Dinner at Chateaulin in Ashland
Which couple do you think has the most difficult path ahead–Suzanne and Malcolm, Harry and Cordelia, Rachel and Henri, Violet and Johnny? Why?
I’d love to hear everyone’s thoughts. I confess I’m not sure what I think myself on the subject, though the book I just finished, set in Paris two months after Imperial Scandal, deals quite a bit with Suzanne & Malcolm and Harry & Cordelia confronting the past and trying to forge a future. And those issues will continue to reverberate (and perhaps come to a head) in the book I’m beginning to plot.
Happy belated Mother’s Day to all moms and honorary moms. In honor of Mother’s Day, this week’s Fraser Correspondence addition is a letter from Lady Frances to Mélanie/Suzanne about Aline’s pregnancy and the challenges of motherhood.
Tracy Grant - Novelist 
May 15, 2012 at 10:00 pm
I’ll be honest. I haven’t read the new one yet. There were several books that were released in the last few months, and I have them, but just haven’t read them get. (I let the books tell me which one to read next)
What I have read lately is your earlier stuff. I read Dark Angel, but didn’t love it. Not sure why. Last week I read Shores of Desire and really enjoyed it. Loved the characters and how the story developed. Today I finished Shadows of the Heart. Again, loved the characters and the progression of the story. And we get to visit with Robert & Emma from the previous story. And I am looking forward to Rightfully His. That must a sign of a good series, to look forward to the next one!
May 15, 2012 at 11:00 pm
Totally understand about not having read IMPERIAL SCANDAL yet, Susan – I often get behind when a bunch of books by authors I read are released close together. So glad to know you’re reading the Lescaut Quartet and enjoying them more as they go on. All the couples from the earlier books appear in RIGHTFULLY HIS. Let me know what you think when you read it.
May 16, 2012 at 2:02 pm
Honestly, I think Suzanne & Malcolm have the most difficult path ahead. Everything appears smooth on the surface, and they look like the perfect couple to outsiders, but underneath is a mass of lies and deceptions. It could all come apart in a minute, for instance if someone from Suzanne’s past appears. That’s what gives the relationship and their story its edginess. Violet and Johnny will also still have some difficulties to work through, but I think the other couples have gotten over their worst hurdles, unless there is more stuff hidden from the reader!
Now Susan has gotten me interested in Shores of Desire, which I haven’t read yet, so I guess I am reading the quartet out of order. And if Shadows of the Heart comes next, followed by Rightfully His, what is the 4th book?
May 16, 2012 at 8:10 pm
Thanks for commenting, Karin! It’s true, Suzanne and Malcolm still have secrets between them as well as secrets which could ruin their position in the world. Rachel and Henri also face the difficulty of Rachel moving into an entirely different world where she’d be ostracized if her past comes to light. Similar in many ways to Suzanne’s situation, but with the difference that Henri knows the truth of her past, and she isn’t marrying him under false pretenses. Violet and Johnny’s issues are more emotional – Julia is likely to be a presence between them for some time. And though Harry and Cordelia end the book in a more honest place than Malcolm and Suzanne, it’s one thing to decide to live with the past, another to actually confront it. They face that in the book I just finished. All those issues make all the characters fun for me to write about!
Dark Angel is the first book in the Lescaut Quartet, then Shores of Desre, Shadows of the Heart, Rightfully His. Let me know what you think.
May 17, 2012 at 2:36 am
Well, I was going to pace myself, but that just didn’t happen. I finished Rightfully His tonight. I liked it. The characters were great. I enjoyed the addition of Frank’s “extended” family, and how Charlotte interacted with them. It was wonderful to see the previous couples, and see them work together against an adversary. The relationship b/w Frank & Charlotte pregressed at a good pace, I think. And we got to see them communicate, which I think makes it more believable that they could fall in love. I don’t like it much when we are simply told that something is happening, rather than seeing it happen. Especially in regards to relationships.
And I liked how it ended. It was brief, but still provided closure. I guess you could say everyone’s story got wrapped up enough to know how they will proceed with the rest of their lives.
May 17, 2012 at 4:53 am
Thanks for the report, Susan! Glad you liked RIGHTFULLY HIS – it’s really fun to hear your impressions. That’s exactly what I was going for at the end – that the characters’ lives will go on and have complications and challenges but that they’ll be able to cope with them and to build their families and careers. I didn’t want it to seem too pat. I loved writing the political stuff in the book too, and Frank’s family were a lot of fun. And I always love revisiting characters from previous books.
May 18, 2012 at 3:28 am
Suzanne and Malcolm. The rest all seem to know the worst about one another.
I’m not that fond of virginal English heroines, so I wonder if something’s in store for Violet? Perhaps something to shake her out of her narrow English attitude?
May 18, 2012 at 6:39 am
Hi Jan Marie! Suzanne and Malcolm definitely have the worst secrets yet to uncover. But I also think they’re probably the best equipped of all the characters to get past such revelations. I hadn’t thought of it quite like this before, but I think part of the question of who has the most difficult path ahead comes down to whether it’s the revelations themselves of the aftermath of living day-to-day with them that are hardest.
