Word Wenches

The White Wedding Dress

Anne here, blogging about a fabulous exhibition I recently attended: The White Wedding Dress. The exhibition was in Bendigo, a regional city about two hours drive from Melbourne, my home city, but the main part of the exhibit had come from the world renowned Victoria & Albert Museum in London, (also known as the V&A.)

But first, a little about the city of Bendigo, because it was, in fact, a very appropriate setting for this wonderful exhibition. Bendigo is a city built on gold. In 1851 gold was discovered there and the gold rush was on. At first it was a city of tents, but as alluvial gold gave way to commercial gold mining on a huge scale, the cily boomed and today its prosperous Victorian era roots are still very much in evidence in the many solid 19th century buildings and statues that remain. This statue of Queen Victoria stands in the heart of the city. But more of her later...

And now back to the exhibition. Most of the wedding dresses were on loan from the V&A museum in London, and ranged from the late 18th century up to the present day, but there was also a local Australian display. 

It's a commonly held notion that the white wedding dress is a relatively modern convention, introduced by Queen Victoria in 1840 when she married Prince Albert. She certainly made it very fashionable but she was by no means the first. In 1559, even though white was considered the color of mourning for French Queens,  Mary, Queen of Scots, wore a white wedding gown when she married the Dauphin of France because, she said, it was her favorite color. (I'm not convinced there wasn't a political statement there, but we won't go into that.)

Throughout history, brides have dressed for their wedding in the best dress they can afford. Today, most brides expect to wear their wedding dress only once — it's a sign of how much wealthier most people are today. 

In the past, girls of wealthy families could choose whatever fabric and style they wanted,  but the majority of women needed to be practical, and most expected to wear their wedding dress at many other occasion after their wedding. (Left: Jan van Eyck, “The Marriage of Giovanni Arnolfini and Giovanna Cenami,” 1434. Note this bride in green is not pregnant — the design of the dress is to emphasize her fertility. ) 

Thus an elaborate white wedding dress would be a quite impractical choice. Most fabrics were not easily laundered in those days — not the way we wash clothes today. Dyes would run and fabrics would shrink and stains were not easily removed. Some fabrics would be entirely ruined if washed, and white or light colors would need to be washed more than others, as the hems would drag along the ground.

Nevertheless some who liked white and could afford it, chose white wedding dresses. For some it was a status symbol, and even before Queen Victoria's wedding, fashion magazines were featuring bridal fashions in white. The one above on the right is from 1813.

Up until Queen Victoria's time, most English Royal Brides wore silver. Princess Charlotte, the daughter of the Prince Regent, wore silver net and lace over white silk. But compare the actual dress on the left with the official drawing pictured below. Quite different looking, aren't they?

Victoria chose a white gown because she had some beautiful lace she wanted to wear and it didn't display to advantage with silver, so she decided on a white dress. Victoria was a hugely popular young queen — after a series of unsatisfactory and unpopular monarchs, here was this young queen, mistress of an ever-expanding colonial and empire, in love with her Prince, and poised on the brink of an exciting new, modern technolofical age. Naturally people wanted to identify with her and emulate her.

But it wasn't royal fashion-setting alone that brought the white wedding dress into general prominence, it was technology — two areas in particular. The first was the new art of photography -- photographs of the royal wedding portrait were widely published in newspapers and magazines, and more people saw them than had seen any previous royal wedding portraits. 

The second area was the increased availability of affordable fabric because of the industrial revolution. By far the largest cost of clothing was the cost of the fabric. Labor to sew the garments was very cheap by comparison — seamstresses worked long hours under difficult conditions for very little pay. 

For one fashionable wedding in 1812, the bride paid £735 for "a robe of real Brussels point lace" worked in a simple sprig pattern and worn over a white satin underdress. To compare, in 1811 The Duke of Devonshire paid his butler £80 per year and a junior housemaid was paid up to £16.

The exhibition didn't stop in the 19th century. It moved on through the decades right up to today. I loved looking at the changes in fashion. I think the Edwardian period is a very romantic period for fashion. 
 

And of course there were old newsreel reports of famous brides of various eras.

You can see more photos of some of the wonderful dresses on exhibit here, and some excellent close-ups.

There was a wonderful spirit at the art gallery. It's been a hugely popular exhibition and people have travelled from all over Australian to visit it — Bendigo is the only place in the country where it's being shown. There were a few men with their wives, but mostly the audience was women — friends, grandmothers, mothers, daughters, sisters, bridesmaids — all talking weddings and wedding dresses, reminiscing, laughing, exclaiming over the exhibits, examining the fine workmanship and the ostentatious displays of some, and exchanging stories. 

There were also some fabulous photos and movie footage that captures some moments in time so brilliantly. One of my favorites was a photo from 1940 of an English bride leaving her bombed-out home. 

There was living history being talked all around us. Little girls stood and heard stories of their mothers', aunts' and grandmas' weddings. Some of the wartime stories were particularly poignant.

One girl was absolutely horrified when she heard of a WW2 bride who'd made her dress out of curtains, because she didn't have enough rationing coupons to buy dress material. She couldn't understand that everything was rationed. 

Another woman told a WW2 story of how her grandma used all her mother's coupons to purchase underwear for her older sister, because her naughty sister had been doing without underwear, spending all her coupons on outer wear! Grandma wasn't going to let her go to her wedding with no underwear, even if it did mean that little sister missed out on new clothes. Marvelous stories — I could have happily sat and listened all day.

So, let's talk. If you're married, tell us about your wedding & your dress. Or any special wedding story. Who's your favorite famous bride? And what historical era is your favorite for fashion?

Under Lock and Key

Cara/Andrea here, For some reason, the two books I just turned in to my editors as done, done, done features heroes who have, among their many admirable talents, a skill at picking locks. No, I’m not a secret kleptomaniac, but as the plots involved mystery and skullduggery, it proved a very useful skill in ensuring that Good would ultimately triumph over Evil.

  Now, it goes without saying that in Regency times, there were no cyber passwords, no push button electrical diodes, no computer-generated time release systems. For the most part, keeping people from getting in—or out—was achieved by means of two objects: a lock and a key.

Simple, right? Indeed, they are the sort of mundane, utilitarian things that one doesn’t really pay too much attention to. But when I started to think about, I realized how ubiquitous they were in daily life of my characters. From jewelry boxes and writing desks to townhouses and gaols, locks were everywhere. (And so were keys, of course. There is a reason we have our haute monde housekeepers rattling around with enough metal to supply one of Wellington’s heavy artillery brigades.) In that light, I decided to take a closer look at the subject . . . and it was fascinating to see the infinite varieties throughout the centuries. For like many everyday objects, they evolved into artforms in themselves—many are both beautiful and functional.

So I thought it might be fun to sneak an inside peek at some examples that can be found throughout London’s wonderful museums. The V & A has a whole gallery devoted to the subject, and many of the smaller specialty establishments, like the Museum of London and the Museum of London Dockyards (both really interesting places!) also offer an intriguing glimpse at security in the past.

From The Simple to the Sublime

The concept of lock and key works on pretty much the same principle for both inset locking mechanisms and padlocks. A length of stiff, strong material, usually a type of metal, is crafted with a unique serrated pattern that fits into an interior arrangement of moveable parts. A twist or turn of this key snugs a bolt into place, which prevents a hasp, door, lid—whatever—from being opened. Only the key will (in theory) release the bolt.

 On the whole, the basic system has worked remarkably well over the centuries, but of course, over the years, human ingenuity has come up with all sorts of embellishments. Size, substance and sophistication of the gears and levers all come into play in determining how much of a deterrent the lock is to would-be intruders.

The very first models were probably rather primitive. Here are a few examples from the 14th and 15th centuries that illustrate the basic idea . . .



However as metallurgy, tools and craftsmanship developed, locks and keys became anything but crude! Here are a few 16th and 17th century examples. I love how they say “KEEP OUT” with a Baroque flourish.
 


Form and Function

The actual mechanics aside, I see a number of interesting messages in the design elements. Big—and I mean BIG—says loud and clear that this is not a space to mess with. Other motifs are more subtle. I imagine that a ducal crest is meant to add an extra measure of intimidating authority to the forged iron. And perhaps sheer beauty is meant to discourage breaking and entering on purely aesthetic grounds.

And keys . . . well that’s a whole subject unto itself. Size and ornateness conferred a certain authority, don’t you think?  And given that some many ordinary people had to wear a ring of them everyday, it’s no wonder that even simple models had a pleasing aesthetic.

And lastly, this locked door from Newgate prison, on display at the Museum of London, warns what Fate awaited those who were caught trespassing or stealing. (My heroes purloin only information and the ill-gotten goods of the villains, so they are in no danger of being thrown in the slammer.)

From Steel to Cyber . . .

Alas, like many modern things, everyday locks have lost a lot of their artistic allure. But if you keep your eyes open as you walk around, I’m sure you’ll start to notice some interesting old ones. These days, I’ve managed to trim down my personal key ring so I don’t look or sound like the housekeeper of Manderley. But my cyber- multi-page codebook to keep track of all my passwords. It weighs on me, and quite honestly, I’m not sure either that I’m any safer, despite the sophisticated technology.

Are you like me in feeling that in this cyber world, the threat to personal security is just as daunting as it was in Regency times? Would you feel more comfortable with old fashioned keys, or are you good with the brave new world?

Muggles.

 Not just for Harry Potter?

This is simply an example of what happens when one finds a scrap of information and follows it.

Beginnings.

 I stumbled across a mention of the Muggletonians in the 18th century Encyclopedia Britannica.

"Muggletonians -- A religious sect which arose in England about the year 1657; so denomiated from their leader Lodowick Muggleton, a journeyman taylor, who with his associate Reeves, setup for great prophets, pretending, it is said, to have an absolute powe of saving or damning who they pleased; and giving out that they were two of the last witnesses of God that should appear before the end of the world." 

It caught my eye because I invented the Cotterites in my novel Secrets of the Night, but also because it's such an uninspirational name. I was surprised that the Muggletonians were still living in someone's memory in the 1770s, but it turns out I shouldn't have been. They were a going concern into the 19th century, with the last member dying in the mid 20th.

 

Who were the Muggletonians?

  The sect was formed after the Civil War by cousins John Reeve and Lodowick Muggleton who believed they were the "two witnesses"  described in the Book of Revelations, who would preach to the ungodly world in its final days.

"Muggleton was arrested and imprisoned on charges of blasphemy in 1653. Both Reeve and Muggleton were sentenced to six months in Bridewell Prison in 1654 for cursing the Reverend Mr. Goffin who died very shortly after having been cursed. This was a widely reported event of the period that helped to spread the mystic of the Muggletonians."
http://www.exlibris.org/nonconform/engdis/muggleton.html

Only six months for cursing a vicar to death. Those were the days!

