Thursday Thirteen - 236 - 13 Courtesans by Guest Blogger Deborah Hale

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Also taking part in the Book Lovers Buffet is this week's guest blogger, Deborah Hale, writing as Elizabeth Charles.

For those of you who remember Deb from her previous visit here, she's a fellow author from my local writers' group, Romance Writers of Atlantic Canada.

Welcome, Deb!

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It is fitting that I should blog about 18th century courtesans here at A Piece of My Mind, since the arts represent a common thread among these thirteen women.


Most acted or danced professionally at some point in their careers or modelled for portraits by famous artists of the day. Others wrote books about their lives or inspired others to write of them.

Courtesans were the Madonnas, JLos and Angelinas of their time, superstars whose glamorous lives were chronicled in the scandal magazines for the titillation of squire’s wives like Mrs. Hardcastle in She Stoops to Conquer.

Though they may have secretly envied the courtesans’ wealth, amazing clothes and sexual freedom, they could feel fortunate and virtuous when those women succumbed to debt, drugs, STDs or the toxic affects of lead based cosmetics. See what you think of these thirteen Baroque superstars…


1 - Gertrude Mahon was the half-sister of the Earl of Kerry. She eloped with a gamester who deserted her shortly after she gave birth. When her mother died and her half-brother refused to help her, the beautiful Gertrude went “on the town” to make a living. Her tiny size and love of bright-colored gowns earned her the sobriquet “The Bird of Paradise.” In later years she became an actress in Dublin then faded into obscurity.




2 -Harriet Powell worked in Charlotte Hayes’s famous brothel in King’s Place. That may be where she met the widowed Kenneth McKenzie Lord Seaforth. Harriet became his mistress and later his wife. He commissioned her portrait by Joshua Reynolds, in which she holds a little bird.




3 -Nelly O’Brien also modeled for Joshua Reynolds. After a brief career as an actress, she became the mistress of several prominent men including the Earl of Thanet and Viscount Bolingbroke, to whom she was rumoured to have borne sons.




4 -Nancy Parsons eloped to the West Indies with a Captain Horton. When he died or deserted her, she returned to England and became mistress to the Duke of Grafton. The duke flaunted her openly while he was prime minister, much to the shock of King George III. Nancy later became the mistress of the Dukes of Portland and Dorset and finally married a viscount fifteen years her junior. 18th century gossip Horace Walpole referred to her as 'the Duke of Grafton's Mrs. Horton, the Duke of Dorset's Mrs. Horton, everybody's Mrs. Horton'.




5 -George Anne Bellamy began life as the illegitimate daughter of Lord Tyrawley, British ambassador to Portugal, who had her educated in a French convent. She grew up to become an actress, playing Juliet to David Garrick’s Romeo. After many liaisons and years of extravagant living, she fell into debt and ill-health and wrote a book, An Apology for the Life of George Anne Bellamy, perhaps to raise some money.




6 -Kitty Fisher was another favourite of Sir Joshua Reynolds and was rumored to have spent £12,000 a year (over a million dollars in today’s money!) Beautiful, witty and well-educated, she became the subject of a nursery rhyme “Lucy Locket lost her pocket, Kitty Fisher found it…” She married the son of a Member of Parliament, and died of the effects of lead-based cosmetics.




7 -Nancy Dawson became so celebrated that she had a well-known melody named after her. It later became the tune for “Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush.” A dancer at Sadler’s Wells, she later danced a lascivious hornpipe (?!) in the Beggar’s Opera, which was acclaimed in a ballad.




8 -Polly Kennedy Jones inherited the house of her friend Nancy Dawson after Nancy died. Polly’s powerful patrons included Sir Charles Bunbury, Lord March, Lord Palmerston and George Selwyn. When her brothers were charged with murder, Polly used her influence to get their death sentences commuted, much to the outrage of the popular press.



9 -Anne Catley was the daughter of a coachman and a washer woman whose beauty and fine voice made her much sought after. Her fee for singing was 40 guineas a night (about $4000 today). She took a succession of lovers by whom she had ten children. She eventually settled in Ealing with a major-general and gave lots of money to charity. She died of consumption at the age of forty-five and had a book written about her.







10 -Grace Dalrymple Eliott began life as the convent-educated daughter of a Scottish lawyer. After her husband divorced her, “Dally the Tall” flitted between London and Paris, mistress to several wealthy, titled men including The Duc d’Orleans and the Prince of Wales. Imprisoned during the French Revolution, she managed to escape the guillotine and wrote a book about her adventures.




