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FULL NAME: Abel Stirkwhistle

BORN: 1st October 1756, Iverleigh Warren, Kensington, London (aged 36-37 in Lust & Liberty; 58-59 in Sin & Secrecy)

EYE COLOUR: Hazel

HAIR COLOUR: Brown, later grey

FAMILY: The Hon. Tobias Stirkwhistle (father); Esther Stirkwhistle (mother); Rebecca (sister); Liza Stirkwhistle (née Rowlands) (wife); Josiah, Obadiah, Priscilla, Cecilia, Septimus, Octavius, Decimus, Lady Irwina Stirkwhistle-Ziegler (paternal cousins); Lady Oliviera Vyrrington, Lady Riva Bært-Styridge, Lady Lavinia Isaacs, Lady Clementina Isaacs, Lady Diana Isaacs, Lady Georgiana Isaacs (maternal cousins)

ALLIES: Priscilla Stirkwhistle, Lady Oliviera Vyrrington, George Whitlocke

ENEMIES: Rebecca Stirkwhistle, all children

OCCUPATION: Socialite, politician (formerly), school caretaker

PERSONALITY: Sadistic, mischievous, roguish, secretive, irritable, severe, violent

POLITICS: Liberal

FAITH: Catholic

Who is Abel Stirkwhistle?

Abel is the main anti-hero of The Berylford Scandals: Sin & Secrecy. He appears in the prequel, Lust & Liberty, though nowhere near as often and much later than I first wanted. In the final version of the novel, he doesn’t physically appear until halfway through the story. When we meet him, he is recovering from a stroke, cared for by his sister Rebecca and his wife Liza. Once he recovers, he quickly becomes established as both a bit of a wind-up merchant and a force to be reckoned with. Probably one of the only people his cousin Lady Vyrrington fears to some extent.

While he is only a major player in the first book towards its end, Abel is the main character of the second. He, like Lady Vyrrington, is nearing his sixties. He is tired with his life, marriage and job, in which he makes many an enemy. But the main thorn in his side is still his sister, as you’ll discover. In the opening chapter of the first book, I give quite a detailed description of his appearance and personality:

from Chapter I of The Berylford Scandals: Sin & Secrecy

“…Tall and dark as his Italian heritage permitted, he had once been handsome too in his youth. But a sudden stroke in his middle-age had stolen all that from him and warped his body into that formidable and fearsome mass of flesh which Berylford had come to know and dread. He was all but entirely sunken on the one side; he did not walk or even limp but ambled spikily as a crab would. His neck and head were permanently askew, his lips would often spasm, bearing fangs intermittently – whether they were merely expressions of pain and frustration, or curses to the God who had visited this affliction on him, no one could say.

Either way, it had done as badly for Abel’s mind and temper as it had his body. While politically he remained liberal, sympathetic and even at times generous to those of classes beneath those of his own aristocratic roots, he paradoxically had an unforgiving nature and was capable of great cruelty, regarding little the lives of lesser Earthly creatures. For example, if a simple snail were to be slithering along the pavement, it would be the feet of some children of the town to kick it about the pavement in its shell. However, it would be the cruel foot of Abel Stirkwhistle – the steel–studded boot with the iron heel brought down with such malevolence that would crush the snail in its shell. And a brutal and sadistic socialite was he, and he relished his cruelty grandly…”

Origins & Basis

Abel Stirkwhistle is probably one of the only characters whose name has stuck from day one. I don’t know what it is about the surname Stirkwhistle. It just suggested to me something nasty and malevolent that went with Abel’s character, along with that of his sister. And I always intended him to be a villain to some degree. He started out as the sadistic and cruel caretaker of the school where four of the other main characters, collectively known as The Four Scallywags, study. That part of his character remains.

He was not supposed to be related to Lady Vyrrington in the beginning; originally they were just friends. But I could not justify the lady of the manor being friends with a school caretaker unless they were actually related. With this in mind, Abel couldn’t have the job for the love of it. He had to take it on to keep an eye on his sister — that’s how it developed.

I personally love writing dialogue for Abel — his character is so multi-faceted. That’s whether he’s talking to Lady Vyrrington or his sister Rebecca. He can be roguish and charming one minute, austere and threatening the next. It gives me an opportunity to write both light-hearted and black humour, but also drama that shows off his straight-up violent and evil side. When he exchanges threats with Rebecca — I find that so unlike any other sibling relationship, both in real life and in fiction.

Literary Inspiration

Abel, like Lady Vyrrington, originated in his older form. He is a combination of two Dickens characters. Mr. Tulkinghorn from Bleak House for the personality, and Jeremiah Flintwinch from Little Dorrit for the appearance and movement. The surname Stirkwhistle is also deliberately Dickensian. I injected the mischievous side of him myself to give him a redeeming quality. Despite his malice, I wanted to make him somewhat likeable, or at least relatable.

What’s your opinion of Abel? Likeable anti-hero or straight-up villain? Let us know in the comments!

