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Tell us about your latest book
The Fugitive Colours is a story of suspense set in the intersecting worlds of art, science, and espionage in 1764 London, an exciting but dangerous time in the city’s history. It’s a follow-up to my fourth historical novel, The Blue. No one needs to have read The Blue first, although it could add to the experience. The main character of both books is Genevieve Planché, a Huguenot artist raised in Spitalfields. She longs to be a serious artist, but there are barriers for women that are very hard to surmount.
When “The Fugitive Colours” begins, Genevieve runs a business from her Fournier Street house, designing flowers for the Huguenot silkweavers. She employs two temperamental young artists, and with her husband working as a low-paid science tutor far away and a young son to raise, she’s under a lot of pressure.
To her shock, she receives an invitation to a gathering held at the Leicester Fields house of Joshua Reynolds, the most successful portrait painter in Britain. She can’t help but hope this is her entrée to the art world of London at last, but nothing is as it seems. In the novel she gets caught up in dangerous rivalries, espionage plots, and murder.
As always, I sprinkle real people from history among my characters. In this book, you’ll find, along with Reynolds and George Romney, people like courtesan Kitty Fisher, Sir Francis Dashwood, founder of the Hellfire Club, and Sir John Fielding of the Bow Street Runners.
Kitty Fisher by Reynolds
What is your preferred writing routine?
I’ve always had day jobs, and usually they’re 40-hour-a-week jobs. So I try to write fiction early in the morning, research at night, and do both on weekends. But I also have a family at home, so it’s challenging to find time. I just keep going. I’m fortunate to not have a problem with writer’s block. Sometimes I hate what I write on a given day and it has to be 90 percent rewritten, but it does come. And I have a bunch of ideas for books always percolating.
What advice do you have for new writers?
Do not chase trends. I wrote a trilogy set in Tudor England, a novel set in early 20th century New York City, and two novels set in 18th century England and France. Each time I had the spark of an idea for a story taking place in a time I’m interested in, and I went from there. I just think there’s not enough money in writing fiction to make commercial success the driving factor. You’ll go crazy trying to predict trends. Let your love of history and storytelling guide you. Of course if your passion is to tell a story set in French Resistance World War II—one of the most popular book settings now--go with that. The key is: be authentic.
What have you found to be the best way to raise awareness of your books?
Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter help me spread the word, with Goodreads’ book giveaways and lists doing a great deal during the three months leading up to publication.
I try to encourage people to sign up for my author newsletter. That way I keep readers up to date on my books as well as any nonfiction articles or podcasts. I write about real people from history for blogs and for magazines. I’ve written about the murder of architect Stanford White and the Romanov-Windsor family’s last meeting for Town & Country.
Tell us something unexpected you discovered during your research
The greatest English artists of the 18th century could be incredibly nasty—toward one another! When you hear names like “Joshua Reynolds,” you assume that such illustrious artists would behave with perfect decorum. But Reynolds, Hogarth, George Romney, and Thomas Gainsborough all had sharp elbows. None of these men came from wealthy families by a long shot, and they had to work extraordinarily hard to reach even the first stage of success. They were competitive and could be critical of each other and were not above undercutting and even sabotaging a rival.
What was the hardest scene you remember writing?
One with Genevieve’s husband, Thomas Sturbridge, a brilliant chemist, giving a lecture about Sir Isaac Newton to an audience of Huguenots interested in science. Thomas gets challenged by a stranger in the audience, and his reaction is odd. Lectures are not easy to make suspenseful and engaging. There’s a lot of context to what Thomas is saying when he talks about alchemy; this will direct the actions of some ominous characters in the book. It’s subtle but it can’t be too subtle. And since my book is written through the first-person point of view of Genevieve, it’s about her observation, reaction, and speculation. That’s not easy to pull off.
What are you planning to write next?
My publisher wants another Genevieve Planche book, I’m pleased to say. To get answers to a mystery that no one can solve, she goes deeper into espionage than ever before. In so doing, she faces the truth about herself.
First, though, I am writing another historical novel set in a different time period. The announcement on that one will be made soon. Until then, I have to keep my lips sealed 😊
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