniper—the eleven-year-old girl who wears calipers from a bout of polio when she was quite young—except Juniper herself. She is the amalgamation of so many children I worked with when I was a speech therapist. But then it hit me who would be perfect: Hayley Mills, fifty years ago. Yes, Pollyanna.
Q&A with Marty Wingate.
The Page 69 Test: The Orphans of Mersea House.
Writers Read: Marty Wingate.
--Marshal Zeringue
Posts
