Each day, Dilly begins at 8:30 and writes until lunch time. Some days she’ll get so immersed in her story that she forgets everything and time will pass so fast that, by the time she finally does stop, she can’t believe two to three hours have gone by. She’s been in some other world her characters who make their own story up actually inhabit.

Dilly’s debut novel, called “Mermaids Singing”, was released in the year 2005. She writes family saga and historical fiction novels and also writes as Lily Baxter.At times the story dragged, I feel parts could have been removed for a smoother read. I was unsure as to why those parts were relevant to the overall story. There’s a dashing man she was thinking would be the hero all of a sudden develops some unattractive traits and will upset Dilly, along with her heroine. Then there’s times a rough diamond, that looked destined to swing from a noose’s end, winds up being an absolute charmer and she finds herself falling for them, so the heroine’s got zero chance of escaping. But sitting at a computer for hours isn’t too good on the figure, however so she typically takes her dog for a walk. Bottom line, the story is nicely resonant of its historical setting, shedding light on the biases and foul behaviors as much as the strength of bonds even when society would frown on them. I especially appreciated the clear presentation of the way different strata of society lived, demonstrated both in description and simple comments about how only the wealthy have the luxury of not knowing how much coin they possess. I never truly liked Josie, raised as a lady, because she is unthinking, hypercritical, and selfish, but I came to appreciate her flawed but contrite nature. She is often repentant after the fact and occasionally shows flashes of maturity even at her worst though they don’t last.

Lottie Lane, our main character, works as a chambermaid. Her world is turned upside down after a group of soldiers show up at the inn (where she works). She ends up nursing an injured soldier, Private Ellis, who is, in fact, our male-lead. Kate, on the other hand, takes charge of every circumstance with her practical hard working personality, overcoming every obstacle except her sense of place. She’s had to work to help support her father ever since her mother died when she was young. Still, rather than being bitter toward her childhood friend, Kate does her best to help Josie come safely through whatever wild plan she’s dragged Kate into. Her loyalty and capacity for forgiveness rivals that of a saint. She takes far too much abuse from those around her, Josie included.Court grew up in north east London, leaving school when she was 16 to work as a secretary at broadcaster Associated-Rediffusion. [1] Working in the advertising department, she was able to move into a copywriting position, which allowed her to exercise her love of writing. [1] Literary career [ edit ] I had high expectations, which weren’t met, and I found the plot and the writing style to be rather boring.