And she has a contest!
One of the highlights at RWA for me was spending some time with historical romance author Maggie Robinson, one of the funniest ladies I know. And here she is at the Riskies, so I’ll just let Maggie take over now…
It’s delightful to be back with the Riskies, particularly since I am highjacking their blog and changing it to Risky Edwardians! I’ve gone from carriages to cars, hand-written missives to marconigrams, talking face-to-face to telephoning, LOL.
The first book in my new Edwardian Ladies Unlaced series, In the Arms of the Heiress, is set in 1903. My heroine Louisa Stratton has been crashing around the Continent on a year-long motor trip with her loyal maid Kathleen. Louisa’s left her awful, interfering family behind in the dust, and to keep her independence has invented a husband—the perfect man, Maximillian Norwich. When she’s forced to come home, she has to hire an imperfect man, Charles Cooper, to pretend to be the fictional urbane art connoisseur she “married” in Paris.
For the price she’s willing to pay for his services, Charles thinks he can do anything for thirty days. He’s been drinking, is depressed and desperate after serving as a captain in the Second Boer War and administering a concentration camp for Boer women and children. Even with only one good eye, he’s seen things he wishes he could unsee. After witnessing horrific collateral damage on civilians, he assumes Louisa is just another spoiled little rich girl without a thought in her head. To both their surprise, the jaded Charles and flighty Louisa turn out to be perfectly imperfect together, especially when mischief and mayhem move in with them at Rosemont, the family estate.
It’s been such fun researching a different era, but love is love, no matter the time frame. Library Journal gave ITAOTH a coveted starred review, and the book has been called “a must-read” (Tessa Dare), “a marvelous read” (RT Book Reviews with 4 ½ stars and a K.I.S.S. for Charles!), “full of witty dialog and scorching romance” (Elizabeth Essex) and “fun, light and very sexy.” (Semxybooks) [Comment from Janet: I had a sneak peak at this book and it’s terrific. It deserves all this praise and more]
I have a copy to give away for one commenter. Here’s a photograph of my very own Edwardian heiresses, my grandmother and her sisters. Are you lucky enough to have family pictures through the ages? What is your favorite family photograph?
Oh wow, Maggie, what a great family photo!
I have a couple of favorites. One is of my very straight-laced great aunt sitting on the running board of a Model T car in her fabulous dress and stylish hat.
The other is of my Native American great grandparents standing outside the farmhouse on the farm they share-cropped surrounded by chickens and looking like a Native American version of American Gothic.
The last is my Creek grandmother’s 21st birthday portrait. It was taken after she cut off her waist-length hair when her father refused to let her marry the Creek man she was in love with because the man was poor and had nothing. There is a look of such sadness and defiance on her face. She ended up married to a Cherokee man who was the only son of a family with land and money. He ended up being a raging abusive alcoholic who ran around on her until she finally ran him off the farm at gunpoint and divorced him. She raised nine children on her own for the most part and I can see that strength and perseverance in the sepia photograph of the 21 year old woman who defied her father in the only way she could at the time.
Oh my gosh, Louisa! It’s so wonderful you know your family history, even if much of it wouldn’t make a romance novel. I wish I knew who was who in my picture. I believe my grandmother is second from the left. She was the youngest in her family, and had a zillion sisters. Collectively they were called “The Beautiful Miller Sisters,” though I’m not sure I see it, LOL.
They’re lovely, Maggie! I’ve seen photos of women from this era and many of them are singularly unattractive. I can see where your grandmother and her sisters got their title.
I was fortunate enough to spend time talking to my grandmother about our family history and to record it. And at every family reunion I have a notebook in which family members can write down any information or old stories or even recipes that have been handed down from our elders.
Loved the photo..I don’t have anything that old. A lot of our family photos were lost in a fire when I was an infant. There is 1 photo that I just love of me and my brother. I was 9 and he was 17. Gary, my brother, took me to the mall to see Santa. I got shy and scared, so my 17 year old brother sat on one knee of Santa, while I occupied the other knee. With my brother by my side, I was all smiles. Looking back, I see a wonderful young man willing to do anything to bring a smile to his little sisters face. It we was a glimpse of the man he would be. Gary is the wonderful father of 5 daughters and 1 son, grandfather of 8 grandsons and 3 granddaughters – what lucky kids. What a wonderful example of a true Gentleman he is…
That is the best story ever! We have a shot of my son kicking and crying on Santa’s lap when he was about 1 1/2, and it was my own husband who was in the Santa suit, LOL. We worked at a boarding school and every year one of the faculty members was pressed into service for the annual Christmas party.
I think Gary is probably lucky to have you as a sister, too.
I only have one very old picture, a picture of my great-grandmonther.
It’s difficult to find more on our family tree, because both my grandmother and grandfather were bastards. I never knew my grandfather, but my grandmother didn’t like to talk about it and I didn’t push her.
Now, that sounds like a mystery worth solving. Family secrets are sometimes so heart-breaking. I wish I’d spent more time with both my grandmothers talking about their lives.
My favorite family pic is one of a great-great uncle with his donkey cart painted with a big sign saying “Fresh Eggs.” The other one is possibly lost, to my dismay. It’s of my brother, aged two, in a petting zoo in Holland with a pig biting off one of his coat buttons (an episode I used in one of my Regency chicklits).
Great to have you visit, Maggie!
It’s fabulous to be here! I have a picture of a goat licking my ear when I was about 5. I was terrified, LOL. The owners treated it like a dog and it was allowed to come in the kitchen!
The furthest back my family photos go is my mother’s photo album from when she was a teenager, and my favorite photo is one of my grandparents out working in the yard. It’s just so homey and candid, and it’s probably from the late 1930’s.
That’s a great photo. I don’t have any originals that are that old, but I do have some copies that I’ve gotten from my mother.
I wish I had photos like these elegant ladies in my albums, but I do have one of my grandfather (he was my favorite of all my grandpas!) when he was an eight-year-old boy! Oh my, he was ADORABLE! When I look at it, I wonder how fun it would be to have known him at that age; maybe to be one of his childhood friends — what did he sound like, what he liked to play, what made him laugh? I know he had a pretty happy childhood from what relatives have told me. His father was a very gentle soul and he had several aunts who really doted on him. Oh, and they were in the moonshine business, too!
while there are some old pictures about, while we know they are related somehow, for the most part the actual who is a mystery. but 2 treasured faves are 1 of mom at about 20 (she looks like a 40’s-50’s movie star, though I might be prejudiced in that view) and the other is dad’s senior high school pic (he was a nice looking boy). one year for xmas I had copies of the 2 pics made so each my siblings & I would have a complete set of them.
Those ladies are looking lovely Maggie!! What a great picture to treasure 🙂
My family was very poor and could not afford many family pictures. I have one of my Paternal great grandparents, stiffly side by side not smiling at all. Probably hungry, they both seem very frail.
An engagement picture of my maternal grandparents looking in love in a studio set & the oldest picture I have is my great grandmother. Also on mother’s side. Sadly it’s faded and the edges/corners of the photo are really tattered. I cannot get a good look at her face. But it is still special and might even add a little mystery to her. I know very little about her…
Wow! I don’t have anything older than my parents when they were courting.