Peering Into the Shadows: Nineteen Teen Interviews Bestselling Author Julie Klassen

Please welcome bestselling author, Julie Klassen. Julie visited us previously, but she has news you’ll want to hear, and we asked her to tell you all about it!

Nineteen Teen: Since you last visited us, you’ve been busy with eight more books, including four in your wonderful Ivy Hill series, and accolades such as the Minnesota Book Award, Midwest Book Award, and Christian Retailing’s BEST Award. Well done! And now you have something special coming next week. What should we know?

Julie: My 18^th novel, Shadows of Swanford Abbey, releases into the world. Release time is always exciting, if a little nerve-wracking as well. My publisher describes the novel as “Agatha Christie meets Jane Austen,” which I love since I admire both of those authors. The book is about a young woman staying at a Medieval abbey-turned-hotel rumored to be haunted. There she encounters a man who once broke her heart. When an author is murdered is the hotel, the two work together to solve the mystery, and find danger and romance along the way.

19T: Why did you decide to dip your toes into the mystery world?

Julie: My husband and I had been listening to many mystery audiobooks, including titles by Agatha Christie and others. Somewhere along the line, I was struck with the idea of trying a “locked door” mystery myself (when a person locked alone in a room is killed and no one can figure out how). And being a writer, I was intrigued with the idea of the victim being an author who is perhaps not all that his public persona appears to be. Weaving together a convincing whodunit wasn’t easy but I enjoyed the challenge. Hope readers enjoy it as well.

19T: What was the most interesting thing you learned while researching Shadows of Swanford Abbey?

Julie: Good question! I was moved by the sad history of the many religious buildings that were claimed by the crown in previous centuries and given to noblemen, many of which remain private homes today, a few of which have become grand hotels. I was also interested to discover a few fascinating features in Lacock Abbey (the real abbey that inspired my fictional one), like a hidden staircase and abbess’s squint. You KNOW those ended up in the novel!

19T: You’ve been fortunate enough to take part in the Jane Austen Festival in Bath. What was that like?

Julie: It was memorable and strangely wonderful to parade through Bath in Regency attire while thousands of onlookers lined the streets to watch (even in the rain). Another time, I was blessed to find myself sitting next to Benjamin Whitrow (Mr. Bennet in 1995 Pride and Prejudice) at a theatre and enjoyed a lovely chat with him. Sadly Mr. Whitrow has passed away since then, but I feel privileged to have met him.

Popcorn round:

Milk or lemon in your tea? Milk.

Redingote or pelisse? Redingotes strike me as a bit more fashionable, but pelisses seem warmer, so since I live in frigid Minnesota, I’ll go with a pelisse.

Waltz or country dance? Waltz (I LOVE to waltz).

London townhouse or cottage in the country? Cottage in the country every time.

Jane Austen or Jane Eyre (we know, that’s tough one!) That is too difficult. May I just say “Jane” and leave it at that? 😊

Thanks for sharing Shadows of Swanford Abbey with us!

Gentle reader, be sure to preorder the book so that it delivers on release day, December 7, 2021: 

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Nineteenteen Welcomes Award-Winning Author Julie Klassen!

In the inspirational romance genre, there are few awards more prestigious than the Christy. When an author has won it three times in a few years, you know she's good. That's only one of the reasons we're delighted to welcome historical romance author Julie Klassen to our blog to tell us a little about herself and her recent book, The Secret of Pembrooke Park.

Nineteenteen:  Like us, you are fascinated with all things Jane, from Jane Austen to Jane Eyre.  What drew you to early 19th century England and romance in particular?

Julie:  Reading books like The Secret Garden and Jane Eyre at a young age certainly made quite an impression on me and cemented my love of “all things England.” But why the early 19^th century in particular? It’s all Colin Firth’s fault. Like many women, I was smitten by him as Mr. Darcy in the 1995 BBC/A&E adaptation of Pride & Prejudice. Seeing it led me to re-read Jane Austen’s novels and in turn, to set my novels in the Regency period. 

Nineteenteen:  Ah, Colin.  Yes, he is known for leading many of us a merry dance.  You, however, are known for your impeccable research, which really came through in The Secret of Pembrooke Park. Did you turn up anything unexpected or especially exciting as you researched the book?

