Sample chapters of my writing!
Okay, so I have been doing a lot of writing, and I mean a LOT. I am now writing my third novel and I have decided to share my writing and see if I am good enough to be a writer. It is hard for me to let go of my writing and share it with everyone to judge, because I just write for myself whatever interesting idea I have in my head and I'm scared that it might not be good enough to entertain others. And I'm kinda new to this blogging thing so I don't know if anyone will be reading this, but if you are thank you for your support.
So here is a historical romance novel I've just finished writing, well the first three chapters of it. I plan on posting the entire book chapter by chapter per week, all of it for free. So tell me if you like it. Thanks :)
CONVERSATIONS OF AN IMPERFECT CONVERSATIONALIST by Ayanda Marotya
Chapter 1
In the county of
Oxfordshire, in Banbury town, with its streets full of life and passing
travellers, lived the Brown family. The Browns had two estates; a mansion in
Banbury which they renovated and ran a conspicuous inn with, Diamond Spring
inn, and was the chosen primary living for Mrs. Brown. A farm house in
Broughton, which Mr. Brown liked to spend most of his time that his wife had to
complain about not seeing him enough. The Banbury manor now turned to an inn,
had been Mrs Brown’s inheritance and the farmstead had been in Mr Brown’s
family for three generations. Anticipate
Though the inn did
well on its own, the main attraction to men were the
three young Miss Browns; Kate being the eldest at twenty four years of age,
Mary the second eldest at twenty two, and Hope the youngest of all her siblings
and only nineteen. Young, single and beautiful they were pursued by many men
and yet rejected them all. Mrs. Brown didn’t mind her daughter’s single status,
in fact she would rather have them not marry. Not
that being unmarried bothered her daughters, even when their closest friend
Marilyn married and moved to Scotland with her husband.
The three Miss
Browns were known for their friendly-welcoming dispositions, they talked a lot
and enjoyed the festivities that life brought to them. They were well
acquainted with most of the families in their county and scarcely had any issue
with anyone.
Their parents’
support in not forcing to marry them off came from them being married too young
by an arranged marriage. For Mr. Brown, he had no regret since he had always
admired young Gloria Castle even before their arranged union. It was his wife
who often complained even though she says to be happy in her marriage to Mr.
Brown, she would still occasionally state her disapproval of arranged
marriages.
Though Mr. Brown
agreed with his wife’s views on the matter of not giving their daughters away by
forcing them to marry a suitor of not their own liking; in secret he worried
about his daughters not settling down in marriage before his days expired, or
outgrew the society’s accepted age of being marriageable by appropriate
suitors.
Mrs. Brown had received
a letter from her cousin in Cambridgeshire, Julia, a few days ago. Requesting
that Mrs. Brown take her eldest daughter—Meredith, who was still unmarried and
never been made an offer at the age of twenty seven— to come live with Mrs.
Brown and her family and help find her a suitable suitor.
“Mr Brown, am I a
bad person?” Mrs. Brown walked in on her husband reading his newspaper in his
library.
“You are many
things my dearest wife, but a bad person you are not. Why do you ask?” answered
Mr. Brown, not taking his eye off the column he was reading.”
“I do not wish to
host Julia’s daughter.”
Mrs. Brown hardly
had any correspondence with her cousin, ever since she married to Mr Price, a
farm worker, and went to live with him in the village of Kingston in Cambridgeshire.
Though they were very close growing up, and were raised at the same household
under Mrs. Brown’s parents care since Julia had lost both her parents very
young.
“She is your
sister and you will have to help her,” said Mr. Brown.
“Cousin! She is my
cousin,” his wife quickly corrected him.
“Why do you feel
the need to be so precise my dear? I don’t see the need, you were raised as
sisters after all. You told me yourself, that you supposed her as so until she
married to Mr. Percy Price. Did her poor chose of marrying made you change your
perception of her, and thus neglecting her relation to you?”
Mrs. Brown ignored
to directly answer the question posed to her by Mr. Brown.
“If she hadn’t
married that pitiable farm boy she claims to dearly love, her family wouldn’t
be much a joke and her children might have a better future.”
Mrs. Brown walked
to the window and stared outside.
“There is no claim
we can lay to love; unfortunately the heart chooses who to love, or not to love
and is entirely by not our choosing. Look at me, and I still married you,” said
Mr. Brown casually.
