
MD-Sometimes but I found writing Dr Hamish George’s Scottish accent harder than Franklin’s as I watch a lot of TV drama set in Yorkshire and have seen it written down. It’s a challenge which I enjoy.
MP-How do you research for your books?
MD-I did a lot of the time periods I cover in history at school plus British TV shows like Upstairs Downstairs and Downton Abbey helped with the settings. I also read a lot of period dramas. It is interesting learning about other times.
MP-How hard is it to write about a time period that you didn’t grow up in?
MD-If it is a time period that most people know something about it is easier. A lot of people are familiar with the events of the Titanic tragedy, the First World War and the Spanish flu. I try to imagine myself living in these times and most of the female characters have a little of me in them. Knowing my bad luck I would have died of the Spanish flu lol.
MP-How have you found self publishing?
MD-A challenge as I have had to learn how to format and create PDF files which I did not have a clue about before but there are some very helpful people in the Lulu forums. I am enjoying the challenge though and the satisfaction of being able to hold my own paperbacks is something that you can’t understand unless you have experienced it for yourself.
MP-Tell us about the couples in your book?
MD-Margaret Trevelyan was raised as a lady although in fact she isn’t. She knows she wants Lewis Franklin the chauffeur as soon as she sees him but getting from that point to actually becoming a couple is not straight forward. But they are a very committed devoted and passionate couple and the source of most of the series adult scenes.
Lady Lynchcliffe is passionately devoted to her husband Lord Marcus Lynchcliffe who she married at the age of fifteen (there was no legal age of consent back then). When he is murdered she has to find the strength within to learn to live without him and I drew on personal experience for this since my boyfriend, David, died almost four years ago. She later finds love with her late husband’s best friend which proves to be a steadfast comfort to her and they certainly have their moments between the sheets too.
Follow Melanie
Purchase Lynchcliffe
Bio
I live in Reading in the UK and have no kids by choice. I have been an avid scribbler for years. I wrote the Lynchcliffe series as a celebration of love and the resilience of the human spirit in memory of my late partner, David Thomas, who died on September 23rd 2008. I like to think he would have been proud of my achievements.
The Lynchcliffe Cuckoo Vol 1 Mis en Scene
It all began with the tragic and unexpected death of a new mother in the autumn of 1891. A grief-stricken father places his daughter, Margaret, up for adoption convinced he cannot give her the start in life she deserves.
The sinking of RMS Titanic throws Margaret into a new life with relatives she had not previously known about owing to a long-held estrangement between her adoptive mother and her sister, Lady Lynchcliffe.
The passionate love affair between heiress Margaret Trevelyan and chauffeur Lewis Franklin begins.
Secrets, lies, machinations and murder combine with love, friendship and loyalty to shape the beginning of a love story in the early twentieth century
The Lynchcliffe Cuckoo Vol 2 the Enemy Within
A faithful servant falls ill on a wedding day.
Margaret & Lewis Franklin’s love story continues as they seek to raise their children and protect them as Britain goes to war.
Helena, Lady Lynchcliffe, finds new love while she fears for the safety of her son who is fighting in the trenches.
The household at Lynchcliffe Park remain loyal to one another and stand against the heart-ache brought about by shell-shock, marital infidelity and death.
Lord Michael Lynchcliffe returns from the Western Front a broken man. Can the combined love of his mother and his sweetheart, Irene, help him to conquer his demons?
Sometimes the deadliest enemy a man must face is himself.
The Lynchcliffe Cuckoo Vol 3 Making Peace with the Past.
Following the war this final volume is set in 1919 against the backdrop of the Spanish Flu pandemic that decimated the population.
Dr Hamish George finds himself under intense pressure tending to the sick but who will live and die...
Each of the main characters seeks to resolve issues from their past which they do with true integrity and courage, banding together in love and loyalty. Even the seemingly perfect Lewis Franklin must face his own past in order to find peace.
But the sweetest victory over the past belongs to Lady Lynchcliffe.