Author Note

The first inkling of a plot for His Runaway Lady came one day when I was driving from Salisbury to Marlborough in Wiltshire. The journey took me through Savernake Forest, an ancient woodland visited by Henry VIII among countless others over its centuries-long existence, and led me to thinking about what kinds of things the trees—some more than one thousand years old—might have witnessed in that time. The forest is so historic it seemed the ideal place to set a story, and once I’d decided to feature it I couldn’t wait to get started.

Our hero, Fell Barden, feels completely at home among the trees with only his loyal dog for company. A country boy born and bred, half-Romani Fell makes his living as a blacksmith—the complete opposite of privileged, high-born Sophia Somerlock, who has never had to fend for herself or stray far from her home comforts. Despite their differences I wanted to hint at Sophia’s potential to embrace a simpler life and tie her to the forest setting: her green eyes and coppery hair were inspired by the changing colors of autumn leaves, echoing the end of summer at Savernake. Ultimately Fell, too, finds himself altered as the book progresses, although not in a way either one of them could ever have foreseen...

I really enjoyed telling Fell and Sophia’s story. It was a pleasure to write and I loved imagining what such an atmospheric place might have been like two hundred years ago—I hope you will, too!