A Guestpost and a Giveway from Lenora Bell
Why did you begin reading historical romance? Was it a craving for sweeping stories of passion set in faraway lands? Or because Jane Austen completed only six novels and you long for more balls at Netherfield? One of the reasons I gravitate toward historicals is a hunger for connection with the past. When I begin a new Eloisa James or Tessa Dare novel, I know I will not only fall in love with the hero, and want to be best friends with the heroine, I’ll also be transported to a colorful and fascinating historical setting.
Connecting with history is on my mind because today I’m looking at the same view my great-great-grandmother Louise and her sister Elise loved to paint: the jagged peaks of the Dents du Midi mountain range in the Swiss Alps. Beside my laptop sits a blue clothbound book filled with letters the two artistic sisters exchanged after Louise emigrated with her husband Henri and their eight children from Switzerland to Kansas in 1889.
For the next twenty-five years the sisters corresponded faithfully. Louise describes farm life in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Washington. She lists the price she gets for selling chicken eggs (10 cents), sends recipes (a delicious-sounding elderflower lemonade), and encloses watercolors of American wildflowers and clippings of her children’s hair. She worries that her girls are growing up too fast: “They marry so young here. It is not rare at fifteen…and a girl of twenty is an old maid.”
Elise, who never married, writes of her work as a drawing teacher at a nearby college in the town of Aigle. As a young woman she studied art at the same Atelier as Vincent van Gogh, exhibited paintings in Paris, Geneva, and Zurich, and proudly became a member of the recently founded society, The Union of Women Painters and Sculptors.
I was thinking of my Swiss and Swiss American ancestresses when I wrote If I Only Had a Duke, my second historical romance novel. The heroine, Thea, is a self-taught art historian obsessed with the seventeenth century Italian painter Artemisia Gentileschi. Viewing one of Artemisia’s paintings in Florence is a life-changing experience for Thea. The kinship she feels with the painting and the artist sparks a rebellion that leads her to seek independence from her overbearing mother, sets a journey in motion, and opens the door to true love.
I’m inspired by the idea that nurturing a bond with history has the power to change lives. It also reminds us that we all have roots. We are all still growing. Sadly, Louise never saw her sister, or Switzerland, in person again. I’d like to think she might be pleased by the thought of her great-great-granddaughter writing romance novels with a view of her beloved Alps.
Have you visited a place that has personal historical significance for you? Why do you like to read historical romance? Let me know in the comments.
Lenora Bell
Ms. Bell is giving away two autographed copies of If I Only Had a Duke with chocolates inspired by the apricot trifle featured in the book.
Lenora Bell is a third generation Alaskan and her hometown still has no traffic lights or fast food, but the public library is going strong. An English teacher with an MFA in Creative Writing, Lenora has traveled the globe using music to bring smiles to classrooms. She currently lives in Switzerland with her carpenter husband and two naughty tiger-striped kitties.
PHOTO CREDIT
All photos reproduced from Swiss Sisters Separated by Jeremy Dupertuis Bangs (used with permission of author)
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Oh my gosh, thank you Rachel! Hugs to you my dear.
Bube – so glad you like the cover! At first I wasn’t sure about purple and green and then I thought about lavender flowers – my favorite! :)
LeeB- absolutely! Historical movies are such a great way to get that window into the past. I must have watched Pride & Prejudice at least 20 times.
Anne – yes, museums are wonderful for that! I recently visited the V&A in London – I wanted to LIVE there :)
Anita – oh those Bridgertons! The champagne and strawberries of romance series! I totally agree.
Susan and Samantha – shout out for Outlander! What a ground-breaking book. She just went out there and wrote the book of her heart and broke all the rules and it’s GLORIOUS! Also, Samantha – what a beautiful, heart-wrenching story about the cemetery in Normandy.
Katie – those HEA’s *le sigh* the world needs more of them, don’t you think?
Aretha – Judith McNaught is one of my faves, too!
Sandy – Thanks! Hope you get that European vacation of your dreams!
Thanks so much for stopping by, everyone! xoxo Lenora
Congratulations on the new release. I am not aware of any ‘site’ that is of historical significance to me although one day I would like to go to Europe where most of my ancestors originated (Belgium, Scotland, England) and Russia.
Thanks for the giveaway.
The first place I visited that had personal historical significance was the American cemetery in Normandy. It was a profoundly moving experience seeing row upon row of those white crosses marking so many lost men–most of them boys, really, denied the chance to ever become men. My uncle was part of the invasion, but escaped their fate. He returned from the war aboard the Queen Mary, never to speak of that day. Only when I saw all those graves, all those tidy white crosses on a pristinely maintained field of perfectly manicured green grass did I fully realized the horror of what he lived through that day. Later generations have erased the blood and cleared away all the wreckage to the best of our ability, but the stark landscape against which the markers stand only emphasizes the unbearably large number of them there are–and that only represents the losses of American lives, a fraction of the total lost that day, and in the years that war lasted. Suddenly, my uncle’s reticence and absolute refusal to talk about D-Day at all made perfect sense.
