Today, I welcome an author who writes fascinating, amusing Regency romance. She also knows Shakespeare way better than I do, and explains it better than any teacher I ever had. For the last blog of Jealous July, I bring you… Jude Knight!
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The title is a quote from Othello. It turns out Shakespeare invented the description ‘green-eyed monster’, for the play Othello. You probably read it at school. Iago, the villain, is out to destroy Othello for two reasons. First, Othello gave the job Iago wanted to someone else. Second, Iago has heard a rumour that Othello ‘twixt my sheets he has done my office’. In other words, he has been told that Othello is playing rumpty with Iago’s wife. He goes on to say he doesn’t know if it is true. (A third possible reason is his own desire for Othello’s wife, Desdemona.)
Iago, then, is an expert in jealousy. And he plays on Othello until Othello, out of jealousy, kills Desdemona. When Othello discovers Desdemona was innocent, he commits suicide. Cheerful play.
Jealousy seems to me to be a pointless emotion. Find out the facts then turn the sod out on their ear, or give them a hug, depending. The play depends on Othello not trusting his young wife in the first place, and not bothering to seek definitive proof of her infidelity in the second.
If he’d just asked a few more questions, Iago’s plot would have failed.
Jealousy is a theme in my novel, A Baron for Becky. The book has two heroes, the Marquis of Aldridge and Hugh Baron Overton. The marquis has a pregnant mistress, and – unable to marry her himself – brokers a marriage for her with his best friend, the baron. Enter the green-eyed monster. As Hugh falls in love with his wife, he becomes less and less able to deal with the possibility that she has a past with his friend; that she might be yearning for her former protector.
Which leads to the following scene:
A footfall behind her announced her husband an instant before his hand came over her shoulder and snatched up the letter.
“Hugh!” she turned awkwardly in the chair. Her husband’s stormy face unsettled her. “Hugh? Is something wrong?”
The storm was fading. His frown turned puzzled, and he nibbled at his upper lip as he read the first page of the letter, then turned to the signature. “The Duchess of Haverford?”
“Who did you think?” Becky knew perfectly well what he thought. How could he? She had given him no reason to doubt her!
“I… uh…” He shuffled the pages, shifting uncomfortably. He covered his embarrassment with a glare. “Why is the Duchess writing to you? Does she mention Aldridge?”
It hadn’t occurred to Becky until this moment that they never talked about Aldridge. Never. And what a large oversight that was. He was supposed to be Hugh’s best friend, and had, in his own way, been a good friend to her, but in this house he had ceased to exist.
Intrigued? Here’s more about the author, Jude Knight and her latest release, A Baron for Becky:
Genre: Regency romance, historical romance
Heat rating: Implied sexual content, 2 out of 5 flames
Giveaway: Free copy of A Baron for Becky to random commenter
Book Blurb:
Becky is the envy of the courtesans of the demi-monde – the indulged mistress of the wealthy and charismatic Marquis of Aldridge. But she dreams of a normal life; one in which her daughter can have a future that does not depend on beauty, sex, and the whims of a man.
Finding herself with child, she hesitates to tell Aldridge. Will he cast her off, send her away, or keep her and condemn another child to this uncertain shadow world?
The devil-may-care face Hugh shows to the world hides a desperate sorrow; a sorrow he tries to drown with drink and riotous living. His years at war haunt him, but even more, he doesn’t want to think about the illness that robbed him of the ability to father a son. When he dies, his barony will die with him. His title will fall into abeyance, and his estate will be scooped up by the Crown.
When Aldridge surprises them both with a daring proposition, they do not expect love to be part of the bargain.
Author bio
Jude Knight writes strong determined heroines, heroes who can appreciate a clever capable woman, villains you’ll love to loathe, and all with a leavening of humour.
Jude Knight is the pen name of Judy Knighton. After a career in commercial writing, editing, and publishing, Jude is returning to her first love, fiction. Her novella, Candle’s Christmas Chair, was released in December 2014, and is in the top ten on several Amazon bestseller lists in the US and UK. Her first novel, Farewell to Kindness, was released on 1 April, and is first in a series: The Golden Redepennings.
Buy links
Jude’s social media
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Jude’s Other Books (on Amazon)
Candle’s Christmas Chair (free novella)
Farewell to Kindness (Book One, the Golden Redepennings)
