My cover

My cover
Nell and her oranges

Thursday, November 8, 2012

The Next Big Thing!

Hi, friends,

I've been tagged in The Next Big Thing by fellow writer Isabelle Goddard (http://www.isabellegoddard.com/isabelle-goddard.html), author of Regency romances, who I had the pleasure of meeting at the Historical Novel Society conference in London in September.
I'm instructed to tell you all about my next book by answering these questions and then to tag a few other authors about their Next Big Thing. So here I go!
What is the working title of your next book?
Venus in Winter.
Where did the idea come from for the book?
After I finished my second book, The September Queen (U.K. title The King’s Mistress), I was casting about for a new subject and recalled that I had thought Bess of Hardwick sounded like an interesting historical character, though I didn’t know much about her. Just from reading the Wikipedia entry on her, I was hooked!

What genre does your book fall under?
Historical fiction.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
My book runs from Bess’s twelfth birthday to her fortieth (she lived to 80), so there would have to be a young girl for the first scenes and another actress to portray her in adulthood. Michelle Dockery (Lady Mary Crawley from Downton Abbey) has the right strength and presence, though Bess was a fair-skinned, blue-eyed redhead! Jessica Chastain looks right and is a very good actress.

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
A sweeping and romantic novel of Bess of Hardwick, the formidable four-times widowed Tudor dynast who began life in genteel poverty and ended as the richest and most powerful woman in England after Queen Elizabeth; built Chatsworth House and Hardwick Hall; and is the forebear of numerous noble lines including the current royal family of Britain. 

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
My book will be published by Berkley, a division of Penguin, who published my first two books.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
Writing this book was rather a nightmare process. I had less than year from when the deal was made until I had to turn in the manuscript to the publisher. Like my other books, it has required an enormous amount of research. I started writing in late July 2011 and finished the first draft at the end of April 2012.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
Biographical historical fiction of the type written by Margaret George and C.W. Gortner.

What else about your book might pique the reader's interest?
Bess knew everyone who was anyone throughout the Tudor period.  At the age of twelve she began serving Lady Zouche, who had been a lady in waiting to Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour, and she was probably at court beginning around the time that Henry VIII married Anne of Cleves. When she was about 15 she joined the household of the Marchioness of Dorset, Frances Grey, and was close to Frances’s daughters – Lady Jane Grey and her younger sisters Katherine and Mary.

Bess second husband, William Cavendish, was a member of the privy council, and her third husband, William St. Loe, was captain of the queen’s guard. Elizabeth probably owed him her life for not betraying her shadowy involvement in the Wyatt Rebellion, and partly in thanks, she made Bess a lady of her privy chamber. Shortly after Bess married her fourth husband, the Earl of Shrewsbury, they were put in charge of Mary Queen of Scots – which contributed to the ruin of their marriage.


Here are some lovely authors I've tagged to tell you about their Next Big Thing! I had the pleasure of meeting all of them at the Historical Novel Society Conference in London in September, and like me, they all write about seventeenth century England! Their posts will be out on November 15!
Deborah Swift, whose most recent book The Gilded Lily, has just come out. http://www.deborahswift.blogspot.com

J.D. Davies is the author of the Matthew Quinton series, the first of which is Gentleman Captain. Excellent swashbuckling naval tales set during the Restoration era.
http://gentlemenandtarpaulins.com

Anita Davison, whose book Royalist Rebel will be out soon!
http://thedisorganisedauthor.blogspot.com

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Next Big Thing post coming soon!

Things are a bit behind here in Nell Gwynn land, but shortly I'll post my leg of the Next Big Thing blog marathon!

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

A plug from Diana Gabaldon!

There's nothing about Diana Gabaldon that I don't like. I love her books, her humor, how she became such a successful author after a career in science. And I love her generosity. Yesterday she posted on her Facebook page an little story about how we came to read a scene from The Darling Strumpet at the Historical Novel Society Conference last June - and a link to the video on You Tube, which is now up to more than 11,500 hits!

https://www.facebook.com/#!/AuthorDianaGabaldon

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Interviews with RWA RITA finalists

I'm so pleased that The Darling Strumpet is a finalist for a RITA award for Best First Book from Romance Writers of America! The winners of the RITA awards will be announced at the national conference on September 28.

http://www.rwa.org/cs/conferences_and_events

Meanwhile, here are the links to two very nice features about the finalists:

http://dearauthor.com/features/interviews/rita-best-first-book-2012-interviews-historical/

http://getlostinastory.blogspot.com

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Nell coming in mass market paperback!

I'm very pleased that Berkley has decided they will reissue Darling Strumpet as a mass market paperback next year, about a month before my novel about Bess of Hardwick comes out!

The cover will be more like a romance cover.  I'm hoping Charles will look something like Johnny Depp in The Libertine! What do you think?

Monday, March 26, 2012

Nell a RITA finalist!

I'm thrilled to say that I got a call this morning from the Romance Writers of America to let me know that "The Darling Strumpet" is a finalist in the Best First Novel category for the RITA awards! The final winners will be announced at the national conference in Anaheim in July.  I'll be there, and teaching a workshop on giving effective readings!

http://www.rwa.org/cs/about_the_conference

Monday, February 6, 2012

Ironic anniversaries of Charles II

On February 6, 1649, a week after Charles I was executed in London, the Parliament of Scotland proclaimed his son Charles King of Great Britain and Ireland in Edinburgh. The English Parliament passed a statute that made any such proclamation unlawful and outlawed the monarchy. Charles II's formal accession to the English throne would have to wait until 1660, when General Monck, who controlled the army, engineered Charles's Restoration.
Charles died on February 6, 1685. Almost his last words, to his brother James the Duke of York, soon to succeed him as James II, were "Let not poor Nelly starve." He knew that of all his mistresses, Nell Gwynn was the one who truly relied on his support for survival.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

"Darling Strumpet" named No. 1 of 2011!

I'm thrilled to say that The Darling Strumpet has been named No. 1 in the 10 Best Historical Novels of 2011 by Kayla Posney of the Pittsburgh Historical Fiction Examiner!

Here's the link to the list, which has links to Kayla's original reviews of The Darling Strumpet and The September Queen:

http://www.examiner.com/historical-fiction-in-pittsburgh/the-10-best-historical-fiction-novels-of-2011?mid=579512