Miss Delacourt Has Her Day is a sweet historical romance set mostly in London during the Regency period. I have to confess I was a teensy bit nervous of reading a book set in England, written by an American author, but with hindsight I realise that was silly - I haven't been to this London any more than Heidi has.
On the other hand, how much has changed? In the year when Britain will watch an heir to the throne marry a girl that the newspapers politely refer to as "a commoner," there's something awfully topical about Miss Delacourt's situation as she's deemed an unsuitable fiancee for her beloved Anthony. It seems like all of society is dead set against their match, and without wishing to spoil the plot, I can at least say that there's a good amount of action as they fight for acceptance. I've never been keen on artificial barriers to people doing what they want, if they're not hurting others, so of course I was cheering them on to overcome society's expectations.
I've been reading Heidi Ashworth's blog for a while, but for some reason I hadn't picked up her first novel. This is the sequel, but it reads perfectly well on its own - with just enough hints about events of the preceeding few weeks (events that I assume are covered in the previous novel) to intrigue the reader.
Miss Delacourt Has Her Day is available in hardback from Amazon, or visit Heidi's official page for more information. I'm hoping Heidi's publisher will soon decide to do ebooks so I can buy the first Miss Delacourt novel for my Kindle.
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10 comments:
Rachel, thank you! I hadn't thought about how current it is with the royal wedding coming (maybe I should plan my book party for that day, huh?) esp. since this was written two years ago, but, yeah, how timely. Thanks for your unique and fresh approach! I will be posting a link to this on my blog a bit later today so check it out--and be sure to sign up for the the giveaway of a watercolor painting of a rose!
So I think you need more shameless self promotion, or maybe I need to be a little less slow on the uptake. :) I have been reading your blog for awhile, but I read through a reader so I did not see your book on the side bar and obviously missed a post or two in there. I found out about it from the blog you linked to in your post today and I am adding it to my list of books to acquire.
Always interested in other writers.
p.s. Did you know I have another blog where I post my shorter fiction pieces? (start at the profile page).
That sounds interesting. I have a small addiction to Regency novels, fuelled by Georgette Heyer, so I'll look that one out:)
I think I'm the only person left who doesn't have a Kindle! This book sounds good, I love historic romances. And ALL of the Merchant-Ivory movies.
I never thought of the similarities to the upcoming royal wedding, but now that you mention it--good point!
I was wondering how the book would read to someone who hadn't read the first. I came at it loving Ginny and Anthony already. I'm glad to know it works as stand-alone too.
That was not me, Elaine. It was me, Jami.
It's an interesting business trying to set a novel in historical times. When I was writing my biography of Lewis Carroll I was immersed in his period - 1832-1898. I then wrote an (as-yet-unpublished) novel set in that period -no point in wasting all that research. And it was SO difficult! The characters ended up behaving in completely extraordinary and pretty unsympathetic ways - even the good ones. In the end I had to water it down and give the characters more modern attitudes.
It's interesting that this problem is barely obvious when you read novels that were actually written in the period. I've been thinking about this a lot.
I can't wait to read Heidi's next book =) Great post Rachel!
Johanna Lindsey is another American who writes about Regency England...perhaps not everyone's cup of tea, but wildly popular.
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