You may be wondering why I would write a blog about a book that hasn’t even been written yet. At the moment, it is still in the concept/outline stage, but hopefully, this blog will help me focus my energies and encourage me to keep going until it is finished. As I continue to research the characters and locations in the story, I will periodically add interesting tidbits of information that I come across to the website.
My inspiration for A Tale of Two Hittys came from an episode in the book Hitty: Her First Hundred Years by Rachel Field. Some time after the Civil War, one of Hitty’s many owners was a beautiful and high-spirited girl named Isabella Van Rensselaer of Washington Square in New York. As told in the book, during a cold, winter day, eight-year-old Isabella is walking with her father to visit a sick friend, when they encounter the great writer, Charles Dickens, who is on an American reading tour. In her awe, Isabella drops Hitty, right at the author’s feet. Dickens picks up Hitty and delivers the doll safely into Isabella’s hands.
“Oh, Father,” said Isabella, when the men had driven off in their carriage, “did you see?” He picked up Hitty himself. And it was his right hand, too, the one he writes all the books with!”
Isabella Van Rensselaer, from the book HITTY: HER FIRST HUNDRED YEARS
Naturally, I had to create a dress for “Hitty Sis,” my hand-carved doll, to look like the one in the illustration. I designed and printed the custom fabric and crocheted a cozy muff and feathered hat to match the ones in the picture. Here is the result:
That started me thinking… and I wondered what the scene with Hitty would have looked like from Charles Dickens’ point of view. I wrote the first chapter of my book in 2019, and in case you haven’t realized yet, the title is a play on A Tale of Two Cities, one of Dickens’ most famous novels. Since then I have been doing research into Charles Dickens and his young granddaughter, Mary Angela Dickens, known by the pet name, “Mekitty.” Both of these characters will be featured in my book.
In real life, Charles Dickens did travel to America for a reading tour of cities on the east coast, which lasted from November 1867 to April 1868. According to Dickens’ friend and biographer, John Forster, in December of 1867 there was a terrible winter storm in New York, and I believe this is the very incident which inspired Rachel Field to create the scene with Hitty and Dickens.
He [Dickens] had got through half of his first New York readings when a winter storm came on, and from this time until very near his return the severity of the weather was exceptional even for America. When the first snow fell, the railways were closed for some days; and he described New York crowded with sleighs, and the snow piled up in enormous walls the whole length of the streets.
John Forster, from THE LIFE OF CHARLES DICKENS
I plan to divide the story into three parts. Volume I: 1868-1888, Volume II: 1888-1908, and Volume III: 1908-1928. Rachel Field wrote Hitty’s “memoirs” in 1929, and my story will end before that date. The serialized novel was a tried and true format of the Victorian era. Readers would subscribe to libraries (and pay a fee) to read books in volume form. Many of Dickens’ books were released in this way, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has an extensive collection of 19th century novels of this type.
A Tale of Two Hittys will be aimed at 8-12 year olds. I feel that this segment of children’s books is often overlooked, with a lot more novels being written for teens. But with the variety of characters, location and historical details that I intend to include, I believe my book will appeal to both beginning readers and their parents. And it will be family-friendly.
Intrigued? Why not read a sample? And if you want to know when I add new posts, please subscribe!
