Scrumptious Research

As we all know, the key to great historical fiction is bringing another time/place/culture to life. Often what springboards plot development is the social and political environment of the period—but politics will never bring a world to life. For me, it's all about the tastes and sounds and textures of a time—which is why I always begin my official research with those three elements: food, music, and clothing.

I wrote an entire post on the importance food can play in a novel, so I won't repeat myself here. But I'll show you that work in action as it comes to play in my current WIP, AMBER & FLAME.

AMBER & FLAME is a story of Antonio Stradivari's daughter, Francesca, and it is set in 1701 Cremona, Italy. Anyone who's ever been close with an Italian knows that food is, always has been, and forever will be a center of their culture and life. So to really know what Francesca's daily life would have been like, I wanted to begin by discovering what her daily meals would have been—what smells filled her home throughout the day, what she very likely labored away at for several hours every week. My husband found me this amazing book, The Gastronomy of Italy, by Anna Del Conte, a cookbook dividing traditional Italian recipes by region, and explaining the history and cultural influences behind them. Now I can know, and taste, what Francesca might have prepared her family for dinner on a chilly winter's night.

Next, la musica... Music has always played a central role in my life, so I suppose I can't help but define my characters' lives by it, too. Certainly Francesca Stradivari would have been extremely familiar with the music and musicians of her time—so in order to know what tunes would be playing through her head, my next stop on the research train was a musical one. Vivaldi, Pachelbel, Henry Purcell, a few Bachs....all composers whose music Francesca would have known, whose music I still love today. Listening to their pieces gives me a connection to Francesca, helps me see her as someone who shares my interests, three centuries apart.

This video is of Itzhak Perlman playing Vivaldi's The Four Seasons: Winter—on a violin that Francesca's father made, incidentally. Makes you wonder if she heard it played on one of his instruments in her lifetime...

Finally, maybe it's just because I have a fascination with fashion, discovering exactly what clothes my character would wear is very important to me—cut and cloth and cost and everything in between. As of yet, I haven't been able to personally immerse myself in this aspect of Francesca's life (alas!) but pictures will suffice for now.

How do you begin researching?