Welcome to another Weekend Read post. My featured book this week is The Laudanum Ladies’ Society by historical romantic fiction author Elisabeth Hobbes. Elisabeth has dropped by today to tell us about the book and her writing life. So grab yourself a cuppa, get cosy and let’s get chatting to Elisabeth.

Blurb

Blurb: In a London that insists women remain quiet, dutiful, and dull, two unlikely conspirators discover a secret that awakens everything society tells them to suppress…

Jenny Rosewood – single, clever and nearly thirty, heaven forbid – has long disguised herself as a man to attend nighttime lectures and chase knowledge forbidden to her. But when an accidental alteration of her uncle’s sleeping draught unleashes a dizzying rush of freedom, Jenny sees an opportunity.

Together with Gwen Walters, a pharmacist’s wife hidden in her husband’s shadow, they form a covert sisterhood where London’s ladies gather to indulge in their secret tincture under the guise of afternoon tea.

Soon, society’s most proper ladies are sipping their way toward inspiration, rebellion and risk.

Because once women taste freedom, no amount of decorum can force it back in the bottle.

Excerpt:

Mrs Walters cleared her throat. ‘It strikes me that if you will pay me for this mixture, there might be others who would do so, too.’

‘Other women?’ Jenny asked. Her stomach tightened. Could it be that Mrs Walters had come to the same conclusion?

‘Yes. Women who might be grateful for the relief it offers. I didn’t mean to make it, of course, but, well, now that I have, it seems to me a great shame not to offer the benefits to others.’

‘This is a very sudden change of heart!’ Jenny said, concealing her euphoria. ‘Last time we met, you were barely prepared to contemplate making this for me and now you are considering selling it to others. What has changed?’

Mrs Walters turned and walked slowly away. Jenny fell in at her side.

‘You know I have been doing what I am doing because my husband has been slightly incapacitated,’ said Mrs Walters.

‘And he needs to pay for his eye surgery. Yes, I know. It must be very expensive,’ Jenny prompted. Money lay at the heart of so many choices.

‘It is, but that’s not the reason I want to do this.’ Mrs Walters lifted her head and pushed back her veil. The habitual nervous look in her eyes had vanished. ‘I am going to be very candid with you, Miss Rosewood. It’s true that I have been doing my husband’s job out of necessity. However, I have discovered that I find preparing the medications enjoyable and stimulating. When Archibald is able to resume his duties himself, I will be allowed no part of it. I wish to find a way to occupy myself while making an independent income. In short, I want to do it for myself.’

She held Jenny’s eyes, as if daring her to object. Jenny, however, had no intention of doing any such thing.

‘Mrs Walters, thank you for confiding in me. I think I understand perfectly. It is one of the great injustices of our world that a woman is reliant on a man and his whims. I think your enterprise is an excellent idea.’

She felt a rush of admiration towards Mrs Walters for attempting to take control of her lot.

‘In fact, I think it is so excellent that I would like to throw my lot in with yours. I have no idea how to manufacture your tincture, but I might know people who would buy it. If you make it, may I become involved in selling it?’

The expression of pleasure on Mrs Walters’ face was the answer she needed.

‘I was hoping you would! The problem I have, is that I don’t particularly know many women other than neighbours or the wives of Archibald’s friends, so I couldn’t really ask them myself,’ Mrs Walters said. ‘But I wonder if you are more sociable than I am, and whether you might know of anyone who would be interested?’

‘I’m not particularly sociable,’ Jenny mused. ‘Being perfectly honest, I tend to avoid my uncle’s acquaintances, but I’m sure I will be able to think of one or two customers.’

Mrs Walters held out a hand. ‘I will make it, if you find buyers.’

Buying link mybook.to/LaudanumLadiesSoc

Welcome to my blog, Elisabeth. Has any author inspired you?

