Category: Diane Gaston

Guest Author Sarah Mallory

Updated on January 24, 2023 by Diane Gaston

I have another guest today! Today it is my pleasure to turn my blog day over to Sarah Mallory, who is here to talk about her latest release, Temptation Of A Governess, out now from Harlequin Historical.

To celebrate the release of the book, Sarah will give away one signed copy of Temptation Of A Governess to one lucky commenter chosen at random.

Here’s Sarah!

Tell us about your book.
Temptation Of A Governess is the second in the Infamous Arrandales series and is the story of Diana Grensham, a shy young woman who becomes joint guardian to two young girls along with Alex Arrandale, the new Earl of Davenport. She has to protect the girls’ interests against Alex’s plans to remove them from their home, and in doing so she grows in confidence as she joins in a battle of wills and wits with the earl.

What is risky about your book?
Women during the Regency faced huge risks. Most gently born ladies had no money of their own but were dependent upon husbands or family for support. Reputations, too were very brittle, and while it was accepted (almost expected) that men would take mistresses and have affairs, a woman was required to preserve at least an outward appearance of respectability. Diana has lived her life in the shadows, first as a daughter, then a governess, but to protect her wards she must put herself forward, into the limelight. Anyone who has ever suffered from a lack of self-confidence or shyness will know just how it feels to suddenly be the centre of attention. Diana feels exposed and vulnerable, but by the end of the book she knows she doesn’t want to go back into her shell and she takes the biggest risk of all to achieve her happy ending (I am not telling you any more than that as I don’t want to give the story away!)

Did you come across any interesting research while writing the book?
I had to read up on the life of a governess in Regency England. Of particular interest were the journals & letters of Agnes Porter, edited by Joanna Martin and published as “A Governess in the Age of Jane Austen”. Agnes was a governess to the children and grandchildren of the second Earl of Ilchester from 1784 until 1806, so this was a perfect time period for my story. The accepted view of governesses at that time is rather downtrodden, unhappy women, but Agnes made the most of her situation. There is some evidence that she would have liked to marry, but never had the chance. However, she never complained of her lot and was respected and valued by her employer. She had friends, both men and women, with whom she corresponded regularly and also went to stay with some of them. When she went to London with the family she appears to have had quite a full social life of her own. She would spend the mornings “at our studies” with her charges but in the afternoons and evenings she would go out, taking tea with friends and acquaintances or walking with them. On one occasion she took two of her pupils to her sister’s house, where they were “…entertained with a dance and musick until the gentlemen came up from dinner to tea…”

I also enjoyed researching a little gem of an English manor house which I used as the model for Chantreys, the house Diana and her charges call home. It is the beautiful 17^th century Ashdown House as my model (Here’s the link, if you want to have a peep: http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/ashdown-house).

You also write as Melinda Hammond. Tell us about those books.
In the dim and (very) distant past I began writing sweet Regency and Georgian romances as Melinda Hammond. I also use the name when I want to try something a little different, such as dual time novels. I have now published many of my backlist, as well as a couple of short stories, as e-books and plan to expand the list as time goes on.

What is next for you?
The third in the Infamous Arrandales series, The Return of the Runaway, will be published early 2016 and I am currently writing book #4. After that … well, my head is so bursting with more stories that the problem is which one to pick! Watch this space.

Here’s a question for all of you.
Tell me what you like best about Regency stories, is it the history, the manners, or just the excitement of living in another time? I’d love to know!

Diane, here, again. Remember. One lucky commenter will win a copy of Temptation Of A Governess.

It Happened One Christmas

Updated on January 24, 2023 by Diane Gaston

It Happened One Christmas is one of my favorite holiday things–a Regency Christmas Anthology! Even better, it features three novellas by my fellow Harlequin Historical authors–all award-winners: Carla Kelly, Georgie Lee, and Ann Lethbridge.

These ladies have generously offered to give away one copy of the anthology to one lucky commenter, chosen at random. Winner will be announced by Monday.

Praise for It Happened One Christmas:

“…three wonderful Regency authors showcase the joy of yuletide in novellas that shine with the magic of the season.” —RTBook Reviews

Tell us about It Happened One Christmas.

Carla Kelly

Georgie: In The Viscount’s Christmas Kiss, Lily and Gregor both learn to overcome their past missteps while dealing with crazy family members during Christmas.

