by Sandra Byrd
By all accounts, Elizabeth Garrett, later Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, was the first woman physician in England. She began her career as a nurse, then applied to Oxford, Cambridge, Glasgow, Edinburgh, St Andrews, and the Royal College of Surgeons. Each of them promptly rejected her, so she applied to the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries and was licensed through a loophole allowing her to practice medicine. The unexpected loophole was promptly sewn shut after her admittance, but that did not stop her, and other women’s, forward progression in the field.
ITALIAN WARS OF UNIFICATION
History classes, for most of us, did not cover much Italian history. Readers may be surprised, as I was, to learn that there were three wars in the nineteenth century which, in the end, allowed the city-states of the Italian peninsula to become one unified Kingdom of Italy by 1871. To keep things from becoming too complex, I’ve often used the word Italian to describe the language and area as we know it today. As in all wars, there was looting, and much of the looting went into private collections.
I drew the desire for Harry’s friend Stefano Viero to save his family’s treasures from the truth of what went on in his beloved Venice in the years leading up to the 1866 return of Venice from Austria to Italy. In A Brief History of Venice by Elizabeth Horodowich, I read, “Most dreadful, however, was the degree to which the French vandalized and pillaged the city. Napoleon ordered all the public statues and sculptures depicting the Lion of St Mark, both in the city and on the mainland, to be removed since they were symbols of a despotic regime. They were added to his imperial wealth. He also shipped the four bronze horses above the doorway of the basilica of San Marco to Paris on 7 December 1797, placing them first before the Palace of the Tuileries and then on the Arc de Triomphe. He put the lion on top of the column in the piazzetta on the Place des Invalides. Newspaper cartoons around Europe depicted the lion of St Mark caught in a net or crushed beneath the feet of a crowing Gallic cock as Napoleon’s troops systematically pillaged every corner of the city, including the mint, fleet, and archives. They hired women to pick precious stones out of their ancient settings that they melted down. They took the diamonds from the Treasury of San Marco to be set in Empress Josephine’s crown. In particular, in the weeks just before handing Venice over to the Austrians in January 1798, the French desperately tried to remove anything and everything from the city that might benefit their Austrian enemies.”
And then, from 1806 to 1810, “In a perhaps ironic reversal of much of Venetian history, the French methodically removed every last item of beauty or value from the city, literally down to the nails on which the city’s paintings hung. . . . While figures vary dramatically, approximately 80–90 churches and around 100 palaces were razed during the French occupation. They carted off the valuable furnishings and artworks from both private homes and religious and charitable institutions to enrich French coffers and museums. Gold, silver, crosses, candlesticks, goblets, and crowns were melted down and disappeared forever. Marble, altars, paintings, relics, parquet floors, mosaics, frescoed ceilings, stuccoed walls, antique reliefs and inscriptions, furniture, porcelains, textiles, carpets, glass, and entire libraries were dismantled, destroyed, or sequestered by the crown. Through later auctions and resales these objects were eventually dispersed around the world.”
There were many frauds exposed in this book, as well as the authentication and valuation of precious works of art. Almost all the objects described are real pieces of art, drawn from various sources but described by my own observation and language. All the frauds, and the methods by which they were learned to be fraudulent, were also all drawn from authentic cases.
Because the Continent was often in an uproar and subject to art thefts, almost everyone was deceived at some time. Many of these frauds were not found out until the twentieth century when X-ray, carbon dating, and chemical testing came about. So, in the years when my book takes place, it really was a business built on experience and integrity.
And yet, isn’t that what our lives are tested upon, even now? Integrity? That is not a bad thing. As Lady Charlotte says in the book, “It is only by testing or being tested that we understand whether the substance or the person is as it appears to be or is merely masquerading.”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am always so grateful for the wonderful people who graciously contribute their thoughts, insight, talents, comments, and prayers to my books.
Danielle Egan-Miller and Clancey D’Isa of Browne and Miller Literary Agency did an excellent reading of the manuscript and offered many wonderful suggestions for its improvement, as always, coming alongside with excellent advice and encouragement. Thanks, too, to the entire hardworking team at Tyndale House Publishers, especially fiction publisher Karen Watson, for her enthusiasm and confidence in the series, and editors Jan Stob and Sarah Mason Rische, whose keen editorial eyes helped me to shape the characters and circumstances on the page as I saw them in my heart and mind. Jenny Q of Historical Editorial once more brought her thoughtful insight to both the planning and the rough draft and is an editor, an encourager, and a wonderful friend.
Friends and fellow authors Serena Chase and Melanie Dobson deserve a shout-out for their focused, valuable comments and willingness to brainstorm with me through several drafts—thank you, ladies! Mary Sudar, of Sudar Estate Sales, was a generous wealth of information, as was Stephanie Lile of the Harbor History Museum. I am very grateful to several wonderful people at the Wallace Collection in London for their willingness to share insights and resource recommendations, as well as to the kind and helpful Morgy at the Glaston Centre.
