Out & About July 2017

HELEN SHEEHAN and LISSA GIBBINS are drawn in by the time travel, historical figures and intriguing mystery, which make for a compelling combination in The Phantom Tree by Nicola Cornick Ghostly goings on Browsing antiques shops in Wiltshire, Alison Bannister stumbles across a delicate old portrait – supposedly of Anne Boleyn. Except Alison knows better… The woman is Mary Seymour, the daughter of Katherine Parr, who was taken to Wolf Hall in 1557 as an unwanted orphan and presumed dead after going missing as a child. The painting is more than just a beautiful object from Alison’s past – it holds the key to her future, unlocking the mystery surrounding Mary’s disappearance, and the enigma of Alison’s son. But Alison’s quest soon takes a dark and foreboding turn, as a meeting place called the Phantom Tree harbours secrets in its shadows…

V ery little is known about the life of Mary Seymour. After the death of Henry VIII, his sixth wife Katherine Parr married Thomas Seymour, the brother of Jane Seymour, Henry’s third wife. Mary Seymour was their only child. There are few historical references to her existence, and all trace of her disappears very soon after she was orphaned, barely a year old. She seems to have vanished into thin air. In Nicola Cornick’s fascinating book she imagines what Mary’s life might have been like, taking up her story as a young girl bundled off to the Seymour family’s daunting house, Wolf Hall, in the depths of the ghostly Savernake Forest. Wolf Hall had become a home for unwanted and disgruntled relatives who could find no place else to live. Cornick’s novel moves between Wiltshire in the present day and Tudor England. It begins in the present, as Alison Banister is browsing in an antiques shop in Marlborough and comes across a portrait that everyone considers to be Anne Boleyn, but Alison knows for certain that it is Mary Seymour. The painting holds clues to Mary’s past and can help Alison to solve a compelling and disturbing mystery that haunts her every waking minute. She embarks on a quest to find out more about the painting and where it came from. This leads her into dangerous territory, taking her to places she thought she’d never see again, and discovering in the process what became of Mary Seymour. Central to this novel is the idea of time travel. Present-day Alison Bannister is actually Alison Banestre, a distant relative and fellow inmate of Mary’s, at Wolf Hall.

She has managed to escape her tragic life at that desperate house by the magic of time travel, but she must go back for Mary, and for her own sanity. This device works very well as a key to unlocking the mysteries of Mary’s life. “She knew at once she was in the wrong place, in the wrong time…Time was no easy medium to control”. Of course the temptation for any time traveller is to go back and meddle, right a wrong, settle a grudge or even prevent a death. Alison has good reason to do all these things. When the time comes, and if the Phantom Tree allows her back, can she resist the urge to change her fate? Set in many familiar local haunts, including Wolf Hall, the Savernake Forest and Littlecote House, this book contains delightful insights into the area in Tudor times: “I loved the market for the noise and colour… the cobbles of Marlborough ran with blood from the carcasses that hung on pegs on the stalls”. Wolf Hall itself is already falling into disrepair, “The rambling old manor was…run down”. However, “The gardens…proved a delight”. Mary enjoys a wild night at the Hungerford Midsummer Fair, “…we danced to the music of the lute and the recorders, and watched the fire-eaters”. There are many references to the Savernake, which, with its ancient trees, including the Phantom Tree, and its rumoured ghosts, make it the ideal backdrop for this tale. “The forest was full of pale light and misty glades that morning”. One of the forest’s most famous ghosts is the Headless Rider; we discover first-hand the origin of that grisly decapitation. At a picnic in

the forest, Mary and Alison witness a bolting horse crashing through the trees, whose rider’s head is “severed… as neatly as any executioner”. Stories about famous Tudor families are usually full of wild romances, dashing heroes and monstrous bounders; these are all present in this book. Alison and Mary find love and heartache in equal measure. For Alison there is the added complication of loves in both past and present times. Mary, rather ordinary-looking in contrast to Alison’s beauty, nevertheless has her fair share of love and loss, “…he took pleasure in looking at me, plain little Mary Seymour”. For anyone who enjoys historical fiction, The Phantom Tree ticks all the boxes. Cornick effortlessly weaves fact and fiction, and time and place together, making it a pleasure to read. Told from two different perspectives – Mary’s life in the 1560s and Alison’s in the present – this epic tale of fantasy and history is interwoven in a seamless and engaging way. It is a poignant tale about a lonely girl of famous parents whose story has been lost in the sands of time, and a fitting tribute to what was probably a short and difficult life. When you next visit the Savernake Forest you might think of Mary, and be reminded that even now the bare remnants of Wolf Hall harbour the ghosts of long ago. The Phantom Tree is a skillfully written multi- stranded mystery with thoughtful reflections on two women’s quests for belonging.

Helen Sheehan and Lissa Gibbins are writers and owners of Aide Memoire, Great Bedwyn. Inspired by their passion for words, they write memoirs, edit novels and documents and proofread for a wide range of clients. Email: lissa@aidememoire.biz helen@aidememoire.biz

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