Risky Regencies: Welcome to the blog, Julia! Tell us about your July release, A Most Unconventional Match

Julia: Thanks for inviting me! A Most Unconventional Match is about finding yourself–and love–after suffering tragedy and heartache. As the story opens, Elizabeth Wellingford Lowery has lost her husband, an older man who placed her on a pedestal and took care of all the details of everyday life so she could pursue her painting. Suddenly left with no one to help her, as all her family is abroad, she is floundering when Hal Waterman pays her a call.

Possessed of a demanding, Society leader/Diamond of a mother, Hal has always carefully avoided Beauties, particularly Elizabeth Wellingford, siste-in-law of his best friend Nicky. He had an instantaneous attraction to her when they first met 7 years ago. But with her family absent at the time of her husband’s death, Hal feels obligated to stop by and offer his assistance. He intends to help Elizabeth settle her financial affairs and make a quick exit–until he meets her little boy, desolate with a grief Hal, who lost his own father as a child, recalls only too well.

So cautiously begins the dance of attraction between a gruff “man’s man” and a china-doll beauty who seem to have nothing in common–but come in time to realize they’re each other’s perfect complement! I hope readers will agree.

RR: How did you get started writing Regency-set books? What draws you to the period? And is there any other historical period you love and would like to write about?

Julia: I’ve loved the Regency since I read my first Georgette Heyer in college! Her humor, her exacting eye for the foibles of human nature played out against the backdrop of this exciting period immediately hooked me on the era. The wit and elegance of the language, the large number of unusual and interesting personages and events that give those years their characters continue to fascinate me. And of course, one day after reading a book that disappointed, I thought “I could write a better one!” So the challenge began…

I enjoy a number of historical periods. I have a Paris-set World War II book I’d love to do, another set during the Regency featuring the family of an emigre forced by the Revolution to flee France. I’d also like to do a contemporary suspense set in Texas, and a series about strong women in unusual professions that would kick off with a story about a female Navy fighter pilot.

RR: What was the research like for A Most Unconventional Match? And what are some of your favorite research sources overall for the Regency?

Julia: Since Hal is an expert on business and finance, I needed to find out more about how capital was invested and how the canal system was developed. I also needed more details about the Royal Academy, its exhibitions and school. Generally I try to write the draft of the story without doing a lot of detailed research–since research is so fascinating, I could easily get distracted and never go back to the story! As I write, I keep notes on what I need to go back and check, then explore various sources and correct/adjust the draft as needed. Priestley’s The Prince of Pleasure, Bryant’s The Age of Elegance, and Life in Regency England are good general sources, but I find it’s the small pesky details that are hardest to verify. I have a pretty large library of specific sources on everything from carriages to the art of Turner. If those fail, I appeal to the infallible source: the experts on the Beau Monde loop!

RR: We know all about that!!! And what is “risky” about this book?

Julia: Two things I suppose: since it’s as much a story of a woman’s recovering from grief and coming into her own as it is a love story, I risk alienating readers who prefer that the book focus solely on the interplay between hero and heroine. Second, since Elizabeth loved her late husband and is struggling with grief, the physical bond between her and Hal develops slowly. Maybe not the wisest approach in a market where the most popular books focus on hot sex early and often! But I had to do what fit the story best.

RR: I know in your “other job” you teach French! Do you have any French-set books in mind? And do you have any tips for time-management?

Julia: I’d love toi do the two previously mentioned–the Regency England/Restoration France tale, and the WWII Paris one. Beyond that–the heroine of the Regency story has a good friend who escaped the Revolution as a child and survived by doing all manner of things, from picking pockets to smuggling brandy. I’d like to do his story!

Time management–if I ever figure out how to do that, I’ll let you know! 🙂 It seems I’m always behind. Prioritizing, setting aside absolute hours for writing, having a basic schedule and timeline are all good, but no guarantee against the disruption of Real Life.

