Coming August 20 – A Naval Surgeon To Fight For
Dear Reader
I happened to be in Boston for a few days in May. It was pouring rain, so I resorted to a hop on hop off “Boston Trolley” to take me through unfamiliar roads passing by sites that were scenes of major events in US history.
I did get off at Charlestown Harbor to go aboard the USS Constitution (a.k.a. “Old Ironsides”) one of six U.S. warships commissioned after independence. “Old Ironsides” is still afloat and still a commissioned ship in the US Navy. It can still sail under its own power, and does so around Memorial Day. My first impression? It looked so small.
I’ve not yet been aboard HMS Victory in Portsmouth, England, but I know I would have the same reaction: how small Admiral Horatio Nelson’s flagship was, and what an oversized role it played in British sea naval power.
When Harlequin asked me to write a Regency, I returned to the sea. The result will be out August 20: A Naval Surgeon To Fight For. In my research, I learned just how many women were aboard the fleet when it clashed with the combined French and Spanish fleets off Cape Trafalgar, Spain.
I have a reputation of writing about common people. Lords and ladies as main characters don’t interest me anymore. In A Naval Surgeon To Fight For you will read about the grinding job of a surgeon in the Royal Navy, and the woman who loves him. They met years ago when they were children. They meet again. The rules of society have remained the same – Jerusha Langley is gentry, James Wilson is not – except Jerusha and Jamie have changed.
One thing about my historical writing: If it can’t be written without unbelievable contortion of historical facts, I don’t do it. If plot twists are historically plausible, I’m game. The result is below-deck look at Trafalgar, with its iron men in wooden ships, and yes, wives just as brave.
Carla Kelly
Review Spotlight - Her Smile
The first lesson Elizabeth Ann Everett learns when she arrives in Yellowstone National Park with her family is that you can’t believe everything you read in a book. For example, the “wild Indians” dime-novels authors often cast as villains are nothing like the Nez Perce Elizabeth encounters when she is accidentally swept up by a scouting party fleeing from the U.S. cavalry. While not everyone in the tribal community is happy about Elizabeth’s presence, Kaya does his best to help her adapt to her new and, she hopes, temporary surroundings. In her latest impeccably researched book, RITA and Spur Award–winning Kelly brilliantly captures both the beauty and brutality of life in the American West in the late nineteenth century while also thoughtfully and skillfully illuminating the terrible dilemmas and tragedies confronting Native Americans who simply want the U.S. government to honor its promises. Effectively told from Elizabeth’s outsider's point of view and infused with a deliciously keen sense of humor, this is Kelly at her storytelling best.
— John Charles
Regency Romances
Westerns/Historicals
Short Stories
