Word Wenches

A Roller Coaster Ride Through Regency Paris

Andrea here, hoping all of you are staying safe and well in these very difficult and frightening times.

It feels a little strange to continue as normal with our posts on research and whatever strikes our fancy when the world is in such turmoil. But we’ve decided that a little “normal” is probably good for all of us. (Especially things that make us smile.)

And today, it so happens that my research topic is a fun one. So, let’s all take a roller coaster ride—quiet literally—through one of the most popular entertainment to arise in Regency Paris! (Who says history doesn’t take you on some wild rides!)

Emma—a Heroine to Love or Hate?

Andrea here, musing today about books, movies, and Jane Austen . . . and when the three collide. I just saw the new iteration of Emma on the silver screen, and have some thoughts and reactions to share.

“Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence; and had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress or vex her.”

To begin with, Emma (the novel) is not my favorite Austen. (Though I do find the opening sentence nearly as witty and clever as “It is a truth universally acknowledged . . .) That distinction lies with P&P (though Persuasion is a very close second . . . pip, pip, for the Ps!) But it isn’t my least favorite either —I have to say that rating lies with Northanger Abbey, which JA wrote as a parody of Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto, considered the first gothic novel.

 

It was a Dark and Stormy Night . . .

Andrea here . . . Today I’m musing about the weather. What with all the recent climate catastrophes around the globe, it’s made me focus on how much I take for granted that whatever the day brings—rain, shine, cold or heat—it’s usually merely a minor nuisance or one of those welcome small pleasure, not something that has a profound impact on my life. Modern life, with its astounding array of ways to avoid the inconvenience of bad weather, makes it easy to forget what an awesome force it can be when roused to  showing its teeth.

It's That Day Again. Valentines!

Joanna here, with the Wenches, talking Valentines Day and Romance and the cool things that mean love to us.

It's not always what you'd expect.

Anne, being both down-to-earth and so, so right, says:

To be honest, I'm not a big fan of Valentine's Day. It only became popular in Australia after I was an adult, and it felt very commercial. I'm much more in favor of unscheduled expressions of love -- a spontaneous gift of chocolates or flowers or something else, a romantic dinner (where you're not jostling in a restaurant with a hundred other couples trying to look romantic), a romantic night in at any time of year, a love-letter that arrives randomly. Even a job that needs doing that's been put off for a while can be

Flowers. Oh yes

romantic -- in the right context. And words of love need to be spontaneous, not scheduled according to the calendar.

 

And while I love love love roses, I don't love the ones they sell for Valentine's. Beautiful, perfect-looking red roses -- without scent. To me that's a bit like a declaration of love without the emotion. I'd much rather a slightly raggedy bunch of roses from the garden, imperfect, but with a glorious scent. Or even not-roses. I have a friend who often arrives for a visit bearing a bunch of flowers from her garden -- one or two of each kind, nothing matching or "designer" but so vibrant and pretty and with a lovely meld of fragrances.

 

 

Pat gives us a lovely view of a warm holiday:

For a romance writer, I'm not very much into schmaltz or commercial holidays. I adored the sticky messy cards my children drew for me in grade school simply because they so much reflected their individual personalities and made me smile and cry at the same time.

But Valentine's Day is also my wedding anniversary, and that's worth celebrating. Our tradition is pretty simple, though. We pick out cards (usually e-cards we can adapt in our own words). My husband usually brings me lovely flowers, because it was always gray gloomy winter for most of our years, and he knows how much I love a bright bouquet to fight off gloom. And then we go out for an extravagant meal in a quiet restaurant we wouldn't normally go to.

Really, it's all about being together with the ones you love, isn't it? And that can be any time for any reason.

 

Andrea is not necessarily a fan of the commercial:

And isn't this a cool Valentine

As one whose teeth is often set on edge by all the “canned” commercial holly-jolly of the really traditional holidays, it’s no surprise that I’m not a big fan of manufactured holidays. It feels a little silly to feel compelled to buy a fancy gift and make reservations at some, swanky expensive—and likely overcrowded—restaurant, simply because of a date on a calendar.

For me, gestures of love are all about the little things—the smaller and more spontaneous, the better . . . Getting a surprise brownie when I’ve mentioned to a friend that I’m feeling a little down . . . An impromptu invitation to take a walk holding hands on a beautiful sunny day.

Huge bouquets of red rose or big boxes of fancy chocolates don’t make my heart go pitty-pat. (well, okay—maybe I’m fibbing about the chocolate!) It’s the off-beat things that I cherish. One of my favorites is a small heart-shaped rock inscribed with colorful circles that I received for no apparent reason at all! Fluttery sigh.   

 

Nicola has a very Romantic story to tell:

I got engaged on Valentine’s Day 32 years ago. In those days it wasn’t really the commercial

That special Valentines trip

festival it is now but was a lot more low key. One of the things that I remember about the occasion was that that my now-husband was so nervous when it came to proposing that he couldn’t get the words out!

Since that day so long ago, we have gone on a trip each Valentine’s Day to celebrate our engagement. This has not always been easy – bad weather, hospital stays and various other life events have intervened to throw obstacles in the way but we have always managed to do something every year even if it has just been a quiet dinner for two somewhere. In the process we’ve stayed in so many gorgeous places and discovered historical gems to visit across England, Scotland and Wales. It’s a fabulous tradition and I hope we can continue it until we fall off our joint twig!

 

The cat in the earrings

Mary Jo passes along a story from a friend:

One of the sweetest Valentine's story I know is from many years ago when a close college friend was dating a girl who really made him light up with happiness. Valentine's Day was coming so he bought her a large stuffed animal to cuddle. He also bought her a pair of earrings because giving jewelry is always a romantic gesture.

Then he thought why not combine the gifts? So the stuffed cat wore earrings. His sweetheart carried that critter through their whole date. And yes--Reader, he married her!

