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I’m following Caroline’s lead in the business of shameless self promotion by showing you the book trailer I made for Dedication:

And now we have that over with, I’ll share the secrets of my plotting process with you. First of all, I have a visit from the Idea Elf. The Idea Elf whispers in my ear something like “Why don’t you write a book about …” and then his colleague, the Plot Fairy, comes to visit.

Yes, really. They are little people dressed in green and the Plot Fairy has lovely gauzy wings. They flit. They are cute. The Idea Elf tends to come around when I’m halfway through something and I have to tell him to go away and then he sulks. The Plot Fairy is a shy and wondrous creature whose visits are always unexpected and infrequent. I don’t know why the Idea Elf is male and the Plot Fairy female but it provides an excuse to post a pic of Orlando Bloom (who isn’t nearly as pretty as himself and the Idea Elf is rather more sort of green and wizened).

So here’s the latest from the Idea Elf:

As you know, a single woman, a friend or sister, was often invited to accompany the happy couple on their honeymoon. So Character A, companion to Character B, is in love with Mr. C. and then to her astonishment he proposes to Character B. B invites A to accompany them on their honeymoon. Now this is interesting because it could go a number of ways and so could they. It could be extremely sexy. It could be tender and reflective. It could be… calling the Plot Fairy. Come in, Plot Fairy. Plot Fairy, are you there?

Character A (a completely different A) is a woman whose reputation is dodgy because she’s had a string of failed engagements. Current fiance B turns up and begs to be set free because he’s gay and the guilt is driving him nuts. She suggests: a threesome … a drive in the park to clear his head … that he find her another potential husband superquick … Mayday, Plot Fairy. Are you receiving me?

Downton Abbey done right in the Regency: a houseful of conniving servants, upstairs-downstairs love affairs, and then … a body in the library (the butler done it with a blunt instrument!) … missing jewelry … a rude parrot … trapdoors … secret passages … a gaggle of women invited by the hero’s mother to try out for the position of bride … I’m actually writing this one and where is that Plot Fairy when you need her?

A terrible virus attacks the hot Dukes of Regency London, turning them into small brown dogs. The plucky heroine, an amateur scientist, joins forces with a renegade doctor to save the flower of England’s aristocracy but her heart is torn between him and a hot Duke whose DNA may provide the cure.

Now, are there any of these you’d actually want to read?

I’ve been continuing to work my way through the Letters of Harriet, Countess Granville. She was the daughter of the 5th Duke of Devonshire and the famous Duchess, Georgiana and her letters are full of interesting tidbits. However, they’re not an easy read, because she used so much French (alas, I took Spanish in high school) and there are gaps in the story (when she was together with her siblings there was no need to write letters). I also wish there were more explanatory footnotes. Since she wrote mostly to family, she used a lot of nicknames. I know some of them: “Hart” is her brother, who became the 6th Duke of Devonshire, “Silence” is Lady Jersey, “Poodle” must be the dandy Poodle Byng, etc… But there are still places I get confused about persons or events she writes about, which would have been clear to the friends and family with whom she corresponded.

But despite that, I really like Harriet and I can easily relate to her feelings about family and society. Born into high society and then married to Lord Granville, a politician and diplomat, she did quite a bit of entertaining and seemed to enjoy it to some degree.

Here’s a snippet from a letter from London in 1819:

“My ball was as pretty and successful as possible. My front room was as light as day and the back all pink muslin and flowers. The two large rooms below were filled with little round supper tables, and all the flirtations went down to back their sentiments with soup and entrees. They danced with spirit till six o’clock, when Colinet said he could play no more.”

But it’s also clear that she found the pace of fashionable life wearisome at times. Here she writes about a day spent with Lady Jersey in Paris:

“At two o’clock yesterday morning Lady Jersey called for me, and we never stopped to take breath till eleven o’clock at night, when she set me down here more dead than alive, she was going to end her day with the Hollands.

