Savanna Walker

Sabrina Jeffries’ new historical romance series has quite the irresistible hook: an entire family of dashing dukes. The half brothers’ unlucky-in-love mother, Lydia, has been married three times—each time to a duke. Eldest son Fletcher “Grey” Pryde, duke of Greycourt, who is somewhat distant from the rest of his family due to a difficult childhood, finds his reserve tested by the forthright and unconventional Beatrice Wolfe. We talked to Jeffries about writing a blended family, the surprising tradition of funeral biscuits and what jobs she thinks her characters would have if they lived in the modern age.

Where did the idea for an entire family of dukes come from?
Honestly, I was planning on the heroes having different titles when I thought to myself, “I could make them all dukes. It would be a duke dynasty.” I started laughing (I never watched “Duck Dynasty,” but I have friends who did), and that was it. I had to make the series all dukes. Then, while researching it, I realized that there’s something of a precedent for it, since Elizabeth Gunning (famed for her beauty) married two different dukes, outlived both of them and was engaged to a third. So it’s not THAT far out of the realm of possibility.

Are the funeral biscuits that Beatrice and Grey spar over at the very beginning of Project Duchess a real tradition? And if not, how did you come up with such a hilariously macabre idea?
They’re a real thing! It was mostly confined to Lincolnshire, but they were in occasional use in other places during this period. Just check out this article about Austen’s funeral descriptions, which also has examples of the wrappers. They truly are macabre.

I laughed out loud when it was revealed that Grey’s mother named all of her sons after famous playwrights. Did you have a reason for which son was named after which writer?
Not really. It was hard enough figuring out playwright surnames that wouldn’t be too weird for hero first names! The only problem I ran into was that I initially wanted Greycourt to be Greystock and Thornstock to be Thorncourt, but my critique partner told me Greystock was just too close to Greystoke, from Tarzan. Although I’d done that on purpose, I didn’t want readers thinking that I had done it cluelessly instead of as a nod to Tarzan. What I couldn’t have known when I switched the ends of the two names was that Elizabeth Hoyt would come out with the Greycourt series within months of mine. The first book of her series was released while I was dealing with a family crisis, and anyway, it would have been too late to change the title name because my book was also well into production. I guess romance minds think alike!

Project Duchess is a very witty and light-hearted romance, even though both Beatrice and Grey have some very upsetting past experiences that come to the forefront as the story unfolds. How did you strike that balance as a writer?
That was difficult. But my previous editor used to say that I write deep emotion with a light hand. I’m not sure exactly how that works, so I can’t really tell you! I do know that I was influenced by Judith McNaught and Amanda Quick, both of whom use comic elements to lighten sometimes dark stories. Also, I’m a huge lover of Shakespeare’s work, and he practically invented the idea of comic relief. When I’m writing comic scenes, that’s how it feels to me—as if it’s a release from the emotion of a previous scene.

Most Regency readers know that the behavior in that era was extremely codified, but I don’t think I’ve ever read a book that spells out just how restricted women in that society were like Project Duchess does. Where do you do your research for all those rules about how to behave in society?
I got most rules about ballroom behavior from information I’ve culled through the years from a variety of sources. I also used From the Ballroom to Hell: Grace and Folly in Nineteenth-Century Dance, a compilation of various period sources about etiquette and dance in the 19th century, but since many of its sources are Victorian, it was only useful insofar as it covered the Regency. There are also some excellent online sources from dance enthusiasts and Regency enthusiasts.

The funeral stuff is well documented if you know what you’re looking for. Women simply weren’t allowed to attend funerals. It was thought that their over-emotional reactions weren’t dignified. Anyway, I could probably write a whole article on funerals in the period, but that would be a bit . . . morbid. ☺

Which member of Grey’s family was the most fun to write?
It’s a toss-up between one of the twins and their mom. It was hard to balance Lydia’s grief with her wit, however, so it took me a while to get that right.

What jobs do you think Beatrice and Grey would have if they lived today?
Hmm. Beatrice would probably be an animal trainer or a funeral director. Grey would be a real estate developer. Or perhaps a lawyer, since he had the capacity to read and comprehend legalese at a young age.

