Author Alina K. Field joins us today to discuss some of the research for Lady Twisden’s Picture Perfect Match, her contribution to the new Bluestocking Belles collection with friends, Desperate Daughters.

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Having fulfilled her duties to her late husband, her stepson, and the family estate, our heroine, Lady Honoria Twisden has removed herself to York where she plans to become reacquainted with her niece, Lady Seahaven, live independently, and most importantly finish a painting!

I am not by any means skilled in drawing or painting, and writing a heroine whose passion is painting was a challenge for me! So I gave Honoria a fascination with someone I knew a bit about, one of the most famous artists of the period, J.M.W. Turner. Information about Turner abounds on the internet, and I had seen one of his paintings up close, in real life, the Battle of Trafalgar, at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. Turner’s landscapes and paintings of the sea are distinctive and dramatic. One would never expect the practical, dutiful Honoria to have such romantic taste in art!

As it happens, Turner spent a great deal of time at Farnley Hall near Otley in Yorkshire, the home of one of his patrons, Walter Fawkes.

Having learned about Turner and his visits to Farnley Hall from her stepson’s art tutor, Honoria stops there on her journey to York for a chance to see some of Turner’s sketches and paintings.

My hero has seen some of Turner’s watercolors at the National Gallery and finds them not to his taste—too emotional, too dramatic. He much prefers portraits and paintings of dogs or horses—George Stubbs for example, or at the very most, restful landscapes:

Excerpt

“When I viewed Turner’s work in London, I didn’t…well, I’m a literalist, I suppose. When one is outlining a plan of assault, precision is helpful. I’ve always been drawn to portraits, or paintings of horses.” He laughed. “Or dogs. Yes, forgive me. I enjoy George Stubbs’s work. And I like restful landscapes.”

“Restful landscapes before battle.”

He took her hand and his gaze slid to the canvas. “Yes. I’ve seen enough scarred, tumultuous landscapes after the fighting.”

“Oh. Augustus, I’m sorry. It was thoughtless of me—”

“No.” He set a finger to her lips. “What I’m trying to say is that Turner’s work with his play on light and shade, and yours, are steeped in, well, feelings. Your Minster is marvelous, gothic, and haunting. Are you working on the sky?”

Marvelous. Did he truly mean that?

“The sky?” he prompted.

“The sky. Yes. One would like a beautiful blue, but this is closer to the true one as it is now.”

“They say the strange skies and cold weather might be due to a volcanic eruption in Java two years ago.”

“Yes,” she said. “I read of that. It’s such a big world.” She would never see Java, but she’d like to go as far as France, and in her wildest dreams, Italy.

Honoria is referring to the 1815 volcanic eruption at Mount Tambora, an historical event that had a world-wide effect on weather and agriculture, and also the paintings of J.M.W. Turner!

Have you seen Turner’s work? What do you prefer—romantic and emotional, or precisely drawn images? Or perhaps something modern and completely open to interpretation?

About Lady Twisden’s Picture Perfect Match:

After years of putting up with her late husband’s rowdy friends, Honoria, Lady Twisden, has escaped to York where she can paint (even if badly), investigate antiquities, and enjoy freedom.

Then her stepson appears with a long-lost relation in tow.

Promised York’s marriage mart and the hospitality of his cousin’s doddering stepmother, Major August Kellborn is shocked to find that his fetching hostess is the one woman who stirs his heart.

Where to find it: Lady Twisden’s Picture Perfect Match is one of nine novellas included in the Bluestocking Belles & Friends collection, Desperate Daughters, to be released on May 17, 2022.

About Desperate Daughters: Love against the Odds

The Earl of Seahaven desperately wanted a son and heir but died leaving nine daughters and a fifth wife. Cruelly turned out by the new earl, they live hand-to-mouth in a small cottage. The young dowager Countess’s one regret is that she cannot give Seahaven’s dear girls a chance at happiness. When a cousin offers the use of her townhouse in York during the season, the Countess rallies her stepdaughters. They will pool their resources so that the youngest marriageable daughters might make successful matches, thereby saving them all. So start their adventures in York, amid a whirl of balls, lectures, and al fresco picnics. Is it possible each of them might find love by the time the York horse races bring the season to a close?

Available for Pre-order: https://books2read.com/u/bMwL17 for $0.99. The price goes up after the book’s May 17, 2022, launch day.

About the Author:

USA Today bestselling author Alina K. Field earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English and German literature but prefers the happier world of romance fiction. Her roots are in the Midwestern U.S., but after six very, very, very cold years in Chicago, she moved to Southern California where she shares a midcentury home with a gold-eyed terrier and only occasionally misses snow.

Website: https://alinakfield.com/

 

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