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ello! You’ve found me! I’m in my writing cave, surrounded by a library of books on the 18^th century, with technology at my fingertips, and the ever-present cup of coffee. (I must give up this vile drink one day!)

I

now write full-time, immersed in my beloved Georgian world. As to formal qualifications, here they are:

• Bachelor of Arts degree majoring in history, political science (honors) and law from the Australian National University (ANU).
  
  
• Post Graduate Diploma in Education from Bond University (Bond). Vice Chancellor’s Honors list, first in Humanities, Frank Surman Award for academic excellence in Education (Bond).
  
  
• University College tutor in political science and history (Burgmann College, ANU).
  
  
• History and Geography teacher at a private girls’ boarding school.
  
  
• 40+ years researching, studying, and establishing a study library about 18^th Century England, France, the American Colonies, and Europe.

I’

ve studied and taught about a wide variety of historical periods—from Akhenaten’s Egypt to the Julio-Claudian emperors of Rome, Medieval Britain to the American Revolutionary War, and the two World Wars, but I always return to the 18^th century. If there was such a thing as reincarnation, then my previous life was definitely in the 1700s. I’ve been drawn to the Georgian era, and in particular the France of Louis XV, since I picked up a copy of Alfred Cobban’s (rather dry and imageless) A History of Modern France Vol 1: 1715-1799 when I was 11 years old, and I knew here was my time. If I did live then, I’m sure to have been guillotined in the French Revolution. While I applaud the ideals and eventual outcomes for the people of that turbulent time, the senseless deaths and destruction of property and art makes my blood run cold. So I don’t go there in my books.

But what is it about the 18^th Century that draws me in? Historian Janice Hadlow expresses it well when she says:

The 18^th century was a time when many people began to think beyond the religious restrictions of the previous age, asked questions about their place in the world, both natural and temporal, went exploring across vast unchartered oceans, made medical, scientific and technological breakthroughs which meant life was more bearable, livable, and safer. It was also a time when people from all walks gave themselves permission to enjoy life for its own sake (a novel concept).

Georgian architecture, art, and landscape gardening are sublime. The decorative arts greatly coveted, and the embroidered fashions for both men and women of the aristocracy, and those who could afford such sartorial splendor, swoon-worthy.

Like Hadlow, I’m intrigued by the contradictions of this age. On the one hand, the Georgians loved order, politeness, manners, and restraint. Yet, they were also full of energy; loud, forthright, often violent, greedy, and passionate. They lived life to the full, extracting the maximum worth and pleasure from their days, be it out on the London streets hawking their wares, sitting in their great home libraries surrounded by their books and objet d’art, making money in trade and trading, or continuing to farm the land their fathers, grandfathers, and great grandfathers had tilled before them. And it is through my novels, and the experiences of my characters, that I share my passion for the Georgians and hope that you, too, will come to appreciate and enjoy the 18^th Century in all its glorious gorgeousness.

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ut simply, aristocrats had it all—wealth, power, enviable lifestyles, and scandal was never far away. Just as we are obsessed with billionaire and celebrity lives today, so, too, the Georgians were obsessed with the lives of their first families. Writing about the aristocracy gives me greater scope to showcase what it is I love and find fascinating about the 1700s. I also wish to correct the notion that these people were less than human because of their title and wealth, and dispel the myths entrenched by later Victorians that their Georgian grandparents were unwashed, immoral, corrupt care-for-nobodies.

Georgians cared very much about the world they lived in. They worried about the future for their children. Most had companionate marriages and set out to live productive lives. They were farmers, politicians, diplomats, bureaucrats, soldiers, scientists, writers, philosophers and patrons of the arts, sciences, and exploration.

I

write because I must, and I write from the heart. I write only what I love to read. What I don’t do is write to trends, because I do not seek to discover what those trends are.

I write long books that are 100,000 words or more, and which take a year to research and complete. That’s because I want you to have a satisfying story with well-developed characters that you will come to know intimately.

I make no apologies for the type of book I write, which aims to immerse you in an 18^th century world that is both engaging and entertaining. Sometimes it will be challenging, in content or language, or both. I never talk down to my readers, or dumb down my stories to give unnecessary explanations that are unworthy of your intelligence, and mine. My characters not only dress in 18^th Century clothing, but I seek to ensure that they behave within the historical framework of their time, place, and societal class structure. I do not seek to modernize their thinking or behaviors to suit present day expectations. To do so would be doing you and me, and my years of research, a disservice.

That said, just as I am conscious that Georgette Heyer wrote her Regencies with an Edwardian mindset, I am aware that I write in the 21^st Century, and with the benefit of hindsight. Yet my aim, like hers, is to not only entertain but also to give you a window into a world, and, I hope, encourage you to explore further all that is wonderful about the 18^th Century.

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hether you want to email me, stay in touch through my newsletter (buttons at the bottom of every page—just scroll to the end), or interact with me and readers who love my books in my Facebook group Lucinda’s Gorgeous Georgians, it’s up to you.

Looking forward to hearing from you,

xo