books – Page 2

Scandal Mags Back In The Day

Fans of Bridgerton will be aware of the influence news sheets had on the social life of the day in 19th century Britain.

But Lady Whistledown’s news has nothing on one particular scandal mag, a newspaper first published in 1838 – the Crim. Con. Gazette. Its mission clearly stated was ‘to arrest as much as possible the progress of aristocratic vice and debauchery.’

Oh dear.
Crim con is an abbreviation of criminal conversation, or adultery. The divorce courts then were the source of great scandal in high society, and for twopence readers could get a look at what was considered the more sordid underbelly of the upper classes.

And of course great material for novelists then and now.

However, divorce could only be granted by the passage of a private act through Parliament, something available only to the very wealthy, so I expect the Crim Con Gazette’s sources were somewhat limited. That might explain why two years later the newspaper was renamed The Bon Ton (good manners/good society) Gazette. Let’s hope the focus changed to match the title.

Here’s an excerpt from the Library of Congress blog that tells of one woman’s trials and tribulations and how she struggled to bring about reform for women.

‘Caroline Norton, a writer and social reformer, had a story which rivals that of most fictional heroines. Caroline married George Norton in 1827, and the marriage was marked by his outbursts of violence. Finally, in 1836, George removed their three children to another house and barred Caroline from entering. He then sued Lord Melbourne for “criminal conversation” with his wife–this essentially meant that he was accusing Lord Melbourne of alienating his wife’s affections and committing adultery with her. Although George quickly lost the case, the Norton marriage could not be dissolved and George could continue to deny Caroline access to her children. Caroline helped advocate for the passage of the 1839 Custody of Infants Act, which granted mothers custody of children under the age of seven and access to children under the age of sixteen. Tragically, one of Caroline’s children died in an accident before her husband would allow her to see them.’

If you’re interested in reading more on this topic:

https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2018/02/marriage-and-divorce-19th-century-style/

The Devil Diamond – A New Look

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Finally, here’s the new cover for The Devil Diamond.

This one hopefully gives a clue as to the content – it’s not a straight romance, there’s a dark secret associated with a diamond and it’s set somewhere near a forest. There are rowan berries, a magic castle, and a hint of dragon wings.

Covers are of course gateways to the novels we read (and write) and for authors it’s most important to get the right message across. I need to show that this is not a straight romance – no maidens in high-waisted dresses – just a hint of what to expect.

Here’s a short summary of what’s to come:

London, 1818. Kel Fletcher is down on his luck.

When he wakes after a drunken debauch and discovers a fabulous diamond in his pocket he knows his life is about to change.

His mother’s will saves him from destitution, but the conditions set him on a course he cannot understand, and take him to a world he could never have imagined.

Rachel has accepted a marriage of convenience and swapped life as a horse dealer’s daughter for that of a lady.

As Kel struggles with the problem of the diamond, Rachel is convinced she must take it from him, or risk a terrible outcome. But there is more at stake than they both know, and the diamond’s fate is set to be determined by otherworldly forces beyond their control.

My Fair Lady meets The Moonstone? Perhaps.

New Book Out Now

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My new fantasy romance The Devil Diamond is finished and up there on Amazon. I’m currently working on the sequel. Will this become a series? I hope so, but that depends on how well the first two are received.

This novel continues my move away from straight romance to something with more story depth and hopefully a wider appeal. But all that is in the lap of the gods. The Amazon gods, that is.

A very brief summary of the novel:

Kel Fletcher is given a precious, magical stone to guard.

He doesn’t know how or why he got it, but he does know he’s not letting it go for any price. Events take him to Cumberland, where he’s inherited an estate. Marrying is part of the deal if he wants to claim the estate, but who will have him? His reputation is shot and the money lenders are after him.

Kel manages to marry and claim his inheritance, but then the fun begins. There are mysterious others who are very keen to get that diamond, and his new wife is caught up in the intrigue.

Get the book on Amazon. The Devil Diamond …

A Misstep

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A tumble down stairs last week left me with a broken rib and a fractured wrist. The rib is painful and the wrist awkward — I have to wear a splint for six weeks.

The splint makes typing difficult and the rib complains when I sit at the computer, so I’m spending most of my time planning (something I rarely do) and thinking about the next novel after the current one.

The Devil’s Diamond is still only about half way there, but I don’t want to get too far into the ‘what comes next’ weeds with that. As a discovery writer I prefer to let the characters carry me along. However, characters can sometimes be contrary if they are ignored for too long and inclined to lead me up the garden path. So there may be missteps all round.

