Welcome to the Rebellious Sisterhood: A Guest Post by Bronwyn Scott
It’s time to welcome in the 2021 series, the Rebellious Sisterhood. The series features three female artists looking to make a mark on the world and live life on their own terms. Book 1 features Artemisia Stansfield, a woman seeking promotion to the rank of RA (Royal Academician) at the Royal Academy of the Arts. Set in primarily in 1820, after the death of one of the original Academy founders, Mary Moser in early 1819, Artemisia struggles to overcome gender barriers despite her talent. The second book, Revealing the True Miss Stansfield, features Adelaide, Artemisia’s younger sister (March 1, 2021) and the third book, A Wager to Tempt the Runaway, features an itinerant artist named Josefina Ricci who is caught in a bet between Artemisia and Sir Aldred Gray (whom we meet in book 1 so keep an eye on that scapegrace) (release date is May 2021).
The stories are set in Seasalter on the Kent coast. I want to introduce you to Seasalter as it was in 1820 when it was not much at all. Its primary industries were oysters and smuggling. It’s the perfect place for Artemisia to escape to when she turns her back on Society and rusticates. I want to acknowledge the Blue Anchor Corner as a source I turned to for information about Seasalter in the 1820s. If you are interested in the site, you can access it here: https://seasaltercross.com/
Seasalter contained a few outlying farmhouses like the one Artemisia inherited from her aunt, St. Alphege’s church, the Crown inn and a handful of fishing huts. The inn features in all three books so let me say a little something about it. The Crown Inn was later renamed the Blue Anchor, and it wasn’t clear to me exactly when the re-naming happened, so I stuck with calling it The Crown for the series. I did embellish the town teeny bit with the invention of a bakery next door to the Crown where Elianora makes her delicious ginger biscuits on Fridays (featured throughout the series and in the free Harlequin online read for Dec. 2020). But in truth, there was no bakery. Seasalter relied on the close proximity of Faversham and the larger village of Whitstable for what might pass as ‘shops’ in that rural area. There is no High Street in Seasalter. It was a very bleak place, which made it the perfect hide-away for Artemisia.
Geographically, Seasalter is set in a marshy area that provides an estuary for birds. From Seasalter, one can see the Isle of Sheppey and the oyster beds are about a mile from the shore. I took some liberty with the oyster harvest in the books. It’s not a main plot, merely a mention in book one. However, I do want to note that oysters can be harvested year round—that doesn’t mean they should be, just that they can be. In Seasalter, where the fictional Owen Gann is the Oyster King of Kent, oysters are sometimes not harvested in the late winter (which Owen explains in book 3 as an invention of his own). And Owen chooses not to harvest between May and October for reproductive reasons and keeping the beds healthy. There is some merit in that although not everyone will agree (just in case an avid oyster farmer reads the series for something other than the romance).
It was interesting to learn that Seasalter had relatively temperate winters. They were not tropical by any means, but winters had a mild quality to them (45 degrees and rainy) which made it possible for an intrepid soul to tramp the marsh, beach and shingle year long if they so desired. This is important to Artemisia who spent a lot of her time outdoors sketching the wildlife and there are several scenes where Artemisia and Darius make good use of the isolated outdoors in winter to talk over campfires bundled up in blankets.
Ihope you enjoyed this quick look at Seasalter. I love to connect with readers on Bookbub and on my Facebook page.
I actually finished the book last week and quite liked Artemesia and Darius. I especially liked Darius’ character arc. His was a rather blinkered existence, one where duty and obligation were defined very specifically, the weight of which fell heavily on his shoulders. Artemesia helped remove the blinkers and opened his eyes to the privilege rank and money and his gender achieved for him, whereas she, no matter how much she accomplished, could not rise to a similar position. I also liked that she let him once again feel joy in creating art and that his father was not a monster but someone who cared deeply for his own obligations as earl.
Also, and I know this is shallow, but I loved the cover. I actually find it sexier to have them almost fully dressed, so we get the varying textures of their clothing, skin, and hair. Unlike far too many romance covers, there is no inaccurate shirt open to the waist or dress falling off her shoulder with no lingerie underneath, and the way the couple’s bodies curve in to each other speaks volumes about their attraction.
I totally agree. Looking forward to the next book and excited to find a new to me author with a back list!
Welcome aboard, Connie. Always glad to meet a new to me reader!!! Hope you love Adelaide’s story and then Owen Gann’s story in the series. They’re all out this spring, so it’s fun to read them in close succession. You can check them out at https://books.harlequin.com/search?w=Bronwyn+scott (and other titles, too, the backlist is there).
Hi Susan,
So glad you liked the book– and Darius. I really wanted a hero who is changed by the relationship– not just in his ability to love but in how he sees the world and understands it. But it was tricky to write without making him come off weak or selfish, so I am glad the balance worked for you! I loved the cover too, I don’t think that’s shallow at all!
I’m so happy that HR is starting to branch out when it comes to the kinds of heros and heroines portrayed between the covers of its novels!
Hi Lisa, I always love the more nontraditional characters although the audience doesn’t always appreciate a non-duke. Keep your eyes peeled for Owen Gann’s story in A Wager to Tempt the Runaway (book 3 in this series, out in June). He’s a self-made man who worked his way up from being a oyster man to the Oyster King of Kent. He’s rugged and I love the way the cover of the book depicts him– not necessarily a handsome man, but exactly as I imagined him. Meanwhile, my favorite heroine is a billiards player in A Lady Risks All (not to be confused with the Stephanie Laurens title). I loved writing her story back in 2014, so maybe it’s worth digging up.
Bronwyn
Wow! I love the idea of a romance hero who is in the oyster business as well as all these artist heroines. I’ve often said HR needs more entrepreneurial heroes and heroines, so thanks!
Thanks also for giving us a history lesson on AAR. If you don’t mind my asking, what methods do you typically use to conduct research for your HR titles? I ask because when a lot of writers are interviewed, they say, “And then I did a lot of research.” Then they brush past the topic like it’s a big secret or not worth talking about. As a writer myself, one of my challenges is developing good research practices (that and plotting, but that’s a discussion for another time). I have a rather haphazard writing approach that involves general internet searches and JSTOR use, but I often have trouble finding what I’m looking for and end up bumbling around. Do you have any suggestions in this regard?
Hi Nan,
For this book, I looked for two kinds of information. First, I looked for material on Seasalter Kent and found some pretty interesting reading at Blue Anchor which looks primarily at the Seasalter smuggling industry (and gets featured in book 3 of the series). Here’s the link if you want to dig around on the site. https://seasaltercross.com/2014/11/03/a-very-brief-blue-anchor-corner-history/
Second, I read up a little bit on art forgery in general, and then I read about paint color development which was really fascinating, along with reading specifically about Perugino (whose work features in book 2).
Third, I did read up on the Royal Academy of the Arts history which was very accessible from their website. And from there, I made a list of things I wanted to know that the website didn’t cover in order to fill in the gaps, and went hunting from there. So for instance, the website had links to the list of people who filled offices like president for the Royal Academy so then I started working on finding descriptions or paintings of what they looked like.
Hope that helps.
Bronwyn