The Crimson Bed
Frederic Ashton Thorpe and his best friend, Henry Winstone, are artists immersed in the Pre-Raphaelite movement, with its yearning for romantic escape from the materialism of Victorian society. Seeing a half-finished portrait of the beautiful Eleanor Farnham at Henry’s studio, Fred is fascinated and returns in order to meet her. He and Ellie fall in love and are married.
But every heart hides a secret, and both Fred and Ellie have put certain events behind them – events that, if exposed, could threaten their blissful new life. Passions escalate as Fred becomes increasingly jealous of Ellie’s closeness to her handsome godfather, Lord Percy Dillinger, and when shocking truths finally come to light, their lives will never be the same again
(130,000 words; available as ebook and print)
“I became so entangled in the story and characters that I abandoned TV and other distractions in order to spend more time in the world of The Crimson Bed. One of the aspects that made me very happy was the believability. I’m a stickler for logic, no matter how outrageous the storyline: I must be able to think, “Yes, this is believable. I get it.” The Crimson Bed never failed me… It is, first and foremost, a character driven story filled with people the reader comes to know intimately; this is the primary reason I so heartily recommend it!
—Rebecca Ann Lochlan, author of The Year God’s Daughter
“Set against the backdrop of the revolution in art that was started by the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in the 1850s, The Crimson Bed is a tale of secrets and jealousies, omissions and lies… For every rule breaking, free living Millais or Rosetti there were thousand upon thousands of tortured Victorians trying, and mostly failing, to live within the strict moral dictates of the day… Details do not always contain the devil for me and some of Loretta’s details are divine… I enjoyed The Crimson Bed enormously both as a novel and as an account of the secretive, if not secret, world of the Victorians.”
—Barbara Nadel, author of the Inspector Ikmen and the Francis Hancock series
“How refreshing to read a historical romance set against such a lush and unusual background! I revelled in this sumptuous depiction of the Pre-Raphaelite period. The story is multi-layered and rich in symbolism and the detail is exquisitely drawn, conjuring up both the vivid atmosphere of the period and the complexities of the secrets and lies that bind the characters… The book is a page-turner too. I couldn’t put it down even though I was supposed to be writing!”
—Nicola Cornick