Ann: Instead of a wicked stepmother in Wallflower, Widow…Wife, I thought it might be interesting to have a wicked stepson. Adam, our hero is grumpy, and not ready for the two little girls whom Cassandra has rescued from their charming but villainous stepbrother. Adam, drawn in by the spirit of Christmas he thought long forgotten, finds himself thoroughly embroiled and enchanted.

Georgie Lee

Carla: Christmas Eve Proposal is one of several Christmas novellas for Harlequin and my story takes place during the Napoleonic wars.

What was it like to write an anthology? Did you coordinate your stories or collaborate?

Ann: I love Christmas so I was pleased to be invited to participate in the Anthology. Each story stands alone, but it was lovely to be in a book two other others whom I enjoy reading.

Ann Lethbridge

Georgie: I wrote The Viscount’s Christmas Kiss during Christmas last year and through the beginning of the New Year. It was fun to celebrate Christmas with a story and to keep the holiday spirit going through January.

Carla: I have always enjoyed the added challenge of writing short stories. I also have a Christmas anthology with just my three stories In it, called “Regency Christmas Gifts”. We did not connect our stories in any way.

Did you come across any interesting research in writing your stories?

Carla: I developed a much deeper appreciation for the Royal Navy’s warrant officers, those men who were specialists in their fields. My character Benneit Muir was one of those. The sailing master on a Royal Navy frigate was the senior warrant officer who literally ran the ship, from location of ballast in the hold, to the set of the sails. His job was to be master at speed and maneuverability. A good sailing master could make or break a ship. My father was a warrant officer in the US Navy, and his specialty was aviation electronics, or avionics.

Georgie: I enjoyed researching how people in the Regency celebrated Christmas and then weaving some of their traditions, like Christmas dinner and a servant’s ball into my story. It was also fun to read about how excited students were to be on vacation and to go home for Christmas, just like today.

Ann: My heroine has fled from her home and must support herself and her stepdaughters, and what speaks of more Christmas than the warmth of candlelight? When Cassandra left home, she brought with her a swarm of honeybees and is making candles to sell at the market when the hero kisses her the first time. Researching the keeping of bees and the making of candles during this time was fascinating even if little of the actual research found its way into the story.

What was risky about your stories in It Happened One Christmas?

Georgie: Gregor takes a risk by apologizing to the woman he wronged while winning her heart. There is also a risky Christmas Eve kissing beneath the mistletoe scene where the hero and heroine almost get caught.

Carla: The Napoleonic Wars were still in full force in my story. It’s always risky to give your heart away under wartime circumstances, both for Ben and for Amanda. Even now, people do it, and I respect their courage.

Ann: No, not the bees! After a disastrous marriage, Cassandra takes a big risk in trusting Adam with her secrets. He could easily take the legal position of the day, laws established by men of course, and return her and the girls to their brother.

Tell us something about Christmas in the Regency and how it is shown in your stories.

Georgie: The Christmas carols Hark! the Herald Angels Sing and The Twelve Days of Christmas were both sung in the Regency era and I used them in my story. The Twelve Days of Christmas was really great for when I needed a long Christmas carol to keep the family distracted while the hero and heroine enjoyed a stolen moment together.

Ann: Being British, I realized that many of my family traditions go back to these times, for example making Christmas Pudding and decorating the house with holly and ivy. Though Christmas trees did not become standard in Britain until later in the century, they were traditional in European countries, so like Victoria adopting Prince Albert’s tradition, some other families must have done so as well. Also we know that Charles Dickens speaks of a decorated table top tree in his childhood home and he was born 1812, right at the beginning of the Regency, so I incorporated a German tree lit with real candles in my story.

Carla: The full-blown Christmases that we enjoy today were much less in evidence during the Regency. Ben and Mandy get together during a church service, which, along with a good meal on Christmas day, and perhaps a few presents constituted Christmas.

What is next for each of you?

Carla: Typically, I write two books a year, plus several novellas. Writing is an enviable (at times) job, from which one never need retire.

Georgie: My next book is A Too Convenient Marriage coming out February 1, 2016. It is book two in my Business of Marriage series.

Ann: My next book ties into an earlier book (More than a Mistress) is More Than a Lover and comes out in May 2016. You can find out about all my books at http://www.annlethbridge.com and if you sign up for my newsletter, you will receive a free short story e-book.

The three of us are delighted to offer one lucky winner a copy of It Happened One Christmas.

Please tell us about what you like about Christmas or the Holiday Season. Does your family have any unusual Christmas traditions or funny stories that Happened One Christmas?

Wishing you all the joys of the season and a happy and healthy New Year.

