Stephanie Draven | A Slice of Life During the Roaring Twenties

I write very smart books for very bad girls.

That's my mission statement. And because flappers were the original bad girls of American history, I can't wait to tell you about my new collection, It Stings So Sweet.

Set in the Roaring Twenties--a notoriously naughty decade known for its gorgeous short dresses, seductive silent films, and liquor-soaked excesses--this erotic romance explores alternate sexuality in a time before the words or community for it existed.

The book is told from the perspective of three very different women, each of whom experiences a sexual awakening. But in order to get into their heads, I had to ask myself what life would have been like for each of them on a daily basis.

Nora Richardson is a society girl, born into a great deal of wealth. When she wakes up in the morning her girl, Dolly, is on hand to deliver her tea and scones on a beautiful gilded tray before she even has to roll out of her silken bedsheets. (Think the latest episode of Downton Abbey, here, where all the ladies start their days in bed with a lady's maid at the ready.)

Silent screen star Clara Cartwright, by contrast, spends her morning at her vanity, making sure to paint a cupid's bow of lipstick on her glamorous lips before she braves the crowds that beg for her autograph. Her doorman calls for a car to be brought around to bring her to the studio where she works hard in rehearsals, which, she complains, sap her pep!

It's different for Sophie O'Brien, who wakes up at the crack of dawn in the one-bedroom flat she shares with her roommates, then rushes to catch the trolley so that she can start work bright and early as a shop girl in the famous Aster Hotel. There, Sophie is secretly organizing porters and elevator operators and maids to form a labor union, so she doesn't want her fabulously wealthy boss to get wind of fact that she spends her nights at the Civics League listening to agitators and revolutionaries.

Through these women, I was able to get a slice of life in the era during which women had just won the vote, and it made me appreciate how hard it was for them to define themselves in and out of the bedroom. There's a lot we can learn from flappers, and I hope to start the revival with my new book as it coincides with the movie release of The Great Gatsby!

Enjoy an excerpt of IT STINGS SO SWEET.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stephanie Draven

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