I am haunted by memories of places. The authors I most enjoy evoke a strong sense of place. As a writer, I love doing research to find images and further information about settings, and I’m excited about the chance to use this blog to share such background material for A Prospect of London and other projects.
Raphael’s Miraculous Draught of Fishes
In A Prospect of London, Caroline goes to the Victoria and Albert (my own favorite museum in London). She revisits the scene of a dramatic event in her life, the room with Raphael’s cartoons (preparatory works) for tapestries in the Sistine Chapel. The Miraculous Draught of Fishes is her favorite. For more information on this magnificent series, see the V&A website, the source of this image. https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O102006/the-miraculous-draught-of-fishes-tapestry-cartoon-raphael/
St. James Park
One of the scenes in A Prospect of London involves Caroline’s memory of walking in St. James Park and happening on the Trooping of the Colour. It is a grand spectacle, but it is the band music that thrills her most. Image from Shutterstock.
Reading Room of the British Library
Caroline Landry, the narrator of A Prospect of London, begins her research in the Reading Room of the British Library, which until 1997 was housed in the British Museum. Now the Reading Room is in the new British Library near St. Pancras Station, and the grand old domed one remains as an exhibit in the British Museum. For a fascinating history of the Reading Room, see the British Museum Blog, the source of this image.
St. Margaret’s Hotel on Bedford Place
In A Prospect of London I modeled St. Cuthbert’s Hotel on St. Margaret’s Hotel on Bedford Place, which is in Bloomsbury, a couple of blocks from the British Museum. This lovely old Georgian terrace is now mainly flats. Image from Shutterstock.
Julie L'Enfant Books 