What was the most difficult aspect of writing this book for you?
Since Project Duchess was about a blended family, I had a rough time explaining who everyone was in relation to everyone else without using gobs of narration. Fortunately, my editor came up with the idea of using a newspaper gossip column to provide the explanations naturally. That worked very well.

What’s next for you?
I’m plotting Thorn’s book. It’s too early for me to even tell you what it’s about, since I don’t know yet. But between Grey’s book and Thorn’s is a book about Beatrice’s brother, Joshua, and Thorn’s twin sister, Gwyn. The title is The Bachelor (all the titles of the books in this series—and only the titles—are based on reality TV shows). Between Project Duchess and The Bachelor is a novella entitled “The Perfect Match,” which will come out this Christmas in an anthology called Seduction on a Snowy Night, which also includes novellas by Madeline Hunter and Mary Jo Putney.

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: See our cover reveal of Sabrina Jeffries’ The Bachelor.

Author photo by Jessica Blakely for Tamara Lackey Photography.

When Simon and Suzanne Duval decide to get married at the beginning of Mary Jo Putney’s Once a Spy, romantic love is the last thing on their minds. An experienced soldier and spy, Simon hasn’t felt desire in years, and Suzanne’s horrific experience as a harem slave has left her traumatized at the thought of physical intimacy. When Simon comes across Suzanne, his cousin by marriage, humbly making her way in London as a seamstress, he offers marriage as a solution to her relative poverty and their loneliness. But as real passion begins to bloom between them, the couple begins to work through Suzanne’s trauma together. All the while, Waterloo draws ever closer and Simon will soon be thrust back into the dangerous world of international intrigue.

We talked to Putney about the fascinating Napoleonic wars, the joys of writing a mature and experienced couple and what comes next.

The Napoleonic wars were underway throughout the Regency, but only a few romances set during this period address the conflict as in as much depth as Once a Spy. What fascinates you about that conflict?
I’ve always seen parallels between the Napoleonic wars and WWII. In both cases, for a long time Britain stood along against the continental monster. And for authors, the Napoleonic period offers a wealth of drama, disrupted lives, heroic men and women. Yum!!! Very handy for plotting material.

"I don’t find innocence or inexperience particularly interesting. I am interested in characters that have experienced great challenges and pain."

What differences come with writing a mature, experienced couple like Simon and Suzanne as opposed to a younger pair of protagonists?
I don’t find innocence or inexperience particularly interesting. I am interested in characters that have experienced great challenges and pain, and have become “stronger in the mended places.” Some of the strongest recurring themes in my writing are healing, redemption and reconciliation. There is often forgiveness—but some of my characters have had experiences that can never be forgiven, only moved beyond. Like real life.

What’s changed the most in your writing process since publishing your first book?
Interesting question! Not really a lot. I can’t start writing until I can produce at least a simple synopsis that delineates the setting, the main characters and the overall plot line and resolution. Everything else I figure out as I go along. If I don’t know what comes next, I tread water and edit until I know how to proceed. It’s like building a brick wall: I can’t move on until the previous courses of bricks are solid, so at the end, I need to do very few revisions. I will say that it doesn’t get any easier!

Suzanne’s past trauma as a harem slave is handled so touchingly and respectfully. How did you go about researching what her experiences and recovery would have been like?
I have various books about harem life, enough to have an understanding of how widely varied harem life could be. We first met Suzanne in my previous book, Once a Scoundrel, where we found out more about her life there and how she escaped. I did create an unusually difficult situation for her because it made her particularly interesting and impressive. Another major recurring theme in my books is the challenges women have always faced. There have always been strong women, and those are the ones I write about.

Depicting Napoleon, Wellington and Waterloo must have been a daunting task. What sources did you draw on for your interpretation of these figures and events?
There are a zillion books about Waterloo, as well as about Wellington and Napoleon, and I have a whole bookcase full of them! I’ve been writing about this period for years so knowledge accumulates.

I also some years ago wrote another Waterloo book, Shattered Rainbows (part of my Fallen Angels series). In that book, I went more deeply into the whole experience, including Brussels social life and going right onto the battlefield with my main characters. I worked out where on the line of battle my hero’s fictional regiment was located, and the major troop movements.