“What is that
supposed to mean?” she hurriedly turned her attention to Mr. Brown. “And please
look at me I feel like I’m having a conversation with myself,” said Mrs. Brown,
irritated at her husband not taking his eyes away from his newspaper.
“Don’t mind me, I
was just teasing you dear.” Mr. Brown folded the newspaper he was reading.
“What are you planning to do now?”
“I’ve already sent
her a reply.”
Mr. Brown stood up
and slowly walked to the door.
“Where are you
going?” asked his wife.
“Some place I can
read peacefully. I am afraid there is nothing more left to discuss if you have
already written to your sister a reply.”
“Papa!”
The three sisters
came speeding to their father.
“What is the
matter?” Mr. Brown asked.
“It’s Matthew, he
is back,” said Mary.
“And he’s drunk,”
Hope added.
Matthew was Mr.
and Mrs. Brown’s eldest son whose passion was to drink, gamble and disappear
for a couple of days or weeks.
“Where is he?”
asked Mrs. Brown fiercely.
“Gloria come down,
I shall have a word with Matthew.”
Mr. Brown was a
more collected person than his wife who changed quickly from being irritated to
being extremely furious in matter of seconds and minutes.
“Please do so Mr
Brown.”
“Where is Matthew
now?” Mr. Brown asked his daughters.
“He went to his
room, papa,” said his youngest, and moved to make way for her father.
“Thank you, Hope.”
Matthew was asleep
by the time Mr Brown got to his room and so he decided to let him rest and go
for a walk instead.
Chapter 2
Judith and Dora,
good friends to the three Miss Browns, had paid the Browns a visit in Broughton
for a friendly chat over tea. Judith and Dora along with the Smith
twins—Rosaline and Abbie—were amongst those closest of acquaintances to the
Miss Browns. With the Smith twins being preferred by Kate as too energetic and
loquacious, even though she was a bit of a talker herself, she did her best to
escape them at times. They were taken to great like by Mary and Hope.
“Did you ladies
enjoy yourselves at the Brackley assembly?” asked Judith who had not the
opportunity to attend.
“It was lovely,
the people were great and I’ve had a chance to make many new acquaintances,”
said Hope in high spirits.
“You should say
that, you had one of the suitable if not the most agreeable gentlemen at the
assembly fascinated with you all night,” said Mary.
“Have you not
received attention from suitable men yourself, sister?”
“Yes, I was not
complaining. I did receive my share of attention.”
“Seems as though you
ladies had fun,” said Judith feeling left out.
“Yes it was a
lovely ball,” said Dora who also attended with the Browns.
“Mary, is your
brother still single?” asked Judith.
“You mean Matthew?
I don’t think he will ever leave the bachelor life,” said Mary.
“He just needs a
proper good woman in his life and I am sure I can change him.”
“What about Sir
Nicholas? Did you reject him?” asked Kate.
“The poor man is
everything but a romantic, he obviously has never been with another woman but
his late wife. And I don’t know if I have the time to be teaching intimacy to
an old man.”
The ladies
laughed.
“How long has it
been since his late wife?” Mary asked.
“Nearly five
years,” answered Judith.
“Sir Nicholas
isn’t that much older than you, beside with his fortune I am sure any woman can
overlook that,” said Dora, who was sitting beside Judith.
“Yes, but it is
not his fortune I am after, what about intimacy? Every woman deserves an
intimate mate. And I don’t think I can handle his five kids, you all know I
can’t stand children. Which is why I never wish to have any.”
“But if you marry,
you do know you must beget? There is no man that wishes not to have an heir
even if you find one interested in you without as many children.”
“What did your
parents have to say about this?” asked Kate.
“They haven’t been
informed. I told mother that Sir Nicholas had to leave early to attend to some
business of his .Father hasn’t been back from his trip and doesn’t know I’ve
been proposed to. Mother will be devastated if she hears of the news.”
Mrs. Brown entered
the drawing room and the ladies paused their discussion.
“What are you
ladies blathering about?” she asked.
“Nothing mother,”
answered Hope, immediately.
“O’ Judith I take
it congratulations are in place, please let me be the first,” said Mrs. Brown
as she poured herself a cup of tea.
“Congratulate me
on what?”
“On your
engagement to Sir Nicholas,” she took a sip of her tea. “Now, what was it I was
looking for?” she said looking around the room.
“And you know this
how?” Kate asked.
