I'm delighted to welcome Karen Harper to the Word Wenches again! She is a wonderful, and wonderfully prolific, writer of historical novels, mysteries, and so much more, and she is here to tell us about her just released novel, American Duchess, the story of Consuelo Vanderbilt, which has been chosen by Women's Day Magazine as one of the 10 Most Anticipated Books of 2019.
Over to you, Karen!
“Everyone was calling it the wedding of the century. I was calling it the worst day of my life.”
This quote is not from a tabloid article or scandal mag but rather the opening lines of my historical novel AMERICAN DUCHESS,told by Consuelo Vanderbilt, the American Duchess of the Gilded Age. After reading about Consuelo in the fascinating non-fiction book To Marry An English Lord by MacColl and Wallace and visiting Blenheim Palace in England, I knew she would make a fabulous main character. I had earlier toured a massive so-called “cottage” of her family in Newport, Rhode Island.
Consuelo, Duchess of Marlborough, became the poster girl for the shocking practice of ‘Dollar Brides’ or ‘Dollar Princesses.’ These were young women from rich American families who were (forcibly, in her case) wed to titled Englishmen so that they could replenish dwindling fortunes to save their grand estates. Remember, Cora, Lady Grantham in Downton Abbey was a ‘dollar bride,’ albeit one with a happy marriage.
In 18-year-old Consuelo’s case, her social-climbing mother bargained with the 9th Duke of Marlborough to make her daughter his duchess in exchange for much Vanderbilt money so that he could repair and enhance his heritage of vast Blenheim Palace. It hardly mattered that the bride was in love with someone else and that the duke disliked America and Americans.
Few authors can be credited with inventing a genre, but Georgette Heyer is one of them. Her witty and insightful novels set in early 19th century British society created an irresistible world that has been drawing in readers and writers for decades.
I am one of them. My first novel, The Diabolical Baron, had a few hints of the writer I've developed into, but overall, it's so influenced by Georgette Heyer that I should probably pay royalties to the Heyer estate. <G> I cherish the discussions I've had with other Regency writers on Our First Heyer Novel.
Just reading the titles of the essays is mouthwatering, but even better, today we're lucky enough to have as a Word Wench guest Jennifer Kloester, who is probably the world's leading authority on Georgette Heyer. Author of the definitive Georgette Heyer biography, Jen is a novelist in her own right, and a contributor to Heyer Society.
Maggie Robinson has visited the Word Wenches before to talk about her delightfully original historical romances. Now she's turned to murder! Her first Lady Adelaide mystery, Nobody's Sweetheart Now, has just been released, so I've inveigled Maggie to visit us and talk about this new direction.
MJP: Welcome back to the Word Wenches, Maggie! Could you give a bit of information on your background and how you got into writing?
MR: I was an English major in college a thousand years ago (even in the English honor society, LOL), but didn’t get around to writing seriously until about 15 years ago. I was a teacher, library clerk, newspaper reporter, administrative assistant to two non-profits, and mom of four, and several other things I’ve forgotten!
Truth: One night my husband and I had an argument. I was so mad I went upstairs to the guest room…and also where the computer was. I couldn’t sleep and started pounding out a historical where the hero was going to be perfect. Ha. Even in fiction they’re a pain. One thing led to another, and a bunch of books later, it really is all my husband’s fault!
Nicola here. Today it is my great pleasure to welcome to the blog Julia Gasper, a historian and author whom I met through a shared interest in Craven family history. Today Julia is talking about one of the Georgian Lady Cravens, Elizabeth Berkeley, whom she intriguingly describes as a "writer, feminist and European." Julia also draws some interesting parallels between Elizabeth Stuart, for whom Ashdown was built, and her namesake Elizabeth Berkeley.
"I greatly enjoyed reading Nicola Cornick’s novel, House of Shadows. However, one thing I found worrying was being told that, in this fictional world, Ashdown House had been burnt down in the early nineteenth century. This really bothered me. (And a lot of other people - Ed!) Every time it was referred to, I felt uneasy in case I might go over there and find that this exquisitely beautiful seventeenth-century mansion in Oxfordshire really had vanished!
I am happy to assure you all that Ashdown House, near Lambourn, is still there and owned by the National Trust. I visited it when I was writing my biography of Elizabeth Craven, the Georgian writer, who lived there in the 1760s, when she was a young bride. It was her first marital home, and she shared it with her husband, William, 6th Baron Craven, heir to the considerable estates and wealth of the Craven family. His mother and his two sisters lived there with them.
Elizabeth Craven was born Lady Elizabeth Berkeley, younger daughter of the Earl of Berkeley, and she was married in 1767 at the tender age of sixteen to Lord Craven. She had little choice in the matter. She had seven children before parting from her husband rather traumatically in 1782 and going to live in France, to escape the scandal and gossip that always in this period accompanied aristocratic divorces. She did not disappear into obscurity by any means, but travelled around the whole of Europe, to Italy, Austria, Poland, Russia, the Crimea, Turkey, Greece and Romania, writing about everything she saw and everyone she met, from galley slaves in Genoa to the Empress Catherine the Great. She was a passionate person whose life included many love-affairs, and she had to be strong to stand up to the social disapproval this often attracted.
Elizabeth Craven always loved reading and acting. She wrote plays, poems, novels and travelogues, as well as a remarkable early feminist work called Letters to Her Son, in which she condemned the laws that made a wife obey her husband and gave him so many unjust powers over her. She advised her son - another William Craven - to treat his wife with respect and sensitivity, as an equal companion, and never to remind her that he was, in the eyes of the law, her master. If he did that, they would both be very much happier. It is pleasant to record that he followed her advice, with total success.
House of Shadows tells the story of Princess Elizabeth, daughter of King James I, and her secret love for an English cavalier. Elizabeth married Frederick, Elector of the Palatinate and became for a brief time Queen of Bohemia. But she and Frederick lost their throne after only one year and were driven out of their kingdom, and so she acquired the rather melancholy title of the Winter Queen. One of Frederick’s most loyal supporters was the gallant soldier William, 1st Lord Craven, who put his sword and his fortune at the service of the exiled monarchs. William fell in love with the Winter Queen and she returned his passion, but their difference in rank was a serious barrier. It is said that they married in secret, after many years of concealment and yearning.
Did any lady in the annals of courtly love ever set her faithful admirer a more gruesome task than that of retrieving a lost treasure from the coffin of her dead husband? That is what Elizabeth of Bohemia demanded from William, Lord Craven, and of course he did not refuse. He was hers to command, and the scene of the novel in which he performs the deed is dark and splendidly macabre.
Ashdown House was one of William’s gifts to his princess, who had lost her own home, and loved hunting. It was built in the 1660s and the first thing that strikes you when you approach is its extreme elegance and air of romantic aloofness, surrounded as it is by miles of green parkland and farmland. This was once a mediaeval deer park and it is close to the Berkshire Downs. When it was built it was actually in Berkshire, but by dint of a boundary change Oxfordshire managed to acquire it.
Ashdown was not the only house that Lord Craven built to receive his royal beloved. He also built her a far larger house, a veritable palace, at Hampstead Marshall, another one of his Berkshire estates, but that has not survived. In the century between the first Lord Craven and the sixth, Ashdown House was used as a minor residence, a convenient hunting-estate, not too far from London, where deer, pheasants, hares and other wild game could be shot and either eaten on the spot or taken up to London for a dinner-party at the Cravens’ house in Mayfair.
In her Memoirs, Elizabeth Craven says that she was very interested in the history of the Craven family. She looked at documents in the family archives, and she was sure the Queen of Bohemia had married the first Lord Craven. When I was writing my biography of her, I had a strong feeling that she was fascinated by this earlier Elizabeth, her namesake who also married a William Craven.
There are many other things they had in common. They were related, because Elizabeth Craven was actually descended, via the Berkeley and Richmond lines, from King Charles I of England, brother of the Queen of Bohemia. So Elizabeth of Bohemia was her great-great-great-great-aunt. Both women married at sixteen, both had large families of children. Both were women of considerable intelligence and strength of character, a strength they needed as both suffered great upheavals and reversals in their life. The Winter Queen had to endure her husband’s defeats in he Thirty Years War and the loss of his hereditary domains in the Palatinate. Elizabeth Craven had to suffer cruel persecution from the prigs and the gossips when her husband decided to part from her, and most painful of all, she was forcibly separated from six of her seven children. All of her four daughters were kept in the care of their father, and forbidden to write to her, a wound that was as humiliating as it was distressing.
Both Elizabeths, curiously enough, married minor German princes. After many outrageous love-affairs, including one with William Beckford, the author and art collector, Elizabeth Craven found herself a second husband, the Margrave of Anspach, who made over his little principality to Prussia and retired to England. She married him in 1792 and until his death in 1806 they lived at Hammersmith near London. They made their home a hub for artists, musicians, actors, unconventional people and French emigrées fleeing from the Revolution. Elizabeth had a private theatre where the performances became celebrated. After the Margrave’s death she retired to Naples to spend her last years in quiet seclusion.
When we compare their portraits, it is not too fanciful to see some resemblance between these two Elizabeths, who were both admired for their brains as well as their beauty.
My intuition that Elizabeth Craven was fascinated by the Queen of Bohemia, whose destiny in so many ways resembled her own, was finally confirmed in a surprising way. After I had finished writing the biography, and published it, I discovered a lost novel by Elizabeth Craven, called The Witch and the Maid of Honour. It is set mainly at Coombe Abbey, one of the Craven properties, and the Princess Elizabeth, daughter of James I, features in it as one of the characters. A tournament at court to celebrate her wedding to the Elector Frederick is one of the high points of the book. The Princess Elizabeth is shown at exactly the age Elizabeth Craven was when she arrived at Ashdown House in 1767, and learned about the history of the Craven family. I am now in the process of editing this book, which may be the very first historical novel ever written in the English language, to bring it out in a more accessible form so that it finally gets some of the attention it deserves.
