What a joy to wlcome the delightful Jillian Chantal to 'Gina's World of Good' this week! Ms. Chantal grew up in various places with the most time in Stafford, Virginia and Pensacola, Florida. A wonderful author and friend, and she joins us here to discuss her newest release, "Captain Vane's Daughter". This sweeping Regency novel captures the essence of pirate lore and carries the reader on an adventurous journey filled with the timeless treasures of family, history and love. Welcome, Jillian Chantal!!
Welcome to my blog, Jillian. What is your newest book about?
It’s called Captain Vane’s Daughter and it’s about a girl’s quest to find out the truth about her birth and heritage. Her mother died in childbirth after falling in love with the pirate, Captain Charles Vane. Her grandmother raised her without love and treated her worse than a servant. The old woman could never forgive her daughter for falling in love with a pirate and having his child.
Where did you get your inspiration for this novel?
I was inspired first of all by pirate lore. I’ve long been a reader of the history of the Golden Age of Piracy (Not that I would ever want to run into a real pirate, mind you).
When the show Black Sails was on Starz, I watched it because even though it was fiction, it drew on real pirates of the era to help tell the story- like Anne Bonny, Jack Rackham, Charles Vane, and Blackbeard (a/k/a Edward Teach).
In the final season of the show, one of the female characters who had a relationship with Charles Vane married the British governor (Woodes Rogers- also a real person). She found out she was pregnant and my first thought was, “Wouldn’t it be cool if the baby was Vane’s and not her husband’s?” I didn’t like this female character as she betrayed everyone who ever cared for her so I thought that would be poetic justice. LOL - I was wrong but it planted a seed in my mind. What if one of these pirates did have a child who wanted to learn the truth about them and then I was off and writing.
What kind of research did you do for this book?
I had to make sure where Charles Vane was at various times in the real world so I could make the story as realistic as I could; such as when he was in South Carolina where the heroine was conceived and when he was executed. I wanted her to be under age twenty so I had to use these dates in order to set the time frame of my story.
I also made sure the words I used were time period appropriate. The etymology dictionary is my friend for sure. - I also researched the Jolly Roger and when it was created and flown. Sailing times between ports was also something I looked into as well as rum and sugar plantations in Jamaica.
Did you put real experiences from your research in this story?
Yes. The details about Charles Vane, the fight for Nassau and when Vane went to South Carolina to see if he could get Blackbeard to help the cause in saving Nassau from the British as well as the plantation and terrain information about Jamaica. As to the Nassau part of the story, I’ve been there a few times and have been lucky enough to see some of the colonial areas so I did draw upon that as well.
What intrigues you most about writing these stories?
I am such a history nerd. It’s hard to narrow down the things I love as I so love it all. The manners, the clothes, the adventure. Now, what I don’t like is the no indoor plumbing, no contact lenses and no air conditioners ( )
Tell us a bit about your other books.
I have a number of books so that’s hard to narrow down. It seems I’ve begun to focus more on Regencies lately but I have stories from the modern era as well as the 1920s, 30s, 40s and up.
Which of all your characters is your favorite?
Usually the one I’m working on now. I seem to have this need to fall a bit in love with the hero myself so I don’t ever want to “cheat” on him and always have to get him out of my system before moving to the next one. At the moment, Leo in this story still holds my heart.
How did you get started in this genre?
Interestingly, when I was writing for a publisher that has now gone out of business, they had a call for Regency Christmas stories and I thought, “Why not give it a whirl? I know the history of the era. How hard could it be?” It was actually a bit harder than I thought as I had to learn about the Christmas traditions that were very different in that era than now. I also had a friend who said I couldn’t write a fox hunt at Christmas so I had to prove her wrong. Never tell a lawyer she needs to do some research, because she will. Anyway, I’d read of these hunts at Christmas and when I did look deeper, I was right so that story has a fox hunt.
When you have time to read, who are some of your favorite authors?
Martha Grimes, Sharon Penman, Christopher Fowler, Suzanne Johnson
Let’s get personal for a moment: Please share with us the most daring thing you’ve ever done.
Favorite meal? City you would love to visit and why?
Most daring: Sky diving
Fav meal: A champagne chicken with mushrooms dinner I had in Verona, Italy many years ago. It was that memorable and good. Divine, even. My dad and I still talk about it.
City love to visit: I’m a big traveler so I’ll choose one I haven’t been to: Reykjavik, Iceland
To learn more about Jillian Chantal, visit her website at www.jillianchantal.com. You’ll find all her books at this site or her Amazon page. https://tinyurl.com/ybuz2z7y
And here are all her additional links! Check them out:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JillianChantal
Amazon: https://tinyurl.com/ybuz2z7y
Jillian, thank you so much for visiting “Gina’s World of Good”! I wish you many sales!!
