Spotlight & Giveaway: Caught in a Cornish Scandal by Eleanor Webster

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Eleanor Webster to HJ!

Hi Eleanor and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Caught in a Cornish Scandal!

To start off, can you please tell us a little bit about this book?:

Financial desperation drives Millie Lansdowne to smuggle off Cornwall’s barren coast. She knows smuggling isn’t going to be plain sailing, but rescuing a mysterious gentleman in a storm embroils her in a thrilling family drama. Millie soon finds her plans, heart and even her life in jeopardy.

As they fight to stop the wreckers working along Cornwall’s coast, Sam and Millie learn that sometimes plans need to be broken and love can grow in tragedy.
 

Please share your favorite lines or quote(s) from this book:

‘You will freeze. Stay near the fire.’
He hesitated. ‘It hardly seems appropriate for us to be so close.’
She laughed, a wonderful gurgling laugh which lit up the room. ‘I doubt being kidnapped by smugglers,
escaping a sinking ship and almost drowning was appropriate either.’
He grinned back with sudden lightness of heart. ‘You are unusual, brave and with a sense of humour. I cannot think of any other individual who could have endured what you have.’
She gave a breathy gasp. ‘Then you really must expand your acquaintances.’
***
He glared at her and then turned, walking briskly. ‘And I feel no need to involve you in the further pursuit of Mr. Ludlow.’
‘But I am involved. I was there. I witnessed men murdered. Besides, you still need me.’
‘I do not,’ he said.
‘Actually you are going up the wrong path to get back to the inn, so maybe you do.’

* * *
‘What did you do?’ Sam asked. ‘I do not want a man’s poisoning on my conscious. Along with everything else.’
‘Nonsense—I merely gave him a small amount of my mother’s sleeping draught. He will be absolutely fine.’
He stared. ‘You cannot go around drugging people.’
‘I do not intend to make a habit of it,’ she said airily.

What inspired this book?

2020 both heightened my need for emotional escape but, conversely, made me less willing to glamorize a historical time period which was cruel and unjust. I was inspired by my own passionate belief in individual freedom of choice and the liberty to pursue individual dreams. I also value public education and this theme was also highlighted in this book.

How did you ‘get to know’ your main characters? Did they ever surprise you?

I wrote Caught in a Cornish Scandal against the backdrop of the global pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement. Perhaps for this reason, my characters absolutely refused to participate in the debutante balls which usually populate a regency novel. Instead, Millie chooses to smuggle in a desperate bid to save her sister from an arranged marriage. Most regency novels end in wedding bells and luxury. Millie and Sam made it very clear that they needed a greater purpose both throughout the novel and at its conclusion.

What was your favorite scene to write?

They say that villains are sometimes more interesting than the heroic. I loved both Sam and Millie but another character also wound into my heart. As a psychologist, I am fascinated by human behavior and the narrow divide between the functional and dysfunctional, moral and immoral and what individuals may do when denied value and purpose. My favorite scene involves a reveal which surprises the characters and, hopefully, the reader.

‘I was there,’ he said and Millie knew from his tone that he was remembering the drowning men and the three who had made it to shore, only to be picked off like clay pigeons, staining the tidepools red with blood.
‘I had wondered how you survived. The smugglers
picked you up. What humanity. I wouldn’t have thought they’d have bothered.’

What was the most difficult scene to write?

Millie has a proposal of marriage. The scene comes right after a moment of climax and danger. It felt like a huge anti-climax – somehow wrong both to myself and the character that she was forced to deal with the minutia of tea.

