This week, I took
myself off to Glasgow’s famous Necropolis or The City of the Dead on a research trip for a scene in my new romantic
novella - How Do You Voodoo? - a fun read
planned for release in October - just in time for your Halloween enjoyment!
A scene in the middle
of How Do You Voodoo? takes place in a cemetery in the centre of Glasgow where
fifty thousand wealthy Victorian
entrepreneurs of the ‘Second City of the Empire’ are buried.
It’s just a short walk over the Bridge of Sighs into the cemetery, an outdoor museum of tombs and memorials designed by the major architects and sculptors of the
time, including Alexander ‘Greek’ Thomson, Charles Rennie Macintosh and JT Rochead. Despite its spooky façade, incredible tombs,
and wonky overgrown graves, it’s a very peaceful and interesting place to spend
a grey and gloomy Sunday afternoon - plus I got to imagine the scene from my
story in all its earthy authentic detail!
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| Here I'm standing on the Bridge of Sighs |
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| The view from the Necropolis over Glasgow |
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| Just one of the spooky ivy overgrown memorials |
More next week on How Do You Voodoo? – the story, the
cover, and the virtual Halloween launch party planned for Friday October
26th – it's going to be SO much fun!
Janice xx
31 comments:
I never knew Glasgow had a bridge of sighs!! Yay!
Take care
x
Hi Kitty - yes, they say it marks the line between time and eternity - how spooky is that!?
Janice xx
Great post Janice - looking forward to reading How Do You Voodoo.
Thanks Sue - I'm looking forward to the launch party!!
So much history to use as background settings for novels.
Absolutely, Anneli. I do enjoy doing research and this was so very interesting. There are authors and poets buried in the Necropolis too - and the originator of the children's nursery rhyme 'wee willie winkie'!
Love the pictures. There is so much history there. I have to visit the Necropolis myself.
Can't wait to read How Do You Voodoo?
Such intriguing photos! Wish I could snap over for a visit. Can't wait to read more about it, Janice. Very cool!
Excellent post, Janice. I took a walk there many years ago whilke doing a 'Victorians' O.U. course and it was a perfect visit-if a graveyard can be called a perfect place. It was creepy, spooky but also what you say- it had its own peace if you ignore the occasional traffic noises. Your story sounds great!
Love the title, Janice! Like Old Kitty, I never knew Glasgow has a City of the Dead!
Great photos, Janice - we had a very interesting visit there some years ago with the writing group. Very atmospheric! The 26th is my birthday - so I'll certainly try and join in the fun!
Hi Melanie and Bonnie - from across the big pond! Yes, if you get the chance you should definitely visit Glasgow's City of the Dead. It's amazing!
Hi Nancy - thanks for your lovely comment. How interesting to do a course of Victorians - and this is certainly the place to find them!
Hi Talli - thanks for your comment about the title. I'm waiting to get the cover back from its designer this week and can't wait - it will be a compelling mix of tartan and voodoo!
Hi Rosemary - great that you have been there too. They do organised group tours, which I'm sure would be interesting, but then I think I'd be too tempted to wander off on my own all the time!
I would be thrilled if you can pop over and take part in my launch party for How Do You Voodoo? on your birthday - the 26th October. Yay!!
Cursing myself for never having made it to the City of the Dead although it was on the agenda when I visited Glasgow (a visit there not an inmate, I hasn't to add!). We ran out of time as many of its residents obviously did.(Sorry, am in a jokey mood this morning.) Great photos. It looks a very spooky and atmospheric place. Looking forward to reading the novella. :)
Loved your comment Kit - you had me giggling with your witty inuendos!
Kit, for those who don't know, is my lovely editor and she is expecting to read the novella next Friday - so I'm glad you are looking forward to it, Kit! xx
I must confess I live in Glasgow and have never been there. My aunt used to stay in a street beside it which is no longer there ,they had what was called "high backs" back yards up steps and you could see into the graveyard. They also had rats the size of cats, but that's another story,lol!!
How cool! What a beautiful city. Sounds like a great read too! It's so much fun to visit a place that you're writing about.
Great location for a research trip, Janice. It's occasionally used as a backdrop for some of the crime series on TV, like Taggart. Looking forward to reading your scene in HDYV? Love the title!
Hi Janice - don't know Glasgow v. well but this sounds fascinating. The Victorians certainly knew how to 'do' death! Have been to Dean Cemetery in Edinburgh which I think is similar but smaller scale - and also figures briefly in my novel. Keep meaning to visit Pere Lachaise in Paris but haven't made that one yet. Looking forward to your spooky tale.
AliB
Takes me back a few years, Janice. When I worked as an editor at Collins in Glasgow (when they used to be in Cathedral Street), I sometimes took my sarnie off to the Necropolis at lunchtime!
Great photos,Janice.Did you catch sight of any of the deer which now populate the Necropolis?
Looking forward to reading the new novel.
Hi Janice, the Necropolis is one of my all-time favourite places, as it was for Jo, my heroine in The Bird Flies High, which includes a few scenes set in the City of the Dead. Many moons ago, I worked as a medical secretary at the nearby Royal Infirmary and, like you, Jenny, used to wander up there at lunchtime. Btw, Jo's surname was Collins! Fabulously atmospheric place.
Myra, I was also wondering if the deer are still there.
Good luck with the novella!
Yuk, Anne, - the thought of rats the size of cats had me far more spooked than anything I saw in the cemetery!!
Thanks Stpehanie - you must try and get to Scotland during your next visit to the UK. :)
Thanks Joan, for your lovely comment and reminding me that used to love watching Taggart!
Hi Ali - thanks for your interesting comment. Wasn't it Glasgow native Billy Connerly who said "Glasgow doesn't care much for the living, but it really looks after the dead" while referring to the Necropolis?
I too would love to visit Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, which is so much older and no doubt even more spooky!
Janice xx
Jenny, in my story, my Glasgow born heroine mentions the Necropolis as being a place she would have gone to read and as a break from the hustle and bustle of the city. In the scene I've just written however, she isn't there to read a book!
Myra - thank you but no, I didn't see any deer, although I had read they are occasionally seen there but then they are very shy creatures. :)
Janice xx
Hi Maggie - thanks for your lovely comment - and can I say I think it's fantastic that you have made your fabulous backlist of books available to your fans and to new readers of your books on Kindle!
I'll look forward to reading The Bird Flies High now even more so!
Janice xx
You really enjoy your research Janice and this is amazing. 'The line between time and eternity - how spooky is that!' - what if you have one foot one side and one the other side? Does that make you all-seeing??? Wish I could have taken that trip with you. Really looking forward to a little voodoo...
Sounds like you enjoyed the research, I wish you all the best with the release.
You are right, Linn and LindyLou - I really enjoyed the research - a bit too much perhaps!
Janice xx
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