On weddings, holidays, and His Spanish Bride
Hope everyone celebrating U.S. Thanksgiving had a wonderful holiday weekend.
Ours was made extra special by the fact that my daughter Mélanie waked three tiny steps from the hearth to me. She did so naturally, I almost didn't realize what she'd done until my uncle commented on it. She also had a great time playing with one cousin's golf balls, which made great toys, and another cousin's kitten [who beat a prudent retreat to high places].
I've always tended to avoid the chaos of shopping on Black Friday {the day after Thanksgiving that kicks off the U.S. holiday retail season). This year, thanks to a friend who babysat, I spent the afternoon at a matinee of Skyfall. But the day had an extra significance for me. It was the release date for His Spanish Bride, my e-novella about the wedding of Malcolm and Suzanne, the central couple in my series.
Because Malcolm and Suzanne's marriage marks the start of their adventures not the culmination, this meant going back in time to when they have just met, an interesting exercise because marriage changed both of them, and so much of their identity for me is wrapped up in their being a couple, not to mention being parents. As might be expected for two spies who marry in the midst of the Peninsular War, their wedding is hardly a conventional affair. But it occurs in December, so the story combines two literary traditions - wedding stories and holiday stories. I have a fondness for both types of story, from wedding stories like The Philadelphia Story and Busman's Honeymoon to holiday tales like Lauren's delightful The Mischief of the Mistletoe. I think what i like about both types of story is that they bring together friends and family with plentiful opportunity for conflicts, reunions, and revelry. Parents and children, sibling rivalry, ex-lovers home for the holidays or attending the same wedding--or perhaps one disrupting the wedding of another. Jane Austen recognized the benefit of such gatherings for bringing characters together. Emma opens with a wedding and includes a holiday party.
Both weddings and holidays involve certain traditions which give a frame to the story yet to which individual characters give their own unique spin. It's fun seeing fictional characters, even historical ones, go through some of the same traditions we go through ourselves, and also fun to see the differences. Malcolm and Suzanne's wedding takes place at the British embassy and is wrapped up in the investigation of a missing letter that could drive a wedge between Britain and her Spanish allies in the war against the French. Not surprising, given that Malcolm is a diplomatic attaché and intelligence agent and Suzanne is-- well, that's part of the story. They slip away from their betrothal party for a bit of skullduggery, and Suzanne arrives at the solution to the mystery on their wedding night. Both their motives for entering into the marriage are complicated, and perhaps they are even deceiving themselves about the true reasons. The story ends at an embassy Christmas party at which, again typically for them, Malcolm and Suzanne are wrapping up the investigation.
What are some of your favorite holiday and wedding stories? To celebrate the release of His Spanish Bride, I'll give a signed cover flat for my forthcoming The Paris Affair to one of the commenters.
Ours was made extra special by the fact that my daughter Mélanie waked three tiny steps from the hearth to me. She did so naturally, I almost didn't realize what she'd done until my uncle commented on it. She also had a great time playing with one cousin's golf balls, which made great toys, and another cousin's kitten [who beat a prudent retreat to high places].
I've always tended to avoid the chaos of shopping on Black Friday {the day after Thanksgiving that kicks off the U.S. holiday retail season). This year, thanks to a friend who babysat, I spent the afternoon at a matinee of Skyfall. But the day had an extra significance for me. It was the release date for His Spanish Bride, my e-novella about the wedding of Malcolm and Suzanne, the central couple in my series.Because Malcolm and Suzanne's marriage marks the start of their adventures not the culmination, this meant going back in time to when they have just met, an interesting exercise because marriage changed both of them, and so much of their identity for me is wrapped up in their being a couple, not to mention being parents. As might be expected for two spies who marry in the midst of the Peninsular War, their wedding is hardly a conventional affair. But it occurs in December, so the story combines two literary traditions - wedding stories and holiday stories. I have a fondness for both types of story, from wedding stories like The Philadelphia Story and Busman's Honeymoon to holiday tales like Lauren's delightful The Mischief of the Mistletoe. I think what i like about both types of story is that they bring together friends and family with plentiful opportunity for conflicts, reunions, and revelry. Parents and children, sibling rivalry, ex-lovers home for the holidays or attending the same wedding--or perhaps one disrupting the wedding of another. Jane Austen recognized the benefit of such gatherings for bringing characters together. Emma opens with a wedding and includes a holiday party.
Both weddings and holidays involve certain traditions which give a frame to the story yet to which individual characters give their own unique spin. It's fun seeing fictional characters, even historical ones, go through some of the same traditions we go through ourselves, and also fun to see the differences. Malcolm and Suzanne's wedding takes place at the British embassy and is wrapped up in the investigation of a missing letter that could drive a wedge between Britain and her Spanish allies in the war against the French. Not surprising, given that Malcolm is a diplomatic attaché and intelligence agent and Suzanne is-- well, that's part of the story. They slip away from their betrothal party for a bit of skullduggery, and Suzanne arrives at the solution to the mystery on their wedding night. Both their motives for entering into the marriage are complicated, and perhaps they are even deceiving themselves about the true reasons. The story ends at an embassy Christmas party at which, again typically for them, Malcolm and Suzanne are wrapping up the investigation. What are some of your favorite holiday and wedding stories? To celebrate the release of His Spanish Bride, I'll give a signed cover flat for my forthcoming The Paris Affair to one of the commenters.
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