From the above page we also have:

" Common themes of Muggletonians were: the soul was mortal; Hell existed within Man; no need for formal religious ceremonies. A private gathering at a local inn or tavern with a reading or two from the Bible, and the singing of the "Divine Songs" to traditional tunes over a few beers would be considered a "service". (No wonder it was popular!)

Curiouser and curiouser, there was art and science attached. Here you can see some very modern seeming astronomical images "based on planetary charts drawn by Isaac Frost, an artist and scientist associated with a Victorian sect known as the Muggletonians." Click here.

Muggletonians through the ages.

The Muggletonians  found supporters in the countryside and in the factory towns of England, as I said above, well into the late 19th century. I found casual mention of them in a piece of humor written in 1710 and in a play of 1796. They apparently were great believers in blessings and cursings, and one was pilloried for cursing King William III. A very foolish thing to do.

An article in the European Magazine, 1783, claimed that the sect owed its escape from oblivion to the absurdity of its principles.

They even get a mention in Lord Macaulay's History of England. “A mad tailor, named Lodowick Muggleton, wandered from pothouse to pothouse, tippling ale, and denouncing eternal torments against all those who refused to believe, on his testimony, that the Supreme Being was only six feet high, and that the sun was just four miles from the earth.”

If you want to investigate further, there is a Muggletonian Press. One offering is Muggletonian Celestial Harmonies and Divine Songs

"A full understanding of the development of Muggletonian theology requires a study of the Muggletonians rich and varied hymnology. For a small sect they produced a large library of songs of thanksgiving, especially in view of their rejection of prayer and religious services. Their hymns were sung to popular tunes with two separate collections of songs being published, the very rare 1794 "Celestial Harmony, or Songs of Grateful Praise" and the 1829 "Divine Songs of the Muggletonians" This volume contains freshly typeset texts for both the 1794 and the 1829 collections"

That's a different picture to the drunken, ranting, cursing portrayal elsewhere.

Interest in Muggletonianism today.

"The aim of this web site is to encourage and support the study of Muggletonianism through:

• Explaining the history and principles of Muggletonianism
• The publication of a detailed bibliography of all things Muggletonia
• The publication of certain key Muggletonian documents
• The publication of Muggletonian studies and discussion documents as they arise
• Putting the entire Muggletonian library in print, available for purchase by all with an interest in Muggletonianism."

Anyone here heard of them?

How would you use them in historical fiction? 

Don't forget An Unwilling Bride is out again now. No odd sects there, unless you include a follower of Mary Wollstonecraft.

Jo

 

More Winners!

Oh, how we love to give away books!  We have another batch of winners:

Marsha Bolden won a book from Jo Beverley, who used her blog topic suggestion.  Wylene Rholetter won a book from Joanna Bourne.  Margaret won a book from guest Jennifer Kloester.  And rounding out the list, Melanie and Dee won books from guest Shana Galen.

Congratulations, winners!  Thank you for your blog topic suggestions and for leaving comments!

Billy Elliot: A Touch of Class

by Mary Jo

Since New York City is the center of American publishing, writers' conferences rotate there regularly.  And one thing I learned several NYC conferences back is that if I’m there, I’d be crazy to miss the chance to go to a live Broadway show. 

“Live” is the key.  Being present in the same space, breathing the same air as the performers, makes a huge difference in one’s experience of a production. 

So at the June RWA conference, my roommate and I went to see Billy Elliot on the last night of the conference.  It was a fabulous experience—and I’ve been trying to figure out how to blog about it ever since.

That’s because there are several major layers, all of which are complex and way above my knowledge base.  Yet because I loved the show, I'm going to attempt a once over lightly on the issues of performance, class, politics, and the north/south divide.

The Performance, Part 1:

On one level, this is the first time I’ve seen a stage show based on a movie I’d already seen, so comparing the different forms of expression was interesting.  I remember the movie as very good—but the musical blew me away.

Briefly, the movie is the story of an 11 year old miner’s son in Northern England who stumbles across the girls’ ballet class when he is gloomily taking boxing lessons—and discovers a completely unexpected passion and talent for ballet dancing.  His passion is inexplicable to those around him and makes people assume he’s a “poof.”  (Which he isn’t, though he has a friend who is.)

Billy’s struggle to realize an impossible dream is set against the backdrop of the 1984-85 coal miners' strike, which gives a whole layer of political subtext to the story.  The movie came out in 2000, not all that long ago, but oddly, I don’t really remember the political background of the movie.  Whereas in the stage show, the politics are fierce and unforgettable. 

Politics:

When I was asking around about what might be a good show to see, I got very different reactions from two of my writer friends.  One, an American, said it was terrific and entertaining.  The other, Northern English by birth and Australian by immigration, said she found it very sad.

Which takes us back to the miners’ strike.  The bitter strike ended with Margaret Thatcher’s government breaking the powerful miners’ union, and ultimately the whole, huge British coal mining industry.  Much of that industry was in the north, which is why my Anglo-Aussie friend found the show painful.  Communities, pride, and independence were broken. 

The strike and its aftermath were one act of the long running drama of industrial and economic change that we’re still experiencing.  Jobs vs. efficiency.  Tradition vs. “progress.”  Community foundation vs. maximizing profits.  Change wasn’t easy during the Industrial Revolution, and it isn’t easy with the Digital Resolution. 

Another northern English born friend looks on the strike as a tragedy which wasn’t a matter of one side being right, the other wrong.  Both sides made mistakes.  She said that if the union had been less intransigent, they might have been able to reach a better settlement. 

But that didn’t happen.  Coal had powered the industrial revolution and been a major employer in the north for hundreds of years.  Now, I understand, the coal minining industry has gone from employing over 300,000 people to under a thousand.  Almost all of the coal Britain uses is imported. 

North vs. South:

This brings me to the issue of regionalism in the UK.  Northern and Southern England have very different vibes, with the well groomed south the home of stockbrokers and stiff upper lips and cute little thatched Agatha Christie cottages, while the north is grittier, more working class, friendlier, and more down to earth. 

The south is probably more Anglo-Saxon, the north has more Viking and Celtic influences.  (I speak as an American who lived in England for a couple of years.  I learned about the differences in north and south without having the visceral understanding that a Briton would.) 

Class:

On another level, the division of north and south is an expression of class—one of the great and enduring issues of British life.  Accents, neckties, vocabulary all become ways of judging the class and status of others.  British novelist Nancy Mitford, daughter of a lord, famously wrote an article  about U (Upper class) and Non-U language.  A conversation can be full of little tests by which your origins are revealed.

Class shows up in all sorts of British creative work.  It’s a big issue in Bernard Cornwell’s Sharpe novels, where illegitimate Yorkshire born Richard Sharpe is always having to contend with arrogant upper class twits who haven't an iota of his military skill.  Carola Dunn and Anne Perry have both written mystery series where a well-born woman marries a middle class detective, and the class differences become part of their sleuthing techniques.  The list of books that have such issues as part of their warp and woof goes on and  on.

Perhaps all nations have a primal, enduring issue.  In the US, it’s race, and I’ve read that in Germany it’s dealing with the legacy of WWII.  When I lived in (southern) England, I took satisfaction from being an American and hence outside the British class structure. 

The Performance, Part 2:

Sir Elton John was the driving force behind turning the movie into a musical.  He’s not from the north, but he was raised in public housing in the London area, and I’m guessing the story of working class pride and pain spoke to him.  So—the music is by Elton John.  'Nuff said.  The dancing is intense—in the Broadway production, three different boys rotated in the lead role of Billy because it’s so demanding. 

 
The plots of movie and musical are pretty much identical, I believe, but the emotionalism of the live show made the musical more powerful for me.  For example, there is a scene called the “Angry Dance” which takes place when Billy finds he won’t be able to audition for the Royal Ballet. 

The dance is fierce and desperate and angular.  Billy hurls himself about the stage while a line of police protected by plastic riot shields smash their way forward, ignoring the boy’s rage.  Bang! Bang! BANG!!!

Throughout, there’s a theme of solidarity.  At the beginning, the miners are excited and ready to go out, just bursting with fellowship and confidence.  By the end, they’re broken in spirit, but still together.  There’s a wonderful number called “Once We Were Kings” that showcases a marvelous male chorus of powerful voices, and ends with the miners sinking into the ground on a lift with smoke swirling around them as they sing “and we’ll all go together when we go.”  (The clip is a sung version without the staging—but well worth listening to.)  It's a powerful metaphor for the end of an industry and a way of life.

At the end, Billy goes off alone to study in London, a stark shadow in the spotlight.  He’s escaping to a broader life, but it’s separating him from everything he’s ever known. 

I love the ending of the movie, which shows Billy when he’s achieved his dream, and it's implied that he has made peace with his past and present.  The strike and its results aren't the center of the story--Billy's dreams are.  But the strike lends haunting power to the story.

The musical won a ton of awards in London, Broadway (10 Tony awards!) and Australia, and I heartily recommend you see it if you have a chance.  Because there is really something about live theater…

 
What about you?  Have you seen shows that are indelibly etched in your mind?  (Riverdance is another that moved me tremendously.)  What have you seen and loved?  Or what would you like to see?

Mary Jo, tapping foot and clapping hands

 

Shana Galen talks about Nineteenth Century Attitudes on Miscarriage and Infertility

Today I am very pleased to welcome Shana Galen to the Word Wenches! Shana is the author of a number of wonderfully adventurous and romantic Regency Historicals. She was RITA-nominated for the book Blackthorne's Bride, described by Booklist as "an irresistible mix of sexy romance and sharp wit," and a book that I enjoyed enormously. I can't wait to get my hands on her latest release, Lord and Lady Spy, chosen by Publishers Weekly as one of their Top 10 Romance Picks for Fall 2011. Every so often a book comes along and as a writer I think "I wish I had had had that idea!" Lord and Lady Spy is one of those books telling the tale of the rivalry between Regency England's pre-eminent spies Lord and Lady Smythe. Today Shana is talking about some of the historical inspiration behind Lord and Lady Spy:

"If you’re still reading after that title, I’m glad I haven’t scared you off! First of all, thank you, Word Wenches, for having me today. I’m having a serious fan girl moment just thinking about any of you reading a single word I’ve written. I’m not worthy!

My important-sounding title, I hope, mirrors an important topic. We historical romance authors write extensively about women’s experiences in history, but seldom do we touch on the common female experiences of miscarriage and infertility.

