Have you ever wished that the walls of your home could speak, and tell you tales of your home’s former inhabitants and their lives? If so, you will be fascinated by new book which looks at the life of a family residence over a hundred years, and peels back the decades bringing former residents vibrantly and evocatively to life.
Part fiction, part fact, and the result of much careful detective work, Susannah Mansfield’s debut novel ‘The House’ tells the fascinating story of 11 separate families and their day-to-day life in a quiet residential street in Bath.
Susannah has used not only her own home but her professional skills and passion for literature and historical research honed as a former Head of Fundraising at Bath Literature Festival and in her current role with the National Trust to inform her work.
Speaking from the house which inspired her to write, Susannah says, “Living in this Edwardian house, and restoring it to its original glory over time, I started to reflect on how it had looked in the past and how the lives of those who lived here, and the society in which those people existed, differed from my own.
“I believe that each of us leaves something behind when we move on from a home, and I really wanted to reveal some of those legacies and put them into a social context. In The House I have combined established factual material with a fictional narrative which endeavours to bring to life some of the events that changed this nation’s history, but with the particular families who formerly lived in my home at the heart of the story. It’s been a fascinating journey, which I hope many others will enjoy and which might inspire people to do their own research.”
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The House is published by Publish Nation and is available as a paperback or Kindle ebook, at £5.99 and £5.03, respectively, from www.lulu.com and www.amazon.com