From a historical perspective I absolutely love Lindsey Davis who writes about a low status private informer in Vespasian’s Rome, using a Sam Spade style of language and modern vernacular. She has the knack of slipping facts into the story and bringing the setting to life without it being a history lesson. I also adore Sit Terry Pratchett’s knack of creating characters you care deeply about, whether they’re a drunken underdog, a dwarf discovering pronouns or an accidental prophet.

What do you like writing most? I love exploring characters and seeing how a historical setting can change a person’s actions and attitudes. In The Laudanum Ladies’ Society Gwen is older than I’ve written before. Nearing forty, she’s contending with life as an empty-nester in a marriage that has grown dull and stale, and starting to feel the first flushes of perimenopause. She lives at a time when women were barred from certain professions, such as pharmacy, however circumstances force her into the role of accidental chemist. I loved writing her coming of middle-age and rediscovering her power as a woman.

Are you a pantster or a plotter? I’m a bit of both. With The Laudanum Ladies’ Society being inspired by Breaking Bad there were certain characters I wanted to pay homage to, and events to include so I planned a lot at the start. Of course then the characters went off on their own escapades as they always do. The genius of Breaking Bad was how the audience ends up alternately rooting for and hating the protagonists as they find themselves pulled into darker places throughout the series and commit some pretty awful acts. I was never going to write anything as visceral as some of the scenes, but I wanted the chance to play around with the murky underbelly of Victorian society and push my characters to the edge of their morality. I should point out that it isn’t essential to have watched the series, though if you have it might be fun spotting parallels between characters.

What are you writing at the moment? I’m working on ideas set during the Second World War. I’ve previously written two books in the period both set in France (The Secret Agent and Daughters of Paris) and I enjoy it so it’s nice to revisit the time period. I love seeing how ordinary people found themselves capable of extraordinary feats of bravery.

What inspired you to write this book? The Laudanum Ladies’ Society started off as a discussion with my kids. They’d got into Breaking Bad (they are both adults so I’m not a neglectful parent) and we got talking about whether the story would translate to another time period. I’d recently published My Fair Lord which is a gender reversed take on My Fair Lady which I had enjoyed writing immensely, so my mind was on what other stories that could work with. We speculated whether Breaking Bad would work in Victorian London and if switching the protagonists to women would make them too unlikeable.

What time of the day do you write best? I teach full time so my days (and often evenings) are out of the picture until the school holidays. I often dictate as I commute then send myself voice notes. It’s a bit disjointed but I find it works, and readers have said they like my voice as it sounds as if I’m actually telling the story- which I suppose I am.

What are your hobbies? After years of watching The Great Pottery Throwdown I plucked up the courage to join a potter evening class in January. I absolutely love it. I make a lot of very wonky pots and come home covered to the elbows but it is very satisfying and two hours when I don’t think about work or writing. I also love travelling. My husband and I have a small touring caravan so I try to get away and explore new places as often as I can. Often they end up in stories.

Thanks so much for dropping by to talk to us today, Elisabeth. Your new book sounds fascinating, I hope it soars!

Meet Elisabeth

Author Bio

Elisabeth began writing in secret, but when she came third in Harlequin’s So You Think You Can Write contest in 2013, she was offered a two-book contract, and consequently had to admit why the house was such a tip.  Elisabeth has written historical romantic fiction for One More Chapter and Harlequin Mills & Boon, spanning the Middle Ages to the Second World War. She writes fantasy/folklore influenced novels as Elisabeth J. Hobbes.

Elisabeth teaches Key Stage One but she’d rather be writing full time because unlike five-year-olds, her characters generally do what she tells them.  When she isn’t writing, she spends most of her spare time reading and is a pro at cooking one-handed while holding a book.

She was born and raised in York but now lives in Cheshire because her car broke down there in 1999 and she never left.

Contact links

Bookbub https://www.bookbub.com/profile/elisabeth-hobbes?follow=true

Amazon viewauthor.at/ElisabethHobbes

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/elisabethhobbes_author/

More of Elisabeth’s books