[2] She became interested in history after watching the miniseries The Six Wives of Henry VIII at the age of ten, which prompted her to begin reading about the Plantagenets and the Tudors, as well as fairy tales.
[1] To learn how to write a novel, she read as many medieval romances as possible at her local library, including works by Jo Beverley, Philippa Gregory, Jude Deveraux, and Julie Garwood.
Having exhausted the library's offerings on the subject, Cornwall discovered Bernard Cornwell's "dashing, brave, tormented, inspiring hero" Richard Sharpe, who interested her in reading other Regency-era fiction by such authors as Mary Balogh, Julia Quinn, and Eloisa James.
Not only do you have the English aristocracy at its peak, complete with titles, grand homes, art and the most baffling code of social behavior ever, you have the sweeping backdrop of great world events — soldiers marching to war, the rise and fall of nations, the changes brought about by the Industrial Revolution, and new ideas in practically every field, from fashion to fiction.
Set in the Regency period, it follows the widowed Countess Isobel Maitland, who is kept as a virtual prisoner by her husband's family until she meets Lord Blackwood, a known scoundrel who is secretly a government spy.