Preslaysa

On Taking My Baby To Market by Deanna Klingel

My Civil War story became two YA novels. The first came out in March, Avery’s Battlefield. The second comes out this week, Avery’s Crossroad. I loved writing this story and even though it’s historical fiction, Avery is very real to me. He told me his story; he lived in my mind and heart for months and months. The rewrite and revision to create two books was challenging and fun. I enjoyed seeing how many different ways I could say the same thing. The research was exciting and edifying. I loved the entire process. I was not looking forward to the marketing end of the business. I never dreamed I’d enjoy that part. But, I’m having a great time. I spent most of the summer at Civil War reenactments and living history events at museums and historical sites. I even wear a reenactment costume, the nurse Claire in my book. I’ve met interesting people, like Generals Lee and Grant, Longstreet and eaten with Stonewall Jackson and drummer boys. I’ve visited places I’d never have been if it weren’t for appearing there with my book. School visits are challenging and always surprising. I love the questions from the kids. What a nice surprise this all has been. Imagine me, a writer, as a successful marketer.

Who would have guessed?

About Avery’s Crossroad:

The saga of Avery Junior Bennett and his hound dog Gunner continues into 1863 through 1865 in book two of this Y/A Civil War series. Time and war age our young hero who finds himself at a moral, emotional, and political crossroad in his daily routine of doctoring during this cruel and punishing war. Serving the injured on both sides of the conflict, Avery is empathetic, yet stalwart. His feelings toward Claire, the nurse and friend always beside him, prove to be one of Avery’s most puzzling challenges. Gunner, however, has his master all figured out. Mapping the war for his patient’s on a piece of butcher paper, hung on the hospital wall, readers will follow the advance to the fall of Richmond along with Avery, mourn the loss of a president amid the jubilation of a Union restored, and shed tears of joy as the soldiers and their doctor find their way home in 1865.

Novels are all about conflict, and the main conflict in a romance novel is “how will this hero and heroine overcome their differences and difficulties to live together happily ever after?” But the story is much more interesting if the hero and heroine have additional goals that seem impossible for them to accomplish.

For my latest novel, A Proper Companion, from Harlequin’s Love Inspired Historicals, my hero is a British cavalry officer who has been wounded in the American war in 1814 and sent home to England to recover. Major Edmond Grenville has served admirably in His Majesty’s Dragoons, but he no long wants to be in the army. Instead, he wants to sell his commission and become a barrister (a kind of lawyer). Simple, right? So where is the conflict?

Such a drastic change in occupation requires some sort of training. Today Edmond would return to college for an undergraduate degree, then go to law school. Along the way, he would take out student loans to finance his education. If he wished, he could marry and begin his family. After graduating, he would have to pass the state bar exam. Then he would work with experienced lawyers, hopefully in a prestigious firm, until he could gradually begin taking his own cases.

In 1814 England, the path to becoming a lawyer was a bit more challenging. No student loans were available, so a man had to depend upon family to fund his future. Unfortunately for my hero, his mother, the formidable Dowager Viscountess Greystone, chose the military for him, and she is not pleased that he wants to leave it. Of course she will refuse to sponsor him. His eldest brother, Viscount Greystone, is sympathetic, but his funds are tied up in the war against Napoleon. So Edmond has much to overcome, many conflicts to resolve. And all the while, he hopes to marry the heroine, who has her own set of problems to deal with.

Still, Edmond is not without some advantage. Before entering the army, he attended Oxford for several years, so he already has some education. Now he needs to find a wealthy patron to support him. In those days, an aristocrat simply did not go out and get a job to support himself. (That’s a whole other discussion.) And because no formal law schools exist in this era, Edmond must find an established barrister to sponsor him at the Inns of Court in London.

The Inns of Court were a cluster of building in London near Parliament where barristers lived, trained, and worked in their profession. (Wikipedia has more information at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inns_of_Court.) Once accepted, Edmond will live among these barristers and “read law” for six or seven years in his sponsor’s chambers. During this time, he will “eat his dinners” with the older barristers. This means he will spend time actually eating dinner with them, learning from them, and trying to impress them with his own understanding of the law. At last, if he passes their approval, he will be called to the bar and begin to argue cases.

While this may seem like an easy path, remember that without a financial backer and a sponsor, Edmond has little chance to achieve his goal. At this time in England, many aristocratic soldiers were returning home and competing for the same positions. So how does my hero manage to overcome the seemingly insurmountable path to happiness in a career and, more important, in love? I hope you will read A Proper Companion to find out.