Guest post from Naomi Laeuchli – author of regency romance THE SCHOOLMASTER’S DAUGHTER

The Schoolmaster’s Daughter is set in the Regency era, in the English town of Bath. Fans of Bridgerton will recognize the Regency era. It was named for George, the Prince Regent, who ruled after his father, George III, was deemed mentally unfit (incidentally George III was the king on the throne during the American revolution!).

Bath was a spa town. People would go there to ‘take the waters’. It was believed that drinking and bathing in the mineral waters was good for your health and would help cure various ailments. As more and more members of high society went there for their health, social events also sprung up in the town, such as dances at the assembly rooms, concerts and theater.

During the 1700s, Bath was at its most fashionable, but at the time The Schoolmaster’s Daughter is set, it has somewhat fallen out of favor. While not explained in the book, the reason for this was that the medical men of the time decided that sea bathing had more restorative properties than mineral water did, and consequently the Prince Regent made Brighton popular, stealing some of Bath’s thunder.

Bath was still a popular location, and families would still go there, but it wasn’t the first choice anymore for London’s high society, which is an important plot point for The Schoolmaster’s Daughter, where the hero Julius is keen to avoid the social elite and some of his creditors.

My editor for the book was not always familiar with the historical references in the book. This was very helpful in showing me where the book wasn’t being welcoming to new readers but also lead to me doing more research into the town and its history to make sure I was properly setting the scene. One of my favorite books, Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen, is also set in Bath, as well as several books by my favorite author Georgette Heyer, so I quite enjoyed getting to visit the town with my own book and research.

THE SCHOOLMASTER’S DAUGHTER

Naomi Laeuchli

GENRE:  Regency Romance

BLURB:

Deep in debt and desperate for a solution, Julius Claydon knows that marrying a wealthy woman is his only hope. When he meets the beautiful and rich Clara Haughton in Bath, he believes she could be his salvation, but there’s one obstacle in his path: Lydia Cray, Clara’s sharp-witted and penniless companion.

When Lydia quickly sees through his fortune-hunting motives, Julius proposes an alliance. He will help secure her future if she helps him secure Clara’s heart.

But Lydia is not all she appears to be, and she has a plan of her own: to teach him a lesson he won’t soon forget. But her scheming soon leads to unforeseen consequences for them both.

Can love spring from deception?

Excerpt:

He fetched them both a glass. “Now, tell me. How goes our business?”

“Do we have a business? I thought we had a scheme.”

“Business sounds more honorable.”

“Do you care about honor?”

He frowned and opened his mouth to retort, and then noticed her expression. Her voice might be serious, but her face was laughing, and her eyes glinted gaily. She was, he thought, very hard not to laugh along with. And so he did. “Touche,” he said. “Scheme it shall be.”

“Well then, our scheme is going quite nicely. Clara was in raptures over your care of William and Margaret. She said she had never known a man could have such a natural affinity with children.”

He grimaced. “Maybe as a rule we can’t, but we can have a natural affinity with rogues and ruffians and those two were equal parts of both.”

“I wouldn’t tell her that,” she replied thoughtfully. “It would probably not go over very well.”

“She can’t actually think those children are well behaved?”

“She thinks they are naturally high-spirited and that high spirits in children must not be checked.”

“William at least, if not checked, is likely to end up on the gallows. Margaret may even join him there. And I shall watch with pleasure.”

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Born in Taipei, Taiwan, Naomi Laeuchli has lived overseas in nine different countries on three different continents where her family was posted with the American Foreign Service. In November 2012 she moved from the Democratic Republic of the Congo back to the states and currently lives in Arizona with five horses. She works as a freelance writer and part time at the local library. She has written several interactive stories for Choice of Games, Tales, and Dorian.

https://www.amazon.com/Schoolmasters-Daughter-Naomi-Laeuchli/dp/B0D9SKC3D7 FREE TO LIVE ON KINDLE UNLIMITED

https://nplwrites.wordpress.com/

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