This month we’re delighted to feature Clare Marchant, the author of the 2023 novel The Mapmaker’s Daughter, on our blog! The Mapmaker’s Daughter is our book pick for the month of April in our online bookclub, Travel Europe Through Books. It’s a historical fiction novel about two similar women who are connected by a special map. The novel is set in the Netherlands and England in both the 16th and 21st centuries. Take a look:

Inspiration and Research for The Mapmaker’s Daughter

by Clare Marchant, Author

Whenever I start with an idea for a new book it begins with just a fleeting thought, perhaps a
‘why’ or a ‘what if’ and it takes many threads of ideas and research to be weaved together until
I have the bare bones, a skeleton which I can start to add flesh to and eventually create a
book.

So, how did I come up with the idea for The Mapmakers Daughter? my initial thoughts came
about, as they often do, whilst I was researching something else. Often ideas for books creep
up on me unawares.

I had been looking at some old maps and I wondered if women had been involved in
mapmaking back in the 16th Century – and that was my first thread! I always like to write about strong women so it was natural for me to consider their possible part in the process. What I discovered was that the creation of maps was centred around a few families in what was then the Low Countries, and in particular the Mercator and Ortelius families. The women
were usually employed colouring the maps but just occasionally they were also involved in engraving the copper plates.

Having then researched the great cartography families I discovered that during the 16th
century one of the Ortelius family members Emmanuel van Meteren had lived in London on
Lime Street amongst the scientists. At the time Holland was occupied by the Spanish, and
Emmanuel had a Dutch privateer, Willem van Hoorn, who travelled between the two
countries, delivering packages and also assisting William of Orange and the Huguenots in
defeating the Spanish. More threads of this story were beginning to colour the canvas…
I knew a little about the Huguenots because I live in Norfolk, and the city of Norwich has a
rich historical connection with the weavers who escaped the religious persecution to come to
England. In Norwich they were known as Strangers and we still have the beautiful Strangers
Hall in the city.

As I researched I discovered that Willem van Hoorn had an amazing story of his own and I
soon realised that the tale of his son being held ransom by the Spanish Ambassador in
London deserved to be told! My book, and his story, was now starting to take shape, the
coloured threads shining as they weaved together, a picture emerging.

It was easy to introduce my character, Freida, into Willem’s story. Of course, her story is
fictional, yet still anchored in the real lives of those who drew maps, sailed the sea between
England and the continent, and who were fighting for a future that was free from Spanish
rule.

When I started writing The Mapmakers Daughter I had told myself that with daily flights from Norwich to Amsterdam I could pop over for a research trip and still be home to cook dinner. But I hadn’t reckoned on us all being swamped by a pandemic and unfortunately I never did manage to get there. I did however have a couple of great days in London, one at the Greenwich museum where they have a copy of ‘Theatrum Orbis Terrarum’, Ortelius’
atlas, and also at the British Museum where I found a nocturnal with the initials F& W
engraved on the back.

I never need to do as much research for the present-day part of the book. This half is mostly
connected by a theme and an item which when discovered in the present will solve a mystery
in the past. So in Robyn’s case, a 16th century map.

By placing Robyn in Hay on Wye, the bookshop town of the UK, I was returning to a place
where I spent many childhood holidays and somewhere I love. However, I knew nothing
about round the world yacht races, I had to undertake some extensive research on those!
So slowly all these strands came to me, growing as one lead to the next until finally they were
all spun together into a book, The Mapmaker’s Daughter.

About the Author

Growing up in Surrey, Clare always dreamed of being a writer. Instead, she followed a career in IT, before moving to Norfolk for a quieter life and re-training as a jeweller.

Now writing full time, she lives with her husband and the youngest of her six children. Weekends are spent exploring local castles and monastic ruins, or visiting the nearby coast.

More Dutch-Inspired Fiction: The Witch of Drontenburg by V M Karren

Read more about the Netherlands in The Witch of Drontenburg by V M Karren. This short cultural read will transport you to a small fishing village on the Dutch seacoast where a group of young boys hold a deep superstition about “the village witch.” Are their fears founded?

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