#blogtour – The Secret Life of Mrs London by Rebecca Rosenberg @MrsLondonsLover @hfvbt

I’m so pleased today to be taking part in the blog tour for The Secret Life of Mrs London by Rebecca Rosenberg. Thank you to Amy Bruno from HF Virtual Book Tours for asking me to take part. I have a really interesting guest post from the author for you today but first, here’s what the book is about:

Publication Date: January 30, 2018
Lake Union Publishing
eBook & Paperback; 348 Pages
Genre: Historical Fiction

San Francisco, 1915. As America teeters on the brink of world war, Charmian and her husband, famed novelist Jack London, wrestle with genius and desire, politics and marital competitiveness. Charmian longs to be viewed as an equal partner who put her own career on hold to support her husband, but Jack doesn’t see it that way…until Charmian is pulled from the audience during a magic show by escape artist Harry Houdini, a man enmeshed in his own complicated marriage. Suddenly, charmed by the attention Houdini pays her and entranced by his sexual magnetism, Charmian’s eyes open to a world of possibilities that could be her escape.As Charmian grapples with her urge to explore the forbidden, Jack’s increasingly reckless behavior threatens her dedication. Now torn between two of history’s most mysterious and charismatic figures, she must find the courage to forge her own path, even as she fears the loss of everything she holds dear.

Praise for The Secret Life of Mrs. London

“The Secret Life of Mrs. London is a heart-wrenching portrait of a marriage between two people who utterly depend on one another, but ultimately aren’t enough for each other. With skillful precision of language, Rosenberg weaves a narrative that defines the complexities of love, passion, and art. This is a perceptive, deeply moving novel by a great new talent about a couple who has gone unnoticed in historical fiction until now. Anyone who has ever loved another person will want to read this book.” —Victoria Kelly, author of Mrs. Houdini: A Novel

“One of Houdini’s best kept secrets was his affair with Charmian London in 1918. Now Rebecca Rosenberg tells the story using an elegant blend of fact and fiction, creating a Houdini book like no other. The Secret Life of Mrs. London is a true peek behind the curtain and a page-turner.” —John Cox, Wild about Harry

Buy Links:

Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon AU | Barnes and Noble | IndieBound

10 Jack London novel inscriptions to his wife Charmian. 

Jack and Charmian writing together

Young Jack London married Charmian Kittredge, his editor, typist, manager and muse in 1905. In the next ten years they wrote fifty best selling novels, Jack dictating his stories while Charmian types and edited them as he spoke. They were forging a different marriage of equality and respect. Instead of sweetheart, they called each other “Mate”. But the bottomless love between them was recorded for all time in their novels and Jack’s inscriptions to Charmian.

1. “Dearest Mate-Women, whose efficient hands I love. The hands that have worked for me for so many hours… swiftly and deftly and beautifully in the making of music and the rough seas, that do not tremble on a trigger, that are strong on the reins of an untamed Marquesan stallion. The hands that are sweet as they pass through my hair, firm with comradeship as they grip mine, and soothe as only they of all hands in the world can soothe.” The Road, 1907
   

   Charmian and Jack sailing

2. “And soon we will sail our own cruise of The Snark, and we shall be mates around the whole round world.” The Cruise of the Dazzler, 1902
3. “You know. You have helped me bury the ‘Long Sickness’ and the ‘White Logic.’ John Barleycorn, 1913
4. “We, too, have made this voyage together, known the winter North Atlantic… and the Great West Wind off the Horn. And we ‘made westing’, as we have made westing all the years since we first loved.” The Mutiny of the Elsinore, 1913
5. “This is our “Book of Love” here in our Valley of the Moon, where we have known our love since that day you rode with me to the divide of the Napa hills. Ay, and before that, before that.” The Valley of the Moon,  1913
6. “The years slide together in a long backward trail, and yet you and I remain, welded with our arms about each other, unafraid of any future.” The Night Born, 1913
7. “…I find but one vindication for living, one bribe for living, and that vindication is you. The bribe is you.” The Abysmal Brute, 1913
8. “I am still filled with the joy of your voice that was mine last night when you sang. There are fibersounds in your throat… that I love as madly as I have always loved the rest of you.” Smoke Bellow, 1912.
9. “After it all, and it all, and it all, here we are, all in all, all in all. Turtles of Tasman, 1916
10. “The years pass. You and I pass. But yet our love abides more firmly, more deeply, more surely, for we have built our love for each other, not upon sand, but upon rock.” Little Lady of the Big House, 1916.

Wake Robin Lodge 1905

Wedding in Newton Iowa November 1905

How lovely. Thank you for this post, Rebecca.

A California native, Rebecca Rosenberg lives on a lavender farm with her family in Sonoma, the Valley of the Moon, where Jack London wrote from his Beauty Ranch. Rebecca is a long-time student of Jack London’s works and an avid fan of his daring wife, Charmian London. The Secret Life of Mrs. London is her debut novel.

Rebecca and her husband, Gary, own the largest lavender product company in America, selling to 4000 resorts, spas and gift stores. The Rosenbergs believe in giving back to the Sonoma Community, supporting many causes through financial donations and board positions, including Worth Our Weight, an educational culinary program for at-risk children, YWCA shelter for abused women, Luther Burbank Performing Arts Center to provide performances for children, Sonoma Food Bank, Sonoma Boys and Girls Club, and the Valley of the Moon Children’s Home.

For more information, please visit Rebecca’s website and blog. You can also find her on Twitter, Facebook and Goodreads. Visit the Facebook page for The Secret Life of Mrs. London.