The Unseen

Author’s Note

For a better understanding of theosophy, I have referred extensively to Theosophy by Rudolph Steiner (1910); The Key to Theosophy by H. P. Blavatsky (1889); and The Secret Life of Nature by Peter Tompkins (1997). There is also an excellent overview by John M. Lynch in his introduction to the 2006 Bison edition of The Coming of the Fairies by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. All and any mistakes in the interpretation of theosophy are mine and Robin Durrant’s alone.

Robin Durrant’s retelling of Geoffrey Hodson’s encounter with undines is taken from Hodson’s account of the incident, as recounted in The Secret Life of Nature (see above) – although this encounter of Hodson’s did not actually occur until 1922.

Cat’s experience of force-feeding is based upon a report on its use in the British Medical Journal from August, 1912, and upon the first-hand account of her own experiences by Mary R. Richardson in Laugh a Defiance (1953).

Whilst some of the places and buildings around Thatcham described in The Unseen do exist, including The Bluecoat School, and whilst some of the information concerning these places is historically accurate, all storylines and characters linked to them are entirely fictional.