Phillipa Ashley is my guest today with a lovely post about romantic adventures, castles and pirates. I love the setting of her latest romance, Miranda's Mount. It's a very special place I just happened to visit last summer, it's in Cornwall and ... unforgettable. Discover more, read Phillipa's post!
As long as I can remember, I’ve loved romantic historical adventure stories such as The Scarlet Pimpernel and The Three Musketeers and I’m an addict for period dramas in this vein. In fact I think that the BBC’s version of Lorna Doone with Richard Coyle as John Ridd is probably my favourite of period drama of all time (alongside N&S of course!) I love the drama, the passion and the sheeer thrilling adventure of these wonderful books and productions.
Even now, if I’m not careful, I’ll find myself hooked on an old Errol Flynn Robin Hood movie, or Elizabeth & Essex... and The Wicked Lady would be my desert island movie. It may be in black & white but I love it so much I ordered a copy on DVD. Even my daughter, who saw it while at home ill with glandular fever, is now hooked.
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| Lorna Doone - BBC |
In 2010, I was delighted to be asked to be a judge for the Romantic Novelists Association’s Romance prize – now the RONA Rose – for shorter romantic fiction. There were some great entries and the one that won had a lasting impact on me. It was a Mills & Boon historical romance by Louise Allen called The Piratical Miss Ravenshurt. It followed the adventures of a young woman who is forced to work as a cabin boy on a pirate ship and comes to the attention of an undercover naval officer called Nathan Stanier.
How I wish I’d written it –but sadly, I could never have done that. I have a very contemporary voice that doesn’t lend itself to period dialogue and I’ll admit, while I have a keen interest in history and an enthusiastic member of the National Trust, I could never achieve the level of knowledge and scholarship required to write a historical romance.
That didn’t stop me dreaming however: that one day I would write my own romantic adventure, preferably with a pirate hero and a castle.
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| Mount St. Michael's |
In January 2011, I was dozing off on a car journey and suddenly I had one of those moments: not just light bulb but lightning. The idea for Miranda’s Mount flew into my brain, and instantly I just knew that it would be set on an island castle (just like one of my favourite places, St Michael’s Mount in Cornwall). I started writing the moment I got home and a year later the book was finished and bought by Piatkus Entice.
Finally my dream of writing a romantic adventure in a historical setting– albeit set on contemporary life had come true.
With no family of her own, Miranda Marshall has developed a healthy respect - some would say obsession - with other people's histories. As property manager of a spectacular island castle in Cornwall, she's made St Merryn's Mount one of the UK's most popular heritage attractions. While she may have the castle running like clockwork, Miranda hasn't bargained on its sexy owner returning to claim his birthright.
Dark, handsome and with a rakish reputation, Jago St Merryn not only looks like a pirate but is intent on flogging the Mount to a soulless leisure corporation. Miranda faces the battle of her life as she tries to persuade him to face up to his past and continue the St Merryn dynasty. But Jago has his own reasons for jumping ship and when he throws down the gauntlet to Miranda, she's forced to delve into painful memories she'd much rather keep hidden . . .
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