Local author Lenore “Nori” Nash’s latest romance novel, “The Devil’s Own Duke,” will be published next week and promises to include twists on classic tropes, explore feminist issues and provide plenty of steamy love scenes.
“These are Jane Austen stories with naughty bits. The steam level is high,” Nash said. “These books are sexy. They’re fun. They’re light. They’re frothy. They’re all feminist.”
Nash publishes under the pen name Lenora Bell. She grew up in Haines and spent the past 20 years traveling and working in the foreign service. She recently moved back home with her partner, Brian Pindel. She credits former high school English teacher Dan Henry and author Heather Lende as influences in her writing career. She began writing romance novels while pursuing a master of fine arts degree in creative nonfiction.
“The Devil’s Own Duke” is Nash’s eighth novel. The story centers on a heroine who wants to compete in the male-dominated world of English wine makers.
“The novel is kind of like a gender-swapped Cinderella meets a movie called Bottle Shock,” Nash said.
Bottle Shock is based on the true story of a California winemaker who wins a French blind taste test in 1976. Like all of her novels set in the 1830s Regency era, Nash created a female character who is struggling to compete in a society dominated by men.
“She produces sparkling wine to rival the greatest French champagne,” Nash said. “I modeled the estate on an actual estate that was producing wine starting in the 1700s and is still producing wine today, the Painshill. In the book, Lady Henriette’s wine is put up against a French champagne from a very famous champagne maker in a blind taste test. I’m not going to say who wins.”
Enter the hero, the reverse Cinderella, a “rough and tumble” self-made man named Ash Ellise who rose from the streets. He owns an illicit gambling hall in London called the Devil’s Staircase and is known about town as “the Devil’s own scoundrel.” In the classic “enemies to lovers” trope, Ellis wants to be acknowledged as the lady’s dukedom and pursues a marriage of convenience. Steamy and frothy love ensues.
The story also includes a cat named Bacchus, named after the Roman god of wine; a Beauty-and-the-Beast-style makeover of the hero; an English estate famous for its wine and a temple of Bacchus in Surrey, England.
Nash said her writing is always a “family affair.” Her brother, Carl Nash, helped with historical research along with her sister, Amelia, who helped research which dress one of her characters would wear to a costume ball. Nash is currently working on her ninth novel. To escape the ruckus that comes with remodeling her home, the historic government school on First Avenue, she took to writing across the alley at her childhood home, while her mom, Nancy Nash, played the piano.
“The main character of the new book is a musician, composer and piano teacher,” Nash said. “I’ve been over at my mom’s house to escape the construction noise and she’s been playing me Bach and Beethoven as I write. My mother’s considerable expertise in classical music is helping me with this character.”
Her father Dwight, a carpenter who Nash has based one of her male characters on, has read her steamy stories.
“It is a little strange to have your dad read your sexy historical romance, but also beautiful,” Nash said.
Her ninth novel is due to her agent by Oct. 31 of this year. She left Haines this week for a month-long writing retreat in Oregon.
“The Devil’s Own Duke” will be available at The Bookstore on Sept. 28. Readers who preorder the book will receive a signed copy, a wine charm and other SWAG, Nash said.