Posts in which we or our guests offer a giveaway.
Today we welcome multi-pubbed Austenesque author Regina Jeffers with her new release The Disappearance of Georgiana Darcy, talking about the Scottish highland settings that were the inspiration for the book. She’s also giving away a copy of the book to one lucky commenter, so let’s get chatting.
Here’s the blurb (and isn’t that a lovely cover!):
Shackled in the dungeon of a macabre castle with no recollection of her past, a young woman finds herself falling in love with her captor – the estate’s master. Yet, placing her trust in him before she regains her memory and unravels the castle’s wicked truths would be a catastrophe. Far away at Pemberley, the Darcys happily gather to celebrate the marriage of Kitty Bennet. But a dark cloud sweeps through the festivities: Georgiana Darcy has disappeared without a trace. Upon receiving word of his sister’s likely demise, Darcy and wife, Elizabeth, set off across the English countryside, seeking answers in the unfamiliar and menacing Scottish moors. How can Darcy keep his sister safe from the most sinister threat she has ever faced when he doesn’t even know if she’s alive? True to Austen’s style and rife with malicious villains, dramatic revelations and heroic gestures, this suspense-packed mystery places Darcy and Elizabeth in the most harrowing situation they have ever faced – finding Georgiana before it is too late.
My latest novel, The Disappearance of Georgiana Darcy, is set in the Scottish Uplands in a land drenched in legend and mystery. It is an area where the heather in bloom can steal one’s breath with its beauty, but where nature can also teach harsh lessons.
The Merrick is a 2766-foot hill that is part of the Awful Hand. Close by is the descent to Loch Enoch, the Grey Man, the Murder Hole, and a host of other lochs. The wilderness walk that traverses the area covers nine miles. The Range of the Awful Hand is a string of hills in the Southern Uplands named due to their resemblance to the fingers of a hand. The hills, starting at the ‘thumb’ are Benyellary (719 m); Merrick (843 m); Kirriereoch Hill (786 m); Tarfessock (697 m); Shalloch on Minnoch (768 m).
The wilderness walk starts at Bruce’s Stone, a monument erected in memory of Robert Bruce’s defeat of the English at Glen Troll. If one knows anything of the battle, he realizes that the monument represents Bruce’s men rolling huge rocks down the hillside on the advancing army.
The “Grey Man of Merrick” is an eerie rocky outcrop aptly named, as it clearly resembles the stoney face of an old man. He sits just below Merrick Hill, acting almost as a guard to the highest hill in Galloway.
If one is adventurous enough to set out on foot in the area, it is best to approach Loch Neldricken via the Rig of Loch Enoch, which is high enough to keep a person from the bog lands below. The advantage of walking along the Rig of Loch Enoch is it is high enough to keep a person out the bog lands below. There are no paths, and the grass grows in lumpy tufts making walking quite difficult. Sometimes one’s feet will disappear into a deep shuch, and a person ends up covered in mud.
In this photo, one finds the infamous Murder Hole. It is the round pool to the right of the loch in this photo. Legend has it that many years ago weary travelers were robbed and their bodies dumped in the hole never to be seen again. In summer there is a ring of reeds growing around the hole, but none grow in it. It is also rumored that in even the coldest winters, the center does not freeze.
Though it is claimed that the real Murder Hole is near Rowantree Bridge on the Water of Minnoch where the bodies of waylaid, murdered travelers were dumped, the “Murder Hole” refers to an incident in Samuel Crockett’s novel The Raiders.
Galloway’s landscape and its legends inspired Samuel Rutherford Crockett (1859-1914), a writer with a prodigious output. The Raiders, his best known book, was a romantic, loosely historical, adventure story, which sold thousands of copies in 1894, and further editions were published to meet demand.
Taking A762 past the ruined Kenmure Castle, a traveler will eventually come to Mossdale, where he will find the sad little wooden sign of Little Duchrae Farm, where Samuel Crockett was born and further on the impressive memorial at Laurieston Village, the Clachanpluck of ‘The Raiders’ story. Paid for by public subscription and unveiled in 1932 by Crockett’s wife Ruth, it is constructed with large granite blocks set on a slight rise just off the road. Although he never met Robert Louis Stevenson, Crockett and Stevenson corresponded, and a plaque on the pillar carries part of the Stevenson poem, To SR Crockett,
Blows the wind today,
and the sun and the rain are flying,
Blows the wind on the moors today and now,
Where about the graves of the martyrs the whaups are crying
My heart remembers Now!
