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!

The Riskies Welcome Back Nicola Cornick!

Updated on July 4, 2009 by Amanda McCabe/Laurel McKee

Risky Regencies is thrilled to welcome back Nicola Cornick, to tell us all about her new trilogy from HQN! (Out May, June, and July) For more information on these and upcoming stories, you can check out her website here–and be sure and comment on today’s post for a chance to win a copy of The Scandals of an Innocent!

Thank you so much for inviting me to visit the Riskies today. It’s always such a pleasure to visit this blog! Amanda very kindly invited me along to talk about my new Regency series, The Brides of Fortune, the first two books of which are currently in the shops. And as this is Risky Regencies I thought I should focus on what is risky and different in these stories!

The idea for the overall Brides of Fortune trilogy was sparked by something I read in the newspapers. Even though I write historical fiction I get a lot of my ideas from contemporary papers and magazines. That in itself is a risky if rewarding approach because you have to make sure that in taking a modern idea and adapting it to a Regency context you aren’t doing anything anachronistic. But the more I research, the more I realize that there are so many themes and ideas that are fundamentally the same now as they were in the Regency period and perhaps throughout history. One of these was the idea of the rights and laws associated with the title of Lord of the Manor. This sparked the Brides of Fortune series. A couple of years ago I read about a village in England where someone had bought the title of Lord of the Manor and then discovered that he could impose lots of ancient taxes on the villagers. He started to charge them for walking their dogs on the village green and for parking their cars when they went shopping. Naturally there was uproar with the villagers rebelling. I thought this would be great idea to explore in a Regency series and so the Brides of Fortune trilogy was born! Sir Montague Fortune imposes an ancient tax on the villagers that means that every lady has to marry or lose half of her dowry. Penniless gentlemen come flocking to the village and so Fortune’s Folly becomes the marriage mart of England!

The first book in the series is called The Confessions of a Duchess and it tells the story of Laura, Dowager Duchess of Cole, who featured in my previous book for HQN, Unmasked. After Unmasked came out I had so many emails from readers asking for Laura’s story that I couldn’t resist. Confessions of a Duchess is set four years after Unmasked and Laura has retired to live quietly in the country with her young daughter Hattie. Then her former lover, Dexter Anstruther, comes back into Laura’s life and turns everything upside down. Dexter and Laura parted on bad terms and now he has to marry a rich heiress to save his family but despite knowing that he has to marry for duty, Dexter finds it hard to resist his attraction to Laura. There are so many secrets keeping them apart and so many reasons why they cannot be together, not least that Laura is eight years Dexter’s senior and she thinks that to have a toy boy lover is totally scandalous! I absolutely loved writing a book with an age difference between the hero and heroine. Laura is quite a risky heroine – she’s a former highwaywoman for a start and as Dexter works for the government to keep law and order, he’s not that thrilled when he finds out!

This month the second book is out and it is called The Scandals of an Innocent. The trilogy heroines are all friends and this is Alice’s story. Alice is a former housemaid who inherited her late employer’s money so she is struggling with the snobbish attitudes of some members of society towards her – they look down on her socially even though they’d quite like to have her fortune! One of Fortune Folly’s penniless adventurers, Miles Vickery, decides to blackmail Alice into marriage and sets out to seduce her. Miles is an out and out rake, a real scoundrel, but Alice is determined to reform him so it is a battle of hearts. I have to confess that Miles is probably my favorite of the trilogy heroes! Although I love heroes who have integrity and a strong code of honor, I am a total sucker for rake heroes and Miles is a very, very bad boy indeed. He totally does not want to reform and fights really hard against it but Alice is no pampered society miss, she’s got a tough background, and she’s not going to just let Miles walk in and take what he wants! The risky thing about this book… Alice’s rose tattoo! Tattoos for women were rare during the Regency period and not at all the done thing for a respectable female. In her fabulous series about Mrs. Merlin’s Academy for Select Young Ladies my fellow Word Wench Andrea Pickens also has heroines with tattoos, which perfectly fits the racy ambiance of her lady spies! In Alice’s case it’s yet another thing that marks her out as deeply unrespectable!

