Blogiversary Giveaway #12: Win a copy of The Grand Duchess of Nowhere by Laurie Graham

I have been very fortunate over the last 3 years to have been sent many great review books by the lovely people at Quercus Books and their generosity continues as Margot kindly sent me a copy of Laurie Graham's latest book The Grand Duchess of Nowhere to give away as a blogiversary prize. 

There is one great love in everyone's life.

For Ducky, Princess Victoria Melita, hers was a Romanov cousin, a member of the doomed Russian royal family. Her father is Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, Queen Victoria's second son. Her mother is Grand Duchess Marie, the daughter of Tsar Alexander III. Ducky seems doomed to be a pawn on her grandmother's dynastic chessboard.

Guest Post & Giveaway: Laurie Graham asks What's In a Book Cover?

Today author Laurie Graham talks about the importance of choosing the right name for characters in her books.  

Names can be deal breakers between me and my characters.  If their name doesn't feel right I can't do anything with them until I've fixed it.  Believe me, I can spend an entire morning playing around with Nan, Nancy, Anne, Annie.  And then end up with Mary.  Does it matter, you may wonder?  Well, yes, it does.  I think it's one of those instinctive things, like being able to hear a duff note on a piano.  

Sometimes the name field is wide open.  Anyone can be John, I suppose.  Actually I don't believe I've actually written a John.  When I wrote Life According to Lubka Buzz had to have a name that crackled with cocaine-fuelled nuttiness.  When I wrote At Sea, Enid had to have a shy, unassuming kind of name.  Enid could no more have been Buzz than Buzz could have been Enid.