Getting Lost in History with Cheryl Adnams and the Eureka Rebels

I’m a contemporary romance author, but my great love as a romance reader is historical romance. I love all the periods of history – Regency England, Medieval stories, America’s Wild West, ancient Egypt and Rome, the lot! Australian historical romances, alas, have been a little harder to come by, and I’ve been hungry for more – which is why I’m thrilled that one of my favourite Aussie authors, Cheryl Adnams, is joining us at Get Lost in a Story to talk about her latest novel, The Girl From Eureka, which is set in Australia’s Gold Rush years – the 1850s – in country Victoria.

Photo credit: Nicole Weston

ABOUT CHERYL…

Cheryl Adnams lives in Adelaide, South Australia. She has published four Australian rural romance novels and a Christmas novella. Cheryl has a Diploma in Freelance Travel Writing and Photography and has lived and worked in the United States, Canada and spent two years with a tour company in Switzerland and Austria. Her passion for Italy, volcanology and cycling have made their way into her stories and her favourite writing retreats include Positano on the Amalfi Coast and Port Willunga Beach just south of Adelaide. When she’s not writing, Cheryl is still creating in her busy full time job as a trainer and learning designer.

Contact Cheryl via her website.

Cover design by Belinda Stevens

On the sun-drenched goldfields of Eureka, a wild colonial girl and an honour-bound soldier will break all the rules to claim a love worth more than gold … 

Ballarat, Australia 1854 

Gold miner Indy Wallace wants nothing more than to dig up enough gold to give her mother an easier life. Wild and reckless, and in trouble more often than not, Indy finds herself falling for handsome, chivalrous, British Army Lieutenant Will Marsh. But in the eyes of immigrant miners, soldiers are the enemy.

Will has been posted to Ballarat with a large contingent of Her Majesty’s Army to protect the Crown gold and keep the peace. But once he meets rebellious Indy, he doubt’s he’ll ever be at peace again. As Will and Indy’s attraction grows, their loyalties are tested when the unrest between miners and the military reaches breaking point.

On opposite sides of the escalating conflict, can their love survive their battle of ideals? And will any of them survive the battle of the Eureka Stockade?

READ A LITTLE…

Inside, dancers were engaged in quite a vigorous reel and the tent was beginning to steam with so many bodies in locomotion. The aroma was getting a little ripe, and lantern and cigar smoke hung thick in the air, making it hard to see, let alone breathe. But Indy’s breath was coming fast as she fought against her temper. She didn’t know who she was more furious with. Those three stuck up, ignorant men belittling her views on politics as though she were nothing but a … but a … woman! Or the Lieutenant for interfering and insisting she dance with him.

And he still had hold of her arm.

‘Stop steering me around. I’m not a bloody bullock dray.’ She wrenched her arm from his grip as he stopped on the edge of the dance floor.

‘Shall we attempt to join the revellers in this wild country dance?’

Full of venom, she spun towards him. ‘Why did you drag me away?’

He leaned in close, his dark eyes fixed on hers. ‘Take a deep breath, Miss Wallace,’ he said, his voice emanating strength, ‘and dance with me.’

Fighting her annoyance with him, Indy took his first suggestion and some of her anger leaked out with the exhalation. But she still continued to scowl, even as Will took her in his arms.

The music shifted and without missing a beat he led her into the slow waltz. After a few minutes of quiet dancing, Indy felt the rest of the tension slowly leaving her. She began to relax, allowing herself to enjoy Will’s strong hands holding her confidently as he moved about the room, using only the slightest pressure on her back to guide her.

‘Is it a requirement for soldiers to be able to dance?’ she mocked, finally breaking the silence.

‘Yes. It is included in all basic training. No man can become a soldier unless he masters at least the waltz, and the reel.’ His eyes scanned the dance floor without emotion, his tone serious. But then he looked down at her and grinned broadly.

She couldn’t help but chuckle at his attempt at humour. It felt so comfortable to move with him to the slow cadence of the orchestra’s music. His gloved hand was warm on hers, and she remembered again his teasing smile as he had noticed her dirty fingernails. She flushed again. He had been kind not mention it. That made him more of a gentleman than Mr Lawrence would ever be.

Buy the book via Amazon, Kobo, iBooks, Google Play, Amazon Australia.

 

LET’S TALK…

AVRIL: Give us the background to The Girl from Eureka – where the idea came from and how it developed. 