Flora brought tea and Mrs Lansdowne busied herself pouring and serving. Millie took a cup, adding more sugar than was typical and stirring. She sipped the tea, hoping that the heat and sweetness would create a sense of reality.
Surely after last night, she should be given a day before making any life-altering decisions? Of course, the fact that she’d failed to confide in either her mother or sister rather undermined this argument. She hoped tea and the subsequent proposal would conclude quickly. She wanted to talk to Sally. Was it usual to hope for one’s engagement to be expeditious, much as you might wish for the quick conclusion of a dull sermon? She hoped her mother would not become aware of any rumours about last night’s events. Or, if this occurred, that Millie was either many miles away or able to block her ears.
Meanwhile, she continued to perform the correct rituals: smiling, talking, nodding, drinking and a myriad of other normal functions, even as her mind circled miles away from this room.
Marriage to Mr Edmunds had initially sounded sensible. But how could she now marry anyone when her mind was so filled with thoughts of Sam? His touch, his smile, lying close to him, talking to him…
‘…there are actually several varieties, each of which has a different texture. Which is your favourite, Miss Lansdowne?’
‘Pardon?’ Good Lord, how could she marry the man when she couldn’t even focus on him for two seconds together?
‘Type of potato. There are more varieties than people realise.’
‘Um…yes… I really hadn’t thought.’ Would she spend a lifetime learning about potatoes?
The tea dragged. If she had to accept Mr Edmunds’s proposal, she wished the deed done. The conversation had moved from the potatoes but, unfortunately, was no more exciting. They were now discussing sheep breeds.
‘I quite like the Cornwall Longwool myself. The wool is sturdy. Of course, the Suffolk sheep is excellent and, if I have sufficient funds, I might consider adding some to my flock,’ Mr Edmunds explained.
Millie pictured the breakfast table each morning with Mr Edmunds in a too-tight waistcoat discussing potatoes and sheep while straining tea through is strands of his robust moustache.

Would you say this book showcases your writing style or is it a departure for you?

Writing has always been an escape for me; a place of swash-buckling heroes, ballrooms, gowns, the bedazzled and the bedazzling. I’d generally avoid those less pleasant aspects of Regency Life; hygiene, teeth (or the lack thereof), extreme poverty and the absence of opportunity for so many.
However, while longing for escape, I was also more cognizant of the Eurocentric culture of male supremacy which is the backbone of regency society. For this reason, the story is quite different than my other books with a dramatic outdoor adventure. Millie is also a very strong, able, competent protagonist. However, strong female characters are an integral part of my writing and I have featured both a female doctor (Debutante in Disguise) and a protagonist who cannot see.

What do you want people to take away from reading this book?

I hope that it provides escape and adventure in a world quite different from the present day. However, I hope too that it is somewhat thought-provoking. Desperation and a lack of choice or education can make the moral immoral.

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have planned?

I am also a middle-grade author and am currently working on a book featuring an individual with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Disorder. It is a sequel to an earlier publication whose protagonist was under the Autism Spectrum, Everyday Hero (Kathleen Cherry).
My next Harlequin won’t be out for a while and will be set at a later time period, as women struggled to gain the vote.

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: Two print copies of Caught in a Cornish Scandal by Eleanor Webster – North America only (U.S. and Canada)
Two epubs copies of Caught in a Cornish Scandal by Eleanor Webster – international

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: Characters sometimes do foolish or dangerous things, like heading out in a storm? Millie felt that the risk was worthwhile if she saves her sister from a cruel match – was she brave? Or foolishly impulsive?
Are there other examples from real life or literature where desperation has led to poor choices, where one questions the act but still loves the actor?

 
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Excerpt from Caught in a Cornish Scandal:

Millie stared at the criss-crossing beams and felt the sting of tears. ‘Do you believe in premonition?’
‘Like having a bad feeling about something?’
‘Yes. I asked him not to go. It was a country house party in Devon.’
Truthfully, there was no reason to suspect that it would be any different than any of the other social events her brother attended. Maybe it was no different, he was just less lucky.
‘He did not listen?’
‘He bet he could jump a hedge. He died instantly,’ she said.
The horse had shattered its leg and was shot. Her mother had fallen apart, broken by the loss of husband and son in such quick succession.
‘I’m sorry,’ Sam said, reaching for her hand. She felt the warmth of his fingers and the comfort of human connection. Loneliness—out of the full gamut of human emotion, loneliness was the sentiment with which she had the greatest familiarity. And duty.
Since her father’s financial losses, she’d tried to help her father, her mother, Tom, Lil, even Flora. If willpower could have kept them safe, they’d still be alive. But willpower was not enough. Her parents were too broken, her brother too reckless and her sister too young.
The firelight flickered. Outside, she heard a bird’s call and wondered if it was getting close to dawn. They should leave once there was sufficient light. And yet, she was reluctant to move. It was warm under Sam’s jacket, pressed close to the fire. She was conscious of his body, the size of him, which was both comforting and something else. She was peculiarly conscious of the present, as though past and future had slid into unimportance.
Indeed, there was an intimacy in this moment with him which was both disconcerting and reassuring.
She looked at his strong features, dimly lit by the firelight. His lips lifted in a smile.
‘What is it?’ she asked.
‘I was only thinking that this felt…nice.’
The touch of his hand changed from comfort to an awareness, a tingling sensitivity and a feeling of being more alive. It felt as though every particle of her body, every inch if her skin had an added vibrancy.
Indeed, everything within the tiny bare cabin felt so completely different from the rest of her life, as if it was a separate moment, stolen in time. It stood out in brilliant, stark relief.

