writersFOver the past few years of visiting the homes and haunts where writers lived, loved, and found inspiration, we repeatedly found ourselves sidetracked by the “love” side of the equation.

Where exactly was the secret door that Victor Hugo used as an escape route for his mistress? Was it true Charles Dickens had a thing for his sister-in-law? Who was Edith Wharton’s secret trans-Atlantic lover? Like the nosy tourists who rented telescopes to spy on Lord Byron and the Shelleys during their summer on Lake Geneva, we wanted to know what really instigated the famous (and not so famous) hook-ups, make-ups, and break-ups of our literary idols.

This burning question led us to write Writers Between the Covers: The Scandalous Romantic Lives of Legendary Literary Casanovas, Coquettes and Cads, a salacious look at what happened off the page in the love lives of famous writers. We’ve been gone from the blog working on the book for the past year and are pleased to announce it will be published next month by Plume/Penguin.

We hope you’ll check it out when it hits the shelves and that you’ll stay tuned here, where we’ll be posting more information along with an excerpt and giving away a few free copies.