Letters from Portofino

Marguerite St. Clair writes historical romance for readers who believe love letters are a lost art. Her novels — set in the gilded ballrooms of Victorian London and the sun-warmed hills of Tuscany — have been described as "Jane Austen with better kissing." A historian by training, she spends her days in archives and her nights inventing reasons for her characters to waltz. She lives in Edinburgh with a cat named after Lord Byron and more research books than shelf space.