A RUMORED FORTUNE
BY
JOANNA DAVIDSON POLITANO
Number of Pages: 416
Scroll down for the giveaway!
Welcome to Trevelyan Castle, home of the poorest heiress in Victorian England.
Tressa Harlowe’s father kept his vast fortune hidden somewhere on his estate in the south of England and died suddenly, without telling anyone where he had concealed it. Now Tressa and her ailing mother are left with a mansion and an immense vineyard and no money to run it.
It doesn’t take long for a bevy of opportunists to flock to the estate under the guise of offering condolences. Tressa knows what they’re really up to. She’ll have to work with the rough and rusticated vineyard manager to keep the laborers content without pay and discover the key to finding her father’s fortune—before someone else finds it first.
PRAISE FOR A RUMORED FORTUNE:
“Everyone loves a treasure hunt—pair it with a heroine you can’t help but love, a hero you can’t help but swoon over, and a family mystery that’ll keep you on the edge of your seat, and you end up with A Rumored Fortune. This book is a treasure in itself and one you won’t be able to put down!”
— Roseanna M. White, bestselling author of the Ladies of the Manor series and Shadows Over England series
“Politano combines romance and mystery with great skill to create plot twists that will keep readers captivated until the very end.”
— Publishers Weekly
“The author has done a great job, offering up a plot filled with wit, charm, action, and a lot of female strength.”
— Suspense Magazine
CLICK TO PURCHASE
INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR JOANNA DAVIDSON POLITANO
Which character from A Rumored Fortune is most or least like you?
The heroine of this novel, Tressa, is a very artistic soul who connects to God through her art. That’s what writing is for me, so that piece of her came directly from my life. Her art also has a terrible habit of escaping the canvas and simply filling her world—she paints her surroundings from floor to ceiling, even her dresser, embellishing them with the color and life of her artistic heart. That probably describes the way my writing has become a backdrop for my days, leaking past the computer screen and into everyday life.
What did you find most useful in learning to write for publication? What was least useful or most destructive?
The most destructive trap when writing for publication is caring what people think of my writing. The most useful thing is caring what God thinks—but not of my writing as much as ME. My first contract came when I quit writing for publication and simply wrote a story for fun. It became a running conversation with God while my baby napped, something to really stretch our intimacy, and since I had no plans to publish it, I didn’t care what rules I broke or who I pleased. It’s amazing, though, how much a writer’s joy in a novel translates into a reader’s joy in reading it.
What are some day jobs that you have held? Have any of them impacted your writing?
I have always held nonfiction writing jobs in the past. I wrote for a newspaper first, then I became the token journalist in a pharmaceutical company and tidied up the prose of scientists. After losing myself in the language of clinical trials and risk analysis, my poor creative heart was parched. My imagination exploded with stories in the evenings. When I moved on to a nonfiction Christian publishing company, writing Sunday School material and doing content edits on heavy theological material, I used lunch hours and evenings to write novels. Then when my babies came and I became a stay-at-home parent, novel writing became my nap time project, and that’s been the most amazing season of my whole life.
What does your perfect writing spot look like? Is that what your ACTUAL writing spot looks like?
My perfect writing spot is my actual writing spot, and that is a rocking chair in my living room. I used to think I’d want a closed-off space for privacy, or a beautiful view, but I’ve come to realize how rich real life is. My stories are a culmination of my personal experiences and thoughts, so what better place to create my novels than in the midst of the real life I love, the true life experiences that deepen my novels? Besides, all those tiny shoes and scattered toys and fingerprints are a better view to my heart than the most beautiful scenery you could find.
If you had a superpower, what would it be?
I’ve always wished I could directly hear people’s thoughts and see their hearts. Being a quiet person has allowed me access into deeper parts of people’s authentic selves than I might otherwise have, but that only gives me a desire to go deeper and understand better.
What was the hardest part of writing A Rumored Fortune?
I’ve been excited about this story for years, when a family friend first told me the true story that sparked this novel’s mystery plot. I was in love with the concept of a man burying every cent of his fortune and then dying before he could tell anyone where he put it. What a disaster! It was wonderfully frustrating to figure out why a man would hide all his money, even from his family, and then to determine what had become of it and if they should find it in the end. I had so much fun fitting together the pieces of this puzzle, but it was very difficult to make it all come together in a satisfying way.
Joanna Davidson Politano is the award-winning author of Lady Jayne Disappears. She freelances for a small nonfiction publisher but spends much of her time spinning tales that capture the colorful, exquisite details in ordinary lives. She lives with her husband and their two babies in a house in the woods near Lake Michigan and shares stories that move her.
GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY!
GRAND PRIZE: Copy of A Rumored Fortune + Novel Teas (box of 25 tea bags) + $25 Barnes & Noble Gift Card
2ND PRIZE: Copy of A Rumored Fortune + $10 Starbucks Gift Card
3RD PRIZE: Copy of A Rumored Fortune + $10 Barnes & Noble Gift Card
(US ONLY)
September 11-20, 2018
VISIT THE OTHER GREAT BLOGS ON THE TOUR:
|
9/11/18
|
Notable Quotable
|
|
|
9/12/18
|
Review
|
|
|
9/13/18
|
Author Interview
|
|
|
9/14/18
|
Excerpt
|
|
|
9/15/18
|
Review
|
|
|
9/16/18
|
Notable Quotable
|
|
|
9/17/18
|
Character Interview
|
|
|
9/18/18
|
Review
|
|
|
9/19/18
|
Author Top Five
|
|
|
9/20/18
|
Review
|
blog tour services provided by