Many of us have been unfortunate enough to experience the pain of miscarriage. Before I became pregnant with my two-year-old daughter, I suffered a miscarriage at eleven weeks. I found the experience mildly physically painful and all but devastating emotionally. How I wanted that baby, and how I mourn—and still mourn—the loss of that child.

Thanks to modern medicine, I know the reason I miscarried. This knowledge gave me solace and hope that would not have been available to a woman living in the nineteenth century. What did women in the 1800s think and feel about miscarriage?

In my new novel, Lord and Lady Spy, which is definitely not a serious, scholarly novel—as the title no doubt indicates—the heroine deals with the poignant issue of repeated miscarriages. She does not know if she will ever carry a child to term. As the wife of a viscount, her sole purpose is to give her husband an heir, and the fact that she cannot fulfill her purpose plagues her.

Some of the inspiration for Sophia was based on what little I could glean about the repeated miscarriages suffered by the Duchess of Devonshire. Undoubtedly, these losses upset Georgiana, but  they are overshadowed by her celebrity, her notorious drinking and gambling, and her use of opiates. Obviously, these excesses might have contributed to her miscarriages, but might they not have been fueled by depression after failing to meet her chief purpose in producing an heir for the dukedom?

The difficulty in researching the topic of pregnancy loss in the nineteenth century is that many women and men writing about miscarriage describe it vaguely. Claire Crowninshield, family friend of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Mary Longfellow, describes Mary’s miscarriage as “sickness” and “worse than an ague.” The term “miscarriage” did exist and was often interchangeable with “abortion” and “premature birth,” which further muddies the waters for the researcher.

Fortunately in Lord and Lady Spy I am not so concerned with the terms for miscarriage as with the attitudes of the period. Today miscarriage rates are between 15 and 30% of all pregnancies. That number was most likely higher in the nineteenth century, which made miscarriage a common event, especially in a society where women routinely gave birth to large (by today’s standards) numbers of children.

However, the primary concern for miscarriage in the nineteenth century was that of the danger it posed to the woman. Hemorrhaging and fevers resulting from miscarriages could and did, as in the case of Mary Longfellow, cost women their lives. Thus, women who miscarried need not only be concerned with the fact that they had failed to fulfill their purpose but also that the miscarriage itself might cost them their lives.

The medical establishment did little to comfort women who experienced miscarriage. For the most part, miscarriage was blamed on the woman. Exercise, worry, and maladjustment were given as reasons for miscarriage as recently as the 1950s. In the Regency era, women with a history of miscarriage were instructed to partake of bed rest and told that too much worry or a foul mood caused the miscarriage. Even today, these attitudes linger. When I became pregnant after my miscarriage, I was repeatedly told not to worry so much because it was “bad for the baby.”

More is known about infertility in the nineteenth century. It too was blamed on the woman. The childless woman was pitied and suspected of not doing her duty by her husband. Physicians attributed the problem of infertility to women’s education. It was assumed that energy applied to expanding one’s mind took away energy from the woman’s reproductive system. The idea seems ludicrous today, but it held sway into the twentieth century.

Writing about a nineteenth century woman dealing with miscarriage and possible infertility and making this heroine relatable to modern readers was a challenge. But it was also therapeutic as I dealt with my own feelings of devastation and sorrow after the loss of my child. I won’t say whether Sophia has the happy ending I did—a beautiful child—but I do hope you’ll pick up a copy of Lord and Lady Spy and enjoy the poignancy along with the adventure and the repartee."

Are there any issues, like miscarriage, you would like to see addressed or addressed more in romance novels? Or do you prefer your books issue-free? Two people who comment will win copies of Lord and Lady Spy (sorry, U.S. and Canadian residents only). 

Grappling with Hoops of Steel

Joanna here, talking about the history of hoop chasing and the many misconceptions we nourish about this.
 
Right off, let me explain how chasing or bowling or driving or rolling or trundling a hoop came about.

About seven minutes after the invention of the wheel, some bright young lad standing in the back of the cave noticed you could roll the thing and chase after it.  It probably took a half hour's experimentation to discover you could roll it even better by knocking at it with a short stick.  You could make it go fast or slow, turn, even spin backwards.  A new human activity — part sport, part contest, part art, part meditation — was born. 

It proved amazingly popular.  There's something in the human race that wants to chase a rolling object.  We're like golden labs. 

I want to claim Classical sources for my subject.  And, indeed, the Classical Greeks were great hoop trundlers. 

Oh.  Let me digress.  The word 'trundle', which we'd use in 1800 when our characters are talking about rolling a hoop, means 'to push or propel on wheels or rollers. As in,

"I doubt if Emerson could trundle a wheelbarrow through the streets."

That is a quote from the redoubtable Thoreau where he is very likely criticizing Emerson. 

Trundle also means 'to spin or twirl' and you can see how that would neatly fit in with what we do to hoops.
Like so many of our most robust words, 'trundle' comes to us from Middle English where 'trendle' meant 'wheel'.  We use the word trundle, nowadays, mostly in the concept of 'trundle bed' — which is a little bed with wheels that goes under the main bed for anyone who may not happen to know this. 

Back to the Greeks. 

Yes.  They rolled hoops.  We see this represented on vases and bowls and the odd mosaic.  One common representation of boy-with-a-hoop is Ganymede, whom we see over to the left, with hoop and live chicken.  The rooster in this picture is symbolic and represents an appropriate gift from a homosexual lover to the beloved.  It should not be taken as an indication one carried around poultry as part of the sport of  hoop bowling, in case you were wondering.

To the right we got a boy rolling, not hoops, but wheels in this mosaic of Sixth Century, AD. 

Small wheels are very popular during hoop-time, and make an interesting toy, requiring more skill to guide than the ordinary hoop. To trundle a wheel the boy uses a long stick, one end of which he places under the hub, and with which he both pushes and guides the wheel in a very interesting and skilful manner, as he runs after it.
Outdoor Handy Book  By Daniel "Dan" Carter Beard, 1896

The hoop is apparently the superior instrument for racing, as per this contest in 1807.  Hoop versus wheel.  Do not bet on the wheels.

A wager between Mr. Bennet and Mr. Parkbouse was decided on Friday morning, 1st inst. on the Clapham road, from the third mile stone on the common to the fifth, Mr B. who trundled the hoop, having gained the contest by some distance. We understand another wager, of 200 gs. has been offered by Mr. B. to trundle a hoop for five miles against any man that can be found to run a wheel the like distance.
 

Bruegel, when he paints his Sixteenth Century panorama of children's games, puts the hoop bowlers right up front and center. 

Historically, well into the Twentieth, hoops were made of two materials. 

One sort was forged in a blacksmith's shop from iron.  I imagine the construction was pretty much like that of barrel hoops.  In fact, I suspect a good many of the hoops rolling the streets were popped off a barrel someplace.  Hoops were also similar to the metal rims of wooden wheels -- another likely source of hoops for the disenfranchised poor. 

Hoops might have pairs of tin squares nailed to the inside of the circle, that clattered back and forth against each other and jingled as the hoop was rolled.  This goes right into the Twentieth Century.  See it there at the left along with the sarcastic hound and the rack of rats, also in the Bruegel painting above.  (Click on either of these to increase size.)  

Martial, the Classical Roman writer, says, of a similar setup.  "Why do these jingling rings move about upon the rolling wheel? In order that the passers-by may get out of the way of
the hoop."

Myself, I suspect the tin janglers served the same purpose as those playing cards I used to attach to the wheels of my bike.  (With clothespins.  Remember clothespins?) 
They were there to make a nifty racket, and they did.

The other kind of hoop — I said there were two — was made of ash wood, rounded on the outside, carved flat on the inside.  Looks like they were made from a single piece of ash, soaked and shaped, bent and fitted.     

Dorothy Palmer reminisces about life in the 1920s:   

We also had hoops, which were often old cycle wheels minus the spokes. To be very grand was to have a wooden hoop purchased from Perkins Penny Bazaar in the Market Place at Oakham or a steel hoop with a trundle made by the blacksmith.

The boys in the picture to the right are very obviously using bicycle tires with the spokes removed.

One variation — it seems to be Nineteenth Century — were hoops with the driving stick fitted permanently.  Maybe it was intended for small children.  The idea never really caught on.
A case of 'Not Clear on the Concept'.


In the interests of fairness, I have to add some contemporary anti-hoop propaganda in here.

The practice pursued by boys in trundling their hoops on the streets and footpaths has become a dange rous nuisance. The other day a gentleman was riding a rather spirited horse in Macquarie-street when a careless urchin drove his hoop against the animal's legs, when it instantly reared and plunged, and would have thrown its rider had not his good horsemanship enabled him to keep his seat . . . the boys ought to be compelled to quit the public thoroughfares, and to resort to places where no injury could arise from the pursuit of their pastimes.
The Hobart Town Daily Mercury; 18 August 1858

Hoops were the skateboards of their day.

So the burning question of the hour is — did girls bowl hoops, or was it only a sport for boys?

Anytime after about 1830, we see girls depicted with a hoop and stick.  An example is the charming Renoir at the top of the page.  In the last half of the Nineteenth Century, hoop rollers are as apt to be girls as boys.  Victorian moralists and physicians considered it wholesome, healthy exercise for young girls.  

Girls to the age of thirteen may be permitted to indulge at pleasure in play and exercise proportionate to their strength, with as little restraint as their brothers.  We would not send them into the cricket ground nor initiate them in at football, because there is a sociality of intercourse in such plays that is not feminine in nature; but we would not preclude them from exercise as strong and as unrestrained merely because it implied an effort of physical power; nor would we shut them out from the boys of their own age who are usually brothers or near relatives on any principle of precocious prudery, so long as such games are not dangerous or indecorous, if they are they are as unfit for the brother as for the sister.
We love to see girls of eleven or twelve trundling a hoop or running a garden-face in rivalry with Tom just returned from Eton.
George Stephen, A Guide to Service: The Governess 1844.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But what about in the Regency?  What about the Georgian era? 

I have no evidence one way or the other.  There's no indication girls didn't play with hoops.  But hard proof they did starts emerging in the teens of the Nineteenth Century.  And when it does, it's treated as a commonplace. 

