Fraying Skeins
An engrossing Victorian Scotland Saga (Silver Sampler Series Book 3)
Escape In Paradise Evasion
1870 Scotland
Fleeing from Peterhead, Margaret Law makes Aberdeen her refuge. Menial jobs keep her and her toddler son fed– till an unusual tutoring task boosts her finances, and self-worth. Letters to best friend Jessie contain the absolute truth, especially when Johnny Fraser re-enters her life. Is he the man for Margaret to grow old with? When better employment emerges in St. Andrews, Margaret is torn. Will the move mean losing Johnny?
When Johnny follows Margaret to St. Andrews, their life together is idyllic. But when menacing secrets unfold, will Johnny’s past indiscretions be their undoing? Will he lose the cherished family he is establishing with Margaret?
Praise for Fraying Skeins:
"Jardine has once again brought nineteenth-century Scotland vividly to life while keeping Margaret and the people around her firmly at the heart of the story. Watching the determined little girl I first met in Novice Threads grow into this resourceful and courageous woman has been immensely rewarding, and there are more than enough intriguing threads left to make me eager to continue Margaret’s journey in the next instalment."
~ The Coffee Pot Book Club 5* Editorial Review
Welcome to the Coffee Pot Café, Nancy!
Please make yourself at home. Would you prefer tea or coffee, or perhaps something more…fortifying?
A nice glass of Malbec red wine might go down very nicely thank you. 😉
Before we begin, please introduce yourself, and your writing.
My name is Nancy Jardine and I live in a beautiful part of north-east Scotland where I don’t walk any distance at all before finding ancient history all around me. There are pre-historic long barrows; standing stones; a temporary Roman marching camp; and a mediaeval castle all within a mile from my house.
I write mainly historical adventure fiction and saga, though some years ago I also wrote mystery thrillers. Two out of three of the mysteries are based around the ancestry of an ‘invented’ family so, even though they are contemporary mysteries, I sneaked in some history.
I enjoyed reading your brilliant Celtic Fervour adventure series set in Roman Britain. So what inspired you to start writing a very different series, Silver Sampler, a saga about a young seamstress in Victorian Scotland? That’s quite a jump!
It’s an enormous jump but makes perfect sense to me! ‘Celts and Romans’ and ‘The Victorian Era’ were two of my favourite historical topics when teaching my 11-12 year old primary pupils. After I retired and decided to write fiction, ‘Celts and Romans’ won the toss of the coin, since there could have been ten thousand Roman soldiers tramping over my garden ground some 2000 years ago while entering their temporary Roman camp (right across the road from my house).
The Victorian saga has been a labour of love, using some authentic historical documentation. Controversial things happened to working-class women, including some instances which happened to my own ancestors, which were far more common during the Victorian era than you’d find today. Some crimes that occur in the series would not necessarily have the same repercussions today, and conversely some crimes were treated far more harshly when under the spotlight of Victorian morality.
After Novice Threads and Tailored Truths, you recently published book #3 in the series, Fraying Skeins. Many congratulations! Could you tell us a bit about the story, and where it takes Margaret?
Fraying Skeins opens in the northern fishing town of Peterhead, in Scotland, a few days after Margaret’s young husband Sandy died in distressing and somewhat questionable circumstances (end of Book #2). She flees from Peterhead after Sandy’s burial, unable to trust her disgusting father-in-law to leave her unmolested. She gets as far as Aberdeen with her toddler son Jamie, and seeks shelter for the night. Too ashamed to relate to her best friend Jessie in Glasgow, or to her own uncle in Perth, just how awful her life had been while married to Sandy, Margaret decides to stay on in Aberdeen to lick her emotional wounds. Unable to get tutoring or seamstress employment, she initially takes on the menial job of a housemaid till better-paid sewing and tutoring work lands in her lap.
By chance, she meets an acquaintance of Sandy in Aberdeen. Johnny Fraser, a tailor who moves around Scotland doing contract work, soon becomes a man that Margaret feels she could grow old with. Though a lot younger than she is, the relationship with him ticks all of her emotional and sexual boxes, though – once burned, twice shy, due to her marriage with Sandy – Margaret is determined to live life on her own terms. She’ll not give up her independence as readily as before.
