Interview: Rosemary Morris

Long and Short Reviews welcomes Rosemary Morris. As a child, Rosemary had a vivid imagination and deep interest in history, which transformed into writing historical fiction. She was blessed with a vivid imagination from early childhood and wrote stories as soon as she could handle a pencil and paper In her late teens, she started writing novels and began to think of herself as a writer.

After a long, hard struggle, Sunday’s Child, the first in the Heroines Born on Different Days of the Week series was published. There are currently four books in the series.

She’s recently started a novel set in Madras and England. It begins in the 1800’s, with a cast of ‘the good, the bad and the ugly’ and will be published by Books We Love in October 2024.

Rosemary told me that she often gets and idea for a plot from historical non-fiction.

“I spend a long time thinking about it before I jot ideas to develop it,” she explained. “Characters pop into my mind, then I become acquainted with my characters through detailed profiles I can refer to.”

Rosemary converted her smallest bedroom into a study which has a large bookcase three quarters full of non-fiction for historical research. From her seat at a large desk, she has a view of her organic garden, the park, and the woods beyond it. In the downstairs area, she has a moveable table with a narrow top for her laptop and a comfortable recliner in her living room. There are comfortable sofas, another bookcase, houseplants, large mirrors and paintings on the walls.

I asked her what her writing day was like.

“I wake up at 5 or 6 a.m. say my prayers, meditate, then read and study The Bhagavadgita As It Is by His Holiness A.C. Bhaktivedanta Prabhupada or another scripture. At 7 a.m. I check my Facebook messages and e-mails. At about 7.30 I work on a new novel until 10 a.m. when I have breakfast, then do household chores, garden, shop and carry out other tasks. At 5 p.m. I critique chapters for members of a historical critique group, or apply a critique of my current chapter, and deal with ‘writerly’ business.”

When Rosemary is not engrossed in research, she reads fiction or deals with the business side of writing. She also works in her organic garden where she reaps the rewards of growing herbs she uses in cooking, to promote good health and cure minor ailments. She puts her home-grown soft fruit, stone fruit, and vegetables to good use in the vegetarian food she cookes. She also enjoys knitting and other crafts when she has time, or visiting stately homes and other places of historical interest, as well as museums.

“However, time spent with my family is the most precious,” she assured me.

Finally, I asked, “If you had to do your journey to getting published all over again, what would you do differently?”

“It is not enough to have a promising idea for a novel without knowing how it should be written. I would study books on how to write and join a writer’s group on or offline which offered constructive criticism. Also, I would have searched the Writers and Artists’ Yearbook to find an agent or publisher who might accept my novel.”

In March 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte escaped from exile in Elba. In Brussels, 18 year-old Helen Whitley knows war between France, Britain and her allies, is inevitable. A talented artist, she is aware of the anxiety and fear underlying the balls, breakfasts, parties, picnics and soirees held by the British Brussels. She paints scenes in which she captures the emotions of daily life during the hundred days before the Battle at Waterloo while waiting for Major, Viscount Langley, to arrive in Brussels and ask her to be his wife. Before Langley leaves England to join his regiment in Belgium, he visits his ancestral home, to inform his parents that he intends to marry Helen. They are bankrupt so he cannot ask Helen to marry him and her pride does not allow her to reveal the misery caused by Langley’s rejection.

About the Author: At heart I am a historian. My classic/historical romantic fiction is set in England during the reigns of Edward II, Queen Anne Stuart 1702-1714, and the Regency era. I explore themes 21st century people can relate to e.g., a soldier suffering from posttraumatic syndrome before the condition was diagnosed, a young woman seeking her birth parents, a city on the verge of war. My novels are meticulously researched to capture times past – culture, fashion, food, customs and much more. My late 20th century novel, Indira and Daisy is a view of two vastly diverse cultures shown through two fourteen-year-old girls who live in England. The Hindu and English backgrounds, religion, clothes, food and drink, bring their story to vibrant life.

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LASR Anniversary Scavenger Hunt: Sunday’s Child by Rosemary Morris

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Georgianne Whitley’s beloved father and brothers died in the war against Napoleon Bonaparte. While she is grieving for them, she must deal with her unpredictable mother’s sorrow, and her younger sisters’ situation caused by it.

Her problems increase when the arrogant, wealthy but elderly Earl of Pennington, proposes marriage to her for the sole purpose of being provided with an heir. At first, she is tempted by his proposal, but something is not quite right about him. She rejects him not suspecting it will lead to unwelcome repercussions.

Once, she wanted to marry an army officer. Now, she decides never to marry ‘a military man’ for fear he will be killed on the battlefield. However, Georgianne still dreams of a happy marriage before unexpected violence forces her to relinquish the chance to participate in a London Season sponsored by her aunt.

