Historical Note

A few of my early readers expressed surprise that Vander and his mother speak Persian. Although Persian is not much spoken in India today, during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, it was one of two lingua francas on the Indian subcontinent, along with Hindustani (as it was called by English speakers during the nineteenth century). What's more, according to an analysis performed by Professor Michael H. Fisher, a strong majority of Indians who emigrated to Britain during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were native speakers of Persian. It therefore made the most sense for Vander and his mother to speak Persian, even though this may seem like a surprising choice to modern readers. The use of Persian in India began to decline during the mid-nineteenth century.

I would like to mention some of the real Anglo-Indians I came across in doing my research, who inspired me as I was thinking about what Vander's life might have been like in Regency England.

William and Kitty Kirkpatrick were the children of James Achilles Kirkpatrick, who served as the British Resident for the East India Company in Hyderabad, and Indian noblewoman Khair un-Nissa. They were born in India but sent to England upon their father's death. Both received a significant inheritance from their father.

William suffered a childhood injury involving boiling water that was severe enough that one of his arms had to be amputated. He led something of a quiet life as a result of these injuries, but he still managed to attend Oxford, marry, and have three daughters before his untimely death at the age of twenty-seven.

His sister, Kitty, did not lead a quiet life; she was a society darling. Regarded as a great beauty and widely rumored to be the daughter of an "Indian Princess," Kitty achieved fame as the muse of author Thomas Carlyle. The character Blumine in his popular novel Sartor Resartus was said to be inspired by Kitty. She married a dashing army officer, James Winslowe Phillipps, with whom she had seven children. Based on their letters, the marriage appears to have been a happy one.

For more information about William and Kitty, I can enthusiastically recommend the excellently researched book White Mughals by William Dalrymple.

Fewer details are known about the life of Thomas Deane Mahomet Pearse, son of Thomas Deane Pearse and Punna Purree Pearse. But we do know that he attended Harrow and later Oriel College, Oxford in the late eighteenth century.

Katherine Scott Forbes was the daughter of Scotsman Theodore Forbes and the housekeeper he hired while living in Surat, Eliza Kewark. Thanks to DNA testing, we know that Eliza was Indian. (We can say this with precision because some of the genetic markers in question were found on her descendants' mitochondrial DNA, which is always passed down from mother to child. We therefore know that these particular genes trace down the maternal line).

Katherine and her descendants must have either mixed in fashionable circles or made a precipitous climb up the social ladder because a few generations later, her great-great-granddaughter, the Honourable Frances Ruth Roche, married Edward John Spencer, the Eighth Earl Spencer.

These two happen to be the parents of Princess Diana, meaning that the future King of England, Prince William, and his brother, Prince Harry, have Anglo-Indian ancestry.

Finally, a mea culpa! As I'm sure everyone immediately noticed, the Woodhousian Method of Graduation with regards to Mortality Tables dates to 1888, not 1820! Rest assured, had Mr. Woodhouse proposed his controversial methods in 1820, Vander's father would have been thoroughly scandalized.

I would like to thank my fabulous editor, Diana Bold; my indispensable beta readers Ritika and Linda; and my cover designer, Dar Albert, who is both brilliant and extremely patient. I'd like to thank all of my author and reader friends in The Brazen Belles! Y'all make this crazy author life so much more enjoyable. I am also so grateful for the members of my ARC and street teams, especially Melinda who creates order out of chaos. The most thanks, of course, goes to my wonderful family, especially J and V. I love you two to the moon and back!

This one is for one of my favorite people on the face of this earth. This one is for Eddie!