Word Wenches

What We Are Reading!

Andrea here, posting this month’s eclectic (as always!) array of books we’ve been reading this month!

Pat: I hate WWII books. I know the horrible, depressing history and simply don’t need to wallow in it. But I cannot resist bookshop books, and Anne recommended this one, so I gave The Last Bookshop In London, by Madeline Martin, a try. I almost quit after the first chapter—boring, formulaic, whatever the excuse. But I was in a crummy mood and didn’t like anything else either, so I kept on reading. The heroine is timid and never does anything unless pushed. It takes the death of her parents, and her aunt shoving her out of the house, to accept the offer of her mother’s best friend to live in London. It’s 1939. We know what’s going to happen.

Italian Inspiration - Part 1

Christina here and as I was lucky enough to go to Italy recently, it’s time for some more armchair travelling. I hope you’ll enjoy the journey as much as I did, albeit vicariously!

I was a little girl the first time I heard about Pompeii and the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. This tragic event really stuck in my mind and ever since then, I’ve wanted to go there, but I never had the opportunity until two weeks ago when my dream finally came true. Sometimes, when you’ve wished for something for a very long time, it turns out to be a disappointment. Not Pompeii though, or any of the other sites we visited! I was enchanted.

BTW, this wasn’t just a pleasure jaunt, it was for research purposes. For a while now, I’ve had a timeslip/dual time story brewing in my mind set against the backdrop of Vesuvius’ eruption. I’d already done quite a bit of reading on the subject, but there is only so much you can do with facts on a page. Actually visiting a place is invaluable, and so my husband and I set out on our fascinating journey.

The Order of the Bath Tub

Nicola here and today I’m wallowing in the bath. Or I would be if it weren’t such an un-eco-friendly thing to do these days. Before I sat down to write this blog, I checked out whether showering really uses less water than bathing and of course it all depends on how deep the bath or how long the shower. A bath filled about a third of the way up (which takes the water level over your belly button when you lie down) requires around 75 litres. An ordinary electrically heated shower puts out four litres per minute. So a 19-minute shower uses slightly more water than a bath. If you have a power shower, flow rates could be doubled and you’d need just 10 minutes.

In terms of health benefits there is also positive news on either side. Showers are better for getting you clean and not stripping all the natural moisture from your skin. Baths are more therapeutic to help you relax and of course you can add things to them to soak in. Which is where this all started before I digressed, because what I wanted to blog about today is things we put in the bath!

A Winner

Anne here with a quick Sunday post to announce the winner of the giveaway of AM Stuart's book, Evil in Emerald.

The winner is Karin. Congratulations, Karin — there should be an email in your in-box announcing it.

Thank you to all of you who read the post and commented.

We wenches really appreciate our readers.

If you missed the interview with AM Stuart, it's here.

 

Who is James Edward Oglethorpe?

Pat here, just back from a three week trip by plane, boat, and car (don’t know how we missed train. . .) and a little too overwhelmed to write a coherent blog. The original intent of our travel was research in Charleston and Savannah, but weather upended most of those plans. Both cities are charming, and their early days would be great for contrasting, but that would take more time and space than I have. So I thought I’d dive into Savannah’s history first—until I remembered General James Oglethorpe, the city’s founder. The man was absolutely fascinating and a century before his time, at the very least. If only all our rich and famous could be as broad-minded. . .

AM Stuart—Evil in Emerald

Anne here, and today I'm talking to Alison Stuart, who, as AM Stuart, writes historical crime set in 1910 Singapore, and as Alison Stuart writes Australian historical romance set in colonial Australia, and a variety of other historicals set in different time periods. You can find them listed on her website.

I interviewed Alison when her first historical crime novel, Singapore Sapphire, was published in the USA, and you can read that interview here.  

Her latest book, third in the series, is Evil in Emerald. But if you haven't read any of her books, you might want to start at the first in the series, Singapore Sapphire. 

Anne: Welcome back to the Word Wenches, Alison, and congratulations on the publication of the third Harriet Gordon and Inspector Curran story. The first title contained sapphires, the second rubies, and now we're onto emeralds. What's the significance?

May Day, May Day!

By Mary Jo

A recent Wench blog by Christina had us describing our personal Easter customs and memories, which I much enjoyed, though I didn't have much to contribute. (I forgot to mention that we dye Easter eggs.  And then devil and eat them. <G>)

But it got me to thinking about a little custom that I hadn't thought about in literally decades: my older sister and I making little paper cones, putting in a few flowers, generally daffodils since not much else was blooming then in Upstate New York, and taking them around to the neighbors.  We lived on a rural road with not many houses within walking distance, but it was a pleasant little custom.

