Journey of a Novel: WWII Romance

INSPIRATION  

I grew up listening to my mom recount memories of growing up in the 1940s. Phoenix was a small, Southwest town with single lanes and closeknit communities. The war ended, soldiers came home, and Hollywood documented American life in the most romantic terms. Through my mom's stories and watching old movies, I fell in love with the era. My mom and dad met, fell in love, and married in the 1940s. Their story, of two poor families...one without a mother and one without a father...is the basis of Post-War Dreams. And to put my mom at ease, yes I did fabricate a few things.

I labored on this romance novel for years. What was originally Honey On White Bread was the first full length book I wrote. No one wanted it. So, I put it away and went on to publish several other books. I found my niche in romantic suspense and most recently cozy mystery.

But eventually, I dusted it off, rewrote and edited it, and published it as Post-War Dreams. It's the book of my heart. The story unfolds in two points of view. Claire is a senior in high school, mature for her age, taking care of her alcoholic father. Her mother died when she was a toddler. Her point of view is first person. The other, in third person, is Benjamin who wasn't able to finish high school because he had to go to work to support his mom, brothers, and sisters who struggled to survive after his father abandoned them. 

I’m sharing two short excerpts today from Post-War Dreams.

ONE

Claire shook back her hair and lifted tresses the color of a summer sunset from her neck with a flourish. “I’d definitely like to pursue a career in the movies.” The word theatrical came to mind while her smile dazzled him. “This contest should be a lot of fun.” She stared directly into his eyes, the dark brown of hers simmered. “Do you go to the movies?” 

“Now and then.” 

She dipped her chin and gave him a beguiling upwards glance. “I bet you’re a Rita Hayworth man.” When he only shrugged, she continued, surprising him with her flirtatious tone. “Come on, now. We all have our favorites.” 

“Yeah, she’s…okay.” The words he could use for the sexy, red-haired actress he’d leave unspoken to the young Claire. “Do you dance and act in addition to singing?” 

“I will.” She nodded, quite serious. “I think it’s best to be well-rounded, if you’re going to have a chance in Hollywood. I don’t exactly have any credits to my name yet, still, I’m pretty sure I could act, if given the chance. As far as dancing, yes, a few lessons will be in order, eventually.” 

“So, it’ll be off to Hollywood for you after graduation?” Unusually confident for a high school girl, he could imagine her hopping on a bus to follow her ambitions. Pity. “Not interested in hanging around Phoenix to raise a family?” 

“Oh goodness, lots of time.” Once again, she pushed the hair from her silky-smooth neck with a flip of her fingers. “Following your heart should be first.” 

And who will steal your lovely heart, lovely Claire? 

 

TWO

“But…but you can’t love Susan.” My voice, soft as a whisper, didn’t betray the rising fear boiling up from the pit of my stomach. 

He gripped my arms with emphasis. “No, I don’t.” 

My stomach calmed a bit, the fear at a simmer. “Does she love you?” I had to convince him his thinking had clearly gotten off course. 

“No. I mean I don’t think so.” 

“Is she demanding you love her?” Love was everything. Without love, this wasn’t our problem. 

“No…”  

His hesitation cheered me on. My panic churned barely below the surface as I led him down the path of reason. “Well, then, Benjamin, why—” 

“Claire, she’s pregnant. I’ll have to marry her.” 

“Marry?” I choked on the word. Fear and panic erupted. “Oh, God, no. Benjamin!” The tears toppled and flooded my cheeks. “This is her problem.” 

“You know it isn’t, Claire.” His words were thick and strained. “I have to take responsibility.” 

“No, Benjamin, no!” I slapped my palms to his chest as if I could stop this madness with a physical barrier. “No, you don’t.” 

He encircled my waist, gently caressed, but held me firm until my tantrum played out. 

I folded into his chest, but my anger still had some steam. I balled one hand into a fist and hit his chest. “Why? Why do you always have to do the right thing? Why?” I swiped away tears so I could see his reaction when I glared into his face. 

