I am delighted to be joined by Grace Elliot today. Grace leads a double life as a veterinarian by day
and author of historical romance by night. She lives near London and is
passionate about history, romance and cats! As well as everything else she still manages to find the time to write. “Verity’s Lie” is Grace’s fourth novel and it is that she is here to speak to us about today.
Hi Grace
Thank
you for gracing us with your presence (lol, see what I did there?) I know that
my readers will want to hear all about your forthcoming book release but first,
can you tell us something about your background?
Thank you, Judith, I’m honoured to visit and excited to chat
with your readers.
I live in the UK and
I have two passions: history and cats - which is fortunate because as well as
writing historical romance, I’m also a veterinarian. These two occupations
aren’t as strange as they sound. Most veterinarians are sensitive, creative
people, who are also trained observers – which could also be the definition of
a writer!
I live near London in a state of organised chaos consisting
of five cats, one husband, a bearded
dragon and two sons – the eldest of whom
is an art student and forever filling the house with large paintings of people
with no clothes on! My ideal evening would be to settle down to a good book (BTW,
readers - I can highly recommend Judith’s, The Winchester Goose!!), with a glass
of red wine and a cat on my lap.
Thank you for the plug Grace. What
made you want to be a writer? What did your early efforts look like? Are they
still around to be used as bribes and blackmail material?
I’ve always had an inner drive to be creative. When I was
newly qualified I drew and painted to relax, but with the demands of career and
young family my hobbies gradually went by the wayside. It was at a school
reunion and friends reminiscing about my stories written for homework being
read out to a hushed class, that I recalled the joy of writing. That evening I
went home and drafted a short story – and there’s been barely a day passed
since, that I haven’t written something.
My first full length fiction was inspired by the cottage I
pass on my walk to work. A Victorian
lady artist once lived there and it triggered me to write a novel loosely based
on her struggle to have an art career in male dominated society. I sent the
manuscript to Georgette Heyer’s publisher who was kind enough to reply and say
he liked the story a lot. This gave me the confidence to move forward and, to be honest that novel is languishing on my
laptop – I’ve no idea whether it’s good or bad, but there are too many other
stories jostling to be told to go back instead of forward.
I
always like to ask a writer about the place where they write. I think the
atmosphere and things an author has around them in their creative space can
speak volumes, so tell us about yours.
As a writer I need silence – although the soft snoring of a
slightly overweight cat is an exception to the rule. I don’t have a specific
place to write other than whichever room is the most peaceful (and the
overweight cat, Widget, will follow). I usually end up sitting with my laptop
on an old leopard print sofa-bed, beneath a window in our dining room. This has
the advantage of not being near the television (and is coincidentally quite
close to the cat biscuits for Widget).
It is easy to see why 'everybody wants to be a cat.' You
are pretty well established now as an author but there must have been
challenges. Tell us about the obstacles you encountered on your journey and how
you overcame them.
My biggest obstacle as a writer is time – or rather, lack of
it. As a working mother with a house to keep in order, finding the time to
write can be quite a challenge. One
solution is to shun the TV. It’s amazing how much dead time you can claw back
simply by avoiding watching soaps or getting hooked on a series. I write every
day, my target is to type for at least
20 minutes and if the muse hasn’t appeared at the end of this time, I’m allowed
to give in gracefully. However, what usually happens is that I become so engrossed
in the regency world that the minutes turn into hours and I look up from the
screen to find my husband and sons have gone to bed!
Yes, I'd agree. Time is precious. Sometimes I worry I don't have enough years left to write all the books that are in my head! Some
writers I know get little or no support from family and friends, is it like
that for you or do you have a strong army behind you?
I’d say somewhere in between. My husband sometimes gets
jealous of the time I spend writing – but that’s a good thing, in that he
misses my company – right? He hasn’t read my books because he only reads
non-fiction, which is OK because he still tells everyone that will listen my
work is awesome! My eldest son is an
avid fan. He has read my books and totally gets ‘where I’m coming from.’ He’s
an art student and is used to observing the world and transcribing it into paint
– and he loves the visual images created by my words – sometimes he asks me to
talk in the manner I write, just for the fun of it.
Tell
us about your forthcoming release and why we should all drop everything and go
out and buy it.
‘Verity’s Lie’ is
the third book in the Huntley Trilogy, but a standalone read in its own right.
It is the story of the eldest Huntley brother, Charles, Lord Ryevale.
Charles Huntley, Lord Ryevale, infamous rogue…and government agent.
In unsettled times, with England at war with France, Ryevale is
assigned to covertly protect a politician’s daughter, Miss Verity Verrinder. To
keep Verity under his watchful eye, Ryevale plots a campaign of seduction that
no woman can resist– except, it seems, Miss Verrinder. In order to gain her
trust Ryevale enters Verity’s world of charity meetings and bookshops…where the
unexpected happens and he falls in love with his charge.
When Lord Ryevale turns his bone-melting charms on her, Verity questions
his lordship’s motivation. But with her controlling father abroad, Verity
wishes to explore London and reluctantly accepts Ryevale’s companionship. As
the compelling attraction between them strengthens, Verity is shattered to
learn her instincts are correct after all – and Ryevale is not what he seems.
So if Lord Ryevale can lie, so can she… with disastrous
consequences.
As to why you should read it…in a
word ‘escapism’. If you want to lose yourself in the rich setting of the
regency world, with sexual tension a plenty and a heroine seeking the truth behind the hero’s lies -
then this is the book for you.
Well, that has just about sold it to me, and the cover is lovely. If
you are anything like me, you will already have another plot knocking on the
door. Is there anything in the pipeline, a sequel or pre-quel perhaps?
I’m now in the
exciting position of working on a new series and have gone back further in time
to the 1770’s. This time the common thread is not a family but the setting –
the Foxhall Pleasure Gardens. I want to explore writing historical romance
between characters who work for a living, and so the Foxhall series is based on
the people who work at, and visit, Foxhall.
Book one, “The Ringmaster’s Daughter” is steaming along
nicely. This tells the story of the manager tasked with making Foxhall
profitable and the ringmaster’s daughter battling to save their livelihood.
It sounds really fascinating. Do keep us informed of your progress and I hope you will come back for another visit when they are published. In the meantime we can all amuse ourselves reading Verity's Lie.
Verity’s Lie - Synopsis
Charles Huntley, Lord Ryevale,
infamous rogue…and government agent.
In unsettled times, with England
at war with France, Ryevale is assigned to covertly protect a politician’s
daughter, Miss Verity Verrinder. To keep Verity under his watchful eye, Ryevale
plots a campaign of seduction that no woman can resist– except it seems, Miss
Verrinder. In order to gain her trust Ryevale enters Verity’s world of charity
meetings and bookshops…where the unexpected happens and he falls in love with
his charge.
When Lord Ryevale turns his
bone-melting charms on her, Verity questions his lordship’s motivation. But
with her controlling father abroad, Verity wishes to explore London and
reluctantly accepts Ryevale’s companionship. As the compelling attraction
between them strengthens, Verity is shattered to learn her instincts are
correct after all – and Ryevale is not what he seems. So if Lord Ryevale can lie,
so can she… with disastrous
consequences.
BUY LINKS
Links:
Grace on Twitter: @Grace_Elliot
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