The Other Invasion in 1066

Virginie Marconato joins us this week with some amazing facts behind her novel, Seducing the Warrior. A scene in chapter 4 of Seducing the Warrior is directly inspired by a true story. It took place in autumn 1066, just before the conquest of England by the Normans, the kind of story that seems too good […]

The Cato Street Conspiracy

Aubrey Wynne joins us this week to talk about The Cato Street Conspiracy and the part it plays in her novel Crimes, Conspiracies, and Courtship. The radical Arthur Thistlewood, who appears in my novel Crimes, Conspiracies, and Courtship, was a real villain. He joined the Spencean Philanthropists in 1811. By 1816, he was considered a […]

British Gentlemen and Their Umbrellas

Jude Knight joins us this week with some facts behind the fiction in her novel, A Gift to the Heart. One of the iconic television series of my youth was a British espionage television series called The Avengers, staring Patrick McNee—bowler hatted, in a smart business suit, and armed with an umbrella, which he uses […]

The Perfect Victorian Christmas

Sara Bennett joins us this week with her novella, Lord Ravenhill Comes For Christmas, and the facts behind a perfect Victorian Christmas. I have written a Christmas novella! I have always craved a white Christmas so I wrote one, and dived into the sort of Christmas traditions that became so popular during the Victorian era. […]

Widows’ Pensions during the Napoleonic Wars

The heroine of “Charred Hope” in Love’s Perilous Road lives on a widow’s pension. What does that mean in fact? I assumed her pension would be small and barely enough to live on. I wasn’t wrong. In the Napoleonic era the widow of a British officer was entitled to a pension, and as the widow […]

Moving Ahead

Carefully. The big lesson of the month is “don’t rush!” I’ve read through the first of the books in the Great Rewrite Project. With the help of Caroline Warfield’s Fellow Travelers I am close to a series title. This week I plan to send the first for cover specs to the artist. Covers will motivate […]

Jewish Jewelers to the Crown?

The UK Crown Jeweler couldn’t be a Jew–or could he? Join Sara Adrien to speculate about what might have been and the secret history behind Instead of Harmony It sounds like fantasy: a Jewish man rising to the title of Crown Jeweler in Regency England. But peel back the layers of fiction, and you’ll find […]

Telegraph, a Victorian Marvel.

Join Ramona Elmes as she describes the impact the telegraph had on Victorian life and on her novel The Intimate Words of a Liberated Lady. Today, I’m excited to share details about the telegraph, a Victorian marvel. In my book, The Intimate Words of a Liberated Lady, a lord and a widow are blackmailed to […]

The Royal Ascot in Regency England

Join Sara Adrien to learn the facts about Royal Ascot and her novel with Tanya Wilde, Dare To Tempt An Earl This Spring While researching my latest Regency romance, I was captivated by the history and grandeur of the Royal Ascot. Established in 1711 by Queen Anne, the Ascot quickly became more than just a […]