Secrets of Nanreath Hall
by Alix
Rickloff
GENRE: Historical
Fiction
BLURB:
Cornwall, 1940. Back
in England after the harrowing evacuation at Dunkirk, WWII Red Cross nurse Anna
Trenowyth finds herself unexpectedly assigned to Nanreath Hall-her dead
mother's childhood home. All Anna has left of her mother, Lady Katherine
Trenowyth, are vague memories that tease her with clues she can't unravel. Anna
knows this could be the chance for her to finally become acquainted with the
family she's never known-and to learn the truth about her past.
Cornwall, 1913. In the luxury of pre-WWI England, Lady Katherine Trenowyth is
expected to do nothing more than make a smart marriage. When Simon Halliday, a
bohemian painter, enters her world, Katherine begins to question the future
that was so carefully laid out for her. Her choices soon lead her away from the
stability of her home and family toward a wild existence of life, art, and
love.
As Anna is drawn into her newfound family's lives and their tangled loyalties,
she must decide if the secrets of the past are too dangerous to unearth…and if
the family she's discovered is one she can keep.
Excerpt:
“Pardon, miss. Street’s closed off.
Unexploded bomb.” A policeman barred her way, twirling his whistle round his
finger, rolling back and forth on the balls of his feet. “Bomb disposal’s on
its way, but you’ll have to go round.” He eyed her dark blue gabardine Red
Cross VAD uniform and the valise she carried, the weight of it dragging against
her bad shoulder. “Home for a bit?”
“A week’s leave. My family lives
just north of here. I thought I’d surprise them.”
His frown deepened. He caught his
whistle in a closed hand. “A good daughter, you are, miss. I hope you find them
well.”
Anna nodded her thanks and began the
roundabout track that would take her east then back north. At this rate, it
would be dinnertime before she dragged herself into the small front parlor in
Queen’s Crescent. It was Friday, so Graham would be at the pub for his weekly
pint of bitter and a jaw with the lads. Prue would be in her chair by the
radio, listening to Vera Lynn or the comedy of Band Waggon, chewing nervously
at the end of her spectacles.
Anna hadn’t seen either of them
since July, when they’d visited her in hospital. She’d tried talking them out
of the difficult trip from London to Surrey, but Prue had insisted, and Anna
hadn’t the stamina to argue. It took all her energy just to scribble a few
hackneyed lines on a postcard each week. There was no way she could make them
understand her desire to be left alone without sounding cold and unfeeling. And
she’d not hurt Graham or Prue even if it meant gritting her teeth through their
hovering attentiveness.
Just as she’d expected, it had been
an awkward reunion. They’d not known what to say as she lay plastered like a
mummy, her face gaunt and marked by the constant nightmares that left her sick.
She’d had too much to say and no words to speak of the horrible images seared
upon her heart. By the time they left, she’d felt nothing but guilty relief and
an overwhelming urge to be sick.
Then she’d received her new orders,
and she’d had to speak to them. They were the only ones who might understand
her emotional tug- of- war. She’d foregone a letter, choosing instead to ring
them up with the news, spilling her confusion and doubts over the wires. Graham
had listened to her calmly before handing the phone to Prue, who urged her to
come home for a long- delayed visit. They needed to talk with her— about her
mother.
Author Interview:
What
books/authors have influenced your writing?
I couldn’t begin to list every author that has ever inspired me,
but I do have authors who hold a special place in my heart. I dedicated one of
my books to four of them; Mary Stewart, Lois McMaster Bujold, Jane Austen, and
Rosamunde Pilcher. These are my four go-to authors. Different in genre, style,
characterization, but I read their books over and over whenever I need to get
lost in a familiar story where the writing is flawless and the characters are old
friends.
What drew you to
the twentieth century and WWII as a setting?
My
interest in the war began while I was in college. I watched Greer Garson in Mrs. Miniver and was forever hooked on
the time period. But for twenty plus years and nine plus books, it remained
merely a side interest until a recent conversation with my agent during which
she asked the fateful question; “What do you really want to write about?”
Suddenly, I was confronted with all sorts of exciting possibilities in genres
and settings I’d never considered.
What inspired
you to write Secrets of Nanreath Hall?
The
first kernel of the story came from watching an episode of Downton Abbey. I was
intrigued by the fatherless heir and the child of a scandalous elopement. From
that seed, my what-if process started as I tried to imagine what their lives
would have been like as they grew to adulthood during WWII.
This is your
first straight historical fiction novel, though you write historical romance
under the pseudonym Alexa Egan. Was it a difficult transition to switch genres?
Not
at all, though the romance novelist in me insisted on a happy ending. And if a
love story turned up unexpectedly, well…old habits die hard.
What are you
working on now?
I’m
working on a follow-up to Secrets Of Nanreath
Hall. Lucy Stanhope is the spoiled daughter of an ex-pat socialite living
in Singapore who is sent to England in disgrace just ahead of the attack on
Pearl Harbor and Japan’s entrance into the war. There she befriends a young
evacuee and the unlikely pair end up heading to London in search of his mother.
Can you tell us
what you’ve got on your nightstand right now?
For
work, I’m reading West End Front; The Wartime Secrets of
London’s Grand Hotels by Matthew Sweet and for pleasure The
Forgotten Room by Karen White, Beatriz Willams, and Lauren Willig
AUTHOR BIO:
Alix Rickloff is a critically acclaimed author of
historical and paranormal romance. Her previous novels include the Bligh Family
series (Kensington, 2009), the Heirs of Kilronan trilogy (Pocket, 2011), and,
as Alexa Egan, the Imnada Brotherhood series (Pocket, 2014). She lives in
Maryland with her husband and three children.
Buy Links:
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A digital copy of Secrets of Nanreath
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