Lisa Berne

Lisa Berne read her first Georgette Heyer book at fourteen, and was instantly captivated. Later, she was a graduate student, a teacher, and a grant writer — and is now an author of historical romance.

Berne's latest novel is The Laird Takes a Bride.

Recently I asked the author about what she was reading. Her reply:

I’m slowly making my way through Jane Austen’s Letters, a great thick volume which is so interesting — so funny — so revelatory — and also such an important contrapuntal to her fiction, that I’m in no rush to finish it. I’ve long felt that a true understanding of Austen’s work depends on having at least a passing familiarity with her life and times, and her letters provide tremendous illumination — particularly so as she left behind no diary or journal and remains, essentially, a mysterious person.

I’m also reading Alexander Chee’s The Queen of the Night and really enjoying it for a variety of reasons. One is the sheer exuberance of discovering a new-to-me author and a narrative style which is enthralling. Another is that it provides a glimpse into 19th-century Paris — a very exotic and seductive world. And third, as someone who writes a variant of historical fiction, I’m intrigued by Chee’s approach to the genre. For example, he recently said on Twitter:

“Projecting the present into the past can make the real history invisible, and hopefully that history is what interests you more.”

That has a lot of resonance for me, both as a reader and as a writer.

Visit Lisa Berne's website.

My Book, The Movie: The Laird Takes a Bride.

The Page 69 Test: The Laird Takes a Bride.

--Marshal Zeringue