RR: What is next for you?

Julia: I’m currently working on the story of the third friend featured in my very first book, The Wedding Gamble. Nicky was the hero of that one; his friend Hal is in the current release, and their other friend Ned is now getting his turn. After that, I’ll have a series of 3 unusual ladies who have secrets to overcome. My working titles (which will most certainly be changed!) are The Ruin of Miss Denby, The Redemption of Lady Winter, and The Rescue of Mrs. Gray. I also have a novella coming up, Christmas Wedding Wish in the Harlequin anthology One Candlelit Christmas in November!

Life has been busy at chez McCabe this week! Here is what I’ve been doing:

1) Doing some more political campaign volunteering (though I still haven’t found an occasion for a blue velvet suit and foxtail-trimmed hat, a la The Duchess!)

2) Writing. Lots. (natch)

3) Reading! (This week’s read–The Lady Penelope, a new biography of Lady Penelope Rich by Sally Varlow. It has lots of good info, but not really the “you are there” feeling of bios like Georgiana and Perdita)

4) Getting book title news!! I always like this–it makes the book feel “official,” somehow. Balthazar’s book (out in January ’09, just in time for my birthday!) is now called High Seas Stowaway. Ships, pirates, battles, and, as Anna Campbell put it “Historically accurate nookie!”

And the reissued Christmas novella from Signet, Upon a Midnight Clear, will be in an anthology titled A Homespun Regency Christmas (Regency on the Prairie??). The other 3 novellas are by Carla Kelly, Emma Jenson, and Sandra Heath.

5) And 4th of July-ing! Yesterday, in between eating hot dogs and cupcakes and watching fireworks, I took a friend’s daughter to see Kit Kittredge: An American Girl. We both give it 2 enthusiastic thumbs-up, as did her American Girl doll, Samantha, who accompanied us. (Though she did want to know why Kit got the feature-film treatment, when she, Samantha, got only a cheesy TV movie…)

One of the previews was for the delightfully silly-looking Mamma Mia!. I may have to see this one, if only to watch Meryl Streep singing ABBA songs.

And it just so happens that July 5, 1755 was the birthday of the Regency’s own version of Meryl Streep, Sarah Siddons. I doubt she ever had to sing Dancing Queen, though.

She was born Sarah Kemble, the eldest of 12 children of the actor-manager Roger Kemble (several of her siblings also became well-known actors). She married another actor, William Siddons, in 1773, and had her first professional role as Belvidera in Otway’s Venice Preserved. Things went a bit downhill from there–she was dismissed from Drury Lane, in her own words, “banished from Drury Lane as a worthless candidate for fame and fortune.” But after a very succeseful five-year run in Bath, starting in about 1778, she went back to Drury Lane.

Her appearance as Isabella in Garrick’s version of Southerne’s Fatal Marriage in October 1782 was a triumph. She soon took on her signature role, Lady Macbeth, as well as Desdemona, Ophelia, Volumnia, and the title role in Queen Catherine. For over 20 years she was queen of Drury lane, the greatest tragic actress in London, and a cultural icon.

In 1812, her farewell performance at Covent Garden, as Lady Macbeth, brought down the house. The audience refused to let the play go on after the sleepwalking scene. After this, she appeared only once in a while for special performances, making her last appearance in 1819.

She had 7 children, though only 2 outlived her, and ended up informally separated from Mr. Siddons. She died in 1831. I only have one book about her in my library, but it’s a good one with lots of pics–Robyn Asleson’s A Passion for Performance: Sarah Siddons and Her Portraitists.

So, happy birthday, Mrs. Siddons! And happy weekend to all of you. How have you spent your holiday? Seen any good theatrical performances lately?

I admit it, I had no idea what to write about today. It is summer, after all. I’ve been spending time dangling my feet in the kiddie pool I bought for my dogs, drinking lots of iced tea and writing, writing, writing! Reading, reading, reading! But what Janet said on Thursday was right–we Riskies do seem to love anniversaries. So, I did a search to see what was going on in the world a hundred or so years ago.