The Winter Queen bequeathed to Lord Craven many wonderful portraits of the Stuart royal family, and many of them can be seen still at Ashdown House. To Elizabeth Craven the writer, these were her distant relatives too.
Elizabeth Craven: Writer, Feminist and European by Julia Gasper is published by Vernon Press 2017 - ISBN 9781622732753 is now out in paperback and E-book formats.
Some of Elizabeth Craven’s more unusual works are available here:
The Modern Philosopher, Letters to Her Son and Verses on the Siege of Gibraltar, by Elizabeth Craven, edited by Julia Gasper.
Cambridge Scholars Press, 2017.
You can find out more about Elizabeth Craven and the eighteenth-century world she lived in on Julia's blog ELIZABETH CRAVEN AND HER WORLD
Thank you very much to Julia for a fascinating blog piece and for sharing her knowledge about the two Elizabeths with us today!
Anne here. The winner of Lucy Parker's giveaway of her book, MAKING UP, is Tara G. I've notified Tara via email.
Thanks to all who read and enjoyed the interview, and who left a comment. As always, the comment stream is a delightful part of our blog. We wenches love our readers.
Andrea/Cara here, Today I'm welcoming back mt dear friend and fellow author Tracy Grant to tell us a little about the some of the real-life history behind her latest book. Many of you are familiar with Tracy's Malcolm and Suzanne Rannoch historical series (and if you aren't, you're in for a treat!) and know that she has a passion for history, and her books always have such fascinating backstories to the inspiration behind each book. So, without further ado, I shall pass the pen to Tracy!
The threat of being cast off by society hangs over many stories written or set in the Regency. Think of the Bennets, devastated by Lydia’s elopement, not just because she has run off with an unscrupulous man but because of the effect the scandal will have on her sisters’ marriage prospects. Or of the gossip that arises simply from Marianne Dashwood’s very public obsession with Willoughby - writing to him, confronting him at a party.
Anne here, introducing Lucy Parker, the author of the very funny and charming ACT LIKE IT and PRETTY FACE — contemporary romances set in the London celebrity/theatre world. The WordWenches are already big fans, and most of us have preordered Lucy's new book, MAKING UP. I was lucky enough to read an advance copy and I loved it.
Lucy's first book, ACT LIKE IT, received glowing reviews, including a Desert Island Keeper review from All About Romance, and A- from Smart Bitch Sarah. PRETTY FACE also wowed critics and readers alike. I met Lucy in NZ last year when I was at the RWNZ conference and fan-girled all over her.Lucy, welcome to the Word Wenches.
Anne: Lucy, welcome to the Word Wenches. My first question came via Mary Jo Putney, who wanted to know: How did a young New Zealand woman get such an excellent knowledge of the West End theater world?
Lucy: Hello! Thank you so much for having me. And it was a huge thrill to meet you at the conference last year. Your earlier books are among the first romances I bought.
I adore theatre; I studied classical drama at university, and later worked as an arts critic. And I have family ties in England on my dad’s side of the family, and was brought up with a lot of British pop culture. A huge help with this series, though, has been a good friend of mine, who is a professional performer at quite a high level. She lets me pick her brain whenever I want, and tells me all sorts of interesting backstage gossip that I obviously don’t use, but which makes me feel better about the believability of the more dramatic parts of the books — apparently in the world of theatre, fictional drama has nothing on the real deal!
Anne here, sending congratulations to Natalija, whose name was selected from those who left a comment on the interview I did with Tess LeSue last week.
She's won a copy of Tess's book, Bound for Eden.
I've contacted Natalija privately to make the arrangements.
Thank you to everyone who contributed to the conversation about favorite westerns movies, books and TV shows. That's Robert Fuller on the right, from the hugely popular TV show or many years ago, Laramie.
Anne here, and today I'm introducing a new writer, Tess LeSue, whose first book, Bound for Eden, was released in the US yesterday, May 1st.
I first met Tess when I was conducting a one-day writing workshop in Adelaide (capital city of South Australia), and I was impressed by the writing she did in that class. A few years later Mary Jo and I jointly conducted a one-day writing workshop for RWAustralia in Brisbane, at the end of which Mary Jo and her husband chose Tess's piece, out of a group of more than 250 writers, as the best piece written that day. So I was delighted when I heard that Tess had been contracted by Berkley.
Romantic Times gave Bound For Eden four stars and said this: Readers looking for a traditional, serious, gritty western won’t find it in LeSue’s Frontiers of the Heart series starter. What they will find is a delightful, roller-coaster ride complete with its laugh-out-loud take on mistaken identity. Three siblings on the run, ruthless bad guys, quirky characters, nail-biting tension and steamy sensuality add up to a non-stop read that will make you smile and perhaps shed a tear. Western aficionados will welcome a refreshing new voice in the sub-genre.
Anne: Tess, welcome to the Word Wenches. As Kathe Robin said above, Bound For Eden was a rollicking ride, and it has a delicious flavour of the western romances I used to devour — and still love. What made you choose a western setting for this series?
The Fire Flower by Edith Layton, originally published in 1989, was recently re-released as an ebook for the first time. This is the story of bringing it back to life—the research for the Restoration setting, the efforts to retain the original painting for the ebook, and much more, told by Layton's daughter, a very occasional Wench guest.
***
First, many thanks again to the Wenches for having me back as a guest poster. By way of introduction, I'm Susie Felber, the daughter of Edith Layton, who wrote and published over 30 historical novels and many more short stories. Her start was the Regency, but later she branched out into new time periods and locations. Since her death in 2009, I've been working to bring her much-loved books back into the world in ebook format. The first one came back in 2014, and I wrote about the big Edith Layton book party I threw for it, and that link explains why it took me nearly 5 years to do it. There's another Wenches post I wrote which tells you more about my mom, and there's two that tell what it was like growing up as a romance author's daughter: Daughter of Romance Part 1, and Part II.
Let's talk turning out-of-print books into ebooks
Thing is, some of my mother's books were already ebooks. All her later novels with Avon, and the earlier "C series", for example: The Cad, The Choice, The Chance, The Challenge and The Conquest — those titles all live with Harper Collins and had no need for resurrection.
But the majority of my mom's catalog is with publishers who never went to ebooks, at least not with the backlist. And of those books, many have stellar reviews, and many people have happy memories of them. But finding the paperback is really hard. For example, a beautiful "like new" copy of THE FIRE FLOWER goes for $267-$400. Not sure why the price bounces so much, but the point is, this is not the way to find new readers. Also, many long-time fans have the book on their keeper shelves, but the print is small and they crave the ability to read them again on their typeface-size flexible Kindles and e-readers.
As I've rolled out re-releases with the help of the good people at Untreed Reads, mom's fans ask me all the time when certain favorite Layton titles are returning. They are often impatient for their faves. I really appreciate that. It means they care. It means they are readers... and without readers? Well, without readers, writers are kinda up the creek, no?
But bringing books back is hard. From contracts to scanning to proofreading to cover and beyond... it's way hard.
For example, three awesome books we recently brought back that included Bound By Love, were published by Pocket. Originally published in the late 90's, they were out of print, but I had no idea of the rights. My mother wasn't super organized. She had a filing system, but she'd file dried flowers and amusing cartoons as soon as she'd file contracts. I say she liked to create more than curate, and I loved her for that. Sure, her leaving a clearer trail would've been nice, but I'd rather have a fun mom than an organized one. And she was fun.
Anyway, for these three books, I worked a connection via a celebrity from my Nokia health day job. This celeb (OK it's Penn Jillette, why be coy?) had a new sure-to-be best-selling book at Simon & Schuster. Working with them to promo his excellent book (<--and you should read it, it's so fun) got me far enough into S&S to get a kind person who'd dive in and give me the docs that showed the rights had indeed reverted to the estate. Now if you've ever tried to just cold call a publishing company and find out about rights—well good luck. It's crazy hard. In fact, most agents/publishers told me that was why I should sign with them and why they deserved 10-15% of the re-release sales for eternity... because only they had the pull to dig to get the rights.
The unique story of the cover art
I could go on about the book. But all you need to know is it's a restoration romance. It takes place in 1666, and yes, the Great Fire of London is a big part of the setting. It is the favorite of my brother Adam, who is a novelist and TV writer—and he's even a celeb if you're an NPR fan (I am).
I was a teen when dragged to research this book, and I remember visiting the fire monument in London, which is very cool, but also situated in a very boring bit of the financial district. Yeah, research trips were fun, and I was lucky to go, but this was before the internet, so even if mom had every book ever (she did) there was so much she needed to see and experience. She saw her Fire Flower hero and heroine on that trip—together. Mom often picked pop stars for heroes, and pretty waitresses she met to base the heroines on. This was the only time, with us waiting for a ferry, she saw a dude on a motorcycle lean over and kiss the girl on the back of the motorcycle and BLAM! She told us, "LOOK! LOOK! THEY ARE MY NEW BOOK!" So if in the late 80's, you looked like the people on the cover you see above, were snogging, and rode a motorbike onto a ferry in England... yeah, that might be you.
After this book came out, the artist, Robert Maguire, sent mom the painting. Also known as R.A. Maguire, he's a BFD. He's amazing, the coolest of the cool. And in this painting, you see Fabio as a redhead. Say what you want about Fabio, he's an icon... and this might be the only red-headed Fabio cover ever. Editors don't like redheaded heroes, so mom getting that pass (and they fought her) was also a BFD. I love this painting. It hangs in my house now, and it will hang in Adam's house if he ever takes it back with him to Los Angeles.
