Author Archives: Myretta

About Myretta

Myretta is a founder and current manager of The Republic of Pemberley, a major Jane Austen destination on the web. She is also a writer of Historical Romance. You can find her at her website, www.myrettarobens.com and on Twitter @Myretta.

The Many Voices of Megan Frampton

Updated on July 5, 2013 by Myretta

Most of you who follow this blog probably know that Megan Frampton is fun and quirky, has excellent sartorial taste, and mostly wears black (presuming that those last two are not mutually exclusive). You have probably read some of her writing but, unless you’ve read it all, you don’t know the breadth of her talent. So, today, I’m going to give you a little taste.

Those of you who have been following Megan for a while, probably remember A Singular Lady, her maiden publication, a trad Regency from Signet in 2005 (right before Signet stopped publishing Trads). This is Megan’s trad voice: a bit formal with an undertone of humor, something you would definitely recognize as “Regency.”

If you’re new to Megan, you might not know that she also writes women’s fiction as Megan Caldwell. Her first book, Vanity Fare, was published by William Morrow late last year. The Amazon description of Vanity Fare calls it “a charming tale of food, family, literature, and romance in which a 40-year-old newly single Brooklyn mother embarks on a culinary writing career and finds herself at the center of a deliciously tempting love triangle.” And so it is. This fun book showcases Megan’s sharp, snarky, engaging contemporary voice. This voice is highlighted in the interstitial material (a specialty of Megan’s) in which the heroine writes copy for a new bakery across from the New York Public Library, using literary references. Each chapter is headed by a bakery item such as sourdough bread called Middlestarch, The Bun Also Rises, Dorothy Parker House Rolls, Lord of the Tea Rings, Tender is the Bite, and more. This easy way with puns becomes lighter and easier in the body of the book:

If he were a baked good, he’d be Irish soda bread. Not that I knew he was Irish; but I imagined he’d be delicious, filling, and packed with a few surprises. In the bread’s case, it was raisins, and I wondered what his would be: a shoe fetishist? Nah, he’d probably dismiss something like that as foolishness. A closest reader? Ditto.

An incredible lover? Now that I could see. He’d be thoughtful, unselfish, and get the job done — and done well — in as businesslike manner as possible.

But, if you’re at this blog, you’re probably interested in Megan’s Regencies. Let’s start with Hero of My Heart, published by Loveswept in April of this year.

Hero of My Heart is is the story of a drug-addicted marquess and a vicar’s daughter who is being sold on the block by her no-good stepbrother. Our marquess steps in, buys the girl, and decides to save her by marrying her.

If he could just get her to Scotland, just get her to shut up for long enough to realize he was doing this for her own good, for her ultimate survival, it would be fine. He could ensure her safety, give her all his unentailed funds and property, and then disappear. It would be a final act of contrition to atone for all that he had done.

In this book, Megan serves up a well-written, Regency road story with a side of angst. Her voice is elegant and true to the period and, occasionally, we see a little hint of the irreverent contemporary author.

But, if you’re longing for a Regency story with a bit more of Megan’s quirky voice, I have a treat for you. In Baring it All, a Loveswept Historical short story just out this week and What Not to Bare, a full-length historical romance from Loveswept, out in October of 2013, you will find a delightful combination of well-researched Regency Historical, with the lighter voice of Megan’s contemporary novels. No, it’s not first person and no, it doesn’t sound contemporary, but you can forget about the angst and enjoy Megan’s wonderful humor.

Baring it All is the story of a couple who have entered into an arranged betrothal. The heroine is in love with the clueless hero. The hero is… clueless.

She could almost hear the conversation: his father pronouncing at the breakfast table, “Son, you have to be married sometime, and it might as well be someone you know. Lady Violet is an excellent choice.”

To which Christian probably mumbled through his toast, “Fine, excellent. Can you pass me that notebook? I think I’ve discovered a shortcut for Pythagoras’s tetractys. Oh, and I’ll take care of that other thing next week. ” That “other thing” being asking Violet to marry him.

See? A felicitous combination of a solid grounding in the period with Megan’s witty voice. This, and What Not to Bare are a new voice for Megan that I think you’re going to love.

Posted in Reading, Risky Book Talk, Writing | Tagged Megan, Megan Frampton | 5 Replies

Life in the Georgian City

Updated on July 5, 2013 by Myretta

Today, I’m turning to my library again. I’ve pulled out Life in the Georgian City by Dan Cruickshank and Neil Burton. This is a wonderfully detailed book, covering city streets and their buildings, including construction and maintenance, people and services. Naturally, it doesn’t have everything you would need to know. But it’s a darned good place to start. It also has tons of great illustrations.

Cheapside 1823

As an example, Chapter One starts out with “The Image of the City,” invoking how the architecture (particularly the newly constructed and prolifically built terrace house) “not only determined the way in which life was organized inside the home but also had a profound influence on the way the city was perceived.” The book quotes Louis Simond, the American who visited London in 1810, as typical of the way visitors saw the smoky Georgian city. Another visitor called the city “an enormous murky lump of brick.”

The book then goes on to discuss the coal fires that gave the city its murky quality, followed by a discussion of street paving, cleansing and lighting.

But the book does not focus solely on the city’s architecture and streets, it also takes a look at the lives of the people who lived there. There’s a wonderful illustration of workmen, procuring breakfast from a street vendor. Something that is so like something we would see today in almost any largish city. Discussion includes daily life, work, entertainment, meals, street hazards, transportation, before moving on to the town houses themselves.

The “Common House” chapter of the book includes floor plans and descriptions of each floor in a typical London town house as well as the services needed to keep in running. including fuel, water supply, and drainage. There is a chapter on Construction and Speculation, detailed descriptions and pictures of details of the house, including dados, architraves, skirtings, mouldings, and paint colors.

