ClaireThornton.com
City of Flames Trilogy
City of Flames Trilogy:
THE DEFIANT MISTRESS - Harlequin Historical Nov 2006
THE ABDUCTED HEIRESS - Harlequin Historical Jan 2007
THE VAGABOND DUCHESS - Harlequin Historical April 2007 (UK release Dec 2006)
Background to the Stories
The books in the CITY OF FLAMES trilogy take place in Europe during the reign of Charles II. This was an era of great colour, drama and variety. The King scandalised some of his subjects with his many mistresses, but his reign also saw the emergence of modern banking among the London goldsmiths. Actresses appeared for the first time in London theatres, while members of the Royal Society met every week to witness scientific experiments.
Athena Fairchild, Colonel Jakob Balston, and the Duke of Kilverade are cousins, but they've led very different lives. Athena grew up in England, Jakob in Sweden, and Kilverdale spent his childhood in exile in France as a result of the war between Charles I and Parliament.
◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊
The cousins' romances take place in various locations, but London is at the heart of the City of Flames trilogy. The cousins all meet the ones they love in the city - although Athena's happiness is destroyed almost before it begins.
Athena's story, The DEFIANT MISTRESS, begins in May 1666 in Venice, and the events span the rest of the summer. Jakob's story, THE ABDUCTED HEIRESS and Kilverdale's story, THE VAGABOND DUCHESS, both begin in London at the start of September 1666. In the early hours of the morning of 2 September a fire in Pudding Lane burns out of control....
◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊
The Fire of London isn't a major feature THE DEFIANT MISTRESS - most of the story takes place in Venice and on the journey back to England.
But the fire takes centre stage in the second book THE ABDUCTED HEIRESS, when Jakob, the half-Swedish heir to a English Earldom, escapes from Newgate Gaol and steals Lady Desire from her own rooftop while London burns.
And in the final book in the trilogy, THE VAGABOND DUCHESS, Temperance Challinor has a shop in the heart of the City. She loses everything in the fire. Her desperate circumstances force her to pretend to be the widow of a man she believed was a vagabond musician. Instead he turns out to be a duke!
◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊
The map below shows the approximate extent of the fire and gives an impression of how much of the heart of London was lost - including St Paul's Cathedral, Newgate Prison, the Royal Exchange and many other important buildings. The north part of London Bridge also burned, but there was a gap in the houses on the bridge caused by a fire a few decades earlier, and the fire didn't cross it.
