The Governess Without Guilt is officially launched into this world!
Every book is its own journey to research, write, revise, and launch. I find my process changing depending on where my inspiration comes from, the characters’ personalities, the complexity of the plot, and also what else is going on in my life.
For The Governess Without Guilt, my initial inspiration came from Sophia herself. The second child of Martin and Lolly Preston, ever since she first entered my imagination, she was larger-than-life, brash, independent, and fiercely determined to control her own destiny. I knew she would leave Northfield Hall to earn her own income, and that gave me a nice opportunity to play with the governess trope. Beyond that, however, I didn’t know what I wanted to do. Would Sophia be good with children? Would she find teaching and caretaking fulfilling, when she was always happy to leave that role to her mother and then Ellen in her own family? Even more importantly, what kind of love interest would challenge, nurture, and help her?
As I began developing Sophia in The Viscount Without Virtue - since she actually plays a pretty important role in Ellen and Max’s story - I learned even more about her. She doesn’t believe in the effectiveness of her family’s radical way of life. She is impulsive, mischievous, and focused on herself. In fact, she is rather selfish.
That became my main question when I began drafting The Governess Without Guilt: what does it mean to be selfish? I tend to think of selfish as a bad adjective, but when is it useful? When is it necessary? What is the line between looking after one’s own needs and being harmfully self-centered? And in the context of romance, how do we create, foster, and share love with each other while also being selfish?
Sophia’s love interest, John, is more aware of other people than Sophia. He is a physician by profession, which means he makes a living by servicing other people’s needs. On top of that, he reads each room he is in to understand the subtext of every conversation so that he can craft a response based on what people want to happen, rather than his own natural reactions. When he encounters Sophia, he is drawn to her selfishness because it is a skill he doesn’t have. But what happens next, when inevitably he has a need that Sophia can’t or won’t see?
Maybe you can tell that I use my novels as my own form of therapy. (Don’t worry - I also work with a professional therapist!) After getting to the end of the book, revising it, and reading it about a million times, I feel a little bit closer to answers for a few of these questions…but I mostly can’t wait for you all to join the conversation and tell me what you think!
To celebrate the launch of The Governess Without Guilt, I’m hosting a party over in my Facebook group through August 31st. I’ll be giving away some fun prizes (such as soap inspired by Sophia and John and custom blends of tea) to everyone who shares their thoughts on the book with the group. Download the list of book club discussion questions provided by Roaming Romance Boutique Bookshop, then head on over to my group to chime in.
