Mary Russell
Mary Russell’s War, part four
On the centenary of the Great War, a journal has come to light with weekly entries from a very young Mary Russell. It begins, appropriately enough, on August 4, 1914, when Russell is living with her parents and brother in San Francisco. This is week four. (The journal illuminates that portion of Miss Russell’s memoirs…
Read MoreMary Russell’s War, week three
On the centenary of the Great War, a journal has come to light of weekly entries from a very young Mary Russell. It begins, appropriately enough, on August 4, 1914, when Russell is living with her parents and brother in San Francisco. This is week three. (To read from the beginning, click here.) 18 August 1914…
Read MoreAbout Miss Russell’s War
Yes, Mary Russell’s War is officially a Thing. Every week from now until, well, until I run dry, we will read an excerpt from Miss Russell’s childhood diary, gathered together under the title of “Mary Russell’s War”. This week, the Germans are battering at the gates of Liege, a part of the Schlieffen Plan (which…
Read MoreMary Russell’s War, week two
On the centenary of the Great War, a journal has come to light, containing weekly entries from a very young Mary Russell. It begins, appropriately enough, on August 4, 1914, when Russell is living with her parents and brother in San Francisco. This is her second journal entry. (To read from the beginning, click here.)…
Read MoreMary Russell’s War, week one
On the centenary of the Great War, a journal has come to light, containing weekly entries from a very young Mary Russell. It begins, appropriately enough, on August 4, 1914, when Russell is living with her parents and brother in San Francisco. 4 August 1914. I was fourteen when I first heard about the…
Read MoreLRK, Sherlockian?
When I first started writing the Russell books, I took great care to assert that these were not Sherlock Holmes stories, that they were about Mary Russell, with Holmes a supporting actor. Which they are, clearly. However… As I’ve mellowed, I have become more interested in the character of Holmes, curious about how this man…
Read MoreMatters Unspoken? (My blushes!)
In the twenty years since The Beekeeper’s Apprentice introduced Mary Russell to the world, many questions have been raised about the good lady, and about her relationship with Sherlock Holmes, her religious beliefs, her Oxford college, what kind of car she drives—and just where on the Sussex Downs is that house of hers, anyway? In a fervent…
Read MoreA Case in Companionship (4)
In a discussion of how Laurie King came to publish Miss Russell’s Memoirs, “A Case in Correspondence” came to light. This series of postcards, letters, and newspaper clippings culminates with a postcard written by Miss Russell to her new literary agent, Laurie R. King, in 1992: a card that led to the eventual publication of…
Read MoreA Case in Companionship (3)
“A Case in Correspondence” is a series of twenty postcards, letters, and newspaper clippings dating to 1992. The Beekeeper’s Apprentice, the first Russell Memoir, was published two years later. This collection of correspondence, along with the previously published “My Story”, explain how Laurie R. King came to have Miss Russell’s multi-volume autobiography–although neither story explains…
Read MoreA Case in Companionship (2)
A frequent question in Laurie R. King’s email and events is, “How come you’re taking credit for Mary Russell’s Memoirs?” “My Story” began the explanation, and “A Case in Correspondence” continues it, with postcards, letters, and newspaper clippings dating to 1992. It would be 18 years before The God of the Hive saw publication, but…
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