Meet Charlotte Tiptree, The Book Loving Duchess from The Gentleman Spy
Part 2 of an Interview with Erica Vetsch,
Author of The Gentleman Spy
While
Marcus thinks he can juggle the various aspects of his life without one part
spilling into the other, his bride, Charlotte, has other ideas. Unlike the
other women of society, she reads anything she can get her hands on (even the
newspaper!) and has ideas of her own. “Chivalry and
the protection of women were a large part of proper English society during the
Regency, and it was feared that too much academic work or exposure to the more,
shall we say, gritty elements of life were both improper and could be dangerous
to the ‘weaker female mind,’” Vetsch explains. “I’d like to think the men of
the era had women’s best interests at heart, or at least thought they did, but
I suspect it was because they were afraid of just how smart women are!”
Charlotte
Tiptree is determined to take her place not only as Marcus’s duchess but as his
wife. As a duchess, Charlotte can use her position to help the lowest of
society—the women forced into prostitution because they have no skills or hope,
including a half-sister she just learned she has. Her endeavors are not met
favorably in society or by her new mother-in-law who does not approve of her
son’s choice of women.
Marcus
doesn’t so much mind his wife having a mind and cause of her own, just as long
as he can go about his business. Can the duke succeed in relegating her to the
sidelines of his life? When his secrets are threatened with exposure, will his
new wife be an asset or a liability?
In
this second part of her interview, Vetsch introduces us to her heroine
Charlotte. (Read part 1 about Marcus here.)
Q: Though separated by two hundred years, readers will be sure
to relate to your heroine, Lady Charlotte Tiptree. Can you share with us what
her obsession is?
Charlotte loves books. She
loves all books, but she has a passion for history books and novels. I guess
you could say I patterned her a bit after myself since those are two of my
passions. Her most precious possessions are the books in her little library, each
one saved for, planned for, and loved. It was a joy to write Charlotte because
of her pleasure in books—the look, feel, smell, and the words! Oh, the words!
At the time of The
Gentleman Spy, Charlotte’s interest lies in ancient history, Greek and Roman
to be exact. I always envision Charlotte moving from one historical era to the
next to learn as much as she can. She has an insatiable curiosity about the
past.
She also loves to escape
into a good novel. Because her homelife is less than ideal, she feels safest
and happiest when she can fall into the pages of a book and get away from her
reality.
Q: Why was it so scandalous for a woman to read books, and
especially read a newspaper, during this period in history?
Chivalry
and the protection of women were a large part of proper English society during
the Regency, and it was feared that too much academic work or exposure to the
more, shall we say gritty, elements of life were both improper and could be
dangerous to the “weaker female mind.” I’d like to think the men of the era had
women’s best interests at heart, or at least thought they did, but I suspect it
was because they were afraid of just how smart women are!
Of course, Charlotte
thinks this notion that reading is dangerous to women is a load of twaddle, and
she reads as much as she can, even though she has to hide her books from her
father. When she faces a problem, she turns to books to find the answers. And
when she marries, she finds joy in being given run of the house library.
They did, within a certain
scope. The higher up the social ladder, the more likely that your marriage
would be heavily influenced by your parents or guardians. Often a woman took an
offer of marriage because she had few other options. The socioeconomics of the
Regency era left few choices for an unmarried woman to support herself.
Courtship rituals during
the Regency were quite strict and regimented. Chaperones were essential,
decorum required, and rules adhered to faithfully. There were rules about when
and how to properly speak to someone of the opposite sex, about how many dances
you could share at a single event, when and where a courting couple could go. Getting
those moves wrong could lead to scandal or censure or a damaged reputation.
Q: What are Charlotte’s views on marriage? How about Marcus?
They both see marriage as
a necessary evil, though for different reasons. Charlotte sees marriage as a
way to escape her unhappy home, but she fears jumping out of the frying pan and
into the fire. She longs for freedom, but the only way to be free of her
current life is to suborn her freedom to a husband.
Marcus
knows it is his duty to marry, and even his superior officer in the agency
encourages him to wed, but he doesn’t want marriage to change him, nor does he
want to have to give up anything when he marries. He’s certain that if he
chooses correctly, he will find a wife who is content to run his household and
bear his children, but who won’t interfere too much with his plans.
Q: A major part of the story involves coming to the aid of
women involved in prostitution. That’s not a popular subject in Christian
fiction. Tell us more about this aspect of the story and why you decided to
make it a part of The Gentleman Spy.
Charlotte discovers early
in the story that she has a half sister, the product of her father’s long
affair with his mistress, and that both her sister and her sister’s mother have
been tossed out to fend for themselves. Her sister, Pippa, makes the difficult
choice to become a high-class prostitute in order to survive. Charlotte wants
to help her newfound sister and forge a relationship with her, but Pippa
doesn’t trust anyone, especially not a half sister who has all the advantages
she never had growing up.
Portraying social issues
like prostitution in Christian fiction is tricky. The last thing I want to do
is write an “issue book” where I’m expounding my views on a particular theme or
social situation. I don’t want my story to feel as if I’m standing on a soapbox
on a street corner and shouting about how the reader should sit up and take
notice of my cause and my views and do something! Any social issue, whether it
is the treatment of veterans as in The Lost Lieutenant or the world of
prostitution and exploitation of women and the double standards of society as
in The Gentleman Spy, must be organic to the story and grow out of the
characters’ lives and actions.
As Christians, we cannot
be blind to these issues, but for me, as a novelist, the issues must be an
integral part of the story I’m writing rather than something inserted with the
purpose of preaching to the reader. If one of my stories gets someone thinking
about what they could do regarding a social issue, that’s great. But it isn’t
the primary reason for writing the story.
Q: What can readers look forward to in the last installment of
the series, The Indebted Earl?
Between the release of The
Gentleman Spy and The Indebted Earl, there will be a bonus novella! Joy to the World: A
Regency Christmas Collection releases in October of this year, and my
novella, “Wonders of His Love,”
is included. This novella takes us to Haverly Manor, the home of Marcus and
Charlotte, for the Christmas season. Cilla Haverly, widow of the former heir,
is wondering what her next step in life should be. Is she doomed to be the
dowager’s companion forever, with no real place in society any longer? When an
intriguing Scottish painter arrives to paint the portraits of the new Duke and
Duchess of Haverly, he ignites in Cilla a spark of independence that has the
dowager’s feathers ruffled and Cilla thinking thoughts of revolt
. . . and love.
And finally, in March of
2021, the last installment of The Serendipity & Secrets series, The Indebted Earl, arrives. The story of Sophie Haverly, younger sister of the
duke, The Indebted Earl takes the
reader to the Devon coast as Sophie and Captain Charles Wyvern navigate grief,
survivor’s guilt, rambunctious orphans, a dear woman suffering early dementia,
smugglers, and a growing love that neither is sure is proper.
Learn more about
Erica Vetsch and her books at www.ericavetsch.com. She can also be
found on Facebook (@EricaVetschAuthor) and Instagram
(@EricaVetsch).
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