The Leopard Unleashed

Author’s Note

The Leopard Unleashed was my third published novel and it continues the family story begun with The Wild Hunt and followed by The Running Vixen. The three books together have sometimes been called ‘The Ravenstow Trilogy’, but I’m not sure that it’s a correct umbrella. I never intended the books to be a trilogy. It was my intention to keep going with various family members for as long as the muse inspired. However, the vagaries of the publishing world and requirements of editors meant that The Leopard Unleashed became the final work in the series. Readers still ask me if I am going to continue the story, but I have to answer, not for the moment. However, it might be of interest to know that the early chapters of what I intended to be book four, were slightly modified and sneakily incorporated into the beginning of The Love Knot.

My novels have changed as my career has progressed. I began by writing historical adventure/romance stories with imaginary protagonists and have now moved on to bio graphical fiction with characters who actually lived. The Leopard Unleashed belongs to the adventure/romance oeuvre but I have striven to be as historically accurate as possible.

It has been an interesting journey revisiting The Leopard Unleashed to re-edit it in the light of increased historical knowledge and with more miles of writerly craft under my belt since first publication. Once a novel is published, I seldom revisit it because it has gone from private world to public sphere, warts and all. So I came to Leopard with almost fresh eyes. Many readers at that point knew more about the novel than I did! I would like to thank my editors at Sphere — Barbara Daniel, Joanne Dickinson and Rebecca Saunders — for allowing me the pleasure of a re-read and the opportunity to re-edit this book and make it available to readers once more.