“Mrs. Wilson, oh
she was so excited she couldn’t help herself but share the news. You will have
to excuse me now ladies,” she put her cup down and left the room.
Mr. Brown was a
reasonable, sensible man. In all his thinking he always left to consider of
interventions to his plans, unlike his wife whose mind is once made up cannot
be changed. But Mr Brown always seemed to have his way to reason with her.
“Gloria,” he
started, joining his wife in their little garden of flowers.
Mrs. Brown skipped
and quickly turned around.
“O’ Mr. Brown, you
alarmed me.”
“Sorry dear, I
didn’t mean to unsettle your nerves, but I see your gardening is keeping them
collected.”
“Mr. Brown, please
don’t anguish me and speak your business. I am sure my plants find your compliments
very flattering.”
“Very well then, I
think I may have a solution to both your problems,” he started to pace around
the garden.
“Could you be more
specific? I am a very troubled woman,” said Mrs. Brown, attending back to her
pot plants.
“I mean the Matthew
issue and your sister’s daughter, Meredith.”
“I believe I’ve
resolved the Meredith issue, but go on.”
“Why don’t we
marry them?”
“What!?” she
instantly stopped her gardening and looked up to her husband. “That’s ludicrous
madness, where on earth did you get such thinking?” she adjusted her hat that
seemed to have almost fallen off in her jerking backward her head so fast.
Mr. Brown stopped
pacing up and down. He thought the idea to be rather acceptable while his
wife’s views opposed.
“Mrs. Brown, lend
me an ear and least hear me out. I think Matthew would be a
perfect match for Meredith, they are both about the same age, and marriage
might be what he needs to force him be more grounded.”
“Like your son
would easily agree to that?”
“I believe I might
have the persuasion to get him to.”
“Oh! You think
so?”
“Yes, I’m sending
him to Kingston first thing in the morning. I will write a letter to Julia’s
husband right away.”
“Do so as you
please on your own then.”
Mrs. Brown turned
her attention back to her plants.
Chapter 3
Matthew was woken
up by his now and then wake; his sisters rushing to his room to jump on his bed
to wake him up. They enjoyed it so much, they needed not their mother – who
hated the fact that Matthew slept so long hours – to ask them to wake him.
“Morning brother!”
said Hope, hovering over him. “Father wants to see you, now. I suppose you’re
in real trouble.”
Matthew buried his
face in his pillow and groaned.
“He says it is
urgent,” added Mary.
“If you don’t get
up now, we have permission to drag you out of bed any which way we desire,”
said Kate.
Hope didn’t need
Kate to finish before she started pulling the bedspread off him, and her
sisters joined.
“Come now girls,
leave your brother be. I believe your mother may be looking for you three,”
entered Mr. Brown.
The girls rushed
out again, chortling.
“I cannot chat
with you in this state you’re in. Have a bath first you look terrible.”
After having a
bath and a change of clothes, Matthew joined his father for an early morning
stroll around the farm.
“Worry not, I am
not going to give you one of my many lectures about life, not today. Though I
do have something to tell you. You are to go to Kingston…”
“Is that my
punishment, you are sending me away? What about the farm? Who will look after
it?”
“No son, you’ve
mistaken my request of you this morning. It is not that I don’t see your good
deeds, it is that your flaws seem to outshine them. Your mother has decided to
change her mind and take your cousin Meredith in. You are to fetch her from
Kingston, and also I want you deliver this letter for me to your uncle,” he
handed his son an envelope.
“Kingston?”
Matthew repeated.
He hasn’t been to
Cambridgeshire ever since the one Christmas they visited the Prices in Kingston.
Matthew was only eight years old then and it had turned to be a terrible visit.
When they left Mrs. Brown vowed to never return again, to which she did as she
had vowed.
Matthew’s wild
character troubled Mr. Brown more than it did his wife, and Matthew’s lack of
accountability was why he often got himself into trouble. Though his father had
given him the responsibility to look after the farm, Matthew was much as
irresponsible as a toddler with no care in the world.
When mid-day came, Mr Brown who was always
patient with him had already prepared for his travel. Though Matthew didn’t
take the news quite well, he had no option but to comply with his father’s
wishes.
“Convey my
greetings to your aunt and her family,” said Mrs. Brown.
“Farewell brother,
have a safe trip!” his sisters waved him off as his carriage drove away.
