Elizabeth Redfern |
About Elizabeth Redfern
An Interview with Elizabeth Redfern
More About Elizabeth Redfern
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Elizabeth Redfern was born on October 29, 1950 in Cheshire, England and attended the University of Nottingham, where she earned a BA in English. She then earned a post graduate degree as a Chartered Librarian at Ealing College and a post-graduate certificate in teaching at the University of Derby.
Redfern trained and worked as a chartered librarian, first in London and then in Nottingham. She moved to Derbyshire with her husband, a solicitor. And after her daughter was born, Redfern re-trained as a teacher and began work as an adult education lecturer – main subject, English – with the Derbyshire County Council.
Since then, she’s been involved in various projects in nearby towns, including working with the unemployed and skills training in the workplace. She lives with her husband and her daughter, who attends a local school, in a village in the Derbyshire Peak District. In her spare time Redfern plays the violin with a local orchestra, the Chesterfield Symphony Orchestra. The Music of the Spheres is her first novel.
How I came to write The Music of the Spheres by Elizabeth Redfern
The idea for The Music of the Spheres first formed in my mind when the Hale-Bopp comet appeared in the sky. I’d always been fascinated by stars since I was a small girl, when my father took me for walks observing the night sky.
Because I wanted to discover more about the scientists who had studied the stars in the past I read a history – The Cambridge History of Astronomy. My interest grew rapidly when I read about the widespread belief amongst astronomers in the late 18th century that there must be an as-yet-undetected planet between Mars and Jupiter. A belief that was reinforced by an amazing numerical pattern into which the orbits of all the known planets including the then recently discovered Uranus fitted perfectly. I read further books and learned that these astronomers (who formed a group known as ‘The Celestial Police’ with members throughout Europe) were free to correspond with each other on this topic in the major European capitals – even though England, Austria, Prussia, Spain and Holland were at this time locked in a desperate war with revolutionary France.
I’ve always been interested in this period and was aware that in England there was a very real fear of foreign spies betraying military secrets. So I had the idea that a group of French astronomers claiming exile in London are sending vital intelligence to Paris disguised as lists of stars.
I began my research for the story four years ago. Besides studying astronomy and history of the period, I also obtained and read many books and journals on various topics
including 18th century medicine, 18th century mathematics, the British government’s secret intelligence work, the British navy and naval dockyards. And last, but not least, the history of the science of encryption. The Times for the year 1795 has also been a primary source of information.
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