Hi Riskies!! Thanks for asking me over. I’m a great fan of your blog–I mean, come on, who could resist RISKY Regencies?
Q: What first gave you the idea for Claiming the Courtesan?
A: Ideas are mysterious beasts, aren’t they? I’d written a story about a woman with all the protections Regency society offered–money, family, position. So I started thinking about a woman who had no safety net. What if she was left responsible for people she loved when little more than a child herself? What if she came from a strong religious background so the choice she was forced to make was anathema?
Q: Did you encounter any challenges researching? Any new or surprising historical information you discovered?
A: I’d been unconsciously gathering information for this story over a long period. You can’t travel to the Scottish Highlands and Islands without being aware of the tragic scale of the clearances of the 18th and 19th centuries. You can’t visit stately homes in the UK without thinking of the psychological growth of a sensitive child who inherits all that power and isolation.
I’d already written the first draft of CTC when I discovered the story of Elizabeth Armistead and Charles James Fox. She was a courtesan (one who had a much rougher time than I ever gave Verity) and he was a famous politician from an aristocratic family. As mature adults, he and Elizabeth fell in love–she sounds like a genuinely sweet, intelligent woman and I think he was lucky to find her–and eventually married very happily. She, of course, was never accepted in society, but there was a certain amount of contact with his family. Elizabeth and my Verity were similar in many ways, not least that they married into society but were permanently outside it.
I was also surprised, again after I finished the first draft (I continue researching while I’m writing the book because it keeps me in the world of the story), quite how many dukes DID marry their low-born mistresses. What I thought was wildly daring concept was firmly grounded in life. Although the real dukes usually made sure they had a family first with an upper-class woman to keep the succession untainted by notoriety.
Q: We pride ourselves on writing “Risky Regencies”–tell us what’s risky about your book!
A: When I started writing Claiming the Courtesan, what was risky was that it was a much darker, more emotional story than I had ever attempted. Given that I’d completed my first manuscript more than twenty years earlier and hadn’t sold a book, it never occurred to me that this book would be the breakthrough. Especially as it featured a woman who slept with men for money. It seemed less commercial than my previous project, a romantic comedy set in 1817 which had all those lovely Regency elements like balls and dresses and elopements and duels. This one had two really complex characters and a mountain of difficult issues to deal with. But I couldn’t get the story or the characters out of my mind. So I did what I always do–I wrote the story that was true to those people and what those specific individuals would do in that set of circumstances. I thought it would just go under the bed with its brethren to gather dust bunnies until the crack of doom.
Then a weird thing happened. This book seemed to get people excited. Taking a risk with the emotional content paid off, wrenching as it was to write. The book, then called No Ordinary Duchess, did really well in contests, the first agent who read the full signed me, it finalled in the Golden heart, and sold at an auction between three publishers.
Claiming the Courtesan came out March 27th, and I’ve been utterly astonished by the attention it’s receiving. Being true to those characters has created a really emotional reaction in people who have read it. A proportion of the response, admittedly, has been anger and dismay. But unless I’m true to the characters, I can’t write. Does my story prove risky? As Austin Powers would say “Yeah, baby!”
Q: Who were some of your early writing influences?
A: I loved Enid Blayton and fairy tales when I was a kid. Then Barbara Cartland and Victoria Holt and Harlequin romances (they were pretty tame in those days, though I remember Anne Mather slathered on sexual tension that made my girlish heart beat faster). Then I discovered American historical romances, especially Kathleen Woodiwiss. I read The Wolf and the Dove and said to myself “This is what I want to do when I grow up!” I loved Anya Seton and Rosemary Hawley Jarman–a passionate historical, even if it has a sad ending, is a real addiction. The Brontes, Austen. Probably my favorite books of all time are Dorothy Dunnett’s Lymond Chronicles. They offer a reading experience unlike any other, and the chance to meet one of the most fascinating, charismatic, complex characters in fiction, the gorgeous if tortured Francis Crawford of Lymond.
Q: Tell us about your next book!
A: Untouched comes out as an Avon Romatic Treasure in December 2007. It’s another “Regency noir”, although the story isn’t linked with CTC. I’m putting the cover blurb and an excerpt on my website at the start of May, but if you want a peek try here.
