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Author Archives: Amanda McCabe/Laurel McKee

About Amanda McCabe/Laurel McKee

Writer (as Amanda McCabe, Laurel McKee, Amanda Carmack), history geek, yoga enthusiast, pet owner!

Your “first”

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I always love Jane Austen week here!  (And not just because it reminds me that my mom’s birthday is also December 16 and I need to remember to get her a gift…)  It gives me a chance to revisit these books that mean so much to me, and maybe do a little re-reading and reminiscing.

My “first” was Emma.  I found an old, yellowed paperback copy at my grandmother’s house, it had a girl in a pretty dress on the cover so I decided to give it a try.  I had already read some Heyer and a few Barbara Cartlands, so I knew a little about the Regency period (enough to know I loved it and wanted to live in that world, though not at that point much “real” history).  I love, love, loved the story, and immediately ran to the library to find the rest of the Austen novels, plus a bio!  I was amazed to find out the author had been dead over 200 years and wasn’t a writer working right then, her characters seemed so real and vivid to me.  Some of their concerns were different from mine (marrying asap and to the right man, since there is no other choice!), some I could relate to (parents can be sooo annoying!), but the characters at their core seemed like people I knew and wanted to spend time with, and that has never changed.

Jane Austen puzzleLast night I went to a jazz concert, and listened to a 15-minute version of a song I love (“Take the A Train”), and heard things in it I never had before, and realized Austen has much in common with this other love of mine, jazz music.  There are always variations on a theme in Austen, things that keep popping up on re-reading that I never saw before, things that resonate with me at different ages, and that means her books always repay revisiting.  That’s her rare genius.  And since I’m getting ready to get married on Saturday (a core concern of all Austen characters!) I am thinking I need to re-read some Pride & Prejudice or Persuasion to make sure I’m ready…

All commenters on today’s blog get put in the drawing for our grand prize (a $50 Amazon giftcard!), but I am also giving away an adorable Jane Austen puzzle!  It would make a great holiday gift if you have an Austen fan in your life (or a great gift to yourself!).  How did you get hooked on Austen?  What was your “first”?  (You never forget your first!!)

Posted in Former Riskies, Giveaways, Jane Austen | Tagged | 17 Replies

The Riskies Welcome Bronwyn Scott!

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(January marks another entry in the Castonbury Park series…Bronwyn Scott’s Unbefitting a Lady!  Bronwyn is visiting us this last weekend of the year to talk a little about the research behind the story of the horse-mad Lady Phaedra.  Comment for the chance to win a copy!!)

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As the Duke of Rothermere’s youngest daughter, Phaedra Montague is expected to be the dutiful darling of elegant society. Too bad, then, that this feisty Lady has swapped her dance cards and silk gowns for racing tips and breeches!

With the arrival of gorgeous groom Bram Basingstoke, Phaedra can’t help but be distracted. He’s as wild and untamed as the stallion he’s training. But Phaedra is supposed to act properly at all times. Even if this dark-haired devil in a billowing white shirt is tempting her to a very improper roll in the hay…

1817, a great year to be a horse!

Giles Worsley writes, “The stable was a setting to showcase the horse, a physical expression of the horse’s importance.” The stables were a world of its own within the estate. The concept of a stable included so much more than just a barn. It included outdoor training ovals (a left over innovation from the mid 1700s), a carriage house or carriage bays, outdoor paddocks, the stable block and the riding house (indoor riding arena, often complete with a viewing gallery). With that in mind, it made sense to set so much of Bram and Phaedra’s story, ‘Unbefitting a Lady,’ in the Castonbury stables. 1817 is an exciting year to be in the stables because many English horse enthusiasts are in the middle of a stable revolution. It’s a great time to be a horse! People are studying and learning how to harness architecture to make stables healthier places. 1790-1830 is a time of great stable modernization. There are lots of renovations being done regarding ventilation and health. Let me share two of those innovations with you; the iron hayrack and the loose box.

The iron hayracks hanging from the walls of the stalls: According to Giles Worsley in his book, “The British Stable,” hayracks were originally nothing more than wooden managers that ran the length of the aisles. These took up a great deal of space. Once iron became more accessible, iron hayracks could be fashioned and mounted in the stalls, freeing up space on the floors and they were more likely to withstand horses chewing on them, unlike the wood mangers. Iron hayracks were definitely starting to be in use in the more serious stables by 1817 and Kedleston, the estate we modeled Castonbury after did indeed use iron hayracks.

Moving towards the loose box : The loose box is the style of stall we’re most familiar with now in our barns. But before this, horses had a three sided stall with the aisle end open and they had to face the wall. Loose box stalls were used only for isolating horses who were ill. But the racing industry around the 1790s began to see the benefits a loose box stall would afford a horse in general. There are some early architectural designs in 1803 and 1810 that start to show the proliferation of loose box stalls for stables at Normanton and Tottenham Parks. By 1816, just a year before Phaedra’s story, the Ashridge stables in Hertfordshire were designed to incorporate a large number of loose boxes and by 1829, the loose box had become the norm. This is a transition that took about thirty years to catch on. Grooms felt leaving the horse loose in a stall caused too many problems.

