Reading Time: 3 minutes
factual tales
My factual tales are a tapestry of fact, researched speculation and fiction which are inspired by and embellish my family history. However, the plots are driven by the historical records.
Buried Letters –It’s a Winner! Over 18 category
A short piece of creative writing based on Chloris Drabble who, during World War 1, left nursing in the Huddersfield Infirmary to join the Scottish Women’s 7th Field Hospital at Lake Ostrovo in Macedonia, in 1917, where she fell in love with a Serbian interpreter and was irrevocably changed.
From the Judges from the Away from the Western Front Project Creative Writing Competition
The author’s chosen approach – reconstructed letters – offers a route into the hearts and minds of the three writers so that we were able to empathise with them in the way that one can with original objects and documents. Each writer has been given a distinctive voice, so that it’s almost possible to believe that these are actual letters. The effect is made all the more authentic by the historical context, which comes over as very realistic, and is undoubtedly based on extensive research. We also liked the modern context, which the author is obviously part of – that of family history researchers who have opened up the history of the First World War, including our own project, through their painstaking work.
Right click here to download the audio version as an MP3 file. Or you can purchase a pdf version for 49p/$0.65 USD here.
More about the project here.
Chloris Drabble born 1892 – Served as a nursing Sister with the all-female, medical units, under the umbrella of the Scottish Federation of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies, known as the Scottish Women’s Hospitals.
from readers
Your tale is excellent, it’s emotional, everyone can empathize with it. You had a great idea, & you put effort to realize it.
Aleksandar Jankovic
Wow! – just read your entry. The hairs stood up on the back of my neck and a lump rose in my throat.
Anita Evans
To everything there is a season – It’s a Henshaw Press Winner!
Henry Drabble with his children, Chloris, Martha and John c1904.
Once a clay miner Henry Drabble became a fire brick merchant with the support of his wife, Elizabeth née Ronksley. He and his wife and children, Chloris, Martha and John were born in Bradfield, which nestles in the moorlands of the stunning Peak District above Sheffield.