Guest Post With Marie Laval

Today, I'm so pleased to welcome author, Marie Laval, back to the blog to talk about her novel Queen of The Desert. I enjoyed finding out about the story behind it and I'm sure you will. too.

Marie, welcome! 

Thank you so much, Jan. for inviting me on your blog today to talk about Queen of the Desert, my latest historical romance which is published by Choc Lit tomorrow.

I am very excited about this release, not only because I absolutely love my brave and unconventional heroine Harriet Montague and my formidable and wonderful hero Lucas Saintclair, but also because writing about their adventures took me to another period in time – 1845, to be exact – and to a faraway land which has fascinated me for as long as I can remember. 

Your new novel, Queen of the Desert, sounds fabulous. What was the inspiration behind it?

Famille Cantrel
Jan 1940

My mother grew up in Algeria in a very vibrant and colourful Italian, Spanish and French family who had settled there in the late nineteenth century. They weren’t wealthy at all, and my mother often told me how being the youngest child, she was the one her parents sent to the corner shop to buy food ‘on the tab’ when money had run out. If the greengrocer refused, then my mother and her siblings would have to make do with slices of bread dipped in olive oil and rubbed with a garlic clove for tea.

Tombeau de la Chrétienne
Sep 1959

However, it wasn’t all hardship and she had weird and wonderful stories of fishing for mussels or urchins with one of her very eccentric brothers ‘dressed’ or rather ‘undressed’ like Tarzan with nothing else than a loincloth and a spear ((he was a fan of Johnny Weisssmuller); of family trips to the stunning Roman ruins of Tipasa or the beautiful

Tipasa, Algeria

‘Tombeau de la Chrétienne’ near Cherchell... and of curses and the evil eye and all kinds of superstitions her family believed in.

It is no wonder then that I wanted to go to Algeria myself not only to see the places where my mother and her family had lived, but to travel further South to the Sahara desert and discover the oases, the rock art and the Ahaggar mountains (also called the Hoggar).

I read many novels, travellers' accounts and short stories set in Algeria too. Some of the most memorable being by Isabelle Eberhardt, who was an incredible woman explorer and writer whose life was cut short in 1904 when she was only twenty-seven.

I may never have been to Algeria but I have so often dreamt about it that I knew I wanted to set some of my own stories there.

Sahara

Before I even read a word of your novel, I’m drawn in by the striking cover design. Can you tell us about that and the chosen title?

I do love that gorgeous cover too! It is all I was hoping for, and more...

As for the title, it refers to Queen Tin Hinan, who is rumoured to be the ancestral queen of the Tuareg people who live in the Sahara – or as they are sometimes called, ‘the People of the Veil’ or the 'Kel Tamasheq' (those who speak Tamashek). Her tomb which is in Abalessa near Tamanrasset was discovered in 1925 by archeologist, adventurer and allegedly occasional com artist Byron Khun de Prorok (you couldn't make up such a name!) in 1925.

In my story, it is Harriet's father, archeologist Oscar Montague, who discovers the tomb. Harriet believes that he has been taken prisoner by some Tuareg who are angry at him desecrating the tomb and hires former army scout Lucas Saintclair to take her to Tamanrasset and pay her father's ransom. At first, she absolutely despises Lucas who appears to be only interested in money, taverns and women, but in the course of their long and arduous journey, she discovers that he isn't quite what he seems...

Can you say which came first, the characters or the story you wanted to tell?

It’s all mixed up, really. I wanted to write about a heroine who refuses to be bound by the conventions and constraints of Victorian society, and who loves nothing more than working on archaeological sites alongside her father and sketching their finds in her beloved sketchbook. Harriet Montague is incredibly brave and knows her own mind, and she definitely isn’t made for sipping tea, making polite conversation, or doing her embroidery in the drawing room of her father’s London house. And of course, there was Lucas Saintclair – the bad boy who seems to care about no one and nothing, apart from money, women and pleasure, and who in fact hides a broken heart and a broken soul... They seemed to me to the perfect pair for my North African adventure.

Thank you, Marie. That's such a fascinating story and all the more special because of your links to the area because your mother lived there. I hope the novel flies for you. 

BLURB:

Sometimes the most precious treasures exist in the most barren and inhospitable of places …

Harriet Montague is definitely too much of a gentlewoman to be frequenting the backstreet taverns of Tangiers. But her father has been kidnapped whilst on an expedition to the tomb of an ancient desert queen, and she is on a mission to find the only person who could save him. It's just unfortunate that Lucas Saintclair, the man Harriet hopes will rescue her father from scoundrels, is the biggest scoundrel of the lot. With a bribe in the formn of a legendary pirate map, securing his services is the easiest part - now Harriet must endure a treacherous journey through the desert accompanied by Sinclair's band of ruffians.

But on the long, hot Saharan nights, is it any wonder that her heart begins to thaw towards her guide - especially when she realises Lucas's roguish façade conceals something she could never have expected?

Author Bio

Originally from Lyon in France, Marie now lives in Lancashire and writes historical and contemporary romance. Best-selling Little Pink Taxi was her debut contemporary romantic novel with Choc Lit. A Paris Fairy Tale was published in July 2019, followed by Bluebells Christmas Magic in November 2019 and bestselling romantic suspense Escape to the Little Chateau which was shortlisted for the 2021 RNA Jackie Collins Romantic Suspense Award. Happy Dreams at Mermaid Cove is her latest contemporary romance. Queen of the Desert is Marie’s second historical romance, following on from Angel of the Lost Treasure which features another member of the Saintclair family.

Website and/or Blog: http://marielaval.blogspot.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/marielaval1

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/marie.laval.9/

BUYING LINKS for Queen of the Desert:

Queen of the Desert is available as ebook from AMAZON  and KOBO

Thank you for reading. If like me, the story behind Queen of the Desert together with the fabulous cover and intriguing blurb has persuaded you to download the book in the morning, I'm sure Marie would love to hear your thoughts after reading. 

You may also follow me on Twitter: @JanBaynham and on my Jan Baynham Writer page.

More about me and my books may be found on my AMAZON page.