Dear guests, leave a comment on the blog for the chance to win an autographed copy of CLAIMING THE COURTESAN! The winner will be announced on Tuesday, April 17. If you have not done so already, please read Bertie the Beau’s Official Risky Regencies Contest Rules.
Welcome, Anna!
Great interview. In my own writing I always struggle with the issue of the happy ending when two people from very different backgrounds marry. It seems like both would lose the relationships with their own families, and therefore with their own communities.
So does this actually qualify as a happy ending, or a passionate yet dysfunctional one?
Oh, Janet, wow, interesting question! I think that’s probably something that readers have to make their minds up about but here’s my take. His family is so dysfunctional that getting away from it is a GOOD thing. She has a brother and a sister who I pictured being part of Verity and Kylemore’s lives. It wouldn’t be a conventional aristocratic marriage and Verity, of course, would never be accepted in society, even if she is a duchess. Both of these characters are so isolated at the start of the book. My feeling at the end is that they live in Scotland and create their own community/family. So my picture is a happy ending but not a happy ending with never another problem on the horizon. But then, my idea of a realistic happy ending in any romance is that this couple have weathered storms before and will weather them again, not that it’s going to be fine weather forever.
hi anna! one of my first romances is the prisoner of zenda (not exactly modern day written romance, but still), by anthony hope. it was an honour vs love book, and in the end honour won over love. in by love undone, by suzanne enoch, the hero’s father told him: “don’t you think any of our ancestors ever fancied an unacceptable person? do you think they married them?”
i am very happy that verity and justin are able to come together in the end, but when do you think must the line between honour and love be drawn, and one is unable to have both (esp for royal and aristocratic marriages in historical/regency/victorian periods)? when it comes to choosing between what is acceptable and what is right, does one always have that choice? and when does the price exceeds the prize?
Hi All I am reading CTC now and it is fantastic Justin has a lot of emotions from the past and so does Verity I am only at page 130 so I still have a lot to read ( I had a big weekend with my Grandson) but am finding that I don’t want to put it down their past is coming in bits and pieces and this is really getting me into the story I am sure that I will finish it today and I already feel that I don’t want the book to finish.
Have Fun
Helen
Australia
Hi, and welcome to Risky Regencies! 🙂 Alas, I still haven’t gotten Claming the Courtesan, but I love the sound of the preview of the next one as well!! 🙂
Lois
Ai Yin, the old love versus duty conundrum! It’s such an interesting question (and my current wip is based on just such a question so it’s one dear to my heart right now!) because it poses two really huge issues against each other and who’s to say what’s wrong and what’s right? I suspect there’s a historical change here too. These days, most people would definitely fly into the love camp rather than the duty camp whereas in the past, it would have been the other way around. So if the Prisoner of Zenda were written now, I suspect the hero would get the girl and duty would come out second. I also wonder if Europeans have a different view on this to Americans. I remember there were vastly different reactions to the Edward VIII/Mrs Simpson thing in the US and in the British Empire as it was then.
Helen, delighted you’re enjoying my book. I can completely relate to that life getting in the way of my reading dilemma! It’s probably even closer to my heart than love versus duty. Actually, now I think about it, it IS love versus duty!
Lois, thanks for the welcome. I’m really happy to be here. This blog has been essential reading for me since it first set up. And thank you for checking out UNTOUCHED. Glad the preview whetted your appetite.
Anna: Anybody who likes Enid Blyton the way I do is surely my soul buddy. 🙂 I love, love, love her books. Next on my list would be Georgette Heyer, Barbara Cartland, Anne Mather, and other great M&B writers.
I heard that Anne Mather is going to come out with a book this year. WOW! I can hardly wait.
Janet & Anna: I believe that wherever you have arranged marriages, there are those who seek love and romance and are ostracized for stepping out of society’s bounds. This isn’t just with the Regency upper class, but continues to happen to this day with the middle class in many societies around the world.
Problems arise in every marital situation, so in a sense a HEA is a myth. So, the fact that Verity and Justin are happy with each other must constitute the requisite romance novel HEA, shouldn’t it?
