Anna Grant

I have some exciting news. Dark Angel, the first of four linked historical romances I wrote and published in the 90s, is now available on Nook and Kindle, thanks to my wonderful agent Nancy Yost and the amazing Natanya Wheeler, Director of Digital Rights at Nancy Yost Literary (who also designed the beautiful cover). We’ll be releasing the four other books in the series as ebooks shortly.

I co-wrote Dark Angel with my mom, Joan Grant. It was originally published under the name Anna Grant, but we decided to use Tracy Grant for the reprint to keep all my books together (with my mom credited in the book). It’s an adventure and spy story set during the Peninsular War. Here’s the blurb:

Adam Durward is an outsider in both his mother’s India and his father’s England. Too much of an outsider for his childhood sweetheart, Caroline, who turned her back on their forbidden love to marry the wealthier, safer Jared Rawley. Taught a bitter lesson about not belonging, Adam left England as a diplomat and spy in the Peninsular War. But even then he could not escape Caroline. When he learned her husband, Jared, had betrayed crown and country, he exposed Jared as a traitor despite Caroline’s pleas.

Sheltered, pampered Caroline grew up and found unexpected courage in the wake of her husband’s disgrace. She left her decorous life in England and followed Jared into war-torn Spain. Now a widow with a young daughter, she is trapped behind enemy lines. Adam sets out to rescue the woman who still haunts his dreams. In a landscape set with treachery and intrigue, Adam and Caroline’s only hope of survival is to rely on each other. They brave bandits, enemy soldiers, and harsh terrain, but the greatest danger they face may be navigating the web of love and betrayal that still binds them together.

Any questions about Dark Angel or my other backlist books? If you’ve read any of my Regency or historical romances, how do you think they’re different from the historical suspense fiction I now write? How are they similar? Are there any characters you think are parallels of each other?

I’ve just posted a new Fraser Correspondence letter from Mélanie/Suzanne to Raoul.

As you may know, I began my writing career collaborating with my mother, Joan Grant. We wrote eight books and four novellas together, seven Regencies romances (and four novellas) as Anthea Malcolm, and one historical romance, Dark Angel, as Anna Grant (which is the first of of a quartet that continues with the three historical romances I

As I mention in the long version of my bio, my mother, a social psychologist (as was my father), loved books and read out loud to me a great deal. She introduced me to Jane Austen, Shakespeare, Orczy and the Scarlet Pimpernel world, Sabatini, Mary Stewart, Dorothy Sayers, Margery Allingham, and Ngaio Marsh. I in turn introduced her to Dorothy Dunnett (we used to discuss the Lymond Chronicles and the House of Niccolò endlessly) and Elizabeth George. I think my mom would have loved Laurie King’s Russell & Holmes books. I think the fact that we loved the same books and shared the same literary influences made it easier for us to plot and write together.

In honor of Mother’s Day (a holiday my mom deplored as too commercial :-)), I thought I’d post a video clip where I talk my mom’s influence on me as writer. I still feel her influence when I write. In fact, Charles and Mélanie were inspired by two secondary characters from an unpublished book my mom and I wrote together.

Has anyone read the Anthea Malcolm/Anna Grant books? Do you see an evolution from them to the books I write now? What similarities and differences do you note? Are there other writers you read who are writing partnerships? Writers, have you ever written with a partner? What are the rewards and challenges you’ve found?

This week’s Fraser Correspondence addition is a letter from Mélanie to Cecily Summer, Simon Tanner’s actress friend who appears in Beneath a Silent Moon. Cecily Summers is the only character so far to have appeared in both the Anthea Malcolm books and the Charles & Mélanie books. Cecily appears in my mom’s and my Anthea Malcolm Regency, An Improper Proposal. Readers of both sets of books may have noticed that Simon’s theatre, the Tavistock, is also Rachel Ford’s theatre in An Improper Proposal. It hasn’t been dealt with in the books thus far, but Simon is partners with Rachel and Guy Melchett and Rachel’s uncle by marriage.

In her letter to Cecily, Mélanie writes about the challenges of juggling motherhood and her other work and responsibilities. What do you think of Mélanie as a mother? Where do you think motherhood fits in her complicated life as a priority? How well do you think she manages to juggle the many, complicated (and often contradictory) aspects of her life?

12 May update: I’m guest blogging today on Jaunty Quills about Damaged Characters. Do stop by and comment.