Amusements there are which properly come under the denomination of sports, in which a little girl or boy may partake. The hoop, battledore, drum, kite, bat and ball,etc.
Early education, 1821

. . . and saw, at the farthest end of the terrace, a young girl, of about fifteen, running very fast, with a hoop, which she was keeping up with great dexterity for the amusement of a little boy, who was with her. The governess no sooner saw this, than she went in pursuit of her young ladyships calling after her, in various tones and phrases of reprehension, in French, Italian, and English; and asking, whether this was a becoming employment for a young lady of her age and rank. Heedless of these reproaches, Lady Julia still ran on, away from her governess.
Tales of Fashionable Life: Vivian, Maria Edgeworth, 1812

Whenever the lessons of her childhood had been concluded, she had always been permitted, and even encouraged, to join in many of those games and exercises, that are usually appropriated to the amusement of the other sex. Often has she quitted an abstruse book, or a beautiful drawing, to trundle her hoop, or run races with her playfellow Augustus. And when other girls have trembled under the rod of the dancing master, she has been gaining health and activity together,
Manners: a novel,  Frances Brooke, 1817

I can't end without admitting that long, long ago in the foolishness of youth, I attempted to trundle a hula hoop.  It was not a great success.  Perhaps I just lack the knack, but I think Hula Hoops are too light for the purpose.

I suspect the world would be a better place if kids still bowled hoops through the public streets. 

 

I wonder —  What 'olde tyme' toys have you played with.  Did you find it a satisfactory experience? 

Some lucky winner from the comments trail will receive an early, fresh-off-the-press copy of my new book, Black Hawk, though they will have to wait for about a month till I get some author copies.

 

 

Guest Shana Galen

It's time for another guest!

On Wednesday, September 21, Nicola will interview author Shana Galen.  Shana has written several  adventurous Regency romances, including the RITA-nominated Blackthorne's Bride.  Please join us on Wednesday, and if you leave a comment, you will go in the drawing for a Shana Galen book!

Ask A Wench, PTSD

Jo here, putting together a group answer to one of the questions sent to the Wenches. Marsha Bolden wrote, "I would love to read a discussion of post traumatic stress syndrome from the Napoleonic wars.  I think there are many novels which give a tremendous description of post-traumatic stress syndrome as it affects soldiers who fought in Spain or at Waterloo." Marsha, because your suggestion was picked, you win a book from me. You can go to my booklist and pick. I have spare copies of most, but not all.

Post traumatic stress is anteresting subject, and it's brought out great responses. This post may be a little long, but it's worth it, and I'm looking forward to interesting comments.

I thought it would useful to have a definition, so I took this from Wikipedia. "Post traumatic stress disorder (also known as post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD) is a severe anxiety disorder that can develop after exposure to any event that results in psychological trauma.... Diagnostic symptoms for PTSD include re-experiencing the original trauma(s) through flashbacks or nightmares, avoidance of stimuli associated with the trauma, and increased arousal – such as difficulty falling or staying asleep, anger, and hypervigilance. Formal diagnostic criteria (both DSM-IV-TR and ICD-10) require that the symptoms last more than one month and cause significant impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning."

We can see why having a character suffer from this creates powerful books, and if we write Regency we have the Napoleonic Wars dominating the period on land and at sea. However, I have generally tried to resist using it. Why? It's partly my contrary streak, but I have a few other reasons.

1. It's clear from diaries from the wars of the 18th and 19th centuries that many men did not suffer PTSD, and I think there should be balance in our fictional world. Whilst still aware of the horrors of war, these enjoyed the purpose, the action, and the victory. Particularly in the Napoleonic Wars they were fighting an "evil enemy" who did in fact directly threaten their homeland and all they loved. It was a noble war, and I suspect that helps.

2. They came from a harsh world. (This is a point some other Wenches pick up on.) From all classes, they would be familiar with death and violence, and given the state of medicine then, with gruesome suffering. Many occupations were dangerous -- even today, agriculture is a very hazardous occupation -- and even transportation had its risks. There were a great many coaching accidents and people killed by being thrown from carriages or off horses, and pedestrians were hurt by out-of-control vehicles. In addition, legal punishments were harsh and ofter public, from whipping through the streets to hanging.

Amusements were often violent, as with cock fighting, dog fighting, and bear baiting. To assume all our heroes are too refined to ever have watched such things is definitely putting modern heads on fancy costumes, IMO. They almost certainly would have hunted, for stag and/or fox.Hunting was encouraged for cavalry officers as it demanded excellent horsemanship, almost foolhardy courage, and the risk of injury and death. The bloody end for the fox was incidental. They would also quite likely witness the slaughter and butchery of animals for food, either in farms or at markets in London and elsewhere.

3. I worry sometimes that historical romance sometimes puts modern heads on fancy dress for the men and grant nobility to men because they are made from more sensitive stuff, and create villains from those who aren't broken, and sometimes not even shaken by warfare. I think that's both unfair and anachronistic, and I'm probably even biased in the other direction. Many wars are and have been pointless and venal, but when an evil enemy truly does threaten the lives and communities we care for, I think we all hope for warriors with the ability to do what has to be done and keep doing it until evil is vanquished.

So I've written a range of men who've been in the war, but none who has been broken by it. Some of them find it a completely satisfactory career, as in Lord Cynric Malloren in My Lady Notorious. He talks about building a shelter out of corpses on a bitterly cold night after a battle, which is a story I took from a diary of the war. That's not a pleasant memory for him, but he doesn't have any hang-ups about it.

In my three Georges -- The Demon's Mistress, The Dragon's Bride, and The Devil's Heiress -- I portrayed three different ex-military men. The three friends had joined the army, egged on by one who was ripe for the adventure of it. 

George Vandeimen, the dashing cavalry officer, carries the hurt of many lost friends, but he's not damaged by that. He's shaken much more deeply by the loss of his family while he was away. Shock, you see. I suspect PTSD arises more commonly when the events shock than when they are terrible in an expected way.

Lord Amleigh, the steady one, chose the infantry, did his duty, but came to dislike warfare intensely. He returned to fight at Waterloo, which did almost break him because of his time away.

George Hawkinville wanted to be a fighting officer, but he's brilliant and was quickly switched over to battle planning and supplies. His main hurt comes from being mostly an observer, which is often the hardest place to be.

Now, on to the other Wenches.

  Wench Pat is brief. "As far as I can remember I have no soldiers or PTSD victims for characters, heroes or otherwise."

Wench Nicola. "I've never written a character with combat-related PTSS in any of my books although in Unmasked I did write a heroine who suffered panic attacks and flashbacks as a response to a traumatic life experience - PTSS in a different context.

I find PTSS a fascinating subject and enjoy reading about it in a historical context just as I enjoy reading about other medical conditions that had not been diagnosed before the 20th century.  The reason I have seldom tackled any of these topics in a book myself is two-fold.

Firstly, through being married to a psychotherapist I have realised just how complex these conditions can be. I think this inhibits me from writing about them. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing in my case!

Secondly, I am also very aware of how differently a condition such as PTSS might have been viewed in the past both by the sufferer and those around him or her. I wouldn't want want to treat it anachronistically but I know it can be done with sensitivity and accuracy - I've read some wonderful depictions.

One of the things that has always fascinated me is whether attitudes towards death and suffering were different in a society where people were confronted daily by the reality of death in many different forms, from childbirth and infant mortality to accidents on the hunting field. Are we in danger of projecting our own sensibilities onto a society with a more immediate experience of violent death? I don't think one can generalise. One thing that is clear from letters and documents from past centuries is that the reality of combat was intense and terrifying and that PTSS would be one of a number of reactions to the experience. A fascinating area for a writer to explore. I think I have talked myself into tackling it now!

Wench Mary Jo. "I have done far more than my share of wounded heroes, whether military or  otherwise.  My very first book had a  hero recovering from wounds received at Waterloo. But  there are wounds, and there is PTSS.  Several of my military heroes have  suffered injuries they must deal with.  All have been affected in one way or  another by the experience of war.   I loved when I came across the  phrase “thousand yard stare” to apply to my soldier hero in Shattered Rainbows.

But  by and large, these are men who accepted the conditions and necessity of  war.  They may have been wounded,  they are certainly affected—yet the truest case of PTSS that I’ve written was  actually a spy.  

Lord  Robert Andreville, hero of Angel Rogue, fell into spying while touring France during the Truce of  Amiens.  Robin came across some  useful information, sent it home to England, and spent the next dozen  year doing dangerous and difficult things inside Napoleon’s empire.  When the war is over, he returned home  physically whole but spiritually empty because of the moral dilemmas of spying.  He needs to find a reason to make  the effort to keep on living.  He  does, of course, but I can tell you that writing a hero is who is apathetic for  the first section of his story is not easy!

Ian  Cameron of Veils of Silk, my other  hero with PTSS, was a serving officer in the Indian army, but the emotional  damage was a result of horrendous imprisonment in Bokhara.  The  experience costs him an eye, a fiancée, and all his pleasure in life.  Feeling half a man and haunted by  nightmares, he keeps moving, one foot in front of the other, until gradually  life sweeps him up again.  

Now  that I think of it, Ian is a sharp contrast to the hero of the book I just  finished.  (No Longer a Gentleman, May 2012.)  The hero of NLAG hasn’t endured as  ghastly a prison, but he’s been locked up a whole lot longer.  He emerges half-feral, burning with  energy, and ravenous for life.  He  is a long way from normal, but PTSS?  I don’t think so. Those two men are very different, and they react to their  traumas very
different ways.  Just  like real people do."

Wench Cara/Andrea. "I've written a number of heroes who are former military men, but have never dealt directly with the issue of extreme mental trauma from the experience. My characters are harder and more cynical, and abhor the senseless slaughter they have witnessed. But battlefields in the background.

The question of PTSS in the Napoleonic Wars is certainly a very relevant-and very complex-question, and while I've haven't made a conscious effort to avoid it, it's something I feel would be a very challenging thing to get “right.” I can't even begin to imagine what it would be like to march straight into a hail of withering musket fire, or see a friend cut to pieces in a hand-to-hand bayonet fight . . . I confess, I'm surprised that to a man, they weren't all traumatized after the first few minutes on a battlefield.  

I'm a huge fan of Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe series, and given the incredibly graphic scenes he writes about battle, and the research details that color his accounts, it's interesting how few times the topic is dealt with. Were Napoleonic soldiers less “sensitive” to the horrors of the battlefield because everyday life in that era was much more filled with blood, violence and death? Expectations were certainly very different than they are today. But I haven't delved into enough primary source documents to feel I can make an informed comment. So for now, I will probably leave the issue to those who are more knowledgeable on the subject. (But I do like writing conflicted heroes <G> so maybe that will change!) 

Jo here. I think Cornwell does a great job of writing the hardened soldier in all the periods he covers, and his warriors often revel in the fight -- in the anticipation of it, the action of it, and especially (when it happens) the victory over the enemy.

