Week 16

The Kohinoor diamond, presented to Queen Victoria by the East India Company after they fought and won the Second Anglo-Sikh War, went on display to the public in The Great Exhibition of 1851. The reaction was less than enthusiastic, however, for although the stone was at that point the largest diamond in the world, it “didn’t catch the light,” as Sergeant Cuff explains in chapter fifteen. “No matter how they angled it in its glass display case, it simply didn’t sparkle the way that everyone imagined it should.” A contemporary report in The Times puts it this way:

“For some hours yesterday there were never less than a couple of hundred persons waiting their turn of admission, and yet, after all, the diamond does not satisfy. Either from the imperfect cutting or the difficulty of placing the lights advantageously, or the immovability of the stone itself, which should be made to revolve on its axis, few catch any of the brilliant rays it reflects when viewed at a particular angle.”

So plans were made to have the diamond re-cut. Prince Albert took charge of the project, and the work was started in 1852…but not in January, as I suggest in the book. Rather, work began in early July.

The Kohinoor has a fascinating history. It once belonged, in fact, to Ala’uddin Khalji, the Sultan of Dehli. He’s a fascinating character who I’ve written about before in my earliest novel, The Bridge of Dead Things. I was obliged to cut most of his story when it came to publishing the book because it distracted from the main drama of my central character. The chapter I cut, loosely based on the Rajput princess, Padmini of Chittaurgarh, and Ala’uddin Khalji’s fascination for her, can still be found on my website michaelgallagherwrites.com—just click on The Bridge of Dead Things page and select Padmini’s Tale from the menu on the left. I hate to get rid of anything!

I had great fun writing this week’s chapter. I especially loved developing the price’s character and the relationship he rapidly forms with young Gooseberry. I can definitely see him making appearances in future spin-offs.

Till next week,
Michael


Michael Gallagher’s Gooseberry is serialized in weekly installments every Friday from July 4th 2014 on Goodreads. Michael Gallagher is the author of The Bridge of Dead Things and The Scarab Heart, as well as the popular non-fiction title Why the Victorians Saw Ghosts.

Photograph: Covent Garden Labourers by John Thomson, used courtesy of the London School of Economics’ Digital Library under a CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 licence.

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