And I suppose for some readers that tends to be true. What mattered in historical romance was the sex. “Listen honey,” she replied with an edge to her Texas twang, “nobody cares who’s king–or what kingdom he’s from!” I guess she meant that, in her view, the characters’ backgrounds and the world they inhabited were unimportant. When I was working as a television and radio host “in another life,” I once interviewed a very famous romance writer who responded rather curtly to my question about her techniques when researching the setting and background of her characters. However, Agnes Randolph, Countess of Dunbar and March, earned herself the nickname of Black Agnes by her brash antics in the siege of Dunbar.

It was not unusual for the wife of a lord to take command of a besieged garrison if the lord of the castle was away. Several examples of women warriors also exist in history in the 14th and 15th centuries. The fact that powerful woman warriors exist in myth show that this concept was one that existed. Morrigan is actually named after a mythological Celtic goddess of war, strife, and sovereignty. I can only imagine that women fought beside men in more instances which were never documented. While this was admittedly unusual, there are several cases of females from this era donning armor and leading the troops, which have survived through history. Due to the poverty of her clan, and her natural prowess with a sword, she joined the group thieves led by her brother, who roam the countryside looking for unsuspecting travelers from whom they “request” a donation to the fund for wayward highwaymen.

The heroine of my new release, TRUE HIGHLAND SPIRIT, has an unusual occupation for a laird’s daughter in medieval Scotland. When she realizes she must travel to Houston where her sister is, she is reluctant to fly. But when her sister needs a kidney transplant, Lucy is the only one who can save her life.

For years Lucy sacrificed her own needs to care for her half sister and alcoholic mother, only to be abandoned by both. But as the story progressed and Lucy needed to reunite with her sister the idea of a physical journey was appealing given that my character was going through an internal journey as well. When I came up with the idea for IN SEARCH OF LUCY, I hadn’t planned on putting a road trip in the book. Readers love to share the adventures of these characters as they travel from place to place, experiencing the unexpected. Often it’s in the form of comedy, romance, disasters or even horror. When people say “road trip” do you conjure up visions of people chanting “Vegas baby” while crammed into a beat-up, two-door car? Or maybe it’s The Ricardos and The Mertzs singing “California Here We Come.” Whatever your vision of a road trip may be, it usually spells adventure in books and movies.

In search of lucy by lia fairchild