Jill writes…

I have read "Wakenhyrst", "Thin Air" and "Dark Matter". I love them. I have a question about "Dark Matter". The main character can't afford to take a bath. I am curious about this. Did that mean he did not have running water in his flat? Or was soap too expensive for him? Thanks for your time.

Michelle Replies…

I’m so glad you like the books, Jill.  This is a great question.  Jack only rents a room and it doesn’t have running water, so to keep clean he has to go to a public bath-house, which he can only afford once a week.  (In between he probably relies on a jug and basin in his room, if his landlady allows him to fill it in her kitchen.)  Other tenants of furnished rooms at that time might have had landladies who did provided a communal bathroom for all their tenants, but in the interests of economy, landladies generally limited them to one or two baths per week, and often imposed rules, such as only two inches of water per bath.  It makes one realise how lucky most of us are to have access to hot water,  and increases our sympathy for those who still don’t.  Thanks for your question – and I hope you enjoy Rainforest when it comes out next year.  With best wishes, Michelle