Do you want to know a little more about Emeline?
So, you’ve arrived at my second blog post – either because you’re actually quite interested in finding out more about Elderwitch, for which I am very grateful, or you’ve stumbled upon here accidentally, I don’t know how, but I’m glad that you have! Please stay awhile and let me tempt you with another little whimsical nugget.
I wanted to use this post to talk more about Emeline de Gournay, the girl who is always in trouble, the girl at the centre of my story. I’m obviously not going to tell you everything I know about her because then, there would be no story, but I can give you some context. I can tell you a little about her life, her family and the world she was born into, and then, maybe, you’ll want to read Elderwitch and begin to immerse yourself in the world I love so much.
Emeline was born in September 1330, so, in the book, she is sixteen years old or, as she describes herself, has lived for sixteen summers. She is Anglo-Norman, which means her family originate from Normandy (nowadays, a region in north west France) and settled in the borderlands of England and Wales in the years following the Norman conquest of 1066. This area is known as the Welsh Marches and I’ll talk more about this in another blog post but, for now, all you need to know is that Emeline lives most of the time in a manor house near the village of Runston just south of Chepstow, given to her family by the English king, Edward I, in 1292. As I have developed Emeline’s storyline over the years, she has moved many times, but I became fixated on Runston, now a lost medieval village, once I found out about the ruins of its 12th century chapel, which had been dedicated to St Keyne, or Ceinwen. Now, it’s not easy for a girl living in the middle ages to have a female role model to look up to but Ceinwen was pretty cool for the time. As one of the daughters of a fifth century Welsh king, she took a vow of celibacy, despite countless offers of marriage, and decided to commit her life to God. More than that, she travelled extensively throughout Wales and the south-west of England as an independent woman, setting up religious communities and hanging out with family and friends, but also choosing to spend huge amounts of time on her own. She did as she wanted, within the realms of what was possible for her at the time, and this is what Emeline dreams of – taking control of her life but, deep down, she knows this will never happen.
If you’ve read anything about the book, you’ll know Emeline has a younger brother, Richard, whom she is extremely protective over, even if she does enjoy winding him up. Her parents, Catherine and John, adore their children but both are distant, absorbed in their own battles and she and her brother have been mostly brought up by servants. With Richard often unwell, Emeline has been left to her own devices and, whenever possible, she would rather be outside, riding her horse, Selène, or roaming the woods that surround her home. She loves making up stories and acting them out with Richard, always trying to make him smile, but, over the years, she has also spent many hours by his bed, wiping his body down and stroking his hair, desperate for him to get better. The bond between them couldn’t be stronger.
Emeline is growing up, though, and at sixteen, she really should be married and living away from all that she loves. This is when the book starts and we first meet her on the morning she will be introduced to the stranger chosen for her by her parents. And, one thing she knows, life for her will never be the same again.
Lucie