Lord Nathaniel's Nemesis is published!

Lord Nathaniel's Nemesis book cover,  where he is looking quite austere. This reflects his character at the beginning of the story. However, dealing with Rebecca Northley forces him to come out of his rather stodgy shell, and the man who emerges is far more attractive.

Yes, I'm finally happy with 'Lord Nathaniel's Nemesis (or at least happy enough - you can tweak things forever and never get anything completed), and have published it as a Kindle e-book on Amazon. Yes, this one has been ten months in gestation, with three very different plotlines, the first two having to be discarded as pretty boring! John, husband and proofreader, says it's the best of the three novels I've published so far, so that's promising, at least. It's hard for me to be objective, so at the moment I have to believe him.

Miss Rebecca Northley- rich, beautiful, and intelligent, she holds a long standing grudge against Nathaniel Brockworth, which she vents in her political pamphlet Nemesis, anonymously. But then dramatic events make her reassess his character, and she finds that, quite against her preferred attitude towards him, she starts to find him quite attractive. Annoyingly, very attractive.
But it's all quite impossible - she is a rich middle-class Cit's daughter - he is the brother of a Marquess, no less, part of the nobility and therefore, far beyond her expectations as a possible match. And then there are all those embarrassing things she wrote about Nathaniel and his family. No! Any deeper relationship between them is impossible! Or is it?

Certainly, Nathaniel emerges as a much more rounded and interesting character than in the first two novels - quite the commanding figure (something I had not quite realised when I started writing). But that's the strange thing about creating a story - after a while, your characters start taking on a life of their own. 

In this particular case, you know that, without having to deal with the ups and quite dramatic downs of his relationship with Rebecca, Nathaniel would have plodded along in a nice, safe rut for probably the rest of his life. But when the chips are down, Nathaniel steps up manfully and not only takes on the challenge, but triumphs.

I have to admit I hadn't seen him as the knight-in-shining-armour type, but as I said before, sometimes your characters just do their own thing; and sitting back pondering the outcome, you see that yes, it's a logical development of the character. And so much more romantic than your original concept!

Rebecca's vineyard in sunny Hampshire - a key part of the final part of the novel.

And I have not one, but two villains in this novel - one truly dastardly, and the other just a little bit sad. Naturally, the real baddie gets away (not totally without punishment - to be fair), whilst his more sympathetic co-conspirator is not so lucky. Sorry, no more spoilers.

Sir Harold Skeffington - a suitably repellent villain! 

This novel, in line with the previous two books in the Brockworth Chronicles series, has a completely different plot line, with perhaps a little more comedy, and some rather unexpected plot twists. I like to think it's a bit edgier than the other two, but my readers will decide.

If you would like to read Lord Nathaniel's Nemesis, it is now available on Amazon as an e-book, here.

Now for a short holiday, and then onto re-writing 'Lady Rosamund's Recluse', the first draft of which I finished quite a while ago.

Regards, Detta