My next work in progress blends magical realism with inspiration from Victorian era history. I’ve been delving into the Victorian era worlds of natural sciences, Medicine and anatomy, chemistry and botany, journalism, arts, music and literature. This WIP will be an alternate history, melding Fae folklore and marginalised individuals in a new gothic gaslamp series.
For research, I’ve been searching for the queer individuals bending the constraints of Victorian society in Europe during the late 1800s. There are a treasure trove of openly queer individuals from Oscar Wilde, Anne Lister and Dr Sophia Jex-Blake.
There are also female individuals pursued the natural sciences, medicine, chemistry, arts and literature including Mary Anning, Marie Curie, Mary Shelley, Maria Zambanco and Christina Rosetti, determined to follow their passions despite the Victorian societal norms.
Currently, I’m researching some of the first female doctors and the openly lesbian doctors of the Victorian Era who not only received medical degrees but also established hospitals and practised within those walls. Here’s a great article specifically on the queer female doctors among them.
I’m also currently reading historical biography Women in White Coats by Olivia Campbell. A great exploration of the first female doctors, role of women in medicine and the societal norms they battled to practice medicine.
Leanbh Pearson 