And for book 3, The Undoing of a Lady, the risk I took, I think, was to create a heroine, Lizzie Scarlet, who is so outrageous that I suspect some readers may feel she goes too far. Lizzie starts the book off by exercising her droit de seigneur over the hero and goes on from there! It can be difficult to write a young heroine who is a bad girl and yet who still commands a reader’s sympathy. My editor described Lizzie’s characterization as “brave” which made me very nervous! Hopefully to understand Lizzie and her background will be to love her. She is right on the edge of control – just when you think she couldn’t possibly behave in a worse fashion she goes off and does something even more shocking. But I loved Lizzie to bits and felt enormous compassion for her (after all, being the half sister of the wicked village squire and his even more appalling brother is no picnic!) So I hope that readers will love her too. And she does have a very, very strong man as her hero – he needs to be!

I hope that in Fortune’s Folly I have created a “Regency world” that readers can step into. There is an e-book prequel to the series, The Secrets of a Courtesan, which is available to download from e-harlequin. It sets the scene and introduces some of the characters and is also a steamy love story! And I deliberately left a few story threads loose at the end of The Undoing of a Lady because I don’t think I wanted to let go of the Fortune’s Folly trilogy completely. I have a sneaking feeling I will want to go back there sometime and find out what has happened to a few of the characters! In the meantime I’m working on a new series for HQN. The first book is set in London and the Arctic. Now that really is risky!

RWA Festivities!

Updated on July 4, 2009 by Amanda McCabe/Laurel McKee

If you’re going to the RWA conference in Washington DC (only about 10 days away now!) be sure and join the Riskies (Diane, Amanda, Carolyn, Janet, and Megan) for a drink and a “coze” before the awards ceremony on Saturday! 4:00 in Harry’s Pub at the Marriott Wardman hotel. Hope we see you there!!!

The Beggar’s Opera

Updated on June 30, 2009 by Amanda McCabe/Laurel McKee

Every once in a while (okay, probably every month!) I order a big box of books from the Edward R. Hamilton catalog. They have wonderful remaindered and discounted research-type books, and I’ve gotten some great “finds” from them. In my last shipment, one of the books was Lisa Hilton’s Mistress Peachum’s Pleasure: The Life of Lavinia, Duchess of Bolton about the actress Lavinia Fenton who found great fame on the stage and later was the mistress (and wife) of a duke, and then as a widow lost her fortune on a much younger husband. Quelle scandale! Her big role, the one that made her an overnight sensation on the London theater scene, was as Polly Peachum in John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera.

And today just happens to be John Gay’s birthday! Gay (June 30, 1685–December 4, 1732) was born in Barnstaple and was educated there at the local grammar school. On leaving school he was apprenticed to a silk mercer in London, but quickly grew bored with the business. But he did make a variety of influential literary friends, including Pope and Swift, who encouraged him in his writing endeavors. In 1715 he produced What d’ye call it? (1715), a dramatic satire that left the public so baffled by its meaning there was a Complete Key to what d’ye call it. He went on to produce a poem in 3 volumes, Trivia, or the Art of Walking the Streets of London and a comedic play, Three Hours After Marriage (which one critic called “grossly indecent without being amusing”–it was not a success). He made almost 1000 pounds on his Poems on Several Occasions, but lost it all in the South Sea Bubble.

His great success came in 1728 with The Beggar’s Opera, a ballad opera in 3 acts (ballad operas were satiric musical plays that used some of the conventions of the wildly popular Italian opera, but without recitative). It had its premier at Lincoln’s Inn Fields on Janaury 28, and ran for an unprecedented 62 consecutive performances. This original production was so popular it enable John Rich, the owner of the theater, to open the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden (a popular saying of the day had it that Beggar’s Opera made “Rich gay and Gay rich”).