Even though I have the physical painting, that doesn't mean it is mine to use as a book cover. I contacted Maguire's site... and his daughter answered. She is like me—trying to preserve her father's legacy. It's a lot of work and not a lot of money. I asked for and paid for the rights to use it, because though we could use a stock romance photo, this seemed important. I also photographed it so you actually see the paint. I love seeing the brushstrokes. I also like how the whole of the scene is seen on the ebook, where on the original paperback it focused only on the people and left the lovely flowers and burning bits of London on the spine and on back of the book. I have a close friend who is an illustrator and still does painted covers, mostly for Kensington. Stephen Gardner is his name, and you should check that link—it's his Instagram and it's amazing because he shares sketches and covers in progress.
I hope I've persuaded you to pick up The Fire Flower as an ebook... or get two, one for each eye, as my mom would say. That link goes to Amazon, but it truly is available in all formats, wherever ebooks are sold, which is something I appreciate about Untreed Reads.
I'll leave you with a pic of the original painting for the book, which is hanging proudly above (but safely far away from) my wood burning stove. It's far prettier in person, so please come by sometime for tea to admire it.
Supporting illustrators is as important as supporting writers... because they also create, and I'm so proud to be able to help curate. More books are on the way, including new titles, and I'll just be here at Edith Layton HQ trying to keep the home fires burning.
Pat Rice here, asking you to welcome Patricia (Pooks) Burroughs back to tell us about the second book in her dark YA historical fantasy series, The Fury Triad. Set in an alternate magical Regency world, The Dead Shall Live is available for preorder everywhere and will be released Halloween.
At midnight on Samhain, the dead shall roam.
The Dead Shall Livebegins the moment the award-winning dark YA fantasy, This Crumbling Pageant, ends—with two kings but only one throne. Persephone Fury’s Dark powers are finally under control but at a horrific price, and she is married to a man she has long loathed but with whom she shares her Dark burden.
Nevertheless, her beloved Robin has sworn to bring her back from the Dark.
“To unthrone the usurper, return to the cradle of the Fury.”
This mysterious message from within the stronghold of the enemy sends Persephone to Ireland with Vespasian. There, they will finally learn the truth and horror of their shared Dark powers and the prophecy that binds them together.
Death in all its forms is Vespasian’s gift and Persephone’s curse.
How much more of her soul will she have to sacrifice to the Darkness within?
And under the malevolent midnight moon on Samhain, who are the dead that shall live?
So when the last and dreadful hour This crumbling pageant shall devour, The trumpet shall be heard on high, The dead shall live, the living die, And music shall untune the sky. John Dryden, 1687
Pat:How much research do you need to write historical fantasy?
Pooks: I'm afraid I do an iceberg of research for every ice cube that shows up in the book, but that's more a matter of how my brain functions than anything that could be deemed scholarly!
For The Dead Shall Live, my husband [the Resident Storm Chaser and Intrepid Pooks-Wrangler] and I spent about a week in the walled medieval town of Youghal [pronounced Yawl] on the southeast coast of Ireland, though material on my time period—Regency—was slim to nonexistent.
Youghal is on the very edge of County Cork [pronounced Cark by the locals] and I was a bit surprised to find out that even many Irish people aren't familiar with it. It's a bit of an undiscovered gem that only now is beginning to develop ways to show its history to advantage. It's part medieval walled town and part Victorian beach resort, though there are now plenty of modern places to stay. We stayed in a self-catering home as our research base.
We were fortunate enough to have a private tour from the official Town Crier [yes, really!], Clifford Winser. He's a font of fabulous info on Youghal's rich history and was particularly helpful on another of my story needs, the time of Sir Walter Raleigh. Raleigh's connection to Youghal as mayor and recipient of holdings from a grateful Queen was the primary reason I’d chosen Youghal as a setting.
The Fury family’s ancestral patriarch, Bardán Fury, was able to establish wealth and security by assisting any Tudor monarch who happened to be in power. During Elizabeth’s time, that took him back to his native Ireland. Being on the side of the English in Ireland was not the way to win friends and influence people—unless you happened to be in Youghal, an important port that--within the walls, at least--was more English than Irish.
That is the backstory and the mystery that brings Persephone and her inconvenient husband to Youghal over two centuries later, in 1811. By then Youghal was evidently so settled and boring that the local museum, tourist information center and even Clifford didn’t have any specifics to offer. There were no maps of the town in the early 1800s, or drawings.
However, quite unexpectedly, one of my new characters in this book, Akachi Redshanks, had her own connections to Youghal. I had no clue when she exploded into the story [rather literally], that this escaped slave from Barbados would have strong connections to Youghal. I knew she was part Irish and part Igbo, but not that as a busy and important British port, Youghal had shared in the ugly history of slavery. And I hadn't realized that Oliver Cromwell both entered and departed Ireland via Youghal, where he also kept his headquarters during the time he was directing the pillaging of the Irish Catholics to turn their lands over to English landlords using the first of what became to known as the Plantations.
Suddenly Persephone found herself the focus of a threatening narrow-eyed glare.
The other woman tossed the spent gun to the deck and snatched another from her holster, holding Persephone in her sights.
"I got many names. The name my owner give me be Mary." Her luscious lip curled. “Because his wife not like Irish, so I have English name in they house. The name my mam gave me, may holy immaculate mother intercede for her soul, be Brigid, like the saint…."
She took a hip-swaying step closer, and Persephone had to stop herself from backing up.
"But the name I give me my own self, that name be Akachi Redshank. Akachi I make myself to be. Akachi mean the 'hand of god.’” She eyed one of her hands—and the flintlock in it—proudly. “And Redshank, that be for my Irish blood." Her voice was both lyrical and lethal. "And whoever you think you be, fine lady, this ship not going to my Mamo’s cursed home island of Ireland nor my Nne Nne’s cursed home island of Africa. And more? God’s truth, where this ship go, you not be on her."
She spat at Persephone's feet.
Akachi most definitely holds a grudge against Youghal. Ahem.
And, as we strolled along the waterfront, there were some new buildings that could be placed in my approximate time period.
In the late 1700s Youghal had been extended out into the bay so that new docks could be built. The wall that had protected Youghal from invasion by water was history, and now there was a new road traversing where it had separated the town from the mouth of the Blackwater River pouring into the ocean. And on that street--Catharine Street--stands a stretch of row houses that originally would have had businesses on the street level and, most likely, living quarters or storage above. Nobody knew exactly when they were built. Maybe some time between 1810 and 1815? they suggested.
This was both frustrating and liberating.
Those buildings were the beginning of me cutting the apron strings from real history and letting alternate magical history take over. Because as I was strolling down the opposite side of Catharine Street looking at them, I noticed one that had small, carved busts supporting some of the corbels.
I needed a place in Youghal where the Magi would do their business without calling attention to themselves. And there it was—the secret identification that ‘this is it.’
The ruling society in Persephone Fury’s Magi world worship the Greco-Roman pantheon. They first arrived in the British Isles with the Romans, and later in great numbers with the Normans. Those who were in the British Isles to begin with worship the Celtic pantheon.
In Persephone’s Youghal, those buildings were new, but they were there. And those busts? In her world, they were Apollo.
Apollo’s bust could have meant anything in a period when Greek architecture, fashion and art were popular. But on Catherine Street in Persephone’s Youghal, it was the sign that Magi were welcome.
Moving forward, I researched and wrote about a Youghal that is built on all the history at my disposal, but could in no way claim to be as it was in 1811. This meant I no longer had to worry about how much of the wall was still in existence, compared to how much was rebuilt later in the century. I didn’t have to know if those row houses were there yet. I didn’t have to know whether Bold Town still existed on the other side of the walled town—the place where Irish had to live because they weren’t allowed to stay overnight in Youghal, even if they worked there. By 1811 that wasn’t true, but in Persephone’s Youghal it still was.
While I was taking real history and letting it give me new threads to twist, I fell in love with The Collegiate Church of St Mary.
It began as a monastic settlement in c 480, which fit perfectly with the need in my world for a connection that went back to the 6th Century and the time of Myrddin Wyllt, or Merlin the Wild. The church itself is the oldest church in Ireland that has had continuous worship, with the oldest entry in the vestry book being from 1201. It’s a medieval beauty, and alas, ended up being important to my tale. I say alas, because I had to create a little bit of extra magical history to tuck into it, involving an ominously inhabited green Connemara marble tomb commissioned by a cohort of Sir Walter Raleigh’s holding… well, I did say there was a mystery, didn’t I?
Imagine my astonishment when only a couple of weeks ago a 2-minute video clip was posted to Youghal Online revealing what is described as “the green panel tiled floor at St. Mary's Collegiate Church, Youghal,” which is believed to be a tomb. [Oliver Cromwell’s daughter—yes, that Oliver Cromwell—is believed to be buried there, but since they can’t prove anything, they can’t prove it’s not [name redacted to protect mystery], either! [I quickly amended my book to add the green rectangle on the floor that appears after—oh, dear. Well, yes. My apologies but I can’t reveal that, either.
Finally, where but in Ireland could I need a magical road to take my people into Faery, and find actual magical roads—at least one of which is close enough to Youghal for me to include in Persephone’s quest.
Oddly, one of the most fascinating and I am almost certain accidental bits of research and parallelism where real history intersects with my magical world is Persephone’s ancestor’s magic assisting Oliver Cromwell as he destroyed the Irish life forever by confiscating lands to redistribute as boons for the new English landlords and Irish traitors and who sided with Elizabeth I at that time.
