"Overseas" Give Away

As those of you who are regular visitors to this page know, I’ve been raving (in a good way!) about Beatriz Williams’ Overseas for quite some time. I’m not usually a fan of time travel, but I make a few major exceptions: Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander, Susanna Kearsley’s The Rose Garden, and Beatriz Williams’ Overseas.

Amiens, France, 1916: Captain Julian Ashford, a British officer in the trenches of the Western Front, is waylaid in the town square by Kate, a beautiful young American. Julian’s never seen her before, but she has information about the reconnaissance mission he’s about to embark on. Who is she, and why did she track him down in Amiens?

New York, 2007: A young Wall Street analyst, Kate Wilson learned to rely on logic and cynicism. So why does she fall so desperately in love with Julian Laurence, a handsome British billionaire with a mysterious past?

What she doesn’t know is that he has been waiting for her… the enchanting woman who emerged from the shadows of the Great War to save his life.

The book doesn’t officially come out until May 10th, but, because Beatriz is a hugely lovely person, she has offered us two copies, not of the ARC, but of the actual, finished book– two weeks before anyone else gets their hands on them.

See? I told you she was lovely.

I’m going to give away one book today and another next Wednesday, when Beatriz is going to come over to the site for a Q&A. (So if you have any questions you’d like to ask her, let me know!)

For an early copy of Overseas, here’s your question:

If you could visit any place in any time period, where and when would it be?

One person will be chosen at random from among those who comment. The winner will be announced tomorrow.

57 Comments

  1. Christine on April 25, 2012 at 9:29 am

    This question has me overly excited because I was a history major in college and I’ve thought about this question many many times (I’m also super excited about this book). I would go back to the US in the World War II era. I could write a tome about why, but let’s leave it at that it’s always fascinated me and I can’t get enough information about that time on the homefront. I would love to be able to experience it for myself.

  2. Céline on April 25, 2012 at 9:41 am

    Oooooh, this is exactly the discussion I had with Hubby just a few weeks ago!
    There are sooo many places I’d like to visit, had I the possibility to time travel, so it’s really hard to choose!

    But most of all, I’m fasincated by the French kings and queens, so I think I’d choose to meet either Marie-Antoinette or Marguerite of Navarre, live in the King’s court, feel, really feel, how it was at that time!

  3. Michelle Springer on April 25, 2012 at 9:41 am

    Since I live in Chicago, I have always wanted to go back and visit the city during the Prohibition era. I just want to know how gritty and violent it truly was… plus the twenties has always been my favorite era design and fashion wise.

  4. Georgia on April 25, 2012 at 9:58 am

    I would like to have a chance to visit the French Riviera during the 1920s and 30s. Maybe that’s because I have just been reading Rhys Bowen’s Naughty in Niece and it sounds pretty glamorous.

  5. Rhiannon Rowland on April 25, 2012 at 10:02 am

    This one is easy for me being a fan of historical romance! I want to go to Regency England…for exacly 24 hours. I want the whole experience but do not want to stay there. I want to go to a ball, go for a carriage ride in Hyde Park, etc.

  6. AngelB on April 25, 2012 at 10:09 am

    Oooh…tough question. So many places to go.

    I will answer with the answer I would have given 35 years ago…and that’s post Civil War midwest/western United States. Sometimes I related to Laura Ingalls in her every thought process in her books, that I could be her.

  7. jeffrey on April 25, 2012 at 10:15 am

    Oh dear, the “incurable romantic” is melting already. This looks sooooo good!

  8. jeffrey on April 25, 2012 at 10:22 am

    (Sorry, it always helps to answer the question) I would like nothing better than to go WAY back to the ancient Mediteranean and accompany St. Paul on one of his missionary journeys. Doesn’t sound too romantic to many but I consider St. Paul as probably the greatest mind in all of antiquity. What a privilege to have known him!

