Behind the Scenes of Pretty Persuasion
There might be some mild spoilers here. Proceed at your own risk!
Pretty Persuasion was originally a prequel to the first manuscript I wrote, a time-travel romance (lamely) titled Love Out of Time. I have no idea why I thought it was a good idea to write a straight historical prequel to a time-travel, but there you have it. This story featured Georgie's brother Richard as the hero, and the heroine was a modern American woman thrown (mysteriously, even to me) back in time. Richard and Georgie's father was dead, and Richard was the duke. As I began Pretty Persuasion, I was looking forward to exploring the relationship between their parents. Halfway into the manuscript, however, I realized I couldn't kill their father, rendering the storyline in its time-travel sequel impossible. I'm fascinated by time-travel and probably will write in that genre someday, but (sensibly) it'll be totally unrelated to any of my historical novels.
The title, Pretty Persuasion, is an homage to my favorite band, R.E.M.. The aforementioned time-travel story was named after their album Out of Time, and Pretty Persuasion is the title of a song from the album Reckoning. I met my husband in an R.E.M. chatroom on the Internet, and without them my life would have been very different, indeed. I definitely would not be a romance writer, so naming my story after their song seems entirely appropriate.
Outtakes from Pretty Persuasion
This is a short scene from the first draft of Pretty Persuasion which takes place during the party after Georgie and Robert return to London. It's a dinner scene that tells you a bit more about Louisa's family, and I reluctantly cut it after realizing it added very little to Georgie and Robert's story.
“Dora!” Louisa’s father waved his fork in the direction of his wife. “Did you hear that, m’dear? Lady Heyworth wants to know about the uncommon names we have chosen for our abundant progeny.”
Georgie almost rolled her eyes. Of course Louisa’s mother hadn’t overheard that conversation. She was seated at the opposite end of the table from her husband, after all. But that fact seemed to have escaped Lord Albermarle, as well as the fact that one was to speak with the persons seated directly next to oneself—not shout across the table in such a manner.
“No!” Lady Albermarle looked astonished. “I thought everyone knew that story by now!”
So had Georgie. It had been told to her for more times than she could count. And it was apparently about to be told again. Affording herself another glance at her father, she noticed he was glaring at Louisa’s parents—who, naturally, were heedless of his disapproval.
“I had hoped this would be a peaceful affair. It seems I will never learn,” Fernando leaned over and murmured in Georgie’s ear.
Georgie stifled a giggle with her napkin.
“Dora grew up in Italy,” Albermarle explained to Lady Heyworth, and even though the lady sat right across from him, he did not lower his voice.
“My father was the ambassador, bless his departed soul,” Theodora piped in.
Albermarle nodded. “She has such an affinity for the country that she insisted on honoring it in the choosing of our children’s names. Now, Florence and Venetia I did not object to, as they are perfectly acceptable. But then I feared what she would choose next, and I made it perfectly clear that I would brook no argument on the subject. ‘Dora, m’dear,’ I said, ‘I refuse to give a child of mine a silly name!’”
“So we reached a compromise,” his wife stated. “If not for that, our dear Fernando would be called Naples.”
Fernando groaned quietly. There were chuckles all around the table.
“But what about the others—the three youngest?” Lady Heyworth asked. She sounded confused, which was not unusual. Georgie supposed it could be excused, though, since the lady had to be nearing her eightieth birthday.
Everyone had grown silent, eagerly waiting for the Albermarles to continue their account. Georgie noticed that Louisa was biting her lip, a blush staining her cheeks. Rolling her eyes, Georgie gave her friend an encouraging smile.
Louisa caught it and soon broke into a smile as well. Being a Wentworth, Louisa was not faint of heart. Although her family sometimes embarrassed her, she had learned to laugh at their antics instead of being mortified by them. It had not always been easy, but as it was the only way to bear going out in public with them, she’d learned so by necessity rather than choice—a fact that was about to be proven most irrefutably.
“We made a wager,” Albermarle said jovially. “Dora claimed she knew we would have another son, so I said that if we did, she could choose his name. If it were a girl, the honor would fall on me.”
“So that’s why Louisa’s name is less strange than the other ones’,” Robert’s mother said with newly-found understanding. “I must confess, I had wondered. And the twins?”
“Well, he lost that wager, didn’t he?” the marchioness pointed out cheerfully, to which there was more subdued laughter.
“I say, rather queer, is it not?” Lord Evershed, a corpulent, bushy-browed elderly gentleman asked. “Betting on the sex of one’s children. Exceedingly queer.”
Lady Foxmorton clucked her tongue. “Really, Evershed, you are too dull. You have no sense of adventure.”
“What I want to know,” Lady Heyworth interrupted, “is why she thought she would have a son.”
Well, there was something no one had asked before, Georgie thought. This could get interesting.
Albermarle snorted. “Now, that was a flight of fancy.”
“Indeed it was not!” his wife argued. “It’s perfectly logical. Italian ladies swear by the method.”
“But what is it?” Lady Foxmorton looked like she was about to burst with curiosity.
“Why, positions at the time of conception, of course,” Lady Albermarle said bluntly.
Save for the sharp sound of someone’s silverware being dropped, silence ensued. At least half a dozen mouths had fallen agape, and it would probably have been a full dozen if they hadn’t been busy chewing their food.
Only Louisa’s father seemed unmoved. “Well, if you ask me, I’ll tell you it’s a lot of nonsense. If it is so logical, then why were you mistaken?”
“As I have told you on countless occasions, Henry, it was a simple matter of poor arithmetic. I mistook the specific date—not the position.”
“Good God!” Lord Evershed exclaimed, horrified.
Georgie’s mother and aunt, as well as Robert’s mother, all uttered choked noises and had to cover their mouths with their napkins, struggling to contain their laughter. Louisa and Fernando looked as if they were about to die of embarrassment, while their sisters seemed remarkably unfazed.
“I must confess, I am in a state of great bewilderment,” Lady Heyworth declared loudly. “I haven’t the faintest idea to what Lady Albermarle is alluding. What positions?”
Theodora opened her mouth to reply, but was cut short by Georgie’s father clearing his throat loudly. “Your choice of headdress this evening is quite fascinating, Lady Albermarle,” he said. “Particularly the feather. Ostrich, is it not?”
“Peacock, actually,” she replied blithely.
Someone snickered. Georgie guessed the person was male and not over the age of twenty-five.
- top -