(The picture is a reenactment since this happened long before the era of easy smart phone cameras. <G>)

 

Susan brings us hearts, harts, hearts:

When my three boys were little guys, they gave me assorted hearts for Valentine's Day--small

The collective noun for hearts is ...

wooden ones painted in a preschool class, Play-Doh hearts rolled and mushed and left to dry, paper cut-out hearts glued to doilies, hearts in crayon on paper ...

I've kept lots of these, stashed away in boxes of things that I keep for each son (should they ever want them, which is looking doubtful!). Sometimes the little guys would troop out with their Dad to buy a card and a big box of chocolates (that they soon scarfed up), and they'd also help him pick out heart-shaped jewelry.

I've got quite a collection of heart-shaped necklaces and earrings by now -- here are just a few of them. Each one holds a memory that I'll keep forever, even if the chocolates lasted about five minutes in this house! Happy Valentine's to all!

 

And for me, Joanna ...

I love seasonal things. The candles of the Solstice. The first snowdrop. Fireworks. Pumpkins. Maiwein. The August Moon Viewing.

My best Valentines Days have included clumsy, schoolmade Valentines of red construction paper and frilly white doilies with LOTS of school glue slathered on. Glitter optional.

I also have a fondness for origami hearts. They delight me beyond measure.

But most of all, I love the dorky heart-shaped candies with little slogans on them. "Kiss Me," "Hug Me Tight, "Be Mine."

 

So, what moves your heart today, Valentines Day?
What custom? What memory? What gift?

 

A Panorama of Paris

Andrea here, musing on research, and why I find it such fun to delve into background material to find all the little details that help to add color to a story. I’ve got a new Lady Arianna mystery coming out on April 6th—it’s titled A TANGLE OF SERPENTS—and this latest adventure takes Arianna and Saybrook to Paris in the aftermath of of Waterloo. The Allied armies have occupied the city, which has become a viper’s nest of international intrigue as Britain, Russia, Prussia and Austria all jockey for power in how to reorder France. (You can pre-order here. And read an excerpt here.)

It’s a fabulously interesting setting for a mystery . . . I found so many fun bits of color to weave into the plot. The most amazing discovery, which figures prominently in the action, is one I’m saving for close to the release date. But here are plenty of others . . .

Imagine the city suddenly flooded with soldiers from all over Europe—how do you keep them . . . er . . . entertained? And add to the soldiers all the British civilians who at last were free to visit the Continent after years of war. So tourists were also crowding the boulevards, anxious to taste all the pleasures of Paris. Well, thank heavens the city was famous for its joie de vivre. Food! Fashion! Flirting! It turns out there was no dearth of places that offered a sumptuous array of amusements.

 

Random Doodles!

Andrea here, What with the holidays upon us, and this week likely being a frenzy of last-minute running around, I’ve decided to keep my scribbling short. Very short! So I'm doing something a little different.

Now, scribbling is the operative word. Many of us here enjoy historical books—both ones written by contemporary authors set in the past, and ones actually penned in the past. (I adore seeing displays of historical manuscripts. I literally got goosebumps seeing Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre at the British Library!)

I recently saw a delightful blog that made me have a fun “ah-ha!” moment regarding on how we read books. (more on that in a moment.) I would like to posit that there are two fundamental types of readers: Those who revere the printed page and abhor the idea of adding any markings to it. And those who don’t hesitate for a moment about adding their own personal doodles.

Ask A Wench - December

Susanna here, with this month’s Ask-A-Wench post, in which our question is—appropriately enough for the season—“What Christmas stories have you been reading lately?"

Every year I settle in with my holiday comfort reads—Dinah Dean’s The Cockermouth Mail, and the paperback novelization of The Gift of Love (a wonderfully sappy romantic TV movie from the 1970s based on O. Henry’s The Gift of the Magi) and, if I’m not in the middle of writing a book myself, Rosamunde Pilcher’s Winter Solstice. This year, I added a book I’d bought last year and saved as a treat—Happy Christmas, by Daphne du Maurier.

A Royally Sweet Secret!

Andrea here, As most of you know, I love doing research. For me it’s endlessly interesting—and at times exciting, especially when I discover something new about something I’ve delved into before. (That’s truly one of the pleasures of history—the more you think you know, the more you find hidden surprises!)

And given the season, this sweet discovery is particularly fun. Chocolate and the holidays—really, how perfect is that! The royal palaces of London are some of my favorite places, and I happened to be doing some additional research on Kensington Palace and Kew Palaces for the Wrexford & Sloane mystery I’m currently writing . . .when lo and behold, a tantalizing little sidebar popped up regarding Hampton Court Palace. Given that it involved chocolate, how could I resist! So join me in enjoying this little nibble of history.

 

What We're Reading for November

Howdy folks. Joanna here.
Hope all those who celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday had a good one.

It's been a good month for reading, it being fall weather and brisk enough that the dog doesn't beg for a walk so much.

 

Andrea brings us a YA and a biography:

It was a strange reading month. I started and didn’t finish a couple of books, which is very rare for me. But they just didn’t catch my fancy. However, having enjoyed the Ron Chernow biography of Alexander Hamilton so much, I snatched up Washington: A Life,  his bio on George Washington, when it recently appeared on BookBub. (It won the Pulitzer Prize some years back) I’m only about a quarter of the way through it, but am really enjoying it.

 

Chernow has a wonderful knack of making his subjects come so alive. Washington’s early life is fascinating, and he comes across as a very different character from the solemn, stately president that the history books present. We see a full range of his humanity—he was a man of passions and pragmatism—and really paints a viid portrait of his many nuances. I’m very much looking forward to glomming through the rest of it in next little while.

I love Leigh Bardugo’s YAs, so I was also eagerly waiting the release of her first adult novel, Ninth House. I glommed through it, but have to confess that it wasn’t an easy read. The plotting and character development were ragged in places, and it was VERY dark and gritty—enough so, that I paused in a few places wondering whether I could continue. It didn’t have the strong band of misfit friends that she created so beautifully in the YAs, so the relationship of protagonists seemed a little disjointed.

