Chele Crawley
Location: Mullingar, Ireland
Bio
Chele, who lives in the centre of Ireland, is delighted to announce her debut into the literary world with Lady Dixon’s Niece, the first instalment in ‘Of Social Standing’, her Regency romance series.
Chele works as a primary school teacher and particularly enjoys developing the reading and writing skills of her students. With a background in print journalism, Chele has a nose for a story and knows the importance of good story-telling.
Current project
Chele is delighted to announce that her debut novel, Lady Dixon’s Niece, is now available to buy on Amazon. Lady Dixon’s Niece is the first instalment in the Of Social Standing series set in Regency England.
When Annaliese Schmidt is invited by her well-to-do estranged aunt, Lady Dixon, to trade her agrarian life on the wild moors of Devon for the sophistication of high society, near London, she assumes this will be her ticket to social mobility. However, the naive eighteen-year-old will soon learn that the path to society comes at the cost of her moral compass.
Masquerading under a cloak of deception at the behest of her aunt, Annaliese must navigate challenging social conventions, fend off the unwanted advances of a saccharine-tongued neighbourhood creep, and quell the whims of a cunning blackmailer who threatens to expose her secret.
In a game of cat and mouse, can Annaliese keep up the pretence?
Can she continue to lie once she finds herself falling for a kind, handsome and unassuming son of a baron?
Will the audience spot the elephant in the room when she is coerced into performing on stage in a ridiculous farce that parodies her rags-to-riches scheme?
When will the façade come tumbling down?
Writing sample
CHAPTER I
The Letter
March 1812
Havisham House, Bovingdon
The vista from the bay window was unchanged, yet her Ladyship looked upon it at length that evening. It wasn’t inconceivable, after an absence of many months, that one would return with a longing to look upon the grounds of one’s own home, but Kingsley knew that was not why she stood there. Lady Dixon’s drawn face and pursed lips were only ever visible when she thought nobody was looking. She always faced away when she needed to steal a moment to be her true self. Invariably on these occasions, she’d emerge from these reveries with her customary polite smile on show. True to form, the dowager looked down at what remained of the merlot in her glass and requested a refill before turning away from the window with an air of equanimity.
Kingsley dutifully obliged, but in his haste, he spilt a drop on the cabinet. Reaching for a handkerchief in the pocket of his jacket, his hand instead met with a wafer-sealed letter. The letter had arrived just the week before. He lambasted himself for forgetting. This would be just the subject to alter her Ladyship’s mood.
‘A pile of correspondence awaits you in the study,’ he informed Lady Dixon, handing her a fresh glass of wine as she returned to her usual spot on the chaise lounge. ‘However, there was one item amongst them that I thought might be of particular interest.’ He pulled the letter from inside his jacket pocket. ‘It’s from Devonshire.’
She frowned and put down the wine.
‘Do you wish to see it?’ the butler asked.
‘Yes,’ she replied, seizing the correspondence from him like a dog snatching a treat from its master. Her nose scrunched as she examined the address on the outside. ‘That’s not Johann’s handwriting.’
‘Perhaps his wife sent it,’ the butler suggested helpfully.
Lady Dixon harrumphed. ‘My sister-in-law wouldn’t have such a good hand.’
Kingsley stood by the window as she ripped open the seal and unfolded the letter. He knew he ought to give her privacy, but he couldn’t quite bring himself to leave the room entirely.
‘It’s from my niece,’ her Ladyship said, her eye poring over every detail.
‘I didn’t know you had a niece.’
‘Neither did I,’ she muttered under her breath as she re-read the letter.
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