A little about my latest release! It's a novel I have become very fond of due to an ancestor of Francis Cavendish's, who held a special place in my heart when writing a series of novels set within the English Civil Wars.
This is Francis Cavendish the hero!
He was 18 yrs and newly returned from War when his portrait was painted.
There is a heavily masked element within this image, and Francis is fortunate that men indeed wear facial powder (some theatrical paste) as well as powdered wigs in his lifetime. But when he rebels and sheds his false appearance reality strikes a cruel blow, at a time when vanity and perfection all things were uppermost. Thus his story begins when he's in his twenties and deep-seated hurt caused by one woman's cruel words haunt him, until he encounters Cassandra Brooke-Lavery.
Whilst the Georgian era itself is looked upon as glorious period in history, in which ladies wore beautiful gowns, and gentlemen equally wore flamboyant attire, it was also a time of industrious architectural energy with the revival of great and ambitious building projects not seen since earlier times in Stuart England, when the rebuilding of London after the Great Fire of London was set out with plans Charles II approved with fervour.
But, if one looks at houses built during the Stuart era, the resemblance of many Stately Homes such as Blenheim Palace, Wilton House, and others, one can see reflections of those builds within the Georgian facades of Bath, Brighton, Cheltenham, and even Clifton in Bristol.
Whilst Francis holds no title and is no architect, he's descended from a long line of Bristol Merchant Venturers (Mountjoy and Thornton's) and that of an earldom within earlier English Civil War novels of mine featuring the Earl of Loxton. Francis has inherited a vast fortune and becomes an investor, a young man with idealistic views as to what the City of Bath will become with vast crescents, and glorious town houses. But his life is marred with personal unhappiness until by chance he makes the acquaintance of Cassandra.
Book Blurb:
... “No one, absolutely no one will dare disturb us, unless the house catches fire”...
Cassandra never envisaged a week in the countryside with her cousin would lead to childish mischief. The prospect of the village stocks looms when they are caught trespassing within a grand country house. However, the law is the law, and the price of freedom in Cassandra’s case proves more costly than imagined, for she loses her heart to the very man whose portrait Sarah had fallen in love with, the man Sarah insists she will tempt and seduce at will. Cassandra’s release from custody by the man himself fuels jealousy and rivalry between her and Sarah. But when shocking revelations of a scandalous affair and illicit passions set precedence for a hasty elopement, stunned by it all, Cassandra discovers passionate asides can lead to true love and romance in the strangest of circumstance.
I hope and pray readers will enjoy this story for what it is - a touch of real-time history in the making and a touching love story! It's in paperback as well as e-book format.