Where to find a story

Ideas about character and plotting led me to think about where stories come from. I make no secret of the fact that I enjoy using other writers’ plots to get me into a new story. Alias Lord John, my last complete novel, was based on one of my favourite books, Daphne Du Maurier’s The Scapegoat. While Du Maurier’s story is set in France and her main character is a depressed English academic, in my story the setting is Regency London and the MC, Tristan Rigal, is an adventurer just returned from the Continent and looking out for his best chance.

This is of course a tried and true method for coming up with great stories and I can guarantee that although the framework is similar, these adaptations will never turn out the same as the original. The Moonstone: (Annotated Edition)

To take the technique a little further, it’s fun to use two plots and combine them into one story. For example my upcoming novel The Devil’s Diamond might be described as My Fair Lady meets The Moonstone. Well why not? Tried and true tropes never fail to delight audiences hungry for stories they know and love.

Alias Lord John is available from Amazon as a stand alone, or part of the Love And Inheritance Collection.

Love And Inheritance Collection

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My latest Regency Box Set is out now. Here’s what you’ll find under the cover.

The Tallisbrook Emeralds
Lord Drew has a fondness for servingmaids.
Especially the remarkably pretty one he met unexpectedly in the woods.
Miss Sancha likes to play games, but pretending to be a saucy maid is definitely not without risk when the handsome lord is in a playful mood.
Then there’s the little matter of Lady Esmeralda’s will.
And a parcel of jewelry worth twenty thousand pounds.
Sancha has no idea of her heritage. How did she come by those large brown eyes and that startling red hair? She is quite content with her lot, and has no wish to marry, but unseen forces have been weaving Sancha’s future as tightly as the threads in her new Norwich shawl.

The Runaways
Miss Sylvia has packed her bag and left home after a disagreement with her grandfather.
When she meets Johnathon Byers on the road they decide to join forces in flight, but fate has other ideas for them.
Miss Lucie is hoping to escape the dreary future arranged by her dead father, while the handsome Lord Blake wants help to plan the restoration of the old castle.
But the old pile of stone has a mind of its own … or so it seems.
In the words of the poet: The harmless phantoms on their errands glide, with feet that make no sound upon the floors.
Phantoms may come and go, but romance is never far behind in the ancient halls that are home to many surprising secrets.

Alias Lord John
Spitting image strangers.
Two men who have never met before but share an uncanny resemblance agree to exchange places.
Tristan Rigal is an adventurer just returned from France. Lord John is an English lord with a problem – he needs to be in two places at once. Rigal steps into the lord’s shoes and instantly becomes the owner of a huge estate, a mistress, a wife and an attractive accomplice who says she is a distant cousin.
Lord John leaves England on a secret mission. Meanwhile, Rigal is left to sort out the lord’s affairs while carefully guarding secrets of his own. Will Lord John come back and return to his lordly life as planned, or will Rigal be forced to continue in his role of rakish aristocrat?

Faerie Magic

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Are there fairies at the bottom of the garden? Many people think so. As a child in England I definitely believed I saw them on at least two occasions. This idea was probably encouraged by my grandmother who fed my imagination with stories of the Fae. Once I woke to see tiny things flying through the air in a shaft of sunlight. When I asked Grandmama what they were she said ‘fairies’. Sad to say, now I believe they were only dust motes.

My Gothic novel, The Runaways: A Haunting Regency Romance, was inspired by the probability of the Fae in 19^th century Britain, and the idea of changelings, where fairies swap a fairy child for a human. This belief was once very strong and usually resulted in the changeling child being badly treated. Poor kid. He or she probably had some sort of physical or mental impairment and was punished for it.

Fairy realms have a very autocratic structure apparently. As in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, there are Kings, Queens and various underlings, and their society is structured not unlike that in the time of Regency England, my favourite fantasy.

I rather like the idea of writing a story about just such a child who is heir to a great estate, but treated as a leper. This child, however, uses his/her fairy knowledge to overcome obstacles in the path to power, and develops strength and morality in the process. That one’s on the backburner.Meanwhilemy current hero in the soon to be published Alias Lord John is a changeling of a very different kind. He changes places with a lord, and finds himself the supposed owner of a large estate, a wife, a mistress and an attractive accomplice who says she is a distant cousin.

I used Chillingham Castle in Northumberland as a model for Kinborough in The Runaways. It was fun looking at the rather disturbing attractions on offer: the Lady in White in the Inner Pantry, the Ghost Chamber, where there is this sense of something unseen– a chill, dark, creeping sensation. There are also voices in the chapel, and shades and shadows in the courtyard. A real treat, if you like that sort of thing.