And now for something completely different
 
Last month I wrote about Betty Neels, the prolific writer of medical romances published by Mills & Boon in the closing three decades of the 20th Century. They are so popular that they have been republished as e-books. I caught up with a few available online through my county library service and began to consider what gives these stories their enduring popularity. Do women secretly want to be rescued by a man who has everything and adores her? The stories are predictable (we know he’ll win her in the end and all those misunderstandings will be cleared up and he’ll turn out not to be engaged to that stunning other woman, etc) but still we read them. I’ve spoken to others about reading choices during the C-19 crisis and found some common ground—an easy comfort read for a little diversion from all the stress!
 
So I decided to have a go. Amongst her many stories, in 1980 she published one called Judith. Mine is called Joanne and is set in 1980 in a seaside resort in Devon. Joanne is the eldest daughter of a widowed clergyman and has run his household for years and brought up the rest of the children. Then a handsome Swiss architect arrives in town, bent on acquiring a run-down hotel for his family’s five-star chain. I hope you enjoy my take on the traditional contemporary sweet romance.
 
Available now on Amazon Kindle, KDP Select and in print from Amazon.

I’m just an old-fashioned girl
 
British readers of my generation may have come across the prolific Betty Neels, who retired from nursing in 1969 and then began to write warm-hearted, traditional romances in a medical setting for Mills & Boon. She died aged 91 in 2001, having written over 130 of them.
 
Her stories are traditional and quite chaste—nothing beyond the bedroom door, nothing below the waist and very little below the neck. She confined her protagonists to the occasional kiss. Her heroes often smoked a pipe and her heroines were frequently described as ‘splendid’ girls. Some were beautiful, some were plain, but they were generally dedicated, kind and quite self-effacing.
 
Her first book was called Sister Peters in Amsterdam and subsequent stories followed a similar pattern. The hero was usually a Dutch hospital consultant (Neels’ husband was Dutch), the heroine an English nursing colleague or a Cinderella poor girl figure. He usually drove a Bentley or a Rolls, while she was a nurse or did unskilled work and had family commitments. There were generally a large dog or two around and a cat or kitten also usually featured (often rescued by her).
 
Her stories were mostly set in the age before computers or mobile phones were generally available. The heroines were quite feisty at times, but nevertheless susceptible to the gallant, masterful, honourable, hard-working, RICH knight-in-shining-armour who came to take them away from all this. The heroine couldn’t believe he would fall in love with her, given the sophisticated, beautiful creatures in his social circle. The hero generally had several properties each staffed by loyal longstanding servants who’d known him since childhood and he usually fell in love with the heroine at first sight, before setting out to woo and win her. Nostalgic stuff!
 
So I thought what if…the result is I am currently writing what I call a traditional contemporary romance, incorporating my own version of some of the features that made Neels’ writing so popular, except mine is in a business rather than a medical context. More on this soon. Hoping to publish in August.

​New Regency romance
 
Pleased to announce my latest Regency romance is now available. His Philanthropic Lady is third in the Regency Lady series, all available on Amazon Kindle, KDP Select and in print. In recognition of the importance of e-books at this time, the Kindle editions are ALL priced now at 99p/99c.
 
Meet Susannah Thistlewood, who first appeared aged 7 in A Master of Industry, being educated by a somewhat radical governess. Now aged 19, you won’t be surprised to find her full of idealistic fervour to make the world a better place.
 
Independent-minded and very outspoken, she has no interest in following her older sister Roberta, nor her friend Primrose, into marriage. What a challenge to transform her into the heroine of a romance! I needed a little help and that came in the form of a little bay mare called Florence who liked eating daffodils. Because of her, Sir Edward Derringham is literally thrown in her path, as well as into something less savoury, and the scene is set. Then, of course, there are Mr Penn’s Parties, the Regency equivalent of a high society dating agency, so they simply can’t avoid each other.

Contraception in the early 1800's
 
If it were understood that it was not disreputable for married persons to avail themselves of such precautionary means as would prevent conception, a sufficient check might be given to the increase of population beyond the means of subsistence.
 
