A Visit to Bath, Part 1
To celebrate a significant birthday and the upcoming publication of my second novel, An Officer’s Vow, I was treated by my husband to a stay in one of my favourite places, Bath. We both love history and architecture… well, ok, perhaps I’m more into history and he’s more into architecture, but Bath combines both of […]
A Winter Walk at Blenheim
Last week, bored after being restricted to home because of the bad weather (we had a fair bit of snow where I live), I decided a visit to Blenheim Palace was called for. Not for a tour of the house, I’ve done that before, but for a walk in the gardens and around the lake. […]
Dying and Dyeing in 1810
Trapped indoors by the extremely cold and icy weather we are enjoying at the moment, I thought I’d spend some time looking at the Gentleman’s Magazine for January 1810. I love reading about events that occurred so long ago and speculating on the stories of the people involved. A couple of sad items caught my […]
Don’t be a Nuisance! 11 Useful Facts for a Regency Time-Traveller.
To help with research, it’s always useful for a writer of historical novels to have a few old books to hand. Well, that’s my excuse for haunting antiquarian and second-hand book sites and shops, and spending hard-earned cash on decrepit and worn volumes (the only sort I can afford). To be honest, I started buying […]
The Canal Built to Trap an Army
Have you heard of the Royal Military Canal? Up to fairly recently, I hadn’t. An entry in the Gentleman’s Magazine for December 1810 brought it to my attention. It reported that a soldier had drowned in the canal, having fallen in when it was dark. The report didn’t mention the site of the tragedy, stating […]
A Scandalous Countess?
As part of my research for A Gentleman’s Promise , I discovered the amazing story of Mary Bruce (née Nisbet), Countess of Elgin. If you would like to learn more about the life of this – mostly forgotten – Regency lady, pay a visit to English Historical Fiction Authors, where you will find my article […]
Normal Service Will be Resumed as Soon as Possible
Just a quick post today. Father Christmas was very kind and gave me a lovely new computer. Aren’t I lucky? Unfortunately, it uses a different operating system to the one I’m used to, so at the moment I am scratching my head, trying to figure out how everything works. An extra problem has been that […]
7 Snippets from The Gentleman’s Magazine, December 1812
I spotted some interesting pieces in the Dec 1812 edition of the above publication, showing that life in the Regency wasn’t all ball gowns and masquerades. In fact, you could say these reports show clearly how dangerous and uncertain the times were. A fatal stampede occurred on 29th November. It was reported that the […]
4 more sleeps until Christmas!
Only four more sleeps until Christmas Day, and I’m nowhere near prepared. It’s not that I’ve been lazy, but a case of too many jobs to fit in a limited time, so this will be a very short post. I’ve been busy going through the proofs of An Officer’s Vow and it will be […]