A GUEST BLOG BY VICTORIA VANE
As an author of historical fiction it is my belief that to truly understand a given era one must study the popular culture of the times, and nowhere is the mindset of the people more clearly demonstrated than on the stage. It was while reading Hannah Cowley’s The Belle’s Stratagem, one of the most popular of late Georgian era plays, that I was inspired to write A BREACH OF PROMISE.
While The Belle’s Stratagem juxtaposes two different story lines, the essential theme concerns men learning to respect the women in their lives both before and after marriage. This theme of respect is closely mirrored in my historical romance novella, A BREACH OF PROMISE.
Like Cowley’s play, the premise of my story is an engagement contracted by the hero and heroine’s parents when they were very young. Also similar is that my own hero, Marcus, like Cowley’s Doricourt, has been many years travelling abroad and has recently returned to England a handsome, fashionable, and much sought after bachelor, but one who has learned to appreciate continental beauty and manners far above those of his own countrywomen.
Cowley’s Leticia is smitten by her erstwhile finance but dismayed by his apparent indifference to her charms and vows to “win his heart or never be his wife.” The unusual stratagem employed to win him over is based on the belief that it is “easier to convert a sentiment into its opposite than to transform indifference into tender passion.” These circumstance and sentiments closely match those of my own heroine, Lydia Trent in A BREACH OF PROMISE.
LINK TO FULL POST AND EXCERPT AT ROMCON :
http://www.romconinc.com/index.php?option=com_lyftenbloggie&view=entry&year=2011&month=12&day=29&id=1788%3Aa-breach-of-promise-by-victoria-vane&Itemid=5