His chest heaved as he stared into my hostility with calmness. “You wouldn’t love me if I didn’t.”

BOOK LINKS:

https://www.amazon.com/Post-War-Dreams-Brenda-Whiteside-ebook/dp/B015AO6B1M 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/post-war-dreams/id1040722643?mt=11

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/post-war-dreams-brenda-whiteside/1122626545?ean=2940151181877 

https://www.booksamillion.com/p/Post-War-Dreams/Brenda-Whiteside/9781509203529?id=8220345408823  paper 

https://www.booksamillion.com/p/Post-War-Dreams/Brenda-Whiteside/Q335588623?id=8220345408823  ebook 

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/post-war-dreams-1 

https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Brenda_Whiteside_Post_War_Dreams?id=oW-5CgAAQBAJ 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26239988-post-war-dreams?ac=1&from_search=true 

https://www.bookbub.com/books/post-war-dreams-by-brenda-whiteside

 

Victorian Women & Vice – The Struggles and the Triumphs by Rachel Brimble #Vice #Prostitution #Romance

 MUSE MONDAY

Please welcome Rachel Brimble to Muse Monday on Discover... Her triology sounds fascinating. 

The idea for my latest trilogy, The Ladies of Carson Street was inspired by my reading The Five by Hallie Rubenhold and watching and loving the TV series, Harlots.

Once I had finished reading and watching, I was enveloped in the need to write about the world of vice and prostitution but with some sort of happy ending for the protagonists. This, of course, presented a problem because there are not many (if any) stories of life ending well for these women. But then I convinced myself that as I am writing fiction, I can make it possible!

I am known for setting my historicals in Bath and this trilogy would be no different.

The first book, A Widow’s Vow, introduces the main character, Louisa, but also the two other women who will go on to have their own, centre-stage, moments. Between them, Louisa, Nancy and Octavia are a force of nature, their loyalty and determination unwavering.

This series is about 19^th century women and how so many of them fell unwittingly into the world of vice for reasons out of their control. It was this aspect of tumbling towards rock bottom with nothing to cling onto that made the message (or even lesson) of The Five so utterly impossible to ignore. Prostitution is rarely, if ever, a choice and many Victorian prostitutes came from wildly different backgrounds with wildly different stories.

I wanted this to be the case with Louisa, Nancy and Octavia, too – all three have completely different reasons why they came to be living and working in Bath’s backstreet taverns, clubs and houses.

So, what about their happy endings?

Well, they come for each of them in different ways – yes, they meet the men who will change them forever, but it is Louisa, Nancy and Octavia who do the work, fight for independence and life on their own terms. Writing about female empowerment is one of my favourite things to do and I believe there is absolutely nothing wrong with throwing a hefty dose of love and romance into the mix!

All three books in the trilogy, A Widow’s Vow, Trouble For The Leading Lady and A Very Modern Marriage, can be downloaded as a complete set on Amazon, but here is the blurb and buy link for book 1…

Happy Reading!

Rachel 

A Widow’s Vow

From grieving widow...

1851. After her merchant husband saved her from a life of prostitution, Louisa Hill was briefly happy as a housewife in Bristol. But then a constable arrives at her door. Her husband has been found hanged in a Bath hotel room, a note and a key to a property in Bath the only things she has left of him. And now the debt collectors will come calling.

To a new life as a madam.

Forced to leave everything she knows behind, Louisa finds more painful betrayals waiting for her in the house in Bath. Left with no means of income, Louisa knows she has nothing to turn to but her old way of life. But this time, she'll do it on her own terms – by turning her home into a brothel for upper class gentleman. And she's determined to spare the girls she saves from the street the horrors she endured in the past.

Enlisting the help of Jacob Jackson, a quiet but feared boxer, to watch over the house, Louisa is about to embark on a life she never envisaged. Can she find the courage to forge this new path? 

