What is a "gate house?"
In this case, the gate house was originally built as a stop along an old railroad line. When the railroads first began to crisscross Britain in the nineteenth century, the trains had to stop at certain points to pay a toll in order to cross privately owned land. The gate would be raised when the toll was paid. Someone would stay in the house in order to collect the toll and raise the gate.
In the novel, the old gate house has been added to and renovated over the years, and is now used as a bed and breakfast.
Why did you use Lincolnshire for the setting of the story?
I did not choose Lincolnshire for the setting. I found the story in Lincolnshire. The basic idea for the story, including some of the actual scenes, came to me while traveling in Lincolnshire with my husband. Some of the characters, however, came from a previous unpublished story. I simply moved them a few years forward in their lives and set them down in Lincolnshire.
Are all the locations mentioned in the story real?
Some of them are. Lincoln Cathedral, of course, is very real, and the details of the interior of the Cathedral are as precise as I could make them. Other places in Lincoln such as Steep Hill and the Usher Gallery are also real. The small town where Nara lives, as well as the Caribbean Island where she was born, are fictional, although they bear some resemblance to actual places.
Any historical background and historical figures, such as Matthew Flinders and Katherine Swinford, are described as accurately as possible.
