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Elizabeth Bell, Author

Undeniable Love. Unflinching History. Unforgettable Fiction.

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    • Lazare Family Saga, Book 1: Necessary Sins
    • Lazare Family Saga, Book 2: Lost Saints
    • Lazare Family Saga, Book 3: Native Stranger
    • Lazare Family Saga, Book 4: Sweet Medicine
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Interpretation

My Debt to Colonial Williamsburg

January 2, 2023 by Elizabeth Bell

Most of my Lazare Family Saga series takes place in the 19th century, so you might think visits to an 18th-century living history museum wouldn’t be terribly useful to my research. In fact, Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia was one of the richest sources for my fiction set mostly in 19th-century South Carolina. Here’s how!

After I moved to Virginia in 2004, I visited Colonial Williamsburg as often as I could and absorbed its historical delights like a sponge. This is how I read nonfiction as well; I rarely know which details will be useful, even crucial, in my historical fiction, so I devour them all. Finally, I had to cut myself off from travelling, finish writing my Lazare Family Saga, and publish it. Then COVID hit. It’s been six years since I last visited Colonial Williamsburg. 

I remedied that in December 2022. Before, I’d always stayed “on the cheap.” For the first time, I was able to rent one of the Historic Area’s Colonial Houses: a restored 18th-century kitchen with a working fireplace and a canopy bed. I’d never slept in one before, and I loved its coziness.

My cozy canopy bed and fireplace inside the Market Square Kitchen, a restored 18th-century building and one of the Colonial Houses in Williamsburg. Joseph and Tessa could be hiding behind the bed curtains!

My visit reminded me of all the reasons I love Colonial Williamsburg. To me, its two greatest aspects are ones I hope I’ve recreated in my historical fiction: Colonial Williamsburg awes me with both its scale and its depth. The Historic Area isn’t just a handful of restored or reconstructed 18th-century buildings. It’s the largest living history museum in the world: 301 acres and 604 buildings—truly an epic recreation of the past. The people who interpret these spaces often spend decades researching their characters and unearthing forgotten details from primary sources. In the Historic Trades, master craftsmen must apprentice for seven years just as they did in the 18th century. 

Lafayette outside the Governor’s Palace
Martha and George Washington

These interpreters’ dedication inspires me as a writer. Colonial Williamsburg was the foil that allowed me to see and correct the gaps in my 19th-century knowledge. Because CW interpreters know daily 18th-century life so thoroughly, they challenged me to think about my characters’ primary century in new ways. 

My Lazare Family Saga does begin in the 18th century, albeit in the last decade and in the Caribbean, not in Virginia. Nevertheless, when Marguerite dons a detached pocket (Necessary Sins, Chapter 4), this comes straight from my visit to the milliner’s shop in Colonial Williamsburg. The wigmaker helped me understand that curious fashion. Cooking over an open fire didn’t change much from the 1700s to the 1800s. Nor did blacksmithing.

Milliner’s shop
Governor’s Palace Kitchen

Happily, many of the objects displayed in the Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg are from the 19th century. I studied several examples of men’s neckwear to describe Joseph’s (Necessary Sins, Chapter 21). Tessa’s brown cloak with white lining in Chapter 29 was based on a cloak I saw in the CW Museums as well.

I researched The Lazare Family Saga for so many years and visited Colonial Williamsburg so many times, I can’t always parse chicken from egg: Did I read about Noah’s Ark toys (Lost Saints, Chapter 11) in a book before I saw a complete set in the CW Museums? I think I researched 19th-century couches online and chose the perfect shape for Tessa’s méridienne before I spotted one on display in the Museums—but having that real-life example helped tremendously and directly inspired the tasselled pillow I mention in Lost Saints, Chapter 8.

A late 1800s Noah’s Ark toy set
A circa 1820 couch shaped like Tessa’s green mérdienne
https://emuseum.history.org/objects/68744/couch#

On my tour of the Randolph property, I learned about an enslaved maid named Eve, inspiring me to give René’s mother the French version, Ève, for her slave name (Necessary Sins, Chapter 1). The real-life Eve escaped slavery as well. Tragically, she was recaptured and sold to the West Indies as punishment.

On a visit to CW’s Great Hopes Plantation (sadly this site seems to be closed now), I saw a modern blacksmith’s recreation of a slave collar. I combined this atrocious design with a slave collar I’d seen in a Louisiana museum in order to describe such a collar in Chapter 9 of Necessary Sins. In Chapter 40 of Native Stranger, Cromwell mocks Easter for eating too many ginger cakes. Every time I visit CW, I do exactly this. 

