Hey everyone,
I’m pleased to have Margaret Daley as our guest blogger today! Margaret’s latest release, From This Day Forward, is available now! Today, Margaret tells us the story behind her historical romance, From This Day Forward.
Here’s Margaret…
The Story Behind From This Day Forward (Summerside Press, September 2011)
By Margaret Daley
When I got a chance to write a historical romance, I was excited. Years ago, I started reading historical romances and was pulled into reading, which led me to writing. I started thinking up stories of my own and decided to write them down. That is how I started writing–historical romances. But when I finally sold four years later, I sold a contemporary romance because historical ones weren’t selling as well and contemporary stories were surging ahead. Other than writing two secular historical romances, I never really got to fulfill my love for historical romances. Then I sold one to Summerside Press for their new American Tapestry line.
I was all set to write the book when I found out I had to have surgery on my right shoulder (a tear in my rotator cuff). After the operation, I had to be on a machine for six hours a day that moved my right arm for me to help my recovery. I did this for a month. That really put a damper on my writing the story. I can’t just sit and do nothing or watch T.V.
I had researched a lot of the book I proposed, but when I talked with my editor at Summerside, they wanted me to bring the story forward into the 19th century. I changed the story from the end of the Revolutionary War to the end of the War of 1812. It made sense to me since the War of 1812 was like a replay of the Revolutionary War. So the first thing I had to research was the War of 1812. I’m thankful that my husband is a history buff, especially different wars. He had a book on the war, which I read parts of.
I used my time when my right arm was being moved up and down by the machine (very boring, by the way) to read more about the everyday life during the early 19th century. But what I enjoyed the most was reading a diary of a woman who ran a plantation. Her family escaped Holland when France conquered that country. She came to the United States as a child and eventually married an American plantation owner. When her family went back home, she stayed and gave a wonderful detailed account of what life was like, even during the War of 1812. Not only did I get a sense of what everyday life was like but what they were feeling about the current situation and some of the leaders of the country. It was fascinating.
Research does not have to be boring. Neither does having to do physical therapy treatments. I found a way to past the time and help me write From This Day Forward. As I read about a Dutch woman in America, I got a feeling for what it was like in a foreign country. It helped me to know what she was going through–to make Rachel Gordon a believable character–an Englishwoman stranded in a strange country with a new baby and few options.
The problem I encountered while writing this book was knowing what a physician could do versus what he should do according to health standards today. My hero, Nathan Stuart, was a doctor, but in the early 19th century, they really didn’t understand how a lot of diseases were spread. They didn’t understand about cleanliness. By the end of the 19th century, medicine started to make some major discoveries but not in 1816. It’s hard having your character do something you know is wrong, but that is what they did back in the early 19th century. I know what causes malaria and yellow fever, but they didn’t. My hero was clueless about how the diseases were spread, like everyone else at that time.
Another problem I encountered was I don’t believe in slavery, but in the South at that time a lot of people owned slaves. I had to address that in a realistic manner but be something I could live with.
Below is the short synopsis of From This Day Forward (placed in Charlestown, South Carolina in 1816):
Rachel Gordon is stranded in South Carolina, pregnant, a recent widow when her husband fell overboard on the voyage to America. Nathan Stuart, a physician who came home from serving in the American army during the War of 1812, disenchanted with his life and the Lord, rescues Rachel and saves her life. Feeling responsible for her, Nathan tries to discourage her from living at a rundown farm her husband bought to start a new future in America. He wants her to return to England.
Rachel refuses to go back to England where her father disowned her for marrying against his wishes. The farm is all she has, and she is determined to make it on her own. But Nathan has other ideas and becomes her farmhand to discourage her from staying in America. Instead he ends up protecting her and being challenged by her. Can two wounded people heal each other?
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