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Why my novel has the name "Pretty Maidens All In A Row." 8/27/2015 5:30:19 AM
The origin of my novel's title. Why my novel is called “Pretty Maidens All In A row”
Ever wonder how authors decide on titles for their books? I can’t speak for others but I’ll tell you how my first novel got its name. The Mother Goose rhyme, “Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary” was the inspiration behind the title, “Pretty Maidens All In A Row” but it has nothing to do with the rhyme except for the fact that the heroine’s father used to read the poem to her as a child and it’s an ongoing theme in the whole novel. It is also is a key clue in the search for the killer throughout but there is a more sinister meaning in the title.
First, I’ll give you some interpretation of the meaning of the rhyme and then I’ll tell you why I picked a title pertaining to it. You may have visualized, when hearing the poem, a beautiful lady walking around showing her garden to everyone with her “silver bells” and “cockle shells” and “pretty maids” all in a row, which are referring to beautiful face-like flowers. This, however, is nowhere near the truth behind the rhyme. The Mary that is portrayed in this nursery rhyme is none other than Mary Tudor, also known in historical infamy as “Bloody Mary”. Mary was the daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon (the first wife of Henry VIII). In an attempt to break away from the Church of England, she tried to revert back to the Catholic Church when she became Queen. History tells us that she persecuted and murdered many Protestants. Her reign of terror became widely known, giving her the title of “Bloody Mary”.
Some interpretations of the poem are that the “silver bells” were Catholic Cathedral bells, the cockle shells represented the pilgrimage to Spain and the pretty maids in a row stood for a row of nuns. Others claim the meaning was about torturing her victims. Silver bells were thumb screws that were torture devices, cockle shells were genital torture devices and the pretty maids in a row stood for the people lined up to be executed by the guillotine. The meaning of “How does your garden grow?” is said to refer to the cemetery, because with more deaths, the more the cemetery “garden” would grow. In that time period, there was a lot of fear and people would make up rhymes to record history.
You may have noticed that my title uses the word “Maidens” as opposed to the wording in the poem which uses the word “Maids (and pretty maids all in a row.)” Another facet of that dark period in history tells us that the guillotine was labelled “The Maiden” which was used to behead the victims. I switched the words, firstly to avoid any copyright issues but the meaning of the word from that period, referring to all the murdered people, was befitting of the storyline in my novel. The perpetrator became the “Maiden” and the heroine and her friends became the “Maids all in a row.” If you read the novel now, you’ll have a better understanding of the events which make up the story.
More Blogs by Janette M Brown • Interview with Thriller author J.M. Brown - Thursday, August 27, 2015 • Why my novel has the name "Pretty Maidens All In A Row." - Thursday, August 27, 2015