A Widow's Vow is the first in a gripping and gritty new Victorian saga series from Rachel Brimble. You won't be able to put it down.

BUY: https://geni.us/sHuF

Excerpt 

Louisa marched ahead of Nancy, pulling a brass front door key from her purse. Purposefully, she drew forth her anger at Anthony’s lies, betrayal and cowardice. Lord knew, she would have to take strength from somewhere if she was ever to believe such a property was now hers to do with as she would. Lifting her chin, she shrouded herself in an invisible layer of protection against whatever further hurts were to come in her uncertain future.

The house was beautiful. Built in a butter-coloured stone, its sash windows were flanked with velvet drapery, the front door painted a dark grass-green, complete with brass knocker and a stone ornament decorating its step. The longer Louisa stared, the more strongly inevitability enveloped her. She had survived this long and she would continue to survive, come what may.

After all, she and Nancy had the most pleasing of houses as their foundation.

She softly smiled as a whisper of positivity, of belonging… maybe even destiny, seeped deep into her heart. Could it be she was meant to be here? That Anthony had known this house would one day be hers. Maybe her conceptions of his subterfuge were actually initiated in wonderful surprise rather than treachery.

She slid the key into the lock, her heart beating hard. She and Nancy stepped into a large hallway, painted in the softest hue of lemon and white, the floorboards a beautiful dark wood.

As Nancy closed the door, Louisa’s momentary notion that the house might have been meant for her wavered. There was something distinctly female about it whereas she had been expecting the décor to be entirely male. A bad feeling whispered through her even as she admired the colours, the spray of flowers in a porcelain vase, the framed embroidery on the walls and the floral, ruffle-edged umbrella in a stone stand.

A door farther along the hallway clicked open and a high-pitched gasp reverberated around the space. ‘Who the devil are you and what are you doing in my house?’

BUY: https://geni.us/sHuF

Rachel lives in a small town near Bath, England. She is the author of 29 novels including the Ladies of Carson Street trilogy, the Shop Girl series (Aria Fiction) and the Templeton Cove Stories (Harlequin). Her latest novel, Victoria & Violet is the first book in her new Royal Maids series with the Wild Rose Press and releases 17^th October 2022.

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.

To sign up for her newsletter (a guaranteed giveaway every month!), click here: https://bit.ly/3zyH7dt

Website: https://bit.ly/3wH7HQs

Twitter: https://bit.ly/3AQvK0A

Facebook: https://bit.ly/3i49GZ3

Instagram: https://bit.ly/3lTQZbF

Newspaper to Law by Alana Lorens #FearlessFriday

FEARLESS FRIDAY

Please welcome Alana Lorens to Discover... for Fearless Friday. Young divorced mother to family law. That's a huge fearless jump...

Once upon a time, I was a newspaper reporter in a tiny town in deep south Florida called Homestead. My husband and I had moved there in the late 1970s as he was attached to Homestead Air Force Base, which figured pretty largely earlier on because of its proximity to Cuba. Our second daughter was born there. One thing led to another, and we divorced, so I was a single mom with a five-year-old and three-year-old.

One of the folks I interviewed regularly for the paper was the city attorney for the next town over, Joe Tomassi. When I expressed frustration at only being able to help people so far as a reporter, he suggested I go to law school. Now this is something I had never wanted to do in my whole life.,. The more I thought about it, though, it kinda made sense. Well, except for the whole single mom of two preschoolers thing.

But I thought, well, I’ll take the LSAT entrance exam and see how I do.

I did great.

Wow. So I applied to the University of Miami, being the closest school, and I got in. Also wow.

As a private school, one can imagine (even in the 1980s) that it was not cheap to attend. So I applied for financial aid. And got it. And on-campus housing for me and my kids. There was an on-campus day care and kindergarten for my child just up the road/

How could I say no?

