History and fiction dance together in"Lords and Ladies"

The editors at History Through Fiction decided to elevate my social status for the byline on their website.

In revising my novel-in-progress, Flintlocks at Dawn, I ran across some advice about thinking of each chapter of the novel as its own short story as a way to make the revision more manageable. I began to look through some of the early chapters, thinking they would be easier to excerpt in this way. I have to admit "Lords and Ladies" is one of my favorites since it is the one in which childhood sweethearts Eldridge Shirley and Louisa Taylor are reunited at a ball that has some historical significance. I'm glad that the editors at History Through Fiction, a website that specializes in historical fiction, agreed and featured it as their story of the month for August. (Note: You’ll need to be a member to access Lords & Ladies. If you’re not yet a member, you can join here: Become a Member.)

This ball was actually one of the reasons I wanted to start my novel at this particular moment in time, May 1774. Because of the slower way news traveled in those days, Virginians have just found out about the impending closure of Boston Harbor, one of the harsh ways the English Parliament is punishing the Massachusetts Colony for what we now call the Boston Tea Party. To show solidarity with Massachusetts, the Virginia Burgesses declare a day of fasting and prayer for June 1, the day the closure goes into effect. For this action, Lord Dunmore, the Royal Governor of Virginia, dissolves the Burgesses and sends them home.

And yet, in one of those quirks of history that seems more like fiction, these same Burgesses host a ball at the Capitol (which they've been banned from for legislative purposes) in honor of Lady Dunmore, the wife who seems to be as beloved by the colony as her husband is despised. At the ball, the Burgesses' wives show their spirit by wearing "Virginia cloth" made in the colony instead of finery imported from England. I couldn't resist using this rich historical setting to introduce the couple whose fraught romance is at the heart of Flintlocks at Dawn.