Former Wakefield High School Teacher Publishes First Novel

Young girls forced to become dutiful wives by the time they reach 18, a country in ruins ruled by a heartless emperor and a group of rebellious women fighting against their societal status set the scene for a new novel from former Wakefield High School teacher Lauren Sciacca Marsh.

The novel is called The Vitruvian Heir and follows the story of a young girl named Lorelei “Lore” Fetherston who dreams of escaping her repressive, Neo-Victorian society.

Marsh, 35, published The Vitruvian Heir under the pen name L.S. Kilroy on Jan. 6. The Wakefield native has been working on this novel, her first to be published, for about a year. But the idea has been in her head for at least 20.

As a sophomore at Wakefield High School, Marsh learned about a group of female spies in the court of French Queen Catherine de’ Medici. They were called The Flying Squadron (L’escadron Volant) and it was their job to seduce men in the court, learn their secrets and pass important information on to the queen.

As many writers and daydreamers do, 15-year-old Marsh turned her history lesson into a story. Somewhere between high school and college, however, Marsh said she pushed the story aside.

She picked it up again a few years later.

“A couple of years ago, when women’s rights issues were heavy in the media, the germ of this idea resurfaced and became The Vitruvian Heir,” Marsh said in a press release.

Women’s right issues are at the core of the novel, which is set in a futuristic society that follows customs of Victorian England.

“I’ve always identified with the Victorian and Edwardian periods and when I was thinking about this story, that kind of Neo-Victorian, dystopian world felt like the best way to interpret it,” Marsh said.

The main character is a rebellious 18-year-old girl in the aristocratic class of an empire called Vitruvia, which rose out of the ruin of the United States following natural disasters and famine.

As of now, The Vitruvian Heir is a stand-alone novel, but Marsh said she has toyed with the idea of writing a sequel. The second book would be set 20 years after The Vitruvian Heir, Marsh said, and would focus on Lore’s daughter.

Marsh is also working on short stories from the perspective of other characters in the novel, a detailed history of Vitruvia and a map of the empire.

Those now dying to read The Vitruvian Heir can purchase a copy of the novel online either at Amazon or at Marsh’s L.S. Kilroy author site. The book costs $8.99 for a paperback version or $5.99 on Kindle.

You can also follow L.S. Kilroy on Facebook for updates and giveaways.

Photo via Kristin Gillis Photography

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