Title spoiler – Mulberry Duck. Read the book first.
Do you ever play the game ‘find the oddest inn sign’ when on holiday? One day I found ‘The Mulberry Duck’, my first title, in a Nottinghamshire village. It depicted a white, boat-shaped bird, probably an Aylesbury duck nibbling at very ripe, purple mulberries. On the back of the sign was a brown mallard wearing a mulberry-coloured weskit.
In the neighbouring village I found another with the same name. This time it had a duck on one side and on the other the head and shoulders of a military man in a wig and armour. Flakes of colour peeling off told me that both signs were old and had been repainted many times. When we enquired, nobody knew the origin of the name. It also looked as if the mallard duck was an over-painting. Something human head-shaped had been underneath, from the faint outline ridging the surface of the cracked board.
Ducks for Sale.
I already knew that Aylesbury ducks had been a major product for centuries throughout the southern midlands. The ducks were reared near a watercourse (say a village pond) so that ducklings could take their essential first swim before they were a day old. Often flocks were fed in the plum (prune) and apple orchards, so probably beneath mulberry trees too. When plump and ready for the autumn market, they were walked to London after paddling through tar and sand to protect their feet. They provided luxury down and feathers for pillows, the finest available, and the best Christmas dinner to be had. The eggs were also matchless for baking cakes. The Aylesbury duck trade flourished in all the villages within easy reach of towns and cities, especially London. First walked to market by road, the birds later travelled on barges on the Grand Union Canal and its links. When the railways came, the drudgery and delays were over.
Ditching the title, and another
Eventually I ditched the ducks in my story. Then I replaced the title with PAPER MARRIAGE. Only recently did the final title arrive, BECKSTONE, the name of the farm which provides the setting. One odd factor needs explaining. The MULBERRY DUCK inn signs which bear traces of a man all exist in regions where northern dialects are prevalent, especially the ‘upside down U’ as children sometimes call it. Add another dialectal quirk in Oxbridge and the Home Counties pronounces Marlborough as ‘Maulbray’. And there you have the confusion between ‘Mulberry Duck’ and ‘the Marlborough Duke’ which creates a light running thread through the script – too light a thread to carry a title. Much as I liked the title, it had to go.