When Thomas Hardy’s wife died, his world was forever changed. Though his marriage to Emma Gifford was tumultuous, his grief was still paralysing. After Emma’s death Hardy discovered and read her diaries, and later burnt them. But why did he burn them? What words were written inside? Why did they evoke such a reaction?

We will never know the answers to these questions, but author Elizabeth Lowry has done an incredible job of filling in the gaps. Through extensive research and some very good best guess-work, she’s raised the diary from the ashes, bringing Emma’s story back to life in her novel The Chosen.

In this episode we learn how to create compelling fictionalised portrayals of real stories, we explore the role of buildings as emotional anchors for your characters, and we find out how to make stories from the past feel relevant.

Find out more about Elizabeth Lowry here.

Your host is inkjockey founder Mark Heywood.

Behind The Spine is an inkjockey production, and the audio accompaniment to The Writing Salon. Sign up to the newsletter here.

You can view the full transcript here.