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| How to Tame a Willful Wife |
My good friend Christy English has just launched her latest novel, HOW TO TAME A WILLFUL WIFE. Christy is the author of two excellent novels about Eleanor of Aquitaine. She has now turned her talent to introducing one of Shakespeare's wildest women into the unsuspecting world of Regency England.
Today it is my great pleasure to let Christy share her thoughts about our favorite strong-willed women, and why we all love them so. Take it away, Christy!
Strong Women in
Fiction: Reflections of Ourselves
Christy English
Author of HOW TO TAME
A WILLFUL WIFE
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| Scarlett O'Hara |
I have always been fascinated by strong women in literature.
Since I was in seventh grade and first read Gone
with the Wind, and watched as Scarlett O’Hara destroyed and rebuilt her
world time and time again, I have been obsessed with strong characters as they
reflect my own strength back to me.
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| Eleanor of Aquitaine |
Of course, it took many years before I realized that these
women drew me in because they were an exploration of my own strength and
weaknesses. Anytime an author picks up her pen, she explores herself, her own
world and her view of it. My fascination with strength in women in my own
writing began with Eleanor of Aquitaine, one of the most powerful women in Western
European history. She ruled vast territories in her own right, and added to
those territories with each marriage, first to the King of France, and later to
the King of England.
She did not hesitate to leave her first husband when he
would not give her a son, and she went on to rule a vast empire at the side of
Henry II, while giving him eight living children, seven of whom survived to
adulthood. Though her alliance with her second husband fell apart as had her
alliance with her first, she went on to rule as Regent for her favorite son,
Richard the Lionhearted while he was on Crusade. Eleanor of Aquitaine has held
a place in my imagination since I first read about her, reminding me of what it
means to be dedicated to a goal, and to work toward it even as it changes
beneath you, never relinquishing the final outcome, only letting go of the
present obstacles until they can be overcome.
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| Herodias Long - the Rebel Puritan |
Herodias in REBEL PURITAN is much like Eleanor in this
regard. She is touted as Scarlett O’Hara meets THE SCARLETT LETTER, and that is
true. Though she is a woman of her time, she does not allow herself to give up
and give in when obstacles rise in her path. She does not hesitate to defend
herself or her children, leaving an abusive husband at a time when women simply
did not do this.
Now, in my latest novel, HOW TO TAME A WILLFUL WIFE, I find
myself in the joyous world of Regency England, exploring the strength of my
latest character, Caroline Montague. Another strong woman, she rides a war stallion,
fights with a knife and a rapier, and shoots a bow and arrow not just for
formal target practice, but hunting from horseback. When her father returns
from the Napoleonic wars to arrange her marriage, she finds that the man she is
called on out of duty to marry has never known a woman like her. Raised in the
wilds of Yorkshire and taught to fight by her
father’s veterans, Caroline does not resemble the staid, demure women of the
south where Anthony Carrington hails from.
Between them begins a battle of wits and wills as they vie
for supremacy. Who will be tamed in the end? My intention was to write a novel
in which the male and female leads work out their differences and learn, step
by step, moment by moment, to face each other as equals. I can’t speak for
Scarlett or Herodias, or even for Eleanor of Aquitaine, but Caroline and
Anthony discover that equality in a romantic relationship is a goal worth
seeking.
1. Forbid her from riding astride
2. Hide her dueling sword
3. Burn all her breeches and buy her silk drawers
4. Frisk her for hidden daggers
5. Don't get distracted while frisking her for hidden daggers...
Anthony Carrington, Earl of Ravensbrook, expects a biddable bride. A man of fiery passion tempted by the rigors of war into steely self-control, he demands obedience from his troops and his future wife. Regardless of how fetching she looks in breeches.
Promised to the Earl of Plump Pockets by her impoverished father, Caroline Montague is no simpering miss. She rides a war stallion named Hercules, fights with a blade, and can best most men with both bow and rifle. She finds Anthony autocratic, domineering, and...ridiculously handsome.
It's a duel of wit and wills in this charming retelling of THE TAMING OF THE SHREW. But the question is...who's taming whom?
Link to the novel on Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1402270453/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=christyenglish-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1402270453
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| Christy English |
After years of acting
in Shakespeare's plays, Christy English is excited to bring the Bard to Regency
England in her romantic re-telling of The Taming of the Shrew, HOW TO TAME A
WILLFUL WIFE. When she isn't acting, roller skating, or chasing the Muse,
Christy writes historical novels (The Queen's Pawn and To Be Queen) from her
home in North Carolina.
Please visit her at http://www.ChristyEnglish.com