In 1700 few small town houses had anything but paved yards. The fourth chapter covers the growth of town gardens with probably less attention to detail than that given to the city and houses. This is likely because there was not as much written on the subject during the period. We have section of Richard Horwood’s map showing the large number of London town gardens in the late 18th century, apparently given early manifestation on the Grosvenor Estate in Maryfair, behind the fashionable houses that were built in the 1720s and 1730s, intended for the more well-to-do who would also have a country estate. There is also discussion of poorer, upper floor residents trying some container gardening with pots on their windowsills.

The book concludes with appendixes that include case studies of four locations.

Are you looking for a telling detail to lend authenticity to your city setting? This is the book for you.

Posted in Regency, Research | Tagged research | 4 Replies

Internet Treasures: The DiCamillo Companion

Updated on June 21, 2013 by Myretta

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.”

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?

Posted in Risky Regencies | 2 Replies

The English Year

Updated on June 7, 2013 by Myretta

In my second book, Just Say Yes, the hero participates in a village festival in which all the able-bodied men move a large stone in the village center in order to bring the village continued good fortune. This is something that actually took place annually in an English village. I ran across this odd activity in a book of English festivals, but I’ll be darned if I can find it now to give you the reference.

I was reminded of this recently when the wonderful Loretta Chase mentioned Hone’s Every-Day Book on her Two Nerdy History Girls Blog. This book describes itself as an “Everlasting Calendar of Popular Amusements, sports, pastimes, ceremonies, manners, customs, and events, incident to each of the three hundred and sixty five days in past and present times.” In short, it’s the ideal place to look for an interesting tidbit to spice up your story. The 1827 edition comes in two volumes of which I only have the first (but remain hopeful for obtaining the second half of the year).

Bartholomew Fair 1825

It’s a delight to just page through the book and pick out an event. For example, on September 5, there is a long description of a visit to Bartholomew Fair in Stowe (or Smithfield as they appear to be interchangeable in this account) in 1825. The description encompassed many shows including the Largest Child in the Kingdom when young, the Handsomest Child in the World, The Persian Giant, The Fair Circassian with Silver Hair, The Female Dwarf, Two Feet Eleven Inches High, Two Wild Indians from the Malay Islands in the East… I could go on (and on).

You might learn that March 5 is St. Piran’s day (there are a lot of saints in this book, most described as “Romish”). St. Piran is, apparently, an Irish hermit who moved to Cornwall, had a grave made and then died in it. His day is reported to be a favorite with tinners as tradition has it that some secrets regarding the manufacture of tin was given by St. Piran.

The Every-Day Book covers everything from the laying of the first stone of London Bridge to Bastille Day. I can hardly wait to get my hands on volume 2.

More concise and focusing more on festivals, but less forthcoming about actual years in which they were celebrated is Yearbook of English Festivals. This might be where I got the stone moving ceremony, but I can’t find it right now. My copy of this one was published in 1954 and features some of the more esoteric festivals celebrated in England.

Modern-day well-dressing

According to the Yearbook, well-dressing, or well-flowering, is observed in many English villages in the summer, particularly in Derbyshire and Staffordshire. This event involves decorating wells or springs with flower petals, allegedly to give thanks for its purity. No one seems really sure where it originated. I love it nonetheless. And, it’s still going on today. Welldressing.com has an extensive calendar.

I heartily recommend these fascinating compendia of yearly events and festivals. Not only are they great sources for settings and scenes, they’re a lot of fun just to browse.

Posted in Risky Regencies | 4 Replies

I want to go to Brighton….

Updated on May 24, 2013 by Myretta

Well, Lydia Bennet wanted to go to Brighton. And by the time Pride & Prejudice was published, Brighton was a thriving seaside resort and, apparently, the location of some highly desirable soldiers – Lydia’s main reason for wanting to go. As we approach the start of summer and those nice, lazy, seaside holidays, let’s take a look at Brighton.

Brighton was originally a fishing village, one of the flourishing ports along England’s south coast. By 1740, however, it was pretty much in decline due to erosion of the town’s beach resulting in loss of buildings, several severe storms, and an ageing population.

Bathing machine

Fortunately for Brighton, during the late 18th century sea bathing came into fashion in a big way. The growth in national wealth that resulted in large estates and grand manor houses, also caused urban centers to be more prosperous. People who chose to live in towns had the means to travel outside them. Seaside resorts offered something more than available in the towns or even the countryside.

Royal Pavilion

Spas surrounding mineral springs, such as Bath and Buxton, had been frequented for health reasons from time immemorial. The 18th century saw the advent of seabathing as another healthy activity. The first resorts were located in declining coastal towns such as Brighton, Hasings, Margate, Scarborough, and Weymouth.

Brighton, in particular, benefited from its location in a densely populated region of England and its easy access from London. Moreover, failing economy in the area resulted in a surfeit of accommodation, providing places for visitors to stay.

Bathing dress

Brighton was well-established as a seaside resort before the Prince of Wales (later George IV) took a fancy to it in 1783. However, George’s visits and his Royal Pavilion, begun in 1786, certainly increased the draw, first as the place frequented by the Prince of Wales and, later by the Pavilion itself as a tourist attraction.

If you wanted a little seabathing in Brighton during the Regency, you did not have to wait for an invitation from the prince. Brighton had plenty of hotels and guest houses from which to sally forth in your fetching bathing dress and rent a bathing machine for your dip into the channel.

So, do you want to go to Brighton? Or do you have something other than a little seabathing in store for your holidays?

Recommended sources: Georgian Brighton by Sue Berry and Spas of England and Principal Sea-Bathing Places by A. B. Granville.

Posted in Regency, Research | 5 Replies