“That’s the very thing. Now consider, Ethel. His work, after he goes to Oxford, will be doing his very utmost— and you know what an utmost that is. If you could keep up with him at all, you must give your whole time and thoughts to it, and when you had done so—if you could get all the honours in the University—what would it come to? You can’t take a first-class.”

“I don’t want one,” said Ethel; “I only can’t bear not to do as Norman does, and I like Greek so much.”

“And for that would you give up being a useful, steady daughter and sister at home? The sort of woman that dear mamma wished to make you, and a comfort to papa.”

Ethel was silent, and large tears were gathering.

“You own that that is the first thing?”

“Yes,” said Ethel faintly.

It was a miserable position for a bright young lady to find herself in. Fortunately, in 1869, less than a decade after the year in which The Winter Companion is set, Girton College at Cambridge opened its doors to female students.

And now, a word or two on Neville’s head injury…

When I first began my Parish Orphans of Devon series, I envisioned Neville’s fall from the cliffs as being a pivotal event in the lives of all of the orphans. His accident was inspired by an accident of my own—a cervical spine injury after a serious car accident that changed the course of my life. Many of Neville’s feelings about his condition are a mirror of my own feelings after my injury and loss of mobility.

But Neville’s condition isn’t entirely autobiographical. In addition to my research on traumatic brain injuries, I was also inspired by someone I know of who suffered a TBI many years ago, and kept a blog of her experience throughout her recovery and rehabilitation. She was never able to resume her former life, but with patience and support, she created a new kind of life and found great happiness in it.

Disabled people aren’t a monolith. Not everyone with an injury similar to Neville’s feels the same way as he did, or the same way I felt about my own injury. To that end, when writing this story, I may have inadvertently used words or expressed feelings/views about disabilities that some find offensive. For this, I humbly apologize.

Acknowledgments

This book owes a great deal to my beta readers and critique partners, Flora, Sarah, and Alyssa. Extra special thanks to Sarah for helping me come up with lesson ideas for Simon to send to Clara from Cambridge. And to Jacqueline Banerjee who was a wonderful resource when I was first researching “shadow attendance” at Cambridge via post. Jackie also directed me to Yonge’s Daisy Chain, for which I’m eternally grateful.