Which year to set my story in? 1640/50s

[Flopsy145]

I'm currently writing a book, about a 3rd of the way through, and have recently had some epiphanies with it and now I'm going back to change direction and also romance trope. The main basis of it is around the witch trials which I know were very much at their crux during the English civil war with Matthew Hopkins retiring in 1647, but if I set it during the mid 1640s im worried the civil war will be too much of a focus. It's more of a backdrop right now but in no way the main driving force of the book.
Does anyone have any advice or good books to read about what life was actually like for the general people during 1645-47 say, did it consume them or could the majority carry on with life. It's set in Oxford if that helps.

I could move it to post civil war era but I wanted to feature Matthew Hopkins, witchfinder general, and I'm pretty keen on sticking to historical accuracy where possible so don't want to write about him being active when in reality he had retired.

Ironically I did a history degree but had little interest in the civil war 😂
Thanks all!

If the witchhunts are the main thread of the book then the civil war will just be the background. You just need some pointers to give the reader an idea of what the political landscape was at the time, but they will be invested in what is happening to your characters and unless it affects your story they don't need to know much about the civil war.

No advice but I love the sound of your book!

@BobbyBleu thank you! If it ever gets published I'll post a link here 😂

@LouisaMayAlcott thank you that's good advice, I've been researching this afternoon and think I can make it work based on the locations used in the book, turns out the civil war upheaval was what allowed Hopkins to persecute how he did unchecked!

Oxford was a Royalist stronghold and the base of the King so would be very important

If you think about Ellis Peters enormously successful Cadfael series, the Anarchy is ongoing, it is referenced and is sometimes part of the story but it doesn't dominate overall. However, as a PP said, Oxford was a pretty important location in the Civil War.

Agree the involvement of Oxford is pretty key, I'm from Oxford so that was my main reasoning behind using it as a setting but can easily move it to another less key city/county.

I can understand your dilemma op. I am experiencing similar where war/politics could dominate and it isn't the main part of the story (this is a second book, I'm (sort of) working on. I've decided to choose a time period where I won't have to get too involved in what is going on politically and plan to throw in a few names, or loose mentioning of world affairs for time setting purposes.

It looks like it might be more difficult for you to do this though given the events are strongly linked to time and place. I find it difficult to write about stuff I'm not really switched onto. However,it could work out well setting it in a place you know well. I did this with my last book and it was infinitely easier to do imagery wise than what I'm trying to do now which is set the story in a different country.

If Oxford is key then you need to stay there. But it will mean referencing the Civil War quite clearly since the place was full of Royalists. This is not my 'period' so I don't know who you should read, I'm afraid, but doing the research is almost certainly 'easier' than moving your location.