This was written 200 years go in ‘Illustrations and Proofs of the Principle of Population’ published in 1822 by Francis Place, ‘the tailor of Charing Cross’ who was also a champion of workers’ rights.
 
Whatever our ethical/religious beliefs about birth control, these days it is a given, as is publicity on menstrual products in the media. Two hundred years ago such subject matter would have been deemed obscene, as would descriptions of how to prevent conception. In the UK, the established Church of England (and other denominations) disapproved of birth control as anti-biblical and those who disseminated such information were liable to be prosecuted.
 
This may sound a little serious as an inspiration for my latest Regency story, but I hope you will find it entertaining. The heroine, a baronet’s daughter, works amongst the poor in London and has a secret mission to help women prevent unwanted pregnancies to restrict the number of children they have. Naturally she gets into trouble when it’s found out, at the behest of a jealous lady.
 
‘His Philanthropic Lady’ is the 3rd book in the Regency Lady series (following His Haughty Lady and His Capricious Lady) and is due out on Amazon Kindle, Kindle Unlimited and print next month, a light, romantic diversion in the current stressful situation.

In the past month or so, I’ve been travelling all over the country for various family gatherings. Now, suddenly, being in that age group, my husband and I are being advised to stay at home in isolation. Our usual local activities have mostly ceased. More time for research and writing, yes, but also for thought.
How strangely apt that my research lately has been on population growth and attitudes to birth control in early nineteenth century Britain. No doubt you may have heard of Reverend Thomas Malthus, who published ‘An Essay on the Principle of Population’ in 1798. He argued that population expands in times of plenty until it becomes too big for the resources available for feeding it. He defined checks on population as ‘positive’ ones which raise death rate, such as hunger, disease and war, and ‘preventive’ ones which lower birth rate, such as abortion, birth control, prostitution, postponement of marriage and celibacy. Interestingly, however, he did not advocate birth control by artificial means (though others of the time did).
How apt is the following quote from this work for today:
‘Population must always be kept down to the level of the means of subsistence. Evil exists in the world not to create despair but activity. We are not patiently to submit to it, but to exert ourselves to avoid it. It is the duty of every individual to use his utmost efforts to remove evil from himself and from as large a circle as he can influence.
This research is background for my next Regency romance, ‘His Philanthropic Lady’, due to be published in the summer. In the present circumstances, it might well be sooner! Watch this space.
Good wishes to all readers and that you keep well and safe.

Have recently read ‘The Children Act’ by Ian McEwan and found it very absorbing as it took us into the work of a high court judge in the family division. It provided a behind the scenes view of how a legal decision is reached in the face of challenging moral dilemmas. The main focus of the story is the case of a seventeen-year-old boy from a family with strong religious beliefs, which the boy shares and which lead him, along with them, to refuse the blood transfusion that might save him.
It took me right back to the early 1960s when a film called ‘Life for Ruth’ went on general release (if you're under 60 I doubt you've heard of it, as apparently it was a box office flop, but with some good actors like Patrick McGoohan and Michael Craig). It was about a very similar issue and I went with a bunch of friends from secondary school to see it. The subject matter stayed with us for weeks and stimulated long discussions about the ethics of the situation. We were 12 going on 13.
It was to be over 25 years before the ‘Children Act 1989’ set in place safeguards to ensure the needs and welfare of the child were legally protected and separately represented. In ‘Life for Ruth’, the parents’ wishes took priority and the child’s right to survive was effectively ignored. At that time, if the parents disagreed, the father’s wishes took priority.

What does the reader expect?
 
I had occasion to consider readers’ expectations of an author’s work, following a conversation with a friend who’s read a number of my novels and was quite shocked when she came across a fairly explicit sex scene.
 
As a relatively new writer, I’ve challenged myself to try different types of writing, from light-hearted comedy (so hard!) to a serious, many-years-researched historical biography. I know some authors who choose to use different pen names for different types of writing and each name becomes a brand for a style and content in tune with readers’ expectations.
 
I haven’t done that, so I apologise to those readers who come across something they’d rather not read. Conversely I’ve also had feedback that a book wasn’t racy enough! Except for A Master of Speculation and A Master of Industry, my regency romances are what would be labelled “sweet” and there’s another on the way.
 
