A Weekend with Mr. Darcy (28 page)

To my wonderful writer friends who shared their knowledge and love of Jane Austen and the Regency period with me: Monica Fairview, Amanda Grange, Melanie Hilton, Nicola Cornick, Sheila Riley, Jo Beverley, Kate Allan, Jay Dixon, Eileen Hathaway, Juliet Archer, and Stephen Bowden.

Thanks also to Pia Tapper Fenton, Henriette Gyland, Naomi Tydeman, and Maureen Lee.

To the real Katherine Roberts for letting me use her name! And to Allan Forsyth for naming my hero.

To Linda Marsh and Rose Baring at Ardington House for answering my questions and making me so welcome.

To the staff at Chawton Cottage and Chawton House and to the History Wardrobe for allowing me to use their wonderful Undressing Mr Darcy presentation.

To my dear friends who kept me going with kind messages and support: Bridget Myhill, Deborah Wright, Linda Gillard, Kate Harrison, Sarah-Jane Pearson, Kerrie Smith, Debbie Downes, Kate Boden, Sue Reid, Alex Brown, Debs Carr, Brent Pemberton, Pat Maud, Helen Wilkinson, Janet Brigden, and Carol Drinkwater and my lovely pals on Facebook and Twitter who keep a writer company.

Also, thanks to my Let's Talk about Love gals: Janet Gover, Jean Fullerton, and Juliet Archer—I so enjoy our events. And to the fabulous RNA—happy fiftieth anniversary!

To my wonderful agents: Annette Green, David Smith, Laura Langlie, and Ronit Zafran and to Kate Bradley and the team at Avon and Deb Werksman at Sourcebooks. I love working with you all.

And, as ever, to my husband, Roy, for chauffeuring me around Hampshire and beyond in search of this story.

Victoria Connelly was brought up in Norfolk and studied English literature at Worcester University before becoming a teacher in North Yorkshire. After getting married in a medieval castle in the Yorkshire Dales, she moved to London, where she lives with her artist husband and a mad springer spaniel.

She has three novels published in Germany and the first,
Flights of Angels
, was made into a film. Victoria and her husband flew out to Berlin to see it being filmed and got to be extras in it.

Her first novel in the UK,
Molly's Millions
, is a romantic comedy about a lottery winner who gives it all away. She's now writing a trilogy about Jane Austen addicts which is a wonderful excuse to read all the books and watch all the gorgeous film and TV adaptations again.