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Louise Allen is the author of over twenty five Regency romances, published by Harlequin and Mills & Boon.
The Regency is her passion, an endlessly fascinating era full of contrast and change, danger and elegance, luxury and squalor. Women had freedoms that would shock their Victorian granddaughters, yet lived within social codes that both intrigue and appal us now. Men in Society could win fortunes at the turn of a card and lose their lives in the hazard of a duel all in the space of twenty four hours. It is all so different, with the glamour of the past gilding it - and yet the characters seem to reach out and touch us now.
She lives in England in a village in Bedfordshire with her husband. He is not sure whether to be flattered or alarmed to be told he is the inspiration for all her romantic heroes! Whenever possible they escape to their cottage on the North Norfolk coast or to London, exploring the streets with an 1808 guidebook in hand.
Every time Louise starts on a new plot she resolves to plan it carefully, make copious notes first and write lots of drafts in a disciplined and orderly manner. What inevitably happens is that the story starts to write itself in her head until it gets completely out of control - meanwhile the study floor becomes a sea of open books, prints and maps and she can be found sitting in the car at traffic lights, muttering dialogue. At that point she has to start writing, knowing full well that the hero and heroine are going to take over and sabotage all her attempts at discipline. It is, after all, their story.