Watch out for the second Regency Lady novel, which should be available next month. As with my other regency books there is a link to a previous story. If you read Her Secret Ambassador you may remember Charlotte and Robert Fielding, two children on the same merchant vessel as Lady Penelope Derwent, heading for Gibraltar and the Mediterranean in 1817. Charlotte carries a book all about pirates, which Lady Penelope offers to read to them both. Fast forward ten years and we meet Charlotte again about to turn nineteen and setting out on an adventure that will change her life—and a few other people’s along the way, including the Duke of Abbeywell. It’s called His Capricious Lady.
 
Wishing you all an interesting and stimulating New Year of reading.

I haven’t published a novel with Christmas in the title but here’s a Christmas extract from my first regency novel A Master of Speculation:
 
Jack was not one for Christmas festivities. He had vague recollections from his early years of the traditions of the village in which he was raised until sent to stay with his first tutor at the age of seven. Having been at sea for most of his adult life, he did not miss what he did not know. But the staff here felt differently and under Mrs Thornhill’s authority, all was done in the fine traditions of the past. ’Tis only one hundred and fifty years since that despot Mr Cromwell took away our rights to a merry time at Christmastide, she had pronounced that first December. Now we have them back, we are duty bound to enjoy them.
So again, this year, the Yuletide log had been dragged to the house on Christmas Eve and placed in the large fireplace in the vestibule, along with some seasonal greenery. The log now gave a welcoming blaze of light and warmth, while two arrangements of laurel and holly sat beneath the two naval masterpieces by Birch. He had beautifully precise brushwork. Visitors did not recognise the artist, but how fitting to have portrayals of that huge sea battle of 1812 by an English émigré turned American citizen. He caught a whiff of rosemary as he passed through to the library to collect his two important letters and take them to the rider who would be waiting at the stables.
Later in the morning, Jack rode Clem over the hill to be present at the Christmas morning worship at the church in Wrighton. He went not out of a strict sense of faith but for appearances’ sake, and the rector’s living was in his gift, after all. More than half his staff was there, as well as most of the village. No doubt the rumours about Miss Fitzgerald were already spreading. Older villagers might well remember the scandal of the Wrighton daughter who bore a child and not be aware of the secret marriage. He wondered if the wet nurse was one of the villagers here today and whether the person who wrote that letter was still alive, almost 20 years on.
 
Read more, maybe treat yourself to the Kindle edition for Christmas. All good wishes for the festive season.

Creating believable personalities in fiction.
 
One of my favourite love stories is Paul Gallico’s Love of Seven Dolls (pub 1954, so we’re going back somewhat). His two main characters are Mouche, a young innocent who’s lost all belief in life and thinks herself worthless, and Michel, a cynical survivor and user of women, who can only express his feelings through the 7 puppets he has created and operates. Their lives cross and she gradually develops inner strength and helps him to own his vulnerability and need.
 
So how does a writer create such characters to engage the reader and make them care about their fate? Lots of ways, I’m sure, including having them face challenges and giving them (hopefully redeemable) faults. I draw on a personality type theory called the Enneagram, which defines nine basic types, each of which has positive and negative aspects and suggests ways in which they might develop balanced, healthier traits.
 
Do you like male leads in male/female historical romances to be forceful, alpha male types? I guess I do because half my male leads are based on Enneagram number 8. This is defined as a forceful, confrontational, intimidating character who sees life as a power struggle and avoids displaying weakness. The theory suggests type 8 needs to discover a gentler side and commitment to helping others. What better way to do so than through encountering the right kind of woman? Examples include George Kemble in Rose Glace, James Forsyth in The Baronet’s Daughter and Matthew Harcourt in Her Secret Commission.
 
Interestingly, three of my female leads have also been based on type 8—Lady Olivia Charlton in Heiress to a Duke, Charlotte Milford in The Regiment’s Forgotten Daughter, and Lady Georgiana Fox in His Haughty Lady.
 
Search Enneagram for more information on the theory.