I couldn’t do that again, which is what inspired me to find a different angle on Waterloo for this story. Hence, intelligence gathering, which was vital and much harder to research. I sifted through still more books to get bits and pieces of real events that I could hand over to my characters.

Tell me more about the inspiration for Simon’s character, Colonel Colquhoun Grant.
He was a fascinating guy! The youngest of eight brothers of an aristocratic Scottish family, he was considered an exploring officer, riding behind enemy lines in full uniform, observing, taking notes and drawing maps. He was head of Wellington’s personal intelligence staff on the Peninsula and later during the period before and including Waterloo. Like Simon, he sent in reports about French troop movements and again, like Simon, returned to Brussels in time to take the field at Waterloo.

What do you admire most about Suzanne? About Simon?
Their resilience, their courage, their honesty. I don’t go into too much detail about the horrors they’ve experienced, but I did try to make it clear that they’d both suffered trauma and loss. Though they were lonely and weary, neither of them were bitter, nor had they given up on life. Which is why when Simon located Suzanne, they each had the courage to agree to a marriage of companionship and friendship rather than passion. They were both always honest with each other, which was essential to build the “happily ever after” neither of them had believed possible.

**spoilers ahoy** Lucas is a particularly fascinating character. Would you ever consider writing a book about him?
Why, what a coincidence! The book with which I’m currently locked in mortal combat is Lucas’ story, working title Once Dishonored. You, my editor and I all agreed he needed a book of his own.

What’s next for you?
The series I’m doing now is called Rogues Redeemed and it’s built around five men held prisoner in a Portuguese cellar where they’ve been condemned to be shot at dawn. During the night, they bond over danger and figure out how to escape, then pledge to keep in touch and maybe meet up after the wars if they’re still alive. Simon is the fourth of those five men. Lucas became an interesting detour! The book after Once Dishonored will be the story of the fifth man in the cellar, and that will take me to some places.

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Read our review of Once a Spy.

Author photo by Marti Corn.

Angelique Breedlove nearly stole the show from the titular character in Lady Derring Takes a Lover, Julie Anne Long’s return to historical romance and the start of her new Palace of Rogues series. Jaded where Delilah Derring was naïve and harsh where she was soft, Angelique was the perfect foil to Long’s good-hearted, somewhat sheltered main character. So when it came time to write Angelique’s own love story, readers were anxious to see just who could possibly deserve her. The answer? Lucien, a deliciously sarcastic bastard son of a duke, whose quest for revenge is totally derailed by his overwhelming attraction to Angelique.

We talked to Long about Delilah and Angelique’s friendship, the joys of setting a series in a boarding house and why Lucien is the perfect man for Angelique.

Where did the idea for a series set in a boarding house come from? What have you enjoyed about it so far?
The notion of a “true home” is a theme I’ve explored more than once in my books. I think it’s a yearning everyone has—to belong, to know your true family, whether they’re related to you or not. And I just loved the idea of a colorful, revolving cast of characters of various ages and social strata who move in and stir things up for a core cast —so many opportunities for connection, conflict, secret intrigues and passions, comedy and tenderness, scandal, growth, you name it! When you throw a disparate bunch of characters together, anything can happen, so it presents a wealth of storytelling opportunities. Moreover, it seemed an opportunity for two women to shine with strength—Delilah and Angelique are in charge at The Grand Palace on the Thames, irregardless of their very impressive husbands. It’s the place where they can be their truest selves. Perhaps it’s why they met their truest loves there.

Readers (myself among them!) adored Angelique in Lady Derring Takes a Lover. Did you feel any pressure to come up with the perfect man for her? And why do you think Angelique and Lucien work so well together?
I’m so happy readers seem to feel as protective of Angelique as I do! And because of that, I did feel a responsibility for finding just the right man for her. She’s far more jaded and experienced than Delilah (the former Lady Derring, current Mrs. Hardy), but in many ways she’s also far more vulnerable (something she disguises with ironic wit) because she’s been betrayed or used by men more than once. The irresistible chemistry between her and Lucien is not something easily squelched, but romantic notions have proven to be her downfall in the past, so she shuts down the physical aspect fast . . . at first. Both Lucien and Angelique have transmuted grave personal betrayals and heartbreaks into strengths—but also into ironclad defenses. Perhaps this is how they see and understand each other so clearly; they’re fitted with similar lenses. And in the distance created when she holds him at arm’s length, this understanding and intimacy flourishes until they both find themselves being almost scarily vulnerable to each other.

