Helen Dickson's "Carrying the Gentleman's Secret"

Helen Dickson lives in South Yorkshire with her retired farm manager husband. On leaving school she entered the nursing profession, which she left to bring up a young family. Having moved out of the chaotic farmhouse, she has more time to indulge in her favorite pastimes. She enjoys being outdoors, traveling, reading and music. An incurable romantic, she writes for pleasure. It was a love of history that drove her to writing historical romantic fiction.

Here Dickson dreamcasts an adaptation of her new novel, Carrying the Gentleman's Secret:

Carrying the Gentleman’s Secret is about a working woman in early Victorian London, who takes control of her own life before the emancipation of women – although calls for change were gathering pace in the last decade of the nineteenth century.

Whenever anyone asks me if I would like any of my books made into a movie, I always say what a wonderful idea. And of course it is, but one has to carry on writing and see what happens. I have a terrible memory for names and found it difficult casting the perfect actors for my characters.

The characters I have created out of my imagination have faces that I am familiar with, so who on earth could take on those roles? Who would I cast to play my heroes and heroines – if it happened and I had any say in the matter, which I doubt for I imagine that would be left to the casting directors and I would have to hope they would get it right. Actors have the ability to take on the characters, but to take on a physical resemblance is not so easy because I cannot say I’ve seen any actors who look like them. But I will have a go.

For Alex Golding I would choose Rufus Sewell or Colin Firth for the role – unfortunately they are now too old for the part. I can see Richard Madden of Game of Thrones – Robb Stark - and Lady Chatterley’s Lover – Oliver Mellors -fame playing Alex. His physique is lean and athletic. He’s not quite as tall as Alex but it’s often difficult to judge the height of actors on screen – take Daniel Craig and Sean Bean for instance. They both come across as being of reasonable height but they’re quite short. James Norton would be perfect. He has the height and the looks and he’s a wonderful actor – he was brilliant as Andrei Bolkonsky in the television adaptation of War and Peace playing opposite Lily James as Natasha Rostova.

For Lydia Brook, who is an ambitious, hardworking, practical type, which is no surprise given that she’s poor, I think Lily James, who played Lady Rose Clare in Downton Abbey and Natasha in War and Peace would do nicely. I can also see Holliday Grainger – of Lady Chatterley fame, as Lydia. In fact what a pairing that would be if she were to play Lydia and Richard Madden as Alex. On second thoughts, perhaps not.

Visit Helen Dickson's website.

--Marshal Zeringue