Veiled In Blue

Veiled In Blue is the next to last Emperors of London book, and one readers have been waiting for. Julius’s story!

In all the series I write there is one character readers write to me about the most, and there are two in Emperors of London. One is Julius Caesar, Lord Winterton, the son and heir of the Duke of Kirkburton. He’s at loggerheads with his unfeeling mother, trying to keep his sister Helena out of her clutches. She has set the future roles of all her children, and Helena is to be the helpmeet.

But Julius finds a distraction. He wants to check on one of the children of the Old Pretender, a young woman adopted by a country vicar and his wife. Because he doesn’t want to make waves, he goes as plain Mr. Vernon.

And it’s there that Julius meets his fate, in the little village of Appleton. He desires her, then he falls for her, but he makes a fatal mistake that could cost him the love of his life.

Writing this story was a delight, not least because I got to write an aristocrat-in-disguise story. Julius is forced to face discomforts he doesn’t usually encounter in his normal life. People don’t bow and scrape to him, and they don’t immediately fuss over him. Being Julius, this comes as a relief, rather than a problem. He looks on the visit as a holiday.

Until danger strikes. Of course danger strikes. It wouldn’t be any fun if it didn’t!

Unlike most of the children, Eve knows she is a daughter of the son of King James II. She doesn’t really believe it, and being a practical woman, she doesn’t care very much. It doesn’t affect her day to day life in this, to her, boring part of England. She has suitors, one in particular, but when Julius bursts into her life, everything goes to hell in a handbasket.

One of the sources for this book was Fielding’s “Tom Jones,” although there isn’t anyone quite as vulgar as the Squire. I’d loved to have done my version, but there wasn’t a place for him. But Tom starts his journey in a rural community very much like the one in Tom Jones. People who knew their places living their lives and occasionally indulging in scandal. The other thing I couldn’t put in the book was the number of spankings! Children were regularly punished, and it was very much “spare the rod and spoil the child” that prevailed. Putting that into a modern book would lead to accusations of cruelty. In one of the earlier Emperors books, I put how the father of the heroine chastised her in that way. The readers didn’t like it, and hated the father far more than I’d planned!

So when I write the books I do have to bear the modern reader in mind. What was perfectly acceptable then isn’t any more. But I try to make my books authentic. It’s problems like that that make the writing process fascinating. I won’t write anachronisms, like the aristocratic lady wandering around London on her own or refusing to marry on principle, but I do temper the stories to suit the modern reader. 

You can get Veiled In Blue here:

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Veiled In Blue

I have to talk about my new release today. In the past, I used to find it really hard to get the word out about new books, but somebody said to me, “If they don’t know it’s there, they can’t buy it,” and by jingo, she was right.

But this is a bit more than a “buy my book” which I still don’t like doing.

While Veiled In Blue is the sixth book in a series, it can be read as a standalone. It’s part of a series because there’s a theme and a family underlying the whole series, but the theme is easy enough. It’s part of my “Emperors of London” series, about a family’s secret fight against the people who would put the Stuarts back on the throne.

In search of one of the secret children of the Old Pretender, the startlingly named Julius Caesar, Lord Winterton, drops the title and slips into the little village of Appleton, where he meets his fate. Eve Merton is the daughter of the last vicar of Appleton, and she lives in genteel poverty with her mother. Originally Eve had a sister, but she got so whiny and didn’t actually do anything, so I got rid of her. Because that’s how I roll. I was sorry for her, but she had to go.

Anyway, after an excruciating journey to the village, where Eve has an unfortunate effect on Julius, he gets to work. In the small community he discovers spies and highwaymen, and renews his friendship with his cousin Alex, who has retired to a grand house nearby with his wife. He has his hands full, not least with Eve.

Every time I start these books I have a detailed plan. Then, when I get about halfway through, I have to stop and re-plan. In this one, I had to keep Julius and Eve’s hands off one another, which was something of a shock. But I had to cope with her, and accommodate her. People often ask how much sex to put into a book, and if there should be sex in historicals at all, and sometimes mine are a bit sexier than the norm. I can only say that I let my characters control that part of their lives. In some of my books, they don’t get it on for a long time, and in others, they’re at it like bunnies. Since Julius is a gentleman, and Eve doesn’t trust her feelings, I managed to keep them apart, but sometimes I felt like a referee in a boxing ring, separating them!

There’s only one more book in this series to go, and then it’s taking a break.

However…

I am writing a trilogy about the Strenshalls, another part of the Emperors of London family. In this series, “Those Scandalous Shaws,” they don’t concentrate on discovering the children of the Old Pretender, but they have other problems to solve. But that’s for next year. Now here’s the information about “Veiled In Blue.”

I thank you.

