When a fellow author described To Love Honour and Obey as “Where Heathcliff meets Poldark” I was delighted.
Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights was set in West Yorkshire and carefully recreated for TV near Skipton, North Yorkshire, my home county.
Cornwall is a place that inspired my love of historical fiction through the works of E.V. Thompson, Daphne Du Maurier and of course Winston Graham
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Both Cornwall and Yorkshire are counties I love to revisit.
The dramatic and beautiful North Yorkshire moors and coast where I set my novels have similar characteristics to the rugged wild scenes of Cornwall.
Both have flat sandy beaches and coves rife for smuggling pre and during the Napoleonic wars.
Growing up I loved exploring the bay towns of Whitby, Staithes, Saltburn by the Sea and Robin Hood’s Bay where my imagination could run free as I walked my dogs along the beaches, dunes and cliff paths of the area.
I recently visited the picturesque time capsule of Georgian Charlestown, with its period architecture, stone-walled harbour, and traditional tall ships. It was like taking a step back into Poldark’s world.
The port was developed by, and renamed after, Charles Rashleigh, a lawyer, developer, and entrepreneur who saw the potential for the previously named Porthmeur (Great cove) to be developed into a harbour to serve the growing nearby town of St Austell.
Trade in tin, copper, China clay, and timber grew withing the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. It also supported the local pilchard fishing industry.
It seems a shame that Charles died bankrupt after two employees embezzled his funds.
Like the ancient port of Whitby and the bay-towns of the North Yorkshire coast the region was infamous for smuggling as the flat sandy beaches and coves made landing illicit cargoes possible along rugged coastlines.
The quote “Where Heathchliff meets Poldark” captures the essence of two distinctive literary heroic characters.
Where do I think the similarities between those images in my work in The Yorkshire Saga Series published by @SapereBooks start and end?
Poldark is the heroic, gallant, and action-oriented figure, who falls in love with Demelza who is not of his social standing.
In To Love Honour and Obey, Willoughby is an honourable man who embarks upon a swashbuckling adventure, showing courageous heroism, set against sweeping historical settings. Through mutual need to defeat a common enemy he befriends Beth, a young woman who has not had a society upbringing. Two lost souls unite. Willoughby is no brooding gothic character like Heathcliff.
In my novels, which are deliberately set away from the restrictions of London Regency Society, social divides are often crossed through need or mutual attraction. The Regency period was one of much change, industrialisation, war, hardship and social unrest here and abroad. Excellent for dramatic fast paced clow burn romances wrapped around mystery and adventure.
Both settings evoke history, social struggle, and vivid landscapes at a time when the country was at war with France and many changes affected the local rural populations who thrived on farming and cottage industries.
Industry, war, government taxes and social revolution abroad and the fear of them at home all add to the drama of the period my Yorkshire Saga Series and the darker betrayal in Book 1 of that name in my Friends and Foes series.
If you are a fan of compelling romantic suspense, prepare to be captivated by To Love, Honour and Obey, a thrilling read that blends unforgettable characters, high-stakes tension, and stories that will keep you turning the pages well into the night.
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Who is your favourite standout hero or heroine within Regency romance or adventures? Please leave comments below.
valerie holmes, author 