The Governess | A Guest Post by Shana Galen, PLUS Two-Book Giveaway

Shana Galen is the author of five Regency historicals, including the Rita-nominated Blackthorne’s Bride. Her books have been sold in Brazil, Russia, and the Netherlands and featured in the Rhapsody and Doubleday Book Clubs. A former English teacher in Houston’s inner city, Shana now writes full time. She is a happily married wife and mother of one daughter and two spoiled cats. She loves to hear from readers: visit her website at www.shanagalen.com.

I’ve always been fascinated by the idea of the governess. Perhaps because I myself was a teacher for many years. Perhaps because I read Jane Eyre one too many times. Whatever the reason, when I began writing The Making of a Duchess, I knew my heroine was a governess.

The governess played an interesting role in the upper classes of British society. She was technically a servant and yet she was one of the most significant people in the family. Every peer from the lowliest knight to the princes and princesses themselves would have been taught and cared for by a governess. The boys would have spent less time under her care as they were typically sent to school quite young, but the women might remember their governesses quite fondly.

Think of Emma Woodhouse in Jane Austen’s Emma. In the novel, Mrs. Weston, her former governess, is one of her closest friends and confidants. When Mr. Knightley and Emma have children, I’m certain Emma will want a governess just as wonderful for her little ones.

So the choice of a governess was important to an aristocratic family. She was an important member of the household and treated as such. She had her own room and often a chamber maid to help her dress, clean the schoolroom, and take care of her chambers. She was expected to dress well (she did not wear livery) and to possess exceptional manners. After all, not only was the governess seen in public when she brought the children down to see their parents, she was an example for future dukes and duchesses, earls and countesses.

But the life of a governess was often lonely. She was too genteel to dine with most of the servants, unless the family was wealthy enough to employ a lady’s companion, a librarian, or a chaplain, and so on. However, if these dinner companions were all male, she would again be forced to dine alone.

In The Making of a Duchess my heroine and governess Sarah is lonely and isolated. She enjoys teaching her pupils, the children of a Sir Northrop and his wife, but she longs for a family of her own. When she is suddenly thrust into the role of a spy for the Foreign Office, she’s naturally terrified. And the man she’s engaged to spy upon, Julien Harcourt, duc de Valére, is nothing if not intimidating.

But it’s Sarah’s skills as a governess that make her perfect for her new role. She’s patient, intelligent, and knows how to act like an aristocrat. But she plays her new role too well. Imagine Julien’s surprise when the woman he thinks is a comtesse and his future wife, isn’t who he thought she was at all.

What do you think? Could a governess make it as a spy? I’ll be checking in later to read your answers.

I hope you’ll pick up The Making of a Duchess. It’s the perfect summer read. Check out an excerpt on my website www.shanagalen.com.

THE MAKING OF A DUCHESS by SHANA GALEN—IN STORES JUNE 2010
Synopsis: “A very dangerous attraction… Julien Harcourt, duc de Valère, is more than willing to marry the lovely young lady his mother has chosen. Little does he know, she’s been sent to prove him a spy and a traitor… And an even more dangerous secret… Sarah Smith’s mission is to find out whether the Duc’s trips to the Continent are as innocent as he claims, but the way he looks at her is far from innocent…

Their risky game of cat and mouse propels them from the ballrooms of London to the prisons of Paris, and into a fragile love that may not survive their deceptions…”

Giveaway

The Giveaway Goodies: TWO lucky winners will each win a paperback copy of The Making of a Duchess by Shana Galen. Thank you Sourcebooks for generously sponsoring!

Entry Rules: To enter, please fill out the following entry form with your name and e-mail address.  For a second entry (and double the chance to win!), leave a comment on this post with your answer to Shana’s question: Do *YOU* think a governess could make it as a spy in the regency era?

There are no right or wrong answers, so just have fun!

This giveaway is open to US and Canadian residents only, and will close on 6/30. The winner will be notified via e-mail. This giveaway is now closed.