Secrets of Nanreath Hall
by Alix Rickloff
GENRE: Historical Fiction
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Alix will be awarding a digital copy of Secrets of Nanreath to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Please visit GoddessFish.com to follow the tour, remember the more you comment better your chances on winning.
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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.
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.
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Excerpt:
I imagine Anna moving from room to room at Nanreath Hall, her shoes scuffing the same crooked floors, her fingers trailing along the carved oaken banister as she is led downstairs for her daily obligatory visit with the grown- ups, staring out the same nursery window toward the glittering gray- green sea and listening to its purr as she lies in the narrow iron bedstead with Nanny snoring a comforting room away.
But I know even as I imagine it, that it is a dream with no hope of coming true. Nanreath is lost to me. There is no going back.
I close my journal and run my hand over the tooled calfskin cover, worn smooth over years of use. It is warm to the touch, as if the souls of the people and places within might be conjured with a word and a breath. “It’s funny, but I’m not frightened of dying. I’m more terrified that when Anna understands who and what she is, I won’t be here to explain. That she’ll despise me.”
“And why would she do that?”
“Bastards are rarely treated gently.” I hate the taste of the word. Prue winces, too, and she catches back a little breath. “Sometimes I regret not feigning a marriage,” I continue. “It would have been easy enough after the war. There were so many widows, who would question one more? I know you thought I was mad not to.”
“I didn’t want you hurt any more than you already were. You were so fragile, so lost. I didn’t see the honor in wearing your shame like a badge.”
“Perhaps not.” I give a little shrug. Now that the confession has been made, I find I am weary, my strength deserting me. “But I’d lied to myself for so long that when I finally realized the truth, I couldn’t lie anymore. Not even for Anna’s sake.”
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Q & A with Alix Rickloff
Your blog isn’t long enough 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.
Tell us something you hate doing. Why?
Cooking – what is it with children wanting three nutritious meals a day? When I make my millions, the first thing I want it a private chef
Share a funny incident in your life.The priest who celebrated our wedding began the ceremony by accidentally reciting the first few sentences of the funeral mass. A bad omen for the future? Twenty-plus years on—so far, so good. Knock on wood.
Who was your favorite hero/heroine?
I think Katherine from Secrets of Nanreath Hall is my favorite heroine. I’ve been told by some people that her choices make her seem weak, but I always felt just the opposite. That every choice she made was made from a place of strength and wanting to own her own destiny. That it didn’t work out in the end was a result of external forces, not any failing of hers.
Have you ever had one character you wanted to go one way with but after the book was done the character was totally different?
Simon Halliday from Secrets of Nanreath Hall was supposed to be a lecherous cad when I began the book. A user who manipulated Katherine into eloping with him, but as I wrote him, his character refused my every attempt to paint him as a mustache-twirling villain. Instead, his reasoning was built out of weakness and misguided passion. Not evil.
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AUTHOR Bio and Links:
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.
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Thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteThank you ! I can't wait to read this book !
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