Adriana Delgado asked Helen Simonson:

Beatrice Nash fascinated me in The Summer Before the War. What or who was the inspiration for her character?

Helen Simonson Dear Adriana, Beatrice was initially a problem for me. I was unsure how to make her different and not just some caricature of a 'strong female heroine who love books'. Finally I realized that Beatrice has no money. I remember being a young woman with no money myself, and as I sat quietly and sort of talked to Beatrice about how money restricted her, about how her father's family held her back, I began to see her very clearly as a real person. As I researched my book, women just like Beatrice kept popping up in Edwardian times, making their way in the world without husbands or resources. Henry James' secretary, Theodora Bosanquet, who worked for James for many years before going on to become an Association Director and a novelist herself, became an inspiring model. Her book, Henry James at Work, was recently edited by Lyall Powers to include an essay on Theodora and more excerpts from her diaries. This gave me fascinating insights into the life of a working woman from the era.

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