Licence tents, Sovereign Hill (Victoria, Australia)

CHERYL: It was Clare Wright’s “Forgotten Rebels of Eureka” that first sparked the idea of Indy the female goldminer. I loved the idea of a woman in a very male dominated industry, especially in the 1850s, and it set the scene for a fiery Irish troublemaker with a heart of gold who goes out of her way to help others. And making my hero a military man to the bone allowed me to show both sides of the story of the Eureka Stockade and to create fantastic conflict between the characters. They have their own personal growth to traverse as they navigate their fraught relationship and the politics heating up around them.

AVRIL: As a writer of contemporary and historical romance, what are the particular challenges of each? 
CHERYL: While there is usually research in both genres, with contemporary stories you don’t have to stop every five minutes to check some tiny fact that may only be used in one sentence – like when did electric lighting take over from gas lighting? It has nothing to do with the story itself but you can’t get that stuff wrong. I sometimes struggle to find a new idea or storyline for contemporaries but history gives us so much to play with. I enjoy basing my historicals around true events so that hopefully my readers will learn something about a place and time that they otherwise may never have known.

AVRIL: Can you give us an idea of how you approach research? 
CHERYL: How do I approach research? Carefully. It’s such a minefield and once you go down that rabbit hole, you have to be so careful not to get lost on tangents. The internet is amazing but you do have to double check facts as not all sites are 100% correct. Then again there are some facts that will always be disputed. There aren’t that many first hand accounts of the Eureka Stockade so the actual number of the dead from the battle changes depending on where you read about it. But I really enjoy the research and have learned so much. It shocks me sometimes that I never learned some of these important moments in Australian history in school.

Gold panning, Sovereign Hill (Victoria, Australia)

AVRIL: I know you’re head-down in another historical book – can you share any details? 
CHERYL: I don’t want to share too many details at this point but I can say that it takes place during World War 2 but it’s not based in Europe or Asia. It follows two sisters living in Australia and two American brothers and their very different experiences during the war. I was just in Sydney researching the area around Elizabeth Bay and all the beautiful architecture there and soon I have another research trip booked to Darwin. So this book sweeps across Australia and beyond.

AVRIL: As a reader, what do you look for in a romance? 
CHERYL: It depends on my mood. Sometimes I love a good fun contemporary with great dialogue like that author Avril Tremayne writes (😉). Other times I get caught up in sweeping and complex plotlines. People often ask about sex scenes — you know, the old open door vs closed door, erotic fiction vs sweet etc — I’m open to any of those as long as there’s a story to go with it and it’s not all about the sex. Now there’s a line to finish on! 

Are you more of a contemporary or historical romance lover? We'd love to hear in the comments below!

Romantic Book of the Year winner

MEET THE THRILL SEEKER

~ part three ~ 
part one ~ part two  

ANGI’S GOTTA ASK: What is the best scream you’ve experienced? Readers…take a look at Kendall’s website and you’ll understand why I asked.

KENDALL’S GOTTA ANSWER:  Oooo, that’s a great question. I love a good adrenalin rush so it’s hard to pick one, so I’m going to choose two, one quick one and one that lasted much longer. In Rio de Janeiro I hand glided off the top of Tijuca National Park and landed on the sandy Sao Conrado beach. My guide spoke very little English and the safety briefing lasted 60 seconds which is why I screamed so hard when we jumped, that my throat hurt for a day or so.

My second favourite scream happened while scuba diving at Christmas Island. With my husband as my dive buddy, we dropped into the water and gradually cruised down Perpendicular Wall, which is exactly what it is. This dive site is a fathomless vertical wall bustling with enormous coral fans, hundreds of colourful tropical fish of all shapes and sizes, eels that dart out and disappear just as quickly, and of course sharks, turtles and stingrays.

About 40 minutes into our dive, my hubby indicated he was nearly at his air limit. He’s what’s known as an air pig - in that he consumes his air way too quickly. I was a tad annoyed about this as I had at least another 20 minutes of air time remaining. But as every good dive buddy knows, you stick with your partner. So together we gradually floated toward the surface. 

This is when the magic happened.

KENDALL TALBOT

At our decompression stop, five metres below the surface, a four metre long whale shark came over to check us out. The whale shark came right up to us with its mouth wide open and I thought I was going to swallow me whole. Just the surge in the water as it passed was enough to feel its immense size. Thankfully for us, they are filter feeders though and mainly eat plankton. Whale sharks are the largest known fish species and can grow up to 12 metres long and weight as much as 21 tons.