Wench Joanna. So far, my characters are always in the heat of action in these stories.  I haven't looked so much at how they cope with the 'coming home' part.  But one of my characters did suffer from a form of PTSS.  It's my young spy,Annique, from *The Spymaster's Lady.*

She's in a hard place as the story begins.  She's been struck blind, her mother's just died, she's on the run from her own side, and she's captured by the enemy.  Most important, she's burdened with plans that will decide life and death for thousands.  She's faced with the dreadful responsibility of what to do with those plans.

Annique has slogged through months of unremitting danger and loss like the good young soldier-spy she is.  *After* she regains her sight, *after* she escapes from her most immediate enemies,* after* she nears her goal, *after*she feels almost safe -- the reaction sets in.

She travels across England.  Beneath the cheerful, determined facade, the emotional trauma she's undergone leads to a sense of terrible isolation.  It makes her reach out, unwisely, to what seems a friendly hand.  She lets down her guard.  She's also prey to a paralysis of decision.  The life-and-death choice hangs fire while she delays and delays in a way that's not characteristic of her.

The subtle wounding of the mind is difficult to convey.  Do we explain too much?  Do we look at the PTSS in a way the Regency wouldn't and seem anachronistic?  Do we explain too little and leave the reader puzzled at our characters contradictory action? It's just plain hard to bring out the vulnerable side of our strong, capable heroes and heroines.

Wench Anne. When it came to the writing, none of my heroes show very obvious symptoms of PTSS. There have been indications, for those who wanted to look for them, but my characters weren't the kind of men who like to show their inner struggles or private torments. 

My models for that attitude were my father and uncles, all of whom had seen active service. My father was wounded badly enough to be shipped home, and my uncle and a number of my father's friends were put in prison camps under horrific conditions. They never talked about their war experiences — at least not in front of others.  

That said, there were indications of trauma in some aspects of their behavior -- a sudden explosion of temper, an inability to sleep at times, and certain triggers that would set someone off in a particular way. But that was also never discussed, apart from a general understanding that it was because of the war. So, right or wrong, I've allowed that to influence my heroes' attitudes to their past as soldiers.

(Jo here again. I think I'm influenced by my father and his friends, who served in WWI and were kind and gentle men. In my father's case, he went to war very reluctantly, served in one of the harshest campaign -- in Mesopotamia, and was wounded. I'm sure he did return with some psychological damage, but it was never spoken of, and by the time I was born 30 years later there was no sign. He thoroughly enjoyed action-adventure fiction and films, including those about war. We write what we know. Back to Anne.)

My first hero, Jack Carstairs (in Gallant Waif) began the book as a grumpy recluse who drank too much. But the heroine in that book was equally scarred by wartime experiences, though not as obviously. And the story of their romance involves mutual healing.

My current  "devilriders" series has featured heroes returned from war, and each of them show the subtle ways in which their wartime experiences have scarred their psyche.  At the beginning of Stolen Princess, my hero, Gabriel Renfrew is restless, finding it hard to settle down to a peacetime routine and relieves the tedium with risky activities, like riding at full speed along the cliffs in the dark. His friends also take frequent risks and seem not to care about consequences. 

It's Luke, the hero of my next book (out in January 2012) who shows the strongest indication of PTSS. He has nightmares and unresolved painful memories and bottled-up guilt that makes him constantly test his right to live, and part of his journey in the book is to confront those feelings, though not in a modern-day psychiatric fashion. I've also paired him with a heroine who has her fair share of wartime trauma, so he's not alone with his problems, and she brings a perspective to his experiences that allows him to view them in a different light.

In fact I often pair my heroes with heroines who've experienced hardships and/or trauma of their own, though not necessarily wartime — I like both heroes and heroines to have been tempered by life, and even if scarred by the experience, to emerge, through love, the stronger for it. I suppose you could call it a recurring theme, though until now I hadn't been aware of it.

Wench Susan."I've explored more than once the theme of heroes stressed and changed by the rigors of war, though mostly in a medieval setting. One of my favorite heroes among my own fictional guys is Lachlan MacKerron, the hero of The Sword Maiden, a 15th century Scottish swordsmith and knight who rode with the Scottish guard accompanying Joan of Arc.

He returns to Scotland a different man -- deeper, more reserved, wounded inside and out by what he has seen and what he has lost, and the secret guilt he carries. What he doesn't see -- literally, as his vision is damaged by a head wound -- is what he has at home in Eva MacArthur, the girl he left behind, whose healing influence is not so gentle.

She's a spitfire, full of revenge and pushing him to train her in swordplay. He wants peace, she wants war locally. Yet in tracking back over his own experiences, in examining his expertise as well as his mistakes as a warrior and a man, he puts his life back into perspective and is able to move

No matter what the context, medieval or Napoleonic, in historical romance it's the healing process that is most important when a hero has been through war and has returned. He's changed, he's burdened, he has a great deal to sort out. He's a more serious hero than some other types, and often he is just the sort of hero I love to write and love to read -- the warrior poet, wise and weary and in need of true healing, the certain uplift of spirit that the right heroine can bring to him. Together these two, hero and heroine, can be a magical, beautiful couple, with healing and emotional substance adding depth to the romance."

Jo again. What a range of fascinating comments, and now it's your turn.

Feel free to address this topic in any way you wish. The following questions are just sand tossed into the oysters!

 How do you feel about career soldiers as heroes of romance? Do you prefer that the hero be ex-military rather than on active service, and if so, why?

If a hero has been involved in war, do you admire them more for it not being a great weight on them, or for showing harm from it? It could be either, depending, of course.

I'd really like to hear from any military people who read this blog, especially if you've been active in war.

Here's an angle that interests me. I see a contradiction in the romance genre. In contemporaries, don't we often have tough-guy heroes who flinch an nothing, and often have to be taught sensitivity by the heroine. I think we also have heroes like that in medievals, and Scottish historical at any period. Yet in the more modern settings, perhaps especially the Regency, we have more traumatized heroes.

Why is that? Do we carry a softer, sweeter vision of Regency Britain in our heads and want heroes to fit that?

Am I right? Examples pro and con? Discussion?

Another question, arising from the mention of Bernard Cornwell -- do female writers often want military heroes to hate war and be traumatized by it, whereas male writers are more likely to go with the triumph of defeating evil, no matter what it takes, and admiration of the men who can get the job done.

Over to you! I'll send a copy of The Devil's Heiress, third of the Georges books, to a randomly picked interesting comment.

Jo

Jennifer Kloester's Biography of Georgette Heyer

Anne here, delighted to be hosting another visit from Honorary Word Wench, Dr. Jennifer Kloester, pictured here in her study, surrounded by Heyer novels and a few of her many files of research. If you'd like to read my first interview with Jennifer, it's here.

Jennifer's eagerly awaited biography of Georgette Heyer will be released in London on the 6th October. That's just a few short weeks away. I'm so excited. Jen, this biography has been 10 years of research and five years of writing. Has the journey been worth it? What have been some of the highlights along the way?

Jennifer: I have had the most wonderful time writing this biography but I must confess that when I began working on Georgette Heyer’s life and writing, I never imagined where it would lead me. I actually began the research in 1999 but didn’t really get serious about it until I began my doctorate on her in February 2001. When I began I can remember thinking, ‘oh, there’s hardly any material out there about her.’ Boy, was I wrong! I have had so many incredible moments of discovery and made so many wonderful friends along the way that I do feel fortunate in having followed this path. 

One of the main highlights has been discovering the new archives of her letters and having her son, Sir Richard Rougier, give me copyright permission to acquire copies of them and to quote from them.

Another highlight has been the discovery of nine of Georgette’s short stories, seven of which will be completely unknown to the modern reader. I spent days at the British Library trawling thousands of magazines from the 1920s and 30s and I can’t tell you how exciting it was to turn the page and find Georgette Heyer’s name at the top of the page!

Anne: I can imagine. And I hope those stories get published some day. There have been several books written about Georgette Heyer, but I gather you've had unprecedented access to Georgette Heyer's private family papers. How did that come about?

Jennifer: My access to Georgette’s private papers was entirely due to the kindness and generosity of her son. I wrote him a formal letter in 2001 and he invited me to lunch at his house in Somerset. It was a truly memorable occasion sitting with him in the arbour beneath the most magnificent scented wisteria and talking about his mother and her writing. After lunch he showed me his office where he kept her notebooks and papers and pretty much left me to it. After that, he and his wife, Lady Rougier, invited me to stay and I guess I just kept going back.

(Picture on right is Georgette with her son Richard, aged 8.)

On each of my research trips to England they had me to stay and each time Sir Richard would show me something new. On one trip he brought out the family photo albums, on another, Georgette’s baby book and, of course, we wrote to each other. I would send half a dozen questions in a letter and he would write back with the answers. That proved to be a particularly good way of doing it because he was a wonderful writer himself and the act of putting pen to paper often jogged his memory and as a result I got some wonderful new anecdotes about his mother and her family. (Pic below, Georgette, her husband, Ronald and her son, Richard.)

Anne: Even though there have been other books written about Georgette Heyer, I believe there are some new and exciting revelations. Can you share one or two with us?

Jennifer: The new biography is full of new information about Georgette Heyer and that’s the thing that’s probably given me the most satisfaction. For those who have read the first biography, you’ll know that Georgette is in her early forties by the end of the second chapter, whereas in the new biography the first two thirds of the book are about those years.

I have been hugely fortunate in having access to a wealth of new material and that has meant that, among other things, I can tell you a lot more about her childhood and adolescence than we have known before. There’s a fascinating story about when These Old Shades was written and Georgette’s vision for the book and lots and lots of pithy quotes direct from her pen about her novels. There’s also the complete story of her 1942 novel Penhallow and the crucial role it had in her writing life.

Anne:  These Old Shades was my first Heyer, so I'm dying to read that. What surprised you most in your discoveries?

Jennifer: What surprised me most about Georgette was the extent to which she wrote her emotions into her novels. She once said ‘I am to be found in my work’ and when you read her letters and understand more about her life and writing you can see what she means. I recently re-read Bath Tangle and I was struck by how much Lady Serena’s response to her father’s sudden death echoed Georgette’s own experience. These days I often see these sorts of parallels in the novels. (Pic below, Georgette aged 21 by E. O. Hoppe 1923)

The plagiarism chapter in the biography is short but fascinating, especially as I have let Georgette tell a lot of it in her own words. I was really pleased to be able to write openly about the case, not only because people have wondered about it for years, but more importantly because it is in these letters that Georgette really rises to the defence of her writing and research and this was not something she did very often.

 Anne: Yes, I read some of the articles about it in the UK papers.(Here's a link to one such but prepare to be annoyed by the last paragraph.)

That's a beautiful photo of Georgette on the cover of the book. I don't think I've ever seen it before.  I know you have quite a few photos never before seen by the public in this book. Would you care to share a photo or two?   