Shocked and in pain, Georgianne goes to the inn where her cousin Sarah’s stepbrother, Major Tarrant, is staying, while waiting for the blacksmith to return to the village and shoe his horse. Recently, she has been reacquainted with Tarrant—whom she knew when in the nursery—at the vicarage where Sarah lives with her husband Reverend Stanton.

The war in the Iberian Peninsula is nearly at an end so, after his older brother’s death, Tarrant, who was wounded, returns to England where his father asks him to marry and produce an heir.

To please his father, Tarrant agrees to marry, but due to a personal tragedy he has decided never to father a child.

When Georgianne, arrives at the inn, quixotic Tarrant sympathises with her unhappy situation. Moreover, he is shocked by the unforgivably brutal treatment she has suffered. Tarrant admires her beauty and courage and decides to help her.

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LASR Anniversary Scavenger Hunt: Far Beyond Rubies by Rosemary Morris

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Set in 1706 during Queen Anne Stuart’s reign, Far Beyond Rubies begins when William, Baron Kemp, Juliana’s half-brother claims she and her young sister, Henrietta, are bastards. Spirited Juliana is determined to prove the allegation is false, and that she is the rightful heiress to Riverside, a great estate.

On his way to deliver a letter to William, Gervaise Seymour sees Juliana for the first time on the grounds of her family estate. The sight of her draws him back to India. When “her form changed to one he knew intimately – but not in this lifetime,” Gervaise knows he would do everything in his power to protect her.

Although Juliana and Gervaise are attracted to each other, they have not been formally introduced and assume they will never meet again. However, when Juliana flees from home, and is on her way to London, she encounters quixotic Gervaise at an inn. Circumstances force Juliana to accept his kind help. After Juliana’s life becomes irrevocably tangled with his, she discovers all is not as it seems. Yet, she cannot believe ill of him for, despite his exotic background, he behaves with scrupulous propriety while trying to help her find evidence to prove she and her sister are legitimate.

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LASR Anniversary Scavenger Hunt: Yvonne, Lady of Cassio by Rosemary Morris

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When Yvonne and Elizabeth, daughters of ruthless Simon Lovage, Earl of Cassio, are born under the same star to different mothers, no one could have foretold their lives would be irrevocably entangled.

Against the background of Edward II’s turbulent reign in the thirteenth century, Yvonne, Lady of Cassio, contains imaginary and historical characters.

It is said the past is a foreign country in which things were done differently. Nevertheless, although that is true of attitudes, such as those towards women and children, our ancestors were also prompted by ambition, anger, greed, jealousy, humanity, duty, loyalty, unselfishness and love.

From early childhood, despite those who love her and want to protect her, Yvonne is forced to face difficult economic, personal and political circumstances, during a long, often bitter struggle.

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LASR Anniversary Scavenger Hunt: Tuesday’s Child by Rosemary Morris

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Harriet Stanton followed the drum until the deaths of her husband and father, army officers in the war against Napoleon Bonaparte. Destitute, on the verge of starvation, she returns to England, with her three year-old son, Arthur. Although she has never met her father-in-law, the Earl of Pennington, with whom her late husband had cut all ties, for Arthur’s sake, Harriet decides to ask Pennington for help. Turned away from his London house by servants, she is rescued by Georgianne Tarrant, who founded an institution to help soldiers’ widows and orphans.

Desperate for an heir, the earl welcomes Harriet, and Arthur, whose every wish he grants.
At first, Harriet is grateful to her father-in-law, but, as time goes by she is locked in a silent battle to control Arthur, who has tantrums if he is denied anything.

After Pennington refuses his permission for Arthur to swim in the lake, Arthur defies him. About to drown, he is rescued by charismatic Dominic, Reverend Markham, the Earl and Countess Faucon’s son.

At the lakeside, Dominic meets Harriet. She is so dainty that his immediate impression is of a fairy. Despite her appearance, he is mistaken. Harriet is not a pampered lady by birth. During brutal campaigns, she milked goats and cooked over campfires.

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LASR Anniversary Scavenger Hunt: Indira and Daisy by Rosemary Morris

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Grammar schoolgirls fourteen-year-old Indira Nathwani and Daisy Royston have been best friends since they were four years old. Indira lives in Southeast England with her wealthy Hindu family, an older brother, pious grandfather, parents, and aunt and uncle. In their temple room her grandfather teaches her to worship and serve God with love and devotion. Daisy lives with her mother, a single parent who works hard to provide for her.

Since her devout Christian grandmother’s death, Daisy rarely attends church. Sometimes she and Indira agree to disagree about their cultures and religions, but it never affects their friendship. However, Indira, who is not allowed to go out alone, is envious of her best friend’s freedom. Daisy’s only known relative is her mother, who she loves and appreciates, but she struggles not to envy Indira for having a large, perfect family.

