Ask the Author: Pat Murphy
Answered Questions (1)
Pat Murphy
My most recent book, The Adventures of Mary Darling, is the story of Peter Pan — retold from the point of view of Wendy's mother, Mary Darling. From Mary's point of view, this is a child abduction story — Mary comes home from a dinner party and discovers that her children are gone!
And there's something you don't know about Mary Darling. (Something I made up.) Mary is Dr. John Watson's niece of John Watson. So of course Sherlock Holmes gets involved. He decides he will take on the case and find the missing children!
That's where the idea started -- I read Peter Pan and I wanted to tell Mary's story. In the process, I wanted to confront Holmes with a world that did not conform to his logic.
But as I dug into the idea, I realized that was just the beginning. Peter Pan and Sherlock Holmes were both created at the end of the 18th century —when every girl was destined to become a mother and the sun never set on the British Empire. To save her children, Mary flees London and travels halfway around the world. Along the way, she gathers unlikely allies among people whose lands had been claimed by the British Empire. So I had to tell their stories as well as Mary's.
Along the way, I learned a lot of history that isn't taught in school! Some of it is in the novel. I'll be sharing some of the stuff that just wouldn't fit in a newsletter, tentatively titled "Real Strange History." (You can sign up for that at my website: www.patmurphy.net.)
And there's something you don't know about Mary Darling. (Something I made up.) Mary is Dr. John Watson's niece of John Watson. So of course Sherlock Holmes gets involved. He decides he will take on the case and find the missing children!
That's where the idea started -- I read Peter Pan and I wanted to tell Mary's story. In the process, I wanted to confront Holmes with a world that did not conform to his logic.
But as I dug into the idea, I realized that was just the beginning. Peter Pan and Sherlock Holmes were both created at the end of the 18th century —when every girl was destined to become a mother and the sun never set on the British Empire. To save her children, Mary flees London and travels halfway around the world. Along the way, she gathers unlikely allies among people whose lands had been claimed by the British Empire. So I had to tell their stories as well as Mary's.
Along the way, I learned a lot of history that isn't taught in school! Some of it is in the novel. I'll be sharing some of the stuff that just wouldn't fit in a newsletter, tentatively titled "Real Strange History." (You can sign up for that at my website: www.patmurphy.net.)
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