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| Photo of Old West courtesy of RedRock Photography of Wichita |
Today
we sit down for a chat with Anna Harrison, the heroine of author Cate Simon’s Courting Anna.
What was your life like
before your author started pulling your strings?
I was practicing law in my small town in (1880s)
Montana, training my clerk Jeremy, and starting to think about the future for
my ward Sarah. I’d loved and lost when I was much younger, and I was all right
with that. Until my author had me cross paths with Jeremiah Brown . . . .
What’s the
one trait you like most about yourself?
My independence – I’ve always done what’s right for
me, which is not necessarily true for women in my day.
What do you
like least about yourself?
I’m hopelessly undomesticated, which in my time
period is very unusual for a woman. I was never much good at cooking or sewing.
When my mother tried to teach me to cook, as a child, I nearly set the kitchen
on fire more than once. After that, she agreed it was better that I hang around
daddy’s law office instead.
What is the
strangest thing your author has had you do or had happen to you? Well, there’s this Internet thing. We’re still getting
the hang of the telegraph where I’m from. Inside my story, probably the
coincidence that Sarah and I went on holiday to Colorado Springs at the same
time that Jeremiah and his partner Ed showed up in town.
Do you
argue with your author? If so, what do you argue about?
Mostly she understands me, but sometimes it’s a
little intrusive, the things she asks. Back in my day, there were things you
didn’t talk about so openly.
What is
your greatest fear?
Losing my independence. In my day, a married woman
lost her legal status – everything belonged to her husband, she couldn’t enter
into contracts, etc.
What makes
you happy?
Reading – especially when a new shipment of books
comes in from my bookseller back East. Riding and hiking in the mountains;
Sarah and I like to explore, together. Battling Nick in the courtroom. Getting
to know Jeremiah Brown.
If you
could rewrite a part of your story, what would it be? Why?
I wish my parents had still been alive when my story
began – I miss them. (They died in a train derailment three or four years
beforehand.)
Of the other characters in
your book, which one bugs you the most? Why?
Nick Powell, my best enemy. He’s one of my dearest
friends, but we’re always trying to outdo each other, in court, in negotiations,
in life. We’re evenly matched, which makes it enjoyable, but sometimes it’s
tiring.
Of the other characters in
your book, which one would you love to trade places with? Why?
I’m quite happy being me.
Tell us a little something
about your author. Where can readers find her website/blog?
Cate was a lawyer, like I am – but she preferred
storytelling and went back to graduate school, so she could teach college,
instead. We like a lot of the same books – George Eliot, Wilkie Collins, Crime
and Punishment, and so on. I
don’t understand why she disliked being a lawyer so much, but then, she keeps
telling me that I really should learn to cook. Her website is at www.catesimon.com – she’s got pictures of
her family back in my era, and Western scenery by a really talented
photographer friend. And she’s adding stories to her blog about early women
lawyers like me – the first in the U.S. was in 1869!
What's next for you?
Living happily ever after. Right now Cate is
working on a book about another woman, a Western lawyer very much like me – but
who heads East, to the very different world of Gilded Age New York City, who
finds herself trying to help a family friend who’s been accused of murder. After
all, as a lawyer, she knows what to look for!
Courting Anna
Beautiful Anna Harrison has carved out her life as a
small-town lawyer. Brilliantly intelligent and fiercely independent, a female
attorney of her caliber is quite the oddity in 1880s Montana territory! After
losing her fiancé years before, she guards her heart as carefully as her
treasured independence – until outlaw Jeremiah Brown comes into her life. Throwing
caution to the wind is against Anna’s nature – but what
can one night with her handsome client hurt? He’s leaving town the next day . .
. .
Jeremiah Brown has been working hard to come clean
and dodge bounty hunters who know him as notorious outlaw Tommy Slade until the
statute of limitations runs out on his past crimes. Though he’s irresistibly
drawn to Anna, he’s well aware that sleeping with his beautiful attorney is a
deadly game to play, even if it’s only “just” one night. Still, how can he
resist?
But Fate has different plans for them, and they find
themselves falling in love against their better judgment. How can they have a
future with a price still on Jeremiah’s head? And how can Anna find happiness
as a wife without losing her own hard-won independence? When circumstances
spiral out of their control, they both discover that love is the most important
thing of all.
In the courtroom, in the wilderness, and in the face
of scandal, Jeremiah’s biggest challenge is Courting
Anna.
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5 comments:
Thanks so much, Anastasia and Lois!
P.S. Anna says to apologize; her law clerk's name is Jonathan. She must have had a certain someone on the brain when she called him Jeremy. *cough*
Very intriguing!
That was fun! But hey, I'd love to know how things are going...!
Mary, I'm playing with the idea of a sequel. But first, the mystery novel.
Anonymous, thanks!
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