Author One-on-One: Loretta Chase and Isabella Bradford
Best-selling authors Loretta Chase and Isabella Bradford (the penname of Susan Holloway Scott) have been friends forever, a long-distance friendship that occasionally touches down in places as diverse as Colonial Williamsburg and the shoe department at Nordstrom. They blog together as the Two Nerdy History Girls, and talk on the phone, like, every day. Here they talk about Isabella's newest historical romance, When You Wish Upon a Duke.
Loretta Chase: You've had several writer incarnations. How did Isabella happen?
Isabella Bradford: Most recently I'd been writing historical fiction as Susan Holloway Scott. After books filled with court politics and beheadings, it felt time to return to my romance roots and write happy endings again.
L: When You Wish Upon a Duke is the first book in a series. What inspired you?
I: My last historical fiction series centered on the bawdy intrigues of the 17th century court of Charles II. I started thinking about what might happen to all those royal bastards that Charles sired and made into dukes, and how their families might have evolved several generations later. The heroes of this new series are loosely based on real people in the 1760s.
L: Anyone who reads our blog knows that we love to talk about historical dress. My current series (Scandal Wears Satin and Silk Is for Seduction) features dressmakers in 1835. I like how you incorporated the gorgeous Georgian clothes in your book, too.
S: As much as I'm a sucker for laces and silks, I don't ever want to make the story stop for a fashion report. I always try to make the clothes part of the action--for example, Charlotte demonstrates exactly how to undress all the fascinating layers of 18th century male attire when she seduces March.
L: It's obvious that you love these characters and that you got under their skin. What fascinated you most about them?
S: One of the main themes in these books is family. The heroes are cousins, and the heroines are sisters, and I loved the chance to explore how the two extended families come together and how their relationships develop.
L: So what's next for the Wylder sisters?
S: Look for middle sister Lizzie's story in When the Duchess Said Yes, coming in September 2012, followed by youngest sister Diana's story in When the Duke Found Love, November 2012.
L: Good! Now, I just found a fabulous new shoe source…