Following the publication of her debut historical novel, Brenda Turner shares her answers to the top 10 questions that led her inexorably on the journey to write The Arnolfini Connection
Brenda Turner
Every family has a story to tell. I wanted answers to dozens of questions that had been
nagging away in my brain for years:
What kind of place did my family come from? I discovered a particularly intriguing part of my personal family saga. It was the realisation that the city of Vilnius was not a small insignificant town ‘somewhere in Eastern Europe’ I had previously believed it to be, but the cultured and influential capital city of Lithuania with a fascinating and complicated history.
Why did they move away? Were they forced out through internal politics or foreign invasion? Were they just looking for a better or safer way of life? Was there someone or something particular making them leave?
How on earth did they get to London, with very little money or possessions? Did they travel by ship? If so which shipping company and from which port? How long did it take and which route was taken? What happened when they arrived? Who met them and how did they communicate without a common language?
Who did they leave behind and were they able to keep in touch with each other?
How did they survive in a foreign country? What were their occupations?
What was the town of Vilnius physically like? Its buildings, streets, monuments, rivers and parks.
How accurate was my memory of West London where I spent my early childhood? Its buildings, streets, monuments, rivers and parks.
What was the political and economic situation of both cities in the first half of the twentieth century?
What happened to the members of the family in Vilnius and London during the World War Two? Who survived? Who did not? What happened after it ended?
Which part of their story should I write about and would it affect anyone still living?
After collating a huge amount of research data in order to answer all these queries, and in response to the last question, I decided to play safe, and venture into the realm of imagination. The two families originating in Vilnius are completely fictitious. But their lives are woven through factual places and events. At its heart is the story of an overpowering and enduring love between two people who are forced apart by circumstances beyond their control, when the extraordinary becomes chillingly normal. Will their shared passion for Jan Van Eyck’s Renaissance portrait of The Arnolfini Couple, ultimately reconnect them?
Members of families like mine almost certainly suffered similar fates to those in the story in both Vilnius and London. My deep regret is that I waited too long to get answers to my questions. Those that could have told me have long since died. Most of their photos and papers have been lost or destroyed. I will now never know who they were and what happened to them.
So, if every family has a story – yours does too. Don’t repeat my mistake before finding out.
The Arnolfini Connection is published at £8.99 and is available from The Book Guild, Amazon and all good bookshops.