JENNY BARDEN, THE LOST DUCHESS - GUEST POST & GIVEAWAY

Jenny Barden

Another great guest at Fly High! today. I've invited awesome historical fiction writer,  Jenny Barden,  to present her upcoming great novel here (it'll be out in just 2 days in the UK - 7th November), because I know that you like me love and appreciate well-written,  thrilling historical fiction. Let's welcome Jenny and, please, take your chances to win a signed first edition copy of her The Lost Duchess. This amazing giveaway is open world wide and ends on 14th November. 

Thank you so much, Maria, for giving me an opportunity to say a little about my forthcoming release, The Lost Duchess, which was no more than a concept in outline when you interviewed me for this site in October last year. 

Several of your followers said then that they loved the idea of an Elizabethan romantic adventure, and that there was going to be a sequel to Mistress of the Sea, so I hope they'll be attracted to this next book, which features Kit Doonan (Will's brother in Mistress of the Sea), and Emme Fifield, a lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth, whose relationship deepens in the thick of an action-packed adventure when they join Sir Walter Raleigh's expedition to found the first permanent English colony in America. Here's what my publishers have to say about The Lost Duchess:

An epic Elizabethan adventure with a thriller pace and a high tension love story that moves from the palaces of England to the savage wilderness of the New World.

Emme Fifield has fallen about as far as a gentlewoman can.

Once a lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth, her only hope of surviving the scandal that threatens to engulf her is to escape England for a fresh start in the new America where nobody has ever heard of the Duchess of Somerset.

Emme joins Kit Doonan's rag-tag band of idealists, desperados and misfits bound for Virginia. But such a voyage will be far from easy and Emmefinds her attraction to the mysterious Doonan inconvenient to say the least.

As for Kit, the handsome mariner has spent years imprisoned by the Spanish, and living as an outlaw with a band of escaped slaves; he has his own inner demons to confront, and his own dark secrets to keep...

Ever since Sir Walter Raleigh's settlement in Virginia was abandoned in 1587 its fate has remained a mystery; 'The Lost Duchess' explores what might have happened to the ill-starred 'Lost Colony' of Roanoke.

You asked when we last spoke about how I could weave a story around a woman involved in an extraordinary adventure when women were almost invisible in society, and I'd like to say that as regards this next book one of the joys has been that the historical records document the presence of women amongst the 'Lost Colonists' of Roanoke. There really was a woman called 'Emme Merrymoth' listed amongst the colonists who sailed for Virginia in 1587, about whom nothing is known apart from her name, and this is the identity that my Emme assumes for the voyage in order to travel incognito. It's a story that's securely grounded in historical fact, and since historians are still puzzling over what became of the Lost Colonists I've not felt at all inhibited in imagining what might have happened to them. The layers of mystery that attach to the true story provide just one aspect of its fascination. Here's a picture of Roanoke Island showing the galleon reconstruction 'Elizabeth'; the 'Lion' that took the Lost Colonists to the island would have looked much the same.

The first English colonists to set foot in the New World would have been intent on remaining there, beginning life afresh, building homes and establishing a lasting community. What the settlers found within hours of arriving were the bones of an English soldier who had been on the island the previous year bearing the evidence of a violent death. A few days later one of the colonists was brutally murdered by native Indians. The shock to the colonists must have been profound. Why the indigenous Algonquian Indians turned from friends to enemies is just one of many enigmas thatThe Lost Duchess explores. The contrast between vision and reality, and between the cultures of the Old World and the New, are some of the facets that provide a fantastic backdrop for an epic romance. 

 The Lost Duchess

Emme Fifield has fallen about as far as a gentlewoman can.

Once a lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth, her only hope of surviving the scandal that threatens to engulf her is to escape England for a fresh start in the New World, where nobody has ever heard of the Duchess of Somerset.

Emme joins Kit Doonan's rag-tag band of idealists, desperados and misfits bound for Virginia. But such a trip will be far from easy and Emme finds her attraction to the mysterious Doonan inconvenient to say the least...

The book will be released on 7 November in hardback and as an ebook with the paperback to follow in the summer of next year. For readers in the UK it's available here or here  and at all main book suppliers. I hope that this link will be of use to anyone in the US wanting a copy.

Many thanks to Jenny Barden  for being our guest again and providing the signed book for the  giveaway contest. 

More about Jenny and The Lost Duchess can be found at 

http://www.jennybarden.com/

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17612600-the-lost-duchess

https://www.facebook.com/jennybardenauthor

https://twitter.com/jennywilldoit

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