The Gardener's Sins
The Gardener's Sins taps into a long standing love of mine, Historical Romance. Set in the late nineteenth century, it features Lady Mary Linden the daughter of an earl. She never notices the servants who toil on her father’s estate. But her aristocratic blindness shatters when she meets Drake, the head gardener. Drake shows her sensuous delights she could not have dreamed of. Just when she thinks he has taught her all there is to know, Drake introduces a new player into their game…Mary’s cousin Harry.
What they did was surely a sin…but a sin too delicious to give up.
What is the attraction of erotic comedy for you?
I love anything that makes me laugh. I want people to finish my books slightly steamed up and with a smile on their faces. That being said, The Gardener's Sins isn't really a comedy. The character of Drake was far too alpha and too much in charge to play the story for laughs.
Where did the inspiration behind the story come from?
It's based on a true story. My grandmother’s grandmother was an earl’s daughter. My ancestress—let’s call her Mary because while that wasn’t her real name, it is common in the family—had a wild, passionate affair with the gardener!
Apparently she spent many hours in his company and they were doing a lot more than admiring the roses, although I think a prick may have come into it somewhere.
They were of course, eventually found out. Mary was banished to Australia, her name expunged from the family Bible and any other records the earl was able to control. The gardener downed tools and followed her.
Mary’s cousin, a viscount, whom we shall call Harry ran away at the same time, onto the same ship and travelled to Australia with Mary and the gardener. He made his home with them for the rest of his life.
I can’t prove they lived in a ménage arrangement, but I think it’s very possible. Why else would Harry be so determined to travel with them?
When he died, all his possessions were left to Drake and Mary’s children. A great-aunt recalls in that even in old age, “Drake and Harry were such close companions. They were inseparable.”
Once I learned all this what choice did I have? I’m a writer. Who wouldn’t be inspired?
Please tell us about some of your previous publications with Total-E-Bound.
I have another historical ménage in Boudoir for Three, and a contemporary ménage in Submitting to Him. The more light- hearted erotic comedies are contemporary m/f, Downunder Heat and one of my favourites, The Devil Made Me Do It.
Why is important to find a funny side to erotica?
I try to find a funny side to everything. Life is too short to be grim.
When did you first know that this was the genre you would write in?
I've always been the kind of person who will do anything I can to make people laugh. Maybe it's some kind of defence mechanism, I don't know. What I do know is as soon as I started writing, I just found the jokes and humour made their way into my writing naturally.
Who do you most like to read in this genre?
I love reading anything by Maggie Nash. She's an Australian too. I think we both have a bit of that larrikin touch. Maggie mixes hers up with some dark, controlling dominance and submissive plot lines. Love it!
Why do bad girls have all the fun?
A lot of rules were put in place to control and disempower women. Bad girls ignore those rules and live their lives to the fullest.
What is next for you?
I'm almost finished the first draft of an erotic suspense, which deals with a sadistic dominant who goes rogue, and the Master who sets out to find him before he can kill another woman. It's a comparison between the responsible side of the BDSM community and those who sometimes give it a bad name.
You can purchase The Gardner’s Sins from Total-E-Bound Publishing today!