The Edwardians by Vita Sackville-West—Written in 1930, this fictional account of the Edwardian aristocracy is a riveting read! Vita Sackville-West was the daughter of the third Baron Sackville, was born at Knole House in Kent, and drew on all her personal experience to recreate the age of her youth.
Victorian and Edwardian Fashion: A Photographic Survey by Alison Gernsheim—A must for those interested in costume design and fashion. Lavish photographs illustrate the fashions of the era.
NICOLA CORNICK - Biography
For the first eighteen years of her life Nicola lived in Yorkshire, within a stone’s throw of the moors that had inspired the Brontë sisters to write Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights. One of her grandfathers was a poet, and her family contained teachers and avid readers who filled the house with books. With such a background it was impossible for Nicola not to become a bookworm.
Nicola went to school in a historic building that had originally been the dower house of a stately home. Studying in an ancient building helped her to develop her love of history and literature, and she is grateful for the inspiration she was given by some exceptional teachers.
Whilst at school, Nicola spent her evenings reading piles of romances and historical novels and watching costume dramas with her grandmother. Her grandparents, who were a huge inspiration to her, also taught her canasta, ballroom dancing and how to grow rhubarb.
Nicola studied history at London University and during her holidays did a variety of jobs, from sticking price tags on shoes in a factory to serving refreshments on a steam railway. When she left college she worked in university administration, combining her work as a Deputy Registrar during the day with writing historical romance in the evenings. She met her future husband in London and married after a wonderfully old-fashioned courtship based on letter writing. They moved to Somerset and lived for seven years in a cottage haunted by the ghost of a cavalier.
It took Nicola a while to realise that she was meant to be a writer. She wrote bits and pieces of novels in her spare time, but never finished any of them. Eventually she sent in the first three chapters of a Regency romance to Mills & Boon and, although they were rejected, she found she had become so addicted to writing that she could not stop. Happily, her third attempt was accepted and she has never looked back. She has now written twenty-five historical romances and has been short-listed for the Romance Writers of America RITA® Award, nominated twice for the Romantic Novelists’ Association Romance Prize and Romantic Times Reviewer’s Choice awards, and has won the LORIES Award of Excellence.
Nicola lives in Oxfordshire with her husband, two lazy cats and an adorable Labrador. She works part-time as a guide at a historic house and also in a second-hand bookshop, which she says is like letting a chocolate addict loose in a sweet shop! In 2006 she was awarded a Master’s degree with distinction from Ruskin College, Oxford, where she wrote her dissertation on heroes.
Nicola loves to hear from her readers, and can be contacted by e-mail at [email protected] or via her website, www.nicolacornick.com
NICOLA CORNICK ON Writing
What do you love most about being a writer?
I feel very happy to be able to do a job that I love. I love creating characters and sharing their world. And the feeling I get when the writing is going well and I’m on a roll fills me with elation.
Where do you go for inspiration?
I go to several different places for inspiration. If I’m feeling studious I will turn to my history books for ideas and stimulation. If I need to think I will go out for a walk on the hills to clear my head. And if I want to soak up some historical inspiration I will visit a castle or ancient site and just absorb the atmosphere.
Where do your characters come from and do they ever surprise you as you write?
My characters surprise me all the time because I can never predict in advance what they are going to do. As the story progresses they will take on a mind and a will of their own and react to the developments in the plot in their own way, and that’s just how it should be. They become very real to me. Sometimes they spring from a story idea I have had, sometimes they are a mixture of qualities and behaviours that I have observed in real people, but mostly they are individuals whose needs and motivations develop naturally.
Do you have a favourite character that you’ve created and what is it that you like about that character?
Asking me to choose a favourite character is like asking me to choose between my cats! I love them all. In Dauntsey Park: The Last Rake in London I loved Jack’s aunt, Lady Ottoline Kestrel. I have a soft spot for outspoken old ladies, probably because my grandmother is one! She’ll tell you exactly what she thinks and never mince her words but, like Lady
Ottoline, she has a kind heart underneath.
When did you start writing?
I started to write stories when I was at school and I still have the reports praising my imagination but telling me to cut down the number of adjectives and adverbs! I started my first book, True Colours, when I was about eighteen and used to read passages out to my college friends over a late-night coffee. I was writing the same book for fourteen years. The difficulty was fitting in my writing between the demands of my family and day job, but I never gave up on it and when it was finally accepted for publication I was over the moon. Before that I hadn’t even considered a career as a writer.
What one piece of advice would you give to a writer wanting to start a career?
Believe in yourself and your writing. Believe that you will be successful even if you are trying to juggle your writing with a job, family and a hundred and one other responsibilities. Don’t give up. Writers need to be determined to succeed!