Carla, Georgie and Ann

Bios

Award winning author Georgie Lee was born and raised in San Diego where she also attended college, majoring in television and film production. She began her professional writing career at a local cable TV station writing marketing videos, promotional spots and public service announcements, some of which still haunt the airwaves.  Blinded by the dazzling lights of Hollywood, she headed north to Los Angeles where she earned her MA in Screenwriting, met her husband, and settled into a career in the interesting but strange world of the entertainment industry.   A lifelong history buff, Georgie hasn’t given up hope that she will one day inherit a title and a manor house. Until then, she fulfills her dreams of lords, ladies and a season in London through her stories. When not writing, she can be found reading non-fiction history or watching any movie with a costume and an accent.
http://www.georgie-lee.com

Award-winning author Carla Kelly is a veteran of the New York and international publishing world. Carla is best known for her Regency Romances, those novels of manner and wit, made popular more than two centuries ago by Jane Austen. Carla has made certain types of Regencies her own, particularly novels and stories about people who are not lords and ladies. Many of them are hard-working and hard-fighting members of the Royal Navy and Royal Marines in the Channel Fleet, and the British Army on the Spanish Peninsula.

Carla’s interested in the Regency Era is mainly fueled by her scholarly interest in the Napoleonic Wars on land and sea. She credits her own upbringing with some of this interest. As the daughter of an officer in the U.S. Navy, she crossed the 180th Meridian as a child, and has the certificates to prove that she is a member in good standing of The Domain of the Golden Dragon, since the age of 13 months.

Carla’s other major historical interest is the U.S. Indian Wars (1854-1890). She began her writing career writing short stories about the people who lived in army garrisons throughout the American West. She wrote these stories as a direct result of working as a ranger in the National Park Service at Fort Laramie National Historic Site. Currently, she has gone back another century to write a series about a brand inspector and his wife in the 18th New Mexico. Other novels set in the West are forthcoming, probably along with more Regencies. http://www.carlakelly.com

Ann Lethbridge is an award winning author who has over 30 stories in print and e-book published around the world. She is particularly proud of her 2009 win of the Daphne DuMaurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense for The Rake’s Inherited Courtesan her very first novel with Harlequin.

An army brat, born in England, Ann lived all over Britain in her youth and grew up with a deep appreciation of history. The turn of the millennium seemed like a great time to try something new and the stories in her head were looking for an outlet. Given her love of all things Georgette Heyer, regency romance seemed like a no brainer.

The stories are still calling, the ideas pushing their way forward at the most inopportune moments, and she is ejoying every minute of it. Ann loves to hear from readers and you will find her on facebook, twitter and her website. For all the links go to http://www.annlethbridge.com

Posted in Diane Gaston, Risky Regencies | Tagged Diane Gaston | 9 Replies

John Carr Architect

Updated on January 24, 2023 by Diane Gaston

I’ll bet if I say “Robert Adam” most readers and writers of Regency romance will know that he was a famous architect who greatly influenced architecture, interior design, and furniture design of the times–mostly Georgian times, but I imagine my Regency characters in houses designed by Adam all the time.

On my England trip last year, though, I learned of another architect of the same period, even more prolific than Adam–John Carr.

John Carr designed Basildon Park, one of the houses we visited on the Duke of Wellington Tour and one I blogged about here shortly after. He, too, was a neoclassicist like Adam.

If you saw this, would you guess it was by Robert Adam?

It’s an interior of Basildon Park by John Carr.

Carr was born in Yorkshire and decided to remain there rather than settle in London, thinking there was plenty of wealth in the area to support his business. He lived into his eighties and produced an incredible number of projects.

Tabley House is another house designed by John Carr similar to Basildon Park.

One characteristic of both these houses is that you have to go up stairs to reach the front entrance which is on the first floor, not the ground floor. I thought that was rather grand when we visited Basildon Park.

In my current work in progress, Genna’s story in the Scandalous Summerfields series, I used Basildon Park as my model for Summerfield House. It was especially helpful to find floor plans online.

There was one famous house that both John Carr and Robert Adam designed–Harewood House near Leeds.

Carr designed the building and Robert Adam, the interiors. Adam also slightly altered Carr’s exterior, including internal courtyards.

Who is up for visiting all these houses? Don’t you sometimes wish we really had a Transporter like in Star Trek?

