Five Fun Facts

1. “Black Jack” Pierson, the hero of To Surrender To A Rogue, is a gifted watercolor artist, so Cara visited the British Art Center at Yale University to do some research on the subject. In the course of an afternoon in the study room, she was handed a box of paintings to browse through—which turned out to be J.W.M. Turner’s original sketches from a walking tour through the Alps!

2. In the course of her research, Cara also discovered that the finest quality paint brushes are made from the hair of the Asiatic marten (better known as Russian sable) because it’s so flexible and can hold a fine point when wet. This technical detail is put to  . . . um, intriguing use by her hero.

3. Cara set her story in the city of Bath, which is famous for its Roman ruins and thermal hot springs. In fact, the Romans, who were famous for their enjoyment of sybaritic pleasures, were one of the first to establish a “spa” on the site of the present-day city—and the warm, bubbling waters play a role in the book’s plot.

4. One of the secondary scenes takes place at a famous London fencing club. Cara admits that she took up fencing in college, but soon decided to switch sports as she didn’t like getting poked with a sliver of sharpened steel.

5. Cara has been fascinated by archeology ever since she was a child and saw a documentary on the excavation of Troy. (Her parents did not appreciate the numerous holes that appeared in the back yard and had to lecture her on the fact that Achilles and Hector did not ever live in suburban Connecticut.)