11 -Sophia Baddeley came from a family of musicians. At the age of 18 she eloped with an actor and went on the stage herself. Though she was not a very good actress, her looks and fine singing voice made her a celebrity. Estranged from her husband and running up debts, she began to take wealthy patrons including Lord Melbourne and the Duke of Northumberland. Extravagant spending and an addiction to laudanum brought about her downfall. She was the subject of a book written by her friend Eliza Steele.



12 -Emily Warren was recruited and trained by one of London’s most notorious madams after she was discovered begging on the streets. Reynolds painted her as Thais and lauded her “faultless and finely formed” figure. William Hickey wrote of Emily in his Memoires of a Georgian Rake. She was the mistress of his friend Bob Potts when she died suddenly of a fever in India.




13 -Elizabeth Armistead rose from obscurity to become the leading courtesan of her time. Unlike many who rose and fell from favor in a twinkling, Mrs. Armistead reigned for more than a decade. Her patrons included the Earl of Derby, the Duke of Dorset and the Prince of Wales, but her heart belonged to the young politicians of the Whig party. Her later life took an even more fascinating turn when she became the mistress and wife of the most celebrated man of her era. I was so enthralled with Elizabeth Armistead’s life and times that I used them as the basis for my novel Confessions of a Courtesan!



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Thank you, Deb - I've been hanging on every word! It's the research obsessed in me.

Deb is offering a copy of her book to one lucky commenter. Good luck and Happy Thursday Thirteen!

Thursday Thirteen - 221 - 13 Blog Posts by Fellow Bloggers

Today I'd like to shine a spotlight on some great posts I've enjoyed in the last little while:

1 - So Many Books...So Little Time... by Kelly Boyce

2 - More on RWA11-part2: Lit Signing & Evil Elevators by Leah Braemel

3 - Everything You Wanted to Know About Digital Publishing But Were Afraid to Ask - A Q & A With Maya Banks by Jane Litte

4 - On Cowboy Sex Appeal - Give Me a Real Good Man by Julianne Maclean

5 - A Peek Behind the Cover by Deborah Hale

6 - On the Shelf (secret librarian tips for historical research) by Michelle Helliwell

7 - Trekking to Toronto by Linda @ Are We There Yet?

8 - Carrie Preston From True Blood Interview by Melissa Bradley

9 - Playing Tourist at Home! by Anna Campbell

10 - To Float or Not To Float... by Jeanne Adams and Cassondra Murray

11 - Life Through the Eyes of a Child by Stella MacLean

12 - Something Borrowed by Ginger Merante

13 - Belleau Wood, 1 June to 26 June 1918 by Travis Cody

Through the Opera Glasses - 75 - 10 Questions For Deborah Hale, Author of the Gentlemen of Fortune Series

Day 4 of the A to Z Challenge brings us to my arts feature, Through the Opera Glasses.


















Whom do I spy through the crush?

Why, I do believe it's a Harlequin Historicals author and my fellow Romance Writers of Atlantic Canada member.



Because today, D is for Deborah Hale.















Oh, there she is! *waving my fan* Ms. Hale! Oh, Ms. Hale! Fancy meeting up - let's get out of this press. The A to Z crowd - they're very keen!

*phew* That's better. Here - let's take a glass of punch and sit over here.

1 - Deb, I was thinking about your first published book being a direct result of your Golden Heart win. Looking back - after 25 books! - how did your contest experiences benefit you as an emerging writer?

Let me count the ways!

For one thing, it was great training for meeting deadlines. It gave me a goal to work toward and an objective measure of my progress.

It also helped me to network before I had a local RWA chapter and the Internet was in its infancy. Through the Golden Heart I was able to connect with some wonderful mentors who taught me so much about the craft and business of romance writing.

2 - Do you work with a critique partner?

I have worked with a number of critique partners over the years and found it a terrific experience.

More recently, however, I’ve gotten much more editorial feedback from both my editor and my agent. So they’re kind of like my critique partners, except I don’t have to critique their work!

*hiding behind my fan* I know - it's a time thing. As in, I have someone waiting patiently for me to return his critiqued manuscript and I don't know why he hasn't set the dogs on me.

I still have a couple of trusted writing friends I can swap material with when I’m trying something different or need fresh eyes.


3 - You know, you have a natural gift for breaking down something that's rather complex, and then switching on the mental lightbulbs.

Thank you so much – you made my week!

But it's true! Your craft-of-writing workshops are so popular with our own Romance Writer of Atlantic Canada members, and beyond.