Other improvements that took place between 1790 and 1830 include ventilation and lighting but we’ll save that for another time.

 

Posted in Former Riskies, Giveaways, Guest, Regency, Research | 8 Replies

Looking Back 2012

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Happy New Year, everyone!!  I hope you had a great, fun New Year’s Eve and are looking forward to 2013 like I am.  It really feels like a fresh start this year.

But Janet’s “best of” list inspired me to take a look back as well!  I’ve read (as always) A Lot of books this year, and most of them are now forgotten.  I didn’t keep a list of what I liked/didn’t like/found useful, but these are a few that stuck with me:

Paris to the Past by Ina Caro–this had a fabulous travel tip for history geeks like me–visit sites in historical consecutive order (in this case, France, using Paris as a base).  I found lots of obscure, new-to-me museums and sites to visit the next time I’m lucky enough to get to Europe

Clover Adams by Natalie Dykstra–a short-ish, easy to read, engrossing biography of a fascinating, sad, mostly-forgotten life.  I remember visiting Rock Creek Cemetery in Washington DC and seeing Clover Adams’s incredibly striking, melancholy tombstone carved by Augustus St. Gaudens, and was so happy to finally find out more about the woman who inspired it

BernadetteWhere’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple–my favorite novel this year! As soon as I finished it I ran around telling everyone they need to read it…

Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel–the follow-up to Wolf Hall, which I also loved.  Even though it employs literary devices I usually can’t stand (present tense, sometimes unclear who is talking/thinking, etc) I do love these books for the way they capture the dangerous, precarious, lavish, bawdy fascinating Tudor world.  In the case of this books, the ferocious power struggle between Anne Boleyn and Thomas Cromwell.

 

 

 

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn–for once, a much-hyped book is right.  Smart, sharp, weird, complicated, completely un-put-down-able

Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo–another much-hyped book, which I was reluctant to pick up, but it was so, so worth it.  Not easy to read, but gorgeous beyond belief.  I think it was possibly the best book I read last year, and definitely the one that’s stayed with me the most.

I’m kind of ashamed to say I haven’t read a lot of romance this year.  I’ve had such tight deadlines and lots of research to do, especially for the Tudor mystery, not much time to read for fun.  Plus since I’ve been a romance reader since I was 10 years old, it’s gotten hard to settle down and really get into a romance the way I used to (it often feels like, no matter how well-written and well-plotted, I’ve read everything before.  Lots of times), and I really, really miss that.  But there were some I loved.

LadyCoverA Lady Awakened by Cecilia Grant–wow, this was great!  Complicated, not always likeable characters in twisty situations, yay.  I can’t wait for the follow-up.  I also loved Meljean Brook’s Riveted (hands-down the best steampunk series I have come across).  And I’ve been using our own Megan’s Vanity Fare to help me get through the last of this nasty strep outbreak!  It’s wonderful, though it really, really makes me want to eat cookies.  Which would go against my New Year’s goal of eating better. 🙂

What have you read this year??  Does anyone have any romance recs to get me out my slump???

Posted in Former Riskies, Reading | 4 Replies

Some new reading for a new year…

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So from two days after my wedding on Dec. 15 to about, oh, two days ago, I have been down with a majorly fun case of strep/ear infection/general winter blahs.  I am finally feeling better and tackling the WIP (which just happens to be due at the end of the month!  Fun!).  But my Kindle has been a lifesaver, and I spent a whole afternoon trawling around on it looking for some obscure historical sources.  Here are a few I found:

–For people like me, who like to plan fantasy trips to England, Gravestones, Tombs, and Memorials by Trevor Yorke and London’s Blue Plaques in a Nutshell (last time I was in London, I drove my mom crazy because I stopped to read every blue plaque we saw–this one is a guide to many more obscure figures memorialised there, and I am def carrying it with me next time I’m in London!)

—The Smart by Sarah Bakewell, a fascinating tale of an 18th century adventuress named Mrs. Rudd who managed to get herself into (and out of) a tremendous amount of trouble (including being imprisoned for forgery–she was acquitted, but her supposed allies the “unfortunate” Perreau brothers, hanged)

—An English Lady in Paris by Michael Allen, another fascinating 18th century woman, Mrs. Crewe, friends with the Duchess of Devonshire, a society beauty and great traveler

—The King’s Smuggler: Jane Whorwood, Secret Agent to Charles I by John Fox: the title says it all

—Tunnels, Towers, and Temples: London’s 100 Strangest Places by David Long: another great travel source!

—Beauty and Cosmetics: 1550-950 and The Ephemeral Nature of Perfume and Sense in Early Modern England

—All the King’s Cooks: The Tudor Kitchens of Henry VIII at Hampton Court by Peter Brears

—Wicked Women of Tudor England by Retha Warnicke (both because she’s an historian I admire, plus I can never resist any book with the words Wicked Women in the title)

In my quest to read more romance, I also downloaded the new Cecilia Grant (since Megan said it’s great!) and Courtney Milan’s The Duchess War.  Plus I got a pile of magazines featuring spring fashions because i cannot WAIT to get out my sundresses and sandals again…

 

What have you been doing lately?  What are some obscure/fun/great titles you’ve come across??

Posted in Former Riskies, Reading | 6 Replies