My latest story idea came from my friend Julie. She recently returned a manuscript of mine that she’d had at her house and with it was a chapter I had written about a governess and a marquess. I had forgotten all about this story! But once jogged, I remembered it very well.
It is a governess story and I can hardly wait to start writing it.
Ever since reading Jane Eyre, I’ve loved the fantasy of the governess winding up with the lord. It was one of my favorite themes in traditional regencies and one of my favorite variations on the Cinderella story.
In Emma, Jane Austen gives us a good idea of a governess’s fate, both in a positive way–her own beloved governess, Miss Taylor, who was treated as a beloved family member and who married well–and a negative way–Jane Fairfax, who looks upon the prospect of becoming a governess with as a fate akin to death. Charlotte Bronte’s later depiction of a governess is similarly bleak, and includes the gothic elements that Victoria Holt (another of my favorites) popularized in later years in The Mistress of Mellyn, or another classic, Nine Coaches Waiting by Mary Stewart.
I think governesses are perfect for Cinderella plots, because their status and situation set them apart from the society in which they live. Often they are depicted as well-born young ladies fallen on hard times who must toil for long hours for little pay. They neither fit in with the servant class nor the class of their employers. (But they might befriend some darling mice and pretty little birds–and have a fairy godmother)
Do you like governess stories, or are you (gasp) sick of them? If you like them, do you have a favorite?
Hurry up and comment on yesterday’s interview with Lavinia Klein if you want a chance to win a download of Kathryn the Kitten or a Real Duchesses of London T-shirt. I’m picking the winners at midnight.
Today the Riskies welcome back my good friend Lavinia Kent. I’m so excited about this latest venture of Lavinia’s. It is so much fun!
Lavinia is one of the first authors for Avon’s new digital imprint, Avon Impulse, which aims to offer fresh, exciting content in digital format, available wherever ebooks are sold.
Lavinia has written a series called The Real Duchesses of London, four short, connected novellas based on the “Real Housewives” TV series. Kathryn the Kitten, the first novella in the series is available now.
Here’s some of the review rattle for Kathryn the Kitten:
“Interesting and intriguing…fabulous reading…” —Novel Reaction
“…a terrific blend of love, friendship and a tad bit of suspense.” — Tracy’s Place
“I can’t wait to read about the romantic tribulations of the four other women and to find out who is behind the caricatures.” — Romance Novel News
Take a look at this fabulous Book Trailer for Kathryn the Kitten:
There’s also a longer video, for the entire Real Duchesses of London Series.
Lavinia will give away one download of Kathryn the Kitten to one lucky commenter chosen at random AND to a second randomly selected commenter, a Real Duchesses of London T-shirt featuring the Real Duchesses logo!!
Tell us how you came up with the idea for the series The Real Duchesses of London. I was watching a episode of the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and thinking how ridiculous it all was. Then I started to think about how their real lives must be different from what was seen on TV. I’d also just watched Downton Abby and was excited by the idea of having the maids take the place of the TV viewer.
Who are the “Real Duchesses”? The real Duchesses are a group of aristocratic women who are brought together when a print of them all is pasted to shop windows all across London. Each of the women either has a problem with her husband or develops one as the result of a scandalous print.
Kathryn the Kitten is available now. What is her story? Kathryn, the Duchess of Harrington, has always done everything perfectly. When a tragedy changes her world Kathryn doesn’t know how to react and finds herself withdrawing farther and farther from her husband. When a cartoon implies that her husband has a huge secret, Kathryn must find away to start a new relationship with the duke.
What is Risky about this series and its first story? The relationships between the women can be very risky. In the first story Kathryn discovers things about her dearest friend, Linnette, the Dowager Duchess of Doveshire, that change and almost ruin their long-lasting friendship.
From a personal standpoint the most risky thing was trying to write a scene with several duchesses in the room and still make it clear who was talking. There were “Your Graces” all over the place. I had to move everybody to a first name basis much sooner than I would have otherwise or it was just too confusing.
Where was most of your research time spent? Watching the “Real Housewives” on TV or researching in the regency? Did you discover anything interesting in your research? I spent time looking at old prints and cartoons. It’s hard to call it research because it was just so much fun. It is amazing the things that could be printed for anyone to see.
I also re-examined the fashions of the time because I moving into the early 1820’s with these stories and things were starting to change. I actually make use of the great bell shaped skirts in my second story, Linnette, the Lioness.
Tell us how the YouTube video and its depiction of the Duchesses came about. It all started when I saw my friend Janet Mullany’s daughter making a drawing for another author. I loved it and asked if she could do one for me. Even if I never used it I thought it would be fun to have a drawing to represent the first cartoon in my book.
My daughter, who is taking computer graphics in high school, asked why I didn’t have a book trailer – and before I knew it she was creating one for me. The original concept of using the cartoon and combining it with the opening credits from The Real Housewives was mine, but she took it and ran with it. The ultimate product is very much her creation.
What’s next for you? What’s the next book in the series and what is your next book? The next novella in my series is Linnette, the Lioness. It comes out this Tuesday. It’s a reunion story and also a story of learning to love again after a past betrayal. Annabelle the American will be released in August and Elizabeth the Enchantress, in September.
My next book, What a Duke Wants, comes out this October and is the story of a runaway lady and a duke who doesn’t want to be a duke. I had great fun writing about mistaken identity and learning to survive when life doesn’t work out the way you want.
A question from me:
Is there anyone who will admit to liking the women’s clothing of the 1820’s? I am genuinely curious. I love true regency dress and then suddenly the skirts poof out and the sleeves as well – and the bonnets . . .
