The one thing Cara knows about herself is that she doesn’t want to grow up to be a prostitute. But as the daughter of a prostitute, growing up in a brothel in one of the seediest districts of Port Lorsin, she has resigned herself to her fate. As soon as her monthly blood comes, she will follow in the footsteps of her mother. But a client of her mother’s takes pity on Cara. Leveraging his status, he takes Cara somewhere she never thought she’d see up the palace of the House of Dorsa. When a crisis strikes, Cara finds herself thrust into the very center of palace politics. What comes next will change Cara—and the course of kingdom history—forever. This book is the first in A Tide of Shadows, the prequel series to the Chronicles of Dorsa. You do NOT need to have read the Chronicles of Dorsa series first to enjoy In the Shadow of the Palace.
Author
When I started thinking of a new pen name to write fiction featuring lesbian protagonists, I commandeered the name of an ancestor. Eliza Frances Andrews was an interesting woman, one I have mixed feelings about. A southern belle who lived through the civil war as the privileged daughter of a prominent plantation owner, she refused to marry "below her station" after the war and therefore set about creating her own career—highly unusual for a woman of her day and age. Eventually she became a teacher, novelist, and world-renowned botanist. And interestingly, a socialist. But she was quite racist and I can only imagine what she would have to say about LGBTQ people. It is therefore somewhat tongue-in-cheek to borrow her name; it is my reimagining of Eliza if she'd grown up in the 21st century rather than the 19th, after women's lib and the Civil Rights movement and Stonewall. Perhaps a 21st-century Eliza would grin at me and say, "Right on." Perhaps the 19th-century Eliza is rolling over in her grave—if she is, call it karmic justice. Reach out anytime: eliza@ninja-writer.com. PS, I also write young adult science fiction / fantasy under the name R. A. Marshall (another borrowed name). LGBTQ readers might enjoy the Lost Children trilogy.
