The Darling Strumpet: A Novel of Nell Gwynn, Who Captured the Heart of England and King Charles II
Page 38
Readers with detailed knowledge of the period may notice that I have given Charles Sackville his earldom and other titles a few years early. When Nell first knew him, he was Lord Buckhurst, but my writing group found they got confused between Buckhurst and Buckingham, so Buckhurst became Dorset.
I moved up Moll Davis’s pregnancy by about a year so it came at the same time as Louise’s and Barbara’s, but those two ladies actually did give birth within two weeks of each other.
Dr. Tenison did give Nell’s funeral sermon, as she had hoped, and saw to it that she was buried in the vicar’s vault at St.-Martin-in-the-Fields. The crypt now houses a nice café, and when I went looking for Nell’s grave some years ago, I was told that it might be under the ovens. According to several sources, many graves were obliterated when the church was rebuilt in the 1720s. Vicar Holtam of SMTF told me that Nell’s burial was “so recent and significant” that she might have been reburied, though no one now knows where. I’m sure Nell would be pleased to know the good vicar considers her significant. But wherever her bones may lie, she lives in beloved memory.
With young Nell in the forefront of my mind, I was particularly moved when I read about a book called Half the Sky and the authors’ efforts to effect real change in the lives of young girls forced into prostitution.
I visited their website, and hope you’ll take a look. . .
http://www.halftheskymovement.org
“Half the Sky lays out an agenda for the world’s women and three major abuses: sex trafficking and forced prostitution; gender-based violence including honor killings and mass rape; maternal mortality, which needlessly claims one woman a minute. We know there are many worthy causes competing for attention in the world. We focus on this one because this kind of oppression feels transcendent—and so does the opportunity. Outsiders can truly make a difference.”