Love is worth the risk
Did I mention I’ve been working on a novella for the Bluestocking Belles’ next annual collection? The projected release date is September. It features a group of soldiers returned from Waterloo on time for the village’s harvest festival. My hero is the village’s beloved physician whose scars are deep. There was no word for PTSD […]
When the Phillip, Duke of Glenmoor, gave his new friends the Archers his formal name with four Christian names, four titles, and a surname, they were highly amused. The Archers, a frontier family with its roots in the Appalachian mountains, have no truck with formality. The seized on the fourth of his names, Arthur, and […]
A few of you may have missed me lately. For a while I was focused on writing Duke in Name Only, and then… I’ve been very focused on Beloved who has been ill and spent 16 days in the hospital. I’m pleased to announce that he is home, feels better than he has since summer, […]
This is from Duke in Name Only (April 2023). Phillip plans to go upriver with Nan’s brother to search for jewelry or pawn shops in Saint Louis that might have word about his missing signet ring. He hasn’t told either of them he’s also studying commerce along the river, looking for investment opportunities. He’s determined […]
…you could cross the Atlantic in a month in the Age of Sail? I read that Columbus took two months, and then again six weeks. Of course, he crossed the Atlantic more than once. The average trip was probably six weeks in the eighteenth century. By the beginning of the nineteenth century, sailings of three […]
Working away at the hotel post Historical Romance Retreat. I’ve done a bit of character work, and finally got down the opening I envisioned for Duke in Name Only. When Phillip discovered that the title he held was acquired fraudulently, he wandered away to North America determined to create an independent fortune, success of his […]
…that the late Georgians were notoriously heavy drinkers? But the upper classes inclined more toward wine than distilled spirits. In 1838, by one estimate, consumption of distilled spirits in England was a mere .53 gallon per capita annually. Contrast that with Scotland at 2.46 and Australia at 5.02. While gentlemen might start their day with […]
I typed “The End” on the bottom of Duke in All But Name last weekend. I’m taking a break from it while some eagle eyed beta readers take a look. I should know by next weekend if the plot holds together as well as I hope. Then I’ll get down to the serious work of […]
This one is about half done. The working title is Duke in All But Name. ***** Kendrick Colliery, Wales, August 1818 The rich wood paneling of the mine owner’s office glowed in flickering lamplight. Though barely noon, grey clouds hung heavily over the valley and little light filtered through the window. Gideon Kendrick reread the […]
This is probably my favorite scene in The Upright Son. (Except for that big kiss. Maybe I’ll do that one next week.) David has reacted to an accident by forbidding his children to go anywhere near Lady Fitzwallace and her children. So, of course, Marj has headed directly there. ***** He dismounted and waited for […]