TRAVEL WITH SERENA--GUEST AUTHOR SUZI LOVE ON 1840'S ENGLISH TRAIN TRAVEL

Author Suzi Love lives in Australia after spending many years in developing countries in the South Pacific. She adore history, especially the many-layered societies of the late Regency to early Victorian eras, and has used this time period in her writing. She not only portrays the privileged lives of her heroes and heroines but also the grittier and seamier levels of British life. Learn more about Suzi and her books at her website. 

Hi, I'm Suzi Love and the year is 1843. I'm thrilled to be taking you on a train journey through the English countryside with the heroine of Embracing Scandal, the first book in my Scandalous Siblings Series.  

Lady Rebecca Jamison is travelling with her sisters to the country estate of Lord and Lady Hetherington, and though Becca doesn't know it yet, she is about to place herself within the grasp of her enemy. But for now, Becca and her family are enjoying the novelty of traveling to the country by train, in contrast with past years when the only way to travel was by carriage over dreadful roads.

Paddington Station

The family departs from one of the new and bustling rail stations in London.

Then the steam train cuts across large tracts of country that Becca had never traveled before, because this land has always been private and many of the landowners are angry that the new railways dissect their estates.

Crowds watching the train pass

Along the way, Becca sees crowds of onlookers who come to watch every train pass as it is still such a novelty. But often the people stand too close to the tracks and Becca and her sisters are terrified that one of them will be knocked over when the steam blasts out of the train's furnaces. The engine driver pulls hard on his whistle to warn them to stand back and the train chugs out of the country station. 

  

Becca's train passes slowly over one of the new high viaducts and she can look down on the river they are crossing. All these new railway bridges make the trip to the country much shorter than it used to be.

Train viaduct

Along the way, there is plenty of room on the train to move about and talk to the other passengers that Becca knows, including the Duke of Sherwyn, who Becca has coerced into helping her find enough proof about an illegal investment syndicate so she can go to Scotland Yard and demand justice be done. 

Becca and her family are pleased to finally arrive at Lord Hetherington's estate for a weekend of country pleasures, including horse riding and archery.   

I hope you enjoyed this country train journey with my heroine and hero. 

Embracing Scandal 

The first in my scandal series with heroines whose scientific knowledge and intellect are an affront to increasingly prudish early Victorian society. A lady, a mathematical genius, saves her family from financial ruin by dabbling in the London stock exchange. When a greedy syndicate threatens them, she begs help from her nemesis, the duke, her lifelong friend before a scandal involving her cousin. 

As the duke and his lady rekindle old passions, he uses old skills as a spy to protect her. After beating the illegal consortium, he faces the even greater challenge of convincing this self-sufficient spinster of the benefits of becoming his duchess.

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