 

BUT, as as the blurb says, it’s a tale of power, privilege, dark magic, and murder set among the Ivy League elite . . . and glimmers of Bardugo’s magical writing flickered enough in places, that I stuck with it. And as the backstory of the main character—a deeply damaged freshman young woman who suddenly finds herself trying to keep evil magic from running amuck when her senior mentor disappears—is slowly revealed, the story really begins to come together, and the bonding begins to work.

 

It’s a challenging read, so be forewarned. But I ended up liking in spite of the problems I found. It’s clearly the start of the series, and I’m hooked enough on the characters and the quest that I’ll definitely get the second book. (In the last chapter of this book, she and her friends have discovered that her mentor isn't dead, but has been swallowed by a demon . . . so the last line of this book is hard to resist. “So, who’s ready to go to Hell?”

 

Nicola offers us a fine mix:

I’ve been mixing romance and crime in my reading this month. I started with My Sister the Serial Killer, which was recommended here last month. The title in itself is enough to rouse the curiosity! It’s about Korede, whose gorgeous sister Ayoola is the serial killer of the title. Korede has been covering up for and tidying up after Ayoola for years but she’s about to reach breaking point when her sister takes a shine to the man Korede is in love with… A lot of the reviews describe this book as hilarious.

I didn’t actually find it very funny because it was pretty dark, but I did find it compulsive and the writing was very, very good. I always feel it’s hard to say I enjoyed a book like this because I found it disturbing but it was a very interesting reading experience.

Next up was The Word is Murder by Antony Horowitz. I really enjoyed the last book of his I read, The Magpie Murders, and this was just as good. It’s a modern take on the old-fashioned murder mystery, full of red herrings, misdirection, a fascinating cast of characters and a maverick detective.

Romance was provided by a timeslip novel by Melinda Hammond, called Casting Samson. Linda is an award-winning author of Regency romance (she also writes under the name Sarah Mallory) but I’ve read and enjoyed her timeslip writing before (Moonshadows) so I was really looking forward to Casting Samson.

The two time periods are contemporary and the era of the Crusades and the Knights Templar, which was a fascinating and unusual period of history to read about. The historical and modern days sections were woven together beautifully and there were two very satisfying love stories in the contemporary story. There was also a hilarious scene at a village fete which had me laughing aloud. Anyone who enjoys romances set in English villages should like this – it has a lovely and vivid cast of characters, three very attractive heroes, history and mystery! Casting Samson was previously published by HQ Digital and Melinda will be republishing it very soon – watch this space! In the meantime, here’s the link to Moonshadows.

 

Pat's here with a New York City story:

Elizabeth Gilbert is a fabulous writer who can draw the reader in with her effortless prose alone. The reviews of City of Girls caught  my interest with promises of New York City theater history in the 1940s. The opening chapter was a bit of a literary conceit, but I tolerated that. It gave the author the opportunity to write a chatty monologue, presumably to some woman she’d only met once, explaining how the narrator's relationship with the unknown woman’s father. That sounded promising.

I knew it wasn’t romance and the narrator wouldn’t end up with the father, but I was happy to go along for the ride—until midbook when the narcissistic shallow protagonist had yet to mention said gentleman but talked only of herself.

There were a lot of entertaining characters along the way, and I kept waiting for the story to coalesce into a beginning, middle, and end. Instead, I got lots of enchanting vignettes of 1940s New York that never went anywhere. So I skipped to the end, and the father showed up maybe forty pages from the end. I’ll leave it to you whether he was worth the effort. So if you don’t mind just going along for the ride with no destination in mind, read this for the history and the prose.

Anne returns to a favorite author and brings us someone new. Anne says:

 

I've recommended Juliet Marillier's novels before in this column, and her latest, The Harp of Kings, was a standout read for me this month. Juliet Marillier writes Celtic history with elements of fantasy and magic. In The Harp of Kings eighteen-year-old Liobhan and her brother Brocc are musicians training to join an elite warrior band. When they are recruited for a secret mission to find and retrieve an ancient harp, vital to the coronation of a king—and the stability of a kingdom—they are challenged by both men and magic. A wonderful novel, highly recommended.

 

My other recommendation is Ann Swinfen — The Bookseller's Tale. Recommended to me by a friend, this is a medieval mystery set in the Oxford of 1353. The small university town is still trying to recover from the aftermath of The Great Plague, several years before. When maker of books, bookseller and scrivener, Nicholas Elyot, finds the body of a student known to him, murdered and tossed into the river, he becomes involved in a search for answers, answers that are closely connected to the book trade.

 

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Apart from the story, plot and characters -- all of which were intelligent and engaging -- I learned a lot about this time period and place that I hadn't known. The minute I finished The Bookseller's Tale, I bought the next in the series, The Novice's Tale and gobbled it down. I've since finished the series. Best read in order.

 

 

Mary Jo brings me cats, which is always a delight.

 

Murder at the Cat Show by Marian Babson

I've been in the mood for light reading, and when I saw a cozy mystery by Marian Babson on BookBub, I snapped it up because I read and enjoyed it years ago.  While I remember the general plot, I'd forgotten most of the details, so I enjoyed it all over again.  The story is narrated by Doug Perkins, who runs a small public relations firm with his friend Gerry Tate.  They’re hired to publicize a London cat show.  

Doug has no opinions about cats one way or the other, but he soon gets sucked into discovering celebrity working cat and their doting owners. There's a murder, Doug gets enslaved by a peremptory young Siamese, and much fun is had all around. <G>  Very enjoyable, especially if you like cats. 

A Holiday by Gaslight by Mimi Matthews

This is an enjoyable Victorian Christmas novella, a nice light bite at a busy season. As of this writing, it's 99 cents, though I don't know how long that will last.  Here's the blurb:

Sophie Appersett is quite willing to marry outside of her class to ensure the survival of her family. But the darkly handsome Mr. Edward Sharpe is no run-of-the-mill London merchant. He's grim and silent. A man of little emotion--or perhaps no emotion at all. After two months of courtship, she's ready to put an end to things.