In her book The Life and Times of Samuel Rutherford Crockett, Islay Murray Donaldson stresses that, due to various circumstances, Crockett could not afford the luxury of spending enough time on his literary efforts, so he never reached Stevenson’s sustained heights or enduring popularity.
So, this is the setting for the mystery behind The Disappearance of Georgiana Darcy. Is it not the perfect? One of the best sites for photos of this area is Walkhighlands.
If you’d like your name to be entered into the drawing for a copy of The Disappearance of Georgiana Darcy, you must include your email in a “safe” form, e.g., riskies at yahoo dot com. We’ll announce the winner on Monday evening.
Tell us about favorite settings, real or imagined, that you’ve enjoyed in books.
Congrats, Maureen! You’ve won a copy of The Disappearance of Georgiana Darcy.
Thanks for dropping by, everyone.
It’s a historic day–actually two days ago it was a historic day when the digital, rewritten, heated up (but it was always hot) new version of Dedication was released.
Isn’t it a fabulous cover? You can buy it here and watch the book trailer here.
Just for giggles, I’m reposting excerpts from the original Riskies interview from 2005 when the first edition (strangely a Signet Regency–a trad!) was released, when this blog was a mere infant. Updated comments in this color.
Q. How did you think of writing this particular book? Did it start with a character, a setting, or some other element?
The first scene–that of a man knocking at the door of a London house early in the morning– came into my head strongly enough that I was able to build the plot and characters from there. I don’t know why it works this way for me, but it does. Heck I wish it still did. Somehow that was very evocative.It’s one of those classic beginnings, like the hero leaves town and/or the stranger comes into town: think about how many books are constructed like that.
Q. How long did it take? Was this an easy or difficult book to write?
It took years, the luxury of the first book! It was a much revised book, but it was always easy to write. It began first as a single-title regency set historical, and had a rather convoluted plot. Adam was a codebreaker for English intelligence, and Fabienne his major suspect as a spy. I also had the villain eaten by Adam’s pigs, something I’ve always regretted losing. I had a near miss with an editor who suggested I drop the spy plot and make it more a comedy of manners, so I revised it and she rejected it via form letter (one of those character building moments). It was never was a comedy of manners, and it continued to bomb until it won the 2004 Royal Ascot Contest (sponsored by the Beau Monde) and Signet made me an offer for it later that year. I had to chop off 20k words, so the subplot almost disappeared, but at least almost all the sex stayed intact! Then I got the rights back and dithered around with it, missing the phenomenon of self-pubbing by selling to Loose-Id. I rewrote fairly extensively and restored some of the subplot and expanded upon the sex. I repaired, I hope, the gaping hole near the end which reviewers kindly attributed to the drastic shortening of the book; it wasn’t. It was a combination of me galloping to the finish line and being a lousy plotter. Anyway, with this version you get, er, more bang for your buck.
Q. Tell me more about your characters. What or who inspired them?
I’ve no idea where Fabienne and Adam came from. I think they were based on what I didn’t want to write about or read about. I was interested in characters who had had experience in life, including good relationships with other partners, friends, and family, and who had not been holding grudges or harboring revenge plans for decades. In other words, fairly complex and healthy people, who were mature enough to solve their own problems but were also human enough to make mistakes. So that’s how I ended up with a heroine in her late 30s and a hero in his early 40s, both widowed. And that was really unusual seven years ago, amazing though it may seem. I had to have a hero of a certain age with viable sperm, it’s central to the plot, but I think he’s one of the sexiest men I’ve written (glasses, cries a lot, nice hands–my sorta guy). And in this version I could actually show Fabienne with one of her lovers, something that was only hinted at in the original version, because in 2005 only minor female characters had an adventurous love life and they usually had to pay for it by coming to a sticky end. Sadly, the double standard is still with us, I think.
So the contest–I’ve told you about Adam, my favorite hero. Now tell me about your favorite sort of hero. Easy. I’m giving away two downloads of Dedication as prizes!
The fine print: You must include a “safe” version of your email address, eg riskies at yahoo dot com in your post. I will announce the winners here on Saturday morning, giving you two full days to tell your friends about this fantabulous contest. I will email the winners directly to ask about formats. If I don’t hear back from you within a week you’re toast. Sorry! 18 and over.
Anna and Jana F, you’re the winners!
I have Anna’s email address and Jana, you need to send yours to riskies AT yahoo.com, please. And heck, now we’re blessed with the new and unimproved blogger and it’s a whole new learning experience.