  9. Jessica @ Quirky Bookworm on April 25, 2012 at 10:26 am

    This is such a hard question! But I think that possibly I’d choose Revolutionary War era New England. Or maybe Regency England? Dilemma…

  10. Katie on April 25, 2012 at 10:41 am

    There are so many amazing choices! I have always been fascinated by ancient civilizations and would probably choose ancient Egypt at the height of its glory or maybe the hanging gardens of Babylon. So little is known about the hanging gardens of Babylon that it has always been a source of curiosity for me. If I couldn’t go that far back, I would probably choose Venice during Carnival a few hundred years ago.

  11. Kat on April 25, 2012 at 10:53 am

    I’ve always been pretty adamant that the past probably mostly sucked for most people (particularly women). However, since that looks like an awesome book, I’ll admit to wanting to visit Regency England or maybe the 1920’s. Lauren, you’ve never read any of Connie Willis’ time travel books? I think the best is To Say Nothing of the Dog. If you haven’t, you need to. I’m sure you’ll be adding it to your list of time travel book exceptions.

  12. Maggie on April 25, 2012 at 10:53 am

    I’m sorry; I have to give two answers. The first – I’d want to go back in time to any date prior to September 1998. My mom (and best friend) died when I was 24 of cancer and I’ll take any chance I could get to spend more time with her.

    In the spirit of the contest; Tudor England. I would love to experience the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.

  13. Renee on April 25, 2012 at 10:55 am

    Pretty much any time! Just kidding. My first instinct is to say Regency England, but not if I was going to be of the lower classes…life as a poor person–and a woman, at that–was a lot tougher back then! I’m also a little intrigued by the Elizabethan era and Colonial America.

  14. Judith on April 25, 2012 at 11:03 am

    16th century – I fell in love with Dorothy Dunnett’s Lymond books back in college. Or possibly the World War One era or Regency England or the list could just keep on growing……..

  15. Catie on April 25, 2012 at 11:09 am

    Oooo that book sounds lovely!

    I think I’d like to go back to the 1920s. Bring on the bobs and gin!

  16. Ellen on April 25, 2012 at 11:16 am

    I was fortunate enough to go to a college where they let me be a Victorian Studies major. It wasn’t work, it was pure fun! So, I’d have to say 19th century London. So many things going on at the time–Gladstone and Disraeli, the Webbs, Dickens, Wilkie Collins. Then I’d head out to Yorkshire to meet the Bronte sisters.

  17. Leslie on April 25, 2012 at 11:21 am

    I would go back to Brussels for the week before Waterloo. To attend the Duchess of Richmond’s ball would be incredible!

  18. Meredith A on April 25, 2012 at 11:32 am

    Regency England, of course! Early 1500’s in Italy, any location where Da Vinci was being a genius. 1815-ish Red River Settlement because it has such an interesting history…I just wouldn’t want to stay there for very long.

  19. Liz on April 25, 2012 at 11:34 am

    This book sounds fabulous! I think for me it would be the homefront during WWII. The women (and men)who kept the country going while the troops were fighting overseas have always fascinated me. They worked together, even through shortages and constant worry about fathers, husbands, and sons.
    And I admit I’d love to wear the fashions of the day 😉

  20. Sharin on April 25, 2012 at 11:59 am

    Hi Lauren,
    I would have to agree with Kat, that I probably wouldn’t want to stay – as Pirhana says in Lost in Austen,”…Chocolate and Bum Paper!”. However, given that I’ve been researching my family tree and am stuck on my Greatx3 Grandfather from Scotland, I would like to go back to about 1820 and meet him at the dock in NY. So many questions, very few answers found. 🙂

  21. Cho on April 25, 2012 at 12:04 pm

    Oh, the number of times I’ve wished I could do this…

    I would go to England during the Regency–it’s my ideal time period. All of my favourite things would be considered accomplishments: singing, speaking French, dancing, riding…and the gowns were simply gorgeous! I’m afraid I’d be rather a bluestocking, though 🙂

    Barring that, I’d want to go to England during the interwar years. I’m in love with the clothing of that time and with the writing styles of those who lived in it.

  22. Kylene on April 25, 2012 at 12:14 pm

    I’d want to go to Pre-Roman Britain and see what it was really like. I’ve been on a prehistoric/ancient history kick recently; perhaps it’s because it’s what I’ve been teaching my son recently.

