First off, thanks to Carolyn for ceding her day so I could talk about a remarkable author whose book is just out.

A Woman Entangled, Cecilia Grant’s third book, was released this week, and I got a chance to read it prior to publication, so I can wax eloquently about it. Or as eloquently as I can wax.

The book’s premise is a familiar one–the beauty of a family wishes to elevate her family’s standing through marriage, and has a plan to make that happen. Her immediate family has been disowned by her extended family because her mother was an actress who married her father. The two are in love, and have had children, and seem content with their lives. But the heroine, Kate, wants more. She thinks she deserves more, also, because she is so beautiful, and she is practical enough to know she should utilize her beauty to do things for the people she loves.

Pride and Prejudice is frequently referenced in the book, and acts as a sort of leit motif, but looking at the two heroines–Kate Westbrook and Elizabeth Bennet–they are opposites of each other, at least in the most crucial way to women of that time; Kate is absolutely determined to barter herself in a marriage to help her family, while Elizabeth will not, even though her family’s circumstances are more dire than the Westbrooks.

Which heroine is more honorable? Is it better to be true to yourself, or to be true to your family? Kate can be, frankly, unlikeable during the course of the book because she is so set on her course. But her unlikeability–told in Cecilia Grant’s amazingly layered and elegant prose–makes her real, someone who is more than just a pretty face (even if that is all she sees!).

While the hero has an equally compelling storyline, A Woman Entangled is truly Kate’s story, since she is the one with the power to make decisions that will affect her family, the object of her affections, and herself. It’s a remarkable position for a woman to be in at any time, much less this time, and A Woman Entangled is a remarkable book.

Given what I’ve described of Kate, would you take the Kate path of sacrificing yourself for your family, or take the Elizabeth path of staying true to yourself? A random commenter will win a copy of A Woman Entangled!

Megan

The DiCamillo Companion to British & Irish Country Houses

I met Curt DiCamillo when he was at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and working in his spare time on his wonderful DiCamillo Companion to British & Irish Country Houses.  Since then Curt, who is an architectural historian and a recognized authority on the British Country house, spent eight years as Executive Director of The National Trust for Scotland Foundation USA.  Now he works on his own and the database continues to be a wonderful and growing resource.

According to the web site, “the Database is updated daily, with information coming from professional journals, my 2,300-volume library on country houses and allied subjects, and from contributors around the world who kindly provide information and photographs.  The Database currently contains records for more than 7,200 houses.”

© DiCamillo Companion

I suggest poking around the site.  It has a ton of information.  A sample entry for Wentworth Woodhouse in Yorkshire includes images, detail on its architects, its status, references, access information, current ownership, its seat, a short but packed history of the house and park, any movies or television for which it was used as a location, and a bibliography.   Pretty much anything you might need to know.

If, however, you’d like more and firsthand information, Curt also leads tours to various locations.  I’ve never been on one (although I’d love to) but I’ve heard some of Curt’s presentations and can testify that you’d get a lot of good, solid background through one of these adventures.

Do look around the site, it includes some interesting extras.  It’s a good place to get lost for a couple of hours.  Are there any Internet treasures on your bookmarks that you’d like to share?

The Victorian era starts!

Really, it didn’t. The raffish, riotous, colorful excesses of the Georgian period had been all over for a long, long time. As just one example, Thomas Bowdler, a byword for Victorian prudery, published his expurgated Shakespeare in 1818, to spare blushes during family readings. It was followed by a cleaned up version of Gibbons’ Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. And women’s fashions were getting sillier by the minute. But June 20, 1837:

I was awoke at 6 o’clock by Mamma, who told me the Archbishop of Canterbury and Lord Conyngham were here and wished to see me. I got out of bed and went into my sitting-room (only in my dressing gown) and alone, and saw them. Lord Conyngham then acquainted me that my poor Uncle, the King, was no more, and had expired at 12 minutes past 2 this morning, and consequently that I am Queen.

Thus began a reign of over sixty years by possibly one of the most tedious monarchs ever, or, depending on how you’d like to look at it, the precedent set and lasting to the present day of not particularly smart, talented or even moderately decorative royalty. Not that her predecessors the four Georges and William were much to write home about, but they made for good scandal sheet copy. However a lot of amazing things happened during her reign–the end of slavery, the building of an empire, major scientific discoveries, Dickens and Darwin, and last but not least, a huge outflowing of pornography.

Thanks, ma’am.

Aaaw. Victoria at age four.

But back to the princess. A brave exhibit at Kensington Palace a couple of years ago about her early years, Victoria Revealed, tried to put the best face on what was an appalling childhood:

Her mother, the Duchess of Kent, and her ambitious adviser, Sir John Conroy, bought her up very strictly. They controlled who Victoria was allowed to see – she had very few friends her own age – and they kept her away from Court. Victoria had a vast range of hobbies and interests to brighten these lonely hours. She loved to sing, to draw, to play music and to ride her horse in Kensington Gardens. She also adored her little King Charles spaniel, Dash, who she showered with affection. She even dressed him up in a red jacket and trousers from time to time.

Here’s an early self portrait.

And her pets were cute. Her Majesty’s Favorite Pets by Landseer (1837) shows Dash with Lory the parrot, the greyhound Hector and deerhound Nero.

Such good dogs, to sit still for so long!

Like every historical figures, Victoria’s myths, and those of her age, overshadow the reality. She probably didn’t tell her daughters to lie back and think of England, and the woman who reputedly was “not amused” had a keen sense of humor.  She enjoyed a passionate relationship with Prince Albert (who did not have, you know) and seems to have been rather susceptible to male charms–she and her favorite Prime Minister Disraeli addressed each other as “Faery Queen” and “Dizzy.” She didn’t insist on wrapping up table or piano legs–that was, maybe, an American having a joke at an English visitor’s expense–although she was a stickler for formality and protocol.

What are your impressions of Victoria?