A Five-Minute History: From Venice to Ravenscourt by Samantha Ward-Smith
Two years ago, I returned to one of my favourite cities — Venice — to research Ravenscourt. I knew the book had to begin there; it’s a city seemingly frozen in time: sleek gondolas, glittering palazzi, those narrow secret canals, and the bustle and elegance of San Marco.
My first stop was Palazzo Grimani di Santa Maria Formosa, once home to the Grimani family and their stunning collection of antiques. I’ll never forget stepping into the Tribune Room and seeing the sculpture of Ganymede soaring up to the heavens — it brought tears to my eyes and found its way into the novel as a key motif.
I drew on other Venetian palazzi too, including the Palazzo Contarini Fasan, said to be the House of Desdemona. Legend has it that Nicola Contarini, nicknamed the Moor, lived there with his wife Palma Querini who became so fed up of his jealousy and violent rages that she returned to her family.
Travelling to Venice in the 19th century would have taken about 55 hours by train via Paris, Munich, and the Brenner Pass, according to the Baedeker guide, with a gondola to one’s hotel on arrival. At that time a rich Victorian could have stayed at the famous Hotel Danieli, once the Palazzo Dandolo. It was converted into a hotel in 1824 by Guiseppe Dal Niel, known as Danieli. It is still one of the most famous hotels in Venice. I drew on the letters of Effie Ruskin who stayed at the hotel with her famous husband John Ruskin between 1849-1852 just after the city was recovering from the war with the Austrians. Another inspiration was the Grand Hotel Britannia (now the St. Regis), famed for its electric lights and gardens.
Though I missed visiting San Servolo, the island asylum that features in the book, Effie Ruskin’s 1850 letters vividly describe its gardens and inhabitants. I did, however, enjoy coffee at Florian’s in St. Mark’s Square, founded in 1720 and famously one of the first cafés to admit women.
Carnival plays its part in the book as a metaphor for what lies behind the beautiful mask we can present to the world. Though officially abolished in 1707, Carnival reappeared in private form in the 19th century. Effie Ruskin herself wrote of masked balls and the dazzling Cavalchina ball which traditionally closes Carnival.
Back in London, Ushington House was inspired by Spencer House in St James’s — beautifully restored and still owned by the Spencer family. It is currently on a long lease to the Rothschilds who use it as offices. In the 1980s, Jacob Rothschild funded the restoration of the state rooms and garden to their original appearance and tours are available on Sundays. I also drew from the Wallace Collection for interior details.
The novel’s social backdrop explores women’s rights and slavery. In mid-Victorian England, women’s legal rights were shockingly limited: a married woman’s body belonged to her husband. In 1857 men could divorce women on the grounds of adultery but a woman could not divorce her husband on the same charge. Insanity after marriage however did not invalidate the marriage. Up until 1891 a husband could still imprison his wife in her own home.
By 1867, groups like the Manchester National Society for Women’s Suffrage (MNSWS) began fighting for change, leading to the 1882 Married Women’s Property Act which allowed women to own and control property in their own right, and, later, the National Union of Women’s Suffrage (NUWSS) led by Millicent Fawcett.
As for slavery, it was abolished in the British Empire in 1833 and in the U.S. by 1865, though illegal trafficking persisted — the last known slave ship, the Clotilda, arrived in Alabama in 1860.
The role of the asylum is a common thread within the book and it has a very disturbing history. Asylums are also a well-known trope of Victorian literature past and present – the mad woman in the attic is both terrifying and depressing. In the 1880s, when my book is set, a woman could still be committed far too easily to an asylum by her husband or family.
Ticehurst House Hospital was opened as a private lunatic asylum in Ticehurst, East Sussex, in 1792. The clientele was increasingly upper class as 19th Century progressed. In the 1820s a prospectus was issued with illustrations of the asylum and grounds which included a pagoda, a gothic summer house, and a lake. Private asylums such as Ticehurst were more likely to admit women on flimsy evidence or on the signatures of well-paid doctors known as ‘mad doctors’ i.e. those willing to certify a woman as insane.
And finally, Ravenscourt itself. Its model is the magnificent Tyntesfield, a Gothic Revival mansion near Bristol built in 1863. When I visited, I found endless inspiration — from the destruction of the Glass House to the stag heads in the billiard room, to Lady Blanche Gibbs’ medicine cabinet stocked with opium and poison. Standing in that great hall with its impressive lantern roof, I could almost imagine Arabella watching from the gallery above.
Ravenscourt
By Samantha Ward-Smith
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Publication Date: October 31st, 2025
Publisher: Mabel and Stanley Publishing
Pages: 343
Genre: Historical Fiction / Gothic Historical Romance
He wanted to be gone from the dark enclosing room, with its mocking misery, to be gone from this house of nightmares, of shattered dreams, and discovered secrets which could not be put back in the box.
Venice, 1880.
Alexander, Viscount Dundarran, seeks refuge from scandal amidst the fading grandeur of crumbling palazzos during the infamous Carnival in the city. There he encounters the enigmatic Lady Arabella Pembrook—a young, beautiful widow. Both are scarred by their pasts but find solace in each other and a chance at redemption.
But when duty calls Alexander back to England upon his father's death, a darker journey begins. Travelling to Ravenscourt, the decaying estate once belonging to Arabella’s late husband, Alexander must confront the house’s disturbing legacy which has echoed through the generations. Within its walls lie secrets that refuse to stay buried and will threaten everything he thought he knew. But can Alex uncover the truth in time?
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Samantha Ward-Smith
Samantha Ward-Smith is the author of Tower of Vengeance, her debut historical novel set in the Tower of London during the 13th century, and the forthcoming Ravenscourt, a Victorian Gothic tale unfolding across Venice, London, and the windswept Lancashire moors.
She lived in London for over three decades, building a career in investment banking while also pursuing a PhD in English at Birkbeck. For the past 13 years she has volunteered at the Tower of London, an experience that provided invaluable historical insight and directly shaped her writing.
Now based in Kent by the sea, Samantha continues to explore the intersections of history, place, and story, writing in the company of her two cats, Belle and Rudy.
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