  23. Karen on April 25, 2012 at 12:22 pm

    First, I’m with Woody Allen – no time before penicillin. That notwithstanding I would probably like to experience Vienna during the time of Mozart – maybe even catch a show!

  24. Emily on April 25, 2012 at 12:34 pm

    I would love to go back to the 20s, specifically 1920s India to experience the world M M Kaye writes about in her autobiography. I know there are all sorts of reasons the Colonial period wasn’t great, but I’d just like to see for myself what it was like!

  25. Elizabeth P on April 25, 2012 at 12:38 pm

    I have always been a fan of Tudor England so I would have to say that I would want to go back during the reign of King Henry VIII. That time period has always fascinated me.

  26. Emily on April 25, 2012 at 12:38 pm

    I would want to go back to Elizabethan England and attend the first performance of a Shakespeare play at the Globe. Preferably one where he himself is acting, even in a bit part!

  27. Ashley on April 25, 2012 at 12:40 pm

    America in the 1902s! I’ve seen Thoroughly Modern Millie too many times…

  28. Beatriz Williams on April 25, 2012 at 12:54 pm

    Just stopping by to check out all these fantastic answers! I love all these choices, and especially the reasons behind them. Maybe Lauren should open a time travel agency as a lucrative second career! (And I agree with Karen and Woody Allen — wherever I went (or WHENever) I’d definitely want to take a pocketful of penicillin with me!)

  29. rachel on April 25, 2012 at 1:07 pm

    I’d visit Laura Ingalls Wilder out west! It’d make my childhood dreams come true. 🙂

  30. Amanda on April 25, 2012 at 1:43 pm

    I think the antebellum South. I just have to know how much of Gone with the Wind is true 🙂

  31. Pat on April 25, 2012 at 2:01 pm

    I’m fascinated with preWWI and postwar Great Britain. Imagine the enormous social changes that took place for the working men and for woman. Of course I’d want to be independently wealthy so I could live my own life and marry for love. Ha! Who doesn’t?

  32. Ashley on April 25, 2012 at 2:55 pm

    I’d want to visit Venice during Carnevale in the 1500s.

    I’d love to see the city before it became a tourist destination and see how people really lived. Plus, I think it would be really fun to be masked and let loose!

  33. NikkiB on April 25, 2012 at 2:55 pm

    Hrad to say… but, I think I would like late 1700s America. I wouold love to be part of the founding of America 🙂

  34. Jessica Mac on April 25, 2012 at 3:12 pm

    Regency England hands down!!! I am a huge fan of books set in that time. Ahhhh… All the balls and parties!! All the glitter and glam of the ladies in their finest! Carriage rides and gossip! Not to mention handsome rakes in tight breeches! 🙂

  35. Alexis on April 25, 2012 at 3:49 pm

    I would say Russia during the last Romanov regime. Ah, to see if Rasputin really was a wicked magician or just a charlatan. And what about Princess Anastasia?

    Oh, the possibilities abound!

  36. Diya Mishra on April 25, 2012 at 3:56 pm

    That is a hard question! I suppose at the moment probably Victorian England!

  37. melanie on April 25, 2012 at 4:03 pm

    England after the Great War so I could meet Virginia Woolf!

  38. Davia on April 25, 2012 at 5:25 pm

    I would have loved to have experience Antiquity; I love reading about the Greeks, Romans, and Eqyptians! I would have been amazing to live in the same era as Cleopatra and Alexander!

  39. Amanda B on April 25, 2012 at 5:34 pm

    I would love to visit 12th century England under the rule of Henry II!

  40. Karen H on April 25, 2012 at 6:09 pm

    I think I’d go back to the late 1960s. I have so many time periods I’d love to visit (Elizabethan England, France before/after the revolution, Regency England, the Roaring 20s in NYC, etc.) but this the 60s were when my mom was in her 20s and that period of wild drugs, free love, and the cold war is a time I sometimes have a hard time relating to.

  41. Nancy Kvorka on April 25, 2012 at 6:39 pm

    I have two, either late Victorian England or US (late 1890’s give or take a decade or two) or Regency England, actually I have three, medieval Scott or 1700’s Scotland.

