Time for another cover reveal, my Austenesque friends!! Don’t you just love looking at covers and figuring out how they tie in to the story? I admit I do! I’m such a cover-junkie!
Please help us welcome Linda Beutler as she shares with us the cover of her new release, A Will of Iron! A special thanks to Linda Beutler and the team at Meryton Press for putting this all together!
~ A Will of Iron ~
Expected Release Date: July 1st
Only days after his disastrous proposal, the untimely death of Anne de Bourgh draws Fitzwilliam Darcy and his cousin Colonel Alexander Fitzwilliam back to Rosings Park before Elizabeth Bennet has left the neighborhood. Their return finds Rosings swathed in mourning. In death, Anne is revealed as having lived a rich life of the mind, and she plotted rather constantly to escape her loathsome mother, Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Anne’s journal—spirited into the hands of Elizabeth and Charlotte Collins—holds her candid observations on life and her family. It also exposes her final, and sadly fatal, means of outwitting her mother. Anne’s Last Will and Testament, with its peculiar bequests, sends Lady Catherine into a tailspin and throws into turmoil every relationship amongst the Bennets, Darcys, Fitzwilliams, Collinses, and even the Bingleys! Was Anne de Bourgh a shrewder judge of character than Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy combined?
Includes mature content.
~ Author Bio ~
Linda Beutler is an Oregon native who began writing professionally in 1996 (meaning that is when they started paying her…), in the field of garden writing. First published in magazines, Linda graduated to book authorship in 2004 with the publication of Gardening With Clematis (2004, Timber Press). In 2007 Timber Press presented her second title, Garden to Vase, a partnership with garden photographer Allan Mandell. Now in 2013 Linda is working with a new publisher, and writing in a completely different direction. Funny how life works out, but more on that in a minute.
Linda lives the gardening life: she is a part-time instructor in the horticulture department at Clackamas Community College, writes and lectures about gardening topics throughout the USA, and is traveling the world through her active participation in the International Clematis Society, of which she is the current president. Then there’s that dream job–which she is sure everyone else must covet but which she alone has–Linda Beutler is the curator of the Rogerson Clematis Collection, which is located at Luscher Farm, a farm/park maintained by the city of Lake Oswego. They say to keep resumes brief, but Linda considers Garden With Clematis her 72,000 word resume. She signed on as curator to North America’s most comprehensive and publicly accessible collection of the genus clematis in July 2007, and they will no doubt not get shut of her until she can be carried out in a pine box.
And now for something completely different: in September 2011, Linda checked out a book of Jane Austen fan fiction from her local library, and was, to put it in the modern British vernacular, gobsmacked. After devouring every title she could get her hands on, she quite arrogantly decided that, in some cases, she could do better, and began writing her own expansions and variations of Pride and Prejudice. The will to publish became too tempting, and after viewing the welcoming Meryton Press website, she printed out the first three chapters of her book, and out it went, a child before the firing squad. Luckily, the discerning editors at Meryton Press saved the child from slaughter, and Linda’s first work of Jane Austenesque fiction, The Red Chrysanthemum, published in September 2013. Her second work of fiction, From Longbourn to London was published in August of 2014.
Linda shares a small garden in Southeast Portland with her husband, and pets that function as surrogate children. Her personal collection of clematis numbers something around 230 taxa. These are also surrogate children, and just as badly behaved.
And without further ado….here is the big reveal!!!
Connect with Linda
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What do you think, readers?
What kind of observations do you think Anne made in her journal?
It is Elegant!
Thank you! Our cover artist found this tea set, and we knew immediately is was just the sort of tea set Lady Catherine de Bourgh would own!
I think so too!
Extremely intriguing with the hand and fork in the foreground…..is that a shocked reaction to some news??? But having first read the bio and sneak peak of the plot, (thank you Meredith) it’s even more intriguing. Cannot wait for this one to come out.
That’s what I’m wondering about, Michelle! I love intrigue!
Shocked? Or poisoned? Perhaps shocked about being poisoned? Trust me, this looks like a mystery, but the romantic entanglements are far more mysterious than the secret ingredient in Lady Catherine’s special cake. Meredith, thanks for hosting my exciting news!
So very happy to be a part of your reveal, Linda! Thank you for the opportunity!
The cover is lovely, but I’m anxious to get to the story! When will it be available? The Red Chrysanthemum and From Longbourn to London are outstanding, and I’m really excited to dig into this variation.
We are hoping to have it ready about July 1st. Getting all the little details sorted now. This book is a rather different voice for me, mainly because of the constant comments of Anne de Bourgh. Dear, dead, sarcastic Anne!
🙂 I know how you feel, Colleen! LOL!
I like the cover a lot. I will like it better when the book is attached and it is downloaded on my Kindle! Thank you for sharing the cover for your eagerly awaited book.
The back cover has elements revealed in the plot. The coat of arms is actually a “funeral hatchment” which would have hung on the front of Rosings, announcing the death of the heiress to the estate. Lady Catherine embellishes this is a wholly inappropriate and ghoulish manner, much to Darcy’s distaste (so to speak).
LOL! Too funny!
