A Letter to Miranda Jarrett Fans
Dear Readers,
First of all, I'd like to thank you for your support and kind words over the years! We've traveled together with the Sparhawks, the Fairbournes, and the Pennys, from the wilds of frontier America to the most elegant drawing rooms of Regency London. There's more in store, too. I'll be launching a new series later this year, following Lady Mary and Lady Diana Farren, the daughters of the Duke of Aston, as they travel with their governess across 18th-century Europe -- and find adventure and love along the way. Look for The Adventurous Bride in December, 2006, coming from Harlequin Historicals.
I'd also like to invite you to be among the first to read my new historical novel, Duchess: A Novel of Sarah Churchill. Two years ago, I decided to try writing a longer, more complex book featuring characters based on historical figures and plots drawn from actual events. As Duchess began to evolve, it "felt right" to publish it under a different name: Susan Holloway Scott.
While both my Miranda Jarrett and my Susan Holloway Scott books are set in the historical past, they differ substantially in tone, content, and length. My Jarrett books have concentrated on the romantic relationship between two fictional characters, while my Scott books are told in the first-person, with more characters, more history, and more of the adventure and excitement (and more than a little romance) that you've come to expect from me. While I hope that you'll enjoy both kinds of books, I want you to realize up front which you're reading, and that the two different author names will make this easier for you.
I know that many of you have especially enjoyed how most of my historical romances have been interlocking stories, following different members of families like the Sparhawks and the Fairbournes. You'll be glad to know that this kind of connection among books is already happening with my historical novels as well.
My first three books in this series are Duchess (available in August, 2006, from New American Library), Royal Harlot: A Novel of King Charles II and the Countess of Castlemaine (August, 2007), and a third book (still unnamed) about actress and royal mistress Nell Gwynn. All three are set in the bawdy Restoration Court of King Charles II. The 17 th-century scandals and intrigues of this notorious court form the backdrop for these stories, with many of the same characters appearing in all three books. This may also be the only time in my writing career when history has dictated that the hero of one book (dashing John Churchill of Duchess) is the young lover “in keeping” of the heroine of another (infamous Barbara Villiers Palmer in Royal Harlot.) Whew!
I hope you’ll join me for these new books by both Miranda Jarrett and Susan Holloway Scott -- it's going to be an exciting ride!