Author Talk: January 10, 2022

Lisa Berne’s celebrated Penhallow Dynasty series continues with the recently released sixth installment, THE REDEMPTION OF PHILIP THANE. In this interview, Berne discusses the novel’s setting, how she became a writer of historical romance, and the book that resonated with her the most as a child.

Question: What do you think led you to become a writer?

Lisa Berne: Before I was a writer, I was a reader. I was lucky enough to grow up in a house in which books and reading were valued, there was always a little money for the Scholastic Book Fair, and trips to the library were a sacred part of our family routine.

Q: What did you enjoy reading?

LB: Beginning in childhood, I was a voracious and indiscriminate reader. Books, comic books, newspapers, magazines, cereal boxes and food labels, credits at the end of movies and TV shows, bumper stickers and billboards: nothing was safe from my inquiring Sauron-like eye. I liked biographies and science books, but the immersive magic of fiction caught hold of me early on and, I am glad to say, has never let me go.

I can trace the roots of my love for romance all the way back to books like the Cherry Ames series, the Nancy Drew series (NED), and the Little House on the Prairie series (Laura and Almanzo’s swooningly romantic courtship!); and authors such as Betty Cavanna and Rosamund du Jardin, along with many others whose names and titles are lost to me in the obscuring mists of time.

Q: Is there one particular book that stands out in your memories of your early readings?

LB: A huge inflection point was reading Georgette Heyer’s LADY OF QUALITYat age 14 --- my mom had gotten it from her book club --- and finding myself in the dazzling world of Regency England. Despite being over 5,000 miles from Bath, England, and understanding very little of the period terminology, I was instantly captivated. A smart, capable, independent heroine. A clever, dashing, irresistible hero. Crackling repartee. Plus, gowns and bonnets! I was a goner.

Q: How did you become a writer of historical romance?

LB: So there I was, more or less an adult and still a voracious reader (albeit with considerably less interest in cereal boxes), and now I had fallen under the spell of the seminal BBC production of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, which had me reading/rereading (and watching) allllllllll the Jane Austen I could. After I noticed the flourishing community of Austen fanfic springing up, the Itch came upon me too. I refer, of course, not to any kind of unpleasant medical issue, but the urge to write my own fanfic.

I’ve always loved a Cinderella story, which PRIDE AND PREJUDICE is as we all know, and so I took the plunge and began writing. A few chapters in, I ground to a halt. It wasn’t that I hadn’t mapped out the plot, it wasn’t that I was struggling to develop my characters or locate the story. What was it?

Q: How did you resolve your dilemma?

LB: It took an agonizingly long time to figure it out, but when I did, it was the classic lightbulb-over-the-head moment: I was trying too hard to write like Jane Austen. As much fun as it was evoking her style, it wasn’t my own unique voice. I couldn’t sustain it across an entire novel; I had trapped myself. So I started all over again, bird by bird (as Anne Lamott would say), and I came to realize, seeing the page afresh, that what works best for me is something rather different: a voice steeped in the mores of the Regency period but with just enough modernity to remain playful, fluid, evocative, romantic and fun.

Q: Did that book ever make it into print?

LB: This surprising and joyful discovery enabled me to not only rework and complete YOU MAY KISS THE BRIDE,the first book in my Penhallow Dynasty series --- which earned starred views from Kirkus, Booklist and Publishers Weekly --- but to write five more in the series, and with three more to come. I’ll always be grateful for that singular life-changing moment.

Q: Is the setting of THE REDEMPTION OF PHILIP THANE, Whittlesey, England, a real place?

LB: Yes it is, and the Straw Bear festival is a real event there, though I’ve adapted both the town and the tradition to suit my authorial fancy. Similarly, Plough Monday is an ancient British agricultural holiday, which makes its appearance in this book as Plough Day.