Posted in Diane Gaston, Regency, Research | Tagged Basildon Park, Diane Gaston, Harewood House, John Carr, Robert Adam, Tabley House, Transporter | 3 Replies

Christmas Pudding or Omigosh I Missed Stir Up Sunday

Updated on January 24, 2023 by Diane Gaston

First of all, congratulations to Teresa B., winner of It Happened One Christmas. Stay tuned for other guests and giveaways!

Here’s a blog that I originally posted on Dec 5, 2011. It (slightly altered) seemed perfect for today!

Stir Up Sunday is the Sunday before Advent begins, when, according to the Book of Common Prayer, the prayers begin:

Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord the wills of thy faithful people, that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may of thee be plenteously rewarded, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

Traditionally, the prayer read at Church was supposed to remind cooks that they should mix up their Christmas pudding.

This year Stir Up Sunday would have been on Nov 22, so I am a week late and my pudding will not be ready for Christmas. To us Americans, pudding is some chocolate or vanilla or banana custard-like dessert, but English pudding is a mixture of lots of different ingredients, including some grain product.

In the Regency, meats such as beef or veal could be added to sugar, raisins, sherry, lemon, orange, prunes (the dried plums that give plum pudding its name), cinnamon, cloves, brown bread, and such unfamiliar (to me) ingredients as cochineal (a food dye made from insects), suet, sack (a wine from the Canary Isles), hock (another wine), and treacle (a sugar syrup).

Into the mixture was stirred a coin (for wealth), a ring (for marriage) and a thimble (for blessedness. Each member of the family stirred the mixture and made a wish. The mixture was then boiled in a cloth for hours, and hung on a hook to dry until Christmas.

On Christmas day, the pudding was covered with warm brandy and set aflame, making it a dramatic and exciting addition to the Christmas dinner.

If you would like to make a Christmas pudding for your Christmas the Regency way, you are too late, because it has to age to get the best effect and flavor. But never fear! Modern technology comes to the rescue:

What special “pudding” (aka dessert) do you make for the holiday season?

Posted in Diane Gaston, Regency, Research, Winner announcement | Tagged christmas pudding, Diane Gaston | 2 Replies

Austen vs Brontë

Updated on January 24, 2023 by Diane Gaston

How better to start 2016 at Risky Regencies than with a cat fight? Not a real one, of course, but a literary one pitting Jane Austen against Charlotte Brontë.

I just read Why Charlotte Brontë Hated Jane Austen by Susan Ostrov Weisser (Daily Beast, 10/19/2013) and, intrigued, looked around and found The Austen vs Brontë Smackdown on the blog Austen Pride (5/16/2009). I also found a long discussion of Austen vs the Brontës on Goodreads, which I skimmed, but did not read.

Apparently Charlotte Brontë had never read Jane Austen until a critic suggested she do so after she’d written Jane Eyre. She studied Pride and Prejudice and, among other things had this to say:

She ruffles her reader by nothing vehement, disturbs him with nothing profound. The passions are perfectly unknown to her: she rejects even a speaking acquaintance with that stormy sisterhood…

Austen Pride makes the point that Austen, who had passed away a year after Charlotte Brontë was born, could not rebut this accusation. In Northanger Abbey, Austen did, however, parody the emotional excesses of gothic tales, of which the Brontës’ books could be included.

Of course, those of us who love Austen would also argue that there is plenty of passion in Austen’s work, although it is brimming beneath the surface. How could you not think so of Persuasion?

Austen Pride concluded that the two authors were writing from different perspectives. Austen was writing about her keen observations of the world in which she lived; Charlotte and her sisters, on the other hand, wrote what was in their imagination.

Me, I was never a huge fan of Jane Eyre. I loved the beginning when she was in the orphanage, but I never believed in the romance between Jane and Rochester. And the coincidences of falling in a ditch and being found by her long-lost cousin didn’t work for me. I also hated how Rochester treated Jane. And don’t get me started on Wuthering Heights. Heathcliff and Cathy have to die to be together? And who would want Heathcliff anyway? I preferred Edgar to Heathcliff.

I think I hold my fictional heroes to very high standards, ones that the Rochester and Heathcliff don’t quite meet. I understand the forces driving the Brontë heroes, but I much prefer heroes I can admire and even fall in love with. Heroes like Austen creates.

I also love all the finely drawn characters in Austen’s books. Their actions and feelings are much more believable to me and that gives me the sense that I’m in a real place, among real people.

But that is me, thinking on the surface of the stories, which is mostly how I read books.

What about you? Do you prefer Austen or the Brontës? Or do you like both for different reasons?