They loved the
trouble Matthew mostly got himself into as they mostly assisted him by covering
for him with their parents, and they were a little unhappy at his going away.
“Come now girls, we
have to return to Banbury. The inn cannot run itself. Leave your father Mary,
if he do wish to be with us he can come to Banbury,” said Mrs. Brown, hurrying
to their carriage.
“And leave the
farm unattended? I shall come and join you all in days’ time,” said Mr. Brown.
“Mr. Brown, how
many times had I advised you; if you need a helper with the farm, employ
Julia’s husband and leave them to occupy the farmhouse. I am certain they would
be very much delighted by the elevation of living it would provide for them.”
The carriage
pulled away before Mr. Brown could answer to mortify his wife’s ridicule of her
own cousin’s family.
Arriving in
Banbury, Mrs. Brown received a letter awaiting her arrival. Retreating to her
tea room to enjoy a cup of tea, she opened and read the letter to herself. It
was where she went to be by herself and enjoy a cup of tea without any
disturbance. The son of the reputable viscount, Lord Basil, was to retreat with
his few acquaintances for a weekend at the Brown’s Diamond Spring inn. Amongst
his other demands, he requested that his visit be kept undisclosed to the
public.
This was pleasant
news to Mrs. Brown as it was a compliment to her divine inn that she couldn’t
help but tell the news to every passing neighbour and visitor to her inn. By
the next morning half the town had heard the news of the arrival of Lord
Basil’s son, Henry Basil. It was the only topic known to town for the next few
days. All the single ladies prepared themselves for him, the three Miss Browns
tried to collect themselves but they too couldn’t hide their excitement. A
visit from their intimate friends Dora and the Smith twins; Rosaline and Abbie,
followed with the spread of the news.
They joined the
Browns at their mother’s tea room to discuss the news.
“Have you heard
the news?” said Hope.
“Have I heard? I
am sure the whole of Oxfordshire knows by now,” replied Dora.
“Percy Basil, was
he not at the assembly we attended in Brackley?” said Abbie.
“What could
possibly bring him to Oxfordshire?” Mary asked the ladies.
“I hear he’s
single,” said Abbie. “Could he be in search of a wife?”
“Don’t they have
enough women in the North?” Kate spoke.
“Maybe not half as
beautiful as our own ladies.”
“I don’t mean to
trounce you ladies, but since beauty comes to me without effort. I am sure he
will be more interested in me,” spoke Rosaline.
“Don’t flatter
yourself Rosaline. Why would he bother looking at you when he can admire god’s
finest beauty?”
The twins started
arguing about who looked better than the other, which had no sense since they
were identical twins. Their argument was then put to rest by Kate.
“I am sure whoever
his affection falls upon will be equally relevant to the other. It is hard to
like one of you without liking the other, since… you are the same person,” she said.
Kate knew how much
she had just offended them. They hated it when people admitted them as being
one person, arguing many differences between them two that could never be
distinguished by any other person but them. Except for their personalities,
apart from being loquacious, they were distinctively different.
Rosaline
considered herself to have more flair than her sister.
Judith joined
them, wearing a dejected expression. She was down spirited. Mrs. Wilson had
received the news of her declining Sir Nicholas’ proposal, and she was not
pleased at all at receiving the news.
“Judith, why do
you look so miserable?” asked Mary.
“I’ve come to say
my goodbyes,” said Judith.
“Are you going
somewhere?” asked Kate.
“Yes, and
unfortunately it will be a long time before I return to see you ladies again.
Sir Nicholas wrote to my mother informing her of the misfortune of his proposal
that is due to my part declining his. My mother, with father’s support, is now
forcing me to accept him as my husband.”
“What a misfortune,
indeed, to be forced into such an old man,” said Hope.
“If he can provide
you with a sumptuous life that is all that should matter. Many marriages have
been arranged, and possibly in due time you will learn to love him,” said
Abbie.
“He is a very
benign gentleman indeed, I am sure loving him will come easy to your nature
than you suppose you are willing to,” Dora supported.
“Perhaps…” said
Judith, in a depressed manner.
Judith stood in
misery looking very sad, until her lady travelling companion which she was
assigned by Mrs. Wilson to be her attendant, came to fetch her. Judith said her
last farewell to her friends. Sir Nicholas lived in the county of
Hertfordshire, and her friends promised to visit her as often as they could,
seeing how sad she was at going away.
