Historical Romance
Finding Balance
There are at least two kinds of balance. The first, basic physical balance has been a problem lately. The nice folks at physical therapy have documented quite thoroughly that mine is not what it should be. First I didn’t do well on the exercises and walking tests, then they tested my vestibular system, aka the […]
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 […]
Names Names Names
This weekend I began working on a made-to-order story that I plan to give to my newsletter subscribers in December. At the start of any story one of the challenges is naming characters, titles, and places. For historical romance they should be authentic, attractive, and, especially in the case of titles, wholly fictional. Christian names […]
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. […]
A Lion in the Museum
Courtney McCaskill joins us to day to give us surprising facts from her novel One Bed for the Bluestocking Kit emitted a high-pitched scream as the Upper Museum’s most popular resident strolled over to greet them. He grabbed Nathaniel’s arm, pulling him toward the door. “Mr. Sterling! Run! There’s a lion!” While researching the University […]
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 […]
To Be Jewish and Wealthy in Regency London
Welcome Sara Adrien who brings the facts about Jewish families in the upper society of the Regency Era as they appear in her book, Margins of Love. If you’ve read even a handful of Regency romances, you know the world well: Ballrooms—Dukes—Family names that carry centuries of entitlement. But what if I told you some […]
Back to Work
I’m back at my desk, rested and energetic. If you read my newsletter that went out yesterday, you will have read that I feel like my writing picked up speed this summer until it is almost back to normal. Since I got back I did a final edit on Well Done, Harry for the Winter […]
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 […]