I gave myself a deadline of the end of March for completing a draft of the book. I fluctuate between thinking I’ve got no chance and thinking I’ll manage it. I wrote about 1000 words today though and made some actual progress.

From Bella Donna by Robert Hichens:

‘suddenly he would become aware of the chime of bells, of bells in the quiet waters and on the dreaming shores. And he would lift his head and listen, till the strangeness of the night, and of the world with its frightful crimes and soft enchantments, stirred and enthralled his soul.’

Edith read Bella Donna in 1922, before the murder. She hated the main character (who poisons her husband, just as Edith appeared to fantasise), describing her as “utterly selfish”, “a monster” and “unnatural”.

The apparent similarly between the book she discussed in depth in a letter to Freddy (“no I don’t agree with you about her darlint […] I hate her.”) and what Edith herself had supposedly done, played a role in condemning her in court.

Hichens also wrote The Fruitful Vine, which Edith loved because she could see herself in the protagonist, Dolores. Among other things, there was an age gap between between two romantically involved characters, just as there was between Edith and Freddy.

Edith also enjoyed Dickens (she read his books whilst at school and once wrote a commendable essay on the character of Quilp from The Old Curiosity Shop) and mere days before her execution was reading Our Mutual Friend with its mentions of places she knew, St. Paul’s Churchyard, Fenchurch Street (both places she would meet with Freddy) and her dear Shanklin.