Photo by Lori Robitaille of Deb's Relationship Dynamics workshop at the 2006 writers' retreat

I love being able to share some of my own hard-learned lessons with other writers.

Did you always consider yourself a teacher by nature, or did you discover this through your writing career?

In my pre-writing life I was a teacher, so giving workshops and writing craft articles provides my teaching-fix these days. Often when I stop to plan a presentation or article, it helps remind me that I know more than I sometimes think I do!

4 - Do you like to write to music, or do you crave silence?

When I’m working on new material, the right instrumental music really helps me get into my story world. I wrote my two Luna fantasy novels to the score of Lord of the Rings.

Oh, I love that soundtrack.

Since I’ve been concentrating on Regencies, my favorite writing music is the soundtrack from the movie Casanova and an album called Two Upon a Ground by Chevari Agreable. If I’m writing a scene that takes place at a ball or assembly, I have a CD of Regency dance music that provides great atmosphere.

Do you have food-pitfalls that silence your creativity?

As for food, I’m much more productive and creative when I can wean myself off sugar and refined carbs – but that’s easier said than done! A cup of coffee first thing in the morning can jump-start my writing but much more than that affects my concentration.

Any food 'tools' that entice your muse?

A glass of wine late in the evening can put me in the right mood for writing love scenes!

5 - Have you ever written a book as a response to reader demand? You know, 'Please give us So-and-so's story...'

I had reader requests for Con ap Ifan’s story after he was introduced in The Elusive Bride. But I was keen to write Border Bride, anyway. I’ve had other requests, sometimes for the stories of my villains. Maybe one of these days I’ll figure out a way to reform them!

6 - How did the Gentlemen of Fortune series come about?

It was rather by accident, but later felt as if it was meant to be.

I had a proposal rejected by Harlequin Historical because it wasn’t emotionally intense enough, so I sent my editor three story ideas that I hoped would be a better fit. She chose the one that eventually became Married: The Virgin Widow.

Since I needed the hero to have made a lot of money, legally, in a short time, I did some research and discovered that the trading port of Singapore had been founded during the Regency and vast fortunes made there. HH accepted that proposal, and offered me a three-book contract.

When my editor suggested the second two books might be connected in some way, I said I could connect all three by giving Ford Barrett a couple of business partners. After that a lot of things just fell into place as I wrote the first book that led into the others.



7 - Tell us about Ford Barret.

Ford is the hero of Married: The Virgin Widow. He believes he was used and betrayed by the woman he loved and now he’s in a position to get a bit of his own back. But revenge isn’t nearly as sweet a dish as he thinks it will be.

And Laura Penrose?

Laura has been through a lot since her courtship with Ford fell apart. She’s coped with it all by numbing her heart. When Ford returns, that isn’t an option any more.







8 - What is Hadrian Northmore really like?

Hadrian is one of my favorite heroes from all my books. He has literally fought his way to the top from the lowest depths by refusing to let anyone stand in his way. He has a boulder-sized chip on his shoulder about social class, so Lady Artemis Dearing represents everything he despises. Yet he can’t resist his feelings for her.

What about Artemis Dearing?

Artemis comes from a prominent family that has lost everything but its pride. She resents upstarts like the Northmores…until she gets to know Hadrian and discovers how much alike they are beneath all their superficial differences.



9 - Would you enjoy meeting Simon Grimshaw in real life?

I would definitely want Simon to have my back in a tight spot, as happens to Bethan when they first meet. Like her, I would admire the way he uses his wits to defuse a volatile situation.

And Bethan Conway?

I would love to spend time with Bethan! She’s such a refreshingly direct country girl, but with a secret or two to make her intriguing.

10 - Deb, you've had quite a few books adapted into manga format. Who approached you about embarking in this new direction?

Actually, I didn’t know anything about it until they popped up on the Japan Harlequin website. When I sell my rights to Harlequin they want everything. That means if some cool new format for story delivery comes along – audio, e-books, book-based games, etc. they have the worldwide marketing muscle to run with it!

What was your initial response?


I love the fantastic job the Japanese illustrators have done with The Wizard’s Ward and Beauty and the Baron. I’ve heard they may be coming out in manga format in English, which I would love to see!

As a special treat for A Piece of My Mind readers, Deb is insisting we give away a copy of Married: The Virgin Widow to one lucky commenter. Contest closes at midnight Atlantic Standard Time, Tuesday, Apr. 5th.

Deb will draw the name and the winner will be announced here. Please leave us a way to find you in your comment, either a link to your blog or your email address.


