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Characters Lust & Liberty Sin & Secrecy

Character Profile: Lady Oliviera Vyrrington

May 2, 2019 No Comments

Profile

FULL NAME: Lady Oliviera Vyrrington (née Isaacs), Countess of Vyrrington

BORN: 9th November 1756, Vellhampton Park, Dover, Kent (aged 36-37 in Lust & Liberty; 58-59 in Sin & Secrecy)

EYE COLOUR: Brown

HAIR COLOUR: Dark (as a young woman); Silver-grey (as an older woman)

FAMILY: Lord Ensbury Isaacs (father); Lady Regina Isaacs (mother); Lavinia, Clementina, Diana, Georgiana (sisters); Lord Wilson Vyrrington (husband); Venetia, Minerva, Spencer, Edward (children); Abel Stirkwhistle, Rebecca Stirkwhistle, Lady Riva Bært-Styridge (cousins)

ALLIES: Abel Stirkwhistle, Elspeth Urmstone, Judith-Ann Haffisidge, Amethyst Whitlocke

ENEMIES: George Whitlocke, Rebecca Stirkwhistle

OCCUPATION: Socialite (semi-retired); Landowner

PERSONALITY: Cold, grief-stricken, passionate, stubborn, mercurial, defiant, confident

POLITICS: Liberal, later Conservative

FAITH: Catholic, later renounces all faith

Lady Vyrrington as an older woman Credit: Phoebe Freshwater

Who is Lady Vyrrington?

The heroine (or arguably the anti-heroine) of the first Berylford Scandal is Oliviera, the Countess of Vyrrington. It is the downfall of her character described in the events of Lust & Liberty. And in the upcoming sequel, Sin & Secrecy, we see her living in the shell of her former life. In this second story, where we see her approaching her sixties, I decided to make Lady Vyrrington an almost ghostly character. I thought it suitable; she is a ghost in the sense that the woman we read about in the first book is all but gone.

While still a major character and mentioned before this (particularly when her cousin Rebecca Stirkwhistle asks her brother Abel, “…how is the old slut?” she does not appear in Sin & Secrecy until the fifth chapter. See if you can get the feeling of how much she has changed from the description below:

from Chapter V of The Berylford Scandals: Sin & Secrecy

“…She was a shimmering and spectral display of silver and black. From her face, powdered almost ghostly white, the towering grey coiffure of hair still streaked with their former ebony shades, to her long hands and slender fingers, gloved in black kidskin. She was clad in a dark, billowing gown and thick black pelts that glinted in the lamplight were astride her shoulders. A white lace collar and a silver medallion were clasped at her throat, in danger of strangling. The great lady was Oliviera, the Countess of Vyrrington. She was the Stirkwhistles’ second cousin and the Lady of Beryl Court. All rents, taxes and yields from the properties and businesses in Berylford were reported directly to her, in the absence of a definitive Lord Vyrrington.

The rhythmic and steadfast clack of her high-heeled boots and walking cane announced her presence, as did her once beauteous countenance, now rendered hollow, bitter and frozen after decades of grief, woe and misery. For now she was encumbered by neither love, mercy, warmth or affection, save for a very small number of individuals. The Countess had lost her children: five were dead and her two sons, who were in the army, had long since relinquished any contact or acquaintance. She had a granddaughter; the one person for whom her heart still beat warm and loving, though she saw her very seldom while she was at school abroad. She had also lost her husband, and more besides.

All her anguish and despair had manacled her to a permanent state of lamentation, mixed with ill-tempered and ironclad Conservatism and religiosity. Her regard and love for humanity, in which she had held no account for class or financial status, were all but spent. Now she cloistered her attentions on the few who remained dear to her. For the rest, her duty she had long deemed irrelevant…”

Origins and Basis

Lady Vyrrington was originally envisaged as a selfish and snobbish old woman back in 2008, as one of the original 40 characters I created. Her maiden name was always Isaacs, but her surname underwent several changes. Barrington, Berrington and Verrington were earlier versions. It was never going to be a run-of-the-mill surname — where is the memorability in that?

Even ten years ago in the original story, she didn’t care very much for her butler Whitlocke. But it was an issue I felt I needed to address — why did this mistress and butler hate each other so openly? That was one of the catalysts for writing Lust & Liberty – to answer this question, along with many others. And it was necessary therefore to show Lady Vyrrington as a much younger woman. The events that turned her into this icy, bitter, miserable woman followed.

