Working on the Next Book -- Lady Olivia's Undoing

Good Morning. Once I publish a book, I let it go into the universe with my very best wishes and never want to see it again. I look forward to future writing. And so, one week after publishing THE CAPTAIN'S COINCIDENCE, I started working on LADY OLIVIA'S UNDOING. (I took a week off to clean my house and get my yard prepped for spring.)

Lady Olivia

I've been writing like a maniac, mostly because this story has been brewing in my head for the last year or so. LADY OLIVIA'S UNDOING is one of the prequels to the last book in the series THE SEDUCTION OF MR. SUMMERVILLE. Lady Olivia has been a stalwart character in all of my books and I've wanted to give her her own story for quite a while.

Unfortunately for Lady Olivia, things do not go as she plans and she finds her world turned completely upside down. I'm so excited about this book, I don't even know where to begin to tell you about it.

Henry Wade,
Marquess of Dunbury

Let me try. Remember a couple of months ago, I told you I had been searching for a new Lady Olivia, and that I found Phyllidia Law to portray her. Well, I changed my mind again. Even Phyllidia did not have what I wanted in my latest version of Olivia so I found a new one. Isn't she great. I think she can fall in love with Quiggins all over again.

However there's also another reason why I needed a new Lady O. I've been going on about this "secret" she has for the last several months, but when I started writing her new story, I found another one... About this man. Henry Wade, the Marquess of Dunbury. Isn't he just delicious? Don't you think they'd make a great pair. Yeah, me too.

John Quiggins

But what about Quiggins, you may ask? Isn't Olivia in love with Quiggins? I thought they were having a glorious affair, so taboo, considering he's a butler. Ah, yes, my ever indefatigable John Quiggins.

Well, the problem with Olivia is that she's loved Henry Wade since she was 20. Unfortunately, she was betrothed to the Duke of Caymore and had to abide by her parents wishes. Henry, broken-hearted, left for the war. Well, 37 years later, their paths cross again** and Henry and Olivia meet and fall in love. They spend a wonderful year together. However, Olivia leaves Henry in a fit of pique because he won't marry her. And then all that trouble with Penny happened (THE LADY'S MASQUERADE) and Olivia never resolved her issues with Henry. Then she met John and fell in love with him. Yes, even duchesses fall in and out of love.

In LADY OLIVIA'S UNDOING, we finally get the whole story about Lady Olivia, who she truly is and how she came to be one of the most powerful influential in London during the Regency. I bounce back and forth through her memories to the present day. It's all very fascinating to me. I've never quite written a love story like this. And yes, it is a love story.

I've also done something I do not normally do in my books...I only have one Point of View (POV). Olivia's. I didn't want Quiggins mucking up the business of being in my head and changing my story. So I left him out. Therefore, the entire book is all Olivia.

We get to meet her family, her friends, find out what secrets she holds, and how her influence has shaped and destroyed lives. Oh yes, everything Olivia has done up until this point in her life has been for purely selfish reasons. And in SEDUCTION she gets her comeuppance. But that's another story.

So there we have it.

On another note, I do not think I will be posting regularly through the month of April. I would like to really concentrate on this book and just write it so I will be able to publish it before the summer. If I have enough time, perhaps I'll even be able to work on THE LADY'S SECRET. Another prequel to SEDUCTION. Another fascinating look at a different side of Lady Olivia's family.

** Olivia's affair with Henry begins with the new series THE LADIES OF DUNBURY. Coming from Shore Road Publishing in 2015. (Or late 2014 if I can keep my head above water.)

Tell me -- How impatient are you for a new book in a series to come out? Or do you just read them when you find them?

Anne Gallagher (c) 2014