It satirized the Italian opera of the day, so popular among the upper classes, but instead of grand themes and music it used well-known tunes and characters that were ordinary (not to say criminal!) people. The audience could hum along with the music, even if they had never heard the words before. The story also satirized politics (especially statesmen like Robert Walpole), poverty and injustice, notorious highwaymen of the day, and corruption at all levels of society. It made Lavinia Fenton a big star (poems were written about her and prints of her image sold out, as well as “Polly” fans and firescreens and playing cards).

The plot goes something like this. Peachum is a fence and thief-catcher, and the opera opens with him justifying his actions. He and his wife then discover that their pretty daughter Polly has secretly married the highwayman Macheath. They’re not happy, of course, but conclude that maybe the match makes sense if the new bridegroom can be killed for his money. They leave to carry out this errand (talk about nightmare in-laws!) while Polly hides her husband in a tavern, where he is surrounded by women of dubious virtue (who like to display their perfect drawing-room manners while singing about picking pockets and shoplifting). Too late, Macheath discovers that two of the “ladies” have contracted with Peachum to capture him, and off he goes to Newgate. There the jailor’s daughter, Lucy Lockit, scolds Macheath for agreeing to marry her and then running off. She wants to torture him, but he pacifies her–until Polly arrives and declares he’s her husband. Macheath tells Lucy Polly is just crazy, and Lucy helps him escape. Lucy’s father is none too happy about this, either, and joins forces with Peachum to find Macheath and split up his fortune between them.

Lucy tries to poison Polly, but then they too join forces to save Macheath when he is recaptured. Then four more women show up, claiming to be his wives (his pregnant wives!). Macheath decides he’s ready to be hanged. The narrator (the Beggar) says that in a properly moral tale he would be hanged, but the audience demands a happy ending, so Macheath is reprieved and all are invited to a dance to celebrate his wedding to Polly.

Gay tried to follow up this smash hit with a sequel, Polly, where Macheath has become a pirate and Polly has to escape from white-slavers. But Walpole had had enough of this satire, and leaned on the Lord Chamberlain to have it banned (it was first performed 50 years later). John Gay was buried in Westminster Abbey with an epitaph on his tomb by Pope, along with his own concluding couplet: “Life is a jest, and all things show it, I thought so once, and now I know it.”

Have you ever seen a production of Beggar’s Opera you really enjoyed? Or have any ideas for a book set among characters like this? (We don’t see them too often in romances, of course; our characters would be more likely to be the ones satirized! But I’m working on research for an Elizabethan story set among similar theatrical people, and having lots of fun with it…)

And, on a totally unrelated note, I’ve posted some new author photos for Laurel McKee on my own blog! I can’t decide which I like best. What do you think???

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Beggar's Opera, theater | 15 Replies

Happy Birthday, Josephine Bonaparte!

Updated on June 23, 2009 by Amanda McCabe/Laurel McKee

Empress Josephine Bonaparte was born on this day, June 23, in 1763 as Marie Josephe Rose Tascher de la Pagerie on the island of Martinique! Over at my own blog I had a short general bio on Saturday, so I thought here I would concentrate on one aspect of her very complex life–that of Style Icon. And she was very stylish indeed–what else could we expect from a French/Caribbean empress? 🙂 Even though her appearance was mostly said to be sort of average (average height, brown hair, hazel eyes–though some said brown and some said green, a good nose, and bad teeth) she knew how to dress to emphasize her good points and detract from her bad, and how to make herself seem graceful and elegant.