I feel completely blessed to have experienced this rare, close encounter with a gentle giant of the sea, even if it did scare the crap out of me.

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"Kendle Talbot is an author to watch, her stories are varied, amazingly grounded in reality, and she writes from the heart. You won't be disappointed to read a Kendall Talbot book!"

~ T.M. Clark

TREASURED SECRETS

Sept 2015

Treasured Series, Book 1

Read a little, Buy the book

See the feature in Part One

TREASURED LIES

Oct 2015

Treasured Series, Book 2

Read a little, Pre-Order the book
See the feature in Part Two

DOUBLE TAKE

MIRA publishing

available in Australia or to registered Amazon Australia users

The police know a bank will be robbed on Melbourne Cup Day. But they don't know which one, and time is running out.

A fresh, fast-paced cocktail of a heist, a good cause and some seriously unexpected consequences…

Jackson Rich is an unlucky man – he’s lost his job, his house and it looks like he’s going to lose the love of his life. To buy his terminally ill wife Candice more time, he’ll try just about anything. Including robbing a bank, on the one day of the year everything shuts down: Melbourne Cup day.

To do it, Jack calls in a promise from his old gang. It’s been a long time since they were all together, but they'd do anything for him – at least that’s what he’s banking on. Nothing could possibly go wrong. Until a couple of kids overhear Jack and his gang planning the robbery.

Even after thirty-odd years as a cop, Detective Steel has never been presented with a scenario like this, but he has to act upon the tip-off he’s been given. Somewhere in Brisbane, sometime during the running of the 1992 Melbourne Cup, a bank is going to be robbed. But to catch the thieves, Steel must let the heist happen. He’s about to make the quickest bust in history. What could go wrong?

Read a Little, Pre-Order the Book

LOST IN KAKADU

An action adventure novel set in the Australian jungle where two unlikely people prove just how attractive opposites can be...

Winner of the 2014 Romance Writers of Australia RUBY (Romantic Book of the Year) Award for Stories with Romantic Elements!

It’s pretentious socialite Abigail Mulholland’s worst nightmare when her plane crashes into an ancient Australian wilderness. Things go from bad to downright hellish when rescuers never come. As she battles to survive in an environment that’s as brutal as it is beautiful, Abigail finds herself also fighting her unlikely attraction to Mackenzie — another survivor, and a much younger man.

Mackenzie Steel is devastated by his partner’s death in the crash, the only person with whom he shared his painful past. Now, as he confronts his own demons, he finds he has a new battle on his hands: his growing feelings for Abigail, a woman who’s as frustratingly naïve as she is funny.

Fate brought them together, but they’ll need more than luck to escape Kakadu alive. Could the letters of a dead man hold the key to their survival?
Read a little, Buy the book

Abigail was exhausted, hungry and she craved a hot shower and a decent sleep. But that wasn’t going to happen. She stood back as Mackenzie scavenged through the luggage throwing the empty water bottles and a few other bits and pieces into a backpack.

“What do you want me to do?” She heard reluctance in her own voice.

Mackenzie blinked at her as if seeing her for the first time and seemed to agonize over her question. “Just come with me.” Then he threw the pack over his shoulder. “We’ll check out the back of the plane again. Ready?”

She followed him into the bush and with each feral shrub she struggled over, she wished her legs were as long as his. Mackenzie soon stopped at a tree, sliced off a couple of weird looking mushrooms and dropped them into a pocket of the backpack.

“What are those for?”

“We might be able to eat them.”

“But I don’t like mushrooms.”

He spun toward her, his honey coloured eyes darkened to molasses. “You’re kidding, right?” His hands were clenched at his sides.

She frowned. “No.”

“You still don’t get it, do you? We’re lost in the jungle.” He was raising his voice now. “We’ll have to eat all sorts of things to survive. And it won’t matter whether you like it or not, you’ll need to eat it just to stay alive.”

Not impressed with his tone of voice, she glared up at him. “There’s no need to yell at me. I’m right here.”

“But you don’t understand.”

She unclenched her jaw. “I understand our situation fully. My husband is dead, I’m half way through digging his grave and I haven’t showered, slept or eaten anything decent for days.” She put her hands on her hips. “And I still don’t like mushrooms.”

