⭐ Series Spotlight ⭐
Ladies of Carson Street:
A Widow’s Vow
Trouble For The Leading Lady
A Very Modern Marriage
by Rachel Brimble
A Widow’s Vow
From grieving widow...
1851. After her merchant husband saved her from a life of prostitution, Louisa Hill was briefly happy as a housewife in Bristol. But then a constable arrives at her door. Her husband has been found hanged in a Bath hotel room, a note and a key to a property in Bath the only things she has left of him. And now the debt collectors will come calling.
To a new life as a madam.
Forced to leave everything she knows behind, Louisa finds more painful betrayals waiting for her in the house in Bath. Left with no means of income, Louisa knows she has nothing to turn to but her old way of life. But this time, she'll do it on her own terms – by turning her home into a brothel for upper class gentleman. And she's determined to spare the girls she saves from the street the horrors she endured in the past.
Enlisting the help of Jacob Jackson, a quiet but feared boxer, to watch over the house, Louisa is about to embark on a life she never envisaged. Can she find the courage to forge this new path?
A Widow's Vow is the first in a gripping and gritty new Victorian saga series from Rachel Brimble. You won't be able to put it down.
Trouble For The Leading Lady
Bath, 1852.
As a girl, Nancy Bloom would go to Bath's Theatre Royal, sit on the hard wooden benches and stare in awe at the actresses playing men as much as the women dressed in finery. She longed to be a part of it all and when a man promised her parents he could find a role for Nancy in the theatre, they believed him.
His lie and betrayal led to her ruin.
Francis Carlyle is a theatre manager, an ambitious man always looking for the next big thing to take the country by storm. A self-made man, Francis has finally shed the skin of his painful past and is now rich, successful and in need of a new female star. Never in a million years did he think he'd find her standing on a table in one of Bath's bawdiest pubs.
Nancy vowed never to trust a man again. Francis will do anything to make her his star. As they engage in a battle of wits and wills, can either survive with their hearts intact?
The second in Rachel Brimble's thrilling new Victorian saga series, Trouble for the Leading Lady will whisk you away to the riotous, thriving underbelly of Victorian Bath.
A Very Modern Marriage
He needs a wife...
Manchester industrialist William Rose was a poor lad from the slums who pulled himself up by his bootstraps, but in order to achieve his greatest ambitions he must become the epitome of Victorian respectability: a family man.
She has a plan...
But the only woman who's caught his eye is sophisticated beauty Octavia Marshall, one of the notorious ladies of Carson Street. Though she was once born to great wealth and privilege, she's hardly respectable, but she's determined to invest her hard-earned fortune in Mr Rose's mills and forge a new life as an entirely proper businesswoman.
They strike a deal that promises them both what they desire the most, but William's a fool if he thinks Octavia will be a conventional married woman, and she's very much mistaken if she thinks the lives they once led won't follow them wherever they go.
In the third instalment of Rachel Brimble's exciting Victorian saga series, The Ladies of Carson Street will open the doors on a thoroughly modern marriage – and William is about to get a lot more than he bargained for...
Introducing the Ladies of Carson Street…
The idea for the Ladies of Carson Street trilogy came to me after reading The Five by Hallie Rubenhold, but I had deep reservations about going ahead with it. After all, how many historical romance fans would be drawn to a trio of books about three prostitutes living and working together in the backstreets of Victorian Bath? Yet, as time went on, Louisa Hill, the female character who would become the heroine of the first book, shouted louder and louder that I needed to tell her story. She wanted to show me the circumstances of how she found herself in the position she is in and how it was important for it to be shared and understood. So, I surrendered and put my fingers to the keyboard…
A Widow’s Vow secures the friendship of the three women featured in the books and sets the tone for the trilogy which - although dark in places - is really about resilience, self-belief, hope and, of course, everlasting love.
As an author of romantic fiction, I believe everyone deserves their happy ever after, and it is that belief that drives me to write about the poorer people in society. These are people who struggle in every way, not just in love. Having the opportunity to write stories of triumph over adversity and loneliness to love gives me (and I hope my readers!) immense joy.
The second book in the series, Trouble For The Leading Lady is Nancy Bloom’s story and follows her through the backstreet taverns of Bath, to the workhouse, to the Theatre Royal. A good-time girl, Nancy is sensitive and funny…not to mention one of my favourite heroines ever. Her story was an emotional journey for me from beginning to end, but I hope my readers understand why I had to write her story…
The third and final part of the trilogy is Octavia’s story. A Very Modern Marriage sees our heroine faced with a life-changing decision, one that pushes Octavia from her comfort zone and all she has come to care about and rely upon. I loved taking Octavia from Bath to the cotton mills of Manchester in this story.
A Very Modern Marriage concludes the trilogy and, from the wonderful reader and blogger reviews it’s received, I think I’ve managed to complete the Ladies of Carson Street just how fans of the series hoped!
Rachel Brimble
Rachel lives in a small town near Bath, England. She is the author of 29 published novels including the Ladies of Carson Street series, the Shop Girl series (Aria Fiction) and the Templeton Cove Stories (Harlequin). She hope to see one of her early Victorian novels republished by the end of 2023 with a brand new historical novel coming in May 2024.
Rachel is a member of the Romantic Novelists Association and has thousands of social media followers all over the world.
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Thanks for hosting me! Looking forward to chatting with your visitors 😊😊
ReplyDeleteIt's always a pleasure to host you, Rachel. :-)
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