Ai Yin: Welcome to the Riskies. What a great question you’ve asked!
Anna, my question for you: What research books did you specifically consult for the life of a courtesan and all the manners and societal mores that entailed? Thanks!
Happy endings aren’t always without trials, alas!!!
I enjoyed the interview very much and look forward to the book; congrats on it’s coming out.
Keira, people are snide about Enid Blyton but she taught me a lot as a writer – the power of a good story and compelling characters (well, they were compelling to my primary school self, anyway!) for a start. Oh, those Anne Mathers! I had a box full of her books under my bed and my mother threw it out when I went to live in England. It took me YEARS to forgive her (perhaps you’ll understand!). And Barbara Cartland gets a lot of bad press but again, she could write a good story and compelling characters and her history was fantastic. I learnt so much being a BC fan! And the great Georgette? What can I say? Yes, clearly, we’d be fighting over the same bookshelves!
As you can probably gather, I read a lot of history anyway and the fascination with courtesans went right back to my high school where there were so few women in the history that was taught. Queens and courtesans and that was about it and generally the courtesans were MUCH more interesting! A book I really like about the life of courtesans (it features a couple of Regency courtesans but there’s a similarity in the lives of these women across a long period of history) is Courtesans by Katie Hickman. Gives biographical treatment of a handful of the women with a very sympathetic eye. Actually, I picked up quite a bit about courtesans reading Barbara Cartland! I don’t know if you remember, but the hero often has a mistress when the story starts. I read a few other books (sorry, I’m away from my bookcases at the moment) specifically about courtesans (they play a huge part in general history as well!). But a lot of these books tended to treat the women as objects rather than real living beings. You know, they were symbols of early feminism or the patriarchal tyranny or whatever rather than real people. I wanted to know what the real women were like! Oh, dear, hope you’re still with me – that ended up being rather long.
Thanks for your kind remarks about the interview, Robin. Amanda only asks the BEST questions! Actually, does it sound strange to say that I find the idea of eternal roses round the doors and waltzes playing on the radio a bit stifling? I rather like the idea of my characters continuing to grow and learn as they forge a life together – and sadly adversity is one of the best teachers!
Hi Anna,
Seton over at Elosia James’ BB alerted me that you were here today. This is my first visit here. I loved your book. I can see why it is causing some controversy, but I think Justin acted very much like a Duke who was thwarted would, very historically accurate. Verity drove me a little crazy at the end by turning down his proposal again and again, but I guess that made sense considering how octracized a marriage between the two of them would make them. What I would really like to see is their son’s story. He will be a Duke with a known “whore” for a mother. He will have to take his place in society. I am dying to know what his place will be. How will he face down all those who dismiss him because of his mother? With parents like Verity and Justin he his bound to be a fascinating character. Any chance you will write his story? I’m looking forward to your next book. You definitely have a fan.
Very nice interview. Your book has certainly created a buzz on the internet. Do you find yourself avoiding the discussions on the various message boards? It seems to be a difficult situation on one hand I would think a person would be tempted to participate, but often on reader boards when authors participate they are often blasted. Best of luck.
Hi Anna–
Just flew over to read your excerpt for the December release….
Which leads me to an important , albeit snarky question…
Do we have an obsession, perhaps, with tying up our lovely heroines? 🙂
(Grins and waves, off to pre-order for Christmas…)
Thanks so much, Beth. I’m so glad you took those characters to your heart (even if Verity being a martyr at the end got your goat a bit!). I’d love to hear what you think of UNTOUCHED.
Interesting you mention the kids (yes, I pictured them having kids too!). Her worry about the children making their way in the very class-bound society of 19th century England is actually quite realistic and I agree, the children are going to have to face up to both their heritage and the scandal of who their mother is. Hmm, getting more drawn into this by the minute. I’ve toyed with an idea for a daughter’s story but you’re right, the son would be just as complicated. My only iffy thought is that I’d be in the full flush of the Victorian era then and I rather like writing Regencies! Or this strange in-between period that is the reign of George IV and his brother.