The Emperors of London, Book 6

Buy the Book and read an extract:
Publisher – Kensington Books
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It is up to the Emperors of London to protect the throne—without risking their hearts…Governess Eve Merton would have fallen into serious trouble on her walk home if a handsome stranger had not stopped to help her. But when Mr. Vernon gives her a lift on his horse, he makes no secret of his attraction. As a well brought-up young lady, Eve does her best not to notice, but when he sets about courting her, she knows she’s in trouble. For she has a secret: she is the daughter of a deposed king, which means not only is she without a dowry, but also that her life is in danger…
Little does Eve know that Mr. Vernon has secrets of his own. In truth, his name is Julius, Lord Winterton, and he’s well aware that Eve is the offspring of the Old Pretender. In order to save his sister, he must convince Eve to wed—though he wants nothing to do with love. But as the two grow closer and an attempt is made on Eve’s life, Julius may realize that fighting his heart’s true desire is a battle most pleasurably surrendered…

Click here to read Chapter One

The Other Anniversary this year

The Earl of Mar

While everyone is commemorating and celebrating the victory of 1815 at Waterloo, there’s another event that should be remembered this year, equally important to the British people

In October, 1715, the Jacobites were defeated. This was the nearest the Jacobites came to regaining the throne, nearer than the ill-fated campaign of 1745 that led to Culloden.

James II turned publicly Roman Catholic after he married his second wife Mary of Modena. After that, the clock was ticking, and in 1689, he was deposed. His daughter Mary, and her husband William of Orange gained the throne, followed by James’ other daughter, Anne.

Anne gave both to at least 14 children, and none of them reached adulthood. Just think about that for a minute. Anne’s tragedy led to a political crisis on her death in 1714. The Tories lost power, and the Whigs came to prominence. The Tories were not pleased.

It had already been decided by the oligarchy that George of Hanover was the next in line. If Anne had died earlier, Britain would have had an astonishing woman as queen, and what’s more, three Queen Regnants in a row, which is quite something. But Sophia died, and her son George came to the throne.

George couldn’t speak English very well and he’d locked up his wife, Dorothea, for adultery, so he came over alone. Well, except for his two mistresses.

The change in regime all played into the Stuarts’ hands. You think James II gave up? Not a chance, and his son, James Francis, known as the Old Pretender, took on the fight.

What with the change of political party, the French not being friends with the British and the Catholics in Rome decidedly not happy with Britain throwing one of their own out of the country, James Francis had a strong chance.

The Stuarts tended to come in two varieties – the idealistic, not-so-bright ones, (Charles I and James II) and the clever, cynical ones (James I, Charles II). They were also a bit fixated on two male names, which makes matters confusing for us. Guess what James Francis called his son? Yep, Charles.

James Francis was one of the clever ones. Later, when all hope of the Stuarts regaining the throne had gone, he set to politics, gaining leverage as a political influence in Europe. But in 1714, he prepared to attack.

What, you thought it was all about the Scots? They were just the patsys the Stuarts used (twice). Scotland was a easy way into the rest of the country, and the citizens were disgruntled.

In August, the standard of James 8^th and 3^rd was raised. That officially started the campaign. In return, Parliament said that anyone loyal to the Crown, whose landlord was a Jacobite, could take the land. Pretty sneaky move, that.

In October, the Earl of Mar had gathered 20,000 men and officially received James’s sanction. He marched. Or rather, he rode while the troops marched. They swept through Scotland, taking lands and castles with them.

The first battle was at Sherrifmuir. The Duke of Argyll, for the Crown, didn’t have nearly so many men, but he met Mar anyway. For some reason Mar retreated. Don’t ask me. Actually, don’t ask him either.

It was looking bad for the Crown.

Disaffected Catholics in England also joined the rebellion, although some sat on the fence and awaited events. A rebellion was planned, but Parliament got hold of the ringleaders and locked them up. The Scots lost the initial impetus. Hesitation and lack of experience proved their downfall, plus that other factor, the “Yes, of course I’ll join you,” factor, but when pressed, they changed their minds.

The turning point came in November, at Preston. The Battle of Preston was a really close-run thing, as Wellington was to say a century later. The Jacobites were winning until the government sent reinforcements, but it was still close. And bloody.

James didn’t land in the country until December, and by then it was all over. If he’d arrived sooner, or if the Scots had taken advantage of their superior resources at the beginning, they might have done it. They might have forced a split, and the Stuarts could have reclaimed Scotland, but they did nothing of the kind. They went home, which then was in Italy.

If the Stuarts were to regain the throne, they would have done it in 1715.

By contrast, the more famous 1745 rebellion was a blip.

Buy the Emperors of London series from Lynne Connolly and find out what happened after Culloden! (or did it?)

http://lynneconnolly.com/series/the-emperors-of-london/