It’s my pleasure to introduce Ruth Axtell, author of Her Good Name. Ruth Axtell has loved stories set in the 19th century ever since she read Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre and other 19th century classics. Like many romance writers, Ruth decided to write her own in order to read the kind of story she liked best.
Currently, Ruth lives on the downeast coast of Maine with her three children and two cats. She enjoys the challenge of vegetable and flower gardening in a cool, foggy climate, long walks, reading, watching British period dramas like Downton Abbey, and doing historical research for her novels.
Her Good Name
Holliston, Maine 1892,
No matter how striking she is, a fisherman's daughter doesn't stand a chance with Warren Brentwood, the heir of the local lumber empire. So in an effort to better her life and eventually catch Warren's eye, Espy takes a job at the local professor's home. But when the professor begins to tutor her, the rumors begin to fly.
Scandal turns Espy's world upside down and she flees town in disgrace. Alone and penniless, Espy has nothing left but her faith when she is rescued by a missionary family. Espy longs to return home freed from the lies that surrounded her departure. But will anyone--particularly Warren--believe in her professed innocence?
Welcome to Ink Dots, Ruth. Tell us who the most important people are in your life right now. My three children (boy, girl, boy, two in college, one in high school).
What inspired you to write this book? I was writing another Maine set book years ago, and even though I never used the character Espy, I already envisioned her as a secondary character. She would be a poor, uneducated young woman who had a crush on the town's most eligible bachelor, and she'd have the spunk to think she could go after him.
How do you choose your characters’ names? I have a file of clippings of a genealogy column from a local Maine newspaper. I also use the local cemetery which has headstones from the founding of this town in the 1700s. I also look online for lists of names for whatever ethnic group my character is from.
Have you been to Australia? No. But I had close Australian friends when I lived in the Netherlands. It seems there was a time when there was quite some emigration of Dutch to Australia. I would love to visit a town called Alice from the series, The Outback from the setting of many old Harlequin romances I used to read on my great-aunt's porch during my teenage summers, and Sydney and its Opera House.
What’s next for Ruth Axtell? A regency romance between an Englishman spying on a Frenchwoman in London, to find out if she is a spy. It's called Moonlight Masquerade and it'll be out in March from Revell Books.
Where can we find you on the internet? Right now I'm in the process of creating a new website. In the meantime, I'm on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ruth.axtell1 ;
and I have two blogs: http://ruthaxtell.blogspot.com/ and http://christianregency.com/blog/
Thanks for joining me today Ruth. Congratulations on the release of Her Good Name, I can't wait to read it and look forward to hearing more great writing news from you soon.
If you would like to win a copy of Her Good Name, please leave a comment below. Tell us if you've ever had a tutor, like Ruth's heroine, Espy... or if you've ever been a tutor. I'll announce the winner in the comment thread here, on Friday.
Thanks for joining me today Ruth. Congratulations on the release of Her Good Name, I can't wait to read it and look forward to hearing more great writing news from you soon.
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If you would like to win a copy of Her Good Name, please leave a comment below. Tell us if you've ever had a tutor, like Ruth's heroine, Espy... or if you've ever been a tutor. I'll announce the winner in the comment thread here, on Friday.