Daisy stays at the Nathwani’s house to celebrate Diwali and the Hindu new year on the next day. To reciprocate, Daisy’s mother invites Indira to stay for three nights at her house to celebrate Christmas. The Nathwani family’s refusal leads to tragedy, which Indira is blamed for, then a shocking revelation causes distress. Indira is distraught and Daisy realises Indira’s family is not perfect.

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LASR Anniversary Scavenger Hunt: Grace, Lady of Cassio by Rosemary Morris

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England 1331. What was it like to live at a time when love was not a reason to marry, and husbands had the right to thrash their wives with a rod no wider than their thumbs? Spirited, compassionate, seventeen-year-old Grace is about to find out if her marriage will be made in heaven or hell? Her mother, Countess of Cassio, arranges for her to wed Jocelyn, Lord Lovat, Baron Montford. Grace knows marriage only founded on romantic notions is unacceptable. She agrees to tie the knot with Jocelyn to increase her family’s prestige and political alliances. Nevertheless, she is terrified of sharing a bed with the stranger she will be wed to on the day after they meet for the first time.

Until she arrives at her bridegroom’s manor, Grace has only experienced unconditional love. She is shocked by Jocelyn’s spiteful, widowed sister, and is puzzled by her own inexplicable power to see auras and know when someone she loves is in danger. Grace is even more troubled when she overhears her former nurse’s deathbed confession about the countess. Unable to decide if Nurse’s allegation is false, Grace is tormented. Fulk, her beloved twin, does not believe it is true. He ensures the other witness, a priest, will not repeat it.

A handsome husband, prestige and wealth are not enough to compensate Grace for the severe trials, including brutal murders, she must come to terms with to find happiness.

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LASR Anniversary Scavenger Hunt: Wednesday’s Child by Rosemary Morris

Thanks for joining us on our 16th anniversary scavenger hunt! There are two ways to enter to win and it’s easy to play– first read the blurb below, then answer the question on the first Rafflecopter. You might win a $100 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC (along with other prizes). Follow and visit authors’ social media pages on the second Rafflecopter and you’re entered to win another $100 Amazon/BN GC (along with other prizes)!


In 1816, Mrs Bettismore lies on her deathbed. Her twenty-year old granddaughter, Amelia, is distraught by the imminent loss of her only relative, who has raised her in an atmosphere of seclusion and unyielding discipline.

Amelia inherits her grandmother’s fortune, but after such a sheltered upbringing she finds herself lost and alone. Her emotional growth, stunted by Mrs Bettismore she is afraid to do or say anything of which her grandmother would disapprove.

The heiress is unprepared for her introduction to Saunton, her guardian’s noisy household and his family of irrepressible sisters.

Will this cause Amelia to retreat into herself even more, or will a home filled with love and high spirits change her outlook and encourage her to find love?
Or do the long-hidden secrets of her birth threaten to spoil everything?

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LASR Anniversary Scavenger Hunt: Monday’s Child by Rosemary Morris

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In March 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte escaped from exile in Elba. In Brussels, 18 year-old Helen Whitley, is aware that war with France between Britain and her allies, is inevitable.

A talented artist, Helen is aware of the anxiety and fear underlying the balls, breakfasts, parties, picnics and soirees – held by the British. In an attic, she paints scenes in which she captures the emotions of daily life during the hundred days before the Battle of Waterloo.

While Helen lives with her sister and wealthy brother-in-law, Major Tarrant, she waits for Major, Viscount Langley, to arrive in Brussels and ask her to be his wife. Langley, who serves in the same regiment as Tarrant, is her brother-in-law’s closest friend, therefore she assumes her sister and Tarrant will be delighted by the match.

She is grateful to her brother-in-law for including her in his household. Nevertheless, Helen regrets being dependent on his generosity, so she’s looking forward to being mistress of Langley’s heart and home.

Before Langley leaves England to join his regiment, he visits his ancestral home, to inform his parents that he intends to marry Helen. Yet, when he arrives in Brussels to join his regiment, he does not propose marriage to Helen, and her pride does not allow her to reveal the misery caused by Langley’s rejection.

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LASR Anniversary Scavenger Hunt: The Captain and The Countess by Rosemary Morris

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Why does heart-rending pain lurk in the back of the wealthy Countess of Sinclair’s eyes?
Captain Howard’s life changes forever from the moment he meets Kate, the intriguing Countess and resolves to banish her pain.

Although the air sizzles when widowed Kate, victim of an abusive marriage meets Edward Howard, a captain in Queen Anne’s navy, she has no intention of ever marrying again.

However, when Kate becomes better acquainted with the Captain she realises he is the only man who understands her grief and can help her to untangle her past.

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