To help me out, I pulled books down off my shelves and looked up anything I could find that talked about Josephine’s clothes or fashion sense or use of cosmetics. Here’s just a few of the quotes I discovered:

In her youth as a young, aristocratic French bride in Paris:
“The forces of fashion conspired in Rose’s favor. The panniered dresses and terrifying hairstyles that had prevailed on her arrival in France were now somewhat demode. In their place came a style that suited Rose much better. The new look was captured in Vigee-Lebrun’s painting of Marie Antoinette which had caused such a sensation in the salon of 1783. It featured the Queen in a straw hat and simple white gown, reminiscent of the plain muslin dresses favored by Creole women on Martinique. Rose looked charming and felt comfortable in this new style. At last her native style was seen as an asset; at last she could feel confident in her femininity and in her burgeoning sexuality.” (Stuart, 78)

“Describing her during this time one old acquaintance wrote ‘That lady, without being precisely pretty, nevertheless was attractive because of her style, her gaiety and her good heart’.” (Stuart, 93)

“She perfected a style of her own, of notable graceful movements and gestures and a seductive walk to match her native langurous manner. With a will that would be of iron, she effected a physical transformation, too, schooling herself into a new slender body. Her arresting voice, with its slight Creole accent filleted of r’s would always be her greatest asset, low and silvery, ‘like a caress’ Napoleon would say of it” (Bruce, 27)

“(Lady-in-waiting Madame de Remusant) was struck by Rose’s charms. ‘Her figure,’ she later recalled, ‘was perfect, her limbs were supple and delicate, all her movements were easy and elegant…full of grace rather than beautiful and with an expression of indescribable beauty’.” (Bruce, 56)

The scandalous Directoire years as one of the notorious beauties known as ‘Merveiluses’:
“She had metamorphosed into a glittering butterfly who flitted with ease through this illustrious company. Both sexes found her seductive and gracious. Men admired her amber eyes, her flawless skin, the perfection of her arms, the sensual aura that radiated from her person. Women enjoyed the sweetness of her manner.” (Stuart, 199)

In Milan with her new husband Napoleon:
“Initially Josephine’s friends were a shock to Milan. Journals complained of their ‘immodest behavior ; arms, bosom, shoulders, all are uncovered. The arrangement of their hair is a scandal–sown with flowers and feathers, and the whole crowned with little military helmets from which locks of untidy hair escape. They even have the effrontery to dress in tunics revealing legs and thighs barely hidden by flesh-colored tights. Their manners match their clothes: arrogant talk, provocative looks, and meat eaten on Fridays.” (Bruce, 183)

As First Consul’s wife:
“He (Napoleon) was particularly keen to encourage the use of French silks and velvets, rather than the popular muslin, which was imported via England. The vogue for shawls was another example of the Consulate push for female propriety. Popularized by Josephine, the shawl replaced the fan as the must-have accessory of the period. It was usually handmade from cashmere, and it became an essential luxury item that could cost a fortune. One beautiful shawl that the First Consul presented to Josephine cost over 10,000 francs.” (Bruce, 269)

Coronation, December 2, 1804:
“At six o’clock Isabey had arrived to paint Josephine’s face and to oversee her robing. Her hair was transformed by her coiffeurs into a mass of shining chestnut ringlets, and a diadem of pearls interlaced with diamond leaves was perched atop. Then her ladies helped her into a long-sleeved gown of white satin, embroidered with gold and silver. Its bodice was cut in a low square on the bosom, with a small collar of lace rising from the shoulders and encircling the neck, and its full skirt and long train were embroidered with golden bees. Her necklace and earrings were carved gems set in diamonds and on her finger she wore a ring with a ruby, the symbol of joy.” (Stuart, 323)

As Empress:
(when she made her first official appearance as Empress): “That day she was particularly radiant, noted one observer. ‘She appeared in bright sunshine attired in a robe of rose-colored tulle, spangled with silver stars and cut very low according to the fashion of the day. Her headdress consisted of a great number of diamond wheat-ears, and this brilliant attire, the elegance of her bearing, the charm of her smile, the sweetness of her countenance, produced such an effect that the Empress outshone all the ladies of her suite’.” (Stuart, 316)

