That retired librarian who called me out on my historical fantasy novel

I was at a small book club meetup in Portland about 6 months ago, this little coffee shop on Division Street. We were all sharing our own writing projects and I brought out this medieval fantasy story I'd been working on for like 2 years. This older woman named Carol, must have been 75, just listened quietly. After I finished reading a chapter, she said 'Honey, your characters are eating potatoes but your story is set in 12th century England. Potatoes didn't reach Europe until the 1500s.' I felt my face go red honestly. She then pulled out this beat up book on medieval farming from her tote bag and showed me where she was right. I had just assumed potatoes were always around because they're so common now. Has anyone else had a detail like that totally wreck a scene for them?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_luna22h ago

Carol's the real MVP honestly. That is the kind of thing that would have haunted me for years if nobody caught it, and then a real historian would read it and rip it apart. Potatoes are one of those things that seem so basic and timeless because we eat them constantly, but yeah, they were literally a New World crop. Same problem happens with tomatoes in Italian settings before the 1500s, or corn in any European setting before colonization. It is easy to forget that what feels like everyday food now was once a total novelty and changed entire cuisines when it arrived. I bet Carol has a whole collection of those beat up reference books and just waits for people to mess up. Kind of love that energy, even if it stings in the moment.

iris_green8413h ago

Right, the corn thing trips people up all the time in historical fiction.