One whisper of scandal and a reputation dies…
London, May 1811
Widow Lady Joanna Ware has no desire to wed again but that doesn’t stop the flurry of suitors knocking on her door. Desperate to thwart another proposal, Joanna brazenly kisses Arctic explorer Alex, Lord Grant. But matters are complicated when she learns her deceased husband has bequeathed his illegitimate child to her and his friend Alex; and they must travel to the Arctic to claim the orphan. Battling blizzards, dangerous wild life, and a treacherous plot, Alex must protect Joanna but not before he wickedly seduces her…
Scandalous Women of the Ton continues in
One Wicked Sin and Mistress by Midnight
www.mirabooks.co.uk
“I hired you as a novelty, an attraction, the most notorious woman in London…”
London, July 1813
Once the toast of the ton, Lottie Cummings is now divorced—and penniless. Shunned by society, the destitute beauty is forced to become a courtesan. Refusing to oblige her customers, Lottie’s about to be turned out on to the streets. Until a dangerous rake saves her with a scandalous offer.
The illegitimate son of a duke, Ethan Ryder rose to the ranks of Napoleon’s most trusted officer—until his capture landed him in England as prisoner of war. Now Ethan is planning his most audacious coup yet. But he needs to create a spectacular diversion. And having the infamous Lottie as his mistress will certainly do that…
www.mirabooks.co.uk
For a reputation compromised, there are but two options: marriage—or infamy…
London, May 1811
After her family name was tarnished at his hands, Merryn has waited ten years to satisfy her revenge against sensual, mysterious Garrick Northesk, Duke of Farne.
Yet when a disaster traps Merryn and Garrick together, white-hot desire stirs between the two sworn enemies. Her reputation utterly compromised, Merryn is forced to do the one thing she cannot bear: accept the scandalous marriage proposal of the man she has vowed to ruin.
www.mirabooks.co.uk
“I promise that I will release you tomorrow – when the hour of the wedding is past.”
Nat Waterhouse must marry an heiress.
Lady Elizabeth Scarlet vows there is just one way to save her childhood friend from a loveless marriage
: kidnap him!
When her inexperienced attempt flares into intense passion, Lizzie is ruined… and hopelessly in love! Now the wild and wilful Lizzie must convince Nat that they are a perfect match – in every way.
www.mirabooks.co.uk
“Blackmail is such an ugly word, Miss Lister. It is essential that I marry you. So let us call it a bargain.”
When a law requires all unmarried ladies to wed or surrender half their wealth, maid-turned-heiress Miss Alice Lister is a prize to be won!
Now the insufferably attractive Lord Miles
Vickery is certain he can gain her fortune by blackmailing her into marriage. Of course, he doesn’t yet know he’s falling hopelessly in love with this formidable innocent…
www.mirabooks.co.uk
“The arrogance! To think that they can come here with their town bronze and sweep some heiress or other to the altar.”
When a feudal law requires all unmarried ladies to wed or surrender half their wealth, the quiet village of Fortune’s Folly becomes England’s greatest Marriage Market.
Laura, the dowager duchess, is determined to resist the flattery of fortune hunters. Young, handsome and scandalously tempting Dexter Anstruther suspects Laura has a hidden motive for resisting his charms… and he intends to discover it.
www.mirabooks.co.uk
Notorious
Nicola Cornick
Nicola Cornick’s novels have received acclaim the world over
‘Cornick is first-class, Queen of her game.’
—Romance Junkies
‘A rising star of the Regency arena’
—Publishers Weekly
Praise for the SCANDALOUS WOMEN OF THE TON series
‘A riveting read’
—New York Times bestselling author Mary Jo Putney on
Whisper of Scandal
‘One of the finest voices in historical romance’
—Single Titles.com
‘Ethan Ryder (is) a bad boy to die for! A memorable story of intense emotions, scandals, trust, betrayal and all-encompassing love. A fresh and engrossing tale.’
—Romantic Times on One Wicked Sin
‘Historical romance at its very best is written by Nicola Cornick.’
—Mary Gramlich, The Reading Reviewer
Acclaim for Nicola’s previous books
‘Witty banter, lively action and sizzling passion’
—Library Journal on Undoing of a Lady
‘RITA® Award-nominated Cornick deftly steeps her latest intriguingly complex Regency historical in a beguiling blend of danger and desire.’
—Booklist on Unmasked
Author Note
The Scandalous Women of the Ton are back! Or in this case, perhaps it should be the scandalous Men of the Ton …
James Devlin, cousin to Alex, the hero of Whisper of Scandal, has been one of London’s most shocking rakes. Now settled into a life of riches and respectability as the fiancé of a beautiful society heiress, Dev is terminally bored. Enter Caroline, Lady Carew, a woman with a mysterious past who knows enough about Dev to ruin his engagement and all his future prospects. But Lady Carew also has secrets to keep, for she is none other than a notorious match breaker, paid by rich parents to end unsuitable engagements …
Reading through the letters and accounts of the Regency period, I sometimes come across cases where fathers or trustees have paid off a man or a woman they consider unsuitable. Perhaps a son has fallen in love with a courtesan and wishes to marry her, or an heiress has taken a fancy to a poverty-stricken scoundrel and threatens to elope. In many instances, the parents or guardians are absolutely ruthless in removing the threat. In my imagination it was only a small step from there to the idea that a rich and determined parent might hire a heartbreaker to seduce their son away from his unsuitable fiancée. And so the idea for Notorious was born …
Notorious was huge fun to write and I very much hope that you enjoy it, too!
