Inspiration and Obsession in Historical Fiction

June 30, 2019 | By Elisabeth Storrs | 1 Reply More

by Elisabeth Storrs

Inspiration ignites the spark to imagine a novel; obsession fans the flames to fuel the journey to complete it. As an historical novelist, I also face the added task of researching as well as producing a narrative. Luckily for me, history always provides me with both the motivation and evidence to produce a compelling story.

What was my inspiration to write the Tales of Ancient Rome saga? As a lover of classical history, I was intrigued when I came across a photograph of a C7th BCE sarcophagus with a man and woman reclining on their bed in a tender embrace. The image of the lovers remained with me. I was determined to discover who these people were with their distinctive almond shaped eyes and straight nose and brow. What kind of ancient culture exalted marital fidelity while showing such an openly sensuous connection? Which ancient society revered women as much as men? The answer resulted in an obsession with a people known as the Etruscans that lasted over sixteen years.

The Etruscans were a race that lived in Italy from before archaic times in a loose confederation of city states located in the regions of Tuscany, Umbria and Lazio. When I dug deeper, I discovered the Etruscans were as enlightened and cosmopolitan as the Athenians, but there was one major difference. They granted independence, education and sexual freedom to women. As a result they were considered wicked, decadent and corrupt by the rest of the ancient world.

Further research revealed a little known story of a siege between the nascent Republican Rome and the Etruscan city of Veii. Incredibly, these societies were only situated 12 miles apart across the Tiber River; and so it fascinated me that merely by crossing a strip of water, you could move from the equivalent of the dark ages into something similar to the Renaissance.

How was I to compare these enemy societies in an engaging way? I created two characters – a young Roman girl called Caecilia who is married to an Etruscan nobleman, Vel Mastarna, to seal a truce. Austere and intolerant, she is forced to leave Rome to travel to his city and grapple with conflicting moralities while living among the ‘sinful’ Etruscans.

Caecilia is soon seduced by her husband and the freedoms his society offers her but the wild, uninhibited Etruscan ways disturb her even though their religion offers her eternal life. Throughout the saga, Caecilia journeys from being a self-absorbed teenager thrust into an alien land to a strong mother committed to her husband, children and adopted city. In each book she faces choices – in The Wedding Shroud she must choose between Veii and love, or Rome and duty. In The Golden Dice she risks cutting ties with her Roman family who consider her a traitoress. Finally, in Call to Juno, she must determine if she’s prepared to exorcise the vestiges of the Roman within her by seeking her birthplace’s destruction, and surrendering her religious beliefs.

Nearly all historical novelists talk about the value of ‘walking the ground’, namely, visiting the sites of their story. During the time I wrote The Wedding Shroud, I was not in a position to travel overseas. Family obligations bound me to home shores in Australia. Instead I was reliant on history books to provide details of the customs, culture and religion of the two societies. The internet was the only method by which I could visualise the scenery. To add to my difficulties, very few texts written by the Etruscans are extant because their civilization was destroyed by the Romans and Greeks. As a result I gained much of my inspiration and knowledge from interpreting Etruscan tomb art which depicts the spiritual and physical world of these people.

As The Wedding Shroud dealt more with Caecilia’s internal conflict, I was content to accept my lack of hands on research. This changed when planning the next two books because The Golden Dice and Call to Juno chronicle the ten year siege that ensued between the foes. It became important for me to understand the geography of the two opposing cities. With great excitement, I organised a trip to Italy to tread in the footsteps of my characters.

My time was limited but I was determined to see as much as I could of Rome, Veii and other Etruscan cities in Lazio. I located a private tour company who provided scholars and archaeologists as guides. These experts were able to impart invaluable insights. At last I could gaze directly on the murals and sculptures I had pored over in books. I was even privileged to visit tombs that were closed to the public. I remember my delight when my guide flicked on the lights to reveal the vivid, fragile paintings protected behind glass before plunging them once again into darkness to ensure they remained preserved in temperature controlled chambers.

The digs taking place on the citadel of Veii were locked to the public. My guide was the eminent Etruscologist, Iefke van Kampen. She is the curator of the Museo d’ell Agro Veientano which is located in the Palazzo Chigi in Formello. As I was in awe of her, I was a little nervous when she asked to read The Wedding Shroud. Years passed, then out of the blue, she contacted me to say how much she enjoyed the trilogy and recognised the seriousness of my research into the Etruscan culture. As she was organising an audio-visual exhibition of her latest finds, she thought my characters would bring the story of Veii to life by giving voice to the votive sculptures she planned to feature. I’m so honoured she approached me. Etruscan funerary art inspired my words, now my words breathe life into the beautiful terracotta images of long dead Etruscans in a museum near Rome.

THE WEDDING SHROUD

“All the drama and sensuality of an historical romance, plus a sensitivity to the realities of life in a very different time and world…” Ursula Le Guin

In 406 BC, to seal a tenuous truce, the young Roman Caecilia is wedded to Vel Mastarna, an Etruscan nobleman from Veii. Leaving her militaristic homeland, Caecilia is determined to remain true to Roman virtues while living among the sinful Etruscans. But, despite her best intentions, she is seduced by a culture which offers women education, independence, sexual freedom and an empowering religion. Enchanted by Veii, but terrified of losing ties to Rome, Caecilia performs rites to delay becoming a mother, thereby postponing true entanglement. Yet as she develops an unexpected love for Mastarna, she is torn between her birthplace and the city in which she now lives.

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Elisabeth Storrs has a great love for the history and legends of the ancient world. The Wedding Shroud was endorsed by Ursula Le Guin, and named by Ben Kane as one of the top three books set in the classical world. Call to Juno was an Editor’s Choice in the Historical Novels Review. An archaeologist loved her Tales of Ancient Rome saga so much she created an audio-visual exhibition featuring Elisabeth’s characters voicing votive statuary at the Museo dell’Agro Veientano near Rome. Elisabeth is the co-founder of the Historical Novel Society Australasia and one of The History Girls.

Feel free to connect with Elisabeth through her website or Triclinium blog. You can find her on Facebook, Twitter @elisabethstorrs, Bookbub and Pinterest.