What a clever story premise! Thank you for this intriguing tease, both of the plot and of the cover. I’ve always felt Anne was undervalued as a character to develop further–even if she has to die to become the center of attention! 😉 And I loved learning more about you in “real life” (though the worlds you create may be more real to you than mere mundane existence)–did you manage to insert any of your love of gardening into the story?
Thank you, Abigail! Well, Lizzy does hug a plant now and then! She is Mother Nature’s daughter, that one, with an appreciation for the woods and fields of Rosings Park. As for Anne de Bourgh, think of her as acting like Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, only from beyond the grave.
Love the image of Anne De Bourgh as a mischievous spirit tripping her way through Rosings, directing all the action! And I’m glad someone else noticed Lizzy’s affection for gardens.
Love it, Linda! Everything you say sounds more and more awesome!
I can’t even begin to guess what Anne might have entered in her journal, but I can’t wait to find out!
Thanks for the tantalising post, Linda and Meredith!
Still waters run deep! How dangerous and oddly out of character, I always thought, for Lady Catherine de Bourgh to allow her delicate daughter to go out and about in her little phaeton. Don’t you think? (Insert wicked author laugh here.)
Me too, Joana! Thanks for stopping by!
She would have been like a fly on the wall. Hearing and seeing so much, I can just imagine what she noticed. Love the idea of this book. Looks like someone gets a shock in that cover- and right at tea time. Delicious cover!
Indeed, Sophia Rose! Anne saw much, and was not above spying, either. It is amazing what men reveal about themselves in a billiard room. And as for the cover, there is so much about that scene we could not fit in!
Very true, Sophia!
Now that is an intriguing cover! I was thinking someone must’ve been shocked in some way. That tea set is lovely, too.
I was just looking at this one again on Meryton Press’s website (in between Jurassic Austen posts) and I’m happy it will be available soon!
On behalf of our cover artist, thank you, Monica! To say someone is shocked is an understatement. At some point in this story, everyone receives a shock, one way or another. And you know, sometimes a shocking revelation can save your life!
I love surprises and shocks! Sounds awesome to me!
Who designed your cover??
Our dear Zuki, Zorylee Diaz-Lupitou designed this one. I have been very fortunate in my cover artists (Janet Taylor, The Red Chrysanthemum and Zuki for Longbourn to London).
I have read your other two books. I am very intrigued by this sneak peek. I look forward to reading this one. I always feel like there is a story for Anne.
Anne is the driving force in this story. Her death brings Darcy and Elizabeth back together. Her journal explains the nature of her cousins Darcy, Georgiana, and Col. Alexander Fitzwilliam, at least as Anne sees them. Her Last Will and Testament throws everything up in the air, and pushes Lady Catherine to revisit old bad habits. And lastly, Anne’s journal proves that sometimes the apple doesn’t fall to far from the tree.
Perfect tea set for Lady Catherine and a great premise for the story! Highly intrigued to read this story and I have both your other stories on my wishlist which I will have to move quickly to my TBR list! I will also have to check out your clematis book as I do love them in my garden. Unfortunately, I only have 3 at the moment. This may be a difficult question to answer, but which one(s) are your favourites of the 230?
Not a difficult question at all: my very favorite clematis is ‘Venosa Violacea’. It is right next to my front door. I am also fond of ‘Fujimusume’, Clematis integrifolia (we never forget our first love, do we?), and I must have all the red ones. To look up these plants, I suggest a visit to Clematis on the Web (just google it). It is the goal of that site to have pictures of every clematis species and cultivar. It is good to have goals, even unattainable ones!
Great question, Carole! Hope you get a chance to read one of Linda’s books soon! 🙂
I’m very excited to read this book. I really like the cover but I don’t think you’re supposed to let your fork fall. lol
LOL! Someone is maybe too preoccupied to observe their manners!
Hmmm, very interesting cover! I wonder what has happened there, somebody has had a shock, certainly. It’s interesting that you say that Anne de Bourgh has a sarcastic voice, because I like to think of her that way too. All the best with the new book, Linda!
It would make so much more of an interesting character to know she had that tendency, wouldn’t it?
Thanks, Ceri! As for the shock, it is more than that. Simply put, that sweet little slice of cake is deadly, and the steam rising from the coffee cup carries a tell-tale aroma. My editor calls this my macabre rom-com for a reason!
Wonder who the victim(s) are!!
That cover is intriguing. Who now is shocked…or something more deadly? My mother used to collect tea pots but I don’t think she had any quite as fancy as that set. I did read The Red Chrysanthemum and enjoyed that but have the second one on my Wish List – just can’t seem to keep up. I seem to be reading a lot of books with Anne in them, even another in which she has died, so this seems to be my trend. I used to have several clematis but now live in a condo with little room for any flowers. I loved the pure white (don’t know the name) but also had a lovely pale purple one with a red tongue (don’t know if that is the proper name and again don’t know the name). Loved the way they reached up my front lamp post. Looking forward to reading both of the books. Congratulations on work well done…and an impending release.
Great cover! Either Darcy needs a will of Iron to stay away from his Aunt Catherine’s delicious cake or Anne poisoned it for her mother! I’m intrigued 🙂
Good suppositions!
I am seriously looking forward to reading this book after seeing the cover and reading this post! I
Me too!
Does the cover reveal some comedy too? Intriguing!