I quite sadly identify with Persephone as she begins learning the truth about the ancestor she revered so much, the family history she reveres so much, and the foundation of her very being that culminates on Samhain [Halloween] 1811, under a full moon [yes, there was one that year] with the Great Comet of 1811 in the sky.
You see, my Burroughs genealogy ends with the Burroughs forefather who landed in Baltimore, Maryland in 1787 from Dublin. We haven’t been able to find out anything about him prior to that which is most likely due to the destruction of most census and Church of Ireland baptismal and marriage records when the PRO [Public Records Office] was burned during the Irish Rising in 1922. Not that he would have been recorded in the CoI records or the Catholic records.
Just as in an episode of “Who Do You Think You Are?” there is a significant detail about that first Burroughs that may tell us more than I wanted to know.
He was Baptist. [Sounds like the beginning of a joke, doesn't it? A Baptist Irishman walked into a bar... Oh, wait.]
And according to Baptist history, until the mid-19th Century the very, very few Baptists in Ireland were descendants of those who came to Ireland with Oliver Cromwell. Like Persephone, I am coming to terms with the fact that my family was part of the bad guys.
Pat: How much of this research shows up in your material?
Pooks:There are many details, events, or bits of history woven throughout This Crumbling Pageant and The Dead Shall Live. A handful of subjects that influenced the world-building, for example, include Greco-Roman mythology, Celtic mythology, the Reformation in England, Catholic and Anglican history, Arthurian legend, , Georgian medical practices including bone-setting [ouch!] and period approaches to treating adder bites [holy moly!]. and that's off the top of my head.
As someone who is not a poet I was particularly challenged by having to write the 6th Century prophecy that incites all the warring factions in my world, which involved much reading of ancient Welsh literature and its medieval expressions to finally come up with the historical basis for the prophecy, which resulted in me turning Arthurian legend upside down and also writing some new ''secret verses" to an existing work. I love research. I love when it stops me cold in my tracks and I have to work harder to solve a plot snarl. I love it when it feeds me fabulous facts to complicate and enrich my world. I love it when it inspires me to a new twist.
But, here's the thing. I usually drop these details in so lightly they may go unnoticed, or the reader may assume it's part of the fictional world-building. I'll never write historical fiction like those whose knowledge of their era is decades old and soul-deep even though I love to read it. My muse delivers me a wild premise I want to write, and then I have to find the best fit for it in location and/or history. I write stories of passion, adventure, romance and [something] that are set in a location or time period that enhances the tale and fascinates me enough to want to live there for a few years.
Once I'm telling a story, I may not explain why this public building is painted yellow [even though I know it was only yellow for six months in the year of my book and never again] if someone is desperately running past to escape a murderer, but believe it or not, I couldn't write that two sentences of someone running down a real lane in a real Irish town in 1811 until I exhausted all avenues of research in an attempt to make sure it was then the way it is now. [This is actually really hard and sometimes impossible in the setting of The Dead Shall Live, when the local history is rich and bloody but finding out specific details of the town in 1811 was nigh on impossible. , or reference the old folk remedy for adder bite that inspired Vespasian's attempt at a magical remedy for Persephone. I'm a storyteller. Sometimes finding a way to reveal that the hero’s efforts to treat a wound are historically correct without it being awkward wraps me up in knots, so I just don't bother.
But I have to do this kind of research and immerse myself in all of these things because I have to believe the world before I can write about it. Mind you, I am not immersed in all the details and minutiae of all the subjects I mentioned above! I am immersed in the culture I am building that--for sound real world historical reasons--includes all those various elements.
I also have to be fascinated by this world before I can write about it. That's the tougher challenge. So I'll comb through several books about ancient art and ritual in Athens or Rome, remember a countering religious attitude in ancient Wales, and have that 'oh wouldn't that be fun?' moment that will make them collide in a way that is weird or fabulous or horrifying.
I live in hope that the occasional reader will lift eyebrows in surprised recognition when stumbling across one of the wee nuggets that get included.
Pat: What's the fun part about writing historical fantasy?
Pooks: Not only do I get to live in another age, not only do I get to play with magic, but writing in an alternate magical world allows me to stretch my imagination farther and twist my story more unexpectedly. [In other words, as I have blatantly demonstrated, ultimately I get to twist facts to my will!] But don't misinterpret that. For every time I decide a shortcut is in order, there are a half dozen others where I take wicked delight in letting history and facts make my characters work harder or even face doom.
Pat: What do you want us to know about the new book?
Pooks: Well, the first thing I’d like to share is the book trailer. It’s the first one I’ve ever done and I’m proud of it, and it involved a lot of research, as well!
Also I do believe there was more than a bit of “woo woo” in the air when I was desperately looking for some nighttime images of Samhain or Halloween celebrations or cemeteries that were evocatively exciting or moody and could pass for 1811. Tall order, evidently! You would think it not a difficult task, but almost everything I found had special effects wizardry or graphics adding witches and goblins and pumpkins and such. I judiciously cropped a couple of images to eliminate 21st Century ghosts and ghouls and also added a Celtic tombstone to a cemetery so it wouldn’t look so American.
And this is where the “woo woo” comes in.
These images were of a recent Samhain celebration in Youghal, Ireland—the exact location [and date, for that matter, give or take a couple of centuries] of the climactic scenes of The Dead Shall Live.
But they were the copyrighted material of Shane Broderick, a professional photographer in Ireland. Fortunately for me and the last few strands of hair on my head, he graciously allowed me to use the two I needed. [Watch for the horse and the eerily burning torch pics!]
And the music? Well, I am truly delighted to introduce you to Adrian von Ziegler--a gifted Swiss composer [pictured on the right] whose entire works are available for us to hear on youtube or download from Bandcamp. His “Dance With the Trees” is the perfect soundtrack for the video.
And if you want to see the video I created next so that This Crumbling Pageant wouldn’t get jealous? Click here.
Finally—to answer the question, what do I want you to know about The Dead Shall Live?
That it doesn’t stand alone. You really have to read the first book in the series first. But have I got a deal for you? I do! This Crumbling Pageant is available in eBook everywhere for only 99¢ through the end of the year. And The Dead Shall Live is available for preorder for only $3.99 through October 28, when the price will increase to $4.99 for the October 31 book release. I’m grateful to my publisher, Story Spring Publishing, for making both books available for the price of a single book for those who preorder.
Thank you Word Wenches for once again inviting me to guest post and special thanks to Pat Rice for the Q&A! I love the Word Wenches; I love your books; I love your website; and most especially--I love the WordWenches.com readers!
Andrea/Cara here, happy to welcome back Tracy Grant to the Wenches! For those of you who aren't familiar with her Malcolm & Suzanne Rannoch historical mystery series, you are in for a great treat . . . and for fans like me, it's always wonderful news when a new book in the series is out, especially as Tracy, who is a meticulous researcher, always has such an interesting back story behind her plots. Gilded Deceit, the latest one, features appearances by (fluttery sigh) Lord Byron, Percy Shelley and Mary Shelley in Italy, where a murder draws them into a tangled web of . . . But wait! I'm now going to hand the pen to Tracy and let her tell you herself!
I have toyed for years with the possibility of including Lord Byron, Percy Shelley, and Mary Shelley as characters in one of the novels in my Malcolm and Suzanne Rannoch historical mystery series. Byron’s ex-lover Lady Lamb has played an important role in two of the books. I wanted Byron to appear in The Berkeley Square Affair(I thought the lost version of Hamlet at the center of the plot would appeal to him), but the book needed to take place in late 1817 and he had left England by then in a cloud of scandal around the break up of his marriage to Annabella Milbanke and accusations that he had had an affair with his half-sister, Augusta Leigh, and fathered one of her children. So he was relegated to a few mentions in The Berkeley Square Affair, with Lady Caroline intrigued by the manuscript in the hopes that it will intrigue Byron.
But my 2016 release, London Gambit ended with the "series game-changer" of Malcolm and Mélanie Suzanne and their family fleeing Britain because of Mélanie's past as a French spy. It was a plot twist I'd had in mind for a long time in the series, but even as I wrote London Gambit, I dithered. I felt guilty about putting my characters through so much. I wondered if I was writing myself into a corner. At the same time I was really excited about the possibilities their leaving Britain opened up for the series. New conflicts, internal and external, a new setting - and new characters.
When London Gambit ends, the Rannochs are planning to take refuge at Malcolm's villa on Lake Como. My new book Gilded Deceit finds them (after a stop in Switzerland to see Suzanne's friend Hortense Bonaparte and solve an unexpected mystery for her in the novella Mission for a Queen) arriving at Lake Como in August of 1818. When I sat down to research and plot Gilded Deceit, I realized that Percy and Mary Shelley also traveled to Italy in 1818, and that Byron was already there. In a book which thematically in many ways is about exiles and ex-patriates, the Shelleys and Byron seemed the perfect real historical figures for my fictional characters to encounter. I spent a lot of time trying to plot Gilded Deceit around the Shelleys' and Byron's actually chronology. But the over all chronology of the series and some developments with secondary characters locked me into a certain timeline. So in the end, I confess, I took shocking liberties with Byrons’ and the Shelleys' chronology in Italy in the summer of 1818.
This literary trio had already spent a now-famous summer together on the Continent in 1816 when Percy was still married to his first wife Harriet. He and Mary (then eighteen) and run off to the Continent, accompanied by her stepsister Claire Clairmont. They stayed with Byron at the Villa Diodati on Lake Geneva. Byron proposed that everyone at the house party write a ghost story, and Mary came up with an idea for a short story that ultimately became the novel Frankenstein. Her sister Claire, meanwhile, was more interested in captivated a poet of her own. She and Byron had begun an affair before he fled to the Continent. By the time they all met up in Switzerland Claire was pregnant with his child. They briefly resumed to their affair that summer, but in the end Claire returned to Britain with Percy and Mary and gave birth to baby Allegra, her daughter by Byron.