"Both Lucien and Angelique have transmuted grave personal betrayals and heartbreaks into strengths—but also into ironclad defenses."

How has Delilah and Angelique’s friendship changed post-Lady Derring and Delilah’s marriage?
During Lady Derring Takes a Lover, it deepened into something even more honest and open, thanks to a few bristly episodes that they managed to navigate successfully. They’re closer now—particularly because Delilah, as a result of her tumultuous love story with Captain Hardy, understands both what real love and real heartbreak is, so she better understands the kinds of experiences that have shaped Angelique. “How could you bear it?” she asks Angelique at one point. Angelique is decidedly more ironic about men than Delilah, but she likes and respects Captain Hardy. And Delilah is not one to rub happiness in, because she genuinely wants it for her friend, too. I think their friendship will go from strength to strength, and occasionally be tested quite a bit, like all good friendships.

Something I really enjoyed about this book is how forthright and open Lucien is about his attraction to Angelique. How did that aspect of his character open up the story for you?
Part of the pleasure of writing mature heroes and heroines—in other words, adults with experience of life and pasts—is that they’ve learned to cut to the chase. Lucien has had a little brush with death and resurrection, shall we say, and has learned that life is short and games are pointless. He’s actually a little too brusque and full of himself in some ways, as Angelique points out in no uncertain terms to him early on. I think there’s nothing more intimate, erotic even—maybe even a little dangerous—than his kind of forthright honesty. I think this bald honesty is in part how he manages to get past Angelique’s charm-coated fortress-like walls—it’s clear he isn’t trying to manipulate her to get something he wants. He respects her intelligence and agency. I felt it helped me develop a relationship between them that grew organically—and volcanically—in ways that felt real to me, and hopefully to the readers.

I am extremely fond of Mr. Delacorte and thus would like to know—will he ever find love?
Awww! Me, too! But I don’t want to give too much away yet! I love him as do our proprietresses at The Grand Palace on the Thames, and as we all care about him, so for now Mr. Delacorte is loved, even if he doesn’t have a wife. Anything can happen at the Grand Palace on the Thames.

One of the best parts of this series is not only how funny it is, but how every character has a specific and personal sense of humor. How do you develop that as a writer? And do you have a way of testing the funny bits to make sure they’re landing?
I’m so glad you think it’s funny! My writing process is kind of difficult to describe because a lot of seemingly contradictory things happen simultaneously: It’s a blend of total surrender to the characters (I feel that in many ways I have to BE them in order to make them real for the reader); a detached, intellectual focus that will allow you to choose just the right words to make the reader see and feel all of the things you want them to experience in the story; and there’s also sort of a delicious spectator aspect to it. Am I entertained by the story as well as the process as I’m writing it? Am I amused? Am I having a good time? Generally, I attempt to entertain myself, and if I can crack myself up then hopefully the readers will be amused, too. I look for the humor everywhere, especially in darker moments. I try not to parse it, usually, because that would be like suddenly watching your fingers when you’re playing a piano piece you know by heart—it might throw you out of the song. I’m just grateful if readers laugh.

"I look for the humor everywhere, especially in darker moments."

Did you map out Lucien’s adventures from the decade he spent out of England for yourself while planning this book? Or was he as surprising to you as a writer as he was to readers?
Oh, if only I “planned” books in detail before I embarked upon writing them! I wish. I suppose I knew that Lucien’s journey, beginning with being hurled into the Thames, would turn him into a formidable, confident, wealthy man, and that he would acquire the experience to continue to build a fortune. The details of his journey dialed into focus later as I came to understand him better as a character, and who he would need to deserve, and be a match for—Angelique.

What’s next for you?
More The Palace of Rogues, and perhaps Pennyroyal Green prequels or other novellas—it all depends on what life throws at me schedule-wise and what readers seem to want!

