Author of the Ambulance Driver and The Keli Dowry
THE AMBULANCE DRIVER
Photo Trivia and Touchstones...
Tennyson and his wife Emily and sons Liam and Hallam at Farringford, IOW
The sort of life Lilian might have had if she'd survived... 1911
Freshwater Bay, showing Tennyson's Down sweeping off up to the left, the Albion Hotel (rt. centre) on the beach where Charlotte and Captain Brenan wade, chat, and eventually share tea, and in the line of trees at upper rt., sits Dimbola Lodge (Julia Cameron's home), and behind it, Farringford (Lord Tennyson's home)
Manoir on lle d'Orleans, just downsteam from Quebec City, built in 1713... where Marie Rioux biked out to play hooky with scones and tea in her school years.
Freshwater Bay, I.O.W., from the grass of Compton Down
Lilian's marker at lower right; note fresh-cut flowers at base of stone…the most utterly peaceful corner of green, with welcoming ghosts.
Freshwater Bay from a distance
Early WW1 ambulance -- you'd likely be wounded just riding in one ! (many however did have Rolls Royce engines)
Boulogne-sur-mer looking over the cliff-top German pill-box towards Dover.
Artist (not me for once!) doing Tennyson's Down from a distance several km. east, the Down's peak, rt. centre, where Sam Neale bids a fatal adieu
Sketch done from my window of the Albion Hotel (infant daughter stuck in for human touch) at Freshwater Bay, I.O.W., the cliff in background being Compton Down, on which Marie falls asleep near conclusion of The Ambulance Driver.
Lilian Beatrice Nichols' ( the ambulance driver ) grave in Brookwood cemetery, Surrey, U.K.
Sketch done on a glorious sunny January morning, with no one around at the top for (2) hours, except the wind. The upward march across green carpet & chalk is magical; by the time you reach the cross you've morphed into a 19th C hero, pacing out his/her angst amidst the elements!
Tennyson and his wife Emily and sons Liam and Hallam at Farringford, IOW
Listen to CBC Interview on the origins of the Ambulance Driver
press the play button