This month, Bluestocking Banter interviews Lorraine Heath.

 

 

RDN: As you know, I’m the author of the Romance Readers Guide to Historic London, so what fascinates me about historical fiction writing is what about a period or a place inspires you. 

 

Lorraine: I like writing books set in the Victorian era because it gives me such a broad canvas with which to work. If I need a darker setting, I go to the early Victorian period. For a more modern feel, I go to the later part of the period. But by researching the entire period, I’ve gained an understanding of how things changed during those years so I have a history that helps me understand the later period. I also like to write both American and British characters so if I want to bring an American lady to England, there was a mad rush beginning around 1874 of American ladies looking for English lords and impoverished English lords in want of American heiresses—so this period allows me reflect both American and British history.

 

    

 

RDN: You’ve told me that you’ve used some interesting settings for your stories, such as Madame Tussauds, the London Zoo, and the Great Exhibition of 1851. Have you had the pleasure of staying in historical places? 

 

 

Lorraine: For the most part I’ve only read about the places that I have featured in my books, although I have stayed at a couple of historical hotels—the Mercer in San Antonio, the Driskill hotel in Austin, the Palace Hotel in Eureka Springs, the Palmer House in Chicago. I love staying in historic hotels. While it is not famous, I have also stayed at a Scottish hunting lodge in Perth, which was a wonderful experience. The Driskill did make an appearance in Texas Splendor, but even if a historic site isn’t used, it helps to create the ambiance for whatever fictitious hotel I might create.

 

RDN: I love staying in historic hotels too. So much history. So many lives and their real-life stories that have walked through the old halls. Do you do a lot of research to inspire you or does it work the other way around?

 

Lorraine: I seldom research a specific book before I sit down to write it. Until I start writing the story, I don’t usually know what I need to research so I do a great deal of research while writing. If I did my research before writing a story, I’d probably never get a story written because I enjoy the research and tend to fall down rabbit holes. Although it is usually when I am down those rabbit holes that I will find a tidbit of information that becomes the seed for the next story. For me, research is a fluid process, always happening.

 

RDN: Even though you combine writing and research into one step, has anything ever turned up in your research that resulted in your changing the direction of your story?

 

Lorraine: I have often changed the year of my story in order to use a particular fact. For example, in Texas Destiny, I needed the railroad to have just reached Fort Worth so my heroine could easily get to Texas but I needed to ensure she couldn’t get beyond Fort Worth because I needed my hero to have to transport her to West Texas. I started writing the story but didn’t know the exact year until I began doing my railroad research.

 

RDN: Let’s talk about your characters, specifically your male ones. Do you have a favorite hero? 

 

Lorraine: Oh my goodness. I love all my heroes. I wouldn’t have written them otherwise. I have discovered that I tend to write a hero who I need at a particular time in my life so it really depends on what’s going on around me as to which hero I might like to meet in person or revisit. My characters do often make cameo appearances in other books so we keep in touch.

 

RDN: Have you ever changed a storyline because the developing character took you in a different direction?

 

Lorraine: I have. Sometimes what I envision for a character isn’t how the story turns out at all. The one example I can think of is Jack Dodger from Between the Devil and Desire. I can’t tell you what story I originally planned for him because I do think it belongs to another character, but I will say that I expected the majority of his story to take place in his gaming hell. However, when I sat down to write his story I suddenly found him sitting in a study, listening to the reading of a will.

 

RDN: Funny. And such a radically different start, from strutting the halls of a gentleman’s playground to sitting in the tense atmosphere of a will reading. So in this book the hero, Jack, is low born and the heroine a lady. That’s the exact opposite in your latest release, When a Duke Loves a Woman. Tell us what excites you about your lowborn heroine, Gillie? 

 

Lorraine: From the moment Gillie walked onto the page in the 1st book of the series, she intrigued me and I was anxious to write her story. She is an incredibly strong heroine, but she has a soft, whimsical side to her. Life is harsh, but she looks for the good moments and does what she can ease burdens for others. What I think makes it relevant for today is that Gillie is a business owner during a time when few women ran businesses. She very much sees women as equal to men and can stand up for herself.

 

RDN: Thank you for joining us today, Lorraine. And thank you for offering to give away autographed copies of the first two books in your Sins for All Seasons series: Beyond Scandal and Desire and When A Duke Loves a Woman. To enter click here. And, look for Bluestocking Banter the first Friday of every month. In November, we’ll welcome the NY Times best-selling author Victoria Alexander. ~ Sonja

 

When a Duke Loves a Woman ~ Gillie Trewlove knows what a stranger’s kindness can mean, having been abandoned on a doorstep as a baby and raised by the woman who found her there. So, when suddenly faced with a soul in need at her door—or the alleyway by her tavern—Gillie doesn’t hesitate. But he’s no infant. He’s a grievously injured, distractingly handsome gentleman who doesn’t belong in Whitechapel, much less recuperating in Gillie’s bed . . .

 

Being left at the altar is humiliating; being rescued from thugs by a woman—albeit a brave and beautiful one—is the pièce de résistance to the Duke of Thornley’s extraordinarily bad day. After nursing him back from the brink, Gillie agrees to help him comb London’s darker corners for his wayward bride. But every moment together is edged with desire and has Thorne rethinking his choice of wife. Yet Gillie knows the aristocracy would never accept a duchess born in sin. Thorne, however, is determined to prove to her that no obstacle is insurmountable when a duke loves a woman. Learn more and find buy links at AvonRomance.com.

 

Lorraine Heath, a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, always dreamed of being a writer. After graduating from the University of Texas, she wrote training manuals and computer code, but something was always missing. When she read a romance novel, she became not only hooked on the genre, but quickly realized what her writing lacked: rebels, scoundrels, and rogues. She's been writing about them ever since. Her work has been recognized with numerous industry awards, including RWA's RITA®. Learn more about Lorraine on her website, and on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

 

Learn more about Sonja Rouillard and her Romance Readers Guide to Historic London at RomanceReadersGuides.com.