Thus began a thirty-year practice of family law, which indeed helped many more people. It has also well informed my Lady Lawyers series, and also a many-years’ love affair with the Florida Keys, which has led to PROPHECIES AND PROMISES, my new historical novel set in Key West at the time of the Spanish-American War.  A twist of fate led us to homestead, another to divorce, but the biggest leap of all was reaching for the new life of a lawyer—and all the steps that fell into place to make it happen. 

Book Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFWs54EUJeU 

Blurb:  Tamsyn McKiernan thinks her dreams have come true. She’s engaged to a dashing Key West bachelor and finally in her widowed father’s good graces. But in her heart, she knows something’s wrong. She loves the ocean and the quiet pleasures of nature—so what does the aristocratic life she’ll lead truly hold for her?  

Mercenary captain Drake Ashton is neck deep in preparations for the Spanish-American War, running guns and other supplies to Cuban natives who want out from under their Spanish masters. He and his brother Freddie risk their lives daily, focused on saving his friends on the island. Nothing else matters but his mission. 

A chance encounter with a spiny sea urchin brings the two together, and neither of their lives will ever be the same again.

AMAZON BUY LINK

 

Alana Lorens has been a published writer for more than forty years, after working as a pizza maker, a floral designer, a journalist and a family law attorney. Currently a resident of Asheville, North Carolina, the aging hippie loves her time in the smoky blue mountains. She writes romance and suspense as Alana Lorens, and sci-fi, fantasy and paranormal mystery as Lyndi Alexander. One of her novellas, THAT GIRL’S THE ONE I LOVE, is set in the city of Asheville during the old Bele Chere festival. She lives with her daughter on the autism spectrum, who is the youngest of her seven children, and she is ruled by three crotchety old cats, and six kittens of various ages.

Author Links

Website      http://Alana-lorens.com

Facebook   https://www.facebook.com/AlanaLorens/

Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4829967.Alana_Lorens

Amazon Author Page

https://www.amazon.com/Alana-Lorens/e/B005GE0WBC/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1 

Bookbub:   https://www.bookbub.com/authors/alana-lorens 

Twitter:  @AlexanderLyndi 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alexander_lyndi/

 

 

Ripped from the Pages... #MuseMonday #Inspiration #WRPbks

When I don't have a guest on Muse Monday, I'll share excerpts with photos that inspired scenes from my books.  

I grew up listening to my mom recount memories from the 1940s. I fell in love with the era and with the love story between my mom and dad. Although I write romantic suspense for the most part, my historical romance, Post-War Dreams, is the book of my heart.

 

I’m sharing two short excerpts today.

 

ONE

Claire shook her hair back and lifted tresses the color of a summer sunset from her neck with a flourish. “I’d definitely like to pursue a career in the movies.” The word theatrical came to mind while her smile dazzled him. “This contest should be a lot of fun.” She stared directly into his eyes, the dark brown of hers simmered. “Do you go to the movies?” 

“Now and then.” 

She dipped her chin and gave him a beguiling upwards glance. “I bet you’re a Rita Hayworth man.”

When he only shrugged, she continued, surprising him with her flirtatious tone. “Come on, now. We all have our favorites.” 

“Yeah, she’s…okay.” The words he could use for the sexy, red-haired actress he’d leave unspoken to the young Claire. “Do you dance and act in addition to singing?” 

“I will.” She nodded, quite serious. “I think it’s best to be well-rounded, if you’re going to have a chance in Hollywood. I don’t exactly have any credits to my name yet, still, I’m pretty sure I could act, if given the chance. As far as dancing, yes, a few lessons will be in order, eventually.” 

“So, it’ll be off to Hollywood for you after graduation?” Unusually confident for a high school girl, he could imagine her hopping on a bus to follow her ambitions. Pity. “Not interested in hanging around Phoenix to raise a family?” 

“Oh goodness, lots of time.” Once again, she pushed the hair from her silky-smooth neck with a flip of her fingers. “Following your heart should be first.” 

And who will steal your lovely heart? 

 

TWO

“But…but you can’t love Susan.” My voice, soft as a whisper, didn’t betray the rising fear boiling up from the pit of my stomach. 

