A Letter from Danielle for July ’17
Hi Everyone,
July at last!!! The summer month we’ve been waiting for all year!!! Vacations!!! Fourth of July!! Beach time!!! Sheer Heaven. I love the summer months. I take a vacation with five of my children every year in July. We used to give a big fourth of July party every year, for all ages. We had line dancing, carnival games, a fortune teller, hot dogs, hamburgers, corn on the cob, fried chicken, apple pie and ice cream! We stopped doing it when we spent our summer vacation in France, but I miss those Fourth of July parties. I hope you had some kind of celebration or picnic or barbecue earlier this week for the holiday.
I love it when we have the whole summer still ahead of us, and the summer is really just getting started. I love catching up on all the books I want to read. My new book THE DUCHESS just came out hardcover. It’s a historical novel set in the nineteenth century about an enterprising young English woman, adored by her father, who dies when she is 18, and according to the laws of the times, her half brother by her father’s previous marriage inherits everything. Women were not allowed to inherit property then, and her half brother casts her out of her home. She is forced to become a governess, and when she loses that job due to a nasty employer, she ventures from England to Paris. Desperate for a job and unable to get one without a reference, she comes up with a shocking idea. She rents a house, meets a group of somewhat scandalous very attractive young women of the night, and she becomes the madam of the most elegant brothel in Paris, which she sets up. Soon all the most important and powerful men in Paris are her clients, though she doesn’t sleep with them herself. Beautiful, young, admired, desired, aristocratic, a Duchess by birth, she becomes the talk of Paris – in whispers. A scandal forces her to leave Paris, and everything behind. She sails to New York, and begins a new life there, a proper life once again. Her past follows her to America, and she rebuilds her life, which takes some fascinating twists and turns. I loved the idea of a brave young woman, using her wits, courage, and dignity to survive. I hope you love the story and it becomes your favorite summer read, whether on vacation or at home!!!
I hope you have fun this July, get to take some time off, and go on vacation … or at least get to the beach, a lake or the countryside nearby on weekends. We all need to take a break when we can.
Happy summer – and have a fabulous July!!!
Love,
Danielle