5 Fun Facts about The Dark Affair
1) Even though we never get to
visit Ireland in the book, I actually stayed in Galway for almost two weeks to
research Margaret's character. I had a bit of fun. Just a bit. :D I will confess to lots of live music sessions
at the pubs, drinking icy cold Bulmers (hard cider), and staring at Galway Bay
for hours on end!
2) I was very passionate about
making Margaret one of the "people" in Ireland rather than seeing
herself as Anglo Irish Aristocracy. This was tricky but important to
accomplish. So many of the nobility did indeed get caught up in the cause for
Ireland's freedom.
3) The English really did see the
Irish as trash. Lazy trash to add insult to injury. They thought the Irish SO
lazy during the famine that they accused the people who lived by the sea of
being so subhuman and unwilling to work, that they were refusing to fish for
their food when the potatoes ran out. Clearly, these people just wanted a hand
out and a break. Tragically, as verified by the Quakers who came into that
region to help the Irish, the Famine otherwise known as An Gort Mór, coincided
with the one of the largest off sea fishing disasters known to Ireland. The
fish simply disappeared, compounding the food issue. A vast majority of the
English refused to believe this.
4) The famous Claddagh ring
actually comes from an area of Galway called The Claddagh. It is almost
painfully beautiful. It was also one of the hardest hit areas by the potato
blight, hence Margaret's intimate knowledge of the famine.
5) Powers and his father represent
the many English families that did support the Irish cause, specifically the
right to Home Rule.
Bonus fact: Morphine and the
intravenous needle were brand new at the time The Dark Affair takes place. So,
the use of it is cutting edge and the doctors genuinely believed it wouldn't
lead to addiction because addiction came from hunger, hunger came from the
stomach, and when the drug was administered through the vein, it bypassed the
stomach, avoiding addiction. . . As they discovered later, this wasn't true at
all.
About The Dark Affair:
The Victorian era was full of
majestic beauty and scandalous secrets—a time when corsets were the least of a
woman’s restrictions, and men could kill or be killed in the name of honor…...
Lady Margaret
Cassidy left a life of nobility behind in Ireland, forsaking her grieving
homeland to aid war-ravaged men in England. Still, she never expected a cruel
turn of fate to lock her into an unwanted betrothal with one of her English
patients—much less one as broken and dangerous as Viscount Powers.
Wrecked by his
tragic past, Powers’ opiate-addled sanity hangs precariously in the balance,
leaving him poised to destroy anyone who dares to utter the names of the wife
and child he still so deeply mourns. So when he is forced to marry Margaret in
exchange for freedom, he is shocked by the desire to earn her trust, her body,
and—most alarming of all—her heart….
Buy Links:
More About The Book: http://www.maireclaremont.com/#!the-dark-affair/cey
Bio:
2011 Golden Heart winner Máire
Claremont first fell in love with Mr. Rochester, not Mr. Darcy. Drawn to his
dark snark, she longed to find a tortured hero of her own… until she realized
the ramifications of Mr. Rochester locking his frst wife up in his attic.
Discovering the errors of her ways, Máire now looks for a real-life Darcy and
creates deliciously dark heroes on the page. Oh, and she wants everyone to know
her name is pronounced Moira. Her parents just had to give her an Irish Gaelic
name.
Links:
Giveaway:
A signed copy of THE DARK AFFAIR (US/CA). Please run the
giveaway for a week and send me the winner’s info.
