I’ve been invited for an author take over at the Haute Ton Reader Society on Facebook today, Tuesday 14th January (US time mostly) so if you’re on Facebook, do come and say hello! There will be some historical tidbits, a recipe, some excerpts from The Clothier’s Daughter, Regency fashions, and other fun.
Historical fiction author Caroline Warfield is kindly hosting me at her blog today, to talk a little about the textile background to The Clothier’s Daughter. Please come over and say hello!
For this coming week only, the e-book of The Clothier’s Daughter is at a very special price of just 99c (US) or $1.49 (Aus)*. So it’s a great chance to pick it up for a song, make a cup of tea, and curl up for a good read! But hurry – the sale ends on 18th November.
Find your copy at your favourite e-book store: https://books2read.com/u/bO6kd9
*Australian and other prices may vary slightly, depending on the store.
In The Clothier’s Daughter, the heroine, Emma Braithwaite, has second cousins who run a rival business, the old Braithwaite family company having been split into two when their respective grandfathers argued.
I’ve always been fascinated by genealogy and started asking about my own family tree when I was still in primary school—which got both my parents started on many decades of family history research, on both sides of the family.
So, naturally, when I was writing The Clothier’s Daughter, I had to work out the Braithwaite family history. If you’ve read the book and wondered about the family connections, I’ve drawn up a family tree to illustrate them. It’s a PDF file, and you can download it by clicking on the link:
The Caldwell family tree is less complicated (at least in terms of the characters in the first book in the series!), so here’s the order of the ten children of George Adam Caldwell, the 5th Earl of Rengarth and his wife Caroline (clearly a healthy woman with little difficulty bearing children, and happily in love with her husband!):
George, 6th Earl of Rengarth, b. 1785, m. Hannah
Adam, b. 1787
Oliver, b. 1788
Louisa, b. 1790
Phoebe, b. 1792
Lilian, b. 1794
Susanna, b. 1798
Jeremy, b. 1800
Cecilia, b. 1802
Benamin, b. 1805
And yes, I do have ideas for books for many of these characters—the Braithwaite and Caldwell families are full of interesting people who live full lives!
Thank you to everyone who has supported my new book, The Clothier’s Daughter, by buying, reviewing, asking their library for it, or by spreading the word about it. It’s a new sub-genre for me so every little bit helps, and I’m very grateful!
Paperbacks are now available to order through the major online sellers. If you’d like to ask your local bookseller or library to order it in, the ISBN of the paperback is 9780994197047, and it’s available through Ingram Spark. If you live in regional Queensland or Darwin you’re in luck – it’s already available in many libraries there!
If you live in Australia, you can also order a signed paperback from me – see the Buy Books page for details. Unfortunately, international postage is prohibitively expensive, so I can’t send signed copies overseas.
I’ve uploaded a PDF preview of the first two chapters – click on the download link below. Readers who prefer ebooks should be able to download a sample from their preferred ebook seller, but I know that many readers prefer print. So here’s a print-formatted sample!
We had a wonderful book launch earlier this month at Boobooks, a local second-hand bookshop. My lovely niece Lauren was able to fly up from Canberra for the weekend.
Not only did Lauren design the cover and format the print book, she is the model on the cover. She brought the cover dress with her, but it was a bit chilly to wear it. My friend Debbie leant us a mannequin, so we dressed it up with pearls in the hair, just like on the book cover.
Several friends contributed food for the event, adding to the hummus and choc fudge I made, and my friend Nancy raided her winter garden for flowers, including this lovely posy.
Yvonne, one of the co-owners of Boobooks, interviewed me about the book. Here’s me, waving my hands as I answered a question.
The signing table provided was wonderful – a genuine antique card table! Here, I’m signing a book for my friend Katinka.
It was a lovely launch and I appreciate and am grateful to everyone who contributed and attended.
And yes, I have started writing the next book!