Literary Inspiration

While her younger self isn’t really inspired by any other literary characters, the older Lady Vyrrington, however, is a different story! Primarily, she was based on the invalid Mrs. Clennam from Charles Dickens’ Little Dorrit. Not just in terms of the cold demeanour, either. Her ambivalent relationship with Whitlocke is comparable to Mrs. Clennam’s with her manservant and business partner Jeremiah Flintwinch. In addition to Mrs Clennam, Lady Dedlock from Bleak House and Elizabeth Gaskell’s Lady Ludlow also played their parts in fleshing out Lady Vyrrington’s character.

Are there any other characters you think she’s similar to? Whether in her personality or in her relationships with the other characters? Let me know in the comments!

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Reading time: 4 min
Written by: Dale Hurst

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The Berylford Scandals (1. Lust & Liberty, 2. Sin & Secrecy) 📚
Podcaster | The Dale Hurst Writing Show🎙️

Dale Hurst | Author
Not everyone's experiences in independent publishi Not everyone's experiences in independent publishing are positive, sadly. 
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I spoke with fellow author @thehsmatthews – who wrote these lovely books – about her recent gripes with Amazon KDP and what she recommends for other writers who find themselves in the same position (God forbid...)
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The full interview is on my website (link in comments 👇👇👇)
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#indieauthor #indieauthorsofinstagram #authornetwork #authorscommunity #authorsofinstagram #writingcommunity #writersofinsta #writernetwork #amazonkdp #indiepublishing
I love creating characters. It's the greatest joy I love creating characters. It's the greatest joy of storytelling, I think. But to make sure they all don't end up as one-dimensional cardboard cutouts in the story, I create comprehensive profiles for all my principal players. Some of the things to include in such profiles are discussed in the latest post on my website (#linkinbio) ✍️✏️🖊️📝📖📚📘📙
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#writingcommunity #writersofinsta #writernetwork #writingwisdom #authornetwork #amwritingmystery #amwritinghistoricalfiction #charactercreation #characterprofile #creativewriting
Another very popular episode and one of my persona Another very popular episode and one of my personal favourites, featuring filmmaker Jamie Webb of @jkw.media talking about true crime documentary and drama and the trials and creative processes behind both. Here's a snippet. You'll have to listen to the whole thing to hear the flipside 😉🔍🎥🩸📝🎙️
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Find it on Spotify, Google Podcasts and Amazon Music 🎙️
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One of my favourite characters to write. Love her One of my favourite characters to write. Love her or hate her, there's no denying Mrs Urmstone is devoted to Lady Vyrrington and won't hear a word said against her. This quote from Lust & Liberty pretty much sums that up 📖📘📚
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#amreadingmystery
#amwritingmystery #amreadinghistoricalfiction #theberylfordscandals #lustandliberty #summerreading #summerreads2023 #bookquotes #booksofinstagram #bookstagram #igbooks #histfic #historicalfiction
5 whole years ago, I published my debut novel, Lus 5 whole years ago, I published my debut novel, Lust & Liberty 😱🤯🎉 letting loose all the scandals in Berylford and the dramas of its people. 
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Everyone's support and responses to the story have been overwhelming and I'm continually grateful 🥰
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(If you haven't read it yet, add to your summer reading list and grab a copy on Amazon now 😘📚📖)
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📸 Patrick Cermak
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#summerreading #summerreads2023 #theberylfordscandals #lustandliberty #bookiversary #publication #anniversary #booksofinstagram #bookstagram #igbooks #readingcommunity #readingtime #regencyromance #amreadingmystery #amreadinghistoricalfiction
How can we as authors continue to think outside th How can we as authors continue to think outside the box with female characters in the sci-fi genre? Fellow Star Wars enthusiast, writer and cosplayer @aimocreative joined me on the podcast with some of her thoughts. Full episode on Spotify, Google Podcasts and Amazon Music as always 📚📖🎙️📝✍️
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Enjoy these covers while you can... They might be Enjoy these covers while you can... They might be changing soon... In light of the recent announcements from Amazon that they'll be hiking up their printing prices, we need to do some down-sizing. More news to come! Both books are still available from Amazon as always (#linkinbio) 📖📘📚📙 
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📸 @jkw.media 
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#bookstagram #booksofinstagram #igbooks #theberylfordscandals #lustandliberty #amreading #amreadingromance #amreadingmystery #amreadingcrime #amreadinghistoricalfiction #historicalfiction #histfic #mysterynovel #crimefiction
Spoilers ahead if you haven't read Lust & Liberty Spoilers ahead if you haven't read Lust & Liberty but are planning to.
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In this new blog post, I reveal the reason behind killing off a fan favourite... a decision that more than one reader has called for me to change 😆
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Link to the new post is in the comments ⬇️⬇️⬇️
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#theberylfordscandals #lustandliberty #writingwisdom #writingcommunity #authorsofinstagram #authornetwork #writersofinsta #amwritingmystery #amwritinghistoricalfiction #creativewriting #spoileralert🚨
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