Her influence on Imperial style: “The result was a melange of Greek purity and European sumptuousness, mingling the neoclassical aesthetic with the revival of interest in the Middle Ages, known as the ‘troubador style.’ Hence the preference for embroidery and the raised lace collar that had become part of court dress. The grace with which Josephine wore these grand costumes belied just how uncomfortable they were; stiff and heavy.” (Stuart, 336)

(An inventory of her wardrobe in 1809 listed 49 grand court dresses, 676 dresses, 60 cashmere shawls, 496 other shawls and scarves, 413 pairs of gloves, and 200 silk stockings)

In conclusion, “As one of history’s great style icons, Josephine’s influence on the way an entire generation wanted to look, dress, and behave cannot be overstated. Her every action and nuance of appearance were followed eagerly by newspapers and journals in France and abroad. She was the high priestess of style, and fashion-conscious women the world over idolized her.” (Stuart, 335)

Today, she even has a Barbie in her image!

What do you think of Josephine’s style? (I could do without the immense gold-embroidered dresses and velvet trains, but I do love cashmere shawls!). Who would be a comparable style icon today (Princess Diana, maybe? But I can’t think of anyone more recent…)

(A few of the sources I enjoy on the life of Josephine are: Andrea Stuart’s Rose of Martinique: A Life of Napoleon’s Josephine; Evangeline Bruce’s Napoleon and Josephine: An Improbable Marriage; Frances Mossiker, Napoleon and Josephine: The Biography of a Marriage; and Carrolly Erickson’s Josephine: A Life of the Empress)

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Fashion, Josephine Bonaparte | 17 Replies

Unexpected Influences

Updated on June 16, 2009 by Amanda McCabe/Laurel McKee

I always love reading biographies of independent-minded women writers in history! (Austen, the Brontes, George Eliot, George Sand, Emily Dickinson, etc–it’s very inspirational). This weekend I read Brad Gooch’s new biography of Flannery O’Connor. O’Connor was one of my favorite writers in high school, but aside from a class called “The American Short Story” in college I haven’t re-read her as much as Austen and the Brontes (which I re-read almost constantly!). This biography, though almost strictly about her life and with very little literary commentary, was fascinating and inspired me to take my volume of her short stories off the shelf again.

Flannery O’Connor, like almost all those other favorite authors I listed, was something of an eccentric, solitary soul, deeply devoted to her work and her own strange interior world. She had a relatively short life, dying at 39 of lupus in 1964, and the last 14 years of her life were spent mostly on the remote family farm in Georgia, but she was a writer of immense genius and originality. She wrote 2 novels, Wise Blood and The Violent Bear It Away, and 2 short story collections, A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories and Everything That Rises Must Converge (which won a posthumous National Book Award). My college textbook says “(the) texts usually take place in the South and revolve around morally flawed characters.” They could loosely be called “Southern Gothic,” in the vein of her contemporaries Faulkner and Welty, but they are unique and deeply flavored with O’Connor’s own devout Catholicism and struggles with illness.

For a writer of historical romance fiction like myself, O’Connor isn’t such a direct influence as Austen and the Brontes. Though she declared “Hawthorne said he didn’t write novels, he wrote romances; I am one of his descendants,” they are ‘romances’ in a very different sense (more in the grotesque, fantastical way of Frankenstein). But as I re-read her most famous story, “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” I realized O’Connor is a great teacher of craft. Nothing could be added or subtracted from this story; the visual details and rhythm of the dialogue paint a whole world. And the sense of sustained foreboding is equaled only (maybe) in James’s Turn of the Screw. It never falters. The same can be said of stories like “Good Country People” and the gorgeous “Revelation” (written partially from her deathbed. Determined to finish her Everything Rises… collection even as her body failed her, she set up a typewriter on a table by her bed, and would sleep for an hour and write for an hour until it was done. A lesson in artistic determination!).

There’s a great website on O’Connor’s work here, and her home at Andalusia is open to visitors, and I would love to visit there someday! (I would also love to visit Haworth Parsonage and Chawton, in hopes of soaking in some inspiration. Maybe we need to get together an international writers’ tour…)