Jennifer: I would love to share some photos with you that (on account of space restrictions) did not make it into the final book. Having said that, I am thrilled with the number of never-before-seen photos that are in the biography and I really hope readers will be as delighted as I am to see them.

(On right, Georgette, her mother and baby brother, Boris.
Below, Georgette.)

Anne: You're flying to London for the launch, shortly, and I understand there's a whole Regency day planned by the Romantic Novelists Association, of which your launch is a major part. WordWenches Jo Beverley and Nicola Cornick will also be in attendance. Sounds like a marvellous day. I wish I could be there but I'll have to content myself with the Australian launch in December. What else will you be doing in the UK?

Jennifer: I leave for London in a couple of weeks and I am SO excited to be doing the Romantic Novelists Association Regency day. The programme is terrific and there will be some wonderful writers there as well as lots of enthusiastic readers. I also have a book launch at Daunts Books in Marylebone High Street on Thursday 6 October at 6.30pm and a signing at Hatchard’s, the famous eighteenth-century bookstore on Piccadilly, on Monday 10^th at 3pm. Georgette used to shop there so that makes it extra exciting. 

I’m speaking at the Wimbledon Bookfest on the 3^rd and the Guildford Literary Festival on the 17^th and I am being interviewed on BBC4 Woman’s Hour on Tuesday 11 October. So all in all it should be a really exciting trip.

 Anne: It sounds wonderful. Are there any plans for a North American release?

Jennifer: I am also about to sign a contract for the biography with Sourcebooks which means there will be an American edition out in fall next year in the USA – I’m very excited about that.

Anne: Me, too, as are many of the readers here, I'm sure. What else is planned?

Jennifer: The book comes out in Australia and New Zealand on 1 December and I am having launches at Dymocks in Sydney on the 1^st and in Melbourne on the 8^th. Everyone is welcome. There will be launches in Brisbane, Adelaide and Hobart in the New Year and I also hope to do a tour of New Zealand in the first half of 2012.

Anne: It all sounds so exciting, Jen. I'll be joining you on at least one of those occasions — more if I can wangle it. Congratulations on all your work and research finally coming to fruition.

Jennifer: Thanks, Anne. It has been the most marvellous journey and I fervently hope that Georgette Heyer’s many admirers will enjoy the result. 

Anne: I'm sure they will. Thanks so much for joining us here on wordwenches, Jen.  Jennifer's biography of Georgette Heyer can be ordered from here. People can also check out Jen's website for more about Heyer and some of the things that didn’t make it into the book.

Jennifer is giving away one copy of Georgette Heyer's biography to some lucky person who leaves a comment. So here's the question — who is your favorite Heyer character, and why are they your favorite? And if you have any questions about Georgette Heyer, Jen will be happy to answer them.

The Potato - A Slice of History!

Nicola here, reflecting on one of my favourite foods! A little while ago I picked up a book about the history of the potato and it was so interesting that I thought I would share a few of the anecdotes here. So here is my historical tribute to the humble tuber. Or, as Shakespeare put it: "Let the sky rain potatoes!"

Origins

The potato originated in the Andes at least 8000 years ago but it was only in the 1530s that the Spanish  Conquistadors brought it back to Europe. Both Francis Drake and Walter Raleigh have been credited with introducing it into England circa 1588. However for a long time it was not considered acceptable as a foodstuff and in northern Europe potatoes were mainly grown in botanical gardens as an exotic novelty. Even the poor refused to eat potato at first, considering it to be an ugly plant that had come from a heathen civilization. As a member of the Nightshade family it was rumoured to be poisonous and the work of devils and witches. It also had a reputation as an aphrodisiac but this was not sufficient to overcome its unpopularity. In Elizabethan times it was served roasted in ashes or soaked in wine and then dressed with oil and vinegar and boiled with prunes which perhaps explains why it didn’t catch on as a vegetable for another 200 years.

Parmentier Potatoes

It was not until the later 18^th century that the potato became respectable. In France it was Antoine-Augustin Parmentier (1737 – 1813)  a pioneering nutritional chemist, who made the potato acceptable as a foodstuff. Prior to his work the potato had been considered good only for animal feed and in 1748 the French Parliament had forbidden the cultivation of potatoes on the grounds that they were thought to cause leprosy. Parmentier’s award-winning work convinced people of the potato’s nutritional value and it was declared edible by the Paris Faculty of Medicine in 1772. However, resistance remained and Parmentier started a publicity campaign on behalf of the potato, hosting dinners at which exotic potato dishes featured prominently. Parmentier’s guests included celebrities such as Benjamin Franklin and Antoine Lavoisier, who spread the word on the potato’s tastiness. Parmentier also gave bouquets of potato blossoms to the King Louis XVI and Queen. Marie Antoinette, who even wore a potato flower headdress for a ball.

There is a statue commemorating Parmentier’s pioneering potato work at his birthplace, Montdider, and he is also remembered in the naming of the dish “Pommes Parmentier,” where potatoes are diced and fried in butter with garlic, bacon and herbs.

Hints Respecting the Culture and Use of Potatoes

England was also slow to warm to the potato. The English diet consisted mainly of meat supplemented  by bread, butter and cheese. Salad was considered to be dangerous and “greens” usually meant herbs rather than vegetables. It was not until there were food shortages in the late 18^th century that the British government began to encourage the cultivation of potatoes. In 1795, the Board of Agriculture issued a pamphlet entitled "Hints Respecting the Culture and Use of Potatoes". The Times printed pro-potato editorials and potato recipes to encourage people to start eating potatoes. The 1796 edition of Hannah Glasse’s Art of Cooking Made Plain and Easy gave eleven potato recipes, half of which included sugar.

As the industrial revolution gathered pace and the population of the cities grew, so did the use of the potato as a foodstuff. Only the richest could afford homes with ovens or coal storage rooms, and people were working 12-16 hour days, which left them with little time or energy to prepare food. High yielding, easily prepared potato crops were the obvious solution to England's food problems. Once tasted, potatoes quickly gained in popularity. They started to appear in recipe books from the late 18^th century. Hot potato vendors became common in cities whereupon a second use for the potato was discovered; ladies would pop a hot potato into their muffs to warm their hands on cold days! In 1818 William Cobbett rather scornfully commented: “It is the fashion to extol potatoes and to eat potatoes.” He was not a fan. The potato became a staple food of the lower classes in Britain but amongst the upper echelons it was still frowned upon. Queen Victoria’s chef Charles Francatelli had very specific ideas of the purpose of the potato. He disguised them in purees and soups or sculpted them into the shape of pears and olives for decoration!

The Democratic Potato

America, quicker than the Old World to embrace something new and exciting, was appreciating potatoes from the early 18^th century. Amelia Simmons in her book American Cookery 1796 praised the  potato highly and unlike Hannah Glasse, made no attempt to dress it up. Where Mrs Glasse saw the potato primarily as a dessert or a dish that needed to be sweetened, Mrs Simmons saw it as a garnish for meat of fowl. The triumph of the potato in the United States was complete when "French Fries" were served at the White House in 1802 during the presidency of Thomas Jefferson. They were called “potatoes served in the French manner.”

 The Irish Potato Famine

The most dramatic influence of the potato can be seen in Ireland, where the potato had become a staple  food by 1800. The potato's high yields allowed even the poorest farmers to produce more healthy food than they needed and they took to the potato with a passion. The potato was suited the Irish the soil and climate, and its high yield enabled farmers to feed their families.  The abundance of the potato decreased infant mortality and led to good health. Traditionally it was eaten as a starter, main course and pudding! This dependence on a single crop, however, was the undoing of the Irish during the Potato Famine of the 1840s when a fungus wiped out the crop.

 "Only two things in this world are too serious to be jested on, potatoes and matrimony." Irish saying

Mashed, baked or fried? Parmentier or dauphinoise? How do you like your potatoes? 

Sunday Announcements

DR. JENNIFER KLOESTER

On 14th September, Anne Gracie will be interviewing Dr. Jennifer Kloester about her biography on Georgette Heyer, which will be  launched in London next month. Jen will be giving away a copy of the book to some lucky commenter.

WINNERS

Thanks to all of you who regularly leave comments on our blog posts!   Each time you leave a comment, it increases your chances of winning an autographed book from a Wench or a guest, when we are giving away books.  Two more commenters have joined our list of book winners:  Diane Sallons won a book from Anne Gracie, and Jikie won a book from Mary Jo.  Congratulations, winners!

Dark Passage: Anne Interviews Mary Jo, aka M. J. Putney

by Anne and Mary Jo

Anne:  Mary Jo, in DARK PASSAGE, we return to the world you established in DARK MIRROR -- a Regency-era world where magic was for commoners only and aristocratic families sent their talented children to be 'cured' of their magical tendencies. The young people secretly rebel against their school's teaching that magic is an abomination, and become "Merlin’s Irregulars", sworn to use their magic to defend Britain. They travel forward in time through Merlin's Mirror to a time and place where magic has been forgotten and is desperately needed — Europe, during WW2. I have to say, I'm really enjoying this series. But enough about me <G>

For those who want to read Mary Jo's post about the first book in the series, Dark Mirror, it's here.   It was also nominated as one of the top young adult novels of the year by YALSA, the Young Adult Library Services Association.
And now on with the questions.

The Book:

Anne: Mary Jo, tell us about Dark Passage.

MJP:  This young adult series was my chance to write more fantasy, which I love.  Also, unlike romance, where each book concentrates on a particular series, the Dark Mirror books present interesting new challenges with the same protagonists continuing through the books, though new secondary characters can appear and become important.  Relationships also grow and change and face new challenges.

As for the actual story—a classic WWII story is the secret mission behind enemy lines, and that’s the plot of Dark Passage.  The Irregulars need to rescue a French scientist whose work is vital to the war effort.  My scientist is fictional, but the project that wants him is real enough.  The story also lent itself to some other WWII themes, which I’ll let readers discover on their own!  I will mention that the male Irregulars are saying, “Yes, we need to do this,” while the girls are saying, “Are you out of your MINDS?!!!”  <g>

Anne:  Yes, it was a nice reflection of the difference between the genders in attitude to war and risk and adventure.  This time, as well as following the progress of Tory, Lady Victoria, we get to know more of Cynthia, the spiky, difficult, duke's daughter who is as mixed up about her own feelings as she is about her place in the world. It's a great combination, two girls on the threshold of love, star-crossed, with difficult decisions to make — personal and life-and-death.

