"People have an amazing interest in the movement of cattle in days of old..."
Author Q&A: we catch up with Ken Braithwaite, author of the rip-roaring 1820s drover adventure books...
Ken Braithwaite is the author of the rip-roaring 1820s drover adventure books featuring his hero Jack Rutherford. Ken is also the chair of the Robinson House Writers and a regular contributor to the monthly Flash!Mob collections.
We catch up with Ken as he’s starting to work on the final draft of his third novel.
Q: Where do you get your inspiration from for some of the escapades Jack finds himself in?
A: The inspiration for my Wild Drover stories themselves came from an incident in Edinburgh some years ago when we passed one of those shops that have signs that say ‘Give Us Your Name and We’ll Find Your Tartan’. My late wife, Val, went in and said she was originally a Rutherford. She was told, very brusquely, “No, clear out! We don’t have your tartan here, you’re all Border Reivers.” She was furious. I thought she was going to kill him. But that piqued an interest in the whole Scottish borders heritage.
Then much later Doreen mentioned that her great-grandfather had been a drover, mostly of sheep, in Bowes. We were inspired to go and find out more. Doreen’s mother was born in Bowes and walked two and a half miles to school every day. Her father would walk the sheep to Scotland for the summer, sell them there, then winter some more back in Bowes each year.
Once I knew my period in time and the drovers setting, I suppose the rest is down to a vivid imagination and a habit of reading a lot of adventure novels. A lot of my reading is the likes of Lee Child’s Jack Reacher, Scott Kyle and various novels of that nature where there’s a charismatic underdog character who’s had a wonderful job that they’ve quit to become a drifter and help people.
I also read Sophie Kinsella’s romance novels. I find those fascinating. I am often asked if I have any female characters in my stories, and I do. I have Giselle, Jack’s wife, who is a strong, passionate and very grounding counter character to Jack’s reckless nature. Their strong relationship is central to Jack’s wild adventures.
Q: Writing historical adventures takes a great deal of research... how do you approach this and how much research do you do for each book? And you also travel to the locations that Jack Rutherford visits in the books... how far afield has that taken you?
A: I read a lot of non-fiction, factual publications on drovers, the principle authors being A.R.B. Haldane and K.J. Bonser, to make sure my books are historically accurate. And yes, I travel to locations in both the UK and France, which has proved both illuminating and instructive. Visiting imagined locations in reality emphasises the local features that could be instructive in the story narrative. As I say, I’ve been to Dumfries in Scotland, St Omer and Gravelines in France, and a lot of Cumbria including Brough, and Sudbury in Suffolk, Southern England, where the fact I am an author changes perceptions and access to information.
When we ended up in St Omer, I made an appointment to go and see the town historical people and when I said I was an author, they were very interested and wanted to help. I’d been on Google and found a chemist shop that I wanted to be Giselle’s house. They gave me a town map and marked out key locations including a chemist shop that when I found it turned out to be a big building, three stories high, with an alley at the side, that was perfect.
I also needed to establish the monetary value of gold between France and England, so we spoke to a lady in the maritime museum in Dunkirk and she gave us the value of a fully laden horse with saddle in France in 1820. Back home, I was able to find out the value of a fully laden horse in England at the time, and there was my exchange rate.
Q: You've had a lot of fun promoting the Wild Drover books by giving talks at historical societies and community groups... how are they received and what questions do you tend to get from your audiences?
A: I’ve done nine talks so far to groups like the Ampleforth Historical Society, the Stokesley Society and the Darlington Historical Society, and I have bookings for another five already.
The talks are well received and the audience don’t get too restive!
People have an amazing interest in the movement of cattle in days of old. I always preface my talks by looking at the village hall that I’m in, usually built in the 1800s, and I say that every item that arrived here at this hall in the 1800s arrived by horse and cart. That puts people in the mindset of how quiet the roads were and the nature of life in those days… if you wanted to get anywhere you walked. So when I describe the image of three hundred cattle coming over the bridge in Yarm to walk through the high street, they are right there with me. The questions are far reaching and incisive, keeping me on my toes.
Q: As well as the novels, you write for the Flash!Mob series each month. What is it that you like about writing the shorter flash fiction pieces?
A: The exciting challenge of words and a theme to be produced under pressure. I love it. I’ve spoken to a lot of people who are interested and hopefully will submit stories in future.
Q: When can we expect to see the next Jack Rutherford adventure on the shelves?
A: Probably Christmas 2024 with luck. We’re just working on the final edit now and getting the story into shape.
Q: What advice would you give anyone starting out on their own writing and publishing adventure?
A: Robinson House Writers provide the perfect introduction to writing, publishing and guidance through Gillie Hatton without whom it would fail. We are most fortunate in having her informed input.
Read full bio
THE SEAMSTRESS OF HIGH CHURCH WYND
by Ken Braithwaite
A Harvey historical original short story...
© Ken Braithwaite 2024
1. DESPAIR
Paris glowed in early afternoon sunshine, trees whispered, birds sang and all was well in the world, because after four and a half years of very hard work I had been appointed a senior seamstress in a famous Parisian Haute Couture Ladies exclusive workshop. My elation overwhelmed my senses, more money, perhaps freedom to leave my domineering father and at last be in the company of girls and boys of my own age.
Dancing along, I turned into our locale and was amazed to see Father directing our goods and chattels onto carts in preparation, apparently, for moving out.
Alarmed and scared I ran to my remaining parent and asked what was happening, I was forcibly brushed aside and told, “Pack immediately, we go to my brother in England...”
