As for Robert’s escape from Pentonville, it is based on the true account of a prisoner named Hackett. His was not the only escape, but I thought it one of the more daring and ingenious ones.
And while I’d always planned for the story to involve and American heiress, I couldn’t quite make the timing work to my satisfaction.
A report issued in 1853 indicated that far too many prisoners were being carted off to Bedlam, an insane asylum, rather than Australia, Pentonville was not intended to be a cruel place, and the report made recommendations for reforming the prison system yet again, the first order of business being to dispense with the use of the “peak” or scotch cap, as the hood was called. And unfortunately, American heiresses didn’t begin making an impression on the English aristocrats until the early 1870s when Jenny Jerome married Lord Randolph Churchill in 1874.
I was fascinated by my research of Pentonville. Much of it came from The Victorian Underworld by Donald Thomas, as well as a website hosted by Lee Jackson, www.victorianlondon.org/prisons/pentonvilleprison.htm. I’m grateful to both for making their findings available.
Most sincerely,
About the Author
I believe strongly in reaching for dreams. When I first pursued writing as a career, my husband explained that the odds were against me getting published. He’s a realist. I’m a dreamer. A little over ten years later, with more than fifteen books published for adult and young adult readers, titles on the USA Today bestseller list, and several awards, including the RITA®, the HOLT medallion, five Texas Golds and a Romantic Times Career Achievement Award, I’ve convinced him to believe in the magic and power of dreams.
I love hearing from readers. You can write me at lorraineheath@comcast.net or visit my website at www.lorraineheath.com.
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By Lorraine Heath
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Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
A MATTER OF TEMPTATION. Copyright © 2006 by Lorraine Heath. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
ePub edition July 2006 ISBN 9780061747472
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