Julia Quinn

Julia Quinn is the pseudonym used by Julie Pottinger (born Julie Cotler in 1970), a best-selling American historical romance author, who says she chose her pseudonym so her Regency romances would be on bookshelves next to those of the successful romance writer Amanda Quick.^[1] Her novels have been translated into 26 foreign languages,^[2] and she has appeared on the New York Times Bestseller List 18 times.^[3]

Biography

Julie Pottinger was raised primarily in New England, although she spent much of her time in California after her parents divorced.^[2] Even as a small child she devoured books. Her father disagreed with her choices of reading material, Sweet Dreams and the Sweet Valley High books, and told her she could keep reading them only if she could prove that they were good for her. She promptly told him that she was studying them in order to write one herself. Challenged to prove that she meant her statement, Pottinger sat down at their early computer and wrote her first two chapters. After finishing her novel three years later, she submitted it to Sweet Dreams, but was rejected.^[4]

Pottinger graduated from Harvard with a degree in Art History. During her senior year of college, she realized that she did not know what she wanted to do with her degree and decided to attend medical school. That decision required her to attend two additional years of college to complete the science prerequisites necessary to apply for medical school.^[3]

To occupy herself during the long days of studying science, Pottinger began to write light-hearted Regency romance novels.^[1] A few weeks after she was accepted to medical school, she discovered that her first two novels, Splendid and Dancing At Midnight, had been sold at auction, an unusual occurrence for a novice romance author.^[5] She postponed medical school for two years while she wrote two more novels.^[4]

By the time Pottinger finally entered Yale School of Medicine to realize her dream of being a doctor, three of her books had been published. After only a few short months of studying medicine, however, Pottinger realized that she preferred writing to dissections. She left medical school and devoted herself full-time to her writing.^[4]

Pottinger considers herself a feminist and gives her heroines feminist qualities that are not necessarily true to the attitudes of the times her novels are set.^[1] Her books are noted for being full of humor, with sharp, witty dialogue.^[4] The novels are primarily character-driven, lacking the great external conflicts that many romance novels employ. One of her novels, When He was Wicked, was highly unusual for a romance novel, as the first four chapters actually describe the heroine in a happy marriage with someone who is not the hero, and then shows the death of the original husband and deals with the grief of both the heroine and hero before allowing the second love story to flourish.^[5]

Most of her books are dedicated to her husband, Paul Pottinger, often with references to amusing alternate titles for the work. She won the Romance Writers of America RITA Award for 2007 for On the Way to the Wedding and again for 2008 for The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever. When she won for 2010 for What Happens in London, she became the youngest member and one of only 15 authors to be inducted into the RWA Hall of Fame. In 2003, she enjoyed the rare honor of being profiled in Time Magazine, an accomplishment few romance novelists have achieved. In 2005 Publishers Weekly gave To Sir Phillip, With Love a rare starred review, and later named it one of the six best mass market original novels of the year.^[3] Each of her last 13 novels has appeared on the New York Times Bestseller List, with Mr. Cavendish, I Presume hitting number one in October 2008. Most recently, A Night Like This was on the NYT list in June 2012. Additionally to those, both her Lady Whistledown anthologies appeared on the NY Times list, as did both of her novel-in-three-part collaborations with Connie Brockway and Eloisa James (The Lady Most Likely and The Lady Most Willing), and the Bridgertons: Happily Ever After collection of Bridgertons second epilogues.^[3]

In 2001, Pottinger won $79,000 on The Weakest Link.^[6] She is an avid reader, posting recommendations of her favorite books on her Facebook page.

Pottinger and her husband live in the Pacific Northwest area of the United States.

