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Linden's heroine
is Shirley Keeldar and her house is Fieldhead.
Yes.
Charlotte Bronte wrote a book called "Shirley" set in the same year (I
think), and dealing with the Luddite riots. Bronte's
heroine was Shirley Keeldar and her house was Fieldhead. Is there
a Bronte background to this book that the interview
doesn't address?
There's lots of Bronte background. I wanted for a long time to
write a book with a working-class hero in the Regency - ie a Luddite, but I
didn't know how to do it. And I read Shirley by CB as part of the research, and
thought it was one of the world's most disappointing books!
Bronte's Luddites are fools led astray by villains, which annoyed me. And she
created this wonderful heroine, Shirley Keeldar, and then married her off
at the end to a complete drip. "How could the woman who gave us Mr
Rochester give us this guy?" I asked, muttering that I could have done
better than this.
 When I went to England to do the research, I went to the place which was
the original of Fieldhead in CB's novel (Oakwell Hall). I was sitting in
the garden there, and the Muse spoke to me and said
"Well, why don't you re-write Shirley? Give the Luddites their due, and give Shirley a much
better man than Charlotte Bronte gave her." So, with considerable
audacity, that's what I did - and I expect to be lynched by maddened Bronte
fans for it.
Wish I'd
read the book, then I could be more specific with my
questions.
Oh, do. If you're a Bronte fan, I think you'll like it (or you'll hate it
and want to join the lynch mob).
Linden's website is at http://www1.octa4.net.au/linden/
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