If I had a pound for everyone who tells me that they
could write a novel it would add a worthwhile sum to my savings. At a party, a
man whom I met for the first time found out I am a published historical
novelist. He pursued me. Years ago, he wrote a text book and now wants to write
fiction. I became more and more irritated with his belief that I could give him
the means to write a novel and find a literary agent or publisher. Eventually,
my good manners frayed around the edges, “There is only one way to succeed,” I
said as politely as possible. He obviously thought I have a magic formula.
“Write,” I told him, but resisted the temptation to say: ‘And get on with it
instead of talking about it’.
Every day of the year, except for Christmas Day, I
get up at 6 a.m. With a short break to eat breakfast I work until 10.a.m. On
most days, after lunch, at 1 p.m. I work for an hour, then I relax until 4 p.m.
then I work until 8 p.m. with a break for afternoon tea.
I am a historical novelist. During my working day, I divide my time
between writing a novel, research, and dealing with business, receiving and
answering e-mails, working with on-line constructive critique partners and
sending out information about my novels.
Among my other activities related to writing, I
attend Watford Writers where I meet published and unpublished writers. Members
may read extracts from their novels, non-fiction, poetry etc., and receive
useful feedback. If someone chats to me about finding time to write, my advice
is to have a routine, whether it is as little as fifteen minutes every day
carved out from a busy life, or time set aside to write once a week. The
important thing is the routine which separates real authors from would be ones.
As I said to the gentleman at the party, the only way to become a novelist is
to write.
Sunday’s
Child
Heroine’s
Born on Different Days of The Week. Book One
Georgianne Whitley’s beloved father and brothers
died in the war against Napoleon Bonaparte. While she is grieving for them, she
must deal with her unpredictable mother’s sorrow, and her younger sisters’
situation caused by it.
Georgianne’s
problems increase when the arrogant, wealthy but elderly Earl of Pennington,
proposes marriage to her for the sole purpose of being provided with an heir.
At first, she is tempted by his proposal, but something is not quite right
about him. She rejects him not suspecting it will lead to unwelcome
repercussions.
Once,
Georgianne had wanted to marry an army officer. Now, she decides never to marry
‘a military man’ for fear he will be killed on the battlefield. However,
Georgianne still dreams of a happy marriage before unexpected violence forces
her to relinquish the chance to participate in a London Season sponsored by her
aunt.
Shocked
and in pain, Georgianne goes to the inn where her cousin Sarah’s step-brother,
Major Tarrant, is staying, while waiting for the blacksmith to return to the
village and shoe his horse. Recently, she has been reacquainted with
Tarrant—whom she knew when in the nursery—at the vicarage where Sarah lives
with her husband Reverend Stanton.
The
war in the Iberian Peninsula is nearly at an end so, after his older brother’s
death, Tarrant, who was wounded, returns to England where his father asks him
to marry and produce an heir.
To
please his father, Tarrant agrees to marry, but due to a personal tragedy he
has decided never to father a child.
When
Georgianne, arrives at the inn, quixotic Tarrant sympathises with her unhappy
situation. Moreover, he is shocked by the unforgivably brutal treatment she has
suffered.
Full
of admiration for her beauty and courage Tarrant decides to help,
“A
Sweet Treat”
5*
Review
By
Lindsay Townsend
7th
March, 2017
When
Georgianne, the appealing, enterprising heroine of 'Sunday's Child' first
encounters Rupert Tarrant, she is fourteen. Georgianne thinks even
then the tall, blond handsome soldier is the kind of man she hopes to
marry one day.
At
seventeen, when they meet again, Georgianne is in mourning for her
brothers and father, lost in the Napoleonic wars. She is now wary of
becoming romantically involved with a military man, despite the limited life
that an unmarried woman is forced to lead in the 1800s.
However,
as the novel superbly shows, a young woman without a father or brother to
protect her interests is vulnerable to predatory males. None is more predatory
than Lord Pennington, a truly odious Earl, whose relentless pursuit of
Georgianne is aided by the conventions and morals of the time.
Rupert
Tarrant meanwhile is haunted by the violent death of his betrothed and is torn
between remaining single to grieve and marrying to provide an heir to his
recently acquired estate.
That
Georgianne and Tarrant should marry - she for protection, he for an heir -
seems an ideal compromise. But what chance is there for love to grow between
them?
This
is a flowing romance, full of intrigue and incident, with rich details of
Regency fashion, food and furniture. There are frost fairs and Nabobs, Lord
Byron's poetry, kidnappers and ruffians, attempted blackmail and a heroine who
can shoot.
The
whole convenient marriage trope is treated with tender realism. With their
careful treatment of each other and their striving to understand their
differing experiences, Georgianne and Tarrant thoroughly deserve their eventual
happy ever after.
Links:-
Available
as e-publications and paperbacks by Rosemary Morris.
Mediaeval
Novel Yvonne, Lady of Cassio
Early
18th century novels. Tangled Love, Far Beyond Rubies,The Captain and
The Countess,
Regency
novels. False Pretences, Heroine’s Born on Different Days of the Week. Sunday’s
Child, Monday’s Child, Tuesday’s Child.
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