Hi Anna, I still have my Enid Blyton books like The Naughties Girl, Malory Towers, The Enchanted Forest, etc. Could never bear to throw them away even though I hardly have the chance to read them these days.
The Golden Heart can open a lot of doors for authors and I’m glad it’s done so for you. What did you do to celebrate when you received The Call?
Hi, Anna!
I’m late in welcoming you because I was with a friend from……Australia!
Claiming the Courtesan sounds great–I love those courtesans. I read the same Katie Hickman book about courtesans before my courtesan book.
The debate between love and duty is such a great one.
Michelle, I’ve got to say the last couple of weeks have been rather surreal and overwhelming in many ways. Clearly, CTC is a book that is going to get a strongly divided reaction. I’ve very deliberately kept away from commenting on the boards and as far as I possibly can, I’ve tried to avoid reading them. Mind you, that’s been a bit like trying not to look at the train wreck in my back yard! As I said in my blog, I tried to write a story that was true to those characters and that’s as far, I believe, as a writer’s duty goes. If people buy it, they have every right to say what they like. It’s not my place to rush in and say, “No, that’s absolutely not it!” And what would that achieve? It would either make me sound bombastic or apologetic and, believe me, I don’t want to appear as either.
Gillian! I didn’t think that was snarky. It made me laugh. Yes, I must admit two kidnapping books are quite enough for now. Book three, you’ll be pleased to know, contains NO kidnapping. And hey, I think there’s a vast difference between tying my heroine up in chapter four and tying her up in the first few pages! Snort! And let me know if you want me to get you a good deal on rope….
Jennybrat! Nice to see you! Those Enid Blytons turned me into a reader (along with the standard childhood classics like Black Beauty) and I’ll always be eternally grateful to her for that. I used to stay awake all night with a torch under the bedcovers to see what happened next. And I still think that hunger to find out what happens next is one of life’s greatest pleasures (yes, I obviously lead a quiet life here in Oz!).
Diane, I’ve always felt like you were my writing sister because we both started our career with books about working girls! I actually read the Katie Hickman book after I’d done the first draft of CLAIMING THE COURTESAN, and when I read about Elizabeth Armistead, it was like reading about Verity. They had both been through the fire and emerged at the other end with an essential sweetness of nature that I really admired. Laughed at one Aussie (and I can guess who!) keeping you from another Aussie. We do get around. Just never offer us a free drink or we become permanent guests!
Hi Anna!
I was one of the very lucky few to read Claiming the Courtesan before it was published. I have been telling everyone Anna Campbell is going to be star.
The book is fabulous. Grab a copy as soon as you can. It is going to sell out faaaast.
You can pay me later, Anna. US dollars please. wink, wink.
Cheers and congrats on the absolute best debut novel I have ever read.
Kathryn
Kathryn, thank you so much. Wow. That’s wonderful praise from a writer like you. The check is in the mail!!!
Jennybrat, I realized I didn’t answer your question about the call. It was actually a bittersweet moment for me – the book had gone to auction between a couple of publishers that lasted the week leading up to Easter last year (the 15th April is actually my anniversary). I’d given up work a year before to look after my mother who hadn’t been well and she’d had a really bad night. So I rang the ambulance, then I rang my agent and we both agreed that Avon and the book belonged together (a decision I’ve never regretted, by the way. They’ve been fantastic). And five minutes later I was in an ambulance speeding toward the local hospital. When you’re dealing with someone sick like that, everything else tends to go on hold. But I can remember a couple of hours later, sitting in an extremely grotty waiting room and watching all the bashed up people who’d been in fights parading through. And I thought, hey, after 27 years of writing, I have a three book deal with the publisher I’d aimed for since I was 14 when I read THE WOLF AND THE DOVE. A very surreal moment!
Mum did come out of hospital again, by the way.
Anna, I’m glad to hear your mother pulled through! (I admit I read the beginning of that last post with some trepidation, lol).
Sorry I’m late chiming in here, crazy Sunday, but I am loving all the discussion. This is a fabulous, complex read. 🙂
Awww, Anna! I’m just thrilled you even HEARD of my books! Now, I’m intensely curious about yours.(amazon here I come)
My Aussie friend is probably not who you think–not Melissa James (who, Risky Readers, writes for Harlequin Romance), but another of Melissa’s and my email loop–Deb, who is an aspiring writer and who was taking a tour of the US that luckily included Washington DC.