Recognition

• 1997- Everything and the Moon nominated for Best Regency Historical by Romantic Times Magazine^[4]
• 2001 - Finalist in the Romance Writers of America's RITA Awards
• 2002 - Romancing Mister Bridgerton voted one of the top ten books of the year by RWA membership
  Finalist for the RWA RITA Awards in the Long Historical category
• 2002 - To Sir Phillip, With Love named one of the six best mass market original novels of the year by Publishers Weekly
• 2003 - Quinn was profiled in Time Magazine.
• 2007 - Received Romance Writers of America RITA Award for Best Long Historical Romance, for On the Way to the Wedding
• 2008 - Received Romance Writers of America RITA Award for Best Regency Historical Romance, for The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever
• 2010 - Received Romance Writers of America RITA Award for Best Regency Historical Romance for What Happens in London^[7]
• 2010 - Quinn was inducted into the Romance Writers of America Hall of Fame.^[7]

Bibliography

The Splendid Trilogy

• Splendid (1995)
• Dancing At Midnight (1995)
• Minx (1996)
• "A Tale of Two Sisters" in Where's My Hero? (2003, anthology with Lisa Kleypas and Kinley MacGregor)

The Lyndon Sisters

• Everything And The Moon (1997)
• Brighter Than The Sun (1997)

Agents of the Crown

• To Catch An Heiress (1998)
• How To Marry A Marquis (1999)

The Bridgertons

• The Duke and I (2000)
• The Viscount Who Loved Me (2000)
• An Offer From A Gentleman (2001)
• Romancing Mister Bridgerton (2002)
• To Sir Phillip, With Love (2003)
• When He Was Wicked (2004)
• It's In His Kiss (2005)
• On the Way to the Wedding (2006)
• The Bridgertons: Happily Ever After (2013)

The Bridgerton family consists of eight siblings and their widowed mother. In the novels, the Bridgertons are well respected and favored among British society. The Bridgertons are an extremely loving and tight-knit clan. The series comprises eight books in which each of the siblings finds true love. Each book is set against the backdrop of upper English society during the period of Regency England.

On the Way to the Wedding, won the Romance Writers of America RITA Award in 2007. In 2002, To Sir Phillip, With Love was named one of the six best mass market original novels of the year by Publishers Weekly. Several books on the series have been on the New York Times bestseller list.

Quinn has published six "2nd epilogues," one each for The Viscount Who Loved Me, An Offer From A Gentleman, Romancing Mister Bridgerton, To Sir Phillip, With Love, When He Was Wicked, and It's In His Kiss, as ebooks. The final collection of eight second epilogues (those six, plus second epilogues from The Duke and I and On the Way to the Wedding)—plus a short story about Violet, the Bridgerton matriarch—released on April 2, 2013.^[8]

The Two Dukes of Wyndham

• The Lost Duke of Wyndham (2008)
• Mr. Cavendish, I Presume (2008)

According to Quinn, this two-book set was based on the premise "two men say they’re the Duke of Something. One of them must be wrong," inspired by a Dire Straits song^[9] Events are concurrent and the plots are intertwined, with some scenes appearing in both books, but from different perspectives.

The Bevelstoke Series

• The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever (2007)
• What Happens in London (2009)
• Ten Things I Love About You (2010)

The Smythe-Smith Quartet

• Just Like Heaven (2011)
• A Night Like This (2012)
• The Sum of All Kisses (2013)

Lady Whistledown

The witty gossip columnist "Lady Whistledown" from the Bridgerton series ties together these two anthologies of interlinked novellas:

• "Thirty-Six Valentines" in The Further Observations of Lady Whistledown (2003, anthology with Suzanne Enoch, Karen Hawkins and Mia Ryan)
• "The First Kiss" in Lady Whistledown Strikes Back (2004, anthology with Suzanne Enoch, Karen Hawkins and Mia Ryan)

Others

• "Gretna Greene" in Scottish Brides (1999, anthology with Christina Dodd, Stephanie Laurens and Karen Ranney)
• The Lady Most Likely... (December 28, 2010 a novel in three parts with Connie Brockway and Eloisa James)
• The Lady Most Willing... (December 26, 2012 a novel in three parts with Connie Brockway and Eloisa James)

References

External links

• Official Julia Quinn Website
• Chapter excerpts and title list (Official publisher web page)