Claire doted on the baby, but she was penniless and could not support herself if she was known to be the mother of an illegitimate child. Despite being known for their bohemian ways, Percy and Mary (by the time married after the suicide of Harriet Shelley) were at some pains to conceal Allegra’s parentage. In the spring of 1818, Claire, Percy, and Mary traveled to Italy with Allegra, and William and Clara, Mary and Percy’s two young children. The plan was to take Allegra to Byron, who had agreed to raise her, though he wanted nothing to do with Claire. Claire was very conflicted about this, but she was single and penniless. Maintaining a fiction about Allegra's birth was getting challenging. Percy and Mary visited Lake Como soon after their arrival with the idea of taking a villa there for the summer and inviting Byron to join them. But Byron preferred to remain in Venice, and in the end the Shelleys, their children, and Claire spent time in Milan, from whence Claire tearfully sent baby Allegra to Venice to live with Byron. The Shelleys and Claire then traveled south, stopped for a month in Livorno, and spent the summer in the spa town of Bagni di Luca, in the Apennine Mountains.
On 17 August, Percy and Claire left for Venice to try to see Allegra. They found Byron in an agreeable mood. He offered the Shelley party the use of his villa at Este for the summer. Claire could spend time with Allegra there which was ideal. The only problem was that Percy had told Byron Mary was with them, so that Byron, who could be surprisingly puritanical, wouldn't be shocked at Percy and Claire traveling alone. Percy wrote to Mary that she needed to join them at Este at once with the children. Their baby daughter, Clara, already ill, worsened on the journey. Mary and Percy took her to a doctor in Venice, but by the time Percy brought the doctor to the inn where Mary was with the baby, Clara was dying.
In Gilded Deceit, I have the Shelleys and Byron in Milan over at least part of the summer, so they can meet some other characters in the book with whom their connection later becomes significiant. I have also moved Clara's death back about a month from the end of September to the end of August. And rather than Percy and Mary spending time in Este and Venice after Clara's death, I have the Shelleys go to Lake Como, accompanied by Lord Byron.
I agonized, as I always do, when changing historical facts. But all three characters add an immeasurable amount to Gilded Deceit. Both the novel and the Rannochs benefit from their presence. Not only does their exile from Britain resonate with that of the fictional characters, the Shelleys complicated marriage both echoes and contrasts with the the Rannochs’ marriage and those of other couples in a series where marriage in an ongoing theme. And both Claire’s and Mary’s situations echo issues Mélanie Suzanne and many of the other female characters face trying to carve out lives for themselves beyond the confines of what is expected of a wife and the consequences of defying society’s expectations. So, how do all you readers feel about authors changing historical chronologies? Writers, how do you approach such situations yourselves? Tracy will be giving away a e-book copy of Gilded Deceit to one lucky person chosen at random from all who leave a comment here between now and Thursday evening.
(For further reading about Mary and Percy Shelley and Lord Byron, I recommend Miranda Seymour's Mary Shelley (New York: Grove Press, 2002); Florence A. Thomas Marshall's The Life and Letters of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Volume I (London: Richard Bentley & Son, 1889); Daisy Hay's Young Romantics: The Tangled Lives of English Poetry's Greatest Generation (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2010); and Benita Eisler's Byron: Child of Passion, Fool of Fame (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1999). Author photo credit: Raphael Coffey
Nicola here and today it’s my huge pleasure to be interviewing our very own Andrea Penrose about her new Regency Set Historical Mystery, Murder on Black Swan Lane, which is released tomorrow! (And I'm loving the black swan in the photo!)
There was much excitement at Cornick Cottage when a copy of Murder on Black Swan Lane arrived for me to read. Not only do I love a historical mystery, I have been a fan of Andrea’s writing for years, so I knew I was in for a treat. I was not disappointed. This book was just what I needed to transport me back in time to a Regency world that was rich, vivid and atmospheric, where I spent time with a cast of characters who became as real as friends to me. You know that feeling of displacement and loss you get when you finish a really good book? Yes, that was how I felt at the end – but the good news is that this is the first in a new series. Hooray!
Andrea, welcome to the Wenches as a guest for a change! Please tell us about your new Regency-set historical mystery series and Murder on Black Swan Lane in particular.
As the title implies, a murder is the catalyst of the plot, but the plot threads also weave in the Regency’s fascination with the newly emerging world of science—as well as the era’s love of gossip and scandal, as fanned by the famous satirical cartoonists of the day. Combine the volatile elements of a sensational murder, a notoriously arrogant but brilliant aristocrat and London’s most popular—and scathing—satirist (who unbeknownst to all is a woman) . . . and as the rules of chemistry will tell you, the mixture may threaten to explode!
Though I'm a lifelong reader of both historical novels and science fiction and fantasy, I somehow managed to miss Marie Brennan's Lady Trent series until I read about the upcoming release of the fifth and last of her series of memoirs written by a distinguished dragon naturalist.
Dragons? Lady Trent? Within the Sanctuary of Wings? Clearly this was something I must investigate! So I cautiously tried the first book, A Natural History of Dragons. And was hooked, big time. I've very grateful that the series was complete when I started to read it!
Update 6/26: A TRUE LADY is now available as an ebook
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First, I'd like to thank the Wenches for inviting me to post during their anniversary celebration. I am continually impressed by how the Wenches not only endure, but continue to innovate, entertain, and open the circle to new authors and guests.
Secondly, yes, that's a cover reveal just to the left of this copy, and no I didn't write it, but more on that in a moment...
Third, well, I probably should introduce myself first, right? OK, here goes...
Dear Readers,
I'm Susie Felber. No, that is not a very romantic name, and that's exactly why my mother, Edith Felber, was persuaded by her publisher to take a pen name in 1983 for the publication of her first regency romance: The Duke's Wager.
Edith Layton a/k/a mom, went on to publish over 30 novels and many more short stories. She blogged with the Word Wenches for many years, and only stopped because... well, because she died.
I lurk and read the Wenches often, and admit I go back and read the beautiful post and comments Layton readers left here.
Of course I miss her. Mom was funny, smart, and would've bragged about me even if I was in prison. e.g. "The warden says Susie's license plates have a certain Je ne sais quoi."
But not only does her memory live on (think of her daily), but of course I have her books to enjoy (reading her books is like having her in the room with me), and Layton HQ is still going strong. Here's some news and updates:
On Mother's Day this year, my brother Adam (the famous NPR / Hollywood guy) and I appeared on Faith Salie's Audible podcast on an episode called When Mom Writes Romance. <-- that's a link there, and it's fun. You can hear about how my father sent out her manuscripts under our German Shepherd's name when she got discouraged by rejections, and much more.
Backing up, two and a half years ago, I finally got it together to bring the Layton books that were out of print but in demand, back into the world as ebooks. As you can imagine, or know too well, this is hard work.
Anne Gracie here, introducing our latest guest, Michelle Diener, who writes historical fiction, historical mystery, science fiction and fantasy, space opera,and various combinations of those.
I first heard about Michelle and her books in the best way possible — word of mouth. I bought the first in her self-published "Dark" series — kind of space opera/science fiction romance. I loved it, bought the rest in the series, then discovered she was also a traditionally published historical writer, and a writer of historical mysteries, so I bought those too. And that's not all she writes. Find out more about Michelle here.
Anne: Michelle, you were born in the United Kingdom, grew up in South Africa, then moved to Western Australia with your husband and children. Growing up, what books and authors influenced you most?
Welcome to WenchLandia! The Word Wenches blog is now ELEVEN YEARS OLD! Which is quite amazing in this age of ephemera. Over the years, our membership has changed, but I think the essential Wench spirit of intelligence, kindness, and acceptance has remained true and strong, traits we share with you wonderful readers.
Looking back to our first anniversary blog in 2007, we did a week long rumination on nakedness in history.Last year, we celebrated our tenth anniversary by inviting back some of our guests from those ten years.
This year, we're creating a bouquet both for our eleventh anniversary, and also as a memorial for our Wench sister Jo Beverley, who died the day after last year's anniversary. I'm starting with a picture of my blossoming chives for Jo because they are pretty, tasty, and a gift from the garden. And I'll add some of my irises just because.
More thoughts from the Wenches:
From Susan King:
I've been with the Word Wenches since literally the first minute, when a few authors, all good friends, bravely set off to try this blogging thing. Eleven years later, we're a strong sisterhood--our roster has changed as we've lost dear friends and gained new ones, our look has freshened up, our lists of books has grown, we've written thousands of blogs by now (surely it must be!), and we've even written two holiday anthologies as the Word Wenches, a unique achievement for any blog.
And most importantly, absolutely, this blog has become a place for so many readers to drop by, read a bit, comment a bit, share their thoughts and experiences. You all have made this blog what it is, you have given us longevity, you've made all of us laugh and learn and crave the stories you all are reading. We show up every day for you all, and we value your contributions and friendship as much as we value our own. Thank you, and happy anniversary to everyone!
Nicola here. Today it is my very great pleasure to welcome Melinda Hammond back to the Word Wench blog. Melinda Hammond/Sarah Mallory is a long time Romantic Novelists’ Association friend and colleague of mine and we share the same taste in fast cars! She is also an award-winning author of Regency historicals. Today, however, we are chatting about her haunting timeslip novel Moonshadows, set in the Georgian period and the present day, originally published by Samhain and now re-issued by Melinda herself.
