Another Wedding of the Century

by Mary Jo

No, the title of this blog has nothing to do with that fancy shindig at Westminster Abbey last month.  I blush to admit that it’s still another release with my name on it. 

I’ve never had a busier publishing spring:

March—Dark Mirror, a new YA paranormal
April—The Bargain, a reissued Regency historical
May—Nowhere Near Respectable, a new Regency historical

And now for June:

The Wedding of the Century.

My story is called “The Wedding of the Century,” and that was picked up as the title for this anthology, the third time the novella has been released. 

It’s a long novella written almost twenty years ago for a Harlequin historical anthology.  I was vastly flattered to be asked since I was the first non-Harlequin author to receive such an invitation.  The theme was weddings, which is pretty much a no-brainer for a romance author. <G>

WOTC is set in the Gilded Age with a vastly wealthy American girl marrying an English duke.  My story is loosely inspired by the famous marriage of Consuelo Vanderbilt and the Duke of Marlborough, but with a happier ending.  (The real people ended up getting divorced.) 

To Marry An English Lord. Or, How Anglomania Really Got Started

I don’t remember what gave me the idea for the story, though I do remember that these characters spoke in my mind more clearly than just about any other couple I’ve ever written.  Plot inspiration probably came from came from the fabulous book To Marry an English Lord by Gail MacColl and Carol McD. Wallace. 

This book is sadly out of print now, but used copies are available for as little as $.21 + shipping, and if you like rollicking social history, this book is for you.  Lots of stories of the men and women involved in this transatlantic marriage mart and the delicious details of the lives they lived. (Here’s a picture of the famous designer Worth, an Englishman who worked in Paris and was the very height of fashion for the period.)

It’s something of a mystery how Americans, who famously tossed out the King of England and banned all inherited titles, nonetheless adore royalty and lords and ladies.  (I don’t precisely adore them, but I do enjoy writing about them!)

It was a perfect meeting of needs: rich Americans in search of old titles, and English aristocrats in dire need of money.  Of course, human nature and hormones being what they are, the couplings weren’t usually that cold blooded.  The dazzling Jennie Jerome, daughter of a New York financier and sportsman, met Lord Randolph Churchill, a brilliant younger son of the 8th Duke of Marlborough, at a ball held on a cruiser moored at the Isle of Wight.  (I. e., it was all insanely fashionable.) 

Lord Randolph proposed and was accepted three days later,  Neither set of parents approved—the Marlboroughs thought the connection vulgar, and Jenny Jerome’s mother wasn’t impressed by the fact that Lord Randolph was a younger son, but the Prince of Wales endorsed the match. 

The financial negotiations were very difficult, since Lord Randolph didn’t have much money.  Leonard Jerome settled 50,000 pounds on the couple for an income of two thousand pounds a year, but insisted on giving Jennie a separate income of a thousand pounds a year. 

This outraged the Marlborough lawyers: an American girl lost her American citizenship when she married an Englishman, and English law gave all the wifely property to the husband.  Leonard Jerome didn’t think it wise that a wife should be so completely dependent, a sentiment I can heartily agree with.  (The family portrait is Consuelo Vanderbilt and family, and hangs at Blenheim Palance.  It's huge!)

The marriage had its ups and downs, but must be considered a success if only because it produced Winston Churchill.  (He was born less than eight months after the marriage, which suggests that not all Victorians were straight-laced.  <G>) 

 
Winston was born at Blenheim Palace, the wildly overdone seat of the Dukes of Marlborough, and was first cousin of 9th duke.  (The one who married Consuelo Vanderbilt.)  Winston had a fascinating and very colorful career (did you know that he won the Nobel prize for literature) before becoming perhaps the most respected Englishman of the 20th century. 

My Wedding of the Century

My novella protagonists are very different from the glitterati since I was intrigued by the idea of two basically nice, down to earth people trying to find each other and a real marriage in the midst of all the fashion and drama of high society.  (Consuelo Vanderbilt’s autobiography is called The Glitter and the Gold, which captures the essence of that.)

The heroine, Sunny Vangelder, is a warm, laughing young lady who wants to marry for love rather than to fulfill the social climbing ambitions of her mother.  The hero is Lord Justin Aubrey, a quiet, introverted second son when he meets and is instantly drawn to Sunny.  She doesn’t even notice him that day at the garden party, where she is busy falling love with a charming snake.

Then Justin unexpectedly inherits his brother’s dukedom, debts, and a very large house with a badly leaking roof.  He needs to marry an heiress, but he truly wants Sunny.  Forced into the marriage by her mother, Sunny can’t believe that love has anything to do with it.  (The picture is of The Breakers, the famous Vanderbilt mansion in Newport, RI. Some of the novella takes place in Newport.)

