Exclusive interview with author Elizabeth Wilhide and her novel about Downton-style country pile
Rating: 3 Stars
By Gabrielle Pantera
“When I read the guidebook and discovered how closely the house’s mixed fortunes mirrored the country’s history, I knew I had to write about it,” says Ashenden author Elizabeth Wilhide. “I knew I wanted to write about it almost as soon as I set foot in it. Ashenden is based on Basildon Park, a country house near Reading in Berkshire, which I visited with my husband in spring 2008.”
Wilhide is fantastic at describing the details of the house. You learn about the people who built the house, lived in it, loved it, and worked there. The novel has humor, heartbreak and the house comes alive as you read it. You will frequently be entranced by this book.
The book opens with the introduction of brother and sister Charlie and Ros. They’ve just inherited their aunt’s grand English country house. Will they sell it? As they go through the estate they find architectural treasures and the story of the house is told. Each chapter tells a different story over two and a half centuries of the house.
“Before Ashenden was published, I had only made one visit to Basildon Park,” says Wilhide. “I didn’t want to disturb that first impression. Afterwards, Waterstone’s bookshop ran a competition and the prize was a tour of Basildon with me. It was quite revealing seeing which parts of the house were almost exactly as I remembered them and had written about them and which parts were significantly different where my imagination, had stepped in.”
Ashenden is episodic, with each chapter set in a different period.
“Quite a number of people have remarked about the connections that thread the chapters together and have wanted to know whether I planned these beforehand, with a whiteboard or post-it notes, for example,” says Wilhide. “I didn’t. Although I did have a bit of a tussle getting some of the characters and dates to work the way I wanted them to, the smaller echoes and links seemed to pop up quite naturally and this was one of the most enjoyable aspects of writing the book for me.
“I finished the first draft of Ashenden just before the first series of Downton Abbey aired in the UK,” says Wilhide. “I remember wondering whether anyone would be interested in a novel where the main character is a country house, then Downton’s success gave me hope.”
Wilhide is the author of more than twenty books on interior design, decoration, and architecture. She’s co-authored and has been a contributor collaborating with authors such as Terence Conran, Tricia Guild and Orla Kiely.
“Ashenden was written on the back of years of research I have had to do for other books on design, architecture and interiors,” says Wilhide. “At any given period in the story, I knew what how these houses would be run, which made things much easier. More specific research to do with prisoner of war camps in England, for example, or quarrying stone, came chiefly from Internet sources.
“I’m fortunate enough to be a member of the wonderful London Library,” says Wilhide. “When I was looking for detail on costume and social manners in the 1840s, I took out a number of compilations of Punch. Such contemporary sources are great for getting the flavor of a period.”
“Writing has always been my day job,” says Wilhide. “For years I’ve made my living as a non-fiction writer on design, decoration and architecture books on William Morris, Lutyens, Charles Rennie Mackintosh and classical furniture, among many others. I’ve also done quite a bit of ghosting. Fiction has been a passion I’ve pursued in my spare time.”
Wilhide is currently writing a novel set in the Second World War. She lives the East End of London with her family. She was born in Baltimore, Maryland.
Ashenden: A Novel by Elizabeth Wilhide. Hardcover: 352 pages, Publisher: Simon & Schuster (January 8, 2013), Language: English. ISBN: 9781451684865 $24.99
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