 But severing ties with her taciturn suitor isn't as straightforward as Sophie envisioned. Her parents are outraged. And then there's Charles Darwin, Prince Albert, and that dratted gaslight. What's a girl to do except invite Mr. Sharpe to Appersett House for Christmas and give him one last chance to win her? Only this time there'll be no false formality. This time they'll get to know each other for who they really are!

 

And me, I'll round out the month of November with a paranormal.

I don't read a lot of story collections, but I picked up a couple in November, doing the mind-broadening thing.

One struck me in particular. It's Small Magics by the writing team of Ilona Andrews. This is five or six stories set in the her fictive universe. You got yer magic, yer warrior women,yer  shape shifters, post-Apocalypse world, folks fighting with swords and adventure in general. They give us a couple YA stories and a couple love stories. All of them are lovely.

Can I call the stories warm and funny when they’re full of monsters and bloodshed?

Anyway, I enjoyed this lot and it might be just what you need if you don’t have time to sit down and concentrate for a long stretch.

 

So. what are you reading lately that you think other folks might like hearing about?

 

 

The Write Stuff

Andrea here, musing today on writing. Or specifically, on handwriting. An old friend of mine wrote me a note about the blog I did on letterpress printing, and shared her own love of letterforms with a sample of the Zen calligraphy, which she’s been studying (and teaching) for a number of years.

I’m in awe of people who can create such beautiful art—for in my opinion, letters are true art. And that got me to thinking about handwriting. In the spirit of full disclosure, I have TERRIBLE handwriting. (right) It’s embarrassing, as I was an art major, should be able to create a nicer looking page than my pitiful scrawl. I try to explain it away by the fact that I’m slightly dyslexic. In typing I tend to transpose letters all the time. (You don’t want to try to read a paragraph that I type in hurry—it’s scary.) And when writing by hand, I do tend to mix up which letter comes next, especially if I try to rush. I have to be really careful at book signings to get a person’s name spelled right. (It’s actually rather stressful.)

A Touch of Magic!

Andrea here, musing today about making things by hand, and the tactile and visual pleasures of connecting with three dimensions in this digital age. It seems that more and more institutions of learning, from school classrooms to museums of every discipline, are recognizing the importance of object-based learning. Engaging with an actual “concrete” (okay, not literally) entity brings a subject—be it history, art, technology, the natural sciences—magically alive in ways that transcends a computer screen image or photographic reproduction.

I recently had a wonderful first-hand experience in watching this happen. In September, I teamed up to do a special project with a professor who teaches undergraduates at my alma mater how to print on an old-fashioned printing press. It involved creating a keepsake for an alumni gathering, and as it was my bright idea to print it by hand with real type and quality paper—even though 700 copies were needed—the two of us had a LOT time to chat in the press room as we cranked out the pieces one by one. (I fell in love with letterpress printing as a freshman, and did a lot of it, so it was great fun for me to get ink on my hands again after so many years.)

When Minor Characters Come to Life . . .

Andrea here, musing today on minor characters in a story, and how they can surprise you. Take, for example, my just-released mystery, Murder at Kensington Palace. In doing research for the book, I had come across a paragraph or two that mentioned scientific soirees were occasionally held at Kensington Palace during the Regency because King George III’s sixth son (and ninth child), Prince Augustus Frederick, lived in one of the state apartments and was very interested in science.

Aha! I think—it’s the perfect place for my opening scene! So, I make a note of it, doubly happy because I now have a great title for the book. When it comes down to writing the scene, I shuffle through all my notes and photos from my visit to the palace, as well as research I’ve done on the real-life scientific scholars who might have attended, as I have fun putting a few small cameos of actual people interacting with my fictional characters. And course, I remind myself to made a very brief mention of Prince Augustus Frederick—or the Duke of Sussex, the title he was granted by his father in 1801.

Naturally, I imagine this will only take a minute down rabbit hole. I only intend to have him walk by, and then have a few other people comment on some of his habits to make him a little individuality . . . However, I ended up being really surprised by what an interesting man he was. I had always thought of George III’s sons as a rather undistinguished lot (if not downright dislikable fellows.) And for me, Augustus Frederick was sort of lost in the shuffle of the 15 children.

 

Hellion Heroines

Andrea here, musing today about heroines . . .or more specifically, hellion heroines. Murder at Kensington Palace, my latest Wrexford & Sloane Regency mystery released this week, and as the creation of a book is quite a journey, from the first glimmer of an idea to the final pages being ready for a reader to begin turning, I always like to sit back and reflect a bit on the process.

It’s great fun constructing the plot and weaving in enough twists and turns to keep people guessing (though as a total “pantser”, I confess that I’m sometimes in danger of tripping over my own two feet!) However, for me the real heart of crafting a story is creating the characters—how to give them challenges and vulnerabilities, how to make them both flawed but appealing enough that readers will cheer for them to overcome all obstacles. And in a series, where the protagonists carry over from book to book, the characters have to grow—as we all do through our journey through life.

A Shocking Discovery!

Andrea here, musing today on a very “shocking” topic! Ha—now that I have your attention, I shall explain! I have a new release coming out on the 24th. Murder at Kensington Palace is the third book in my Wrexford & Sloane Regency mystery series, and the plot involves electricity!

The voltaic pile (basically the first electrical battery) was invented by Alessandro Volta in 1800. As often happens in the world of invention, the discovery was sparked by a disagreement he had with Luigi Galvani, another man of science who had discovered he could make the legs of a dead frog “jump “ when they were used to form a circuit between two different type of metal. Galvani claimed he had discovered animal electricity—an electrical fluid inherent in the frog itself.