I remember one year when my sister had outgrown the custom so I went around on my own.  There were a lot of Polish immigrants in our area of Western New York because there was plenty of good farm land.  I didn't notice much difference in the kids at my school except that the Polish kids tended to be blonder. But many had Polish grandmothers at home. 

On this particular year, I went to a small house on the corner of the state highway where we lived and a nearby dirt road. The little house had been a schoolhouse once, and my own father once was a student there.  (When I think back, this is all pretty remarkable but at the time it was perfectly natural.)

 

Ask A Wench - Easter Traditions

Christina here with this month’s Ask A Wench. As it’s Good Friday today, I thought I would ask the Wenches what their favourite Easter tradition is, or whether they have any favourite Easter ornaments or decorations? Turns out they have quite a few of both!

Pat:  When I was a kid, hats were a big deal on Easter. I LOVE hats. I have difficult hair and hats covered a multitude of sins. I could make a statement with hats. Of course, as a kid, it was my mother’s statement, but hats were cool. These days, I wear hats anytime I like, and I don’t need to take them to church on Easter.

Tudor and Georgian Treasures in Bath

Nicola here. It’s always a pleasure to visit the Holburne Museum in Bath (it’s always a pleasure to visit Bath!) and last week Baden and I hopped on the train to go and see the exhibition on The Tudors: Passion, Power and Politics, which has had rave reviews and I’ve been desperate to see from the first. 

It’s quite a thing to come face to face with some of the most famous names in Tudor history, particularly as the exhibition room is smaller than most galleries and therefore more intimate. It wasn’t busy either, which meant I could stand for as long as I liked in front of the paintings simply lapping up all the details.

Historical Blunders

Susan here, with a few stories from history—odd, quirky, amusing stories that aren't always included in historical accounts. If you've heard these before, they're worth another chuckle. No matter the era or the year, history is about people, with instincts, impulses, thoughts, habits, needs, and cleverness that is refreshingly familiar to us today. Victories, triumphs and losses, advances and discoveries, genius and so on--that's what we most often learn about.

And then there are the other stories--the blunders, the oddities, the quirky little things that make historical figures utterly human. Here are a few of those -- enjoy! 

Napoleon and the Bunnies

Easter is coming, and bunnies are a big part of that, the chocolate and the furry and fluffy sort. But what did Napoleon have to do with bunnies? In 1807, to celebrate a treaty, Napoleon proposed a rabbit hunt and set his chief of staff to round up some hares and let them loose in a field, making the hunt easy for Napoleon and a select group of cronies. Berthier did so, visiting farms and bringing hundreds—some accounts say thousands—of rabbits to the field where the emperor and the others were ready for the hunt.

When the rabbits were set free, they did not scamper away, inviting the chase—they hopped about in the sunshine and ran toward Napoleon in particular, leaping up to climb up his legs and arms, swarming around the emperor and his men, and hoppity-hoppity-hopping to the carriages to leap and bounce inside. The chief of staff had not brought wild hares—rather, he had gathered farm rabbits more suited to life around people, and even life as pets. They were happily expecting food and perhaps a pat and a tummy rub. Napoleon rode away in a coach filled with fluffy bunnies—amid the laughter of his men.

Ben Franklin and the Turkey

Another holiday features turkeys—and Ben Franklin was particularly fond of them, not only because he thought them tasty. He admired the turkey so much that he proposed it for the national bird (thankfully the eagle won out!). One day, in the midst of his series of experiments with electricity, Franklin was planning to cook a turkey for dinner and had the bright idea to harness an electric current to heat up and cook it a lot faster than roasting it on a spit over the kitchen fire.

Not a bad idea in theory, in practice it left a little to be desired. Generating a current, Franklin connected the leads to the plucked turkey—but contacted the electric current himself. He was blown clear across the room, and lived to tell the tale. History doesn’t record what he had for dinner that night, but chances are it wasn’t roast turkey!

Michelangelo and the Duomo of Florence

Michelangelo was such a celebrated giant among artists of his time that his good opinion was gold. In 1516, he was walking through Florence one day with town officials, who were proud to show him the progress of the beautiful cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, under construction at the time. They pointed out to him Brunelleschi’s magnificent dome, a masterpiece of architectural ingenuity and beauty. Stopping to examine the cathedral’s soaring vaulted dome, Michelangelo looked up and noticed the intricate stonework trim being applied around the base of the dome. What did he think, they asked. “It looks like a cage for crickets!” he said, being a blunt and straightforward sort. Work on the dome’s trim stopped that day, so the story goes, and the trim on the dome has never been completed.