Julie:  Thank you. I try! Most of the research for this novel revolved around the life of clergymen and Anglican services in the 19^th century, but I’m not sure I’d call that exciting. One fun new topic I researched was hidden rooms. Secret rooms, passages, and hiding places were not all that uncommon in ancient manor houses. They came in handy over the centuries when you found yourself on the wrong side of a monarch and wished to keep your head. Or if you, say, needed to hide a priest during the reign of Elizabeth I. One of the places I visited while in England in 2014 was Chastleton House to see its historic secret room. It saved at least one life, we know, when a quick-thinking wife hid her husband there, then offered the search party a lovely meal laced with drugs. While the soldiers slept if off, she sneaked her husband safely past them. I loved seeing a real secret room in person, and it helped me better imagine the one in The Secret of Pembrooke Park.

Nineteenteen:  Regina loved the treasure hunting aspect of the story. What inspired you to include that in the book?

Julie:  I was first inspired to write about an abandoned manor, and decided to give it a secret room because I had come across them in my research, plus I had a “secret room” behind my closet as a girl growing up (where I kept my Trixie Belden books and posters of teen heartthrobs Parker Stevenson and Shaun Cassidy). But what fun is a secret room, I thought, without the hope of something tantalizing hidden inside? So the idea of rumored treasure was born.

Nineteenteen:  And now the really important question: if you were making your first appearance in Regency society, what would you wear?

Julie:  Goodness. Since I currently own only one Regency era dress—a pink ball gown with lace at neckline and puffed sleeves—I suppose I would wear that. Though at my age, I would likely be accused of being “mutton dressed as lamb.”

[Editorial note:  as you can see from this photo, Julie actually looks rather dreamy in her pink gown.]

Nineteenteen:  We know you just turned in a manuscript to your publisher. What's it about, and what's next for you?  A little bird told us you might be having more books out, with a second publisher.

Julie:  Yes, in 2015 I will have two books coming out. Lady Maybe in July with Berkley/Penguin, which is about a woman whose startling secrets lead her into unexpected danger and romance in Regency England. And The Painter’s Daughter in December with Bethany House, which is my first novel with the often-requested marriage of convenience premise. 

Nineteenteen:  They both sound great!  Thank you so much for joining us.

Julie:  Thanks for asking and thanks for having me here!

If you'd like more information about Julie and her award-winning books, you can find her online at her website http://www.julieklassen.com/ or on Facebook.

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Delirious for Ditton Manor

Writers, particularly historical writers, tend to have long bucket lists of things they hope to do one day.  High on mine is visiting a number of sites in England, and I think I've just added another:  Ditton Manor.

Nestled among quiet villages near Windsor Castle, the 200-acre estate dates back more than 1,000 years, though the current house is just shy of 200 years old.  Though the house itself is called Ditton Manor and was built in the Gothic Revival style, it resembles nothing so much as a castle, complete with turrets and its own moat.   In the early nineteenth century, you would have driven in your carriage along a circle of elms leading to an elegant iron-railed bridge over the east arm of the moat to pass through the crenelated gatehouse into a walled forecourt. Entering the house, you would have looked up at the Gothic cast-iron balustrade of the balcony that encircled the first floor.  The formal gardens outside even included a maze.

What surprised me most about Ditton Manor’s history, however, was the number of woman who loomed large in an era when estates generally passed from father to son.  Queen Mary I played here when she was a girl accompanied by her father King Henry VIII.  In 1709 John, Duke of Montagu, inherited the place, but he died leaving no male heirs.  Instead, his daughter Mary inherited the house. She also had no surviving male heirs, so the house transferred to her daughter Elizabeth. 

Elizabeth was a dowager, friend to Queen Caroline, in April 1812, when the original house burned down. Thankfully, no one was hurt, and many of the fine pieces inside the house were saved. Legend has it King George III traveled from nearby Windsor to watch the conflagration.  Elizabeth oversaw the work of architect William Atkinson to rebuild the house, making it much like the original.

In 1917, Ditton Park embarked upon a new way of life when the Manor House and moat were commandeered by the Admiralty during World War I for the tidy sum of 20,000 pounds.  The Admiralty purchased the rest of the park in 1919 for an additional 24,000 pounds.  More than 450 people worked on the grounds at the Compass Observatory, designing navigation equipment for the Royal Navy.  In 1997, the estate was purchased by high-tech firm Computer Associates for its European, Middle Eastern, and African Headquarters.  The company’s building stands separately from Ditton Manor.

 

But as fascinating as I found the story of Ditton Manor, it is nothing compared to The Secret of Pembrooke Park, the latest book by award-winning author Julie Klassen.  Be sure to come back next Friday when Julie will join us and tell us more about what she learned in researching the story of an old manor house and how the mysterious tragedies of the past affect the future of the young lady determined to discover the truth.