AUTHOR PROFILE
Nicola Cornick
Adrian Magson talks to the historical novelist about unravelling the mysteries of the past
Adrian Magson
The historical novelist Nicola Cornick could well have been destined to become an author. ‘One of my grandfathers was a poet and my godmother was the author Patricia Hunt,’ she says. ‘So from early childhood I had some very strong literary influences in my life.
‘I started writing the book that was to become my first published novel when I was eighteen. I wrote it on and off while I was at university, and when I was 21 I sent it to Mills & Boon. It was rejected, so I put it to one side for a few years before reworking it and sending it in again. Mills & Boon turned it down again, but this time with a very positive rejection letter, so I was inspired to keep going.
‘After twelve years and two rejections, that book was published as True Colours. It was a Regency romance and very heavily influenced by the novels of Georgette Heyer.
‘I have always been a huge fan of Regency romances, so I think it was natural that I would choose to try to write one myself. I also studied history at university, so there was never any question that I’d be drawn to historical fiction. I wrote about thirty romances for Mills & Boon, all but two of them set during the Regency.