I first read Moonshadows a number of years ago and found it a thought-provoking read as well as a beautiful mix of the past and the present. In the interview below, Melinda mentions why she feels the story takes a different slant on the idea of the 18th century rake. The conflict at the heart of the story is strong and heartbreaking and (no spoilers!) tells of the ultimate price of getting what you wish for…
Andrea/Cara here, I’m delighted to kick off the new year with a bang—and a swoosh (you'll see why in a moment)—by welcoming the incomparable Deanna Raybourn as our guest on the Wenches. As most of you know, Deanna has won scads of awards and accolades for her writing, including the RITA. (For Deanna’s full bio, you can click here.) Her books feature a scintillating combination of mystery and romance, rich with intriguing characters and witty dialogue. Her settings take readers around the world—the Lady Julia series (fluttery fan-girl sigh) journeys through Victorian England, Europe and India, while A Spear of Summer Grass takes readers to Africa in the 1920s. With her new Veronica Speedwell series, (more fluttery fan girl sighs) Deanna returns to Victorian times—and the marvelously eccentric adventuring that only she can create. The second book in the series, A Perilous Undertaking, releases tomorrow (if you haven't met Veronica yet, you are in for a treat!) , and—well, I’ll now turn the pen over to Deanna and let her tell you more about it!
Deanna here, Oh, how I love a bit of banter between an intrepid heroine and a stubborn hero! In the case of my sleuthing pair, Veronica Speedwell and the Honourable Revelstoke Templeton-Vane, they are usually at it hammer and tongs—even on page one. In the opening of their second mystery together, A PERILOUS UNDERTAKING, Stoker is attempting to teach Veronica a few useful self-defense skills. Little does he realize, Veronica is even more adept and experienced than he is…
Andrea/Cara here, Today I'm welcoming long-time friend and honorary Word Wench Amanda McCabe as my guest. Many of you know Amanda for her wonderful Regencies, but she also writes marvelous Elizabethan romances, and she here to tell us a little about the inspiration for her latest release, The Queen’s Christmas Summons. Not only does it have a holiday theme, but it also features swashbuckling action on the high seas as the British navy clashes with the Spanish Armada. So batten down the hatches and set sail to a fascinating time in history, as Amanda gives us some intriguing background on one of the biggest sea battles ever fought:
I’m so happy to be back at the Word Wenches today! I’m also so excited to have the chance to talk a bit about the history behind the book for my new release The Queen’s Christmas Summons. This story has been brewing in my mind for a long time, ever since I was a little girl and my grandmother (who was very proud to be Irish, and have the famous “black Irish” looks of dark hair, olive skin, and bright blue eyes) told me she was descended from a shipwrecked Spanish soldier who landed on Ireland’s coast in a storm and married a Galway woman. This story, while fantastic, is almost certainly a family legend, but it made me wonder—what would really happen if two such people met??? That’s how John (an English spy planted with the Armada) and his love Alys came to be. She saves his life on the Irish shore—and they meet up later at the queen’s own court for Christmas.
Anne here, and today it's my pleasure to welcomeEmily Larkin to the Word Wenches.
I first met Emily at a romance writers' conference in Australia — she's a New Zealander, and she was writing Regency Historical romance (under the name of Emily May for Harlequin Historicals) so of course, because I'm always interested in new Regency writers, I read her first book. And immediately bought the next two.
She's the kind of Regency writer who Gets Things Right — I suspect she was raised on Georgette Heyer. She also writes darker fantasy novels as Emily Gee — in fact in 2008 her book, Thief With No Shadowfinalled in two sections of the RITA — Best First Book and Best Mainstream with Romantic Elements — as well as being shortlisted for the prestigious Sir Julius Vogel award (NZ). And since I also read fantasy, I bought and thoroughly enjoyed those books, too.
Emily: Hi Anne! Thanks for the intro. I was indeed raised on Georgette Heyer, and I do try very hard to Get Things Right! I’m so glad you enjoyed Unmasking Miss Appleby. ☺ It’s the book I’ve been wanting to write for years. It takes everything that I love about writing Regency romances and adds a little bit of what I like about writing fantasy novels. It’s Jane Austen plus a dash of magic, and was a lot of fun to write.
Here’s the blurb: On her 25th birthday, Charlotte Appleby receives a most unusual gift from the Faerie godmother she never knew she had: the ability to change shape.
Penniless and orphaned, she sets off for London to make her fortune as a man. But a position as secretary to Lord Cosgrove proves unexpectedly challenging. Someone is trying to destroy Cosgrove and his life is increasingly in jeopardy.
As Charlotte plunges into London’s backstreets and brothels at Cosgrove’s side, hunting his persecutor, she finds herself fighting for her life—and falling in love…
Anne: Historical readers are used to the "chick-in-pants" story — but this is a very different take on it. Care to explain?
Today it’s my great pleasure to welcome author Charlotte Betts to the Word Wench blog. Charlotte is a multi-award-winning author of historical novels who describes herself as a daydreamer and a bookworm (so she’s in good company here) who lives in Hampshire in a C17th cottage in the woods. I first met Charlotte years ago as a fellow member of the Historical Novel Society and the Romantic Novelists’ Association. I love that she has written in different time periods and very different settings, from the Great Fire of London, to Revolutionary France to the Regency. Her books are full of adventure, mystery and romance, with rich backgrounds that make the past come alive. Today Charlotte is talking about her research and her latest novel, The House in Quill Court. Welcome, Charlotte!
Recently I clicked ‘send’ and gave an exhausted cheer as my manuscript for The Dressmaker’s Secret flew off to my editor. As any author knows, that cheer isn’t a signal to take an extended break. The deadline for finishing the first draft of a novel always seems to coincide with the launch of the previous one, while the publishers are simultaneously asking for an outline for the next one. Non-writer friends sometimes ask how I manage to keep all the details of each story in my head at once but really it’s no different from watching several drama series on the television on consecutive nights; you simply jump from one world into another.
Since Anne Gracie and I both have July releases, we decided to interview each other! Anne talked to me aboutOnce a Soldier last week, and now it's my turn to enthuse about Anne's The Summer Bride, the last of the Chance Sisters quartet. I enjoyed reading it so much that I promptly reread the first three books in the series.
The book has been well received, Romantic Times says, "Gracie's Chance Sisters have captivated readers and stolen their hearts, perhaps none more than Daisy, whose fast-paced story will delight fans. All the characters readers adore are part of the tale, and which the charming plot enchants, it's the characters who take center stage."
Library Journal’s verdict was: “Passionate and sumptuously witty, this final book in Gracie’s sparkling quartet has the entire household rooting (and plotting) for Daisy and Flynn to get things right.”
MJP: Anne, the premise for The Chance Sisters is brilliant, and the first book, The Autumn Bride, was listed as one of the ten best romances of the year by Library Journal, as well as being a Romantic Times Top Pick. Can you tell us about the premise? And do you have any idea of where such a great idea came from? (Probably not. <G>)
AG: Actually I do know where the inspiration for the first book came from — it was a dream I had, in which an old lady was lying in bed, ill and in a desperate state, and a young woman climbed in her window. I scribbled it down in my notebook, and it kept nagging me and throwing up questions — who was the old lady, why was the girl climbing in the window — for no honest reason, surely? And that’s how I knew it was the start of a story.
The basic premise is, four girls band together as “sisters of the heart” in order to survive. When they find Lady Beatrice ill, neglected and abused by her servants, they pretend to be her nieces, and the girls and the old lady form a kind of family.
MJP: The four couples have been very different, so their romance are all quite different. But in The Summer Bride, Daisy and Flynn are the most unusual of all, particularly Daisy. Will you tell us about her?
AG: Daisy is the Cockney maidservant who risked her safety to help Jane and Damaris escape from the brothel where they were imprisoned. She started off in my mind as a minor character, but as soon as she hit the page, she sprang to life. She’s gutsy and outspoken and has a dream. I loved her from the start, so I was determined to give Daisy her own story.
Here’s a small snippet of Daisy’s thoughts:
Daisy had no illusions about herself. She was a little Cockney guttersnipe with a gimpy leg and a foul mouth—though she was working on the swearing, and her grammar. But she loved beautiful clothes and—praise be!— she was good at making them. She was going to be somebody, and she was going to do it all herself; Daisy Chance, Dressmaker to the Toffs, with a shop and a business all her own. That was her dream, and she was so hungry for it she could almost taste it.
MJP: The hero, Flynn, is one gorgeous hunk of Irishman. Tell me more!
AG: Again, he’s not a typical hero. And in the spirit of “show don’t tell” I’ll use another snippet from the book. Flynn aims to marry “the finest lady in London.’ Here he’s talking to Lady Beatrice, who’s cross with him for not taking her into his confidence:
She eyed him narrowly. "Finding you've aimed rather too high, have you? I did warn you. A low-born, uneducated sea-captain, Irish—and Roman Catholic to boot!" She shook her head. "Lapsed, m'lady, and though all you say is true, I don't believe I'm aimin' too high," Flynn said mildly. He was comfortable in his own skin and knew his own worth. "I'm also rich—a self-made man with a fleet of ships and a tradin' empire that spreads from here to the four corners of the earth." Lady Beatrice sniffed. "Money acquired in trade." Flynn grinned, undeceived by her disparaging tone. "Aye, m'lady, lots of nasty vulgar money at me disposal which the poor lass who consents to become me wife will have to help me spend. 'Twill be a terrible burden for her, I'm thinkin'." Lady Beatrice's finely painted lips twitched. "Undoubtedly. Modesty is not one of your virtues, is it, Mr. Flynn." Flynn shrugged. He'd never seen the point of hiding his light under a bushel.
