In Which I Enter the Twilight Zone

Although I don’t usually discuss my writing here – other than to mention a book when it is ready for release – this one amused me somewhat.

I have started a new novel “Renegade” based very loosely on the life of Mary Read. Very loosely because my character follows a different story arc although I borrow some of the events from Read’s life – the rest is a concoction from my imagination, especially my antagonist who is her nemesis and the people with whom she interacts.

Having disguised herself as a man, my character Katherine, goes by the name of Kit. She has joined the Duke of Marlborough’s army and sees action in the War of the Spanish Succession. None of this is unusual for the early eighteenth century. We know that Mary Read did this and women of that time did disguise themselves as men for a variety of reasons, not least to escape the restrictions of female life.

Anyway, I needed to research to the battles of Schellenberg and Blenheim. This is where it got interesting, because I came across the story of another woman who served.

Christian “Kit” Cavanagh. I had decided that my Kit served with the dragoons. It turned out that the real Kit served with the dragoons.

And, no, I really did not know about this woman before I started on this story. This is my third historical novel and the third time that I have found that whatever I imagine, the real history got there before me…