Chesterfield couch, in royal purple – just perfect for our distinguished guest on tonight’s show.
I’m thrilled to have Amy Rose Bennett as my special guest on the purple couch as we talk gothic regency noir! Her latest book Lady Beauchamp’s proposal is out now and I can’t wait to get stuck into this myself!
Welcome Amy!
To set the scene for today’s chat, let’s share a little about the book:
A runaway countess finds love when she least expects it…but she can’t hide from her past forever.
Elizabeth, Lady Beauchamp, fears for her life. When she discovers her dissolute and long-estranged husband has syphilis—and he wants to beget an heir no matter the cost—she flees to a remote part of Scotland to begin a new life as the widowed governess, Mrs. Beth Eliott at Eilean Tor Castle.
When Mrs. Eliott unexpectedly arrives on his doorstep, the reclusive and recently widowed Marquess of Rothsburgh is both irritated and intrigued. No longer in need of a governess—his young daughter now resides with his sister’s family in Edinburgh—he proposes the beautiful widow fill a position of a different kind…
Torn between staying true to her marriage vows and her wanton attraction to the devilishly handsome marquess, Elizabeth struggles against the temptation to become his mistress. But living a lie is not easy when you have fallen in love. And secrets always have a way of coming out…
1. How do you balance the light and shade in your story – especially when the premise really is deliciously noir?
Good question! There are some quite dark, as well as taboo topics within my story—namely deceit, adultery, allusions to debauchery (Elizabeth’s husband Hugh is the epitome of the hardened, dissolute reprobate; I think rake is too light a word for him!), emotional abuse and the highly contagious, venereal disease syphilis. So not the usual fare for many Regencies, especially the traditional type!
The prologue has quite a menacing feel about it, I think. I really wanted to create an undercurrent of tension; there is the threat of spousal rape in the air, but even worse than that, the heroine knows she will be exposed to the deadly ‘pox’ if her husband gets his way. Hence her need to desert Hugh and go into hiding. The heroine—by taking on a new identity, Mrs. Beth Eliott—also misrepresents herself for a good deal of the novel, so it will be interesting to see how readers react to her duplicity. Will they agree it is a necessary evil on her part to protect herself, or condemn her? And how will they view her decision to forsake her marriage vows when she meets the man who is everything she’s ever wanted? My story is a little bit of a morality tale, isn’t it?
I think the main element that balances out all this darkness and deceit is the strength of the central love story between Elizabeth/Beth and James Huntly, the Marquess of Rothsburgh. I’m hoping readers will see that these two are really meant for each other, despite all of the significant obstacles thrown in their way. In a way, their love for each other is a light in the darkness around them.
I’ve tried to incorporate banter into many of the conversational exchanges between Beth and Rothsburgh to lighten the mood of the story. There are also a few humorous moments at various points along the way that provide a little ‘light comic relief’. There’s one episode in particular, revolving around hairpins of all things, that I didn’t plan, and it still amuses me when I read over it. After one emotionally-charged scene, my heroine actually took over (as characters sometimes do). It was as if she was saying ‘enough of this serious stuff, lighten up, already!’.
The hero, Rothsburgh, also has a lot of beta qualities—he’s caring, humorous, and isn’t afraid to admit he’s in love (when he realizes it) even after being grievously betrayed by his first wife. I wanted him to be the antithesis of Beth’s dark-souled husband, Hugh. Beth sure wasn’t going to fall in love with another arrogant, alpha-male blackguard! Overall, I think both Beth and Rothsburgh have good hearts and deserve to have a happy-ever-after together! And as it is a romance, there is a guaranteed light at the end of the dark tunnel.
2. Was it easy to progress the courtship between your hero and heroine considering the baggage each of them bring to their relationship?
I don’t know if it was exactly easy…there were some moments in writing this story when I wondered if I had bitten off more than I could chew! That being said, I had a really clear idea of the romantic arc that both the hero and heroine would follow and the internal conflicts and external obstacles to their HEA when I plotted this story. So the courtship just kind of flowed when I got going. But it’s fair to say—as you’ve mentioned—that both Beth and Rothsburgh have a lot of internal conflict and baggage, given their past histories!
