Historical figure brought to life

NEW WORK: Murray Crawford's third novel is a fine piece of work. PICTURE / PAUL BROOKS

Fresh from accompanying a character through the Taranaki Land Wars in Rooster McGurk - Unsung Colonial Hero (& reluctant virgin), author Murray Crawford has embarked on a new adventure a little closer to home.
Granny Dalton and the Firebug is a novel for young readers and features one of Whanganui's once well-known eccentric personalities.
In the 1960s, Wanganui High School students were well aware of a nearby rough piece of road called Granny Dalton's Lane. Not its officially gazetted name, even then, it later became Carlton Ave Extension and the bamboo thickets that lined the creek bank beside the road are long gone ... and so is the creek, diverted underground through concrete.
Drawing on historical truth and a fair smattering of imagination, Murray has set Granny Dalton in the middle of a 19th century Whanganui adventure.
"Granny Dalton is surprisingly well remembered by us of a certain vintage," says Murray, who is well on the wise side of 21.
Because she was an actual flesh and blood figure and interacts with real and fictional contemporaries in Murray's book, he has added 12 pages of historical notes at the back of the book, putting Granny Dalton and other characters in true historical perspective.
"The book is mostly about the Wanganui Voluntary Fire Brigade," he says. "Most of the main events took place in the 1870s and there are three major fires featured. One was the Ridgway St fire including the Rutland Hotel in 1868; one was the Red Lion in 1874; one was a Victoria Ave fire in 1875."
He says that in the Red Lion fire the Evening Herald falsely accused the fire brigade of incompetence. The truth comes out in the book. Brian Barkla of the Fire Service was able to advise Murray how vintage appliances worked.
So why write about Granny Dalton?
"I've had her picture on our wall for more than 30 years. I saw it in one of the papers once and came and got a copy and framed it. She has always intrigued me; her face, you wonder what's behind all those wrinkles. There must be a lot of stories to be told there. For someone who was a bit of a hermit, her life is surprisingly well documented by both the Herald and the Chronicle. She seems to have been held in great affection by the community; they looked after her and the papers went in to bat for her from time to time."
On the other hand she was a figure of fear, her name often being evoked to get children to behave. So Granny Dalton, who was known for burning down her "dwellings" and the fire brigade, celebrating 150 years this year, combined to bring about Granny Dalton and the Firebug.
"A perfect match, I thought," says Murray, and I'm wondering if the pun was intentional. "By writing this I thought it might bring her to life again; recognition from another generation. "My first book took me 10 years to write," says Murray. "The Taranaki Wars one took a year, which surprised me. This one took three months."
He says it's so much easier writing historical fiction now with Papers Past as a resource. "I'm amazed at the battles between the two papers ... the insults that used to fly between the two."
His research has also served to flesh out the historical figures that appear, sometimes at length, in the novel. "If this book goes well, maybe Granny could get up to something else."