What was it like, writing this book after the great success of Girl with a Pearl Earring?

Falling Angels was very difficult to write. It is so hard to follow a success. I knew that people were expecting me to write about another painting – the Mona Lisa, for example – or another artist-model relationship – Rodin/Claudel, Picasso and his various women, etc. But if I did that I would be expected to write the same kind of book for the rest of my life. So I deliberately wrote something completely different – set in a London cemetery in the early 20th century, told by 12 characters, and not a paintbrush in sight! [return to questions]

Why did you set the book in a cemetery?

I love cemeteries – I think they reveal a lot about the way a society thinks. For instance, Highgate Cemetery, where the book is set, is a dramatic, elaborate place, full of expensive monuments and religious symbolism. The Victorian families with graves there clearly felt death was an important part of life, and their preoccupation is reflected in the attention given to their graves. If you look at a modern cemetery, on the other hand, they are bland and uniform, with graves set in neat rows that makes it easy to mow and take care of. No one wants to spend a lot of time at a modern cemetery – the atmosphere is dull and antiseptic, illustrating our own denial of death and our attempts to minimize its impact. I wanted to explore that change, focusing on the time between the Victorian and the modern – the Edwardian period – and to set in a place that would feel that change – a cemetery. [return to questions]

How did you do your research?

I read a lot, but most importantly I spent a lot of time in Highgate Cemetery, a famous Victorian cemetery in London (Karl Marx is buried there). I knew when I took a tour of it that I wanted to set a novel there, so I started doing volunteer work, gardening and giving tours. I pestered the gravediggers and manager there, and looked at old records. Plus I found a great book from 1843 all about how a cemetery works. There are also several books about Victorians’ attitude to death that were very useful concerning funerals and mourning rituals. Some of the old Victorian magazines such as The Queen and Cassell’s have whole sections on mourning etiquette that I lifted for Lavinia’s guide to mourning, as well as some of her behavior!

Then I began to read about Edwardian society in general, and about the suffragettes in particular. Several of the suffragettes published memoirs of their struggles, and there is a good collection of ephemera and suffragette newspapers at the Museum of London. [return to questions]

There are several distinct narrative voices in the book. Why did you write the novel in that style, rather than as a straight story with one narrator?

In the first draft I tried writing primarily in third person looking over the shoulder of the young girl Maude Coleman. But when I read it over it seemed very dull, and I decided that the story needed to be told in a different way. Girl with a Pearl Earring is like a Vermeer painting, the focus narrow and domestic, and it made sense to tell the story through one character. Falling Angels has a much broader perspective, painting a portrait of a society. The children, the adults, the servants all have very different understandings of the world. By allowing them all their own voices a more complex picture emerges, getting us closer to the truth of the matter.[return to questions]

Which is your favorite character in the book?

I like Simon the gravedigger because he is so otherworldly. He lives in a cemetery and he doesn’t belong to the normal world. He has a kind of freedom as a result that is very attractive. I expect Maude is the most like me, though.

Of the minor characters, I am very partial to the cook, Dorothy Baker. She doesn’t say much but when she does, it’s forceful. [return to questions]

Why did you do that to Ivy May?

[Warning: details of the book are given away here. Only read this if you have already read the book.] Click here to read the answer. [return to questions]

What are mutes?

Mutes are little boys hired to be mourners. They’re dressed up as little adults, with long black coats and top hats, and walk at the front of the funeral procession carrying wreaths or black feathers. They are meant to have melancholic faces and not speak, adding to the dramatic effect. Oliver Twist was a mute for the undertaker Mr. Sowerberry for a time. Remember in the film Oliver! when Mark Lester is dressed in black leading a funeral procession? He was a mute. (Sorry, had to say that. I was in love with Mark Lester when I was seven.) [return to questions]

Do you plan to write a sequel?

Eventually I would like to write a sequel. When I was writing the book I had in mind to make it span the years 1901-1918, but in the end I only got as far as 1910! So I do know what happens to Maude, Lavinia, and Simon, and I would like to continue the story. [return to questions]