We
have a special guest post today by Frances Evesham, author of An
Independent Woman, described as Northanger Abbey meets Downton in
Victorian England.
~~~
Two
young gentlemen sat in The Fox-under-the-Hill, a public house in London, one
evening early in the 19th Century.
Pints of beer, each costing a ha’penny, stood on the table. The friends enjoyed
a bite of bread and cheese as they relaxed. They’d spent a long day perched on
high stools, employed as articled clerks, carefully copying legal documents.
One
young gentleman was Charles Dickens; the other, George Moir Bussy, became my
great, great, great grandfather.
George’s
career may not have been quite so spectacular as Dickens’ but he enjoyed
success as a Parliamentary reporter and his death was widely reported in national
newspapers. Once I found I had such a distinguished ancestor, I just had to set
my novel in the Victorian era, using my forebears as inspiration.
Victorian women
George’s
wife, Jane Sylvester, was a most independent lady for those days, working as a
writer and continuing to edit a Kent newspaper even after her husband’s death. In honour of such women as Jane, An
Independent Woman was born.
Strong
women had to work hard in Victorian times to make a living, unless they had
wealth and connections to help. In the cities, many poor women had to eke out a
miserable existence in prostitution or go into a workhouse. Philomena, the
Independent Woman of the title, is a seamstress. Working with a needle was one
of the few respectable ways for a woman to make a living in London.
Philomena
has a guilty secret to hide, so she sets out to build a new life far away from
London. She plans to cross the country in a single day on the new Great Western
Railway. Fiercely independent, she’s determined to make her own way in the
world, but she forgets that even strong women fall in love.
Invention
The
Victorians have a reputation for drab seriousness. Photographs of Queen
Victoria often show her as stern and forbidding. On the contrary, at least
while her husband, Albert, was alive, she was cheerful and happy. Mourning
turned her sour.
The
black and white photographs of the Victorians have added to the impression of
gloom. But who would not look serious if asked to sit motionless for the full 30
seconds it took to have their photograph taken by the new cameras?
In
fact, the Victorians were exciting, inventive people. Their innovations, that
included the railways, the flushing toilet and the domestic camera, changed
life for the better. They even found ways to deal with the terrible smells and
disease of an over-crowded London, building underground sewers that still exist
to this day.
I
set An
Independent Woman partly in the pea-souper fogs of London and partly in
a grand English country house, complete with a staff of dozens and a wealthy
family. What a contrast for Philomena when she finds herself in the warmth of
the kitchen at luxurious Thatcham Hall. What’s more, she meets Lord Thatcham …
Blurb
With
nothing left from her childhood except a tiny portrait of a beautiful woman,
some skill with a needle and the knowledge of a dreadful secret, Philomena
escapes her tormentor, Joseph and the dank fogs of Victorian London, only for a
train crash to interrupt her quest for independence and freedom.
Trapped
between the upstairs and downstairs occupants of a great country house,
Philomena hears whispers of the mysteries and lies that lurk in empty corridors
and behind closed doors. Her rescuer, the dangerous, enigmatic Hugh, Lord
Thatcham, wrestles with his own demons and makes Philomena’s heart race, but she
must fight her passion for she can never marry.
Haunted
by her past, Philomena’s only hope of happiness is to confront the evil forces
that threaten to destroy her.
Website
and blog: www.francesevesham.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/francesevesham
Twitter: www.twitter.com/francesevesham
Facebook:
www.facebook.com/frances.evesham.writer
An
Independent Woman trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X06zKX_2X5w
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Thank you so much, Lorraine, for inviting me to post on your blog today.
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