Beth and Rothsburgh are both quite lonely characters—both have experienced unhappy marriages. Their mutual sexual attraction draws them together initially; in fact, both of them (individually) convince themselves that their affair is only about sex at the beginning—although it’s evident they are also attracted to each other for other reasons.
Given that Beth commits adultery—a huge no-no back then, and pretty much a taboo trope in a romance novel even today—I decided that I needed to put her and Rothsburgh in a setting—an isolated Scottish castle—and situation where the normal rules of society didn’t seem to apply anymore to kick-start the relationship. I quite deliberately threw them together in such a way that the social mores of the time needed to be tossed out the window (but I won’t spoil how I did this).
Beth does a fair amount of soul-searching when she is sorely tempted by Lord Rothsburgh’s invitation to become his mistress. She also has to deal with the consequences of having lied to and deceived the man she falls in love with—particularly after she realizes Rothsburgh may have feelings for her as well. She doesn’t have an easy time of it and certainly wrestles with her conscience!
Rothsburgh, given that his first wife was unfaithful to him, has definite trust issues. After Beth arrives at his castle, Eilean Tor, he resists the idea that he could be falling in love—he tries to delude himself that he is just randy as hell! I don’t want to reveal too much more about the plot, but I’m sure readers will be able to see the storm coming—that when Rothsburgh finds out the woman he cares about is an adulteress, it may not go down too well…
The obstacles, seem insurmountable…but there is a little bit of a plot twist (which I don’t want to spoil) that progresses the relationship between Beth and Rothsburgh! You’ll have to read my book to find out what it is…
3. How much research did you do into the disease that our heroine’s husband had? The second Earl of Rochester, one of Charles II’s favourites died at the age of 32 from the disease and tertiary syphilis has been associated with extreme behaviour and mental illness.
Oh Elizabeth, I’ve seen the Johnny Depp movie ‘The Libertine’ which is about the Earl of Rochester, and that man’s end was just nasty!
I did conduct a fair bit of research into this dreadful bacterial disease, also known as ‘the pox’, or ‘the grandgore’ in Scotland (that name does seem fitting!). From what I understand, syphilis was quite rampant amongst prostitutes and there were occasional deadly outbreaks in Europe e.g. during the Renaissance. For this story, I needed to know about the disease’s transmission, and it’s progression i.e. incubation periods and the symptoms/complications at the various stages—there are three: initial, secondary, and tertiary. Hugh, Beth’s husband, is in the initial stages of ‘the pox’ at the start of the story, and progresses to the secondary stage later on. The time taken to progress through the three stages of untreated syphilis can vary a bit. In fact, the tertiary stage takes some time to reach—some 5-20 years after the initial infection (although medical references vary). As you mentioned, late stage syphilis is characterized by some pretty nasty consequences—heart disease, tumours and neurological/brain damage that can result in insanity, and ultimately, death. Thankfully these days, antibiotics can effectively treat the disease. There are many famous historical figures that have been rumoured to have suffered from syphilis including Napolean Bonaparte, Beau Brummel, Tolstoy, Oscar Wilde, the composer Franz Schubert, and the painters Edouard Manet and Van Gogh! In my story, Rothsburgh mentions to Beth that Mary, Queen of Scots’ second husband, Lord Darnley, may have had syphilis as they take a tour of the ill-fated queen’s palace, Holyrood, in Edinburgh.
4. Which film version of Jane Eyre is your favourite and why?
I’m not sure if I have a favourite! I think the 1970 version of the movie starring George C. Scott and Susannah York was the first I ever saw when I was about nine (I’m not sure what I would think of it now though. I’m sure it would seem quite dated). I was absolutely entranced by the story and immediately borrowed the book from our primary school’s library, but I’m sure I didn’t understand half of it. I love the novel to this day and I really think Jane Eyre was what inspired me to want to write historical romance. I’ve also seen the 1943 version starring Orson Wells and Joan Fontaine, although Orson Wells wasn’t quite my cup of tea for Mr. Rochester. I would dearly love to watch the recent 2011 adaptation—I’ve seen the screen kiss between Michael Fassbender’s Mr. Rochester and Mia Wasikowska’s Jane—oh my gosh, that was indeed sigh-worthy!
Find out more!
Author Website: http://amyrosebennett.com
Buy link: http://www.secretcravingspublishing.com
Lady Beauchamp’s Proposal on Amazon