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Read our review of Angel in a Devil’s Arms.

After releasing three critically acclaimed, independently published romances, Scarlett Peckham is making her Avon debut with The Rakess, a ferociously feminist historical romance inspired in part by the Enlightenment-era women’s rights advocate Mary Wollstonecraft. Peckham’s romance follows scandalous reformer Seraphina Arden as she confronts her painful past while writing her memoirs and falling in love with Adam Anderson, an upstanding architect and single father.

We asked Peckham about the radical life and heartbreaking death of Mary Wollstonecraft, why she considers her female characters to be “alpha heroines” and the secret to writing fantastic angst.

You’ve said that you write romances starring alpha heroines. How would you define that term?
As a historical romance novelist, I love writing about women who find ways to claim a great deal of agency for themselves and feel empowered despite living in a period in which they were not afforded the same rights women have now. To me, “alpha heroine” is a cri de coeur for readers who, like me, grew up reading alpha heroes and were like, “But what about all the strong, powerful ladies?” In other words, it’s more of a state of mind than a character trope—an acerbic bluestocking spinster can be just as alpha as a naïve aristocratic maiden, who can be just as alpha as a whipping house governess.

This book is dedicated to Mary Wollstonecraft and is clearly inspired by her and the other reformers/revolutionaries of the Georgian period. When did you first encounter Wollstonecraft, and what does she mean to you?
I first read A Vindication on the Rights of Women in a humanities class my freshman year of college. This is embarrassing to admit, but at the time, I thought it was shockingly misogynist. I had expected to read a “feminist” treatise—“feminist” as I understood the word as an 18-year-old in the early aughts. But part of Wollstonecraft’s argument is that women would not be so vain, petty and foolish (I’m paraphrasing) if they were given an education. I was like, “Um, wow. Harsh, Mary.”

When I decided to write a book about a feminist reformer, I went back and reread Vindication and belatedly realized the somewhat obvious fact that the book is not written to persuade women; it’s written to persuade men. There is such a sly brilliance to its rhetorical approach. “Gents, you may not want to educate your silly ladies for their own sake, but they will be less annoying wives and much better mothers to your sons if you give them an education. Do it for the boys!”

I was so amused; it struck me as so transgressive and tricky. This is absolutely something one of my characters would do—use the tools at her disposal to persuade a man into doing what she wants out of his own self-interest. It made me fascinated to know more about what Wollstonecraft was like as a person, rather than just as a writer.

“And so, of course, having fallen head-over-heels in love with her, I was heartbroken over the circumstances of her death.”

I picked up Romantic Outlaws by Charlotte Gordon, which is a dual biography of Wollstonecraft and her daughter Mary Shelley, who wrote Frankenstein, and I was blown away by how radical and modern she was in all aspects of her life. Politically, she was pro-abolition, anti-monarchist, anti-marriage, pro-female education—she was literally negotiating an equitable distribution of domestic labor with her male partner in the 1790s because she was trying to write a novel while looking after a baby. And she had this absolutely juicy personal life with grand adventures (she went to Paris to report on the French Revolution and to Scandinavia with her baby to search for a ship of lost treasure for her lover). She had tumultuous love affairs. She suffered depressions and attempted suicide. She was a complicated person with a fierce intellect, a probing sense of personal ethics, grand passions, surprising tenderness. A heroine by any estimation.

And so, of course, having fallen head-over-heels in love with her, I was heartbroken over the circumstances of her death. Her life had just finally reached a place of fulfillment and contentment after years of struggle—she was polishing a feminist gothic novel, she was pregnant with her second child and able to spend quality time with her older daughter, she was in a fiercely equal partnership with a man who was her intellectual peer and also madly in love with her—and she died from complications of childbirth. And then her husband, William Godwin, wrote a memoir about her, which revealed that she had had a child out of wedlock, and she posthumously lost all credibility. She was dismissed as a slut, an “unsex’d woman” who personified the risk of allowing the patriarchy to release any of its grip on power.

