Rebecca Clarke - writer, speaker, researcher
Writer
The most difficult thing about writing is knowing where to start. I had boxes and boxes and drawers and shelves full of material to work with and it was all interesting. I began by transcribing the early travel diaries of the Aunts (as they are collectively known by the family). The diaries began in 1893 with a small diary written by 12-year-old Edith who was taken on holiday with her wealthy aunt on her luxurious yacht and they continue through decades to travel diaries that were written in the 1950’s. I concentrated my early efforts on the diaries dating up to 1920. I was knee deep in this material when a trip back to Australia distracted me and sent me off in a very different direction and this resulted in the writing of my first published work, A Bare Chronicle of Existence – Letters and Stories from internment in Norway during WW1 and my third book, an complimentary one titled Best Wishes from All. My second book is now published and is titled Pearced - A True-ish Story. Set in Victorian Glasgow and London it reveals the scandalous lives lived by two members of my husband's family and the women who got caught in their web. After that, well, I might go back to the travel diaries or there are a series of letters written in the late 1920’s from the USA or there is the story of an escape from Germany when WW1 broke out or…….so many other options.
Reader reviews of A Bare Chronicle of Existence - Stories and Letters from internment in Norway during WW1
"I loved the insight into another time and the stories of an ordinary person caught in a dreadful situation. What was also inspirational was the love, pride and compassion that fuelled all the work you had done. The incidental stories you uncovered showed that everyone had a story worth telling and I think that respectful consideration of human worth and dignity was uplifting."
"What am amazing lot of information you have been able to put together.
But I understand You have had good access to Family archives and other archives.
You can be proud of Your book !!"
"I have purchased your book and have read it cover to cover. It educated and informed me. You are clearly a consummate historian, researcher and detective."
"I’ve just finished reading your book, loved all of it thanks, and a big thanks from my family because its their family history too."
A BARE CHRONICLE OF EXISTENCE
When beginning my research into HMS India I was heavily indebted to the Aunts, and their careful hoarding. The family archives held postcards, letters, sketches, artwork, photographs and other ephemera from the three years and two months that my grandfather-in-law, Richard Arnold Clarke, spent interned in Norway. However, I was also very lucky that I lived a mere ten-minute drive from the National Archives in Kew, London. In the files from the War and Foreign office, kept at the National Archives, there are detailed files on the launching, sailing, torpedoing, sinking, rescuing and internment of HMS India and her officers and men. It makes for such interesting reading and made an excellent source of information for me!
The research for this book led me in many directions and resulted in the connection with many other descendants of the men who sailed on HMS India. The story, which is based heavily on the letters written by Arnold, also tells of some of the other officers and men who served on HMS India and I share their photos and experiences. It has been a personal joy of mine to make contact with over twenty descendants of HMS India officers and crew and even meet a few of them in person. Their stories, recollections and photographs have enriched my book and telling of the HMS India story as well as increased mine, and I am sure my readers, understanding of what the HMS India men experienced.
A Bare Chronicle of Existence - Stories and Letters from internment in Norway during WW1 is available in both printed form and as an e book on Amazon as well as from many other sellers! The book is now available on line from my publishers - Austin Macauley OR from The Book Depository, Barnes and Noble, Dymocks, Wheelers, Foyles, Waterstones, WH Smith, bookshop.org and on Amazon. If you reside in the UK you can click on the link below to order directly from my publisher.
You can also order directly from the author, me! Cost is £10 +postage All copies ordered from me will be signed and dedicated, if desired, and will come with a complimentary book mark and postcard. Click on the Let's Chat button to make your order.
Pearced
Breaking news - Pearced-A True-ish Story has now been published and is available through a wide range of online bookstores or through my publisher, Austin Macauley or signed copies can be ordered directly from me. Contact me on the 'Let's Chat' button.
Sir William Pearce, Bart. was a renowned Victorian shipbuilder who owned the largest shipyard in Glasgow, if not the world and built the fastest ships of the 1870’s and 1880’s. He was powerful and wealthy and a distant relative of my husband’s. Whilst researching him and his son for a biography, I started to unravel the secret lives of these men and what I found was far more interesting than shipbuilding. Adultery, illegitimacy and loitering at stage doors, the Pearce men found time for more than just business and despite attempts to cover all of their philandering, I was able to unearth many of their secrets. Pearced tells the story of seven Victorian women and how their lives were affected by two wealthy men. Readers will meet Adelaide, the young woman who found herself in a relationship with a much older, much wealthier man and being whisked off from Glasgow to London to become his mistress. Her story sees her committed to an asylum, becoming estranged from her family before having her future decided for her by the men who ultimately discarded her. There is also Elizabeth, a dancer from Austria who finds herself mother to two illegitimate children and whose life meets a tragic end. Gwendoline thinks she has control over the situation with her married lover but ends up with a lot less than she had bargained for. Poor Maud was making a great life for herself on the London stage before she fell in love with a young barrister who was quick to turn his back on her when he became a wealthy Baronet. Sweet Florrie was the illegitimate daughter of an actress and a violinist who had little choice but to become an actress herself. Will her dashing, charming baronet give her the life that she desires and allow her to leave the stage? Carrie was on the stage by the age of five and with her brother and sister, became the darlings of Victorian London, admired by fans far and wide including the author of Alice in Wonderland, but would life as an adult actor be as rewarding as that of a child one or would Carrie find that a wealthy Baronet would be the answer to her problems? And finally, meet Lady Dinah Pearce, wife, and mother of two headstrong, flawed men. Could she rise above the failings of the men in her life, remain strong in her Christian beliefs and have a fulfilling life? And what about the men themselves? Meet Sir William and Sir William George Pearce, two men who were determined to hide all of their metaphorical skeletons only to have them dug up by a determined family historian.
Discover not only the facts but also the fiction of these seven women as their lives are imagined by a twentieth century woman who wanted to give them a chance to tell their stories.
Aunt Di (Lady Dinah Pearce) in her garden in Wimbledon about 1912
One of the few images of Sir William Pearce, Bart.
Reader reviews of Pearced - A True-ish Story
"'Pearced' revealed so many interesting and amusing facts, stories and opinions about the Pearce men and women, and they've now really come much more alive for me, with all their merits and flaws. It's obvious how hard you worked finding all this information, with much of it coming to light for the first time."
"I was very interested and entertained by your choice of writing style for the women's stories. I also appreciated the clear distinctions you made between their 'stories' and their truths. It was quite enlightening to see the educated guesses you made based on the facts. I think you did a great job on that."
"I finished Pearced last night. I loved it. The way you threaded facts through fiction made it a fantastic read! I could easily see this as a mini series too."