What would it be like, she wondered, to throw duty to the wind? To forget about the ‘what ifs’? To forget about Mr Edmunds with his five children and the snuff stains liberally splattered across his too-tight waistcoat? To allow herself to inch closer to this man, to run her fingers across the stubble of his cheek, to feel the muscles in his shoulders?
‘You know,’ he said thoughtfully, ‘I wouldn’t have survived the moor without you.’
‘You wouldn’t have survived the sea without me either.’
He laughed. ‘I suppose I should be glad you decided to smuggle.’
‘Indeed, you should be grateful for ever.’
‘You know, I have never met anyone like you. I feel as though I have been living in a grey world that has turned multi-coloured overnight.’
‘I never knew you were a poet.’
‘A poet? Now you insult me. Musician, maybe, but never a poet.’
‘And what is wrong with a poet?’ She raised herself on one elbow. He was quite close, inches away from her. His eyes were intently dark and his lips well shaped and sensitive.
‘Aren’t they dreadfully foppish? More cravat than person?’
‘And musicians aren’t?’
‘Not nearly as bad. More person and less cravat.’
She giggled. ‘I wouldn’t know. Cornish sea towns aren’t known for poets or musicians.’ She touched his cravat, twisting the cloth through her fingers with a rustle of silk.
They were not touching and yet she was very aware
of him and the proximity of his body. ‘I’m afraid this won’t get you admitted into anything.’
‘You mock my cravat? You do realise that an elegant cravat is the pride of every gentleman?’
She met his gaze and felt the rapid-fire thumping of her heart. ‘I am sure it was elegant once,’ she said, conscious of her uneven breath, as though she had been running.
They were so close she could hear the rustle of his shirt as he lifted his hand, touching her hair and gently tucking a stray strand behind her ear. Very slowly, he traced her jaw. The skimming touch of his thumb made her catch her breath.
He was so close that she could see the tiny crease on the left side of his cheek from that lop-sided dimple and the firm line of his lips slightly lifted in a smile.
Very slowly, he pulled her nearer to him, touching her lips with his own. The kiss was soft and gentle, a fleeting thing, and yet she felt it through every part of her body. It made her heart beat like a wild thing. It made her breath quicken and a feeling that was both shivery, but also searing, flashed through her. She’d never felt this. Or anything like this. Her every sense was filled by him. She heard nothing except his inhalation and the rustle of straw with his movement. She felt nothing except the warmth of his hand, cupping her chin, his lips warm against her own.
‘You are very beautiful,’ he murmured.
Never before had Millie Lansdowne felt beautiful, but in this moment, and with this man, she felt beautiful.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

With her family facing ruin, and desperate to avoid an arranged marriage, Miss Millie Lansdowne must work with smugglers. Millie knows smuggling isn’t going to be plain sailing, but rescuing a mysterious gentleman in a storm embroils her in a thrilling family drama. Millie soon finds her plans, heart and even her life in jeopardy.

As they fight to stop the wreckers working along Cornwall’s coast, Sam and Millie learn that sometimes plans need to be broken and love can grow in tragedy.

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Meet the Author:

Eleanor Webster has a passion for many things, the most ardent likely being shoes.

But she’s also passionate about a story well told. With the help of some debutantes and viscounts and a twist of the unknown, Eleanor’s stories weave a tale of enchantment, hope, and most importantly, love.

Eleanor works as a school psychologist in British Columbia, Canada. She has also written several children’s books.

When not writing, you’ll find Eleanor dreaming of being a world traveler, reading, running, and hiking. She is married with two daughters, a husband and labradoodle.
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