MJP:  My editor absolutely adores Lady Cynthia, and I must say that I find her very easy to write.  I think she gives me a chance to let loose my inner Mean Girl.  <g>  Certainly she has the arrogance of very high rank, but she’s also wounded by the rejection she has experienced because she’s “tainted” by magical abilities.  No wonder she’s cranky. <G>  By the end of Dark Passage, she’s a lot happier with herself, but I’ve promised my editor that Cynthia will still retain her tart tongue! 

Anne: Excellent.  Readers are pretty familiar with the early 1800's but the WW2 period is not yet a well worn path, and in the first book you brought to life the heartache and drama of Dunkirk brilliantly. How have readers responded to the WW2 setting? or What inspired you to choose WW2 for your time slip period?

MJP:  When I was a kid, adults talking about “the war” meant WWII, a situation that didn’t change until after Vietnam, I think.  Also, it was “the good war” in the sense that there seemed to be a real difference between the good guys and the bad guys.  (Nazi death camps trump pretty much everything on the scales of evil.)  So when I was daydreaming in school (something I did a lot), I’d dream heroic stories of WWII with adventure and romance.

Now, finally—I’m writing heroic stories of WWI with adventure and romance. <G>

Readers seem to find the WWII setting interesting, though they don’t always spell what they like out.  The typical reader e-mail for Dark Mirror has been, “I loved this book!  When will the next one be out???”  <g>  To which I reply, “I’m writing as fast as I can!”

Anne: When I was a kid, almost all my historical knowledge came accidentally —from reading exciting novels with vividly drawn historical settings. Do you keep educational factors in mind when you're writing or does the story come first?

MJP: I don’t start with the idea of teaching anything in particular, but like you, I loved learning history through fiction.  (That may be what makes a reader a lover of historical novels.)  I think using real history greatly enriches a story and I always try to research new topics in each book because I like doing that, and I figure that at least some readers will, too.  I also come from a long line of teachers and preachers, so I love that educational elements are there as value added.

Research: 

Anne: You've been very clever in interweaving fact with fiction, especially in the WW2 sections, which some people still remember. I was telling a friend of mine about your weather mages in Dark Mirror and she said, "But that's amazing, the sea was uncannily still during the Dunkirk evacuation!" What kind of research did you do for this new story?

MJP: For Dark Passage, I did a fair amount of research about France and the period of the Nazi occupation.  While my village and castle are fictional, I did research that such places could have existed.  There were also oddball small topics like Nazi service revolvers, castle tunnels, and Christmas pudding.  (A pudding like the one above plays an important role in the book. <G>)

It wasn’t a patch on the Dunkirk research for Dark Mirror, though.  That was hugely complex because I wanted to work with the actual recorded weather patterns of that period.  In fact, it was reading about the unnatural calm during the ten days of the evacuation that made a light bulb go off in my brain and I thought, “Weather mages!!!”

Anne: can you give us a small taste of Dark Passage?

MJP: Here's an excerpt:

France, Autumn 1940
    Tory had almost reached her destination when a machine gun blasted crazily from the farmhouse ahead. As Lady Victoria Mansfield in her own time, she‟d been taught to dance and manage a household and embroider, rather badly. As a mageling and a member of Merlin‟s Irregulars, she‟d learned to dive for cover when she heard gunfire.
    She hit the ground hard and took refuge under the hedge on her left, grateful for the darkness. Clamping down on her fear, she peered out from under the hedge.
    The machine gun was being fired in bursts. Sparks spat from the muzzle that
stuck from a window on the upper floor. The weapon wasn‟t aimed in her direction, which was good. But damnably, it was aimed at the small barn that sheltered the people she‟d promised to protect.
    Another thing she‟d learned in 1940 was swearing. She muttered some words that would have shocked her parents, the Earl and Countess of Fairmount, speechless.
    She had to stop that rain of death, and quickly. But how? She was no warrior.
She was an undersized sixteen-year-old girl dressed to look even younger. She wouldn‟t know what to do with a gun if it was handed to her fully loaded.
    But she was a mageling, and she could draw on the magical power and talent of
her friends.

MJP: Here’s a link to the M. J. Putney website.  http://mjputney.com/  The home page has a link to a longer excerpt.

Writing for Young Adults:

Anne: How different is it, writing for young adults?

MJP:  In a way, it’s not different at all.  A story is a story.  There is an amazing range of writing within the YA field, which is really many genres, not just one.  That said, I paid particular attention to accessibility and pacing, and of course the protagonists are young and learning about life. 

It has been said that a writer shouldn’t strive for a “YA voice,” but rather a voice young adult readers will enjoy.  I don’t think I could write a believable contemporary YA, but historical?  That I thought I could manage. 

Anne: So many YAs give dark and unsettling messages to kids about the world, and I love that your books show a world in which bad things can happen but that generally people are good, and good can triumph when good people work together. And that people can find courage in themselves when they least expect it.

MJP: The romance genre is very much about the heroic—about people overcoming adversity and becoming their best selves.  The glass half full, not half empty.  That’s how I write my young adult books, too.  My characters are kids, growing, exploring, dealing with what life sends them.  But they also try to do their best.  To behave with honor.  There is certainly an audience for dark, edgy books, but I’m a romance writer to the bone, I think. <G>

Coming up:

Anne: There Is a free short story, "Fallen From Grace," available as an e-book.  Will there be a third novel in the series? What can you tell us about that?

MJP:  The third book, Dark Destiny, will be out next summer.  I decided that after two adventures when my 19th century characters came forward to WWII, it was time to go back.  In the first two books, there were references to Napoleon hunkered down just across the Channel from Lackland Abbey and preparing for an invasion.  Now that threat becomes real, and the 20th century kids must come back to 1804 to see if they can help stave off invasion. 

Historically, we know that invasion didn’t happen, but there is no question but that Napoleon spent years preparing for one before deciding against it.  What if behind the scenes, some young mages changed his mind???

I love a good “What if…?”!!!

Anne: Oh, that will be fun. Thanks, Mary Jo, for telling us a little of the story behind Dark Passage, which can be purchased here. It’s an excellent book, and I think readers of all ages are going to love it.

MJP: Thanks so much, Anne!  I've received almost as many fan e-mails from adults as from young adults.  (As a long term reader of YAs, I understand that perfectly.  A good story is a good story.)

Do you read YA novels?  If so, why?  If not—why not? 

M.J. will be giving a signed copy of Dark Passage to someone who leaves a comment between now and midnight Saturday. 

 

 

Threads through time

Jo here, with a story to tell that travels from June 1815 to September 2011, though as often with stories it's hard to know where to start.

The beginning

To me, the story starts in January 1991, during the Gulf War. We've become accustomed to real-time, round-the-clock reporting from wars, but January 1991 was the beginning. A reminder -- this is before the World Wide Web, so no going on line to catch the latest, and certainly no Twitter! The Web came into existence in prototype in August 1991, and the first image was put there in 1992. The Web as we know it can probably be dated to about 1995.

So, back in early 1991, I like many, sat darkly enthralled watching missiles hit buildings in flares of bright light, trying to remind myself that they were real buildings containing real people because it did look all too much like a video game.

In January 1991 I was particularly struck by the immediacy, because I was then writing An Unwilling Bride, the second in my Company of Rogues books, which takes place during the time of Napoleon's return to France and the Battle of Waterloo.

Waterloo.

I'd previously given no thought to war reporting, but as I searched out records of when news of Waterloo reached England, and what that news was, the time lag was striking. When in the book the first news of battle reaches London, Nicholas Delaney says, "It's all happened, of course. Somewhere the living are rejoicing, the dead are dead, and the wounded are suffering under the knife. And mayby tomorrow or the next day we'll find out about it."

(The picture is a photograph taken by author Karen Harbaugh at a re-enactment at Waterloo.)

Yet each night I switched on the TV to see battle raging. I do believe that the presence of war on the TV gave depth to my writing about Waterloo as seen from those waiting helplessly in London. 

Those waiting could not have anticipated the huge numbers who died at Waterloo. One site estimates it at 6,000 an hour, to a total of over 20,000, with many more wounded.Wellington famously said, "Believe me, nothing except a battle lost can be half so melancholy as a battle won." 

There's a list of the officers killed, wounded, and missing on June 18th, at the main battle, here. There are lists of the dead here. Go back to this page for more.

The Reaction back in England.

The news trickled across the Channel, some of it wrong, and jubilation at news of victory was muted by rumors about the high casualty rate. When the casualty lists finally arrive, the Rogues who have gathered in London learn that a Rogue is listed among the dead. Not one of the military men who'd returned to fight Napoleon, but Lord Darius Debenham, who'd pulled strings as a duke's son to be taken on as a courier. The lightest, brightest, merriest of them all.

It is then that Nicholas makes a toast. "To all the fallen: may they be forever young in heaven. To all the wounded: may they have strength and heal. To all the bereaved: may they feel joy again. And please God, may there one day be an end to war."

An Unwilling Bride was published in 1992 and sold very well.

It created (and still does create) controversy because the hero, Lucien, hits his wife, Beth, and lives to learn from it, but that is a true part of the book because it's about a private war between two strong, intelligent, proud people forced into a marriage they each find intolerable. (Smart Bitches, Trashy Books are to discuss it as their Sizzling Book Club for September, which should be interesting!)

It won a RITA award, the Golden Leaf award, and Best Historical from Romantic Times.

And that seemed to be that. I moved on to write the next Rogues book, the last of my trad regencies, and begin to write historicals in the medieval and Georgian period.

The next part of the story.

We move on a decade to September 11th, 2001, when we all watched in real time as people died and buildings fell. A few days later, I received an e-mail from a reader, Suzanne Elliott . She'd been working on an entry for a quilt show but given the events she wanted to make a quilt to acknowledge 9/11 and she wanted permission to include Nicholas's words. Of course I gave it; it was an honor. Visit her web site here.

Here's the quilt.  (Click on any image to enlarge it.)

A few years later, with the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq still claiming the lives of soldiers from many countries I was touched to find the quote being used as a sig line on a blog for military wives.

The Final Stage.

And now, completely coincidentally, An Unwilling Bride is being reissued almost exactly on the anniversary of September 11th 2001. (With a modern bride running away, but well.... there you go! The original cover above reflects the book much better.)

It's not a book about Waterloo. As I said, it's mostly about a private war and it was only the time sequence of the Rogues books that put it in Spring 1815.

Any connection to 9/11 in only in threads through time.

As I've explained in this blog, there a synchronicity that reminds that as we weave our writer's magic from our imagination we gather in the threads of the world around us, a world that now comes into our living room with full colour immediacy every hour of every day. These threads connect like a web to all we can imagine to produce our novels, each surely shaped by the time in which they're written, no matter the time period of the story.