He gripped my arms with emphasis. “No, I don’t.” 

My stomach calmed a bit, the fear at a simmer. “Does she love you?” I had to convince him his thinking had clearly gotten off course. 

“No. I mean I don’t think so.” 

“Is she demanding you love her?” Love was everything. Without love, this wasn’t our problem. 

“No…”  

His hesitation cheered me on. My panic churned barely below the surface as I led him down the path of reason. “Well, then, Benjamin, why—” 

“Claire, she’s pregnant. I’ll have to marry her.” 

“Marry?” I choked on the word. Fear and panic erupted. “Oh, God, no. Benjamin!” The tears toppled and flooded my cheeks. “This is her problem.” 

“You know it isn’t, Claire.” His words were thick and strained. “I have to take responsibility.” 

“No, Benjamin, no!” I slapped my palms to his chest as if I could stop this madness with a physical barrier. “No, you don’t.” 

He encircled my waist, gently caressed, but held me firm until my tantrum played out. 

I folded into his chest, but my anger still had some steam. I balled one hand into a fist and hit his chest. “Why? Why do you always have to do the right thing? Why?” I swiped away tears so I could see his reaction when I glared into his face. 

His chest heaved as he stared into my hostility with calmness. “You wouldn’t love me if I didn’t.”

BOOK LINKS:

AMAZON

APPLE

BARNES AND NOBLE

BOOKS-A-MILLION  paper 

BOOKS-A-MILLION ebook 

KOBO

GOOGLE STORE

GOODREADS

BOOKBUB

 

Swapping Identities by Jan Selbourne #WWI #Historical

MUSE MONDAY

Please welcome Jan Selbourne. She has a fascinating premise and WWI is her backdrop. Read on!

In 2015, I joined an Anzacs on the Western Front tour, visiting the battlefields where my grandfather served during World War One.  Looking at the lovely towns and villages and soft green fields it was hard to imagine the horrors of that war until our guide held up enlarged photos of blackened, treeless wastelands littered with bodies of men and horses.  

We visited the immaculately cared for Commonwealth War Graves and memorials and it was very humbling to see the thousands of graves of young men who never came home. Particularly sad was the inscription on so many headstones - "Known Only to God"." I could only assume their bodies were unrecognizable, and their identity discs buried in the mud or blown elsewhere. . 

After the tour ended, I got to wondering if it was possible for a soldier to swap identity discs with another who had been killed in battle.  In those days, War Service records were hand-written. It would have been a mammoth task to record the thousands of injuries and deaths from each battle. Curiosity grew to a real need to know, so I contacted London's Imperial War Museum and the Australian War Memorial in Canberra asking that question.  Both replied that it was possible but unlikely because the chance of discovery was high and the penalties very harsh. Neither would confirm it did happen, but that was good enough for me to write The Proposition. 

Blurb 

War changes a man. For Harry Connelly it’s down to a bullet on the Western Front or arrest and prison at home – until, badly wounded, he collapses beside the body of Andrew Conroy.  Same build, same coloring, illegitimate, no known family. What does he have to lose?  Harry swaps identity discs.

Now Andrew, he’s another face in post war London until a letter. A cousin from the dead soldier’s unknown family wants to meet, to make amends.  Barely surviving on his pension, ‘Andrew’ agrees and is presented with a shocking proposition. Accepting is out of the question, refusing pushes him into a nightmare of murder and blackmail and a very frightened Lacey Haines.

Lacey is barely coping with the consequences of her sister’s treachery until Andrew saves her from a vicious assault. Can she trust him when she’s hiding secrets that could kill them both? 

Excerpt 

Andrew forced himself to look at her. “Please hear me out before you throw me out. There’s no other way to say it. I am not Andrew Conroy.”

Lacey’s face froze in horror.

He put up his hands. “I am not the killer! I am, or was, Harry Connelly. Andrew Conroy and I were two of the thousands of men at Amiens, preparing to face another hell for King and country.”

