The women are wearing corsets. The men have more rights. It's an America with movies but no television, cars but no personal computers, (black market) rubbers but no birth control pills.
When is this book series set?
Well — now.
When I started writing the Clandestine Magic books a decade ago, I thought it would be fun to play with characters in an alternate reality setting that hasn't progressed a lot since the 1910s in some ways (non-magic tech) and not at all in others (women's rights).
The wizards in charge like the repressive status quo just fine.
The perfect setting for an equal-rights struggle.
And for a wizard and an activist with the Women's League for the Prohibition of Magic to end up caught in an enemies-to-lovers romance.
I do mention "warped 21st century" in the book blurb, but not everyone looks at those before they dive in. So I'm curious:
If you've read the books already, did you come in knowing about the setting, or did you figure it out as you went? (When did you figure it out?)
Hit reply to let me know ... and if the answer is "just now from this email," don't worry. It's a setting that steals wantonly from a bunch of decades.
For instance:
Edwardian clothing, mores and suffragist energy.
A 1940s-era weapon (but with magic).
Cars out of the 1950s.
Sixties-style Cold War tensions.
And a main character who feels strongly that this is not how it should be:
The city’s harbor spread out below them, the skyline hazy with black smoke from industrial stacks. Men moved purposefully about, but Beatrix saw no women until she caught sight of a girl Lydia’s age pushing a baby carriage on the path behind them.
“Have you ever felt as if this was all wrong?” she asked, turning back to Ella.
“What, the city?”
“No—everything.”
Ella gave a low laugh. “Constantly.”
“It’s like we’re stuck,” she said. “Caught in the same groove in a record, going round and round.”
“Playing a tune that was bad the first time.”
“ ‘Kiss Me Bobby Benjamin’?”
“Yes.” Ella laughed, this time more like her usual self. “A masterpiece of terribleness.”
“What would the world be like if we’d gotten unstuck years ago?”
Ella’s voice was quiet, her gaze on Key Highway. “As long as we don’t give up, there’s still hope of it, right?”
That's from Clandestine, the prequel. My gift to you, ebook and audiobook both.
Grab Clandestine here if you haven't read it yet ... or if you read it but haven't gotten around to listening.
Leanne Woodward is a wonderful narrator. Really magical how she brought each character to life.
But circling back to the setting: It might have struck you that rights in the U.S. have changed quite a bit since I decided, a decade ago, that it would be a lark to write about a retrograde America.
And yeah, that struck me too as I finished this trilogy. It feels even more true today.
What I've noticed is that stories of characters not giving up in the face of repression are exactly what I need.
And also happy endings. ❤️
That's what I love about fantasy romance. Plenty of both.
What types of stories are calling to you these days?
📚🌟📚🌟📚
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