Another story about the Duomo’s construction exists. In its planning stages, a looming problem was how to construct a
dome that high. After much deliberation and rejected plans—the fear was that the dome would collapse during construction due to the unusual height and breadth of the vault—city officials turned to the public for solutions. A contest was held. Among the suggestions was to create a gigantic pile of dirt inside the cathedral during construction, so that workers could climb up and down the makeshift mountain, safely carrying bricks and stone and materials to construct the dome. The idea interested the committee—but how would they clear all that dirt out when the dome was complete? Seed the dirt with gold coins deep inside the mound and invite the people of Florence inside to carry the dirt away in buckets while they searched for the gold. Needless to say, this brilliant little plan didn’t come about, and they relied on scaffolding instead.

Andrew Jackson’s Parrot

Another animal story—President Andrew Jackson had a pet parrot named Poll, which he purchased in 1827. When Jackson died many years later in 1845, during his funeral, Poll the parrot sat on a perch nearby as hundreds of visitors entered and came through to pay their respects. Before the sermon, it was reported, this “wicked parrot that was a household pet got excited and commenced swearing so loud and long as to disturb the people and had to be carried from the house.”

People were horrified at the extent of the bird’s colorful, raunchy language—and some were even scandalized at the bird’s irreverence during the funeral of its owner. Bad Polly! Though it begs the question: where did Poll learn such creative language?

Just a few of the reasons why history and the people who create it remain endlessly fun and fascinating! 

 

Unlikable Characters

Anne here, and today I'm responding to a question that Annette N. sent in — and for that she will receive a free book. Thanks, Annette.

Her question was: "Is it hard to write characters you don't like? Do you run into people in your stories who simply are not someone you want to know well? I can see enjoying writing characters who are fun and charming and simply nice people. But, how difficult is it to spend time with someone you dislike — a lot? And if they are supposed to be villainous, how evil do you make them?"

I like to have a variety of characters in my books — it makes for a more realistic setting — so invariably there are some unlikable characters. I think if everyone were nice in a book, it would get boring.

Unlikable characters, nasty or just difficult people, and outright villains are grist to a storyteller's mill. They can make a story more interesting or exciting, and when you have your hero or heroine come up against them, whether it's an imperious dowager, a waspish society shrew, or an evil villain lurking behind a smooth facade, confronting them brings out aspects of the hero or heroine's character that might not otherwise take place. (I'm not saying that Maggie Smith's dowager countess is unlikable — indeed most of us love her — but she is difficult, and doesn't that add to our enjoyment?)

To be honest, I generally enjoy writing the nasty ones — it's a nice break from writing characters I want readers to love. I can have fun with them. For instance I often include lovable and eccentric old ladies in my books, but in my Convenient Marriage series it was fun to have an old lady, Aunt Agatha, who was a right old tartar.

For instance when the soldier hero asks for her help with his orphaned young half-sisters she writes this:

 

The Simple Joys of a Daily Walk

Andrea here, inspired by Anne’s recent post on “Simple Pleasures” I, too, have been thinking more about the small things in my everyday life that make me stop and smile, and appreciate my blessings.

I have a daily ritual of taking a long walk, usually in the late afternoon. I call it my plotting walk, as I use it to think about the pages I’ve written that day . . . and how to untangle any kinks that crept into the story or character development. It’s something I really look forward to, not only for story aspects, but because it’s also—quite literally—a breath of fresh air. After sitting in my writing room for hours, it resets my perspective. I’m a very visual person, and there is so much outdoors that catches my eye and reminds me of all the little unexpected beauties in the “ordinary.”

All Things Yellow

Christina here and today I’m going to talk about all things yellow because I seem to be surrounded by this colour at the moment! To me, it signifies spring, sunshine and Easter, among other things. And it’s a colour I’ve always associated with happiness – just looking at it makes you want to smile because it’s bright and beautiful!

Now that the clocks have changed, and with spring finally having arrived here in the northern hemisphere, we can enjoy a lot more sunshine and the world feels like a brighter place. Although I’ve never been affected by SAD, and actually love the darker months of the year, it’s still great when you can go outside and feel the sunlight on your face. It’s not surprising that the sun was so important to our ancestors, and that some of them saw it as a deity. We may not literally worship it these days, but we certainly appreciate its appearance for longer each day.