Isobel Jarvis Campbell was born on the property called Scarborough in Van Diemens Land in 1840, the second child of Eliza and Whitaker Jarvis. Eliza, who had a heart defect, died when Isobel was a baby, and after some time Whitaker remarried. Growing up, Isobel was aware that her father and the next-door neighbour, Hector Campbell, did not get on, especially as Campbell held the mortgage over Scarborough. He used to visit now and again, often accompanied by his quiet son, John, who was a year younger than Isobel and much nicer to her than her own brother, Winston.
After Hector Campbell's sudden death, Isobel, at twenty, was surprised but not altogether displeased when John came calling. By the terms of his father's will, he was to marry Isobel and in return Scarborough would be released from its mortgage. Isobel agreed to the match.
Her marriage to John was very happy. She was the more assertive and more practical partner, and was delighted when her husband took her advice for the property. She took to wearing breeches, which was definitely not considered quite right in 1860. The birth of a son made their lives perfect, but it wasn't to last and Isobel needed every last scrap of her courage and practicality in the years that followed. Isobel is from the novel Heather & Heath. The portrait shows her in her later years.
ABOUT THE BLOG
Sally is Sally Odgers; author,anthologist and reader. She runs Prints Charming Books. (Sally is me, by the way, and I am lots of other things too, but these are the relevant ones for now.)
The goal for 2017 was to write a post a day profiling the background behind one of my books; how it came to be written, what it's about, and any things of note that happened along the way. If you're an author, an aspiring author, a reader or just someone who enjoys windows into worlds, you might find this fun. The books are not in any special order, but will be assigned approximate dates, and pictures, where they exist. 2017 is now behind us, but I ran out of year before running out of books. As of February 18th 2018 I STILL haven't run out of books, but many of those still to come are MIA by which I mean I don't have copies and remember little about them. There are more new books to come, and I'll certainly showcase those, but in between times, I'm profiling some of my characters, just for a change. Thank you so much to everyone who's come along on this journey so far!
Sally is Sally Odgers; author,anthologist and reader. She runs Prints Charming Books. (Sally is me, by the way, and I am lots of other things too, but these are the relevant ones for now.)
The goal for 2017 was to write a post a day profiling the background behind one of my books; how it came to be written, what it's about, and any things of note that happened along the way. If you're an author, an aspiring author, a reader or just someone who enjoys windows into worlds, you might find this fun. The books are not in any special order, but will be assigned approximate dates, and pictures, where they exist. 2017 is now behind us, but I ran out of year before running out of books. As of February 18th 2018 I STILL haven't run out of books, but many of those still to come are MIA by which I mean I don't have copies and remember little about them. There are more new books to come, and I'll certainly showcase those, but in between times, I'm profiling some of my characters, just for a change. Thank you so much to everyone who's come along on this journey so far!
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