A Question of Love by Antonia Hodgson

‘Why don’t you write romance novels?’ the woman in the audience asked. She sounded reproachful. It was perfectly obvious that I had chosen the wrong genre. What was the matter with me? 

The audience Q&A is my favourite part of an event. The tone is more conversational, the questions more unpredictable. I gave a lecture at a prestigious history festival once (terrifying) and a man put up his hand to complain that I had not talked enough about syphilis. I do apologise, sir. 

In this case – a library talk – I explained that I had enormous respect for the genre. (Back when I was a publisher, I was lucky enough to work with Nora Roberts, the certified Goddess of Romantic Suspense.) I might explore other genres one day – I was a huge fan of SFF, for instance. But, for now, I was happy writing historical thrillers. Did this answer her question? Not really. 

‘I just think,’ she muttered, unappeased, ‘you should write romance.’

Well, I hate disappointing people, most of all readers who make the effort to come to library events. And – joking aside – it’s good to ask yourself from time to time, why am I writing this book, in particular? Why this genre? What exactly am I doing…? 

The truth is, although my novels are not romances in the strict sense, they are concerned with love and connection. Writing a series has given me the space to explore my characters’ longterm relationships – with family, with friends, and with lovers. Those relationships have transformed them over time, just as much as the troubles they have faced. 

From my first book, The Devil in the Marshalsea, to my fourth, The Silver Collar, I have been writing about two people who fall in love, and how that love deepens in the midst of danger, persecution and loss. 

We first meet Tom Hawkins in a crowded coffeehouse, celebrating a large gambling win. He seems happy, but in reality, he is lost and alone. Disowned by his family and swiftly betrayed by his ‘friends’, he is thrown into a debtors’ prison – locked in a cell with a murderer. 

It is here, at the lowest point of his life, that he meets Kitty Sparks. It takes him a while to recognise her qualities and even longer to realise he is in love with her. (But then Tom is, as Kitty often observes, ‘an idiot’.) He only realises how much he needs her when he believes she is dead. 

At the end of the book, I had to make a choice about their relationship. They meet up in the same coffeehouse where we found Tom at the beginning. I could have left things open – will they, won’t they?

I adore a bit of UST (unresolved sexual tension), as they call it in TV. Mulder and Scully. Harriet Vane and Lord Peter Wimsey. Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellacott. It works brilliantly when it feels convincing, as in these examples. In the case of Tom and Kitty, given the nature of their characters (impatient, expressive), and what they had been through (hell), it felt more natural that they would jump on each other. Which they did, and continue to do, as often as possible.

That’s not to say they live happily ever after. At the end of The Devil in the Marshalsea, Kitty comes into a large inheritance. By book two, The Last Confession of Thomas Hawkins, she has built a thriving business. Tom, by comparison, is a reckless gambler, who has already thrown away one fortune. This causes tensions between them. Kitty refuses to marry Tom, as that would mean surrendering her business and her fortune to him. These questions of power and trust are both specific to the period, and also, I think, universal. 

At the beginning of The Silver Collar, Tom and Kitty have a terrible row, but they recover from it. It’s when Kitty starts hiding things from Tom that they really struggle. Her deception – although well meant – puts their relationship and ultimately their lives in danger. What they don’t realise is that someone is working behind the scenes to pull them apart. And that this is just the beginning of a very dark act of revenge. 

The Silver Collar is a historical thriller. (Sorry, lady in the library.) But it is also a story of love in many forms, good and bad. At the same talk, I rather flippantly told the audience that I couldn’t imagine writing a book without a murder in it. I’m not sure that’s true. But a novel without love at its heart? Now that would be impossible. 

The Silver Collar by Antonia Hodgson (Published by Hodder and Stoughton) Autumn, 1728.

Life is good for Thomas Hawkins and Kitty Sparks. The Cocked Pistol, Kitty's wickedly disreputable bookshop, is a roaring success. Tom's celebrity as 'Half-Hanged Hawkins', the man who survived the gallows, is also proving useful. Their happiness proves short-lived. When Tom is set upon by a street gang, he discovers there's a price on his head. Who on earth could want him dead - and why? With the help of his ward, Sam Fleet, and Sam's underworld connections, Tom's investigation leads to a fine house in Jermyn Street, the elegant, enigmatic Lady Vanhook and an escaped slave by the name of Jeremiah Patience. But for Tom and Kitty, discovering the truth is only the beginning of the nightmare.