I’m late with my blog today, but I have a good excuse. I’m just back from a trip out of town for the First Birthday of THE CUTEST GRANDSON EVER. It was wonderful.
Last week I skipped out on a regular blog because I was finishing writing my Work In Progress. I’m happy to report Work Is Done and turned in. And, I discovered in my research that Wellington won the Battle of Waterloo and Napoleon lost.
Of course, I knew that beforehand. Who didn’t?
I’ve researched the battle several times, having used it in other books, my Three Soldiers Series, for example. Even if I don’t use the battle in the story, I need to know things like what regiments fought at Waterloo, if I am writing about a Waterloo veteran.
For writing about Brussels before Waterloo, I relied heavily on two sources:
Waterloo Days by Charlotte Ann Eaton (free on Google Books) -This book is a memoir written by a traveler to Brussels who arrived the day of the Duchess of Richmond’s Ball
New Picture of Brussels by J.B. Romberg (also free on Google Books) – a travel guide, written in 1820
For details of the Duchess of Richmond’s Ball, I used two rather obvious sources:
The Duchess of Richmond’s Ball by David Miller
Dancing Into Battle by Nick Foulkes
For the battle itself:
The Battle: A New History of Waterloo by Alessandro Barbero
Waterloo: Day of Battle by David Howarth – This book tells the story of the battle from the perspective of the soldiers fighting it, which makes it ideal. It is my favorite book about Waterloo.
But even before I delved into the books, I needed to get myself in the mindset of Waterloo. I did this by watching YouTube videos, which I first found on Number One London. Look HERE for bunches of Waterloo videos, including the Waterloo movie starring Rod Steiger as Napoleon and Christopher Plummer as Wellington.
You’ll have to wait until 2015 to find out how well I did with this research!
Hugh Westleigh, the hero of A Lady of Notoriety was a Waterloo veteran. You can get your copy of that book now.
Do you have a favorite research book? Or a favorite nonfiction history book?
Well . . . . . you’ll certainly be prepared when we meet in London in September for the Duke of Wellington Tour! You’ll be able to do some up close research at the Household Cavalry Museum, lots of Waterloo era uniforms, shakos and other army gear. Maybe you can have future heroes sup a pint at the Grenadier! And there was a regiment based close to Walmer. The officers would all leave their cards for Wellington when he came to stay at Walmer Castle. In return, the Duke invited all who had called to dinner. Once, he invited all the officers except his own son – because his son had failed to leave his card! And people wonder why I find Wellington so entertaining . . . . . .
OneNumberOne is a great site! Thanks for the list of references. Loved your book!