Fancy's Story
by
“If it weren’t for bad luck, she’d have no luck at all,” lament the family of Fancy Selk, who has been the victim of horrific abuse. Fancy decides it is high time she learns to make lemonade from lemons instead of always making lemons from lemonade. As she learns to survive her past abuse, young Dr. Richard “Rick” Winslow manages to go back in time to find the beautiful young woman. Rick learns Fancy is married to another man. When her husband is killed at Yorktown, she finally admits her attraction for the handsome physician, as they fall in love, only to be ripped apart not once, but twice.
Publisher: Black Rose Writing
Cover Artists:
Genres:
Word Count: 80,000
Setting: Virginia, Bermuda, NYC, Barbados, Ireland
Languages Available: English
Series Type: Same Universe / Various Characters
Word Count: 80,000
Setting: Virginia, Bermuda, NYC, Barbados, Ireland
Languages Available: English
Series Type: Same Universe / Various Characters
"I need my Daddy," I sobbed against my brother Will's shoulder. He wrapped the quilt around me, as he murmured words of comfort to me.
"It's okay, Fancy. No one will hurt you now. Le Grande is dead. he won't hurt you or anyone ever again. But honey, Daddy is dead. You're gonna have to make do with your big brother now."
I shook my head. "No, not Daddy JO. My real daddy. I need Marc. Can you write him? I need to tell him I'm sorry. I ... I should have gone with them to McCarron's Corner in December."
Will's wife, Sassy, gasped at my words, her eyes wide with shock. "Marc? Marcus McCarron is your real daddy? Will, what is this all about?"
"Will looked grim and rattled, his eyes clouded with confusion. "I don't know, but I'm damned sure gonna find out."
READ MOREMy name is Fancy Selk. My real name is Francesca Marie Selk. My Daddy Jo used to call me Francie, and I pronounced it Fancy. Everybody thought that was amusing so the nickname stuck. I've been called Fancy most of my life.
My real mama was Tamsin Selk. She was the natural child of Josiah Selk. When I was born, Daddy Jo and Miss Belle adopted me and raised me as their own daughter. I was a spoiled, entitled little girl, wearing extravagant silk gowns, and I had my own French maid. I had tutors teaching me reading, writing, grammar, math, history, geography, music, dancing, and of course, French. I was learning to play the pianoforte and the harp, like Miss Belle. Daddy Jo called me his Wee Duchess, and I was treated like royalty.
"Why do you call me that, Daddy?" I recall asking him once.
He laughed. "Because, my love, you are little but you are fierce, and someday you shall be the Duchess of Ranscome."
I laughed and skipped away.
I was still small when Tamsin ran off and married an Irish lord. It was a big scandal. Miss Belle got sick and died not long after that. They said she died from a broken heart because her real daughter, Ginny Lee, died in childbirth the year before. Things were little different at first after Miss Belle died. But over time, Daddy Jo drank more and I got less and less attention. My brother, Will, took his three daughters back to Puerto Rico to their plantation because things at Belle Rose were too chaotic to keep the girls there any longer. He asked Daddy Jo to let me go, too, but Daddy said he had already lost too much and refused.
Four years later, when I was 10, Daddy Jo died. My big brother, Tom, was the new owner of the plantation. Within the week, my tutors were all dismissed. Most of my pretty dresses were taken away. My maid was assigned new work and I no longer had a maid. I went from being Daddy's Wee Duchess to being little more than one of the servants.
And then, Tom broke my heart the day he informed be that because my mother was a person of color, I would never be a white girl, no matter how white I looked. Daddy Jo used to tell me it didn't matter. Except Tom didn't call me black, he called me that "N" word that Sassy won't allow folks to say here at Belle Rose any more.
Tom's wife, Charlotte, tried to keep him under control. Charlotte was a sweet soul who always saw the good in people. She tried to dissuade him from his determination I should be taught to be a worker, not one of the privileged elite class to which I had been raised before my Daddy Jo died. With Charlotte's help, I was even allowed to keep a few pretty dresses, to wear when special company like Sir Calvin came, and a locket with a picture of my real mama in it.