A dream opportunity of tutoring in the university sea-side town of St. Andrews turns up and when Johnny manages to also get a job in St. Andrews, their life together is idyllic. Pregnant with her second child, they get married, Unfortunately, Margaret later finds out that Johnny’s past indiscretions in Kirriemuir – the town of his upbringing – threaten to destroy their relationship. The legal situation becomes so dire that St. Andrews is no longer a safe haven for them.
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| (c) Nancy Jardine |
In the Silver Sampler series, you use Scots, Doric, as well as regional dialects in dialogue, and the narrative is filled with many Scots words. This gives the novels a unique flavour of the characters and the areas you feature, immersing them in local life. Do you show a difference in status when using language in dialogue? And what impact does this have on your readers?
I’ve been conscious when writing that I want to ensure that both Margaret and Johnny Fraser speak in what I’d term a more standard Scottish tongue that’s readily understood. (Johnny Fraser’s own point of view features from Book #3 onwards.) Since both Margaret and Johnny have had to move frequently to find work, being understood clearly in a new location seems eminently sensible for success in gaining new employment. It’s also important to me that my character Margaret treats all of her friends and acquaintances without any prejudice, regardless of what their natural, local speech is like. Most readers have given me a positive thumbs-up for using different dialects. However, one of my Beta readers for Book #1 told me that they found the amount of local Kirriemuir dialect that I’d used was a bit too jarring when they were reading. Taking that on board, I honed the amount I used leaving, I hope, enough to ground each part of the whole story in the location Margaret finds herself in.
What do you think is the most challenging aspect of writing a Victorian saga set predominantly in Scotland?
Great question! I think that a historical author cannot assume anything without fact-checking first. If I’ve wanted to add in something that I’m fairly sure is correct for a particular Victorian decade, I then ensure that my knowledge isn’t confined to what might have been correct for England, or for the London area. Sometimes, inventions were rolled out more quickly in Scotland than England, and vice-versa. It’s especially important to check facts for Scots Law, or for what might have been the regulations of the local burgh, since jurisdiction in England and Wales is, and was, different from Scotland. Check, check, check is the mantra!
When researching the era and regions, did you come upon any unexpected surprises?
Yes, lots of them! When researching what working-class women in Aberdeen did with their children when they were out working, I discovered that a day nursery was set up in 1871 for mainly women who worked in service, or were washerwomen. It’s now called the Voluntary Service Aberdeen, but back in 1871 it was called the Aberdeen Association for Improving the Conditions of the Poor. This was a very innovative initiative across Britain at that time. I tweaked the date, just a little, so that Margaret is able to use the service in 1870.
Some other surprises related to St. Andrews University having a very small student enrolment back in 1870, and that women were allowed into some classes to study, though they could never graduate at that time. Women were already playing golf at St. Andrews by 1970, and ginger beer was a popular take-home drink!
You are currently working on Book #4 in the Silver Sampler series. Can you give us a glimpse into the plot?
Without giving away too much? Margaret and Johnny leave Scotland in the hope of avoiding Scottish jurisdiction. They make their home in Beaumaris on Anglesey for a while but the law eventually catches up with Johnny. For a time, Margaret is alone with her two sons in Beaumaris: Johnny is elsewhere. After their reunion, which isn’t in the least plain sailing but is based on actual historical evidence, they live for a while in Liverpool and later move to Glasgow where Margaret spends the rest of her life, bringing up a reasonably large family.
What of Johnny you might then ask? Some of their priorities are entirely merging through the next decades, though others are less so! Find out in Book #4, which has a working title of Stitching Dreams.
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| (c) Nancy Jardine |
Do you have any plans for future writing projects? Where would you like to venture after completing Margaret’s journey?
I might do some ‘spin-off’ novellas about Margaret’s offspring, though probably not full-length novels, or a new series. One of my local, and very loyal, Celtic Fervour Series readers is desperate for me to do some more 1st C CE Garrigill warrior stories. And… I’ve left the Rubidium Time Travel Series for YA readers hanging with only one novel published to date. Otherwise, who knows?
That's all really interesting, Nancy. We can't wait to read Stitching Dreams, and we'd love to see a new Celtic Fervour story, too. Such exciting projects!
Thank you for a fabulous chat. Cheers! 🍷🍷
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