Naturally Justin and Sunny work things out, but in romance, the journey to the ending is the whole point.  I had a lovely time researching and writing this story (which is about twice the length of the average novella), and I’m delighted that it’s once more available.

I’ll be giving away a free signed copy of The Wedding of the Century to one person who comments on this post between now and Tuesday midnight. 

And before I sign off on this Memorial Day--a moment of silence for all those military men and women who have served this country since the beginning.

Mary Jo , adding a picture of the Empress Elizabeth of Austria wearing a Worth gown

Comments

[Jami S]

I believe Mr.Leonard Jerome was quite a smart man, as well as generous for providing for them but giving his daughter extra money was smart. I read a book within the last year where an englishman went to America to chase the woman he loved. excellent historical romance. I believe it was by Kat Martin one of her necklace triology but not 100% sure. anyways the point is you dont see the english going to america very often probably because of the long sail. Excellent piece of history information though!

[Margay]

Oh, this sounds like my kind of book! Love the mansions of Newport!

[Cynthia Owens]

Looking forward to reading this, Mary Jo. I love romance and weddings, and since we've got a big family wedding coming up in July, this book will definitely get me in the mood!

[Alison]

I love wedding stories too. I was always sad that Consuelo didn't get her happy ending.

[email protected]

[theo]

Interesting you chose that gown on Sisi to show. It's one of my favorites and the gown that Christine's gown was based on in the Webber movie version of Phantom when she sings her aria, "Think of Me."

Worth definitely had panache!

I love wedding stories where they are forced and especially when they are because there's one half who is desperate for the other and does whatever it takes to claim their love. Such fun journeys because I know there will be a HEA, unlike real life.

[Mary Jo Putney]

Jami--there were actually a fair number of Englishman, some of them rather shady, kicking around the American west. Did you ever see the lovely movie HIDALGO? At the beginning, there's a distance horse race a snobbish Englishmen is sure that he and his well bred horse will win. The legendary Frank Hopkins and his maverick stallion clean the Englishman's clock. *g*

The one Western novella I ever wrote, "Mad, Bad, and Dangerous to Know," had an English hero. when I have time, I'm going to e-book it.

[Mary Jo Putney]

Margay--

This story was really a chance to pour on the lavish deetails! I learned a lot about the "summer cottages" of Newport. Also, when I lived in England, I was close to Blenheim Palace (it's not far from Oxford) and visited many times. Impressive, but not exactly cosy. *g*

[Mary Jo Putney]

Cynthia--

I guarantee that your family wedding will be more relaxed and more fun than my poor Sunny's wedding! It's enough to make a girl elope. *G* Especially after she'd just gotten The Talk On Marital Duties from her mother.

[Mary Jo Putney]

Pageturner-

Consuelo did get her happy ending--just not with with Duke of Marlborough. Her second marriage, to a noted French aviator, seems to have been a happy one:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consuelo_Vanderbilt

[Mary Jo Putney]

Theo--

I chose that particular worth gown because Wikipedia had several examples, but that one was just so sumptuous and dazzling--the inspiration for Disney princesses as well as Christine!

[Beverly Abney]

A tour of Blenheim Palace was a high point in my visit to England and Scotland. So much history there. Reading historical fiction leads to making a visit there so much more interesting.
Beverly Abney

[Mary Jo Putney]

**Reading historical fiction leads to making a visit there so much more interesting.**

So very true, Bev. When we visit England, the Mayhem Consultant enjoys the running historical commentary I give. *g*

[Mary Anne Landers]

Thank you for your post, Mary Jo; and everyone for your comments.

My favorite real-life romance of an upper-crust Englishman and an American woman? That's easy. It's the one that created the biggest furor and has gone down as one of the great love stories of the twentieth century.

I'm referring, of course, to Edward VIII and Wallis Warfield Simpson. And I can see why nobody has ever written a piece of romance fiction inspired by it. Who ever heard of a romance hero giving up anything for love? And how I wish at least a few of them would!

Good luck with your new and upcoming releases.

[Bobbe Jacobs]

I recall reading about Churchill in my history books, he was quite interesting in his life and political feelings. This romance sounds so fasinating that I will look foward to purchasing this book and enjoying it. Never knew that Churchill was a Nobel Prize winner. A romance novel taking place either in the UK or USA is fasinating as is true romance and love!

