What is the title of your latest release?
IN PURSUIT OF CIVILITY
What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
Managing an academy for young ladies is simple. Chasing treasure, rescuing students, and guarding your heart? That’s a different adventure altogether.
How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
I decided to set the Merriweather Academy in Chicago because Drusilla and Annaliese Merriweather are members of the New York Four Hundred and I wanted to take them out of their normal world and throw them into the wild world of Chicago at that time.
Would you hang out with your heroine in real life?
Of course, especially when she’s been in my head for hundreds of pages, which means I’m now incredibly attached to her.
What are three words that describe your hero?
Compassionate, frazzled, determined.
What’s something you learned while writing this book?
That various steam engines really did blow up on a far too frequent basis.
Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
Edit as I draft. I have a seven-step editing process for every draft I do. I reread/edit the chapters I’ve written the day before, then move on to new chapters. By the time I write the end for the first time, I’ve gone through it quite a few times. Then I reread everything out loud, read it again out loud, print out the manuscript, read/edit that, then enter all of my changes and read it one last time.
What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
I’m a huge fan of chips and dips.
Describe your writing space/office!
I’ve recently moved to Florida, where I took one of the small bedrooms and turned it into my office. It’s super cute with a cool desk, two comfy chairs, bookshelves for my research book, and then, there’s this weird closet that had a ledge on top of it, where I’ve put more books. Remee, my neurotic Cattle Dog, also has a bed here, but she doesn’t like to hang out with me if I’m reading out loud because she evidently finds that annoying.
Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published). Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.
It was 2011, but before that, I’d written seven manuscripts over five years as I looked for an agent. I finally signed with an agent at the beginning of 2011, and then she very kindly sold, not the book she signed me for, but another book I’d written after signing, and that book was A CHANGE OF FORTUNE, sold to Bethany House. I’ve been writing for them ever since.
What’s your favorite genre to read?
I’m good with most genres, although I prefer romance, suspense, and mystery. The only genre I don’t like is horror – or, well, okay, I can’t read sad stories because they just stay with me for a very long time.
What’s your favorite movie?
I’m going to say “Ever After” although that changes every year.
What is your favorite season?
Fall, although since I’ve moved to Florida, Fall isn’t quite the same since I’m now living in an endless summer.
How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
My birthday is always around Thanksgiving so it usually just bets absorbed with all the family stuff, although my dream birthday would be to hide in my room and read a fabulous book.
What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
I recently went back and watched every episode of the Gilmore Girls – one of my very favorite shows of all time.
What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Italian, although I enjoy Mexican as well.
What do you do when you have free time?
I’m really into kayaking, as well as heading to the beach since it’s practically outside my front door these days.
What can readers expect from you next?
The third and final book of the Merriweather Academy for Young Ladies, A DASH OF DECORUM. Not exactly sure when that releases, but either late 2026 or early 2027.
IN PURSUIT OF CIVILITY by Jen Turano
Merriweather Academy for Young Ladies #2
LESSON TWO: Become headmistress and expect to find yourself partnering with an attractive inventor to search for treasure.
Annaliese Merriweather has been appointed the temporary headmistress of the Merriweather Academy for Young Ladies while her sister is on her honeymoon, but she doesn’t feel cut out for the role. Especially after she loses two of her most troublesome students during an outing to a county fair and has to recruit the help of Seth McCormick, an eccentric inventor, to retrieve them.
Soon after, one of those mischievous students disappears again, intent on pursuing a pirate map. Together, Annaliese and Seth set out to find her, accompanied by a menagerie of Annaliese’s rescued animal companions. As they stumble from one chaotic situation to the next, sparks fly between Annaliese and Seth. Somehow, they’ll need to outwit dangerous individuals also intent on seeking the treasure and bring everyone back in one piece–all while deciphering what their hearts desire.
With witty characters and humorous banter, Jen Turano takes readers on a lively tale of hijinks, humor, treasure hunting, and forced proximity in her latest historical rom-com set in Chicago at a finishing school during the Gilded Age.
Romance Historical [ Bethany House Publishers, On Sale: April 21, 2026, Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9780764243868 / ]
Buy IN PURSUIT OF CIVILITY: Amazon.com | Kindle | BN.com | Books-A-Million | Indie BookShops | Ripped Bodice | Audible | Walmart.com | Amazon CA | Amazon UK | Amazon DE | Amazon FR
About Jen Turano
Named One of the Funniest Voices in Inspirational Romance by Booklist, Jen Turano is a USA Today Best-Selling Author, known for penning quirky historical romances set in the Gilded Age. Her books have earned Publisher Weekly and Booklist starred reviews, top picks from Romantic Times, and praise from Library Journal. She’s been a finalist twice for the RT Reviewers’ Choice Awards and had two of her books listed in the top 100 romances of the past decade from Booklist. When she’s not writing, she spends her time outside of Denver, CO.
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