But when i was 12, Charlotte caught typhus. In less than two weeks, both Charlotte and their son, Charlie, were dead. I was scared. No, terrified. What would my world become now that my one defender was gone?
COLLAPSENancy on Goodreads wrote:What a roller coaster ride - this was an excellent read! Once I started "The McCarron's Daughter," I just **had** to finish it the same night. This tale is set in the McCarron universe, and is rather different from previous books by this author. 'Fancy's Story' is a darkly brilliant, stark narrative about learning to thrive despite past physical and mental abuse, blended with fascinating glimpses of 1770's era Colonial life as detailed in the series.
The reader is drawn into political intrigues and family machinations as Sharon K. Middleton brings to life major events near the end of the American Revolution. She combines those experiences with modern commentary from three 20th century Americans who travel back in time to find love, and incidentally overcome their own inner demons. It's a fascinating tale of spiced-up history and the triumph of the human spirit, with a dash of sci-fi for good measure.
It was not easy for me to immerse myself in some very difficult societal customs and situations from nearly three hundred years ago. The main character, Fancy (formally Francesca) is written so sympathetically that I felt as if she were someone I knew. She is a child of her times - a woman of color, wife, widow, and mother. Born into privilege, the little girl's circumstances changed with the death of her adopted parents. Fancy learns to keep going despite horrific abuse by those closest to her. Along the way this young woman experiences loss and redemption, betrayal and renewal. We learn to care for her, and about those today who feel worthless and discarded by their families and an uncaring society.
This tale will be difficult for sensitive readers to get through; I suggest enjoying the previous stories first, then easing into this one (perhaps with a cup of chamomile tea). It will be well worth your time.
Kindle Customer on Amazon wrote:Fancy has had a hard life and though sometimes it looks like it is getting better it just never seems to work out that way. She was raised at Belle Rose in Virginia. She is one eighth black. Her parents were never married but her father was always good to her. He died when she was young and then she was in the care of her oldest half brother. From then on life was hard. Dr. Richard Winslow came back in time and fell in love with Fancy but she was married to another. Follow the ups and downs in her life in this story. Through the abuse, the love, the children, the husbands and the family who all loved her dearly except for the oldest brother. Will Fancy ever find love and happiness?
Fancy has had a hard life and though sometimes it looks like it is getting better it just never seems to work out that way. She was raised at Belle Rose in Virginia. She is one eighth black. Her parents were never married but her father was always good to her. He died when she was young and then she was in the care of her oldest half brother. From then on life was hard. Dr. Richard Winslow came back in time and fell in love with Fancy but she was married to another. Follow the ups and downs in her life in this story. Through the abuse, the love, the children, the husbands and the family who all loved her dearly except for the oldest brother. Will Fancy ever find love and happiness?
The McCarron's Daughter is my difficult book. It is not a typical romance. Most romances do not involve the level of violence in this book. In fact, romances rarely contain sexual abuse, unless it is in a vague reference to what happened to the person in the past. I worked as a social worker with sexually abused children for years. The voices of those children resonated in my heart and soul. This book tells their story. People love it or hate it. One reviewer said I must be crazy to have written it. I thought all writers were a bit crazy. Please be aware it does contain triggers.
Technically, The McCarron's Daughter should be combined with Diary of the Reluctant Duchess to comprise one book. Unfortunately, most publishers will not publish 700 page books unless you are Diana Gabaldon. However, Fancy will find her happy-ever-after in Diary of the Reluctant Duchess, which I consider to be the second half of the story.
Fancy was seriously abused both while growing up by her older brother by adoption, Tom Selk. She is later abused as a young woman during the Revolutionary War. War is never kind to women and children. Fancy must learn to love herself despite the abuse she has suffered, and to allow herself to move beyond her youthful abuse to be able to find the love of her life. In that respect, I view it as a romance. What can be more important in life than to learn that a person has worth and merit and is lovable despite any bad things that have happened to her?
Although not a typical romance, the McCarron's Daughter won two awards for literary excellence, the Pencraft Award for Historical Romance in 2019, and the Texas Best Book Awards in Historical Romance in 2020.