In Chapter 6 of Necessary Sins, the racist Marguerite commands her grandson Joseph: “Don’t you ever trust a negro with your shaving razor!” This remark was inspired by a walking tour of Colonial Williamsburg that discussed the enslaved population. Our guide gave personal grooming, including shaving razors, as an example of how intimately the lives of enslavers and enslaved intertwined.

George Wythe’s office. Note the portmanteau and microscope case atop the desk at right
One of Colonial Williamsburg’s live oaks and tourists in a carriage

The most iconic tree of the antebellum American South is the live oak (Quercus virginiana). These don’t grow in Northern Virginia where I live; but they do grow in Williamsburg! The Colonial Garden may be the first place I saw pomegranate blossoms. I know it’s where I learned about cold frames (Necessary Sins, Chapter 17). What might a man of science have in his office? How do flintlock firearms work? How does one climb into a carriage? CW answered these questions among countless others.

Colonial Williamsburg is truly hands-on history, and these are some of the ways it’s had a profound impact on my historical fiction. I can hardly wait to return.

Filed Under: African-American History, Authenticity, Historical Fiction, Interpretation, Racism, Research, Writer's Life Tagged With: authenticity, inspiration, Research

Character Art!

October 29, 2022 by Elizabeth Bell

I’ve spent three decades with the characters of The Lazare Family Saga. They are dear to me, and it’s long bothered me that I had only stock photos to represent my book children visually. When you’re working with existing images, nuance and individuality are lost.

Then a few months ago, an author friend—the marvelous Susie Murphy—shared character art she’d commissioned of her central couple, Bridget and Cormac. Susie’s beautiful, unique book babies, captured in a digital painting! I loved it!

I was also envious. Could I do the same: commission my own character art? It seemed an extravagance. But hey, as an indie author, I could count the artwork as a business expense and try it as a marketing image. I investigated the artist Susie had used and several others. (Tip: Artists tend to follow other artists on social media.) I found many stunning talents. However, most of these artists were currently closed to commissions, and most of them focused on fantasy characters.

The artist Susie had chosen ended up being the best fit for me too. Her name is Julia Jacob Mori, a.k.a. @artbyjuliajm, and she’s Brazilian. Her Instagram profile describes her as “Obsessed with history and cats.” Julia is actually writing her own interracial love stories set in the 1800s, and she understands 19th-century undergarments. A kindred spirit indeed! Better yet, Julia had space in her calendar, her price was reasonable, and she agreed to work with me.

I sent Julia oodles of information about my characters Joseph and Tessa, and Julia created this dreamy double portrait:

Julia’s digital painting doesn’t literally depict a scene from Necessary Sins or Lost Saints because Joseph never visits Tessa’s garden while wearing his soutane (cassock). I asked Julia to put one on him so that his priesthood would be apparent without a caption.

To reinforce my characters’ Catholicism, Julia included a statue of the Virgin Mary. Julia and I both felt wicked, having a priest canoodling with a woman in front of such a statue. 😆 But to my eyes, the final effect isn’t wicked at all. Do you think the Virgin Mary is grieving for the forbidden lovers…or blessing them?

The fireflies were Julia’s idea, and I love them. They add to the atmosphere, as does the oak limb draped in Spanish moss. Julia beautifully captured the emotion of Joseph and Tessa’s secret meeting.

I loved Julia’s artwork of Joseph and Tessa so much, I decided I wanted her to illustrate a scene with Clare and Ésh as well. But her commission schedule was already booked up for months! I resigned myself to delayed gratification. And then, one of her commissions cancelled! She had an open spot and asked me if I was interested. I grabbed it!

Clare and Ésh canoodling

Next, Julia created this intimate portrait of “the next generation,” Clare and Ésh. My readers should recognize this as the wisteria pergola on Sullivan’s Island and Clare and Ésh’s naked picnic…except Julia added a few bits of clothing. 😉

Firstly, we wanted to convey the time period: the 19th century. Secondly, we wanted to convey Clare and Ésh’s very different backgrounds: she’s a Southern belle, and he’s lived almost all his life with the Cheyenne Indians. To do that, we needed some clothes—and this version is more Safe for Work.

Julia gave Ésh so many marvelous details from my story: his scars, his ouroboros bracelet, and the medicine pouch around his neck. But I think my favorite part of this image is the expression on Clare’s face—clearly a woman in love. Strawberries have nothing on Ésh!

Even better, Julia shared with me her process videos: how she created these digital paintings using the Procreate app. The time lapses are fascinating to watch! Take a peek:

What do you think of Julia’s art depicting my characters? Do they look how you imagined them? Should I have Julia paint anyone else?

Filed Under: Art, Interpretation, Writer's Life Tagged With: art, artwork, characters

Now in Audio: The Complete Lazare Family Saga!