Volta believed the reaction had a more rational explanation than that, and set about creating a chemical electrolyte (the fluid that creates the circuit between two different metals and thus an electrical current.) He soaked cloth or cardboard in brine and spaced them between disks of zinc and metal—and lo and behold created an electrical current! By adding more disks and electrolyte pads, he discovered he could make a voltaic pile more powerful.

This awesome new discovery was hugely exciting to the scientific world during the Regency. In London, people flocked to the Royal Institution, one of the leading scientific organizations of the time, to hear lectures and see demonstrations of voltaic batteries.

 

The Joys of Friendship

Andrea here, thinking today about the joys of friendship and all the special ways it can enrich our lives. Here at the Word Wenches, we all write books that have friendship and love at the heart of our stories, though we play with those elemental tropes in our own individual styles. The beauty of friendship is that it has an infinite number of ways to weave us all together.

In our occasional blogs on craft, we’ve talked a lot about the solitary life of a writer, and how we spend a lot of time in the “writing cave” with just our characters for company. (Trust me, there are times I wish I could send them back to their own abode and get them out of my hair! But as with all friends, you quickly learn to love their little quirks . . .)

 

A New Rainbow of Red, White and Blue

Andrea here, tomorrow is America’s birthday, and like all birthdays, it’s a time for festive celebration—red, white and blue cakes, fireworks, parades and general merriment as the milestone serves as a traditional high point in summer across the country. But as we gear up for a day of fun and backyard grilling, I also have a few more serious thoughts about the occasion.

Despite our flaws and foibles—and as a collection of “we, the people,” the country has many—there is much to celebrate. Our forefathers founded this brash experiment with some very radical ideas about equality and the notion of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” And throughout our history, those ideals have served as a guiding light, even when at times, the beacon has seemed dimmed by dark clouds.

A Short But Sweet History of Brownies!

Andrea here—with the first day of summer just two days away, and the cold, rainy spring finally showing hints of sunny warmth where I am, I can't help but find myself thinking of long, lazy outdoors days. Preferable with a book.

And a brownie.

Many of you have probably gathered that I’m rather fond of chocolate in all its glorious guises. (So much so that the main character in my Lady Arianna Regency mystery series is an expert in the history and culinary possibilities of chocolate . . . because what doesn’t taste better with chocolate!)

Now, my research on the subject has been mainly in the origins of the first edible chocolate. But as I said, with thoughts of summer—and brownies—dancing in my head, I decided some modern sleuthing was in order. And so, allow me to share a small nibble on the origins of THE BROWNIE! (Yes, yes, hard work, but someone has to do it.)

The Bestest Time Evah

 

Pat's cool vacation

Vacations, vacations, wonderful vacations.
It's summer time (up here in the northern hemisphere) and folks are travelling.

So I asked the Word Wenches, What do you remember as a really great vacation?

 

Pat remembers one totally-for-fun expedition.

From Pat:

Our vacations are often working vacations, or combining two purposes like family and travel, and after a while, they all tend to blend together a bit. So perhaps I’m most nostalgic about a trip IT Guy and I made alone, just for the fun of it, shortly after he retired. We finally had the freedom to leave at any time of the year we liked—no job, no kids with school, no social or business obligations.

We were a bit uncertain about our newly limited budget, so we didn’t want to do any big splurges, but we had one place we’d dreamed of for decades—the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta.

Yes, we’d traveled that direction once before, while writing California Girl  about a Route 66 trip. At the time, we could only admire the gorgeous balloons floating across the sky as we drove through. They were magical and all too brief. So this time, we made the trip just for the festival. I wasn’t writing a book about it. No research was involved, just pure enjoyment. We went with a tour so we didn’t have to worry about finding the best rooms or parking or any other hassle.

And it truly was the most magical trip I can remember. We saw the balloon glow and the dawn patrol and watched the race from our room when we left the grounds. We sat back and embraced the beauty of the countryside and the mystical blue skies.

And I even sneaked in a visit to a special tea room to meet with an author friend of mine and catch up. All in all, a very memorable trip!

Andrea is one of several Wenches who get their wilderness on.

Andrea: There are so many vacations filled with special memories—from the sublime to the absurd—so it’s impossible to pick a favorite. Spending time with family and friends, exploring history, just chilling out . . . each has its own unique and wonderful vibe.

 But that said, a backpacking trip with my two brothers to Wind River range in

Andrea, intrepid mountain hiker

Wyoming not long after I had graduated from college and started working in New York stands out as one of the ones on the “keeper” shelf.

As happens when the rhythm of going off to school and college begins, it had been a long time since the three of us had been together in the same place for more than a day or two at holidays. My younger brother had recently moved to Wyoming to work for a mining company. He loves the outdoors—as do I and my older brother. So when Big Brother suggested we pack our knapsacks and do a fishing trip with Little Brother up in the alpine lakes, I was all in.

 

Hiking through THIS country

 So off we went, hiking in 16 miles up to Island Lake, a remote spot at 11,000 ft (the last few miles are a real huff and puff when you’re carrying 60 lb on your back!) Oh, but was it worth it. We were camped on the water’s edge, surrounded by a semi-circle of peaks called Cirque of Towers. In the late afternoon sunset, the towering majesty of the stone alight in pink and gold was breathtakingly beautiful. We also hiked  one day up to the top of highest peak in the continental U.S. at 13,000 ft. Again, unbelievable views.

 But the truly special moments were sitting around the campfire each night, really having a chance to connect and talk the journeys we had been on so far. We were up there for a week—one rarely takes that sort of quiet time with people who matter in our lives, and that sense of renewing bonds and shared experiences still resonates with me.

I did mention fishing, right? So I have to add an anecdote. Both brothers are serious fishermen, and take pride in their flyfishing skills. Off they went each afternoon, after casting pitying looks at moi, their novice sister. One day, they laughingly left me an old rod with a hook baited with a worm, and told me to have fun, ha, ha, ha. So of course I throw the line in after they left . . . and promptly reeled in a 24” lake trout! I wish there had been cellphone cameras back then. The looks on their faces when they saw my monster were priceless. (Need I say, their fish were mere minnows in comparison!) I still tease them about that to this day!

