Dear Readers,
You are
cordially invited to… A Wedding In
Cornwall!
Sophie
and Robin are finally tying the knot! Join the Tresilians in this companion
tale to A Song At Twilight, as they
celebrate their prodigal daughter’s marriage to the man she has loved through
years of separation and heart-breaking obstacles.
Meanwhile,
Sir Harry Tresilian hopes that his sister’s wedding will not be the only one in
the offing. After a two-year courtship, he means to coax his skittish mistress
to the altar at last. Will his cunning plan succeed? How will Sara, Robin’s
young daughter, react to becoming part of a large extended family? And what
about that mysterious letter Sophie receives right before the wedding—could it
possibly derail her and Robin’s big day?
For the
answers to these and other questions, haste to the wedding, where love,
laughter, and—of course—music will abound!
Pamela Sherwood
*
The Story Behind The Story:
Writing shorter lengths has always been a challenge for me, as a former
academic with a natural tendency to the verbose. My short stories want to
become novellas, my novellas novels, and my novels sagas! I have enormous
respect for--and not a little envy of--writers who produce short
fiction on a consistent basis. So, one of my goals this year has been to
complete a novella.
For some time,
I’d been mulling the idea of writing about Robin and Sophie’s wedding, which I
glossed over at the end of A Song At
Twilight. But I worried that there might not be enough material for
anything but a very short story. Until one of the minor subplots—so minor that
I dedicated no more than a few lines to it in the novel—pushed its way to the
forefront of my mind and attached itself to the wedding storyline. And just
like that, I had a plot and a structure (this seldom happens so quickly—or
conveniently). I finished the novella in just under two months, happily
checking off the major plot points as I went, found appropriate cover art, had
the manuscript professionally formatted and ready to go by the end of the month…
And then my
computer died, going into the electronic equivalent of cardiac arrest when its
power cord came loose from its socket. I nearly suffered human cardiac arrest after being told that the cost of repair
exceeded the current value of the machine (to be fair, I had had it for almost eight and a half years).
In the end, I
girded up my loins, replaced my computer, had all my data recovered and
transferred, and set up a new launch
date for the novella. So I’m thrilled to announce that A Wedding In Cornwall made its debut on Columbus Day—without
incident!
"So haste to the wedding, ye friends and ye neighbors": we'll save you a seat...
*
Read on for a
short excerpt, as Robin and Sophie chat about the Big Day:
“How are the fittings going?” he
asked, remembering that she’d had a dressmaker’s appointment that morning.
“Oh, very nicely. Mrs. Cardew has
some wonderful patterns and fabrics in her shop. Cecily wishes I’d chosen
white, though—partly because it’s in fashion, partly because of the old rhyme.
‘Married in white, you have chosen all
right,’” Sophie quoted, with a comic eye roll.
“Doesn’t another part of it go, ‘Married in black, you will wish yourself
back’?”
“No chance of that, no matter what color I wear!” Sophie laughed,
tightening her hold on his arm. “I’ve waited far too long for this!”
“We both have.” Years of separation
and sacrifice finally, miraculously redeemed—impossible not to rejoice at that.
Some might look askance at his remarrying less than six months after Nathalie’s
death, but Robin found he didn’t give a hearty damn. “But, just to be certain,
you’re not marrying in black, are
you?”
“Certainly not. Although,” Sophie
cast down her eyes demurely, “older brides such as myself are often encouraged
to marry in quieter shades—like grey
or lavender.”
“Twenty-three is hardly ancient!”
Robin exclaimed, taken aback.
“Well, rest assured that I didn’t
choose those colors either! And although I won’t be wearing white, I still hope
to dazzle you on our wedding day.”
“You would dazzle me wearing a
burlap sack.”
She gave him a brilliant smile.
“And Sara will dazzle you too, Robin. Just wait until you see her in her new
frock.”
The growing friendship between his
daughter and his bride never failed to delight him. And the melancholy he’d
felt earlier was breaking up now, like clouds scattering before a warm summer
breeze—for which he had the woman beside him to thank.
Drawing Sophie into his arms,
Robin kissed her lingeringly, savoring the sensation of her soft lips against
his own. “Thank you, my love.”
“For what?” she asked, warm and
pliant in his embrace.
“For reminding me that life can
begin as well as end at the church door.”
*
What is your favorite fictional wedding? I will be gifting copies of A Wedding In Cornwall to two commenters, in whichever format they prefer. Please respond by midnight PST, 10/18, for a chance to win!
WEBSITE
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ETA: The Coin of Destiny has been tossed, and Sally and Shana have won the ebook giveaways of A Wedding In Cornwall. Please email me at pamela@pamelasherwood.com to let me know what format you would prefer and the address of your e-reader! Thanks for commenting!
WEBSITE
NEWSLETTER
ETA: The Coin of Destiny has been tossed, and Sally and Shana have won the ebook giveaways of A Wedding In Cornwall. Please email me at pamela@pamelasherwood.com to let me know what format you would prefer and the address of your e-reader! Thanks for commenting!
don't have a fav
ReplyDeletebn100candg at hotmail dot com
Jane Eyre. Although that one didn't go through. ;)
ReplyDeletebn100, well, there are a plethora to choose from!
ReplyDeleteSally, I thought it was kind of a pity that Jane told us more about the wedding that didn't happen than the one that did! Despite my fondness for the line "Reader, I married him."
I love stories behind the stories. And, ARGH! To lose your computer and all your writing? I'd have had a heart attack too. Fortunately My Mr. Amazing is a computer guru and has all my info backed up everywhere. I'd still have heart failure though! LOL
ReplyDeleteI love writing short. I tend toward that anyway. Fast paced, no extraneous adjectives, minimal subplots, fewer characters...love it! Unfortunately, all anyone wants from me are these long-ass novels that kill my inner child. Want to trade places?
Ashlyn, I was a nervous wreck until all my data was recovered, even though I do send my most important stuff to an email cache so all wasn't entirely lost. But I don't think I drew an easy breath until my files were safely installed on the new computer and backed up AGAIN.
DeleteAlways interesting to hear from people who feel that writing short is their natural milieu! I hope to achieve a comparable degree of comfort, because I did enjoy writing A Wedding In Cornwall.
Congrats on the release! It's fun to revisit favorite characters.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Shana! I think, a lot of times, there's unfinished business an author can explore with familiar characters. It's like bonus scenes on a DVD!
Delete