I must admit that I had never heard of Ada Lovelace until, fifteen years ago, the Literary Review magazine sent me a copy of her biography. Every month I illustrated the cover of the magazine with an image inspired by one of their book reviews. My bookshelves now groan beneath the weight of beautiful hardback biographies, histories and travel books that have been sent to me over the years. The Art of Italian Fencing, Beethhoven’s Symphonies, The Poetry of Philip Larkin… I’m never sure what is going to arrive in the post next!
That particular month I was sent a book about the only daughter of the famous poet, Lord Byron. And I was hooked.
Ada Lovelace was born on the 10th December 1815. A month later her parents’ marriage broke down and Lord Byron, famously described as ‘Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know’, left England for good. Ada’s mother was terrified that her daughter would grow up to be as mad and bad as her father, so she arranged for Ada to have the best education possible, concentrating on mathematical and technological skills rather than dangerous poetry.
Ada flourished, becoming a great mathematician and later, working with Charles Babbage on his ‘Analytical Engine’, she wrote the first ever computer programme! This achievement is celebrated on Ada Lovelace Day every year.
But what I love most about Ada Lovelace is that, despite her mother’s best efforts, she never lost her imagination – something she inherited from the father she never knew. When Ada was twelve years old she decided she wanted to fly so she set about investigating the subject. She wrote a book called ‘Flyology’ with her friends, which concluded with a design for a steam driven mechanical flying horse! I think ‘Mad, Bad and Dangerous To Know’ Lord Byron would have been proud of his ‘poetical scientist’ daughter.
Years later, I remember the cover of The Literary Review as I was sitting down to write a follow up to my Ottoline series – and those books became the Goth Girl series. My protagonist, Ada Goth, is the only daughter of Lord Goth, England’s most famous poet, who has a penchant for destroying garden ornaments (he gains a reputation for being ‘Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Gnomes’). Ada Goth is adventurous, intrepid and independently minded and with her friends, eager to explore the world around her.
I’ve written about Ada Goth in two Gothic novels now, with a third to follow. I hope that the twelve year old Ada Lovelace would have approved.
