Works in Progress
Want to know more about my Historical Fiction novels? My Works In Progress and completed manuscripts are below!
If you would like to contact me regarding any of my manuscripts, you can reach me here. For publishing industry professionals, I am represented by Tricia Lawrence at Erin Murphy Literary Agency.
The Mollies of Thebes Coffeehouse
In London, 1755, the love of money is perhaps not the root of evil, but scandal. Theodora Barton knows the allure of money all too well. Though a talented accountant with a gift for business, her skills are abused by an older relative for his flailing trade in the hot commodity of the day: coffee. But Theodora’s life is transformed when she develops a friendship with a group of “mollies”, queer sex workers infamous in Georgian Britain. Her new allies convince her to join them in a daring business venture: to open their very own coffee house – selling both drinks and pleasure.
But Theodora and her colleagues have barely opened Thebes Coffeehouse when threats creep up to their doorstep: mysterious visits by officers of the law, assaults on their property in the dead of night, and violent threats from rival molly houses jeopardize their dream. Enemies abound in London, and are closer than Theodora could ever imagine – forcing her to risk everything to protect those she loves most.
The Burning Girls
In 1688, seventeen-year-old Cécilia Bortigali lives a dangerous double life. Few in Marseille, France suspect that she is an aspiring alchemist, researching everything from abortifacients to the mythic Greek Fire in the attic of her family’s chateau. Even fewer know that her harpsichord practice at the Marseille Academy of Music is a cover for her secret title at the institution, “Mistress of Magic”, as its special effects producer.
But a chance encounter with the bisexual opera singer, Julie d’Aubigny, throws Cécilia’s world into turmoil. As Cécilia’s friendship with the debut soloist deepens, Cécilia wrestles with her own insecurities around her queer identity as an asexual woman. But just as the pair grow to trust – perhaps even love – each other, a mysterious death at the opera house puts them both under the harsh glare of suspicion. When Cécilia is thrown into a convent as punishment for her assumed involvement, she and Julie execute one of history’s most daring – and fiery – escapes.
Queen Christina’s Ladies
This novel manuscript is undergoing developmental editing.
In the 1650s, Rome is one of the fastest growing cities in Europe. The chaos of the Thirty Years War has upended the religious politics of the continent, and left the Roman Catholic papacy pondering its next steps in the Counter-Reformation. The Vatican’s power is challenged more and more by coalescing monarchies and the march of Protestantism.
But in 1655, an impoverished young artist named Adélaide only cares about Rome’s burgeoning role as the center for European arts. Her life is transformed when her masterpiece painting is stolen – leading her to pursue it all the way to the palazzo of Rome’s newest, and already infamous, resident. Adélaide soon joins a royal household where art, faith, passion and conviction all collide. As Adélaide leans into her newfound family, she matures into her identity and innate strengths to resist a tide of injustice.