An anguished whisper. “What on earth are you saying?”

 She didn’t speak while he told her everything from the day before the battle, the bloodbath, Conroy’s lifeless body, his injury and discharge.

“You stole a dead soldier’s identity discs and left him to be buried without his name?”

“He’d already gone to the hereafter. I doubt identity discs would make any difference there.”

 “Hereafter or no hereafter, it was despicable,” Lacey whispered contemptuously. “So, you were discharged and went on your merry way as another man.”

“Not a merry way, a room in a boarding house drinking too much rum. Then Elliot’s letter and the real reason why he invited me.”

He told her, watching her expression change from scepticism to disbelief.

“Do you really expect me to believe that ridiculous story?” Lacey looked at Gina and dropped her voice. “You’ve used Gillian’s letters to cover up why you were there.”

“Her letter about Elliot’s proposition which would give her money to leave England? Why did Elliot hire an investigator to find me? The reasons why he was so desperate to produce a child and why he needed a substitute will be the reason behind those murders.”

A shadow of uncertainty crossed her face. “I don’t believe a word you’ve said.”

“It is unbelievable, its obscene and it’s the truth. I’ve told you he locked me in a room upstairs. It was pitch black and sheer luck I found an adjoining door to the next room. I went downstairs, knocked out and you know the rest.”

“You can’t prove one thing about that night.”

“Neither can you,” he hissed back at her. “You’ve told everyone you didn’t know your sister’s whereabouts and by incredible coincidence you were there that night. Did you really hide in the kitchen? Did you hit me on the head?”

Her mouth tightened, then the question he was dreading.

“Why did you take Andrew Conroy’s identity discs?”

“My career in the police force ended when I belted the son of a Member of Parliament senseless, and my wife humiliated me for the last time.”

Buy Link

https://www.amazon.com/Proposition-Jan-Selbourne-ebook/dp/B087LNZS4S/ 

Find Jan here: 

https://www.facebook.com/jan.selbourne/

https://twitter.com/JanSelbourne

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jan-selbourne-2817b6140/

https://nomadauthors.com/JanSelbourne

 

On Helicopters, Guns, and Being Fearless by Jessica James #Fearless #Romance

FEARLESS FRIDAY

Not only is my guest today fearless, but she writes about fearless characters. Please welcome award winning author, Jessica James to Fearless Friday.

I’m the type of author who needs to feel, hear, see, and experience what I’m writing about—which often leads me to try out new, uncomfortable, outside-my-comfort-zone activities.

When I was writing Civil War fiction, I attended large battle re-enactments (and slept on the ground), so I could more realistically capture the sights and sounds.

When I began writing military suspense, I attended the Special Operations Forces International Conference in Tampa, where I stood feet away from a lifelike drill of a hostage rescue.

My most recent foray took me to the national A Girl and a Gun Conference in Burnet, TX. This involved three days of shooting shotguns, pistols, and long guns, as well as a wide array of self-defense classes.

But the best part of the conference (and the real reason I attended), was getting to target shoot with a military-grade weapon while hanging out of a fast-moving helicopter. (And when I say fast-moving, I mean the pilot came over the radio and said, “on this run, we’re going to pretend we’re being shot at).

We skimmed right over the tops of trees, zig-zagged, climbed and dove—while, at times, going over a hundred miles an hour—just like the characters in my books do.

It was one of the most amazing, albeit terrifying, experiences of my life. And if I could do it again I would jump at the chance!

Does that make me fearless?

Or crazy?

I’m not certain which one of those is true, but I’m pretty sure I have the best job in the world!

A Love Story That Spans Centuries…

My new release Lacewood, didn’t take any daredevil research….just deep soul-searching. Here’s a short blurb: Two people trying to escape their pasts find a connection through an old house—and fulfill a destiny through the secrets it shares. Part love story, part ghost story, Lacewood is a timeless novel about trusting in fate, letting go of the past, and believing in things that can’t be seen. 

