Стивен Бут - Drowned Lives

Drowned Lives is set in the late 1990s, which feels very much like a historical period due to the speed of changes in the last twenty years or so. As a writer, I’m particularly conscious of the changes in language. For example, the term ‘cellphone’ appears in this book. The word was in common use in the UK in 1998, and it wasn’t until the following year that we began to abandon the American term in favour of ‘mobile phone’. So, although I’m sure I’ll get emails from readers who pick up on the terminology, ‘cellphone’ is very 1990s. Likewise, the 18th century letters from William Buckley are as close to authentic as I can get them while still being intelligible for 21st century readers.

The Ogley and Huddlesford Canal and its proprietors in Drowned Lives are fictional, but a real-life restoration project is currently under way in the South Staffordshire area. Members of the Lichfield and Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust are working to re-open a seven-mile link between the Birmingham Canal Navigations and the Coventry Canal: www.lhcrt.org.uk. This is a huge task for a group of volunteers. Their current Tunnel Vision fund-raising appeal, led by Poirot actor David Suchet, can be supported at Total Giving: www.totalgiving.co.uk/appeal/TunnelVision.