Hi, too, to Kathy Caskie!! Thanks for stopping by, Kathy!
It was great having you here, Anna, and I’m delighted you are having such an exciting debut!
Anna, oh, how difficult that day must’ve been: exultation at one end, heartbreak on the other. So glad to hear that your mother’s well and you’re a published author!!
Anna & Diane: Thanks for the name of the book.
Anna: Thanks for the detailed reply to my courtesan question.
Whatever snippy things people may have to say about her, but Dame BC knew how to set a detailed scene and put you there. I miss those Raj-style Brit-in-a-foreign-country books, which she wrote so well.
Great to see more Enid Blyton fans. *waves* to Jennybrat.
Kathryn, great to see you over here.
Hi Amanda. Thank you so much for asking me over to the Riskies – why do I always want to put an ‘F’ on the front of that word? 😉
Diane, of COURSE I know your books. How could I not? Actually, I went to the English romance writers conference in 2004 just after you’d published the Mysterious Miss M and your book was absolutely the buzz of the gathering. You mightn’t remember but we met briefly at the Golden Heart reception last year. And you’re right – I did think it was Melissa!
Keira, it WAS a really strange day. But it just goes to show you that writing isn’t our number one priority. The people we love are.
Actually, I love books set in a wider world than just Regency London (much as I love Regency London). Dame BC did a marvellous book about Singapore in the 19th century and a couple about the Raj in India. And I can remember she had books set in Spain and France and Georgia (as in on the Black Sea). She really did help me become interested in a whole range of places beyond South-East Queensland in Australia.
I just finished CTC and I absolutely LOVED it!!!!
Justin’s nightmares just about broke my heart. I love that CTC had darker tones and everything wasn’t picture perfect. I hope Justin & Verity get their happily ever after wherever they choose to be, even if we never see it 🙂
YES!!!! That is why you look so familiar and why your “story” is so familiar too.
Way to go, Anna!!!
Hi Anna,
Just wanted to tell you how much I loved Claiming the Courtesan. I was lucky enough to borrow an ARC from one of my critique partners and it was a fabulous read. Took me right back to the glory days of Laura Kinsale and Anne Stuart!
Dorothy Dunnett’s Lymond chronicles are some of my favorite books, too. Do you think a lot of Lymond went into Justin’s character?
Your snippet of Untouched was a great teaser–it’s on my wishlist already!
Best,
Kristian Mercer
Kat, that’s fantastic. Thanks so much! That was great! Honestly, there’s nothing nicer than someone taking characters are so vivid to me to their heart too.
Diane, you probably remember me under my real name Karen Schwartz (you heard it first here, folks!). I was going to publish under that but someone had written a chick lit under that name and sold it just before CTC was picked up (under the name No Ordinary Duchess which was its original title too – name changes were obviously in style about a year ago!).
Well, I never remember anyone’s names, but a small lightbulb of recognition goes on when someone tells me a name I’ve heard before. Not a flicker with Anna Campbell! Now I know why.
I do remember Melissa telling me when you sold, too.
Wow, Kristian! So glad you loved CTC. Thank you so much for letting me know. I love Laura Kinsale and Anne Stuart!
Interesting you mentioning Francis Crawford. I was thinking about him last night in terms of the Duke of Kylemore and wondering quite how much FC had influenced my hero. Quite a lot, I should think! Certainly the larger than life quality! The very first time I read those DD books, I found him so mesmerising, I went on the journey with him, whether he was right or wrong (and he was often wrong – but then I think people often are!).
Wow, Kristian! So glad you loved CTC. Thank you so much for letting me know. I love Laura Kinsale and Anne Stuart!
Interesting you mentioning Francis Crawford. I was thinking about him last night in terms of the Duke of Kylemore and wondering quite how much FC had influenced my hero. Quite a lot, I should think! Certainly the larger than life quality! The very first time I read those DD books, I found him so mesmerising, I went on the journey with him, whether he was right or wrong (and he was often wrong – but then I think people often are!).