[Mary Jo Putney]

Mary Anne--

The love affair of Edward and Wallis (a local girl here in Baltimore carried so much political baggage that it's hard to see it as just straight romance. But there are a fair number of stories written with princes and princesses. Sophy Weston, who was a guest here several weeks ago, wrote TO MARRY A PRINCE, and while it's fection, it does give a clear sense of what it's like for a middle class girl to marry into royalty. A great read, too.

[Mary Jo Putney]

Bobbe--

I was amazed when I first saw Winston Churchill listed among Nobel Prize for Literature winners. But as I later learned, he started out as a journalist and war correspondent, having many adventures (such as being captured by the Boers during the Boer War) along the way. He was a writer all his life and earned a good part of his income that way, IIRC. He wrote mammoth multi-volume histories of WWII and also the English speaking peoples.

And he was an artist when he wasn't running the country or writing books. *g* Truly an amazing man.

[Helen]

Mary Jo

I love the sound of this book and all the interestings facts that go with it.

Have Fun
Helen

[LouisaCornell]

Sounds like a wonderful read, Mary Jo! I'm looking forward to it. You are right about To Marry an English Lord. It really is a great book! I have always admired Winston Churchill, a true renaissance man!

[Anne]

How interesting the Winston Churchill was born a month premature. *ahem* ;)

I love weddings and wedding stories so this'll be right up my alley! Looking forward to it!

[liz m]

I loved To Marry An English Lord! I think my brother just threw it in the recycler with a copy of The Rakes. (I asked him to sort all my paper books for me. I don't think he understood the whole Anglomania section)

[Bibliophile]

I find these stories of matches between new American money and old British titles fascinating and would definitely like to read more.

[Mary Jo Putney]

Helen, you might want to see if you can pick up a used copy of TO MARRY AN ENGLISH LORD. As Louisa said, it's a great book, with masses of pictures of people and houses and lovely little sidebars of information.

Louis, I'm thinking that a biographay of Winston Churchill could be titled THE LAST RENAISSANCE MAN. Among other things, he was an amateur bricklayer and even joined the bricklayer's union--a powerfully significant action in class conscious Britain.

[Mary Jo Putney]

Anne--

Winston was always an impatient fellow, so maybe he really was premature. Or--maybe not. *g*

[Mary Jo Putney]

Yikes, Liz, your brother threw out those books???? That's grounds for fratricide!!!!

Bibliophile, there aren't too many of these American heiress/English lord stories because the time period was late Victorian, not otherwise a popular period. Joan Wolf once wrote a very good Signet Regency with this theme--called something like The American Duchess, I think--but the actual matches were much later when trans Atlantic travel was easier and great fortunes had been made in America.

[Green Caterers Boston]

Nice blog...interesting read...

[Dee Feagin]

What was that line in My Fair Lady about two countries separated by a common language (or something to that effect)? The contrast of customs and behaviors that should be the same, but are not because one is American and the other is English, has always interested me. Who changes the most? How do they find a common ground that is respectful of both people? Surely a challenge for a writer. I would like very much to read your book.

[Mary Jo Putney]

Dee--

I think that George Bernard Shaw coined the phrase, and it's so very, very true that it is immensely quotable. After all, an American expects an Italian to be different, but we tend to assume that people who speak the same language are rather more like us. Not true. *g* I learned a lot living in England for two years. Underlying assumptions can be very different, along with daily experiences.

[Ranurgis]

I once was able to see Blenheim from the closest road. We were on a tour bus from Germany and we were supposed to go inside to see the state rooms and portrait galleries. Unfortunately, they had some sort of do there that day so we couldn't. I'd been looking forward to getting more background on Winston Churchill.

[Louis]

I have Churchill's History of WWII. It is in several volumns and gives the Englsh viewpoint of WWII. It is an interesting read.

[Mary Jo Putney]

Ranurgis--

I'm sorry the inside tour of Blenheim wasn't available that day--Blenheim is really Something Else! Even from the outside, it's thoroughly impressive. There isn't anything about Churchill's family per se in my novella, but it does show some of the world in which Winston's parents met and married.

Louis--Churchill had an absolutely unique view of WWII! And being a journalist, he also had an accessible writing style, Winning the Nobel prize for literature was in some ways political (though really, all such awards have political element.) He received in 1953, when the memory of his leadership in WWII was very fresh. But that doesn't mean he wasn't a worthy winner.

[liz m]

MJP - I had all my books in my garage for more than a month. I decided to get rid of all of them for various reasons, but I simply could not sort them into donate / pulp. So, he lives. There's a long story about The Great Book Purge but I don't think it goes here. It was an epic event, for certain. (I had all the Avon 'ribbon' books too)

[Mary Jo Putney]

Liz--

I suppose it had to be done. Books do take a lot of space. But oh, the pain!!!!!!!!!!!