 

Nicola's favourite holidays are very Scottish:

 

Scotland. A house by the beach

Nicola: It’s wet and windy here in the UK at the moment so there’s no better time to revisit one of my favourite holidays which was also wet and windy! Yes, it was last year on the very northernmost coast of Scotland. I’ve been on many amazing trips, some even to hot places (!) but in the end I just keep going back up north!

The first great thing about it was that we were staying in a cottage that was literally on a beach. Now I live as far from the sea as it is possible to get in the UK so going to the seaside is always a huge treat for me – and Angus as well of course. To fall asleep to the sound of the waves and to get up, open the door and be out in the dunes was totally amazing for us.

... both of them dressed for the weather

The area is rich in history, from the Viking settlement at SmooCaves along the coast to the ancient graveyard just across the sands with its tiny ruined church and many legends. Next to us was the Castle of Durinas, built in the 18^th century on the site of a medieval palace. The castle, like our little cottage, was available to rent for holidays and fortunately it was vacant that week. I played the “I’m a historical author and I’d love to look round” card, which I don’t do very often but I simply had to see inside… I got the full tour with local guide Duncan and his adorable dog. Together we explored the ancient passageways and they told me stories of ghosts and pirates which, of course, will one day make their way into a book. If you’d like to go and stay there, the link is here!

The final icing on the cake, as it were, was that just down the road was a craft village where I spent plenty of time browsing the workshops, and on the site there was also one of the best cafes in the north of Scotland that served hot chocolate that could make even the coldest, rainiest day less driech!

Panda in a suitcase.
Have cat, will travel

Mary Jo brings us her great vacation and a cat picture.
Any vacation is better with a cat picture so I'll show that first.

Oh, Jo, how can you be so cruel as to ask about a favorite vacation?  I've loved them all, and you can see that both The Panda and I are always ready for a new adventure.

arched niches in the walls

I haven't blogged about my trip to Greece before since it was pre-Wenches, but it was a great chick trip with me, my sister, and our former sister-in-law, whom we like so much that we kept her.  <G>  We spent several days in Athens in the Plaka, the historic area of the city, and had an amazing view of the Parthenon from our

Santorini

windows.  Then on to Santorini, the Greek island I've most wanted to see, and it was amazing. 

I could drown you in pictures, but I'll go with just this iconic one that shows the rugged volcanic bones of the island and part of the caldera, which is the circular sea left when the volcano blew the island into component parts. There is also the dazzling white and blue colors that say "Greece," and also make up the Greek flag.  Sigh. I want to go back.

 

Once upon a time, Anne took her first expeditions a writer.

Cats of Rhodos

Anne here. 

I can never pick any "favorite", whether it's a book or a vacation or a piece of music.  Looking back it feels as though much of my childhood consisted of holidays — we camped in tents when I was small — in fact, my mother left Dad and my three older siblings in the tent when she went off to give birth to me in hospital. They were camping at the beach near my grandparents' home. Travelling was something my family did constantly. As a child I travelled all over the UK, Ireland and parts of Europe with a caravan, and once I grew up, I went off with friends and tramped the bush and hitch-hiked around Tasmania and New Zealand. Whenever I could I headed off on holiday.

 

But Jo, when she passed this question to the wenches, added "..

Anne's foot in Connemara
(see it, bottom left)

. special points if a vacation inspired your writing." 

And that decided me, because there was one year when I went off travelling around the world on my own, for the better part of a year. We have this wonderful thing in Australia called Long Service Leave, and after you've worked for an employer for 10 years, you are entitled to time off on full pay.

So I took my long service leave, and added leave without pay to it, and went off with my backpack to explore the world.  

 

Penllyn in Wales

I was a bit nervous at first, but it turned out travelling solo, you meet all sorts of wonderful people that you probably wouldn't if you were with someone else. It also gave me time to think and ponder — a luxury that had been in short supply in my working life. And stories began to spin in my mind. Then, when I was in countries where I didn't speak the language, and didn't feel comfortable going out in the evening for anything other than dinner, I started to write in the evening. I sat on beaches in Brittany and wrote, I sat on Greek islands and wrote, I sat in grubby stations and wrote. The ideas came thick and fast and I loved it.

 

I came home at the end of that year with several A4 notebooks full of stories and ideas, and the firm intention of becoming a writer. And that, dear readers, is how a vacation inspired me to become a writer.

 

 

And back to Joanna again.

I have always admired the adventurous Australians one meets, hiking about in the far corners of the globe.

I hadn't realized they were taking writerly notes.

 

As for me:
I have lived a lifetime of vacations. So much travel, all of it wonderful and interesting. I am so lucky.

Picking one vacation more or less at random . . .
In the summers when I was young, my father used to take us to Maine to go fishing.

 

I am not the first of us to talk about fishing.

 

Yer typical Maine lake, but without a boat

Now, for me, fishing consists of sitting in a boat with a line dunked in the middle of a lake, admiring the scenery and thinking deep thoughts. Every once in a while you actually catch something, which is gratifying and leaves you with a lifelong disdain for any fish that isn't in the pan pretty much as soon as you dock on dry ground.

Catching fish makes you feel very clever.

I knew an actual Maine Guide and asked him how one survived when lost for long periods of time in the wilderness

and he said to forget about chasing down deer or hitting a rabbit over the head with a rock.

Carry fishhooks and eat fish.

But I digress.

A Maine stream of the type I do not catch fish in

There are other types of fishing that involve going out on the sea and being sick the whole time. Or you can hike through the bushes and trip over rocks and eventually get to a stream where you do this thing with throwing your hook upstream to entice fish but mostly it gets tangled in a tree.
Not my fish shtick, as it were.

 

The Carnegie library in Calais Maine because one cannot fish all the time

The lakes remain with me. Vivid hours with my father and a sister or two, listening to the woods, feeling the wind. Silence and bird calls everywhere around.
It just doesn't get any better than that.

