𝙀𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙨 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙣𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙚𝙙
Annotations and author notes to 𝘉𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘓𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘋𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩.
Can be read alongside the novel as a companion work, but not recommended for those who simply want to read in peace. For complet...
Quotation This comes from the 1888 romantic comedy play Sweet Lavender by Sir Arthur Wing Pinero. This play was hugely successful in its time, running for many performances and wowing audiences around the world. Today the play is mostly remembered for this quote, which has such a British vibe to it. And of course, fits in with the overall message of hope in Between Life and Life.
The Recovery Room Noel initially takes Julian to the Recovery Room at the Hall of Mirrors, where people can take time to work through the intense grief they experience when looking into the Mirror at their loved ones on Earth.
The room is painted pale pink, a comforting, healing colour, and has soft, thick carpets and furniture. It is in fact rather womb-like. Matilda doesn't seem to offer people any sort of psychological therapy; they are more or less left to get over it in their own time, with the help of warm blankets, copious tissues, and of course, mugs of tea! The healing nature of the Waystation itself is probably sufficient to bring people back to equilibrium in an hour or two.
Noel doesn't think this lachrymose environment will help Julian at all, and Matilda seems to agree that exercise and fresh air would actually be better, wishing that more people would try it. Apparently the people crying in the Recovery Room are there from choice, or feel too terrible to go outside for a walk.
I was never happy with this scene and couldn't work out why until obliviablack pointed out I'd switched POV and started describing everything from Noel's perspective. Once I realised that and fixed it up, it worked much better. That's why the chapter is dedicated to her!
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Mercury Street The Hall of Mirrors is on Mercury Street because mirrors used to be backed with a mixture of silver and mercury (my head canon is that the Hall of Mirrors lies between Mercury Street and Silver Street). The mirrors were very expensive and good quality, but unfortunately toxic, leading to many deaths in the manufacturing process. That's why it's not used any more.
I got this idea from Hell is an Empty Heart by AnnamitaMuscaria, where she also links the god Hermes (Mercury) with mercury and mirrors in one scene. I also figure a lot of the streets at the Waystation are named after gods, planets, and chemical elements.
I looked up Mercury Street on Google Maps, and was barely surprised to discover it was the street my husband was born on. I never knew this before. Why do you mock me, street directory????
Love Avenue The reason for this avenue's name becomes apparent later in the story, as do the red roses which appropriately run along it. My primary school was on Love Street, by the way. It had a bed of red roses out the front.
A Levels In the story, Julian's sister Emma is preparing for her A Level exams at sixth form college, so must be around 17 or 18. That makes her about six years younger than Julian. I'm not sure of the age gap between Julian and his sister in real life, but I'm pretty sure it is smaller than that (although she does have a youthful appearance which makes it plausible for the story).
