Three Gems; One Holiday Destination

Highlighting Historical Romance: A Holiday in Bath

It is my privilege to be part of A Holiday in Bath, a collection of new novellas, all set in Bath, an English spa city known for its thermal springs and healing waters from the time of the Romans. By the Regency era it had become a fashionable location for holidays as well as for full-time residents.

The Roman Bath

Julie Daines, author of “Trial of the Heart,” has visited Bath. She says writing this story made her want to go back. What did she learn writing it? Her answer made me shudder.

About Trial of the Heart

Marianne Wood has been summoned to Bath to testify against the man who killed her family. She dreads coming face to face with the monster of her nightmares, but finds surprising comfort under the care of a charming barrister, Harby Northam. Despite his kindly attentions, Mr. Northam is a shrewd and discerning man of law with an awful secret. Marianne is put to the test as she deals with the evil of her past and her growing affection for the mysterious Mr. Northam.

Jaima Fixsen is the author of “The Fine Art of Kissing in the Park,” which has an entirely different mood. She says she had most fun searching out pictures of period clothes and jewelry, especially jewelry pieces her heroine’s grandmother might have worn. She pinned some to our Pinterest board. www.pinterest.com/jfixsen/a-holiday-in-bath-timeless-regency-collection/ 

Pulteney Bridge, Bath. Photo by Michael Maggs (Creative commons via Wikimedia)

The heroine of her story has a puppy, an impudent spaniel named Ormonde. She based him on experiences with her own puppy, but that puppy is an English bulldog named Duchess, with less energy and a great deal more dignity. Most of the time.

About The Fine Art of Kissing in the Park

Caroline Trenholme is not pleased with Bath, the fussy, antiquated resort of the shabby-genteel. She ought to be in London, finding a man—not here, coddling her irrational grandmother.
In the park, she crosses paths (literally—this is Bath, after all) with a nameless, mannerless rogue, intent on stealing a kiss. Even her dog likes him better, as if his proposition weren’t insult enough. The man’s impossible!
Especially once she suspects she might like him too.

Caroline Warfield’s contribution is “Lord Edmund’s Dilemma.” I decided to write about a young woman in the lower rungs of society making her way in a world dominated the fashionable set. I knew I wanted the hero to be the younger son of a powerful lord, but Edmund took me a while to figure out. I have to say I’m very pleased with him!

Along the way I had to research the licensing and education of physicians in the Regency era. I was surprised to learn how little formal education existed. Physicians lived in the grey area below the aristocracy and above laborers. They learned their trade by training with an older physician (but not, God forbid, actually apprenticing. They maintained respectability by catering to the upper classes and the pretense of not charging fees. Of course, stipends, left discreetly by their hat when they left helped maintain the charade.

The Pump Room

About Lord Edmund’s Dilemma

Lucy Ashcroft doesn’t share her stepmother’s belief that she might find a husband during her sojourn in Bath, but she does enjoy a respite from a household full of  half-siblings and a younger sister preparing for her London Season, something Lucy can’t even dream about.

As the younger son of a wealthy marquess, Lord Edmund Parker has been taught to do his duty. His parents intend him for the clergy, but his wish is to be a physician. When Lucy and Edmund meet while helping the ladies in their lives take the waters, their mutual interests lead quickly to love. With Lucy at his side, Edmund knows what he must do, but how can he set up a practice and care for a family if he must forfeit his family’s support? How can he pay his addresses to Lucy if he has no income or prospects?

Click here to pre-order A Holiday in Bath now.