MUSE MONDAY
Rachel Brimble is always a welcomed guest on Discover... Her muse really opened the door for her on this book. You'll want to read how inspiration knocked.
So why is Victoria & Violet a realization of a long-held ambition? Well, ever since I started writing novels, I vowed that one day I would write an historical novel that included real people and real events. The trouble was, I was TERRIFIED to tread this particularly treacherous path. As much as I might devour fiction with real characters and events, I wasn’t sure how the authors went about creating the story, what they could and could not assume of the real people and events or if everything was down to poetic license.
And then Violet came
along…
I was walking my dog
one day and struggling with the plot I was writing – my dog walking tends to be
problem solving time as much as fresh air time! However, instead of my
imagination/consciousness solving my plot problem, a young woman started
invading my thoughts and eventually she was speaking to me…endlessly. I knew
she was a maid, she had an area in her life where she felt entirely trapped and
she was working for a young Queen Victoria.
My heart started
pumping a little faster, my stomach knotting with a nerves and excitement – the
time had come. I was ready to write a book with real people and real events –
and it would be set in the court of Queen Victoria. Violet was her housemaid
and the story would revolve around the women’s relationship as well as the
romance between Violet and courtier James Greene, assistant to the queen’s
private secretary, Lord Melbourne.
The stage was set!
During the writing of
this book there were mind blocks, moments of panic and moments of pure joy.
Yet, most of all, there were days of writing like I was taking dictation as
these wonderful characters told me their stories. In fact, every scene with Queen
Victoria was the easiest to write. Why? Because what I had already learned
about her over the years, plus my intense research for this book, I felt I
really knew who Victoria was at around the age of twenty-one when Victoria
& Violet is set. At this time, Victoria was joyous, romantic and so
full of hope that she would come to be the one of the best monarchs Britain had
even seen.
I really hope her
optimism and Violet’s determination come across on the page with as much verve,
passion and love as I felt when I was writing…happy reading!
It should be a dream come true to serve the Queen
of England…
When Violet Parker
is told she will be Queen Victoria’s personal housemaid, she cannot believe her
good fortune. She finally has the chance to escape her overbearing mother, a
servant to the Duchess of Kent.
Violet hopes to
explore who she is and what the world has to offer without her mother’s schemes
overshadowing her every thought and action.
Then she meets James
Greene, assistant to the queen’s chief political adviser, Lord Melbourne. From
entirely different backgrounds and social class, Violet and James should have
neither need nor desire to speak to one another, yet through their service,
their paths cross and their lives merge—as do their feelings.
Only Victoria’s
court is not always the place for romance, but rather secrets, scandals, and
conspiracies…
EXCERPT
“She…” Violet hesitated, feeling foolish carrying out the queen’s
instructions when James was quite clearly busy and not at all happy. “She
suggested we take a picnic.”
“A pic…” His eyes widened before his cheeks mottled. “It’s December!”
“I can pack some hot soup and bread. It will be…fun.”
“Fun? I can’t take myself off for a picnic when there is so much to do.
What on earth will the workers think of me?”
His mood made her decidedly uneasy, but she could not defer on the
queen’s request. She lifted her chin. “I’m sorry, James, but if the queen
commands it, we cannot refuse. Besides, it will be last time you will see me
for a while.”
He dropped his hand from his hair, his dark eyes boring into hers. “What
are you talking about?”
“I have to go home. My mother claims my father is ill. Not that I
believe a word of it, of course. But still, I must go.”
“Your mother is exerting her power again?”
“I have little doubt.”
He exhaled heavily, his gaze softening. “Give me an hour and I will
come. Where shall we meet?”
“In the folly.”
“Very well.” His gaze dropped to her lips before he reached around her
toward the door and opened it. “You should go.”
He stood so close, Violet could see flecks of blue in his eyes, smell the subtle maleness of him. Her treacherous heart swelled with silly, dangerous love. She forced a smile and ducked under his arm and through the open doorway.
Rachel is a
member of the Romantic Novelists Association as well as the Historical Novel
Society and has thousands of social media followers all over the world.
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