Once Upon a Scandal (The Scandal Series)
To my dearest Reader,I have always wanted to create a grittier version of a fairy tale similar to what the Grimm Brothers had explored. I wanted to write a real-life fairy tale that had every possible wrenching emotion in it, but without any of that easy-way-out-magic. So I set about creating a very twisted version of Cinderella. Yes, yes, I know that it's a story told time and time again, but it's a story I relate to on a very personal level. Only instead of making the heroine Cinderella, I wanted the hero to be Cinderella. I wanted him to be wildly romantic and kind and forever looking for his Princess Charming the way Cinderella had. So I gave him a big heart and introduced him to a stepmother who never liked him, and in turn, forced him to become a servant of a different sort. I then balanced his hardship by giving him a charming stepsister who absolutely adored him and sought to protect him at every turn. Instead of a glass slipper, I thought a ruby ring would best unfold my fairy tale.Now as much as I adore England and its history, I have always wanted to set a story in beautiful Venice. So I started digging into its fascinating history and uncovered the cicisbeo (also known as Cavalier Servente). For those of you who don't know what a cicisbeo is, it was a practice in Italy amongst the nobility in the 18th and 19th century that allowed a married woman to keep a man whom her husband agreed for her to have during their marriage for a specified amount of time. This man served as her chaperone, her gallant and a servant similar to that of a lady's maid and a butler. It is said Lord Byron himself was a cicisbeo for a period of time to the married Contessa Teresa Gamba Guiccioli and that her husband was known to boast about it. Although scholars will argue as to whether a cicisbeo was also a lover to the married woman he served (some say yes, some say no), the lines blur enough for the story to swing either way. I'll leave you, dearest reader, to figure out on your own which way I'm swinging.Much love,Delilah Marvelle