Читать книгу Lord Hunter's Cinderella Heiress - Lara Temple - Страница 4

Author Note

Lord Hunter’s Cinderella Heiress is the first book in my Wild Lords and Innocent Ladies series, about three friends who are infamous for their rakish past and supreme skill with horses. But, though this is a romance, it touches on some serious and timeless topics—among them the impact of suicide on those left behind.

The three friends are a product of their time in history—a generation shaped by a costly war and just as costly an aftermath. Many veterans of the Napoleonic wars returned to England wounded in body and mind, without an income or the ability to find employment. There were several hospitals dedicated to caring for soldiers ‘broken by age or war’—the most famous was the Royal Hospital Chelsea, established by King Charles II in 1681)—but they were a drop in the ocean after such prolonged, bloody and devastating wars that affected not just veterans but their families, and led to many unreported cases of suicide (still a serious problem in most active armies today).

My three Wild Lords share tragedies revolving around the wars, and together they establish an institution, Hope House, to help veterans and their families rebuild their lives. In this first book my hero, Lord Hunter, is emotionally scarred by his brother’s suicide after being captured and tortured in France, and his guilt at failing to protect his adored younger brother becomes a driving force in his life and very nearly prevents him from opening himself to the healing power of love. Luckily my horse-loving heroine Nell—who has a few scars of her own—is not easily dissuaded...