October 13, 2022 by Elizabeth Bell

It is finished! My marvelous narrator and I have wrapped the fourth and final audiobook in The Lazare Family Saga, Sweet Medicine! Here are the stats for the complete series:

526,397 total words performed

222 final audio files

60.75 final audiobook hours

14 songs performed in 11 genres and 5 languages
(Ballad, opera aria, Latin plainchant, lullaby, African-American spiritual, juba chant, American minstrel, American folk, Irish traditional, and nursery rhyme in English, Italian, Latin, French, and Irish Gaelic)

13 major accents
(General American, Charleston, Cheyenne Indian, French, Irish, African-American, British RP, Italian, German, Haitian Creole, Rhotic Southern US, Western US, Scottish)

10 spoken languages
(English, Cheyenne, French, Latin, Irish Gaelic, Haitian Creole, Italian, Dakota, Arapaho, Yoruba)

9 months of auditions, prep, recording, and revision
(on the texts themselves, 29 years of research, writing, and revision before that)

4 fat historical novels

1 exceptional voice actor!

Click on the video preview below for a peek behind the scenes of the magic* happening!

*Magic = the superlative talent and hard work of my audiobook narrator, Dallin Bradford

Dallin is like the voice of God + the nicest guy you’ll ever meet + the sexiest man you’ll ever meet. Which was absolutely perfect for my series exploring, juxtaposing, and merging sexuality, spirituality, and nice guys.

I swear, sometimes Sweet Medicine sounds like a full-cast recording and not a single actor. I’ve got a smorgasbord of characters, but Dallin is that good. Not only did he capture the accents, energy, and emotions of my characters, it felt like he was channelling me, my inner narrative voice. He deserves a combat medal for Chapter 18, and he deserves an Audie Award for Chapter 29. 

I was over the moon when Dallin sent me the following email during recording: “I just want you to know that, the other day, chapter 29 had me sobbing. I could hardly see the pages. I had to go hug my wife for a few minutes before going on.” At first, I wanted to apologize, but Dallin confirmed that he meant it as a compliment on the power of my writing. 😊

Since the reason I made my narrator cry would be too much of a spoiler, here’s another snippet from the Sweet Medicine audiobook, in which Dr. David Lazare does what he does best: undress Clare. 😉 

If you’re new to my series, please start with Necessary Sins, Book One of The Lazare Family Saga. I’ve been thrilled with the reviews Dallin’s performance is receiving:

“SUPERB audiobook narrator. If you enjoy audiobooks, this is an absolute gem. There are about five million different accents and the narrator does them ALL. He also sings opera and Catholic hymns. I was absolutely transfixed by this performance.”

“I will be forever grateful to this book for instilling my new love of audiobooks. I had tried audio many times in the past without success but this book hooked me from the very beginning and it was an incredible listen.”

“Dallin Bradford’s performance was beyond exceptional. He did a great job keeping every character’s voice distinct. His accents were perfect for an audiobook – enough to get the flavor without forcing you to strain to understand him.”

“Dallin Bradford narrates a story with a voice full of emotion and a good sense of all the accents of the characters. It almost feels like he’s sitting down beside me with a glass of sweet tea to tell me the latest chapter in Joseph’s life.”

The complete Lazare Family Saga quartet is now available on Audible US, Audible UK, Audiobooks.com, Chirp, Kobo, Scribd, and all fine audiobook platforms. You can also recommend that your library purchase Necessary Sins and the rest of the series in audio. Here’s how to do that on Overdrive/Libby. Happy listening!

Filed Under: Audiobooks, Going Indie, Interpretation, Publishing, Release Day Tagged With: audiobooks, narrator, new release

The Sweetest Medicine

February 9, 2021 by Elizabeth Bell

The title of the fourth and final book in my series, Sweet Medicine, used to be the title for the whole story, back when I thought that story was a single novel. I like the phrase because it’s a seeming oxymoron—a pattern I ended up using for all my titles. How can medicine be sweet? Isn’t it an unpleasant necessity?

I also like that the word medicine has multiple meanings; and on the surface, those meanings are in opposition. Broadly, medicine refers to either science or spirituality. My saga involves both these definitions, rooted in my two primary settings: Charleston, South Carolina and the American West.

One of my main Charleston characters is a doctor. He represents the “science” part of medicine. He attends medical school in Paris and practices in Charleston. He dissects cadavers, uses a microscope, and prescribes drugs. In Sweet Medicine, this character performs a procedure on himself that is not only straight from Victorian medical texts but also utterly horrifying. This medicine is anything but sweet.