If it hadn't been for the Gulf War, and CNN's new way of reporting on war, I might not have decided that the truth of war demanded that the dreadful death toll at Waterloo had to include a Rogue.

Because my mind plays a strong part, too, I couldn't leave Dare dead, but I his existence years later needed an explanation that satisfied my internal truth and so he was revealed to be a victim of drug addiction and a compulsion honour would not let him break. To my surprise, his situation wove back to the beginning of the Rogue's series, written in 1977, when Nicholas Delaney was persuaded to use his amorous skills to obtain a list of secret Napoleonic supporters in Britain. Our creative minds are very complex webs.

There's more about An Unwilling Bride here.

I have no questions to pose on this blog, but I welcome your comments and thoughts, and I will send a copy of the new edition of An Unwilling Bride to a random pick from among them.

May there one day be an end to war,

Jo

 

What we've been reading...

Anne here. Wench Andrea/Cara is still battling the effects of Hurricane Irene, and was without power or internet access until yesterday, so we powered-up wenches have put together a joint blog on what we've been reading lately. I always enjoy these sessions because I come away with a fistful of good reading  recommendations.

Nicola said: At the moment I'm reading four books at once! I don't do this very often because usually I like to concentrate on one thing at once but right now I have a taste for different genres so I'm mixing it up. First up is Westwood by Stella Gibbons, which has just been re-issued as a Vintage Classic. Stella Gibbons has been described as the Jane Austen of the 20th century and I can see why for her sharp wit and brilliant observation. Her book Cold Comfort Farm is one of my favourites and Westwood is set to be just as funny and engaging. 

Next there's John Steinbeck's The Log from the Sea of Cortez, a non-fiction account of Steinbeck's marine biology trip with Ed Ricketts. That sounds a bit dry but I went on a whale-watching holiday in the Sea of Cortez a couple of years ago and I've had a yen to read this book ever since because it was such an amazing trip and a truly extraordinary place. 

I'm also re-reading Dr Zinetti's Snowkissed Bride by Sarah Morgan. I realise it's the wrong season for Christmas books but I am a huge Sarah Morgan fan and am reading my way through all her books at the moment. With a gorgeous Italian alpha male doctor hero, this has to be one of my all time Sarah Morgan favourites. 

And from auto-buys to new-to-me authors. I've recently discovered Caroline Linden's historicals and wonder what took me so long. I love her voice and having just finished reading What A Gentleman Wants I can scarcely wait to glom all the others!

Pat says: I just finished Georgette Heyer’s VENETIA. I wasn’t aware of Heyer until I started writing Regencies so I don’t approach her from the worshipful perspective of an impressionable teen. I adore her humor, and she knows people so well that the characters leap off the page. That said, her page long sentences and dwelling on the boring guy’s boring characteristics do prose on endlessly! 

And I’m currently reading Anne Frasier’s (Theresa Weir’s) PALE IMMORTAL which I picked up for free as an e-book. I adore Weir’s romances, but I was wary of her suspense since I have nightmares. But her writing is so compelling that I haven’t been able to put this down, even when they’re torturing the kid. The true story isn’t the murderer because we know who he is by mid-book. The story really is about what is real and what is not. Quite fascinating! I love finding new books for free then following up by reading the rest of the series. An excellent marketing tool.

Mary Jo says: Having handed in a book, I've been catching up on some favorite mystery authors whose latest books I missed.  First, the most recent Daisy Dalrymple by Honorary Word Wench Carola Dunn.  The books are set in the 1920s and there are running threads about WWI and a society forever changes.  ANTHEM FOR DOOMED YOUTH tracks a crime rooted in WWI.  Daisy and her husband, DCI Alec Fletcher, are separate for most of the book since he's in charge of a high profile triple murder case, but even while visiting her stepdaughter in Saffron Walden for a school games day, Daisy's talent for finding murder victims hasn't deserted her. <G> Her situation and Alec's come together for an interesting and satisfying twist at the end. 

 I also read the recent Dick Francis mystery, GAMBLE, which is actually the first written entirely by his son Felix, who has transitioned from research assistant to co-writer to authorized heir very well.  Felix is not an identical writer to his father, but the books are certainly similar, and once again, the narrator/hero is a former jockey who has had to find a new life after racing.  The hero, Nicholas Foxton, has become a financial manager, and the story begins when his friend and colleague is murdered right next to him at the Grand National race.  I look forward to Felix having a long and mutually rewarding writing career. <G> 

Lastly, I'm reading the just released Jayne Ann Krentz book, Canyons of Nights, written under Jayne Castle, her futuristic name.  I really like all of her Arcane books, where the protagonists have varied and interesting psychic abilities.  She came up with the very clever concept of writing trilogies across all three of her writing names: Amanda Quick (Victorian), Jayne Ann Krentz (contemporary), and Jayne Castle, futuristics set on a world with growing psychic abilities and a lot of elements similar to the Pacific Northwest, where JAK lives. <G>  Canyons is last of her Looking Glass trilogy, and features an antiquities dealer and a burned out cop who must deal with some strange new energies manifesting on their island.  As always with JAK, the writing is sleek, fun, and compelling. 

Joanna here.  I'm reading Edith Layton's His Dark and Dangerous Ways.  Not quite through it, but I'm enjoying it so much.

I seem to be on a reading binge of fictional spies, lately.  What is it about secret agents that intrigues and delights us?  Maybe it's because they're 'bad boys' on the side of right and justice.  Not tamed.  No.  Never that.  But the dark elements of their character are well under control.  

Anne here again. I've recently read Loretta Chase's Silk Is For Seduction and I enjoyed it hugely. It's a fun, sexy duel of wit and will between the hero and heroine, and is the start of what promises to be a delightful new series. I can't wait for the next.

I also recently read Jennifer Crusie's Maybe This Time, which was a warm, funny and engaging read that kept me smiling all the way through. It's a return to the kind of Crusie novel I like best, and I immediately pressed it on a friend.

Lately I've been taking myself off to my local library to write, and on the way out the other day I picked up Sophie Kinsella's REMEMBER ME?  I never got into her Shopaholic series, but I did enjoy her UNDOMESTIC GODDESS, and I enjoyed this book just as much and read it in one gulp late into the night.

I also read series books and the two standouts for me in recent weeks have been Kelly Hunter's THE MAN SHE LOVES TO HATE  and Jessica Hart's AN ORDINARY GIRL IN A TIARA. Both are fun reads, if you like short contemporaries, and will leave you with a smile and a happy sigh.

 Now it's your turn. What have you been reading lately? Share, and you'll be in the draw for a book.

Bath Not Bathroom History

Pat Rice here. With any luck, Shelter From the Storm will be re-released in ebook format by the time this blog goes up. As you can see, I've given up on finding historically accurate costumes and gone for half-naked!

Anyway, I've just finished writing a couple of paranormal novels, and I’m finally ready to research the next historical. I want to set this one in Bath, a place I’ve seen once on a very quick visit, so I’ve had to resort to digging into my research books. 

I wish Michener was around to write a complete historical fiction on the hot springs of Bath. The Druidic implications of that steamy dark forest appeals to the imagination. Can’t you just see the conflict of primitive man being drawn to the warmth but fearing the evil spirits? And then later, of course, the pragmatic Romans stomping over field and stream to turn the mineral water into hot baths. Relics of all these ages have turned up in the area, although the Georgian outburst of building probably ruined most archeological sites for all time. (photo at http://visitbath.co.uk/site/things-to-do/attractions/roman-baths-p25681)

What I find fascinating looking back from this day and age is just how the community of Bath turned their medieval village into a wealthy tourist destination to rival Vegas. The springs were well known for centuries. Queen Elizabeth had traveled there during her reign, yet the village had stayed just that, a dirty decrepit medieval village, with crumbling Roman baths in the middle. But in 1692, Princess Anne visited and apparently stimulated the public imagination. At the time, the city was operated by a Corporation, and the next time Anne visited—as queen—they produced a stage production to rival any large city. The courtiers, of course, were thrilled and flattered and quite willing to return to the cramped village time after time.

The Corporation, being of a conservative nature, did no more than allow a new tollway to open up the city for travelers after that success. But Beau Nash, traveling in the queen’s retinue, knew precisely what the dingy, deteriorating rural spa needed to attract the beau monde—sophistication, dancing, and gambling. Shades of Vegas! For nearly sixty years, he reigned as official or unofficial Master of Ceremonies, choosing which of the select five hundred would be granted permission to join the aristocratic entertainments.  He made the rules, warned away the cheats and wastrels, and commanded a high standard of elegance—the Almack ladies could have learned from him. He also gambled to excess and was buried in a pauper’s grave, and his mistress of the time was so crazed with grief that she moved into a hollowed-out tree. It was obviously an age of excess.

But the court also attracted the gentry hoping to make wealthy connections, and as the medicinal reputation of the springs grew, invalids and the elderly increased the population until the medieval walls threatened to explode. And this is where my modern interest kicks in—the city did nothing. For fifty years, they had untold wealth at their disposal. They had a teeming population of all classes from pickpockets to queens crushed inside ancient barriers, and they sat on their fingers and dithered, leaving all building projects to private interests. Since the city owned almost all the land within the walls, private interests had to go outside, and so the suburbs were created.

And they were created quite creatively, too. John Woods, a well-known Bath architect, didn’t have the wealth to outright buy lands owned by dukes and bishops. He certainly didn’t have the help of the city. But he could lease fields and develop the infrastructure—and design fabulous facades in the fashion of the Georgian era. In turn, he leased individual lots to developers who would put their own cash into actually building the edifices he drew. And so the resort grew to house new generations. Practical John fared far better than the Beau, and John Wood Jr grew up in his father’s productive footsteps.

It wasn’t until 1750 that Bath’s Corporation finally saw the light and engaged in a building frenzy.  They began by developing undeveloped lots inside the city walls, and once they’d filled those up, they tore down the medieval walls and built outward, while also ripping down the old city center and replacing it with grandeur. The famed Pump Room wasn’t completed until 1796, well after the Prince Regent had discovered the tiny fishing village of Brighton. Royal interest in Bath waned, leaving the newly refurbished town with the elderly and invalids of whom Austen wrote in the Regency era.

Aside from pondering the implications of slow-to-change conservatives losing the opportunity to make a difference, compared to risk-taking idealists who really needed the guidance of their practical counterparts, the story of Bath leaves me with other questions. Do the wealthy really prefer the exclusivity of dowdy dirty settings out of the common path to enduring sparkling spacious elegant resorts filled with the common folk? Since I’ll never be a courtier to find out, I guess we’ll just have to speculate. If you were a princess and her court, would you prefer visiting an exclusive setting in some jungle to the glitter of Monaco? And then would you care to explain why?