When done well, historical romance novels allow us to reimagine times and places populated by characters who reflect modern ideas and sensibilities. “I wound up taking a beginning course online and then entered the New Writers’ Scheme from the British Romantic Novelists’ Association.” The program offers new writers a critical review of a manuscript, which encouraged Dunmore to brave the publication journey. When Dunmore decided to tell this sophisticated and thought-provoking story, she hadn’t studied writing at all. I needed to help him find his moral compass, which, in the final version, is an extremely important aspect of who he is, and why he ultimately wins-and deserves-Annabelle.” When I first wrote him, he was not a pleasant man. He really straddles a fine line between being honorable and entitled. Montgomery was a little more complicated. “Annabelle especially came to me nearly fully fledged. Will he let love or duty win?ĭunmore says she didn’t exactly set out to write a novel, but the characters kept niggling at her. Montgomery definitely notices her, and pretty soon he’s so distracted by her he’s getting into a conflict with his responsibilities. To everyone’s shock, Annabelle accidentally approaches the Duke of Montgomery, the face of conservative Britain. What did Jane Austen say? ‘Let other pens dwell on guilt and misery?’ That sums it up pretty well for me.”īringing Down the Duke is the story of brilliant but destitute Annabelle Archer, who receives a scholarship to be among the first women to study at Oxford, the details of which require her to recruit men of influence to support the women’s suffrage movement. “To me, romance is the ultimate escape because it offers total wish fulfillment. “I’m a business consultant with long working hours, so I mostly read for escape,” she says. It’s obviously set in England and just flowed naturally in English.”ĭunmore came late to the romance genre but fell into it with adoration once she did. Bringing Down The Duke is, in a way, a combination of all of these elements I love. My academic background is in politics and economics, and the Oxford campus is steeped in history. “Then I studied for my degrees in the U.K. So why write in English? “I began studying English in middle school,” says the author, who is German and lives in Berlin. Given the facility of her storytelling and the beauty of her writing, it’s surprising that Dunmore is a debut author-and that English is her second language. 3) , which has received stars and accolades from everyone everywhere (including a Kirkus star).

Chances are, if you’re a fan of historical romance, you’ve heard all the buzz around Evie Dunmore’s debut, Bringing Down the Duke(Berkley, Sept.

Bringing down the duke