Profile

FULL NAME: Lady Oliviera Vyrrington (née Isaacs), Countess of Vyrrington

BORN: 9th November 1756, Vellhampton Park, Dover, Kent (aged 36-37 in Lust & Liberty; 58-59 in Sin & Secrecy)

EYE COLOUR: Brown

HAIR COLOUR: Dark (as a young woman); Silver-grey (as an older woman)

FAMILY: Lord Ensbury Isaacs (father); Lady Regina Isaacs (mother); Lavinia, Clementina, Diana, Georgiana (sisters); Lord Wilson Vyrrington (husband); Venetia, Minerva, Spencer, Edward (children); Abel Stirkwhistle, Rebecca Stirkwhistle, Lady Riva Bært-Styridge (cousins)

ALLIES: Abel Stirkwhistle, Elspeth Urmstone, Judith-Ann Haffisidge, Amethyst Whitlocke

ENEMIES: George Whitlocke, Rebecca Stirkwhistle

OCCUPATION: Socialite (semi-retired); Landowner

PERSONALITY: Cold, grief-stricken, passionate, stubborn, mercurial, defiant, confident

POLITICS: Liberal, later Conservative

FAITH: Catholic, later renounces all faith

Who is Lady Vyrrington?

The heroine (or arguably the anti-heroine) of the first Berylford Scandal is Oliviera, the Countess of Vyrrington. It is the downfall of her character described in the events of Lust & Liberty. And in the upcoming sequel, Sin & Secrecy, we see her living in the shell of her former life. In this second story, where we see her approaching her sixties, I decided to make Lady Vyrrington an almost ghostly character. I thought it suitable; she is a ghost in the sense that the woman we read about in the first book is all but gone.

While still a major character and mentioned before this (particularly when her cousin Rebecca Stirkwhistle asks her brother Abel, “…how is the old slut?” she does not appear in Sin & Secrecy until the fifth chapter. See if you can get the feeling of how much she has changed from the description below:

from Chapter V of The Berylford Scandals: Sin & Secrecy

“…She was a shimmering and spectral display of silver and black. From her face, powdered almost ghostly white, the towering grey coiffure of hair still streaked with their former ebony shades, to her long hands and slender fingers, gloved in black kidskin. She was clad in a dark, billowing gown and thick black pelts that glinted in the lamplight were astride her shoulders. A white lace collar and a silver medallion were clasped at her throat, in danger of strangling. The great lady was Oliviera, the Countess of Vyrrington. She was the Stirkwhistles’ second cousin and the Lady of Beryl Court. All rents, taxes and yields from the properties and businesses in Berylford were reported directly to her, in the absence of a definitive Lord Vyrrington.

The rhythmic and steadfast clack of her high-heeled boots and walking cane announced her presence, as did her once beauteous countenance, now rendered hollow, bitter and frozen after decades of grief, woe and misery. For now she was encumbered by neither love, mercy, warmth or affection, save for a very small number of individuals. The Countess had lost her children: five were dead and her two sons, who were in the army, had long since relinquished any contact or acquaintance. She had a granddaughter; the one person for whom her heart still beat warm and loving, though she saw her very seldom while she was at school abroad. She had also lost her husband, and more besides.

All her anguish and despair had manacled her to a permanent state of lamentation, mixed with ill-tempered and ironclad Conservatism and religiosity. Her regard and love for humanity, in which she had held no account for class or financial status, were all but spent. Now she cloistered her attentions on the few who remained dear to her. For the rest, her duty she had long deemed irrelevant…”

Origins and Basis

Lady Vyrrington was originally envisaged as a selfish and snobbish old woman back in 2008, as one of the original 40 characters I created. Her maiden name was always Isaacs, but her surname underwent several changes. Barrington, Berrington and Verrington were earlier versions. It was never going to be a run-of-the-mill surname — where is the memorability in that?

Even ten years ago in the original story, she didn’t care very much for her butler Whitlocke. But it was an issue I felt I needed to address — why did this mistress and butler hate each other so openly? That was one of the catalysts for writing Lust & Liberty – to answer this question, along with many others. And it was necessary therefore to show Lady Vyrrington as a much younger woman. The events that turned her into this icy, bitter, miserable woman followed.

Literary Inspiration

While her younger self isn’t really inspired by any other literary characters, the older Lady Vyrrington, however, is a different story! Primarily, she was based on the invalid Mrs. Clennam from Charles Dickens’ Little Dorrit. Not just in terms of the cold demeanour, either. Her ambivalent relationship with Whitlocke is comparable to Mrs. Clennam’s with her manservant and business partner Jeremiah Flintwinch. In addition to Mrs Clennam, Lady Dedlock from Bleak House and Elizabeth Gaskell’s Lady Ludlow also played their parts in fleshing out Lady Vyrrington’s character.

Are there any other characters you think she’s similar to? Whether in her personality or in her relationships with the other characters? Let me know in the comments!