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I have been around the romance writing world for long enough to watch with pleasure as writers go from those first tentative steps, learning their craft, blooding themselves on contests and rejections and finally attaining that elusive goal... a publishing contract and one such is my guest today.One of the nicest people in the Romance Writers of Australia, historical circle is Cassie Samuels and I am absolutely delighted to have her on my blog to talk about an aspect of research for her debut release, A SCANDALOUS WAGER.
CASSIE IS GIVING AWAY A COPY OF A SCANDALOUS WAGER TO ONE LUCKY COMMENTER.
A Scandalous Woman –
Caroline Norton
Thank you so much for
having me here today Alison. I’ve chosen to talk about this aspect of my
research because my heroine Lisbeth and Caroline Norton are both scandalous
women and both were abused by their husbands.
Caroline is a fascinating
woman for many reasons. Born in 1808 as Caroline Sheridan she became the face
of justice for women, but she didn’t start off that way. When her soldier
father died in Africa the family was left penniless. They were granted a grace
and favour apartment at Hampton Court Palace. Caroline and her sisters
were highly accomplished and accepted everywhere due to their upbringing at
court.
In 1827 she married George
Norton a barrister and MP. Caroline was witty and clever and used her skills to
win favour for her husband and his political ambitions. However, he was a
controlling husband and often had fits of rage and drunkenness. He physically
and emotionally abused his wife throughout their marriage.
Caroline wrote prose and
poetry to vent her emotions and earned money doing so. George disliked his
wife’s success. In 1836 she left him. He took her earnings from her writing.
So, she racked up bills in his name. In turn, he decided to hide her children
from her which was a cruel blow to a woman who lived for her sons.
Her husband was insanely jealous
of her friendship with the then Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne, and sued him
for Criminal Conversation (accusing him of having an affair
with his wife). Melbourne took him to court and won.
Caroline campaigned
relentlessly for the rights of women to their children. Her intense efforts
culminated in the Custody of Infants Act and the Married
Women’s Property Act. These acts gave women a legal identity where
before they had none. I think we owe a lot to Caroline Norton.
If you want to know more
about Caroline and other Scandalous Women you can watch the documentary on You
Tube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsgC9ojd0yI
Excerpt:
Set up – This is the morning after Lisbeth meets
the Earl of Bellamy and he has accepted her business proposal to help her
return to society to seek out her husband’s killer so she can clear her name.
Lisbeth
sighed and sipped her tea.
Alone
again.
Even
when Nathaniel had been alive she had been alone. His dedication to their
courtship had been nothing but a dedication to her dowry. What a naïve, silly
little fool she’d been then, believing in the fairy tale. A fairy tale which
had so quickly turned into a nightmare.
She
sipped her tea and closed her eyes for a moment. Yet, even in those few moments
memories assailed her. Flashing images passed behind her eyelids in quick,
painful succession, each frame of memory causing her to jolt and shudder in her
seat. She felt every fist, every boot as they connected; his angry tirades
hardly heard through ringing ears. Every cruel word he’d uttered was a scar
upon her very soul.
She
gasped, her lungs struggling for air, and opened her eyes as she looked around
frantically.
Sun
poured in from the windows. A cheerful flower arrangement displayed vibrant
reds, yellows and green. Her mother’s china graced her table and in the
distance she could hear the sound of the servants going about their business.
Safe.
She
released a breath slowly, then another, until her heart had slowed to a more
temperate rate.
She
picked up her schedule sitting neatly on the table and fanned herself with it.
Lisbeth usually took comfort in knowing she had something else to think about
besides her horrid, pathetic past but her schedule’s purpose had morphed
overnight into something more than a direction for her day. The origins of this
simple sheet of vellum lay in her desperate attempt to do everything in exactly
the manner and timing Nathaniel had demanded. It had become her sole means of
self-preservation.
And
it had worked…most of the time. No plan was ever fool proof. Which brought her
right back to the present.
A SCANDALOUS WAGER
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As the Black Raven, she’s cold, distant, and alone, untouched by the gossip and scorn of her aristocratic peers. Until he enters her house – and her life – and suddenly her icy shell is no match for the heat of attraction…
Notorious Widow Lisbeth Carslake, Countess of Blackhurst was acquitted of her husband's murder, but no one believes in her innocence. Known as the Black Raven, bringer of bad luck and death, she is eviscerated by the gossips and mocked in the clubs. She’s also the subject of London’s most scandalous wager.
Oliver Whitely, Earl of Bellamy, needs money, but it takes more than a few drinks to take on The Black Raven Wager. He finds himself drunk, at her house, and – more surprisingly – inside, and agreeing to a business proposal at the end of a fire poker. She will let him win the wager, and he will help find her husband’s killer before the killer finds her. But business agreements don’t mean trust, and Lisbeth certainly doesn’t trust Oliver, her body’s reaction to him, or her heart.
Love may be the biggest gamble of their lives, but is it a wager their hearts can afford to lose?
ABOUT CASSANDRA SAMUELS
Cassandra
Samuel's mother always said she should have been born in the 1800s.
Unfortunately, she was born in the 1970s instead. But she was not discouraged
by all the corduroy and dodgy hair do's. She decided if she couldn't live in
the Regency period she would write about it instead.
Cassandra
cut her romance reading teeth on Jane Austen when she readPride and Prejudice
in high school. It was the beginning of a love affair with the Georgian and
Regency eras that continues today. She has wanted to be a romance writer since
she was a teen and was encouraged to study a diploma in journalism, but fiction
writing was where her heart belonged.
She
is the eldest of three children and grew up living on the outskirts of of the
Royal National Park which gave her a love and appreciation for the Australian
bush. Cassandra lives with her fabulously supportive husband and three
wonderful children on the NSW South Coast along with a three-legged staffy
cross, a cheeky terrier and a cat called Angus. Cassandra enjoys music,
the theatre, reading, and watching romantic comedies.
Goodreads author page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8958384.Cassandra_Samuels
BUY A SCANDALOUS WAGER on Amazon and all reputable ebook stores
