For today's Timeless Tour post I have a written piece from Susanna Kearsley, author of BELLEWETHER!
WRITTEN PIECE
Favourite Historical Fiction/Romances or AuthorsHow much space do you have? Because I always have such a hard time shortening my list—especially if I’m talking about current writers, because there are so many people writing now who’ve written books I’ve really enjoyed: Tessa Dare, Jeannie Lin, Elizabeth Boyle, Carla Kelly, Alyssa Cole, Donna Thorland, Beverly Jenkins, ALL of the women I blog with at the Word Wenches…
But I know if I try to list everyone who’s writing books I love right now, I’m inevitably going to leave off a name by mistake, and then I’ll feel just terrible, so I think it will be safer if I stick to telling you the three longtime favourite historical romances I’ve loved since I was a teenager, and still love now every time I re-read them.
The first is Bride of the MacHugh, by Jan Cox Speas, which was written in the 1950s and actually first discovered in our family by my mother when she was a teenager, sick in bed. She read the book in a condensed version in the newspaper, when it first came out, and then managed to buy her own copy, and years later that was the copy I read and fell in love with in my turn. It’s such a great romance, and Jan Cox Speas was such a great writer, and a huge influence on my own work.The second of my longtime favourites is Daphne Du Maurier’s Jamaica Inn, the book that started my love of both Cornwall and wrong-side-of-the-tracks heroes. I’m sure some would classify it as more historical fiction than a proper historical romance, but since I always “finish” books with ambiguous endings in my own imagination, I can assure you that my version has a happy ending. So, definitely a romance.
And my third and final longtime favourite historical romance is by Dinah Dean—Road to Kaluga—a road-trip romance with an honourable soldier escorting a woman to safety during the Napoleonic wars. This book has another title, also, and is part of a trilogy, but it’s just such a good book I’ve never wanted to spoil it by reading the other connected stories. I just want to leave the characters exactly where I imagine them to be, at the story’s end.
So there you have my three (very old) favourites. They’re still on my shelves, and I still get them down and re-read them when I need the comfort of old friends, and first loves.
Thanks, Ambur, for letting me share them with you.
ABOUT BELLEWETHER:
Some houses seem to want to hold their secrets.
It’s 1759 and the world is at war, pulling the North American colonies of Britain and France into the conflict. The times are complicated, as are the loyalties of many New York merchants who have secretly been trading with the French for years, defying Britain’s colonial laws in a game growing ever more treacherous.
When captured French officers are brought to Long Island to be billeted in private homes on their parole of honour, it upends the lives of the Wilde family—deeply involved in the treasonous trade and already divided by war.
Lydia Wilde, struggling to keep the peace in her fracturing family following her mother’s death, has little time or kindness to spare for her unwanted guests. French-Canadian lieutenant Jean-Philippe de Sabran has little desire to be there. But by the war’s end they’ll both learn love, honour, and duty can form tangled bonds that are not broken easily.
Their doomed romance becomes a local legend, told and re-told through the years until the present day, when conflict of a different kind brings Charley Van Hoek to Long Island to be the new curator of the Wilde House Museum.
Charley doesn’t believe in ghosts. But as she starts to delve into the history of Lydia and her French officer, it becomes clear that the Wilde House holds more than just secrets, and Charley discovers the legend might not have been telling the whole story...or the whole truth.
About Susanna Kearsley
A former museum curator, Susanna Kearsley brings her passion for research and travel to her novels, weaving modern-day and historical intrigue. She won the prestigious Catherine Cookson Fiction Award for her novel Mariana, the 2010 Romantic Times Book Review’s Reviewer’s Choice Award for Best Historical Fiction novel for The Winter Sea, was shortlisted for a 2012 RITA Award for The Rose Garden, and was a finalist for the Arthur Ellis Award for Best Novel from the Crime Writers of Canada for Every Secret Thing. Visit her at SusannaKearsley.com or follow her on Twitter @SusannaKearsley.
Follow Susanna: Facebook | Twitter
Follow along with the Timeless Tour on the tour website, www.timelesstour.ca.
You can also find a tour schedule on my
[Timeless Tour] Kick Off Questions & Full Tour Schedule post.
I haven't read any of Susanna's favourites, but I definitely want to pick them up now!
What about you?
Do you want to read any of the books Susanna's mentioned?
And what are some of your favourite historical fictions or romances?
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments are like smiles. Free to give, but precious to receive. Thank you for stopping by my blog and taking the time to comment. I treasure every one. Also, check back! You'll probably find a reply. :D