Victoria & Violet – It Started With A Dog Walk… by Rachel Brimble
MUSE MONDAY
Rachel Brimble is always a welcomed guest on Discover... Her muse really opened the door for her on this book. You'll want to read how inspiration knocked.
My new book Victoria& Violet is my 28th published novel and it also represents along-held ambition coming to life. When my first novel was accepted by The WildRose Press back in 2007, I was well and truly caught with the writer bug andhaven’t been able to shake it off since. Writing is an addiction, a compulsion,and one many published authors (myself included) have surrendered to knowingthere is very little they can do to escape the need to write…even if we do tryon a frighteningly frequent basis!So why is Victoria& Violet a realization of a long-held ambition? Well, ever since Istarted writing novels, I vowed that one day I would write an historical novelthat included real people and real events. The trouble was, I was TERRIFIED totread this particularly treacherous path. As much as I might devour fictionwith real characters and events, I wasn’t sure how the authors went aboutcreating the story, what they could and could not assume of the real people andevents or if everything was down to poetic license.
And then Violet camealong…
I was walking my dogone day and struggling with the plot I was writing – my dog walking tends to beproblem solving time as much as fresh air time! However, instead of myimagination/consciousness solving my plot problem, a young woman startedinvading my thoughts and eventually she was speaking to me…endlessly. I knewshe was a maid, she had an area in her life where she felt entirely trapped andshe was working for a young Queen Victoria.
My heart startedpumping a little faster, my stomach knotting with a nerves and excitement – thetime had come. I was ready to write a book with real people and real events –and it would be set in the court of Queen Victoria. Violet was her housemaidand the story would revolve around the women’s relationship as well as theromance between Violet and courtier James Greene, assistant to the queen’sprivate secretary, Lord Melbourne.
The stage was set!
During the writing ofthis book there were mind blocks, moments of panic and moments of pure joy.Yet, most of all, there were days of writing like I was taking dictation asthese wonderful characters told me their stories. In fact, every scene with QueenVictoria was the easiest to write. Why? Because what I had already learnedabout her over the years, plus my intense research for this book, I felt Ireally knew who Victoria was at around the age of twenty-one when Victoria& Violet is set. At this time, Victoria was joyous, romantic and sofull of hope that she would come to be the one of the best monarchs Britain hadeven seen.
I really hope heroptimism and Violet’s determination come across on the page with as much verve,passion and love as I felt when I was writing…happy reading!
It should be a dream come true to serve the Queenof England…
When Violet Parkeris told she will be Queen Victoria’s personal housemaid, she cannot believe hergood fortune. She finally has the chance to escape her overbearing mother, aservant to the Duchess of Kent.
Violet hopes toexplore who she is and what the world has to offer without her mother’s schemesovershadowing her every thought and action.
Then she meets JamesGreene, assistant to the queen’s chief political adviser, Lord Melbourne. Fromentirely different backgrounds and social class, Violet and James should haveneither need nor desire to speak to one another, yet through their service,their paths cross and their lives merge—as do their feelings.
Only Victoria’scourt is not always the place for romance, but rather secrets, scandals, andconspiracies…
EXCERPT
“She…” Violet hesitated, feeling foolish carrying out the queen’sinstructions when James was quite clearly busy and not at all happy. “Shesuggested we take a picnic.”
“A pic…” His eyes widened before his cheeks mottled. “It’s December!”
“I can pack some hot soup and bread. It will be…fun.”
“Fun? I can’t take myself off for a picnic when there is so much to do.What on earth will the workers think of me?”
His mood made her decidedly uneasy, but she could not defer on thequeen’s request. She lifted her chin. “I’m sorry, James, but if the queencommands it, we cannot refuse. Besides, it will be last time you will see mefor a while.”
He dropped his hand from his hair, his dark eyes boring into hers. “Whatare you talking about?”
“I have to go home. My mother claims my father is ill. Not that Ibelieve a word of it, of course. But still, I must go.”
“Your mother is exerting her power again?”
“I have little doubt.”
He exhaled heavily, his gaze softening. “Give me an hour and I willcome. Where shall we meet?”
“In the folly.”
“Very well.” His gaze dropped to her lips before he reached around hertoward the door and opened it. “You should go.”
He stood so close, Violet could see flecks of blue in his eyes, smellthe subtle maleness of him. Her treacherous heart swelled with silly, dangerouslove. She forced a smile and ducked under his arm and through the open doorway.
Rachel lives in a small town near Bath, England. Sheis the author of 29 novels including the Ladies of Carson Street trilogy, theShop Girl series (Aria Fiction) and the Templeton Cove Stories (Harlequin). Herlatest novel, Victoria & Violet is the first book in her new Royal Maidsseries with the Wild Rose Press and released 17th October 2022.Rachel is amember of the Romantic Novelists Association as well as the Historical NovelSociety and has thousands of social media followers all over the world.
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