An engraving of the human heart that could be from a Victorian text and a vintage microscope

My chapters set in the American West focus on the Cheyenne Indians, or Zizistas as they call themselves. For the Zizistas, the word medicine can be an adjective that means “holy,” as in the tribe’s sacred possessions, the Medicine Arrows. If someone or something has medicine, it has spiritual power. Zizistas medicine also involves healing, but of the whole person, body and soul.

Even the phrase Sweet Medicine comes from the Zizistas. It’s the name of a Zizistas prophet who predicted the coming of white men. Sweet Medicine himself was named after a medicinal plant.

The word medicine has other meanings that I unpack in my work. One of these is bound to surprise you. Sweet Medicine is about healing many different kinds of wounds, wounds that go all the way back to Book 1 in the series. Ultimately, love is the sweetest and most powerful medicine for my characters.

Cover of the novel Sweet Medicine by Elizabeth Bell
Sweet Medicine releases in just one week!

Filed Under: Interpretation, Publishing, Release Day, Writing Tagged With: titles

What’s a Claire-Voie?

December 3, 2019 by Elizabeth Bell

On the spine and back cover of my paperbacks and on the title page of all my novels, you’ll see my logo above the words “Claire-Voie Books.” What’s a claire-voie, you ask? It’s a gardening term borrowed from French that originated in the 17th century. A claire-voie (pronounced klair-vwah) is a window or opening that either looks onto a garden from outside it or that allows a person in one garden “room” to look into another part of the garden.

A claire-voie often features wrought iron openwork. I first came across the term in a blog post about Charleston, South Carolina, where the majority of my fiction takes place. Here are two examples of claire-voies in Charleston, windows onto private gardens (my own pics).

  • Claire-voie on Lamboll Street
  • Claire-voie on Meeting Street, next to the Branford-Horry House

My character Tessa has a claire-voie that is set into the garden door of her Church Street house, half-hidden by climbing roses. This opening allows someone walking down Longitude Lane, say a lovelorn priest named Joseph, to peer into her garden. Tessa’s claire-voie was inspired by these real-life garden doors on Longitude Lane in Charleston:

Joseph and Tessa, two of my central characters in Necessary Sins and Lost Saints, are both gardeners. It’s how they initially bond. Tessa’s garden door with its claire-voie is important to their relationship, and it will be important to her daughter as well. Joseph has French ancestry, so he knows the term. If you’re paying attention in Chapter 38 of Necessary Sins, you’ll discover that claire-voie also has a more risqué symbolism. Nobody does unconscious double entendres like a repressed Victorian priest.

I’ve been a Francophile for as long as I can remember; I took seven years of the language and lived in Aix-en-Provence for a semester. Literally, claire-voie translates from the French as “clear-way.” (Claire needs an e because voie is feminine.)

If claire-voie reminds you of “clairvoyant” (clear-sighted) that’s because the two terms have similar linguistic roots. I named my imprint Claire-Voie Books in order to evoke both. I designed my logo to symbolize Tessa’s claire-voie, among other meanings.

A claire-voie symbolizes my work as a writer as well. In my most recent newsletter (November 2019), I talked about my creative process and how I’ve felt my stories already existed in some nebulous other world. In order to tell them, I’m peering through a claire-voie into that other world and taking notes. I also talked about the spiritual dimension of my writing, how I hear my characters’ voices. The Oxford English Dictionary defines “clairvoyance” as “a supposed faculty attributed to certain persons, or to persons under certain mesmeric conditions, consisting in the mental perception of objects at a distance or concealed from sight.” The Encyclopedia Britannica defines clairvoyance as “knowledge…not obtained by ordinary channels of perceiving or reasoning.” When I’m “in the zone” and writing, when my characters are speaking to me, I do feel like I’m in a trance, as if I’m seeing things with my “mind’s eye.”

In addition to “clear,” the French word “clair” also means “light,” as in Debussy’s beautiful piece of music “Clair de Lune” (Moonlight). Claire-voie has a second meaning in French: a clerestory, the upper windows in a large church or cathedral that let in more light. Since most of my characters are Catholic and Joseph is a priest, this meaning is also appropriate to my work.

Nave of the Church of Saint-Aignan, Chartres, France, showing the clerestory (upper windows) by Poulpy on Wikimedia Commons

I’d like to think that in my historical fiction, I’m shedding light on truths that are too often concealed. As to why I needed my own imprint to tell these stories, that’s a tale for another blog post!

Filed Under: Going Indie, Interpretation, Publishing, Writing Tagged With: ironwork, logo, meaning, symbol

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Recent Posts

  • My Debt to Colonial Williamsburg
  • Character Art!
  • Now in Audio: The Complete Lazare Family Saga!
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