Risky Regencies

Rotten Row rewind

Updated on June 30, 2013 by Diane Gaston

The Beau Monde is the Regency Chapter of the Romance Writers of America. I’ve been a member for years and it is my go-to place for any questions about historical accuracy. To several of you, this comes as no surprise. You are probably members of Beau Monde as well, and you will have seen this information.

I just could not resist passing these treasures on.

Readers of Regency romance are familiar with Rotten Row, that part of Hyde Park where gentlemen and their ladies could ride on horseback, usually in the morning. This is not to be confused with the “fashionable hour” when gentlemen and ladies rode through the park in their curricles or high-perch phaetons.

This week on the Beau Monde loop, I learned of these treasures.

First is Kathryn Kane’s very thorough, very well-researched article on Rotten Row for The Regency Redingote (What a treasure trove her blog is! Scroll around in it a little)

I learned a new term from this blog–hacking–meaning, riding for pleasure. I also learned that Rotten Row was available for grooms to exercise their employers’ horses. I had not ever thought about where grooms exercised the horses or when.

But there was so much more there.

Angelyn was the person who pointed us to a video of Hyde Park. This is from the 1930s, but it is not too difficult to imagine it from a century earlier.

SPRING IN HYDE PARK – ROTTEN ROW

Thank also to the British Pathe for that video!

On my 2003 trip to England, on the Regency Tour organized by Patty Suchy of Novel Explorations, Amanda and I joined authors Brenda Hiatt, Galen Foley, and my friend Julie for a walk across Hyde Park. It was one of the highlights of the trip! Here they are, from L to R Amanda, Brenda, Galen, and Julie:

Have you ever been to Hyde Park? Seen Rotten Row?

What park is your favorite for a nice long walk?

Posted in Regency, Research | 6 Replies

Cover Reveal!

Updated on June 28, 2013 by Elena Greene

My apologies for not being around much this week. I’ve been fighting another sinus infection while madly trying to finish the latest version of the balloonist story and get it out to my critique partners.

The good news is I finally settled on a title and I have a cover! Please forgive the historically inaccurate shirtlessness–I decided it was more important to convey the level of sensuality and make sure people didn’t mistake this for a sweet traditional Regency.

I’m hoping to get the critique-ready ms out by tomorrow, before taking my oldest to a 3 week summer youth program (first time she’s away that long), so I don’t have much time to chat. But here’s the short blurb I came up with for the story.

A village schoolmistress’s life takes a turn when a Waterloo veteran turned aeronaut crashes near her cottage. Passion sweeps them along, taking them on a scandalous flight across the English countryside. They must marry, but can they make a life together?

Now I’m off to re-edit the Dreaded Chapter 27 (which required an untold number of Hershey’s nuggets to write in the first place). Please wish me luck!

Elena
www.elenagreene.com
www.facebook.com/ElenaGreene

Posted in Risky Book Talk, Risky Regencies | 8 Replies

Recent Reads

Updated on June 26, 2013 by Janet Mullany

Occasionally I find a book that’s so extraordinary, so wonderful, that all I want to do is read to the neglect of all else. Yet at the same time I can’t bear the thought of coming to the end, and want to take my time savoring every phrase and sentence.

I’ve been fortunate enough to read two such books in the past couple of weeks. The first one, , by Kate Atkinson, I borrowed from the library for the kindle, and then decided to buy it. In hardback. It was massively on sale but I knew this was something I’d keep and that this was too good for the kindle. It’s astonishing. I reached a new level of appreciation for a book on the commute–crying in public on the Metro (ranking way higher above my previous criteria, missing my stop or getting on the wrong train). How to describe this book … well, it’s about a woman whose life ends many times until she can get it right and includes amazing vivid scenes of life from before World War I through the blitz. Read more about the book at Kate Atkinson’s site.

