Christmas Carols - Daisy Banks
Thank you, Diane, for your kind offer to help me celebrate the release of my new book Christmas Carols, published by Liquid Silver Books on the 10 th of August. I know readers might think it a little odd to be thinking about Christmas in August but in Victorian England, where my story is set, people were used to starting their Christmas preparations early. When I taught history one of the activities my students completed in the autumn term was to make pomander balls. These were made in early October so they would be ready for a Christmas re-enactment celebration. Everyone in school enjoyed the fragrance and so many people said it made them think Christmas was on the way. I only have to smell orange and cloves to recollect those fun times. In Victorian England pomanders were used to help keep linen insect free, to fragrance rooms and dispel unhealthy miasmas, (nasty smells). The idea an unpleasant stink could make you ill wasn’t refuted until the brilliant