This is what I found: On this day in 1859, the first official dog show in the UK was held in Newcastle. The only breeds shown that day were Pointers and Setters. A show later in the year, in Birmingham, added Spaniels to the mix, and in 1860 hounds were added (thus paving the way for this year’s Westiminster winner, Uno the beagle). The first London dog show was in 1860, in Chelsea, with the official Kennel Club founded in 1873. (The Victorians did love their show dogs!).

I have 2 dogs of my own, a very bossy miniature Poodle mix (who loves to swim in her kiddie pool and bark a lot) and a much more laid-back Pug (that’s her in the pic!). Pugs were quite popular in the Georgian/Regency period, but their history goes much further back, to the Chinese Han and Tang Dynasty around 150 BC. Their path to Europe isn’t certain, but the earliest reference to them there comes around 1572, when a heroic little Pug woke his master, William of Orange, just in time to save him from Spanish raiders. In 1713, there was a portrait titled “Louis XIV and His Heirs,” with the appearance of a little fawn Pug (not named, and presumably not one of the heirs!)

English artist William Hogarth owned a series of Pugs and often painted them, especially his favorite “Trump.” In 1740, the sculptor Roubiliac modeled terracotta statues of Hogarth and Trump, which were later produced in porcelain by the Chelsea pottery factory.

Many famous historical figures have been owned by Pugs. Madame de Pompadour, Marie Antoinette, George III and Queen Charlotte, Empress Josephine, Voltaire, George Eliot, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Princess Grace, and Queen Victoria. Some of her Pugs included Venus, Olga, Fatima, Pedro, and Bosco (who has his own monument at Frogmore). My own dog is named Victoria in her honor.

And speaking of Queen Victoria, this is also the anniversary of her coronation! This happened in 1838. It is also the anniversary of Catherine the Great of Russia’s seizure of power from her crazy husband, in 1762. She might have owned Pugs, but I’m not sure. If not, she should have.

Do you have dogs (or pets of any sort?) Are they enjoying their summer?

“What dreadful hot weather we have! It keeps me in a continual state of inelegance” –Jane Austen

So, today is the first day of summer, and that JA quote is just all too apt. 95+ degree weather, along with thunderstorms and sticky humidity, makes things most inelegant indeed. Thank goodness that, unlike Jane, I can wear cotton sundresses and flipflops to work! I’m also grateful for iced tea, that plastic kiddie pool I bought for my dogs, and good books to read.

This summer is turning into a busy one, what with planning for RWA and working on the WIP (Book 3 of “The Muses of Mayfair”–page 121 written last night!). I also have a brand new and challenging project–a short story for the Harlequin “Historical Briefs” line of ebooks (available on eHarlequin!) This story will be connected to Balthazar’s as-yet untitled Caribbean book, out in January ’09, and will be available in November. Stay tuned…

I’m also planning for a much-needed little getaway next weekend, which hopefully will go better than another summer jaunt of June 21, 1791–the flight to Varennes. This escape attempt by Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, their two children, Louis’s sister Madame Elisabeth, and various servants should actually be called the flight that ended at Varennes, as their goal was the Royalist stronghold of Montmedy in northeast France.

After the storming of Versailles in October 1789, the royal family was moved to the ramshackle Tuileries in Paris, where life became increasingly restricted and uncomfortable for them. By the summer of 1791, the queen had had enough. Along with her rumored lover Count Axel Von Fersen and the Baron de Breteuil, she planned an escape. The little dauphin’s governess, the Marquise de Tourzel, would play a Russian baroness, with the royal children her daughters (even the boy!) and the others her servants. They took off on the night of June 20, but various blunders and misfortunes (including the fact that Marie Antoinette was reluctant to leave all her stuff behind) doomed them. They were recognized and captured at the town of Varennes.