I just can’t imagine ever wanting to wear it. How about you?
Thanks for visiting the Riskies, Lavinia. Remember, everyone, to comment for a chance to win either a download of Kathryn the Kitten or a Real Duchesses of London T-Shirt! Winners will be selected after midnight Monday night and announced on Tuesday.
Last week while I was on vacation, I read Jennifer Crusie’s ANYONE BUT YOU. It was a hoot, a perfect beach read, and featured a “cookie-snatching, walk-avoiding, marathon-sleeping” dog who came close to upstaging the romance.
I like animals in books. They add color and humor and always tell you something about the main characters. Some authors put animals into every book. I think almost every Mary Jo Putney book I’ve read has a cat in it somewhere. Laura Kinsale’s “mascot animals” range from a pig to a shark.
I don’t try to write animals into every book, but there are a few I think of fondly.
One of my favorites is the hero’s horse in my first book, LORD LANGDON’S KISS. I based him on Jack, a horse I used to ride while I was on international assignment in England (sadly deceased of a fatal case of colic). I loved Jack! He was the perfect gentleman; his owner told me the only time he might turn headstrong was if a hunt came nearby. In that case, she warned me that he would join the hunt and told me to just hang on, trust that he would jump anything in his path and that he would settle down after a few miles. It never happened but what an opportunity for Regency research that would have been!
In SAVING LORD VERWOOD, the h/h rescue a seal pup (incident inspired by a visit to the Seal Sanctuary in Cornwall). I hoped they would put it on the cover, because it would have been something different. I was told a seal would be too cute. So they put ducks on the cover instead.
In LADY DEARING’S MASQUERADE, the heroine had a bunch of foundlings living on her estate, so I gave them a menagerie of pets, including a hedgehog that peed on the hero (based on a real incident at a nearby nature center).
Do you enjoy animal characters in romances? What are your favorites? Do you think seals are cuter than ducks, or the opposite?
Remember that game, “Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?” You can play it on Facebook, now, apparently. Well, at Risky Regencies we are playing a game today called “Where in the World is Megan Frampton.”
Right after the RWA conference, our Megan disappeared. Rumor has it she is on a much coveted vacation somewhere in the world (because, unless you are on today’s Space Shuttle, that is the only place she could be). Unlike Carmen, she is not a fugitive from the law. Just a fugitive from the daily grind–at least that is what we hope.
Where do you think Megan is and what do you think she is doing? Let’s be fanciful. You know Megan from her blog postings. Tell us Where in the World is Megan Frampton and be creative!
One lucky commenter will be chosen at random to receive a 99 cent download of the book of your choice from Amazon Kindle. I’ll announce the winner by Monday.
But be sure to come back on Sunday for our Risky guest, Lavinia Kent, who will be giving away a Real Duchesses of London Limited Edition T-Shirt bearing this logo:
Lavinia will also be giving away one download of her Avon Impulse novella, Kathryn the Kitten, first in the Duchesses series
Most of my best experiences in NYC last week were on my own or with one or two people, which is quite often the case at large conferences. It just becomes overwhelming otherwise. The lovely and talented Miranda Neville was witness to one of my rare forays into the wonderful world of alcohol, I met Maggie Robinson for the first time (and thanks, Maggie, for dealing with my a/v problem) and Pam Rosenthal and I hung out together.
I also had a solo and messy experience eating a falafel sandwich on Times Square, one of the more glorious meals of the event (which isn’t saying much).
But the best thing I did was to visit the Discovery Pompeii Exhibit which was really spectacular. And guess what, it’s related to the Regency! Of course it is … the site was first excavated in the mid eighteenth century and, well, need I say any more than Pompeian red?
It was such a pleasure to be able to view the exquisite wall paintings and realize how they influenced Georgian design.
Because it was Discovery, the exhibit was a little overorchestrated, with sound effects and so on, but it did include a very well done movie of the timeline of the day of the eruption, which I watched twice.
To keep things PG, the exhibit contained a reconstruction of a room in a brothel (with dire warnings outside) which looked squeaky clean and more like a room in a nunnery, other than the erotic fresco, which I didn’t find did a whole lot for me. Had impressionable young people entered the room they would have received a lesson in bedmaking.
What fascinated me were the details–of the frescoes, of the fountain studded with mosaics and seashells, and the glimpses of everyday life: graffiti, a loaf of bread, a jar with fish sauce, the beautifully preserved cosmetic sets. The casts of the figures–there were about a dozen including a dog and a pig–were touching and pitiful, particularly one of a toddler whose features you could see quite clearly. I hope it’s true that death was instantaneous, but so many of them were people fleeing who dropped in their tracks; think how terrified they must have been. They didn’t even know Aetna was a volcano–the word didn’t exist–although apparently earth tremors were quite frequent there.
Did you catch this exhibit? I believe its only stop is at Discovery Times Square. Or have you seen any other museum exhibits that you enjoyed recently?
p.s. you can enter a contest at Goodreads to win a copy of TELL ME MORE, my contemporary erotic romance which comes out in a couple of weeks.
In Emma, Jane Austen gives us a good idea of a governess’s fate, both in a positive way–her own beloved governess, Miss Taylor, who was treated as a beloved family member and who married well–and a negative way–Jane Fairfax, who looks upon the prospect of becoming a governess with as a fate akin to death. Charlotte Bronte’s later depiction of a governess is similarly bleak, and includes the gothic elements that Victoria Holt (another of my favorites) popularized in later years in The Mistress of Mellyn, or another classic, Nine Coaches Waiting by Mary Stewart.
