Chapter 1 Author's Notes

The History Considered

As part of the chapter notes, I plan on documenting the history that had to be considered and worked into that particular chapter.

For Chapter 1, one of the most critical aspects of the first few chapters is the unique layout of the Basilica of St. Denis and the St. Denis School building, which nestles up to the church at an angle. I needed to account for Louisa running along the metal roofline and down to the flying buttress she shimmies down to reach the headmistress’s office window.

If you look at the current Google Maps satellite image above, you can see that the section closest to the school is under construction. I took some creative license and assumed that under the scaffolding lay a flying buttress, and it was close enough to the thinner part of the building to allow Louisa entry through the office window.

I also needed to ensure that the layout would allow me to pull off the Chapter 2 scene, but I’ll discuss that in those notes. When I travel to Paris in December to visit the school, I will check to see if it is possible and will update these notes. Regardless, for the book’s sake, it was possible in my mind.

The other exciting bit of history that I referenced in the first few paragraphs is the mention of the funeral home Cent Quarte, which opened in 1874 (the year of the book). You can find great information about the building in this blog post: The Undertaker Village of Paris, Then and Now. I made sure the two buildings were close enough that Louisa might have been able to see it from her perch. The Basilica and the Cent Quarte are 3.7 miles apart.

The mention of measurements brings me to the Metric vs. English issue in my books. Book 1 of the Lamentations and Magic series is set primarily in Egypt (while they are on Earth) and includes British Indian cavalrymen, thus, I stayed with the English system of measurements for those books. The British would not make the switch until 1965.

In 1874, France was very much using the metric system, and thus why this book does as well. But I still catch myself writing inches, so bear with me as I transition.

Other little tidbits that went into the research for Chapter 1 were an hour spent looking up Victorian-style shoes used in France. Since I don’t speak French and must rely on DeepL for any translations, I am limited in the breadth of my research. In the end, I found mention of some button boots that I have the headmistress wear.

Lastly, I did some research on filing systems of the time and settled on the notebooks to hold the class records where Louisa forges her teacher’s handwriting to create a discipline note and avoid going on the Tour.

Have any thoughts on the first chapter or any of the history involved? Please leave them in the comments.

Onto Chapter 2.

If you haven’t yet read Louisa adventures in the Lamentations and Magic Series be sure to pick up Book 1 Ancient Civilizations.