We began by a bonbon shop, where she spent much time and money. Then to a china shop, ditto. Then to St. Mande, where we found the Morleys in great spirits… Our next move was to the Cadran Bleu, where we found Granville and Lord Jersey waiting for us, and where we had an excellent dinner, which being swallowed, we ran across to the Theatre de la Gaite, saw ‘Le Bouquet des Poissardes’, a gay sort of melodrame, and then got in time for the ballet at the Opera, and Lady Granville said, ‘Can this be I’?”

Everything does sound fun, but a bit much for one day!

Harriet’s marriage was a happy one. She loved her five children dearly and missed them when parted due to social and political obligations. Here she writes from the country before departing for London for a fall session of Parliament:

“I cannot endure the thoughts of Monday fortnight. I am so happy here. My health also seems to profit by every mouthful of air, and the misfortune is that there is scarcely anything in London to weight against all I enjoy here. Breakfast by candlelight in a fog, no interest strong enough to make society piquant, no time for air and exercise, away from my chicks.”

She enjoyed the slower pace of life in the Hague (in the Netherlands), where her husband served as ambassador.

“Yesterday was a happy day. In the morning early I walked with my blooming daughters on the Vijjverberg, where we had the whole advantage of bright sun and air soft was May. I then came home and received a cadeau of three plover’s eggs in a little box… At two we drove in the curricle (Granville having for fifty sovereigns bought two little grey horses), to the sea and walked on the sands.”

Apparently this life made her reflect on the London season, as she wrote to her sister:

“…I did not know myself what a London spring was to me. You have never had to encounter it in all its plenitude, and the unwearied dissipation and nightly sittings through it all. The little pleasure and the gnawing anxieties must be looked at afar to see them in their proper light.”

I feel a sort of sympathy with this attitude. I like the occasional concert or party but I truly love quiet times with family and close friends, the sort of thing that would be boring to write too much about, but a major part of my characters’ happy endings. This picture of the Granvilles at the top epitomizes that to me.

If you were a Regency heroine, what would be your ideal life: a fashionable whirl, a quiet life in the country, or some sort of mix?

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

I can’t believe it’s the weekend already!! (and many thanks to Megan for pitching in for me on Tuesday…hopefully now that deadlines are looking reasonable again, and warm weather is here, I won’t go down in my writing hole quite so often…). And Happy Easter to everyone, too.

I got an early spring present this week–author copies of the May Harlequin Historical release, The Taming of the Rogue! I am very excited about this book–it’s my Elizabethan theater/playwright/spy story. Plus it has a gorgeous gown on the cover. I covet it–deeply. If you would like a sneak peek at the story, I’m having a contest to win a copy until Tuesday. (or check back here at the end of this month when I chatter on about it some more…)
In the meantime, I’ve been catching up on my reading. I just finished Pamela Druckerman’s Bringing Up Bebe: One American Mother Discovers the Wisdom of French Parenting. (and no, I don’t have any kids–I just always seem compelled to read any book that tells me how to be more French). Among lots of other interesting (and practical) info, she has a great take on the difference between American and French children’s books:
In the American books, there’s usually a problem, a struggle to fix the problem, and then a cheerful resolution…Lessons are learned and life gets better.
Whereas in French stories, There’s a problem, and the characters struggle to overcome that problem but they seldom succeed for very long. Often the book ends with the protagonist having the same problem again. There is rarely a moment of personal transformation, when everyone learns and grows.
One of her daughter’s favorite books involves two little cousins, Eliette (who is bossy) and Alice (who is passive). One day Alice kicks Eliette to the curb, deciding she has had enough. Eliette begs her pardon, Alice takes her back–then Eliette jabs her with a needle again. The end.
Life is ambiguous and complicated. There aren’t bad guys and good guys. Each of us has a bit of both. Eliette is bossy, but she’s also lots of fun. Alice is the victim, but she also seems to ask for it, and she goes back for more. We’re to presume that Eliette and Alice keep up their little dysfunctional cycle, because, well, that’s what a friendship between two girls is like. I wish I had known that when I was four, instead of finally figuring it out in my thirties.
Also–there is a lot of nudity and love in French books for four-year-olds. She has a book about the romance between the boy who accidentally pees in his pants and the little girl who lends him her pants while fashioning her bandana into a skirt.
Now that is love.
I kinda like this idea of an ambiguous ending. It doesn’t mean everyone isn’t happy–it just means that this is life, and these people have learned to make a life together. Isn’t that what a romance novel ending is about? Two people who care enough about each other to stay the course no matter who pees in their pants? Why don’t we ever see that in the babies and bliss epilogues??
What are some of your favorite book endings? How did your favorite books turn out when you were four years old? (I had a picture book I loved about a princess with immensely long hair, who was always tripping up princes and courtiers and hapless hairdressers in those impractical tresses and finally had to trim it. I am not sure what that message is. Maybe my mom was just tired of making my French braids or something. I also loved Eloise, who dumped water down the mail chutes in the Plaza…)
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Today is Easter Monday and a Bank Holiday in the UK and a day of many festive holiday customs. I’ve written before about “Ball Monday” and the Hallaton annual “Hare Pie Scramble and Bottle Kicking match.” Here is another Easter Monday custom: The London Harness Horse Parade.

