Today author Lesley Wilson is talking about the inspirations behind
Oric And The Alchemist's Key.
Fourteen-year-old orphaned boy, Oric,
inherits a key from alchemist Deveril. Moments before the old man dies he hints
that the key will unlock the secret to great wealth. He also warns of terrible
danger should the key fall into wrong hands.
Evil moneylender Esica Figg determines to
steal the key from Oric, even if it means killing the boy in the process.
Ichtheus the apothecary and kitchen maid Dian
team up with Oric to help solve the mystery behind Deveril’s key. They experience many adventures,
some hilarious, some life threatening. The trio is helped, but more often
hindered by comical wolfhound Parzifal, and a donkey named Braccus.
What was your inspirations behind Oric?
As a
young girl I read a book with a medieval slant and was immediately hooked on
the genre. Handsome knights and their ladies, squires, villeins and serfs fired
my imagination. Historical sites in North Yorkshire, where I grew up, are
varied and plentiful and, long before I began writing my own books, I explored
towns and villages, ruined castles, abbeys, and museums. Memories from my early
youth were topped up when I returned to the country of my birth from Australia
in 2014. I spent three months indulging myself in medieval history. The following
places provided me with the skeleton on which to construct my first book.
Kilton Castle in Cleveland is not
particularly notable in the annals of history but, surrounded by bluebells as
it was at the time of my visit, it proved heady stuff for a romantic teenage
girl. The ruin sits on top of a substantial mound and is surrounded by deep,
wide ditches - sure deterrents for the most tenacious of medieval marauders. I
was able to pick out the outline of the Great Hall and dreamed of the banquets
that must once have been held there. Small iron-barred windows and narrow slits
built for the use of archers were visible in the Norman watch tower. On my
first visit to Kilton Castle over 50 years ago, the ruin was open to anyone
that wanted to climb the hill. I understand that a permit must now be obtained
to visit the site.
Guisborough, mentioned
in The Doomsday Book, provided me with a home for a several years and I enjoyed
wandering about the ancient wynds and lanes that lead off the cobbled high
street. The town’s original Augustinian priory, founded in 1119, burned down
during the 13th century and was replaced with another building in
Gothic style. Only the east end of the priory church now remains, and its
iconic arch forms an impressive landmark for twenty-first century Guisborough. A
twice-weekly market, originally attended by farmers and country folk who sold
and bartered their animals and home-grown products, dates back many years, though
I have been unable to detect exactly how far.
The hustle and bustle of this delightful market town was mana from
heaven to a budding author, and I imagined the busy high street as it might
have looked almost 1000 years before.
Helmsley Castle built in the early 1100s
was originally constructed from timber. In 1186 Robert de Ros began converting
the castle into stone. Between 1258 and 1285 the east tower was raised and a
new hall and kitchen were added. This castle inspired me to write about a grand
manor house and its new beginning after fire razed the building to the ground.
St Hilda, Abbess of Whitby Abbey (c680),
whilst journeying home became thirsty. She stopped in a churchyard and prayed
for water. Legend has it that a well immediately appeared beside her. The
village was named Hinderwell in the Saint’s honour. The water is said to have
beneficial healing properties and a clear spring is still visible today. For a
short time I lived in an old farmhouse on the cliff top at Port Mulgrave,
Hinderwell. Walking home from a dance in
the next village one dark night, I took a short cut through the St Hilda’s churchyard.
What appeared to be a ghost frightened me half to death. I recall the adventure
as if it were only yesterday, and used the experience to write about a
fictitious, medieval church with a haunted graveyard.
The ancient town of Whitby, famous for Captain
Cook and HM Bark Endeavour in which he sailed to Australia, is the home of a
Benedictine abbey. The abbey, founded in 657 AD by an Anglo-Saxon King of
Northumbria, disestablished during the Dissolution of Monasteries, sits on the
clifftop overlooking the fishing port of Whitby and the North Sea. 199 steps
lead from the harbour up to the abbey, but a road suitable for motor vehicles is
available for the faint hearted. My husband’s family owned and ran a wood yard
in the older part of the town and were amazed to discover a false wall at the
back of the workshop. The partition was removed to reveal several carved-oak,
ship’s figureheads dating back several hundred years. To this day not much has
changed in that old part of town. I close my eyes and listen to the gulls
haunting cries and I am transported back in time. Such intense feelings for the
past are grist to my writer’s mill and I hope the passion I feel manifests in
my writing. My characters experience
many adventures in a place very similar to Whitby, and the wild Yorkshire moors
and windswept beaches provide more colour and drama for the period in which my
books are set. When running a small maritime museum in Australia, I researched
the history that surrounds Whitby and put in a display depicting the old town,
its history and the part Cpt Cook played in claiming Australia for king and
country. My dream is to share that wonderful past and bring to life the all fascinating
places and people that fired my imagination.
The catalyst that finally inspired me to
write about medieval times? Retirement, and a small figure of an apothecary I
made on a wire armature. I named him Ichtheus and gave him an apprentice called
Oric. Thus my medieval adventure began.
Where can I buy this fabulous book?
About the author.
Lesley Wilson was born in North Yorkshire, UK and educated at St
Martin’s preparatory School Grimsby, Lincolnshire, Mill Hill School,
Middlesbrough, and Pickering’s Commercial College, Middlesbrough, Yorkshire. She completed a course in Journalism with the London School of Writing, and
has been an active member of a writers’ group in Australia.
During1957, she met a young man on holiday in Italy. A whirlwind
courtship followed before he joined the British Army. Fifteen months and
hundreds of letters later, Lesley, aged seventeen, boarded a troop ship bound
for Singapore, where she married the love of her life. She worked as a fashion
model in Singapore for two years before returning to the UK. A three year
posting to Germany with her husband followed.
Returned to the UK after
her husband left the army, Lesly worked as Girl Friday for a well-known racing
driver/motor dealer. She underwent training in London at Helena Rubinstein’s
London Salon, and worked thereafter as a consultant for five years. Her other careers
have included ownership of a sauna and health studio, and market research,
which involved many miles of driving throughout N. Yorkshire in all kinds of
weather.
In 1982 she migrated to
Australia with her husband and small son. She ran a craft shop for several
years in which she manufactured all the items for sale. During this time she
was also a volunteer in a Maritime Museum. Hunting wrecks off the coast of
North Queensland became an absorbing a hobby, and she helped to rescue an
ancient, decommissioned lighthouse for the city in which she lives.
Today she is retired and
enjoys spending time with her grandchildren. She is also a member of an active
quilting group who involve themselves in charitable endeavours from time to
time. She reads and reviews books for other authors but writing is her major
passion. When she isn’t glued to the computer keyboard she loves to travel, entertain
friends, and work in her large garden in N. Queensland.