 

 

And you? What's your great vacation? Where did you go and what do you remember? 

By the Numbers—A Regency magazine for Smart Ladies!

Andrea here, with summer nearly upon us here in the Northern Hemisphere, my thoughts are turning to reading (that is to say, I’m ALWAYS reading, but the long lazy, afternoons of the beach reading season always encourage thoughts of relaxing with the printed page—whether it’s old-fashioned ink or pixels.) It also got me to thinking of the historical heroines that we Wenches write, and how reading was an even more important part of their lives.

No television! No streaming! No social media! How on earth did they (assuming, of course, that they were among the privileged few who didn’t have to work endless hours to eek out a living) occupy their time? We know from first-hand accounts that letter writing and letter reading occupied a good amount a lady’s leisure, as did perusing the popular periodicals of the era.

Musings on Mindfulness, Machines and the Art of Letterwriting

Andrea here, taking a break from research (though I’ve been diving into some really interesting things of which you’ll be hearing soon) to muse on mindfulness and connecting the brain to something other than a machine.

I have been thinking about this lately as I take my daily “plotting walk,” which helps me unwind as I just let my thoughts wander. It’s amazing how often good ideas or the unraveling of plot knots happen when you turn off all the noise in your head and take the time to look and listen to Nature. There’s an elemental delight in spotting a leaf shaped like a heart, or a sea-washed feather on the beach—that sense of discovery and wonder is a special reminder to stay connected to real world, not just the devices that have become such a dominant force in our everyday lives.

Ask A Wench - Men in Boots, and other favorite historical clothing!

Nicola here, introducing this month’s Ask A Wench feature. Recently on my Facebook page I’ve started to post an item called Saturday Swagger, sharing some of the gorgeous historical portraits I’ve seen and love. One of them was this 17th century miniature of Sir Edward Herbert reclining in a come-hither pose. When she saw it, fellow author and Word Wench friend Sophie Weston of the Liberta Blog  commented: “The Boots! The Boots!” Happily, this set us all thinking about those aspects of historical costume that we particularly enjoy, and the result is this blog piece in which we ask: “What is your favourite item of historical clothing, to wear, to make or simply to appreciate?” So here are the Wenches' thoughts on this topic of sartorial splendour and we would love to hear yours!

Going to the Dogs!

Andrea here, musing today about secondary characters. I find that one of the ways to keep a series fresh and engaging for readers is the addition of new secondary characters in each book. Not only do they add to plot twist possibilities, but they also add color and texture in their interactions with the main protagonists, allowing me to bring out facets of the “stars” in interesting ways. (Though often they aren’t really content to hover in the shadows, but get a bit pushy and keep demanding more time on center stage! Honestly, don't they know who's the boss here?)

It’s great fun to sit and think about what sort of friend will add to the mix of a story. It’s hard for me to explain how they come to mind . . . sometimes—like the fog in Carl Sandburg’s famous poem— they come in on little cat feet . . .

Bang on the Mark—The Art of London Firearms

Andrea here, going down another research rabbit hole today . . . Cover your ears, for there could be a number of loud bangs! I recently took you through a few thrusts and parries with London’s most famous Regency swordsmen. Well, today we’re looking at London’s best gunmakers of the era.

I swear, it’s not that I’m bloodthirsty—I just find that in the hands of a master craftsman, pistols and swords are lethally beautiful works of art. For me, they are a perfect example of artisans becoming artists, and I love how the famous design adage “form follows function” comes to life in the hands of men like Manton, Wogdon and Egg. (At left are pistols by John Manton.)

I recently saw a small but scintillating exhibit at Met in NYC entitled The Art of London Firearms, which showcases some of the treasures from its permanent collection, which are rarely displayed. So, let me prime my pen and take a quick shot at giving you some of the highlights of the golden age of flintlock pistols . . .

A Question of Numbers!

Andrea here, and I'm excited to announce that today is Release Day for A Question of Numbers, the latest book in my Lady Arianna Regency mystery series. I've had such fun writing these characters and their adventures, so I thought I'd share a bit of backstory about why I love writing the mystery genre, as well as a bit about the inspiration behind this latest story.

I began my career as a published author (don't ask about the old manuscripts squirreled away in a desk drawer) writing traditional Regency romances for NAL. I loved the era—and that's stayed with me to this day—and after glomming a number of books in the genre (including Wenches Mary Jo, Pat and Jo Beverley) I buckled up my courage and took a try at it, and to my surprise and delight . . . I got a contract. When the publishing world changed, I moved to sexy Regencies, which were fun, but I came to realize that my heart really lay in writing mysteries.

What We're Reading in March

 ... and what a medley it is.

Joanna here, with some lovely book suggestions from all of us.

I’m rereading one of Lois MlcMaster Bujold’s books. The Curse of Chalion. I picked it up at the library because the librarian had it out on the Recommended Shelf and I was reminded of it. 

When we reread books we sometimes come at them a little differently or, at least, I do. This time, when I approached Bujold’s broken, exhausted, emotionally and psychically destroyed protagonist I was better able to see the honorable man beneath. It’s a new way for me to look at heroism and I’m hoping to learn from it.

This is not a Romance, but it’s a satisfying portrayal of a complex protagonist and — yes — a bit of a love story.

 

Andrea writes:

I’m a big fan of Charles Finch’s historical mysteries—I find his Charles Lenox series, set in early Victorian England, an absolute delight. So it’s always a treat when a new one comes out.

Now, Finch has done something really interesting with the series. In the first book, A Beautiful Blue Death, which came out 12 years ago, we meet Lenox as an established amateur detective. He’s a cultured, erudite, clever younger son, so his slightly “black sheep” profession is tolerated by family and friends (it helps that he’s such a lovely, sensitive fellow) And throughout the next nine books, we see him develop, take on new challenges, dabble in politics, get married, have a child . . . all while unraveling some very intriguing mysteries.