Some good sources for this incident are Stanley Loomis’s The Fatal Friendship and Timothy Tackett’s When the King Took Flight. I also like the first-hand account in Madame Royale’s memoirs, plus the good new biography by Susan Nagal, Marie-Therese: Child of Terror.

What are your summer plans? (Not fleeing from revolutionaries, I hope!). And who will be at RWA???

“The battle of Waterloo was won on the playing-fields of Eton” –Duke of Wellington

“Probably the battle of Waterloo was won on the playing-fields of Eton, but the opening battles of all subsequent wars have been lost there” –George Orwell

Today here at Risky Regencies we’re kicking off Waterloo Week! Be sure and visit every day for historical information on the battle itself, life in the Regency-era military, and weaving all that research into characters and plots.

My topic today is the Duchess of Richmond’s famous ball, held on the night of June 15, 1815 (193 years ago tomorrow) in a huge old carriage-house on the property of the Richmonds’ Brussels house in the Rue de la Blanchisserie. (The Duke of Richmond was in command of a reserve force in Brussels, charged with protecting the city in case Napoleon invaded). But lest you think everyone was partying in rustic decor, with carriage wheels and horses everywhere, the space was done up in grand style indeed. There were flowers and greenery wreathing all the pillars, and hangings of red, gold, and black draped on the walls. Thackeray, who later used the ball in a pivotal scene in Vanity Fair, declared it “perfectly delightful…with few nobodies present.” Caroline Lamb wrote, “There was never such a ball–so fine and so sad.”

The people who were “not nobodies” in attendance included the Prince of Orange (later King William II of Holland), the Duke of Brunswick (who died the next day at Quatre Bras), the Prince of Nassau, several earls including Conyngham, Uxbridge (commander of the British cavalry, who famously lost his leg), Portalington, and March. There were 22 colonels, sixteen comtes and comtesses, and many English peers. There were 224 invitees in all, though only 55 were women, so I doubt there were any wallflowers that night! (For a list of all invitations, you can go here).

It was at this ball that Wellington learned Napoleon had crossed the border and was on the march. He had assumed Napoleon would advance on Brussels via Mons rather than the more direct Charleroi route, and received word that he was wrong about this during supper. The Richmonds’ daughter, Lady Georgiana Lennox (later Lady De Ros) recalled that “The news was circulated directly, and while some of the officers hurried away, others remained at the ball, and actually had no time to change, but fought in evening costume.” 72 hours later, more than 4 in 10 of those officers were wounded or dead.

Lady De Ros later wrote a great deal about this ball and the events that followed. She said, “My mother’s now famous ball took place in a large room on the left of the entrance, connected with the rest of the house by an ante-room. When the Duke of Wellington arrived, rather late, I was dancing, but at once went up to him to ask about the rumours. He said very gravely, ‘Yes, they are true; we are off tomorrow.’ It was a dreadful evening, taking leave of friends and acquaintances, many never to be seen again. I remember being quite provoked with poor Lord Hay, a dashing merry youth, full of military ardor, whom I knew very well for his delight at the idea of going into action, and of all the honors he was to gain; and the first news we had on the 16th was that he and the Duke of Brunswick were killed.”

(Perhaps young Lady Georgiana wore a gown like this one, said to have been made for the Richmond ball! See a page about its restoration here).

I’ve always thought that this ball (and the subsequent events) would make a terrific centerpiece for a story. It’s a romantic, tragic setting, full of desperate merriment and the terrible sense of time growing short. Even as the champagne flows and everyone dances, there’s an edge of deep, deep sadness.

For more information, I love the books The Duchess of Richmond’s Ball by David Miller, and Dancing Into Battle: A Social History of the Battle of Waterloo by Nick Foulkes. (And then there’s always Sharpe’s Waterloo…)

I also love the first stanza of Byron’s poem The Eve of Waterloo: