This week was a very productive session for The Glorious Thing’s production team. We set ourselves the challenge of digging out any WWI memorabilia and paraphernalia to arrange and photograph for our cover. The aim was to capture the essence of Christine Orr’s novel set on the home front in Edinburgh 1916.
We arrived on Tuesday morning armed with family heirlooms, photographs, tablecloths, and china tea sets, all fitting to this era. A special thanks to Sally who ventured out into the snow to also get ribbons, buttons, and scones from Tesco to add to the display!
We put on our creative hats and began arranging all we had gathered. Next, we took photos of our collage – in one of the University’s photography studios that we were kindly allowed to use. Our favourite arrangement was a birds-eye view captured by Char’s fantastic photography skills! (above)
The soldier pictured is actually my great-grandfather who fought for the Northumberland Fusiliers. The woman in the picture next to him is my great-grandmother with their first two children who were born before he was sent off to the front line. He was one of the lucky ones, he survived four gruelling years of war and they went on to have a further EIGHT children.
Also pictured (below) is my great-grandfather’s very own Princess Mary Christmas tin from December 1914. We are thinking of including her wreath to our design, as she would represent the women of the novel.
I recently discovered the heart-warming story behind this decorative brass tin.
In 1914 seventeen-year-old Princess Mary organised a public appeal to raise funds to ensure that ‘every Sailor afloat and every Soldier at the front’ received a Christmas present. Originally they were filled with gifts including tobacco, chocolate, spices, a Christmas card, and a picture of the Princess.
We are still adding the final touches to our book jacket – the final design is soon to follow, but we have captured a really striking collaboration, which perfectly depicts The Glorious Thing.
Excellent teamwork!
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