My wonderful husband, Michael, not only brings excellent research skills but is the world’s best traveling companion. He is also my first—and last—manuscript reader. My children all love on and cheer me at each step of what can be a daunting journey, and I appreciate them more and more each day.
I am deeply indebted to Dr. Alex Naylor and Finni Golden, historical advisers and residents of Hampshire, England. I always say they help me keep my history straight and my English, English, and not American. They have become the dearest of friends—also excellent traveling companions—and we enjoyed a wonderful dinner and night together at the fourteenth-century George Inn. Sadly, Alex was recently diagnosed with inoperable cancer and passed into the arms of Jesus as I finished the edits on this book. In one of his correspondences he wrote, “I have absolutely no fear about the dying nor death, for it is all destined and comes to us all. It is how we bear it that matters. If Christ can bear death as He did in the Mystery of Golgotha, then who are we to baulk at the suffering on our microcosmic level?”
This book, then, is for you, Alex, with all honor, love, and respect.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Do you collect anything? What pieces in your collection hold the most emotional resonance? If you’re not a collector but had to choose one thing to collect, what would it be?
Have you ever felt as though you were not treasured by anyone, as Eleanor does? How did you process those thoughts and feelings?
Bad circumstances befall us all. How does what you believe about God affect how you handle difficult times? How much agency do you believe we have, as individuals, to deal with those circumstances?
Can you think of a situation in your life that was not resolved as you wished it would be, like Eleanor’s relationship with her mother? Do you believe there can be a happily ever after in your life anyway? Why, and how?
Are there traditions or stories, Christian or not, that are meaningful in your life in the way that the history of Glastonbury or the stories of the white horses are to the characters in Lady of a Thousand Treasures?
Do you have someone in your life, as Eleanor has Marguerite, who loves you completely and will speak up and tell you the truth you might not want to hear? Do you play the same role for someone?
Have you ever misjudged someone out of your own insecurities? How did you come to recognize that, and how did you move forward?
Has your family been impacted by dementia or Alzheimer’s disease? How has it affected the roles you each play?
If you could own any treasure in this book, what would it be? And do you plan to test your pearls and porcelain now that you’ve learned Eleanor’s tricks?
Eleanor tells Harry that he bears his Maker’s mark in his loyalty, his kindness, his selflessness. What is the Maker’s mark you recognize on yourself? On your closest friends or people in your family? Would you consider telling them what you see?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
After earning her first rejection at the age of thirteen, bestselling author Sandra Byrd has now published fifty books.
Sandra’s delighted to kick off her new historical romance series with Tyndale House Publishers, Victorian Ladies, with Lady of a Thousand Treasures. The three-book Victorian Ladies series follows her historically sound Gothic romances, Daughters of Hampshire, launched with the bestselling Mist of Midnight, which earned a coveted Editor’s Choice award from the Historical Novel Society. The second book, Bride of a Distant Isle, has been selected by Romantic Times as a Top Pick. The third in the series, A Lady in Disguise, was published in 2017. Check out her contemporary adult fiction debut, Let Them Eat Cake, which was a Christy Award finalist, as was her first historical novel, To Die For: A Novel of Anne Boleyn. To Die For was also named a Library Journal Best Books Pick for 2011, and The Secret Keeper: A Novel of Kateryn Parr was named a Library Journal Best Books Pick for 2012.
Sandra has published dozens of books for kids, tweens, and teens, including the bestselling The One Year Be-Tween You and God Devotions for Girls. She continued her work as a devotionalist, this time for women, with The One Year Home and Garden Devotions. Her latest book, The One Year Experiencing God’s Love Devotional, was published in October 2017.
Sandra is passionate about helping new writers develop their talents and their work for traditional publishing or self-publication. She has mentored and coached hundreds of new writers and continues to guide developing authors toward success each year via novelcoaching.com.
Please visit www.sandrabyrd.com to learn more or to invite Sandra to your book club via Skype.
Also by Sandra Byrd
Novels
Daughters of Hampshire series
Mist of Midnight
Bride of a Distant Isle
A Lady in Disguise
Ladies in Waiting series
To Die For
The Secret Keeper
Roses Have Thorns
French Twist series
Let Them Eat Cake
Bon Appétit
Pièce de Résistance
Devotionals
The One Year Experiencing God’s Love Devotional
One Year Home and Garden Devotions
Heartbeats: Encouraging Words for New Moms
Kids, Teens & Tweens
Picture Books
The Twenty-First Pony
Harvest Moon
London Confidential series
Secret Sisters series
Forever Friends series
One Year Be-Tween You & God
Hidden Diary series
Girls Like You series
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