A Few Things I Googled While Editing My 2025 Historical Novel
Earlier this month, I finished developmental edits on The Dressmaker Book.1 This is the stage where I find myself really ripping the book apart and putting it back together again until it is fairly close to the story that you see when you pick up a book in a bookshop. That means character, plot, and language can all change as part of this process.
The developmental edit is also where I dig into my research and confirm lingering questions that might have come up while I was writing the book. Today, I’m giving you a little look behind the curtain at just a few of the things that I needed to look up and confirm while working on The Dressmaker Book.
Question: How much did the following things cost in 1942:
A moderately successful dressmaking business?
A lady’s coat?
A pint of ale?
A: I basically have this link open at all times while I am writing and then piece it together from there. Sometimes I need to make guesses (I’m looking at you, dressmaking business), but sometimes I am able to find more specific prices. For instance, a women’s utility coat cost 30 shillings (plus clothing coupons), and a pint of ale was 9 pennies.
Q: How would a character get from Marylebone to Maida Vale reliably in 1942?
A: Probably the bus because, even though this particular character is well-off and could afford a cab, the petrol ration and the requisition of some London cabs for military use made it increasingly difficult to take anything but public transportation during the war.
Q: How did British money work before decimalization again?
Answer: Honestly, I have to look this up every single time I write a historical novel to the point where it is a running joke in my family. I’m still not sure I could tell you off the top of my head, much to Mum’s chagrin as she rattles off how many shillings are in a pound, etc. In my defense, I was born fifteen years after decimalization (1971) in a completely different country and she lived through it.2
Q: When was the zipper invented?
A: That’s more controversial than you would think, but for my purposes in this book (set mostly in 1942) I’m safe to mention zippers because they were being commercially used in clothing from at least 1923.
Q: When did stretch fabrics start to come into common commercial use?
A: 1958 saw the introduction of Spandex and elastane, far too late for my purposes. Cutting on the bias it is!
Q: Could a character soak in a hot bath in 1942?
A: Probably not because of the rationing of fuel at that time.
Q: Where would someone have gone for a night out dancing in London in the 1920s?
A: There were a lot of options, but The 43 on Gerrard Street is what I settled on.
Q: Were there platform announcement boards in train stations in 1940s Britain?
A: I could have sworn that, when I first looked this up while writing my first draft, I found a station display board in a photograph. However, going back and looking again to confirm, I can’t find it. Instead, I see photographs of people queuing for their platform in front of large signs displaying the railway line and destinations. I will be going back and rewriting this mention in my manuscript.
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Working title, very much subject to change.
I’m not certain she thinks this is an acceptable answer, and she’s probably right considering I have written fifteen books set before 1971 in the UK.
Thank you for sharing your process and those links! I'm writing a historical fiction spanning from 1927 - 1948 set it the US and Czechoslovakia and in the next draft is when I'll dig deeper into the research and fact checking. As always, looking forward to reading your newest release when it comes out!
Such a fun read! That happens to me all the time. I’ll write a piece of research into my draft and then I can’t track it down during the factchecking stage. I try to put in bookmarks now but it’s hard to keep track. I wish I was an excel person that kept some detailed spreadsheet but my creative brain is just not that data driven!!