Release price is $3.99. Will be $8.99 after June 25.

AMAZON BUY LINK CLICK HERE

UNIVERSAL BUY LINK CLICK HERE

You can find Jessica here:

Web Page: https://www.jessicajamesbooks.com

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001IYTXOG

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RomanticHistoricalFiction

Jessica James Bio:

Jessica James believes in honor, duty, and true love—and that’s what she writes about in her award-winning novels that span the ages from the Revolutionary War to modern day. She is a three-time winner of the John Esten Cooke Award for Southern Fiction, and has won more than a dozen other literary awards, including a Readers' Favorite International Book Award and a Gold Medal from the Military Writers Society of America. Her novels have been used in schools and are available in hundreds of libraries including Harvard and the U.S. Naval Academy.

Victoria Woodhull: Forgotten Pioneer of Women’s Rights by Nicole Evelina

FEARLESS FRIDAY

I'm excited to introduce you to Nicole Evelina on Fearless Friday. Please read on and enjoy!

Victoria Woodhull’s name may not be familiar to you, and if that’s the case, don’t worry; most people don’t know who she is. Despite the fact that she was the first woman to run for President in the United States (1872), the first woman to own and operate a stock brokerage on Wall Street, the first woman to speak before a committee of Congress and one of the first to run a weekly newspaper, her name is not in most history books. 

There are likely many reasons for that, but to me, it’s more important that the situation change. Victoria had her faults, but she also had many admirable qualities that women of all ages could learn from, one of the biggest of which is that she was fearless.  Here are six examples of times when she exemplified that trait: 

1.       She overcame poverty and abuse. Victoria was one of 10 children born to a down-on-his-luck, impoverished con man and a religious zealot, both of whom were physically, emotionally (and possibly sexually) abusive. Her parents put her and her sister Tennessee (Tennie) to work before they were teenagers as clairvoyants and magnetic healers. To escape that life, Victoria married at 14, but her husband turned out to be addicted to alcohol and morphine, was abusive, and frequented brothels. Despite only having three years of formal education, Victoria endured, supporting her growing family by working as a seamstress, actress, medium/healer, and later, after divorcing her first husband, as a stock broker in her own right. By the time she was 31, she was a self-made millionaire. 

2.       She moved around at the direction of the spirits. Victoria was a Spiritualist. Call her brave, faithful or stupid, she believed that the spirits she spoke with knew what was best for her. From a young age, she claimed the ancient Greek orator Demosthenes was her spirit guide. He and her other spirits directed her around the Midwest during the Civil War. Then in 1868, Demosthenes told her to go to New York where she would find a house prepared for her at 17 Great Jones Street. He told that from there, she would fulfill the destiny written in the stars from the moment of her birth and become queen of America, just like the queen she was named after. By this time, Victoria had two children and a second husband, but that didn’t stop her. She packed up her things and moved to New York, where a life of fame and fortune awaited her at the exact address Demosthenes prophesized. 

3.       She challenged authority and shattered the glass ceilings of her day. Victoria would have loved the song “Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better” and she wasn’t afraid to show it. Women didn’t mettle in business affairs? She opened the first stock on Wall Street brokerage owned and operated by a woman (along with Tennie) and was successful at it. Women weren’t allowed at the New York Stock Exchange? No problem, she relayed her business transactions through men. Women weren’t supposed to run for office? She ran for the highest one in the land. Women weren’t supposed to draw attention to themselves? Victoria not only ran a weekly newspaper (along with Tennie), gave speeches around the country, and even challenged Congress on whether or not women already had the right to vote through the wording of the Constitution.  Women weren’t allowed to vote? No matter, in 1871, she and a group of women attempted to vote anyway. 