Anna said, “And I can remember she had books set in Spain and France and Georgia (as in on the Black Sea).”
Aha! I absolutely remember the Georgian book. That was truly the frontier of my geography knowledge at that time. I had to pore over my atlas before I could dive into the book. Who would’ve thought Dame BC was educational as well as entertaining?! 🙂
It’s been such a pleasure chatting with you here, Anna!
You too, Keira. Thanks for your comments. Always lovely to meet another Regency enthusiast. Actually, the Georgian book inspired a huge ambition in me to visit the place. It sounded so exotic and dramatic. I remember BC was the first place I ever saw Hester Stanhope referred to as well, and Metternich and Raffles of Singapore. And Diane de Poitiers – now there was a courtesan to strike terror into most men’s hearts! I tried to read one of BC’s books a couple of years ago and sadly, my tastes have changed. But that doesn’t mean reading all those books was a waste of time at all!
Hi Anna! I’m probably too late, but great interview. I, too, read this marvelous book in manuscript form and distinctly remember Anna blitzing all those contests with what later became CTC, yet still saying, oh, a courtesan will never sell. Well, did it ever!
did someone mention my name? [looks around]
AC, your description of a “realistic happy ending” for CTC reminded me of the ending of Mary Balogh’s much esteemed A PRECIOUS JEWEL. (I’m gonna discuss the ending so people who dont want to know should look away) Anyway, at the end of the Balogh novel, the hero marries the prostitute heroine and they are happy and expecting their baby. The End. Or was it? In a later novel (forgot which one) Balogh revisits this couple 5 years later and the readers sees that they are isolated/estranged from the community because of the heroine’s past and that they worry about their son not being able to play with the other kids. Definite tension there even if the couple are togther. In the later book, an effort is made to assimilate the PRECIOUS JEWEL couple and everything turns out okay. I appreciated Balogh doing that thoughtful revisit with that couple
Um, Christine, just what is this courtesan going to sell? 😉 Thank you for your lovely comments, by the way!
Seton, I haven’t read the MB book. Sounds like I should. One of the many things I admire about her writing is that she really does ground her stories in historical reality, even when the historical reality presents tough choices. I can remember a wonderful one about a coal-mining valley in Wales that was just heart-wrenching.
Regarding Verity and Kylemore, my idea with this current story I’m writing (another courtesan one) is to bring them in for a cameo appearance. There were so many threads at the end of CTC that I still wanted to explore. Was V pregnant? How did they manage to establish a life for themselves away from the strictures/approval of society? How did the relationship develop? And anyway, they were so real to me when I wrote the book, I WANTED to talk to them again. And I find Maria, Verity’s sister, an interesting character too. None of them are going to have an easy row to hoe and that’s where you get interesting stories, I think.
Thanks so much for visiting, Anna!
I like your definition of a happy ending. It’s just unrealistic to think that society as a whole will always embrace every unusual marriage. And sadly, dysfunctional families abound in real life. It’s empowering to read about their members escaping and creating their own happiness.
Thanks for asking me to visit, (F) Riskies! I’ve had a great time! And thank you to everyone who took the time and trouble to leave a comment. Happy reading!
Great interview. I can’t wait to read Claiming the Courtesan. I read the excerpt, it was great.This is going to be one book I’m definately going to have to buy.
I would have bben here sooner but my daughter eas in the hospital.
Great interview! Thanks for being here Anna!
Cherie
What an informative interview. I look forward to enjoying this special novel.
Kimberly, thanks for dropping by. I hope your daughter is OK. And Cherie and Traveler, thank you for your comments!
Hello Anna loved your interview today. As an avid reader of all genres I’m always looking for new authors to read and your new book sounds great!
Thanks, Tetewa. Actually, I’d like to thank the Riskies for letting me talk about my book to a whole raft of new readers!
Kimberly, I hope your daughter is okay! Hugs to you both
Insightful interview! Thanks for sharing Anna!
Hi Anna I enjoyed the interview. Claiming the Courtesan sounds great.Emma
See, Riskies? I told you I cruise this blog on a regular basis! Thanks for dropping by, Emma and Rachelle!