MJP: Though Daisy and Flynn are connected with members of the beau monde by bonds of friendship, they are both openly involved in commercial activities – in “trade!” How does that tie into the larger society?
AG: It’s actually one of the things Daisy and Flynn bond over. The upper classes tended to frown on “trade” – they liked money. of course, but it was vulgar to refer to it, and they tended to look down on shopkeepers. But Daisy and Flynn also argue about business—she’s stubborn and her background has made her wary of trusting others—especially men.
“You’re looking exhausted,” Flynn said bluntly. “So what? Hard work never killed nobody. I’m startin’ a business, remember?” “I know, and that’s why I decided to come tonight, when nobody else was here to overhear what I have to say.” Daisy gave him a flinty look. “What’s it got to do with you?” “Nothing. But I know a lot more about how to run a business than you do, and I have to tell you, you’re goin’ about it the wrong way.” Daisy stiffened. She set down her teacup with a clatter. “Well, thanks very much, Mr. Flynn, and now you’ve told me, you can get back to your bloody ball.” “Settle down, firebrand, I mean no insult.” “No? You tell me I’m doin’ everything wrong—me, who’s workin’ my fingers to the bone every hour God sends, making beautiful clothes for Jane and the others—clothes that other ladies want to order—an’ you expect me not to be angry? Bloody oath, I’m angry! What the hell would you know about ladies’ clothin’ anyway?”
MJP: Thanks so much for sharing a little of the book, Anne. Now I'm ready to reread The Summer Bride! Leave a comment or answer this question by midnight Thursday to get into the drawing for a copy of the book.
Anne's Question: Editors are always telling me that people only want to read about aristocratic heroines. Is that true for you?
MJP: Thanks so much for the lovely interview, Anne. We'll have to do this again if the book release schedule permits!
I'll say this up front: Kathleen Gilles Seidel is a marvelous writer. We are both members of the Washington Romance Writers chapter of RWA, so I've know her for many years. At the WRW annual retreat, a slot would always be reserved for her to talk fascinatingly about some aspect of writing. (She has a PhD in English from Johns Hopkins University, so she's really good at this sort of thing.) I've heard many of her thoughtful lectures and stories as well as being addicted to her writing. So I feel very pleased that she's agreed to visit the Word Wenches today.
Kathy has twice won RITAs for best contemporary romance of the year. Her work is known for originality, wonderful keen observations about the human animal, and a delicious dry sense of humor. She later moved from romance to women's fiction, and they're great, too. (One of her books is entitled Keep Your Mouth Shut and Wear Beige. Who can resist that?)
What inspired me to invite Kathy at this point in time is that I saw that her novel Again is now available as an e-book, along with several of her other older titles. Naturally I downloaded Again and read the story for the fifth or sixth time. I also mentioned the book to the other Wenches, several of them read and adored it, and we all thought it would be a fine idea to invite Kathy to visit us.
Anne here, with Susanna Kearsley and Pamela Hartshornedropping by to celebrate our 10th anniversary with us. Both Susanna and Pam are 'dual timeline/time slip' authors and Honorary Word Wenches (HWW). They're also representative of international wenchdom, as Pam is from the UK and Susanna from Canada. Welcome, Susanna and Pam!
Susanna here, happy to be here to share in the Word Wenches’ tenth anniversary!
I am, as it happens, an Honorary Word Wench—a noble and cherished designation that not only comes with the perk of being able to add the letters “H.W.W.” to my signature (always much appreciated by someone like me, who never finished university), but also stands as a sometimes much-needed reminder that I’m never really writing on my own.
It’s a thing about writing: so much of it needs to be done on your own in a room by yourself, shut away from distractions, that it would be easy to feel disconnected…if we didn’t have this amazing community.
The first time I took my elder son to FanExpo here in in Toronto, he looked across the lines of people standing in their cosplay costumes waiting to get in, and said, “My people!” And I knew exactly how he felt.
I feel it, too, whenever I’m with other writers and readers who treasure historical romance. When I don’t have to explain why I’d rather shut myself away with a pile of 18th-century newspapers and a big pot of coffee than go to the mall. When I can say I’ve just surfaced from being in another time, and people understand. It’s a wonderful feeling, to be understood.
It’s in places like this one, with hosts like the Word Wenches, that we’re all able to find one another. We cheer each other, teach each other, share our craft and learn in equal measure; and, as evidenced by this past week, we give each other comfort.
Back when I was gifted with my Honorary Word Wench title, on September 23 of 2009, this group was a mere three years old, and I only knew Nicola. Since then I’ve met nearly all of the Wenches, and from sharing an event with Joanna to sharing drinks and laughter with Anne, to having her and Mary Jo come and stand at my shoulder when I won my RITA, the Word Wenches really and truly are “My people”. (Susanna's first interview with the wenches is here.)
May they continue another ten years, and beyond that. And I’ll keep on adding “H.W.W.” after my name, with great pride.
It is a great honour to be an Honorary Word Wench, especially when I spent so many years writing strictly contemporary romances for Mills & Boon as Jessica Hart. But I have always been fascinated by the relationship between the past and the present, and in fact started writing to fund a PhD in medieval history (although I ended up as an early modernist) so my historical leanings have always been there.
Throughout the (very) many years it took me to complete that PhD, the question I was asked most often - after ‘Have you ever thought about writing a real book?’, of course - was whether I was going to use my research to write a historical romance. My answer was always ‘no’: I fretted about authenticity and how I could possibly get modern readers to identify with characters who thought and spoke and acted so differently in the past.
But after writing 50 romances, it felt like time for a new challenge and I decided to get over myself and have a go at writing not a romance but a ‘time slip’, part historical novel, part ghost stories, part psychological thrillers – and, in my case, part romance too, because romances are about emotions, and emotions are what connect us to the past, whether that past is our own, or a more distant one. I let go of the authenticity issue; the truth is that no amount of academic research will tell us what it was ‘really like’ in the past. The only way we can know that would be to somehow go back and re-experience life as somebody who lived then (ooh, precisely the premise of a time slip!)
For me, the real appeal of historical novels, romances or otherwise, lies in the tension between everything that is different and intriguing about the past, and everything that is the same – and what never change are the human emotions that lie at the heart of every great story - love, hate, fear - and that we can all identify with, wherever and whenever we live.
The temptation for all those of us fascinated by the past is to get bogged down in details, and squeeze in every interesting piece of our research (I can’t tell you how much about dung heaps and cleaning gutters I had to force myself to jettison from my first drafts of Time’s Echo) but this is where historical romance comes into its own: focusing on the emotional relationship between the characters gives it the perfect structure to draw readers into the story while keeping them interested and intrigued with a dazzling backdrop of historical detail. (Pam's first interview with the Wenches is here.)
So let’s hear it for historical romance – and let’s hear it for the fabulous Word Wenches, and a blog that has been invariably interesting, entertaining and inspiring for an incredible ten years. Many congratulations to you all!
Pamela Hartshorne
Pam’s latest book, House of Shadows (not to be confused with Nicola Cornick’s House of Shadows!) is out now. Pamela's website is here.
Anne again — thank you so much, Susanna and Pam for coming to celebrating this exciting milestone with us! And dear readers, to quote Pat Rice, "we would love to shower all of you with champagne and cake. But instead, at the end of the week, we'll be handing out gifts to random commenters." And here's a question for readers: — what historical period or geographical location would you love to see explored in a time slip or historical romance?
The Word Wenches are presenting comments from readers, authors, and other industry professionals on the last ten years of romance, history, and the world in general. Welcome our guests, please!
I’ve been in love with romance ever since I first read a fairy tale – in fact, I was probably born a romantic! The princesses in peril, the dashing princes to the rescue, the treasures and magic; I just didn’t want any other stories. After discovering Georgette Heyer in my teens, I was totally sold on historical romance and I’ve never found anything else as satisfying. There’s just something about immersing yourself in a fictional past, with strong heroes, lords and ladies, beautiful clothing and endless adventures that will never cease to pull me in, and I think historicals remain a favourite with readers for a reason – it’s just such fun! The Word Wenches produce some of the very best in this sub-genre and, as well as the lovely books, I’ve enjoyed each and every post on this blog over the years – such diversity and I always learn something new. Congratulations on this wonderful anniversary and I hope you’ll continue for a long time to come!
I was a historical romance reader before I was a historical writer. In fact, through the first 20 years of my career, I wrote contemporary category romance as Kathleen Korbel and medical/forensic suspense as Eileen Dreyer. And then one day the wonderful RT reviewer Melinda Helfer and I were talking Regency Romance, and she sealed my fate. “You should write Regencies.”
I laughed at the time. Six regencies later, I'm not laughing. Why do I love writing them? First, I love history, especially in the times when the world was in upheaval. And if there's one thing you can say about the Napoleonic Era, it's that the world was in upheaval. I love to see how it played out in the lives of normal people. The soldier, the debutante, the companion. I especially like to write a strong woman hemmed in by the mores and expectation of the society and time in which she lives. And of course I love to give her a man who's worthy of her. And clothes. Beautiful clothes. And humor. And suspense(which is easy then, since they were at war and we can imagine all the nefarious spies we want, even if it isn't entirely correct). And so was born DRAKE'S RAKES, who are all gentleman spies in service of the crown, who run afoul of a nefarious plot and strong heroines. Just the kind I like to write. To learn more(you know you want to), stop by my websitewww.eileendreyer.comwww.facebook.com/eileendreyer @eileendreyer
Ten-ish years ago, while on an extended business trip, I bought my first romance novel, Mary Jo's A Kiss of Fate. I was embarrassingly (because "good girls" didn't read romance) hooked, and unknowingly fated.