Mackenzie grumbled under his breath, spun on his heel and stomped away. He pushed past a long thin branch and it flicked back like a whip.

Abigail ducked away from the branch just in time. “Ha! You missed,” she yelled, smiling to herself.

Mackenzie’s angry pace ensured he progressed further and further ahead of her, but she was confident she could easily follow the path. She took her time, absorbing her surroundings. The only noise she heard was Mackenzie’s grumbling. The thick air was suffocating and she found it a little difficult to breathe. Sweat burnt her eyes as it trickled off her forehead. A large log lay across the path ahead, its rough bark a spectrum of light and dark green. She cringed as she dusted the log with her fingers. Then she sat on a section clear of moss, removed her handkerchief from her pocket and dabbed sweat from her forehead.

As Abigail breathed in she felt the tightening in her back from the injuries she sustained in the crash. It had been four days since Toni knocked her out. For a fleeting second she felt pity for the young woman, but then it was gone. Abigail had already suffered a lifetime of emotions since the crash and with the way things were going, it didn’t look like the agony was going to end any time soon.

“Four days,” she said aloud. She looked up through the dense canopy in a half-hearted search for a rescue party. She wondered, and not for the first time, if Mackenzie had imagined that helicopter. After all, she hadn’t heard it. Surely, it couldn’t be the only search party they’d send. Her mind drifted to her friends back home and how much gossip would be going on over her disappearance, but then she realised they weren’t even expecting her return for three more days. She sighed.

KENDALL is giving away a digital copy of her cookbook - Rosalina’s Treasured Treats Cookbook. 

International 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

UP NEXT ON GLIAS: Beth Williamson

~Angi Morgan

Get Lost on Goodreads, Facebook

or @GetLostInAStory  #GetLostStories

KENDALL WANTS TO KNOW: Treasured Secrets weaves from an Australian tropical reef to historic Tuscany to the luxurious Greek Islands. These are all amazing places I’ve visited. Where is the most amazing place you’ve been to and why did you love it?

Have you heard of Kendall Talbot? You should!

KENDALL TALBOT is an award winning author, thrill seeker and a hopeless romantic. She has travelled extensively, some 36 countries and counting, and she's addicted to experiences that make her scream... white water rafting, scuba diving with sharks and hang gliding are just a few. Her stories reflect her sense of adventure and her long running love affair with her very own hero.

Kendall collects junky jewelry and expensive perfume, her favorite night out is with great friends and a fabulous bottle of wine or two, and she rarely watches TV. She lives in Brisbane with her hubby, her two grown boys and her little dog, Josie McLuvin.

MEET THE THRILL SEEKER

part two ~ part one ~ part three

ANGI: What do you do in your “down” time?

KENDALL: I love to travel. So far I’ve been to 36 countries, but when I’m not travelling, I enjoy a night out with family or friends at a lovely restaurant with several bottles of good wine. 

ANGI: What sound or noise do you love?

KENDALL: There’s nothing like the sound of waves crashing into the shore at night.

ANGI: Here's some waves from the Florida coast

ANGI: What’s your favorite rerun on television?

KENDALL: Friends, I watch it with my kids now and laugh at it all over again.

ANGI: What’s your favorite movie of all time?

KENDALL: Titanic. I think I’ve watched it about 20 times.

ANGI: How is it working with hot guys and sexy women all day?

KENDALL: I love, love, love being an author. Not only do I research exquisite bodies, I can visit any country in the world, spend the night with whoever I want or finish a bad day by knocking someone’s head off. Being an author is the best form of escapism and I feel like the luckiest woman in the world having discovered this passion only 8 years ago.

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TREASURED LIES

Oct 2015

Treasured Series, Book 2

Read a little, Pre-Order the book

Archer wiggled his eyebrows at Rosalina, then sunk his fingers into the soft sand and dug back a handful. She began at her own spot and pushed her gloved hand into the sand too, right up to her wrist. Just the thought of discovering a piece of treasure: gold, silver or a gem of any kind that had been buried beneath the sand for seven centuries set her heart racing.

She’d done it before, in this very spot. The large plate she’d removed, heavy with solid gold and etched with intricate patterns, was priceless. At this very moment it was secured within the safe on Archer’s yacht. Along with the fourteen other items Jimmy and Archer had removed last time they were here.

