Revising & Editing: Never Give Up! The Scandalous Suffragette Story by Eliza Redgold

We have author Eliza Redgold talking about the Suffragette this week!

Eliza Redgold is an author and ‘romantic academic’. Her natural pen name is based upon the old, Gaelic meaning of her name, Dr Elizabeth Reid Boyd. English folklore has it that if you help a fairy, you will be rewarded with red gold. She writes fiction as Eliza Redgold and non-fiction as Elizabeth Reid Boyd. She is represented by Joelle Delbourgo Associates US.

Eliza Redgold’s bestselling historical fiction includes her Ladies of Legend trilogy, starting with “NAKED: A Novel of Lady Godiva” released internationally by St Martin’s Press New York. Her ‘Romance your Senses’ series of contemporary romances are published by Harlequin (MIRA) Australia. Her Victorian historical romances are published by Harlequin Historical London (Harper Collins) and translated internationally. They include the W.H. Smith historical romance bestseller ‘Playing the Duke’s Mistress’. Her new Harlequin Historical ‘The Scandalous Suffragette’ is out now.

Eliza Redgold on the web:

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Never Give Up! The Scandalous Suffragette story

by Eliza Redgold

“Violet could so clearly recall the moment the Cause had seized her, body and soul. She had read about the suffragettes in The Times newspaper, which she much preferred to the fashion papers. A thrill of excitement had run through her as she learned about the women fighting to be allowed to vote, led by Emmeline Pankhust. Like Violet, Mrs Pankhurst came from Manchester, in the north of England. ‘Deeds not words’ she urged her followers.

‘Deeds, not words’, Violet repeated to herself. In her own way, she’d vowed, she would make a difference, add her daring deeds to Cause. She might not be able to join suffragette rallies, or go to meetings, or march in the streets, as she longed to. Her parents would never allow it. But she kept sewing her banners. No one would stop her.

“You keep your promises.” A deep voice came back to her. The man at the balcony had sensed she was someone who would keep true to her word, and her deeds. She had sensed the same in him, too.”

~ Extract from ‘The Scandalous Suffragette’

by Eliza Redgold

www.elizaredgold.com

Votes for women! Can she fight for freedom and for love?

Once in a while, as a writer, a heroine shows up who simply will not let go. It was this way for me when I met Miss Violet Coombes, the heroine of The Scandalous Suffragette. I didn’t expect to be writing fiction again, and I had started the story a few years earlier, then put it aside when life got in the way. But Violet is very determined, and when I made a trip to the UK in 2018 during the centenary of the women’s vote and saw the celebrations, I knew I needed to keep going: from first draft to finish.

Violet’s story celebrates every woman who ever fought for the rights we enjoy today – and the men who loved them. Today we might not be able to imagine what it was like to have no vote and few legal rights, but in Violet’s time this battle had not yet been won.

In 1903, the Women’s Social and Political Movement was founded by Mrs Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughters Christabel and Sylvia. They demanded that women to have the right to vote and they were not prepared to wait. “Deeds, not words” became their motto.

Some of the suffragette deeds (like Violet’s) were scandalising. In the early 20^th century, frustrated by their lack of progress, the women’s movement splintered into various groups with competing means to achieve their goal, including those who used radical and militant means, from civil disobedience to property damage, arrest and even arson. Some suffragettes supported these activities, others thought they harmed the Cause. Violet’s story represents this turbulent period.

The Scandalous Suffragette is published by Harper Collins, under the Harlequin Imprint in the US, and Mills and Boon in the UK. In my research, I discovered that Mills and Boon were part of the suffragette story:

Many pamphlets, books and plays were written by women to support and broadcast the aims of the Cause. In this tradition, and to celebrate the British centenary of the women’s vote, I hope you enjoy this suffrage romance, with plenty of scandal. And if you’re ever struggling to get from first draft to finish, remember the suffragettes. Never give up!

The Scandalous Suffragette

Votes for women!

Can she fight for freedom and for love?

When chocolate heiress Violet Coombes is caught hanging her suffragette banner in a most shocking place, Adam Beaufort, Esquire, proposes a marriage of convenience! His good name will avert scandal for her family, and her money will save the estate Adam’s father gambled away. Violet accepts, but she’s determined nothing will distract her from the Cause—including her oh-so-tempting husband!