Interesting question about Violet. I had actually first envisioned her as much more sweet and mousey and started writing her that way, then realized she’d be much more interesting if she wasn’t a mousey girl who lost her guy to someone more glamorous, but a girl just as admired as Julia, used to having everything. I don’t have specific future storylines in mind for her and Johnny, but I’d like to revisit them, and you’ve given me some interesting food for thought…
May 31, 2012 at 3:04 am
All your characters seems to have a very hard road ahead of them. Who’s to say that one’s road is harder than that of the next person and the next and so on and so forth?
Malcolm, Suzanne, Harry, Cordelia, Henri, Rachel, etc. all seems to have trust issues stemming from past missteps, but as you’ve said Tracy, I think a lot of how ‘difficult’ it would be to ride through the hurdles as unscathed as possible comes from each individual’s ability to own his or her actions and how apt each are at facing and fixing this problem. But ultimately, as with any relationship, how these marriages will survive the past wrongs lay with how willing each couple is at working together to fix the mess/es they’ve created for themselves and those around them.
I’ve come to love Cordelia and Harry, A LOT, and I think your characterization here is brilliant for both parties. Their situation comes to par with many in today’s society, and with the combine personality of these two, I’d strongly place my bet that they’ll work it out and find their HEA.
As with Malcolm and Suzanne; their love for each other is so palpable it tugs at the heartstring. I LOVE THESE TWO!!! Each has such strong feelings of patriotism, I find myself agreeing with each person’s reason for acting as they did throughout the war (and beyond that). The relationship is more complicated than quantum physics (and I’m no science guru), but because of each’s strength and commitment to the other and their family, it isn’t hard to believe that they’ll rediscover each other in the coming future and will MOST CERTAINLY come out stronger than ever thereafter.
Malcolm and Suzanne, despite their lack of public display of affection and outright declaration of love after every few breaths, understands each other (and as pointed out by various characters throughout these novels – can carry on a conversation with a few glances or some small gestures – it’s downright enviable)! Though they each fought on differing sides during he war, each acts as the other would have if forced in the same situation. As Charles/Malcolm admits to Melanie/Suzanne towards the end of “Secrets of a Lady”, “You had your own loyalties, your own code before you met me. You put your loyalty to your allies and your cause first. Which is much what I might have done in similar circumstances.”
With what Charles said to Melanie (again near the end of “Secrets”)
“Three days ago,” he said into her hair, “I would have sworn nothing could change the way I feel about you.”
She tried to speak, choked, tried again. “And now?”
He kissed her temple. “Now I know it’s true.”
I knew then and there that they’ve overcome one of their largest hurdles and with each consequent secret that reveals itself, their relationship with only continue to strengthen. How you’ll do it Tracy? I don’t know, but I am more than ready to watch it unveiled!
May 31, 2012 at 3:23 am
Wow, what an astute comment, Linhie!
June 1, 2012 at 8:58 am
I agree with Karin, Linhie – what wonderful, insightful comments – talk about a moment when I learn more about my own characters :-). I think you’re so right that all the couples have serious challenges ahead of them and who has the most difficult path has a lot to do with how they respond. Harry & Cordelia and Malcolm & Suzanne deal with their conflicts more in the next book (provisionally THE PARIS AFFAIRE). In the following book, which I’m about to start writing, the story will take a sort of parallel track to BENEATH A SILENT MOON and SECRETS OF A LADY, catching Malcolm and Suzanne up to the point Charles & Mel are at post MASK OF NIGHT, so I can continue forward. They’ll confront some of the same isseus and revelations (most notably Malccolm learning the truth about Suzanne) but in a different way. I think it will be challening to write but also a lot of fun. I’m excited to revisit how they handle the revelations from a new angle and knowing the characters better.
June 1, 2012 at 7:19 pm
I’m so excited about those 2 up and comping full novels! They both sound tempting; it’ll be worth the wait. You never seem to disappoint in this department!
I’ll admit that I was originally skeptical when I saw that you where going to turn back time and write about events preceding “Secrets…” and “Mask…” (I’m a bit crazy about reading things in chronological orders – I can never read a book in a series out of order)!
But as I read those novels, my skepticism becomes excitement! I am especially eager to read the continuation of “Mask..” it’ll definitely be fille with angst!
June 3, 2012 at 8:21 am
I’m glad you’re enjoying the books that go back in time, Linhie. I’m sort of the opposite of you, in that I’ve always enjoyed jumping around in chronological order in my reading and my writing – perhaps because my characters tend to have complicated back stories, and I find myself wanting to go back in time to dramatize those events. But I’m also excited to go forward and write about events after MASK – I have lots of story ideas going forward that I’m eager to write.
I’m finishing up a novella that goes even further back in time to Malcolm/Charles and Mel/Suzette’s wedding (it will be out as an ebook in Nov/Dec). I’m sending it off to my editor Monday, and then it’s on to the fourth Malcolm & Suzanne book…