Читать книгу The Notorious Countess - Liz Tyner - Страница 3

Author Note

Hand me a romance novel with a tortured hero, brooding in his mansion, rescued from his solitude by the love of a beautiful woman, and I’m hooked. But I wanted to add a different perspective to the old tale of a beauty and her brutish hero. I thought of a heroine wanting to hide in her art studio, and a hero hoping to rescue her from her scandals.

After viewing James Gillray’s caricatures, and some of the less acceptable drawings his contemporaries created, I realised that an unfavourable portrait circulating in the early 1800s in London might have been similar in consequence for the subject as having a picture posted on the internet would be today. The term ‘scandal sheet’ is relatively modern, but I wanted to use it as a vehicle to illustrate the concept of news travelling fast.

With that in mind, Beatrice and Andrew’s story began—and I embraced writing it. I hope the characters curl into your heart as they did mine.