Favoured by Fortune
by Colleen Kelly-Eiding

Publication Date: August 1, 2019
Phase Publishing
Paperback & eBook; 328 Pages

Series: The Shadows of Rosthwaite, Book One
Genre: Historical Fiction/Romance

 

 

In a time of war and upheaval in England, their forbidden passion binds them together against all odds. Charlotte Pruitt throws off the norms of Georgian society and discovers her sensual power in the arms of a soldier named James Clarke, whom she has adored from the moment her eyes fell upon him.

He must be, she says, the most favoured by fortune of any gentleman I have yet beheld. This troubled, passionate war hero offers her a world of awakened senses and intimacy beyond anything she’s ever imagined in the embrace of her husband, Audley. However, after Audley’s murder, James’s dreadful madness and a stranger’s horrific revenge their fragile world is being threatened. The harrowed couple vow to face these challenges together, but all too soon, Charlotte finds she must summon all her inner strength to fight alone to save her lover and their bastard son.

From the mist-bound northern mountains of England, to sunlit Venice and the flower-scented shores of Lake Como, this epic tale of illicit love and its consequences reaches across gothic Europe, and all the expanse of the human heart.

Available on Amazon

Face of Fortune
by Colleen Kelly-Eiding

Publication Date: February 1, 2020
Phase Publishing
Paperback & eBook; 405 Pages

Series: The Shadows of Rosthwaite, Book Two
Genre: Historical Fiction/Romance

 

 

Charlotte Pruitt, an auburn-haired beauty whose soul is as wild as the northern mountains she loves, lives day to day, hoping against hope that James Clarke still lives. The love of her life and father of their son had attacked a nobleman whom he caught attempting to rape Charlotte. Pursued by soldiers and attempting to escape, James plunged into a raging river and was last seen being pulled under by the torrent.

James who had fought to protect her and little Jack, is gone. Courage, strength, intellect, and a keen wit would have to be her guardians now.

A weaker person would crumble under the pressure of running a business, raising a child alone, fending off unscrupulous men, while always aware that the horrific villain, Edward Hawkes is still alive and bent on her destruction. Instead, Charlotte focuses on those less fortunate than herself. She becomes dedicated to helping Jane Rourke, a weaver, who is falsely accused of crimes and sentenced to death. Charlotte is offered a way to save Jane Rourke, but at a terrible price to herself. And what of Hawkes? How will she save herself and little Jack?

From the dark and gritty streets of Spitalfields, hiding secrets both good and evil, to the haunted moors of Devon, and to the perilous heights of the northern English mountains where Charlotte’s greatest test will come, this epic saga of human kindness, passionate love, and horrifying evil never ceases to enchant…and terrify.

Available on Amazon

About the Author

Colleen Kelly-Eiding is a member of the Screen Actors’ Guild-American Federation of TV and Radio Artists, and Actors’ Equity. Her husband is an actor, as are their two adult daughters. Theatre, acting and above all, storytelling, are part of her family’s DNA.

Colleen, was in the first class of women at Kenyon College in Ohio when the school went co-ed. She also studied drama and political science at the University of Manchester in England. She later received an MFA in acting from the University of Minnesota. She has been an actor, director, casting assistant, 3rd grade teacher, and audiometrist.

Favoured by Fortune and Face of Fortune have been occupying Colleen’s imagination for a quite a long time. After both daughters graduated college, she and husband Paul became empty nesters. The time seemed right for Colleen to bring young Ms. Pruitt, our heroine, to life and let Charlotte tell her story.

During her time in Manchester, Colleen fell in love with the country. When she returned to England to do research for her series, she was beyond elated. She interviewed a curator at the Victoria and Albert Museum, spent time researching indictment records from the 1760‘s at the Guild Hall in London, and walked the route that the carts of the condemned travelled from Newgate Prison to the Tyburn Tree. Visiting the tiny village of Rosthwaite, located in the beautiful Borrowdale Valley in the Lake District, where much of the action takes place, helped give context and inspiration to Colleen.

Colleen continues to act for stage and film. She studies sculpting and ceramics. And enjoys traveling to Comic Cons around the world, where her husband is a frequent guest.

Her series of historical novels is titled The Shadows of Rosthwaite. The second book in the series, Face of Fortune, was released on February 1, 2020. Published by Phase Publishing, LLC.

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