World Book Night is a national celebration of reading and books which takes place on 23 April every year. Our wonderful author Georgie Lee gives us an insight into her fabulous book The Secret Marriage Pact which has been selected as a World Book Night title.
I’m very excited to have my book, The Secret Marriage Pact included in World Book Night. The Secret Marriage Pact is the third book in my Business of Marriage series, a set of novels that deals with the wealthy merchant class of Regency England. I love exploring this often overlooked aspect of Regency society because they have all the money, carriages, manners and adventures of the peers but with a little more street sense and a lot more room for fun research. This isn’t to say that I don’t love titled men. I do, but by making my latest hero a gambling house proprietor with a wicked history in Savannah and a deep secret in London, I was able to delve into a whole different aspect of Regency England.
Jasper Charton, the hero of The Secret Marriage Pact, was inspired by Rhett Butler from Gone with the Wind. Like Rhett, Jasper is a man of the world with a charming rakishness to make him irresistible. He’s the black sheep of his family who enjoys a little of the less respectable temptations that Regency London has to offer. Jane Rathbone is the best heroine to draw out Jasper’s secrets and the honorable man hidden beneath the rake. She is a feisty woman in the vein of Scarlett O’Hara and the perfect person to make Jasper become an honorable man, all the while helping him to overcome his tragic past in Savannah. I had a great time researching gambling house laws in Regency England, as well as some of Savannah’s early, and somewhat scandalous history. I hope you enjoy reading The Secret Marriage Pact as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Thank you, Georgie Lee, for taking the time to talk to us about your latest book. Georgie’s book The Secret Marriage Pact is out NOW!
