Our special guest today is Author, Caroline Warfield, here to tell us about her book, Tatterd Honor and a little bit more.
Travel is one of my great joys, and often the source of ideas. I once sat at an outdoor cafe in Rome, surrounded by ancient stone buildings glowing with late afternoon sunshine, at peace with the world. A thought occurred to me, “Could I set a Regency novel in Rome?” The answer was, of course, yes and I was off and running. It was my first travel engendered story, but it wouldn’t be the last.
The first part was easy, all roads lead to Rome. It was a major destination on the Grand Tour. Byron visited. Keats lived there in an apartment off the Spanish Steps and died their in 1821. But I had questions to answer.
The French were gone but who ruled there? The pope did! Rome was the center of the papal states and by 1820 Pius VII had returned there after being kidnapped and forced to officiate at Napoleon’s coronation. Interesting character Pius VII. I had to give him a cameo. The papal courts play a prominent role, too.
But did England have diplomatic relations with them? The answer turned out to be no, mostly over religious conflict. England handled its relations with the Holy See through the Hanoverian embassy. I created an English official to work out of there.
What was going on in what is now Italy at that point? It was of course divided into small kingdoms. Some of them were experiencing unrest, particularly the Kingdom of Naples. People may have been happy to see the back of the Bonapartes, but they wanted to keep the Napoleonic Code, constitutional government and rule of law. Elsewhere, the Kingdom of Sardinia was relatively quiet, but the powers that be—in that case members of the House of Savoy—were uneasy and watchful.
Out of this stew I created a small girl with an English father and a mother from the House of Savoy. I also created a great uncle who did not approve of the marriage and approved even less of her very English aunt (my heroine) determined to retain guardianship left to her in the father’s will. The conflict is spiced by traitors in the Savoy household in Rome.
My hero? A down on his luck English major who takes a job as an interpreter in order to eat and is drawn into the mess.
I was surprised during that trip to discover that Bonnie Prince Charlie is buried in Saint Peter’s Basilica. A much more unexpected discovery was that the House of Savoy was the heir to the Jacobite line of succession, through James I’s daughter Eleanor, after Charlie and his brother Henry died childless. Savoy never made claims on the succession, but in 1820, only seventy-five years after Culloden, it seemed plausible that the English would keep an eye on them.
Oh the tangled web of history and how fun to wind it into a story.
The result was originally entitled Dangerous Secrets. It has been out of print and unavailable in ebook form for quite a while. I am currently editing it thoroughly again and enlarging it with an all new epilogue. A new edition will be published as Tattered Honor in July, 2026 as Book 4 of a series called Honor at Heart. Books 1 and 2 will be out in March.
About Tattered Honor
When a little brown wren of an Englishwoman bursts into Jamie Heyworth’s private hell and asks for help he mistakes her for the black crow of death. Why not? He fled to Rome and sits in despair with nothing left to sell and no reason to get up in the morning. Behind him lie disgrace, shame, and secrets he is desperate to keep even from powerful friends in London.
Nora Haley comes to Rome at the bidding of her dying brother who has an unexpected legacy. Never in her sunniest dreams did Nora expect Robert to leave her a treasure, a tiny blue-eyed niece with curly hair and warm hugs. Nora will do anything to keep her, even hire a shabby, drunken major as an interpreter.
Jamie can’t let Nora know the secrets he has hidden from everyone, even his closest friends. Nora can’t trust any man who drinks. She had enough of that in her marriage. Either one, however, will dare anything for the little imp that keeps them together, even enter a sham marriage to protect her. Will love—and the truth—bind them both together?
Watch for preorder the first of June.
Cover reveal: The cover of the new edition
Award winning author, Caroline Warfield, grew up in a peripatetic army family, and the need to travel never left her. After a varied career (largely around libraries and technology) she retired to the urban wilds of eastern Pennsylvania to be closer to family and to write. She remains a traveler and adventurer, enamored of owls, books, history, and beautiful gardens (but not the act of gardening). She writes family centered, emotionally rich, sensual stories set in the Regency and Victorian periods.
Website http://www.carolinewarfield.com/
Amazon Author http://www.amazon.com/Caroline-Warfield/e/B00N9PZZZS/
Good Reads http://bit.ly/1C5blTm
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/WarfieldFellowTravelers
Newsletter: http://www.carolinewarfield.com/newsletter/
BookBub https://www.bookbub.com/authors/caroline-warfield
You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCycyfKdNnZlueqo8MlgWyWQ
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/carowarfield.bsky.social