As a wanna-be author, I emailed Mary Jo to say how much I enjoyed her book, and for reasons I still can't pinpoint, we became fast friends. That was Fate's first move.
Many fun and educational conversations on the Word Wenches' blog led me to create three Regency gowns (with all the underpinnings), and ultimately a two-part guest post about a modern-girl trying to live in a Regency Corset. The rewarding effort convinced me I could write.
A few years later, Mary Jo asked if I could use my computer "expertise" to make an eBook (when eBooks were a novelty), which opened the door for ePublishing Works. Today, ePW proudly publishes and promotes books for five of the eight current Wenches, plus nearly 100 other authors. Funny what a little romance novel and a blog can do.
Much has changed in how we read romance: paper giving way (mostly) to digital, and perusing physical bookstores exchanged for curated reading recommendations received via email. But the thrill of a good story with a powerful hook, that's peopled with engaging characters who grab the heart and mind, remains unchanged. Even better, a well-written Historical Romance is timeless in its ability to entertain, even as the delivery mechanisms change at lightning speed.
Thank you, Word Wenches, for all you have given me, for your faith in me, and for all you continue to do for the author and reader communities. It excites me to know that digital publishing assures the great stories that captured my heart a decade ago will be equally available to new readers for the next decade and beyond. Congratulations on the first 10 years!
Thank you to our dear friends and colleagues for celebrating a remarkable milestone with us! And dear readers, we would love to shower all of you with champagne and cake. But instead, at the end of the week, we'll be handing out gifts to random commenters. Thank you so much for stopping by!
Today, we're resuming our sadly interrupted anniversary celebration, and I have the pleasure of welcoming Eloisa James and Lauren Willig, both of whom have wonderful insights to share with us.
First up is Eloisa James, who has been a visitor to Word Wenches for both her romance and for her delicious memoir, Paris in Love. Today she ponders romance and what might lie ahead in our genre:
Eloisa James:
I read widely in romance sub-genres, with the exception of scary Romantic Suspenses. I’m just going to make a more-or-less haphazard list of the trends I’m seeing, skipping Historical because the Word Wenches have that covered. Please tell me in the comments what I’m missing or where I went wrong!!
I’m interviewing Jeannie Lin, writer of most excellent
Historical Romances set in Tang Dynasty China and Steampunk set in an alternate but formidably realistic historical China. She writes love, adventure, complicated family relationship, and high stakes in a world that sets all our assumptions wobbling. These are not your everyday Romances, folks.
This week Jeannie and I celebrate the release of our new novellas — hers and mine — in the e-anthology Gambled Away.
Joanna:Howdy Jeannie. Glad to see you.
Jeannie: Hello! So glad to be back here with the Wenches. Can you believe Gambled Away is finally here?
Joanna: I'm so happy to share an anthology with you. Oddly enough, I think both our stories are, at the core, about women escaping the constraints that narrow and bind their choices. 'Taking their lives into their own hands' as you put it.
My Aimée, in Gideon and the Den of Thieves, was sold into the service of Lazarus, the King Thief of Regency-era London. One does not just walk away from that service. One runs. We see Aimée trying to free herself from Lazarus.
Jeannie: I must admit after reading Lazarus, I had big baddie envy. I want to go back and rewrite the entire last half of my story. *smacks hand* Lazarus is so dark and twisted and complicated! Completely unpredictable.
My crime lords are much more straightforward — they're businessmen. They don't make emotional decisions, which makes them neither evil nor good. Unlike everyone else in the story, they have nothing to hide and their goals are quite clear. It's all the other characters who sneak and lie and betray one another, often times believing they are doing the right thing.
Joanna: I’ll just reassure you that there is no lack of menace in your crime lords. Pretty chilling customers.
While my Aimée faces the obvious practical problem associated with dwelling among the brutal and larcenous, Wei-wei’s life is more comfortable -- on the surface. But it is not, perhaps, more free.
Jeannie: There's two sides of that coin for me. Chinese women in imperial times are known for being subservient — it's a stereotype often perpetuated in the West. But for me what's interesting is the ways that women have empowered themselves while keeping the illusion that they were not wresting power. When Chinese women were forbidden to write, they came up with their own written language, for instance.
Can you believe it? Today is the 10th anniversary of this blog--that's 597 years in internet time, you know. <G> The world has changed, publishing has changed, we've all changed--yet here we are, still musing about romance and history, interviewing interesting guests, and inviting you all to join in the conversation!
The idea for a historical romance writers' blog was sparked when Susan King and I were having lunch with Eileen Buckholtz, our friend and web wizard, and she suggested that since we were interested in blogging, a group blog was the way to go: more content, less work. <G> This sounded like a fine idea to us, so Susan and I listed people we'd love to have join us. To my surprise, everyone we asked agreed, and a blog was born. Sherrie Holmes, our first site manager and cat herder, came up with the name Word Wenches, which we all loved, and here we are, ten years later.
I believe we're the only romance blog to have published two Christmas anthologies, Mischief and Mistletoe and The Last Chance Christmas Ball, both with Kensington. Both were great fun to write.
To celebrate this anniversary, we decided to invite back a few former guests to muse or reminisce with us. Because we received such thoughtful responses, we'll be posting every day this week, with Friday being wrap up comments from all of us Wenches.
And because we love giving books away, we'll be doing eight giveaways to eight lucky commenters from our Anniversary Week celebration. (Winners to be chosen by the end of May.) Let the celebration begin!
Our first guest: Candice Hern, one of the old gang of Signet Regency writers where so many Regency writers started our writing careers. Candice is not only a fine writer who has one of the best Regency websites anywhere, but because she was already an experienced blogger, she was extremely helpful when we started our own blog. Thank you, Candice!
Congratulations, Word Wenches, on your first TEN YEARS!
Quite a milestone on the internet. Not many group blogs survive that long. I have been reading your blog since Day 1 and continue to do so. I always learn something new, especially when one of you dives into an historical research topic. I love the diversity of the group, both in your books and your blog posts. (And I still miss Edith.) Here's wishing you all another ten years of entertaining and educating those of us who love historical romance. Way to go, ladies!
Next up: Mary Balogh. A romance star ever since her first Signet Regency was published a lot of years ago, Mary offers these insights:
Where Romance is going:
Romance is going in whatever direction the imaginations of romance writers take it—or should I say directions? In the past several years we have seen it explode into innumerable sub-genres and trends, some of them enduring, some not.
I decided almost as soon as I started writing more than thirty years ago (ouch!) that I would no longer read romance or take any notice of trends or jump on any bandwagons. I cheat (a lot) on that first decision, but even so I would say that 90% of my reading is non-romance. So who am I to talk about where romance is going? I will continue to follow my own imagination for as long as I am willing and able and as long as I still have readers.
One thing that has pleased me greatly this month of May is the almost overwhelmingly positive response I have had to my new book, Only Beloved, the final book of the Survivors’ Club series. The hero is 48, the heroine 39. I held my breath as the publication day dawned. But readers had no objection to the older characters.
The same thing happened with the novella that came out with one of Grace Burrowes’s in Once Upon a Dreamin April. The hero and heroine are both 40 or close to it. With so many aging authors still writing (ahem) and so many aging readers still reading, maybe this is one direction I will take more often in the future. Love, even romantic love, is not an exclusive preserve of the young, after all, is it?
And on the subject of the passing of time…congratulations Word Wenches for keeping your really excellent and intelligent blog site going for ten years. That is a remarkable achievement. May you continue for at least ten more.
To wrap up today's posting, Carola Dunn joins us. She started out writing Walker Regencies, which were the first such romances I discovered in the library when I began to look beyond my well worn Georgette Heyers. She moved from Regency romance into historical mysteries--I've been obsessively following her 1920's set Daisy Dalrymple series for years--and like Mary Balogh, she has some thoughts about older characters.
Pass Time with Good Company
I wrote my first Regency 37 years ago (Toblethorpe Manor, published 1981) and followed it with 31 more, as well as a bunch of novellas. As in most romances, the heroines were almost all youthful—even the oldest, at 42, seems youthful from my present age! When I started writing mysteries, I made my amateur sleuth, Daisy Dalrymple, 25. For reasons I won’t go into, over the course of 23 books she’s aged by only 5 years.
A decade ago, after turning 60, I decided I wanted a protagonist nearer my own age. That was the genesis of Eleanor Trewynn, the main character of my Cornish mysteries. For many years, she and Daisy have been living in my head. Luckily, I find them excellent company. It’s gratifying to hear from so many readers that they too think of Daisy and Eleanor as good friends they want to spend more time with.
Thank you, Candice, Mary, and Carola! You've all created wonderful characters we want to spend more time with. (And you're all on my personal keeper shelves.)
Visit Word Wenches again tomorrow, when the inimitable Eloisa James and Lauren Willig will share their thoughts on romance! And remember, commenters might win books, and what reader doesn't love winning books?
Andrea/Cara here, As most of our readers know, I'm a big fan of historical mysteries, and the Regency-set series by Tracy Grant featuring Malcolm and Suzanne Rannoch is one of my favorites. So I'm delighted to welcome Tracy back to the Word Wenches to tell us a little about her love of history and how she weaves it into her intricate plots. Like the Wenches, Tracy loves research and is an expert on the people and places that makes the Regency such a fascinating era. From the cloak and dagger spy intrigues of the Napoleonic Wars to the details of Mayfair's elegant ballroom, she paints a vivid picture of a time of upheaval and fundamental change, and how individuals react to those challenges. So, please join me in welcoming Tracy as I hand the proverbial pen to her!
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