Grace's Mosaic Moments


Friday, April 15, 2011

Lady Silence


A waif taken in by the household staff of Colonel Damon Farr grows into a stunning, accomplished beauty by the time he returns from more than six years of war, wanting only to shut himself up in Farr Park and leave the world behind. The girl has a problem, however: she doesn't talk. Though highly suspicious of her origins, Damon allows his mother to persuade him to use Katy Snow as a part-time secretary. And discovers danger has followed him home. For an officer and a gentleman, propinquity can be almost as deadly as a French bullet.

Katy has adored Damon Farr since his decidedly hungover assent to keeping her at Farr Park. Though war has soured his disposition, she takes on the role of Damon's secretary with spunk and efficiency, until their idyll is shattered by an unexpected inheritance, two overly zealous junior officers, greedy relatives, an impostor, and a missing fortune. Is "the girl the cat dragged in" Damon Farr's Sinful Temptation or his Salvation? Katy and Damon walk a rocky road before the answer is clear.

* * * *

Yes, I'm happy to say I fought the good fight and finally made it to Kindle and Smashwords with the first of my Signet backlist. Lady Silence is the closest I've ever come to writing soap opera, and, truthfully, I enjoyed re-editing and polishing it for the brave new world of indie publishing.

At the time I wrote it, I had not seen the point where the Kennet & Avon canal intersects with Sydney Gardens in Bath. (I later discovered I'd turned back about fifteen feet short of my goal.) But this time around, after my narrowboat journey from Newbury to Bath, I was able to give a more definitive description. And, more importantly, I emphasized more strongly what we'd now call a mild version of PTSD suffered by Colonel Farr. Although it's what I had in mind when I wrote the original Lady Silence, I later realized that I had been through more wars than most of my readers (for example, a neighbor of mine came home from Vietnam and hanged himself in his basement), and perhaps I needed to make more clear the problems suffered by soldiers returning from long years at war. I hope I've done that in this version of Lady Silence. Also, I think our years at war in Iraq and Afghanistan have made more people aware of this serious issue.

The ending is still the super soggy, not-a-dry-eye-in-the-house soap opera mentioned above. And remains unchanged. The moments of humor also remain.

The cover was created by Delle Jacobs, God bless! And we're hard at work on the next: A Gamble on Love (formerly, The Lady and the Cit).

Thanks for stopping by. Next week: what I learned in the course of formatting and publishing a book for the brave new world of independent publishing.

Grace

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