Today's Special - - Joanna Shupe

Photo by Kathryn Huang Photography

It's my pleasure to welcome Joanna Shupe back to the Romance Dish today. I am crazy about her The Knickerbocker Club series, set in New York City during the Gilded Age, one of my favorite American historical periods. She really brings the city to life during an exciting time in our history. Today, Joanna joins us to talk about her newest book, BARON (out today!), featuring a pompous railroad baron and a faux-Russian medium. You don't want to miss this one! Read Janga's review of MAGNATE here and PJ's review of BARON here. 

Joanna Shupe has always loved history, a fact that is clearly evident in her writing. She was the 2013 winner of RWA's Golden Heart® for Best Historical, her first Regency historical, The Courtesan Duchess was nominated as Best First Historical by RT Book Reviews, and The Lady Hellion was named one of the Washington Post's top five romance novels. Joanna can be found online at: Facebook  Twitter.

Welcome, Joanna!

Gilded Age Women Rise Up

Thank you so much for hosting me today! I’m very excited to be here to talk about my brand-new Gilded Age romance, BARON.

One reason the Gilded Age is fascinating is because it saw the start of the women’s movement. Most of us already know about the brave suffragettes who campaigned tirelessly for women to get the vote. (Incidentally, vote on November 8^th!) But there were other ways women advanced during this time period as well.

Urban areas boomed in the Gilded Age. With the industrial explosion, more and more people moved

off farms and into cities for office jobs. This included single women, who now found respectable positions as secretaries and shop clerks. More job opportunities meant independent income, which meant women could wait longer to marry.

Another respectable occupation popped up as well, and it’s one you might not expect.

During the Civil War, many husbands, brothers, and sons were lost. Those left behind were eager to remember and “speak to” those deceased relatives. This led to an explosion in spiritualism and interest in the afterlife. Many women began a lucrative career as a medium by telling fortunes, holding séances, and speaking to the dead.

Ava, the heroine in BARON, is a practicing medium. As the head of her family, she has three siblings to provide for and being a medium pays extremely well. She sees this as providing a service to her clients, many of whom are so mired in grief over a loved one that they cannot move forward. She sees herself as more of an entertainer and therapist than an outright liar.

The hero of Baron isn’t so convinced. This very proper and pompous railroad baron is horrified by what she does…yet she’s laughing all the way to the bank.

I’d love to give away a copy of BARON! Just comment below with your favorite card game for the chance to win a signed paperback. Thank you!

New York City's Gilded Age shines as bright as the power-wielding men of the Knickerbocker Club. And one pragmatic industrialist is about to learn that a man may make his own destiny, but love is a matter of fortune . . .
 
Born into one of New York's most respected families, William Sloane is a railroad baron who has all the right friends in all the right places. But no matter how much success he achieves, he always wants more. Having secured his place atop the city's highest echelons of society, he's now setting his sights on a political run. Nothing can distract him from his next pursuit--except, perhaps, the enchanting con artist he never saw coming . . .
 
Ava Jones has eked out a living the only way she knows how. As "Madam Zolikoff," she hoodwinks gullible audiences into believing she can communicate with the spirit world. But her carefully crafted persona is nearly destroyed when Will Sloane walks into her life--and lays bare her latest scheme. The charlatan is certain she can seduce the handsome millionaire into keeping her secret and using her skills for his campaign--unless he's the one who's already put a spell on her . . .