Rosalina felt something, a thread or maybe a cord. She brushed back the sand and waved the dispersed particles away in the current. The cord revealed itself quickly and the gold glimmered in the filtered sunlight like the birth of a dawn over the ocean. What she’d thought was a cord was in fact a chain. The links were significant in size, equal to her little finger or, dare she believe, even bigger? She hooked her fingers beneath the chain and teased it from the sand. Rosalina pulled and wriggled the chain with equal measure but it refused to leap from its clutches. Digging at a frantic pace now, inch by inch along the chain, she found herself holding her breath. It was the jolt she needed. One of the most dangerous things to do when scuba diving was to hold your breath. She inhaled a few calming breaths and took the moment to wave Archer over.

Archer was at her side in a flash and his eyes twinkled when he saw the gold links. They worked together now, she pulled on the roped gold while he brushed at the sand. Moments later she noticed a link in the chain that was different to the others. It was thicker, wider and smoother. Archer must have seen it as well because he stopped with the frantic brushing and slowed down to a more delicate touch.

The thicker link was attached to an inverted dome, at least that’s what was gradually being revealed. All of a sudden it released from the sand in a swirl of debris and Rosalina fell backwards. She grappled to get back upright, desperate to see what it was. When she looked up Archer was cupping it in his hands as if it were a sleeping kitten. What she had thought was an inverted dome was actually the crown of a man’s head on a gold bust. It was too big to be a necklace, but she couldn’t work out what else it could be.

The bust filled Archer’s hands and was crafted with incredible detail. The hair was symbolised with dozens of gold rosettes, curled together with detailed precision, and the beard was thousands, maybe tens of thousands, of tiny pearls of gold. By contrast the face was smooth gold, created with obvious expert craftsmanship and in the filtered sunlight, it came alive in Archer’s hands. Rosalina frowned when Archer pointed at the horns on the statue’s head. She hadn’t noticed them until then. They were a strange addition to the beautiful figurine. But then she realised this little man was most likely a statue of some kind of mythical god.

She looked at Archer and their eyes met. He oozed boyish exuberance. Twinkling eyes, wriggling eyebrows, and although she couldn’t see his mouth, his dimples were a sure sign he was smiling. He tugged his regulator from his mouth and she did the same. They shared an underwater kiss, not lingering, or sensual, or erotic. But a fun kiss to celebrate their lucky find. When he pulled back he poked his tongue at her before he put his regulator back in his mouth.

TREASURED SECRETS

Sept 2015

Treasured Series, Book 1

Read a little, Buy the book

See the feature in Part One

LOST IN KAKADU

Read a little, Buy the book

An action adventure novel set in the Australian jungle where two unlikely people prove just how attractive opposites can be...

DOUBLE TAKE

Sept 2015

MIRA publishing

available in Australia 

Pre-Order the Book

ROSALINA’S TREASURED TREATS COOKBOOK

Companion Cook Book to my “Treasured” Series of books.

Treasured Secrets and Treasured Lies are as much a treasure hunt as they are a culinary adventure. Rosalina, my Italian heroine in Treasured Secrets is a talented chef, so food and flavours abound as much as the treasure hunt action. Every one of the meals she makes in my books I made for myself. In fact, recipes from “Treasured Secrets” debut in their own book “Rosalina’s Treasured Treats.”

This recipe book is a collection of all the scrumptious treats my character, Rosalina, cooks in my romance books, Treasured Secrets and Treasured Lies.

Throughout this cookbook I have scattered my photos from Tuscany and the Greek Islands that inspired many scenes in my ‘Treasured’ series. The cover photo is the terrace at the 700 year old Tuscan Villa my husband and I stayed in. Villa Pandolfini was such a delightful place to holiday, that it’s also Rosalina’s home in Treasured Secrets.

I hope you enjoy these delicious meals as much as I enjoyed making them, photographing them, writing about them and of course eating them. Hopefully, you’ll also enjoy all the little snippets from my latest release, Treasured Secrets….

Read a little, Buy the book

  

KENDALL is giving away a digital copy of her cookbook - Rosalina’s Treasured Treats Cookbook. 

International 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

UP NEXT ON GLIAS:
Kendall Talbot ~ Part Three

~Angi Morgan

Get Lost on Goodreads, Facebook

or @GetLostInAStory  #GetLostStories

KENDALL WANTS TO KNOW: Treasured Secrets weaves from an Australian tropical reef to historic Tuscany to the luxurious Greek Islands. These are all amazing places I’ve visited. Where is the most amazing place you’ve been to and why did you love it?