Hi there,
I wanted to pop in and thank you for your support of my new book, Deceived by Desire. I know many of you don’t expect to read something set in 1903 from me, but I have to tell you, I had so much fun writing this book, set in my beloved hometown of Newport, RI. In the acknowledgements, I included information about my personal connections to some aspects of the story told in this book, and I thought I’d share that here for those who don’t read the acknowledgements or haven’t gotten a chance to read the book yet:

This second book in my Gilded Series took me on an exciting journey through the historical past of my hometown of Newport, Rhode Island. For years, I have wanted to write about Newport’s storied Gilded Age history and the glorious summer “cottages” that are managed today by the Preservation Society of Newport County. I recommend a visit to the society’s website at newportmansions.org to experience the grandeur for yourself. I love all the amazing houses, but The Breakers is my favorite. Several of the houses referred to in this book were given fictional names, such as the Nelson and Russell homes, which didn’t actually exist.

If you’re ever in the area, I recommend spending a day in Newport touring the mansions as well as other historically significant sites such as the Newport Casino, which is home now to the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Also of historical interest are the Redwood Library, Trinity Church, Touro Synagogue, and St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church, where President and Mrs. Kennedy—as well as Mr. and Mrs. Force—were married. Newport, the longtime host of the America’s Cup races, is also known as the “sailing capital of the world,” and is home to amazing shopping, restaurants and world-class beaches.

My late father, George Brown Sullivan, was raised in Newport’s Fifth Ward, where many Irish people resided. It’s still known as the Irish end of town. In his younger days, my father lived on Grafton Street and worked for TJ Brown Landscaping, founded by his grandfather, Timothy J. Brown, in 1901, and run by his uncles, William “Wiggie” Brown and Timothy J. “Kaiser” Brown during my dad's time with the company. My paternal grandmother, Margaret Mary Pauline Brown Sullivan, was their sister and kept the books for the company for many years. TJ Brown is one of Newport’s oldest businesses and is still in existence today with fourth-generation proprietors that include Wiggie’s grandson, TJ Brown. As an aside, my twenty-three-year-old daughter, Emily, bears a striking resemblance to my grandmother Margaret. Side-by-side pictures of the two as young girls are quite remarkable! 

My dad’s father, who died when my father was only nineteen, was known as “Scroogey” in the Fifth Ward after playing the role of Scrooge in a school production of A Christmas Carol. By all accounts, he was a kind and generous man who was loved by all who knew him, unlike his namesake. My father’s beloved cousin, Wiggie’s daughter Eileen Brown, was a constant presence in our lives as kids. Eileen’s mother was an Irishwoman named Bridget, who was known to all as Bridie. Bridie married Wiggie after they met while working at Newport’s John Nicholas Brown estate, owned by the family that founded Brown University—not the Browns I was related to! Wiggie and Kaiser had a niece named Kathleen, who was known as Heine, the name her siblings gave her when they couldn’t pronounce Kathleen. If you read the book, you'll find that many of these family names were used in the story.

My dad told stories about working on the grounds of all of Newport’s illustrious homes and had tall tales to tell about the colorful characters who occupied them. He was well acquainted with the homes that provided generous noontime meals for the help, even the guy who cut the grass—and he cut a lot of grass before he was drafted into the army at the end of the Korean conflict and found his life’s work as an aviation mechanic. He talked of driving Cadillacs to Florida for the millionaires he worked for from the time he was nineteen. He delighted in the fact that he parked cars at the Kennedy wedding at Newport’s Hammersmith Farm, the family home of Jacqueline Kennedy’s stepfather, Hugh D. Auchincloss. Hammersmith Farm became known as the “Summer White House” while Kennedy was president, and his yacht, the Honey Fitz, was often docked in front of the home. 

I had great fun bringing my family’s interesting history—and their colorful nicknames—into this book as well as featuring the Brown and Sullivan family names with Maeve’s character. I intended it to be a love letter of sorts to the place where I was raised and to the people who came before me.

I relied on several books about Newport to help frame the story told in this book, particularly To Marry an English Lord: Tales of Wealth and Marriage, Sex and Snobbery, by Gail MacColl and Carol McD. Wallace, and Gilded: How Newport Became America’s Richest Resort, by Deborah Davis. Both offered interesting and illuminating details of Newport’s colorful past. To find more information about the Fall River Line that connected New York and Boston and served as a central transportation component for turn-of-the-century travelers to Newport, go to https://bit.ly/2ML7fN3.

This book was due a few short months after I lost my beloved dad, in the summer of 2018, and it seemed only fitting to spend the months after we lost him wallowing in the past of the place he called home. 

Read Deceived by Desire now to see how I used these family names and details in the story. Go to marieforce.com/deceivedbydesire for links to ebook, print and audio formats. Deceived by Desire is also available now in German translation. 

Thank you for letting me share my family's rich history with you and for taking a walk back in time with me to Newport’s Gilded past. I hope you enjoy Aubrey and Maeve’s story in Deceived by Desire. As always, thank you for your support of my books, and I hope my U.S. readers have an enjoyable Labor Day Weekend!
xoxo
Marie


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