  42. Allison (Allure of Books) on April 25, 2012 at 6:51 pm

    Thanks so much for the giveaway, I’ve been dying to read this ever since you first mentioned it ages ago.

    I think I’d want to go to Ancient Rome. I’ve read so much fiction and non-fiction both – I want to see what it was REALLY like.

  43. Michelle K on April 25, 2012 at 8:08 pm

    There are so many place and times i would love to visit, but hands down, I would want to go to England during the time of Henry VIII

  44. Cyndee Martin on April 25, 2012 at 8:16 pm

    If I could be any where any time, I have two. I have ancestors that were actualy royalty in Ireland. What I would give to spend a day a month or a year living with them. I know royalty then did not live like the do today.
    My second option would be the present in Ireland and Scottland. I long to be there and walk the moors or the Scottish hills. Sigh.
    One day

  45. melisa on April 25, 2012 at 8:48 pm

    i would love to go to NYC in 1978..so i could meet the man i love and we could have had an extra 30 yrs together instead of the 10 we have had. Then, i’d love to go to the deep south in the 1940’s and see my parents when they were children, so i could know another side of them.

  46. Chelsea on April 25, 2012 at 9:17 pm

    I’d like to hang with Elizabeth I for a week or so … stinky perhaps, but how cool to watch some Shakespeare, with Shakespeare sitting by the Queen?

  47. Angie on April 25, 2012 at 9:56 pm

    Tough question! I would probably have to pick Regency England if I had to choose just one – my second choice might be early Norman England or Ireland. I could go on with all my subsequent choices, since living at various points in history is a super fun topic for me, but I suppose I’ll leave it at that 😉

  48. Amanda V on April 25, 2012 at 9:58 pm

    I’ve always been fasinated with London, right before WWII starts and the change that the city undergoes as air raids begin and life is turned upside down.

  49. Dan on April 25, 2012 at 10:05 pm

    I’d have to go with Norman Sicily or the Kingdom of Jerusalem. A rich influx of cultures!

  50. Chanpreet on April 25, 2012 at 11:00 pm

    Oh the choices and possibilities! I would love to travel to Ancient Greece and Rome, the Regency, before the burning of the library in Alexandria, Egypt in 48 BC, and meet Jesus. But I’ll be pedestrian and admit I’d like to go and find out which came first; The chicken or the egg? Lol.

    I’ve heard great things about this book. Thank you Beatriz and thank you Lauren for the giveaway!

  51. Lindsey on April 25, 2012 at 11:05 pm

    Wow, that’s a great question! I’ve always been fascinated by the Romans, but am equally fascinated by post-WWII North America and Britain.

    Togas or Dior’s “New Look”!

  52. Pamela E. Harris on April 25, 2012 at 11:47 pm

    After much consideration, I would like to be a well off “Bright Young Thing” in 1920s England. The period that gave us the Detection Club sounds like a very good time!

  53. Jessica C on April 26, 2012 at 2:44 am

    Hard question! I’d love to be able to travel into the future – the far future, as in space-travel Star-Trek/sci-fi future. I’d love to be able to travel to another planet, explore the far reaches of outer space.

    Going back in time, I’d pick either Regency England (to promenade in the Pump Room in Bath) or ancient Athens at the height of its power.

  54. Candie on April 26, 2012 at 2:59 am

    Oh gosh, there are so many moments in time I wish I could visit from the fall of Pompeii, the painting of Mona Lisa to even VE Day. But right now I would love to check out the Great Exhibition in London.

  55. Leilani on April 26, 2012 at 1:06 pm

    Picking one time to visit is almost impossible, but I do love the Georgians – how’s that for a broad span of time? 🙂 It’d be so much fun to visit Bath during its heyday, or be in London with the likes of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire.

  56. Carol A on April 30, 2012 at 8:32 am

    End of the Victorian era for me and into the early 1900’s. There were so many changes coming about at that time it was very exciting. Then again, Bath during Regency England always sounded interesting to me as well.

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