Then lo and behold, like the clever mystery writer he is, Finch suddenly surprised his readers with a unexpected plot twist. In his previous book, The Woman in the Water, the 11th in the series, he started writing a “prequel to the series—we meed Charles as a green cub, just down from Oxford, trying to decide what he wants to do in life. He loves solving conundrums, but everyone thinks he’s a fool to consider it as a possible career. Nonetheless, he keeps reading the papers about crime, and finds he has an idea he thinks may help solve one. The police, of course, dismiss him as fop and

En Garde!

Andrea here, musing today about swordsmen . . . or rather, three swordsmen in particular. As usual, this happened in a very serendipitous way: I was just checking a quick fact for my WIP. I swear, I only meant to spend a moment or two confirming the exact location of a famous Regency fencing academy. But then, I couldn’t help but get distracted (the road to perdition—or in this case, procrastination—is paved with good intentions!) History is filled with such fascinating characters—and as swashbuckling figures, few can match the Angelo family—Domenico Angelo Malevolti Tremamondo, his son Henry Angelo, and his grandson Henry Angelo the Younger. So let's thrust and parry down the research rabbit hole! (above is Henry the Elder)

It seems Domenico, a dashing Italian fencing master who was considered the finest swordsman in all of Europe, fell in love with the famous actress Margaret Woffington while training in Paris and followed her back to London. I havne' discovered when happened to the that relationship, but Dominco must have found London to his liking for he established Angelo’s School of Arms in Soho during the early 1750s to teach British gentlemen the art of the sword. (He adopted Angelo as his surname to fit in to his adopted country, and from then on, the family was always known as Angelo—that's Domenico at right.)

What We're Reading in February

Nicola here, introducing the Wenchly reading recommendations in the month of February. As ever we have a big mix of books for you and look forward to hearing what you've been reading too! the picture on the left is the rather gorgeous old bookshop in Marlborough, a town just down the road from me, where I love to browse. Sometimes you might even meet the resident bookshop ghost, which seems appropriate for Pat's first recommendation today!

Pat writes:

SEANCES ARE FOR SUCKERS by Tamara Berry

Ellie Wilde is a cynic, for good reason. As the youngest of triplets, she’s paying to keep her comatose sister in the best nursing home available by using her limited skill set—tricking people. To be fair, she also gives them comfort—by ridding their homes of ghosts she doesn’t believe in. People might call her a psychic medium, but in reality, she’s a great problem-solver and people reader. She has to be, or her sister will be out on the street. Her brother is a gym teacher and can’t possibly afford the cost of nursing care, so it’s up to Ellie. When she’s offered a small fortune and the opportunity to fly to England and live in a mansion while she rids the house of its resident ghost, she happily takes the job.

The art of genius

Andrea here, I was recently looking at a book on great English watercolor paintings to refresh my memory for a small plot point in my current WIP, and it got me to musing about several things (which happens more frequently than I care to admit—procrastination is often far more fun than actually writing!)

First, it got me to thinking about how if I had another lifetime and could pick one discipline to master, I would choose painting in watercolor. Oil paintings are wonderful, but for me there’s something magical about the sense of spontaneity of watercolors—the eye and hand reacting quickly to the subject. The nature of the medium is that one can’t overwork or overthink a painting, or it loses the translucent beauty of light and color that makes it so special.

AAW — Films and TV shows

Anne here for this month's Ask A Wench, and the question of the moment is, "What movies or TV shows have you enjoyed lately?"

We start with Pat.  I record TV and never know how long the shows have been in the DVR. Looking at the list of unwatched programs, I’d say I have apparently stopped watching most regular TV. I used to love Modern Family until it got stale. Elementary has good and bad years, depending on the writers. The Good Place is still watchable, but they’re pushing their limits.

So lately we’ve been streaming a few shows. Dietland is marvelously well-written and acted but occasionally violent. At the moment, I think The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel  is my very favorite.  Set in the early 60s, when Lenny Bruce kept getting thrown in jail for using obscenities in public (yes, kiddies, saying the F word would get you sent to jail), it’s about a young housewife with a gift for comedy. This was not a time when it was easy for a young mother to balance home and career, but the fact that her career is in sleazy nightclubs and makes little money stretches credulity a bit. The show is produced by the gifted people who created Gilmore Girls, so expect laughter, a little societal satire, and not total realism. But looking at the early 60s from our current perspective is entertaining, and the witty dialogue is laugh worthy. 

Nicola here. With the new series of Endeavour, the Inspector Morse prequel, starting tonight, my Sunday night viewing is sorted for the next month and I’m very excited. I love this series with its flawed and fascinating characters, the period setting of 1960s Oxford and the clever plots. I’ve watched and re-watched the previous series so many times.

Let's Party!

Andrea here, looking ahead to February with a sigh. Where I live, it’s usually the dreariest month—gray, cold and often snowy—and seem to go on forever, even though it’s the shortest one of the year. So perhaps I can be forgiven for daydreaming about parties to chase away the Winter Blues. Dancing, laughter, glittering candlelight, champagne . . . Well, of course, as I’m a history nerd, that immediately brought to mind thoughts of the most famous party in history—the Duchess of Richmond’s ball, held on the eve of the Battle of Waterloo.

Another reason it flashed to mind is because I've just finished my latest Lady Arianna Regency mystery, A Question of Numbers, (it’s available for pre-order here) and the party features prominently in one of the key scenes. (Honestly, what historical author could possibly resist using it in a book set in Brussels as the armies of Wellington and Napoleon prepared to clash!)

The duchess, born Lady Charlotte Gordon, daughter of the Duke of Gordon, married Charles Lennox, Duke of Richmond, (who famously fought a duel with the Duke of York in 1789) and bore him seven sons and seven daughters. The family moved to Brussels, where the oldest son, William, Lord March, was serving as aide de camp for the Prince of Orange, commander of the Dutch forces allied with Wellington’s British army.