Talk at the Grange Association, Nov 15 22.

I gave my first talk about the book, on Tuesday night, to about 60 people at a meeting of the Grange Association. I focussed on some of the real personalities who figure in An Edinburgh Suicide and discussed the challenges and choices to be made in incorporating real figures into a fictional work. The audience were receptive- and not just the several friends who were kind enough to attend!
The novel in fact sprang from my sense of injustice of how Hugh Miller used versions of the lives of his workingmen mates on the building site to further his views on the unsuitability of the vote for the working man. He especially focussed on a fellow named Cha, who he portrays as an intelligent brute. I discovered that Cha had in fact taken Hugh to the theatre and lent him books. This led to my portrayal of what happens in the First Part of the novel, The Unenlightened.
I would be happy to hear about what people think of my treatment of the characters, real and unreal in the novel. Please be kind!