Dear Reader, Love Diana Forbes @dianaforbes18

Dear Reader…

I wanted to write a novel what would whisk readers away to Gilded Age Newport, Rhode Island. I always love books that transport me to a different century, and while I was at it, I thought it would be fun to go to a ball at one of Newport’s grand, historic houses. I originally wanted to set the ball at The Breakers, which is certainly the grandest historic home in Newport, however on a trip to The Breakers I learned that it had actually burned down during the year in which I set my debut novel, Mistress Suffragette. So, instead, I set the ball at the Chateau-sur-Mer. The ballroom was a little smaller, but the house compensated for it with some fabulous secret rooms and passageways. I also thought it would be fun to write a “riches to rags” story and set it during a time when some people became tycoons and others lost their life savings during the Panic of 1893. I believe that challenges and obstacles help a character prove her mettle. Each week I run the stories I am writing like Mistress Suffragette by thirty readers in two writing classes I take in Manhattan. Their thoughts, questions, and observations helped me shape the story. Right now I am writing the sequel, so if there is anything you want me to consider for the sequel, feel free to write to me at dianaforbes1@hotmail.com

Happy reading. I hope that this young woman’s journey will inspire your journey.

Cordially,

Diana Forbes

About the Author

Diana Forbes is a 9th generation American, with ancestors on both sides of the Civil War. Diana Forbes lives and writes in Manhattan. When she is not cribbing chapters, Diana Forbes loves to explore the buildings where her 19th Century American ancestors lived, loved, survived and thrived. Prior to publication, Diana Forbes’s debut won 1st place in the Missouri Romance Writers of America (RWA) Gateway to the Best Contest for Women’s Fiction. A selection from the novel was a finalist in the Wisconsin RWA “Fab Five” Contest for Women’s Fiction. Mistress Suffragette won 1st place in the Chanticleer Chatelaine Award’s Romance and Sensual category, and was shortlisted for the Somerset Award in Literary Fiction. Mistress Suffragette won Silver in the North American Book Awards and was a Winner of the Book Excellence Awards for Romance. Mistress Suffragette was also a Kirkus Best Indies Book of 2017. The author is passionate about vintage clothing, antique furniture, ancestry, and vows to master the quadrille in her lifetime. Diana Forbes is the author of New York Gilded Age historical fiction.

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About the Book:

Title: MISTRESS SUFFRAGETTE
Author: Diana Forbes
Publisher: Penmore Press
Pages: 392
Genre: Romance/Historical Fiction/Victorian/Political/NY Gilded Age Fiction

BOOK BLURB:

A young woman without prospects at a ball in Gilded Age Newport, Rhode Island is a target for a certain kind of “suitor.” At the Memorial Day Ball during the Panic of 1893, impoverished but feisty Penelope Stanton quickly draws the unwanted advances of a villainous millionaire banker who preys on distressed women—the incorrigible Mr. Daggers. Better known as the philandering husband of the stunning socialite, Evelyn Daggers, Edgar stalks Penelope.

Skilled in the art of flirtation, Edgar is not without his charms, and Penelope is attracted to him against her better judgment. Meanwhile a special talent of Penelope’s makes her the ideal candidate for a paying job in the Suffrage Movement.

In a Movement whose leaders are supposed to lead spotless lives, Penelope’s torrid affair with Mr. Daggers is a distraction and early suffragist Amy Adams Buchanan Van Buren, herself the victim of a faithless spouse, urges Penelope to put an end to it. But can she?

Searching for sanctuary in three cities, Penelope will need to discover her hidden reserves of courage and tenacity. During a glittering age where a woman’s reputation is her most valuable possession, Penelope must decide whether to compromise her principles for love.

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