The other book, which I’m just a few dozen pages into, is Hilary Mantel’s Bring Up the Bodies, the sequel to Wolf Hall, the center volume of her three-book series about Thomas Cromwell. Thomas Cromwell has been branded a villain in history, the right hand man of Henry VIII who was responsible for the dissolution of the monasteries (or so the simple version goes). He rose from humble beginnings to a position of great power, playing the dangerous game of power with the Tudors. It’s all familiar history that’s been dumbed down, prettified, and made safe by The Tudors and Philippa Gregory’s The Other Boleyn Girl. But this book, these books, are brilliant and complex and chillingly beautiful; written in third person present tense, an interesting choice, and Bring Up the Bodies has one of the best backstories in a sequel that I’ve ever read.

Have you read either of these books or authors? What have you been reading?

Posted in Reading | 4 Replies

Cecilia Grant’s A Woman Entangled

Updated on June 26, 2013 by megan

First off, thanks to Carolyn for ceding her day so I could talk about a remarkable author whose book is just out.

A Woman Entangled, Cecilia Grant’s third book, was released this week, and I got a chance to read it prior to publication, so I can wax eloquently about it. Or as eloquently as I can wax.

The book’s premise is a familiar one–the beauty of a family wishes to elevate her family’s standing through marriage, and has a plan to make that happen. Her immediate family has been disowned by her extended family because her mother was an actress who married her father. The two are in love, and have had children, and seem content with their lives. But the heroine, Kate, wants more. She thinks she deserves more, also, because she is so beautiful, and she is practical enough to know she should utilize her beauty to do things for the people she loves.

Pride and Prejudice is frequently referenced in the book, and acts as a sort of leit motif, but looking at the two heroines–Kate Westbrook and Elizabeth Bennet–they are opposites of each other, at least in the most crucial way to women of that time; Kate is absolutely determined to barter herself in a marriage to help her family, while Elizabeth will not, even though her family’s circumstances are more dire than the Westbrooks.

Which heroine is more honorable? Is it better to be true to yourself, or to be true to your family? Kate can be, frankly, unlikeable during the course of the book because she is so set on her course. But her unlikeability–told in Cecilia Grant’s amazingly layered and elegant prose–makes her real, someone who is more than just a pretty face (even if that is all she sees!).

While the hero has an equally compelling storyline, A Woman Entangled is truly Kate’s story, since she is the one with the power to make decisions that will affect her family, the object of her affections, and herself. It’s a remarkable position for a woman to be in at any time, much less this time, and A Woman Entangled is a remarkable book.

Given what I’ve described of Kate, would you take the Kate path of sacrificing yourself for your family, or take the Elizabeth path of staying true to yourself? A random commenter will win a copy of A Woman Entangled!

Megan

Posted in Risky Regencies | 3 Replies

Dancing At The Ball

Updated on June 25, 2013 by Amanda McCabe/Laurel McKee

Last weekend, I had a great time attending the Netherfield Ball hosted by the JASNA North Texas chapter! Over 200 people, plus real, live musicians, celebrated the 200th anniversary of Pride and Prejudice with tea sandwiches, cakes, beautiful gowns, and dancing….

(Here is their website for more info on the event…)

I seldom make it to dance practice here (they have classes two days a month, and I always seem to miss them!), but I was able to dance some of the easier sets and enjoyed watching the rest, fanning myself from a chair on the sidelines and pretending I had just been snubbed by Mr. Darcy. I knew I had watched many of the movie adaptations too often, since I recognized the steps from several of the dance scenes. Like Mr. Beveridge’s Maggot, from Emma and P&P:

Some more Emma:

Some Becoming Jane (I had forgotten DS Hathaway from the Inspector Lewis mysteries was in this one! Poor guy…)

Some waltzing from Young Victoria (wrong period, I know! I just love this gown so much):

I had a wonderful time, and hope they will hold another ball next year! (I had to keep resisting pulling a Lydia and running around squealing “I long for a ball!!”). Wearing the gowns, doing the dance steps, and talking to other people who love the period is always a great inspiration for writing. Plus a ton of fun!

Do you dance? What is your favorite style?? What would you wear to the Netherfield Ball?

Posted in Risky Regencies | 1 Reply