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Category: Risky Book Talk

Posts in which we talk about our own books

Interview with Laurie Bishop, author of LORD RYBURN’S APPRENTICE!

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As a child growing up on a dairy farm, Laurie Bishop spent countless hours reading anything she could find—from Greek, Roman, and Norse myths to Robert Frost’s poetry. Then she picked up her grandmother’s copy of Jane Austen’s PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, which began her love affair with the Regency period. Laurie won the Romance Writers of America’s Golden Heart competition for THE BEST LAID PLANS. Today Laurie lives in her native upstate New York. She has a master’s degree in human services and counseling and is employed in social work, but her favorite job is collaborating at night with her marvelous cat and writing partner, Tojo. Learn more at www.lauriebishop.com


Praise for LORD RYBURN’S APPRENTICE!

“Bishop builds the story nicely as Alex’s heart of ice begins to melt and Cora learns what the pangs of love mean. With an unruly cast, tension throughout and some surprising twists, this novel is a perfect fit for Regency lovers.” — Romantic Times Bookclub 4 Stars

“For a sweet and charming regency that combines all the elements of your favorite fairy-tale and your favorite Jane Austen, look no further than Lord Ryburn’s Apprentice.” — Valarie Pelissero, for Rakehell Reviews Read the review

“Laurie Bishop continues to please with her lighthearted romances, engaging characters, and puzzles to untangle…” —Jane Bowers, for Romance Reviews Today Read the review

The Interview

Q. How did you think of writing this particular book? Did it start with a character, a setting, or some other element?

It started with a character. The character was an elderly gentlewoman, childless, who felt unfulfilled and bored–until she hit upon the idea of taking in a ward. The rest of the story came from this.

Q. How long did it take? Was this an easy or difficult book to write?

The book was a challenge to write as I had a limited window of time for completion. Fortunately, once I had developed the characters, the story came with little difficulty. Well, there was a little brain cudgeling! And the research, of course.

Q. Tell me more about your characters. What or who inspired them?

The elderly woman was Lady Estcott. I suppose I was thinking of Miss Havisham in Great Expectations, only lady Estcott was not, at least initially, motivated by revenge–and her enemy was not the entire male sex! I will leave it for the reader to discover the rest.

The heroine, Miss Marland, was more difficult as I chose to make her an innocent young woman with a modest disposition. The challenge was in making her an interesting individual in her own right. She became a person of high intelligence, with an aptitude for music and a strong sense of honor and duty, who evolves from wanting only to better her own position to being motivated to protect those she loves. Lord Ryburn, experienced, dutiful and yet proud, is into a gentleman who, although having a reputation with the ladies, is motivated to protect his eccentric family. Both hero and heroine developed pretty much equally from story demands and the evolution of their characters.

Q. Did you run across anything new and unusual while researching this book?

In this story I paid a lot of attention to London life, and it is important to me to have the details I use be correct. I researched the map of London of the period, period drawings of famous locations as Hyde Park, Park Street and Almack’s (both outside and in). I read a portion of a Victorian diary narrating the details of the writer’s come-out at Almacks. Overall, I searched for the ways in which the middle classes and the upper classes contrasted. I found it interesting how the different London parks were used–the different characteristics, who frequented them, which ones were exclusive, and when.

Q. What do you think is the greatest creative risk you’ve taken in this book?
How do you feel about it?

That would be the characters. As I mentioned before, Miss Marland was a challenge to me. I do think she came out quite well! And I also needed to make Lord Ryburn sympathetic, given his motivation to protect his Great Aunt and the rest of his family from the possible repercussions of Miss Marland’s introduction to the family.

Q. What are you working on now?

At the moment I am deviating from the Regency genre and writing a romantic suspense! No, I do not plan to stay away from the Regency period in the future, but this is a story I have been wanting to tell for a long time.

I have ideas for future Regencies that I want to write, so I will be looking forward to them, and the opportunity to bring them to Regency fans. We shall see what the future holds! Thank you so much to everyone who is a fan of the Regency genre and helps to keep this short time in history alive. I am quite sure that we always shall.

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My New Year’s Book…

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I’ve been meaning to show my January Cover and it occurred to me this morning that time is flying. I’ve been a bit engrossed in what I will do from this time forward, and so I am apologizing to the Muse of this book, who is at this moment quite annoyed with me.

I especially love this cover, and am very thankful, for it is my last traditional Regency. I love both of the characters–the heroine with her atypical appearance (she is brunette to begin with), and the hero looks mature and very real. I am grateful to the artist for this lovely work.

Laurie
LORD RYBURN’S APPRENTICE
Signet, Jan. ’06

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Secret Betrothals

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I received the author copies of A Not So Reputable Gentleman? last Friday, and there is nothing like seeing the book in its tangible form. Even ebook-Kindle-loving me savors holding the book in my hands and flipping through its pages.

I’ll do an “official” introduction to the book near its release date of July 24, but revisiting the book after several months reminded me of some of the essential elements of the story.

My hero and heroine were secretly betrothed before the book begins. Secret betrothals, while favored in fiction (e.g. Edward Ferrars and Lucy Steele in Sense and Sensibility; Frank Churchill and Jane Fairfax in Emma), were frowned upon in the real Regency world. In fact, it was considered a serious moral lapse.

Unmarried men and women in society were not permitted to be alone together and were expected to meet only in carefully chaperoned circumstances, like balls and other society parties.

Before a betrothal, young men and women were forbidden to use each other’s Christian names. They could not correspond by letters. They could not exchange gifts. They could not touch in any kind of intimate way and certainly could not kiss.

My hero and heroine had broken nearly all these taboos, although they, of course, considered themselves betrothed. In public, however, any show of particular attention or lapse of correct behavior would have given them away. Society was quick to assume a serious attachment on any sign of particular attention between a couple.

A secret engagement typically meant that there were reasons parents would not approve of the match. During the Regency a parent’s approval was expected if the child was under 21 years of age. Parents naturally wished for socially and financially secure marriages for their children. At the time of my book’s beginning, my hero was neither financially secure or socially acceptable.

By the 1800s a betrothal became more of a gentleman’s word than a contract between families. Even though suing for breach of contract was no longer the norm, a gentleman was expected to keep his word if he asked a woman to marry. A gentleman was disgraced if he broke an engagement and his fiancee was considered damaged goods. The lady was the only one who could “cry off” but then she was considered a jilt.

This, of course, makes great fodder for Regency Romance Novels. In reality, it is what led Wellington to marry Kitty Pakenham. When Kitty had been young and vivacious Wellington had courted her, but his suit was not accepted by her family. When he returned from India, Kitty had become pale and sickly, but Wellington realized that she had considered them betrothed all that time. He felt duty-bound to marry her as a result.

A secret betrothal held no such protections for the couple. By its secrecy, words–and hearts–could be broken without any social cost, although the emotional cost could be enormous.

In matters of marriage, the Regency was, like in so many areas, a time of change. In the 17th and 18th century society marriages were arranged by the parents and were secured for financial gain or rise in social status. By the Regency, couples wished to marry for love. Some blamed this foolish notion on the reading of novels.

Do you like secret betrothals in Regency romances? What about arranged marriages?

If you would like a chance to win a copy of A Not So Reputable Gentleman?, enter my part of the Harlequin Historical Authors Summer Beach Bag Giveaway. For more chances at other prizes and the grand prize of a Kindle Fire, enter daily. See details here.

Posted in Regency, Research, Risky Book Talk | Tagged , , , | 10 Replies