4.       She spoke out in an age when women were expected to be silent. In Victoria’s time, it was not considered proper for a woman to speak in public because it was believed by doing so, she drew shame upon her father/husband. That didn’t stop suffragists like Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Victoria joined them in speaking out for that right, but also vehemently supported workers’ rights, the humane treatment of prostitutes, and the rights of women to not be sexually subservient to their husbands within marriage. From 1871 on, Victoria was a regular fixture on the lecture circuit along with famous women like Anna Dickinson, traveling around the country to speak her controversial ideas. 

5.       She didn’t hide her private beliefs. If Victoria believed in something, she was going to tell you about it even if it wasn’t in keeping with the mores of the day. She was a member of the so-called “sex radical” movement that rallied for equality of the sexes. As such, she adopted their mode of dress, cutting her hair short and trading in her corset and bustle for more masculine jackets and skirts. Victoria was also a strong proponent of Free Love, the idea that a marriage should begin when two people fall in love and end when they were no longer in love without the interference of government or religion. In a particularly controversial speech, she openly declared, “Yes, I am a free lover! I have an inalienable constitutional and natural right to love whom I may, to love as long or as short a period as I can, to change that love every day as I please.” Imagine how well that went over in Victorian America. Plus, she was open about her affair Theodore Tilton while both were married and may have has several other trysts outside of marriage. 

6.       She expected everyone to be open about their lives. As Victoria was not ashamed of her personal choices and abhorred hypocrisy, she thought everyone should be transparent about their lives. When they were not, she exposed them. From businessmen conducting fraudulent practices to the police taking bribes to keep prostitutes out of jail, Victoria brought to light many underhanded practices through her newspaper. The most famous, and also the most damaging, was her exposé on the affair between the immensely popular Rev. Henry Ward Beecher and the married Elizabeth Tilton. Victoria’s article spelling out all the tawdry details set off the trial of the century and landed her and Tennie in jail for Election Day when she was supposed to be attempting to vote for herself. 

It is a shame that such a brave woman has been excluded from her rightful place in history for the last 145 years. It is my hope that with my novel, Madame Presidentess, I will play some small role in putting her name into the history books and preserving her memory for future generations.

Blurb:

Forty-eight years before women were granted the right to vote, one woman dared to run for President of the United States, yet her name has been virtually written out of the history books. 

Rising from the shame of an abusive childhood, Victoria Woodhull, the daughter of a con-man and a religious zealot, vows to follow her destiny, one the spirits say will lead her out of poverty to “become ruler of her people.” 

But the road to glory is far from easy. A nightmarish marriage teaches Victoria that women are stronger and deserve far more credit than society gives. Eschewing the conventions of her day, she strikes out on her own to improve herself and the lot of American women. 

Over the next several years, she sets into motion plans that shatter the old boys club of Wall Street and defile even the sanctity of the halls of Congress. But it’s not just her ambition that threatens men of wealth and privilege; when she announces her candidacy for President in the 1872 election, they realize she may well usurp the power they’ve so long fought to protect. 

Those who support her laud “Notorious Victoria” as a gifted spiritualist medium and healer, a talented financial mind, a fresh voice in the suffrage movement, and the radical idealist needed to move the nation forward. But those who dislike her see a dangerous force who is too willing to speak out when women are expected to be quiet. Ultimately, “Mrs. Satan’s” radical views on women’s rights, equality of the sexes, free love and the role of politics in private affairs collide with her tumultuous personal life to endanger all she has built and change how she is viewed by future generations. 

This is the story of one woman who was ahead of her time – a woman who would make waves even in the 21^st century – but who dared to speak out and challenge the conventions of post-Civil War America, setting a precedent that is still followed by female politicians today.

Nicole is a member of and book reviewer for The Historical Novel Society, and Sirens (a group supporting female fantasy authors), as well as a member of the Historical Writers of America, Women’s Fiction Writers Association, Romance Writers of America, the St. Louis Writer’s Guild, Women Writing the West, Broad Universe (promoting women in fantasy, science fiction and horror), Alliance of Independent Authors, the Independent Book Publishers Association and the Midwest Publisher’s Association.

Her website is http://nicoleevelina.com.

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