Backlist Books – A Forbidden Liaison with Miss Grant

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At the start of my (still new!) TikTok journey, I decided to do a post about my favourite cover, which meant that I spent a happy hour or two going through my back list in my bookcases. After about sixty books and novellas, I’d forgotten a lot of them – in fact I couldn’t even remember the hero and heroine’s names of some, I’m ashamed to say. So I thought, why not take a little tour over the next few months, back in time, and rediscover some of my favourites, and share some insider information at the same time.

So my first back list book choice is (drum roll!) A Forbidden Liaison with Miss Grant. Why? Well for a start it’s set in Edinburgh, one of my favourite cities. Then it’s an older couple – at least in historical romance terms – both Constance and Grayson are in their forties, and they have a LOT of baggage. It takes place during the visit of King George IV in 1822, when Walter Scott decked the city in tartan, which gave me plenty of scope for having some fun (I absolutely hate bagpipes). My heroine has a very unusual (and secret) occupation, which allowed me to bring in a dreadful bit of Scottish history in the Highland Clearances. And finally, there’s a bit of ‘east meets west’ – as in a Weegie (Glasgwegian) in Edinburgh.

There’s more of the history on this blog here. And if you pop over to Tiktok over the next couple of weeks, you’ll find some fun videos – at least I had fun making them!

Have I made you want to read it – or re-read it? What book from my back list would you like to know more about? Do let me know here, or on any of my other social media.

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6 Comments

  1. Yes – an excellent choice! I loved this book for so many reasons! I loved the setting – and the status of the people. A story about the real influencers in Scottish history – the ones that worked and wrote and educated and made a difference! I loved how real the characters were. They drew me into Gray and Constance’s story because they engaged my emotions as much as my intellect and I was invested in them. The historical context and the Edinburgh setting was fabulous as it is also one of my favourite cities. Your TikTok video has definitely inspired me to read it again.

    1. Wow, that’s quite an endorsement, thank you. I love, love, love Edinburgh, and when I was going back over my research material for this book I had so many lovely memories of the walks I took at the time, and the trip out to Dalkeith too, which served a double purpose because I was working with Sarah Ferguson on Her Heart for a Compass then. I hadn’t come across the Buccleuch family until she ‘introduced’ me to them, and I remember one day I was taking the walk that Grayson and Constance take, from St Giles down towards Holyrood, and there in front of me was the statue of the Duke of Buccleauch himself. It was pouring with rain, the Royal Mile was mobbed, I was jumping up and down like an idiot shouting, it’s the duke, it’s the duke!

      1. Some books warrant a ringing endorsement! I can imagine your excitement at the statue though. Being in touch with history through a place or a picture or a building can be such a moving experience. It is so fabulous when you get a sense of connection. I remember seeing ‘The Emigrants’ memorial at Helmsdale last year and getting so choked up. It was so evocative of what happened in the clearances. Discovering such reminders of the past is amazing.

        1. I haven’t seen that statue, I have never, shockingly, visited that part of Scotland save briefly en route to Ullapool. I keep coming across the Sutherlands when I’m reading up on Victorian history – and Cliveden, which features in my next book with Sarah Ferguson – and every time I come across the name, I think, I really must find out more about them. But never have. So I’m blaming you for my trawl through Amazon for a history now!

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