It killed me that this woman who was so brave and brilliant and transgressive and determined got this abrupt end after leading such a singular life, just when she seemed about to truly achieve abundant joy. And her fate struck me as being very . . . female. By which I mean a man in Mary’s position would likely have lived to write more books and do even more persuasive work toward reform and raise his children. At the very least, he would not have died of childbed fever. And his reputation would not have been destroyed over the revelation of an affair—because men do not typically get rebranded as whores when their ideas are found frightening.

So I wanted to take all these aspects of Wollstonecraft’s life that remind me so much of an idealized romance heroine—her defiance, her passion, her tenderness, her vulnerability, her self-determination—and give her the romance novel-style happy ending she did not get to enjoy in real life.

What was the political atmosphere in England in this period, and how did that influence the book?
The last few decades of the 18th century were such an interesting time, because you see all the ideals from the Enlightenment cresting—citizens rejecting hierarchical forms of government, turning away from the church and toward science, demanding more justice, demanding an end to slavery. You have the American Revolution and the French Revolution throwing off oppressive monarchies and moving toward democratic ideals.

And in England, the response to this was a division in society not unlike the schism we see in American politics today. Conservatives were terrified that revolution would come to England and topple the foundations of society. Progressives were energized by the ideals and changes that were happening abroad. Powerful factions began to mobilize to uphold their power and privilege, while activists were agitating to make reforms. And it resulted in a culture war. Conservatives vilified progressives in the papers, branded them Jacobins, advocated for anti-sedition laws to shut them up and keep them from organizing and publishing.

In The Rakess, because the heroine, Seraphina, is considered to be in league with the Jacobins, you see her become a target. Not just for her “rakish” lifestyle, but for her politically dangerous ideas. The tension in the love story is around the stakes of this—you cannot enter a relationship with a woman like Seraphina Arden without taking on the stakes of her life—which will put you at odds with the ruling class and threaten your family’s security. And you cannot be a woman like Seraphina Arden without feeling the repercussions of this constant threat of danger, the stress and dread that underlie the fight. Which is why, when we meet Seraphina, she is in such a dark place.

Her historical influences are clear, but did any contemporary figures inspire Seraphina? And did you have any specific historical or contemporary inspirations for Thaïs, Cornelia or Lady Bell?
I started the book just after Trump was elected and revised it amidst the #MeToo movement, and I think my anger about how women are still fighting the same fights of the 18th century is . . . not a subtle undercurrent in this book. The concept of “nevertheless, she persisted” runs through Seraphina’s behavior—there is definitely a debt to Elizabeth Warren’s calm in the face of men berating and seeking to undermine her. There is also a hefty debt to women who speak out about gendered injustices and double standards and receive no end of harassment and scrutiny because of it. The characters are not inspired by anyone in particular, but I was inspired by people who have been on the front lines pushing forward feminist thinking, including Chanel Miller, Christine Blasey Ford, Rose McGowan and so many others. I wanted to capture both the bravery and heroism of being on the front lines, and the sacrifice.

What was the most difficult aspect of this book to get right? What came to you the easiest?
Seraphina initially seemed to have arrived fully formed in my head—her voice, her writing style, her mannerisms and the way she looked were all very clear from me from the first chapter. But that was a trick, because Seraphina is very, very tricky. It was much, much harder to actually crack into her interiority and excavate what lies inside this outwardly dazzling but brittle person. She resists being known to protect herself, and that defensiveness extends to the person who invented her!

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Read our review of The Rakess.

You do such a fabulous job at writing great angst that moves the story along, rather than wallowing without purpose or plot development. How do you plan the emotional journey of your characters?
Thank you! I suppose the basic puzzle that animates any romance novel is, “They must be together, but they cannot not be together.” So when I start a draft, I’m doing a lot of very cynical calculus to see what will drive them together, physically, sexually and emotionally . . . and what will make it absolutely inconceivable that their relationship will work. I’m constantly sowing the seeds of compatibility and conflict, so that there’s always a way to yank the heart strings and then twist the knife.

The next two answers contain spoilers! Click to show.

What’s next for you?
I’m currently writing my next Society of Sirens book for Avon. It will be Cornelia Ludgate’s book, tentatively titled The Jezebel. And after that I’ll be working on The Rogue I Ravished, my next Secrets of Charlotte Street book, which will be about Elena Brearley, the whipping governess who has been in the background to the other books in the series.