My love affair with historical fiction began when I read Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander. I fell head over heels in love with Jamie Fraser and have never been the same. From there, I began reading more and more about the Jacobite rebellions, and that led me to many historical romance novels. I love being transported to another place and time, but what I love most are the men of years past. They are often well-educated, chivalrous, can wield a sword and defend their homes and lands, but still make a woman feel like a woman in the bedchamber. Men like that are a rare find in the modern world!
Hi Lenora ! I have fallen in love with historical romance since I read Judith mcnaught book – something wonderful. I was 18 years old at that time and I can easily understood the heroine’s struggle and her enduring love for the heroine . I was in love for my very first true love too at that time and I shared the same feeling and need as her . We both longed to be loved and cherished by the men we loved . One of the most romantic thing about reading historical romance is the fact that even though we have hundreds of years apart from the characters in the book , we could share the same feeling and struggle . All of it could happen because love is real that it could transcend time and generation . Thanks for sharing with us the story of your family
I love historical romances for the fact that it let’s me escape reality for a little bit :-) I know other genres do the same, but for some reason I just really love the Regency era! I”m also a big fan of happily ever afters…
I used to read lots of mystery books, but then a friend of mine kept going on and on about the Outlander series. So, I picked it up. Have been hooked ever since!!
Lots of Georgette Heyer references here! So fun to read everyone’s stories. Eloisa James called my first book “sexy Georgette Heyer” – I took that as a huge compliment Thanks for stopping by! And thanks so much for reading historical romance!! xoxo
Thanks for sharing your fascinating ancestresses with us. To be able to have all those letters that offers such a rare glimpse into the past must be really amazing. I love historicals for precisely that reason, being able to be transported back to a time and place in the past that is so different from our current lives. Julia Quinn’s The Bridgertons series was my intro to historical romance and I haven’t look back since falling in love with the balls, teas, soirees and of course the HEAs!
I have been interested in history since high school and was also introduced to good historical fiction then – Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer. I did my first university degree in history. I enjoy visiting museums and archaeologically or historically important venues. I enjoy well-written historical fiction, without anachronisms, as a personalized view of the past.
I’ve visited Europe many many many times because I just can’t get enough of it. I suspect my fascination with the old world started when I began reading and then watching movies and thinking “I want to go there!” Now when I read historical romances, if a particular area catches my fancy I try to visit it on my next trip.
I love to read historical romance,because I love to read about past and it’s wonderful for few hours to live in other world :)
Congratulations Lenora on new release!
So excited about If I Only Had A Duke,can’t wait to read!
And the cover is fantastic :)
I love your writing Lenora!!!! You are amazingly talented!
I first started reading romances when I found The Corinthian by Georgette Heyer in my school library. I think I must have been about 10. I’d already read Pride and Prejudice by this point and was completely hooked. I’ve never looked back since. I mainly read it as a distraction or escapism or just for pure fun.
I’ve been to many places of historical note but none have been personally meaningful in the way you mean. But going to Dachau camp in Germany and Anne Frank’s house in Amsterdam were two very powerful experiences that I will never forget.
I hope you have a lovely release day. Can’t wait to read this one. It was also lovely to meet you in London a few months back!
Hi everyone! Thanks for sharing your tales about when you started reading historicals. Joanna M – what an amazing sight that must have been!
It was! Next stop (besides the Alps, of course) the castles in Scotland =D
Hi Lenora! Happy Release Day! :)
I am pretty sure I started reading historicals back when I was a young teen, and started with Judith McNaughts. The Westmorelands definitely have a special place in my heart. Though my favorite JM historical is Something Wonderful.
I think I like historicals because of the escape. I can travel to another place in time, and immerse myself with the gorgeous gowns, balls, etc. (We can just ignore the lack of antibiotics, plumbing and electricity, rights for women etc etc etc :P)
Hi Kim! Thanks for stopping by! Totally read for the HEA as well. Great answer
Congratulations on the new release. I like to read historical romances because of the setting & HEA. If an author throws in an interesting piece of history, it’s even better.
History interests me and through historical romances I can learn, albeit in a more enjoyable way as opposed to text books.
Thanks for giving us a fun insight into your life behind the laptop! I love reading historical romance for the glamour of ball gowns and carriage rides, those smoldering dukes, and stolen kisses in the garden! Congrats on your second book!
I love reading historical romances because it allows me to experience situations in a time and place I wouldn’t normally be able to. And I’ve learned so much about different places and historical events from reading romance, a definite plus!
What a fascinating tale! My dream has always been going to the Alps so your story struck a chord with me. My family is from Mexico City and I when I visited the valley of Teotihuacan (Aztec pyramids east of Mexico City; http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/414) I was in awe at the majestic view before me; I knew at that moment I had returned to my roots.
Thanks for sharing your family story with us!
Hi Lenora! Happy Release Day, my love!! :) xoxoxo
I am pretty sure I started reading historicals as a young teen and I started with Judith McNaught’s Old Skool historical romances. The Westmorelands will ALWAYS have a special place in my heart (though my fav is Something Wonderful-how can you resist a romance where the heroine literally rides up and saves the hero’s life?)
I think I like the escape factor, of immersing myself in a different time and place. The gowns, and balls, and all that. (We’ll just ignore the lack of antibiotics, electricity, plumbing, equal rights, etc etc etc ;))
I love reading historical romance because of seeing how they lived during that time period. I especially love reading about Dukes