Here's an exclusive excerpt from Bought: The Penniless Lady. Enjoy!


'Hadrian stretched out on the bed with a drowsy sigh. Artemis covered him with a light blanket. As she drew it up under his chin, a bewildering impulse compelled her to raise her hand and smooth a stray lock of dark hair back from his forehead.

"It feels quite pleasant, being tucked in like a wee lad. I’d almost forgotten." One corner of his mouth curled into a crooked smile that was dangerously endearing. “Do I get a kiss to sweeten my dreams?”

The word kiss caused Artemis a spasm of alarm mixed with a searing flare of desire. He did not mean that kind of kiss, she chided herself. All he wanted was the sort of innocent peck on the cheek or forehead she gave Lee when she put him to bed at night. Having caught a heartbreaking glimpse of Hadrian’s nightmares, she knew he needed something to sweeten his dreams, if anyone did.

“If you like.” The words came out in a tremulous whisper as she bent over him.

Her lips grazed over his brow, relishing the warm smoothness of his skin. She inhaled a deep draft of his spicy, smoky scent. Her well-honed sense of discretion warned her that she should not linger so close to Hadrian, but her body was slow to respond. After a brief struggle with herself, she tried to pull away, only to feel the hot mist of his breath and the velvet caress of his lips upon her throat. The unexpected thrill of those sensations held her captive there, hovering over him.

Though she could not break away, she was not entirely paralyzed either. His overture called forth an answer from her. Before caution had a chance to intervene, her lips grazed the outer corner of one devilish dark brow then trailed down to the crest of his high cheekbone. As she moved, his kisses swept along the sensitive flesh just below her jaw, moving over her chin and finally upward to meet her approaching lips.

She’d received enough kisses from Hadrian by now that this one had a deliciously familiar feel. But it held a subtle thrill of novelty, too. She sensed a tender restraint on his part, which appealed not only to her physical desires but also to her wary heart.

Her heart had good reason to be wary, painful memories reminded her – all the more because she had allowed herself to feel something for her husband. It was only a compound of compassion, curiosity and admiration, spiced with reluctant desire. But that could be more than enough to scorch her if she risked playing with fire.'

- Deborah Hale, 2011

Thursday Thirteen - 198 - 13 Ways the Romance Writers of Atlantic Canada Got Connected at Argyle Fine Art in Halifax, Nova Scotia

1 - The week before Valentine's Day was a perfect time for my writers' group to get together at Argyle Fine Art in Halifax for an evening of networking with the Halifax business community.











Photo by Stamos Sotiropoulis

2 - A joint event sponsored by Bconnected, Charlie Mac Productions, Rich Graphics and Romance Writers of Atlantic Canada, the evening was an opportunity to get out of the house on a crisp winter's night, meet new people, check out some really stunning artwork while indulging in a little wine, cheese and fruit.

You can see my husband Brad and myself hobnobbing at right.











Photo by Stamos Sotiropoulis

3 - Then it was paparazzi time.











Photo by Stamos Sotiropoulis

4 - From L to R: RWAC president Annette Gallant, Donna Alward, moi, Julianne MacLean, Deborah Hale, Jennie Marsland, Lilly Cain, Kelly Boyce, Taylor Keating and Renee Field













5 - The business crowd was delighted to discover that nestled here on the rocky coast of eastern Canada are writers who - instead of publishing only locally-set Atlantic Canadian stories with Canadian publishers - publish North American commercial romantic fiction through New York publishers.












6 - Renee Field was the first writer to speak to the gathering.



Her latest release, Beastly Passion, is published by Ellora's Cave.




















7 - Paula, one half of the writing team known as Taylor Keating,


spoke about her debut novel, Game Over, published by Tor.





















8 - Debut author Kelly Boyce


talked about her upcoming April release The Outlaw Bride from Carina Press.


















9 - Deborah Hale


gave us a look at her current release, Married: The Virgin Widow as well as a preview of her upcoming Gentlemen of Fortune series from Harlequin Historicals - which includes her 25th release in a career spanning thirteen years.
















10 - Next we heard from Donna Alward,


who told us about her 16th Harlequin release, Proud Rancher, Precious Bundle.




















11 - Lilly Cain


explained the print-on-demand aspect of publishing, including her third release Building Magic.






















12 - My cousin Julianne MacLean


introduced her new St. Martin's Press series which begins with Captured by the Highlander, releasing March 1st - her 16th release since 2000.




















13 - Wrapping up the author's segment of the evening, Jennie Marsland


shared her second release, McShannon's Heart, from Bluewood Publishing.