True Stories of the Chicago Fire

Elizabeth Camden My Novels 1 Comment

Chicago1I did plenty of research for Into the Whirlwind, a novel of the Chicago fire. I tried to use as many stories from real life as possible to incorporate into the fabric of the novel, since they add a sense of authenticity and the stories were so profoundly moving.

There were many glimpses into the fire I was not able to weave into the book, but they were too moving to be forgotten. Here are a sampling:

In the days after the fire, thousands of telegrams flew in and out of the city. Here is one from a man telling his wife (who was visiting relatives in New York) that they have lost everything: “Store and contents, dwelling and everything lost. Insurance worthless. Buy all the coffee you can and ship this afternoon by express. Don’t cry.”

Oh….. somehow that “don’t cry” gets me every time.

Here’s another:

The streets were chaos and it was hard to breath. The owner of a hat shop stood on his front stoop, shouting at the moving mass of people to grab a hat for their journey. “They’ll all burn up anyway,” he shouted. “Make yourselves at home with a new hat free. No charge! Take what you want!”

Those hats surely came in handy. Survivors wrote that burning ashes swirled through the sky like falling snow, and it was better for a hat to catch fire than someone’s hair!

The story that moved me the most (because I’m a booklover,) was of the old man who was trying to save his set of beautifully bound Shakespeare plays….too many for him to carry. The streets were complete chaos, and the few people driving wagons had them stuffed to capacity as they fled the city. The bookman kept flagging down the wagons, offering people $50 if they would carry his books to safety. One driver after another refused. Finally, the old man said to a driver, “Will you take them if I make a present of them?” The driver agreed. “Take them then,” the owner said. He put them into the wagon, turned away, and burst into tears.”

There are literally hundreds of stories written by the survivors of the fire. You can find them online here.

Below is an artist’s rendering of the absolute chaos on the streets, as people made a mad dash for one of the few bridges to get across the river:

CHicago2

Grace of Monaco

Elizabeth Camden Musings on Life Leave a Comment

Grace of Monaco

Grace

I admit to loving a bit of royal gossip, but most movies based on royal marriages have been almost toe-curlingly bad. When I heard there was a movie about Grace Kelly in the works, I figured it would go down in flames like most other royal movies. Last year’s movie about Princess Diana, starring Naomi Watts, earned less than $65,000 in the United States and was pulled from theaters after the first weekend based on terrible critical and popular reviews.

But a movie with Nicole Kidman starring as Grace Kelly? Some of the supporting cast also looks first rate (Derek Jacobi, Frank Langella, and Parker Posey). The movie might also benefit from the historical distance with Princess Grace, which somehow makes her more suitable to carry a movie.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed for this movie to do well, as I love a movie with a healthy dose of glamour and delicious European settings. It is set to be released March 14.

Lovely video

Elizabeth Camden Videos Worth Watching 1 Comment

Here is a really lovely video, folks.

This one is lovely and inspiring….or maybe I just saw it when I was in a particularly sentimental moment (I have a lot of those.)  The first part of the dance is a little odd, so slide forward until about the 1:30 minute mark to see some amazing stuff. Enjoy….and dance like no one is watching!

Calling Jane Austen fans……

Elizabeth Camden Videos Worth Watching 10 Comments

Death Comes to PemberleyDeath Comes to Pemberley….

For those of you who simply can’t get enough Pride & Prejudice, the BBC has filmed a 3-part mystery based on the fabulous novel by P.D. James.  It will air this month in the U.K., and sometime next year for those of us in the states.

Here’s the blurb:

Elizabeth and Darcy, now six years married and with two young sons, are preparing for the lavish annual ball at their magnificent Pemberley home. The unannounced arrival of Elizabeths wayward sister Lydia, however, brings an abrupt and shocking halt to proceedings when she stumbles out of her chaise screaming that her husband Wickham has been murdered.

Darcy leads a search party out to the woodlands, and when they discover the blood-smeared corpse, not of Wickham, but his traveling companion, suspicion is at once aroused. The dramatic and unnerving events of the evening have shattered the peace, both of the Darcys and of Pemberley, and as the family becomes caught up in the ensuing murder investigation, a mysterious web of secrets and deceit will threaten all that the Darcys hold dear.

And here’s the trailer!

Come back, Heathcliff!

Elizabeth Camden Ramblings about Romance 7 Comments

Come back, Heathcliff!

I think there is something intensely appealing about Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights, even though I’ve never been a big fan of the novel. I am pretty intensely committed to a happily-ever-after, and Heathcliff was a portrait of a self-destructive man whose bitterness ultimately overwhelms him.

And yet…..

I think there is a streak inside a lot of women who long for the idea of the helpless and enduring love Heathcliff has for Cathy. He is not a nice-guy hero. He is stormy, dark, and turbulent…. perfect reading for a blustery autumn day. In real life I would cross the street to avoid someone like Heathcliff, but in a guilty pleasure of a novel? There is a reason Wuthering Heights has an enduring appeal, and his name is Heathcliff.

Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis

Elizabeth Camden Recommended Reading 4 Comments


Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis

I have been pleased with the renewed enthusiasm for everything C.S. Lewis these days. Most of it is undoubtedly connected to the Narnia movies, (which I did not particularly enjoy) but are still better than typical fare served to our young people.

A much harder sell to a mainstream audience is the staggering novel Till We Have Faces, widely regarded by scholars as Lewis’s best novel. It had a profound impact on me when I first read it, and with each re-reading I see new insights that further convince me this book is a masterpiece.

The setting is a fictional barbarian kingdom somewhere in the Mediterranean. The time period is roughly 400 B.C., so the spiritual references are entirely devoid of Jesus, although the philosophical principles are there. It is a retelling of the Cupid and Psyche myth, although told from the point of view from one of the jealous sisters, Orual. In this version, Orual is an intensely sympathetic narrator. She is the ugly, disfigured daughter of a cruel barbarian king, and the only light in her life is her Greek tutor and her beautiful sister Psyche, upon whom she dotes. Orual despises the pagan gods and all the associated superstition and ignorance.

An intelligent woman, she refuses to accept anything she cannot see and experience. She grows up to become a great warrior Queen, but her hideous face (which she hides behind veils) and her position as Queen mean no one will ever love her. Fear her? Respect her? These she has, but she is also an intensely isolated person. The reader will watch Orual’s journey into old age as she wrestles with questions of duty, mercy, and the battle between faith and reason.

It is a magnificent book. The writing is raw and primitive, a perfect reflection of its barbarian setting. Themes of spirituality and redemption are heavily woven into the text, but so is despair, uncertainty, and the struggles that come along with faith. It has none of the magic or fireworks of the Narnia books, so people hoping for a retread of Narnia might be disappointed, but I found it to be a brilliant combination of a unique plot mingled with profound human questions.

Till We Have Faces also explores the odd combination of joy mingled with longing, which I have written about here.