C A Castle, Lex Croucher and K J Charles interviewed Suzi Feay

Novelists C A Castle, Lex Croucher and K J Charles discuss their contemporary takes on the period drama in their latest works that feature genderfluid protagonists and characters with a range of queer identities.

Castle’s The Manor House Governess is a queer homage to Jane Eyre. It follows protagonist Brontë Ellis as he uncovers the secrets of Greenwood Manor and its handsome master Darcy. He arrives as a new live-in tutor and is welcomed by all apart from the brooding Darcy to whom he is drawn. Castle is a writer and editor. He is a picture book author and an anthologist.

Croucher’s Trouble follows the new governess at Fairmount House, Emily Laurence, a liar, impolite, unpolished and who has never taught a child in her life. She’s taken the job of her sister, Amy, who has fallen ill, but can she carry off the deception? Her lies start to come undone, but can she fix her mistakes? Croucher is a writer, producer and YouTuber and author of an adult novel Reputation and young adult non-fiction book You’re Crushing It.

Charles’s The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen is a Regency romance of smugglers, adventure and mystery set in Romney Marsh where Sir Gareth Inglis is reunited with his former lover, Joss Doomsday, who has run the Doomsday smuggling clan since he was a boy. 

Discussions are chaired by journalist and reviewer for the FT Suzi Feay.