Nicola Cornick
Don’t miss the rest of the latest
Scandalous Women of the Ton trilogy,
available now!
WHISPER OF SCANDAL
ONE WICKED SIN
MISTRESS BY MIDNIGHT
Also available from Nicola Cornick
DECEIVED
LORD OF SCANDAL
UNMASKED
THE CONFESSIONS OF A DUCHESS
THE SCANDALS OF AN INNOCENT
THE UNDOING OF A LADY
DAUNTSEY PARK: THE LAST RAKE IN LONDON
Browse www.mirabooks.co.uk or
www.nicolacornick.co.uk for
Nicola’s full backlist
Coming soon, the next
SCANDALOUS WOMEN OF THE TON series:
DESIRED
FORBIDDEN
CHAPTER ONE
“He who does not burn with desire grows cold.”
—Seventeenth-century proverb
JAMES DEVLIN WAS TWENTY-SEVEN years old and he had everything that he had ever wanted. He had a place in society, he had a beautiful, rich fiancée and he had a title of his own. Yet on the night that his former wife walked back into his life after nine years absence he was bored; as bored as it was possible for a gentleman to be at a ton ball at the height of the London season.
It was another night of lavish excess and hollow entertainment. The Duke and Duchess of Alton threw the best parties in the ton, opulent, tasteful and frightfully exclusive. For Dev it was also another night of fetching lemonade for Emma when she became thirsty, of finding her fan when she misplaced it and of fawning on Emma’s mama, who could not stand him and probably did not even know his name although he had been betrothed to her daughter for two years. Once upon a time Dev had had to brave the elements on the rain-lashed deck of a ship of the line, scramble up rigging and fight for his life. Each day had brought new dangers, new excitement. It had only been two years but it felt like a century ago. These days he did nothing more dangerous than check the set of his coat and pass Emma her reticule.
“Jealous, Dev?” His sister Francesca put a hand on his sleeve and Dev realized that he had been frowning at Emma across the dance floor, glaring at her as she twirled through the steps of the waltz in the arms of her cousin Frederick Walters. Chessie was not the only one who had noticed his grim stance. He saw the sideways glances and covert amusement. Everyone thought that he was possessive, resentful of the time that Emma, a consummate flirt, lavished on other men. If he had been the jealous type he would have spent his days on the dueling field but the fact was that one had to care in order to be jealous and Dev had long ago realized that he did not care a jot if Emma flirted with every man in London.
He straightened up and smoothed the frown from his brow. “I’m not jealous in the least,” he said.
Chessie’s blue gaze appraised his face, looking for signs that he was trying to fool her. “It is no secret that the Earl and Countess of Brooke prefer Fred as a suitor for Emma,” she said.
Dev shrugged. “The Earl and Countess would prefer a distempered hound as a suitor for Emma but I am the one that Emma wants.”
“And Emma always gets what she wants.” There was the very faintest edge to Chessie’s voice now.
Dev shot his sister a look. Chessie had not yet got what she wanted and she had been waiting a long time. Fitzwilliam Alton, only son and heir to the Duke and Duchess, had been paying Chessie marked attention for some months. Such public notice could only end respectably in a proposal of marriage but so far Fitz had not declared himself and now the ton was starting to gossip. Society, Dev thought, had not been kind, talking scandal about him and Chessie in particular from the first. They had breeding of sorts, but precious little of it and no money. He had at least carved out something of a Navy career for himself before he had resorted to hunting a fortune. Chessie had had to make an impression through her beauty and her vivacious personality alone. It was always harder for a woman.
“You don’t like Emma,” Dev said now.
He felt rath
er than saw his sister’s scornful glance. “I don’t like what she has done to you,” she said. “You’ve become one of Emma’s pets, like that fluffy white dog or her bad-tempered monkey.”
Ouch.
“It’s a small price to pay for what I want,” Dev said.
Wealth. Status. He had hunted them for the last ten years. Born with nothing, he had no intention of going back to the poverty of his youth. Now everything was within his grasp and if that meant he had to be Emma’s lapdog for the rest of his life there were worse fates. Or so he told himself.
“You are no better,” he said to his sister, aware that he sounded perilously close to the tit for tat banter of their childhood. “You have caught yourself a marquis.”
Chessie flicked her fan in a gesture that conveyed total disdain. “Don’t be so vulgar, Dev. I am completely different from you. I may be a fortune hunter but at least I love Fitz. And anyway—” a tiny frown marred her brow “—I have not caught him yet.”
“He’ll propose soon,” Dev said. He had heard the trace of uncertainty in Chessie’s voice that revealed how wafer-thin was her confidence. He wanted to reassure her, even though he thought Fitzwilliam Alton nowhere near good enough for his sister. “Fitz loves you, too,” he said, hoping he was right. “He is only waiting for the right moment to tell his parents the news.”
“That will never happen,” Chessie said dryly.
“You must love Fitz very much to be prepared to endure the Duchess of Alton as a mother-in-law,” Dev said.
“And you must love Emma’s money very much to be prepared to endure the Countess of Brooke,” Chessie said.
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