The London Harness Horse Parade, unlike other Easter Monday customs, is a rather recent event. Its origin dates back to 1885 when the first London Cart Horse Parade was held to encourage the humane treatment of London’s working cart horses. In 1904 another annual parade began. The Van Horse Parade had the similar objective of promoting humane treatment of the animals. In the 1960s the two parades were merged into the London Harness Horse Parade.

When the first parades were held, harness horses were crucial to the transport of people and goods throughout the UK, but with the advent of the automobile, harness horses diminished in use. The early Easter Monday parades had, at their peak, over 1200 horses participating. Now the parade consists mainly of hobbyists who come to display their horses and vehicles. There are some “working” horses, such as Harrods’ Fresians, those of Cribbs Undertakers, and the Shire horses from the Youngs and Fullers Breweries.

I wish I was there to see all the horses and their vehicles, everything from donkeys to the Clydesdales or Suffolks.

Here’s the next best thing!

You can even buy a video of the event! (and I’ll provide the link as soon as my internet stops being wonky)

I’m returning from Williamsburg and an Easter visit with my in-laws. What are you doing this Easter Monday? Where do you wish you could be?

When I was about 8, I happened to catch the movie A Night To Remember on TV, and I was totally hooked on the story of the Titanic! I ran out to the library and started reading everything I could about the tragedy. And April 14-15, 2012 marks the 100th anniversary of the sinking. Here are just a few interesting little facts I found about the ship:

–The ship struck the iceberg at about 11:40 pm on April 14, and took about 2 hours and 40 minutes to sink (15 minutes to get to its resting place on the bottom of the ocean). There were no binoculars in the crow’s nest lookout, so time from sighting to impact was about 30 seconds

–Most passengers had to share bathrooms (the only rooms with private bathrooms were the two uber-expensive promenade suites in 1st class), but in 3rd class there were only 2 bathtubs for 700 people

–There were 9 dogs aboard–two survived (a Pom and a Peke)

–Though there were 4 funnels, only 3 were functional; the fourth was only for aesthetics

–The ship was approximately the same height and length as Tower Bridge

–The price of a ticket (in 1912 prices); 1st–$4350, 2nd–$1750, 3rd–$30

–There were 20 lifeboats, 14 with a capacity of 65, 2 with a capacity of 40, and 4 collapsibles that could hold 47. If the boats had all been launched to capacity (which almost none were), they would have held 1178 of the 2201 aboard. As it was 711 were rescued. (Luckily the ship had not sold out to its full capacity of 3547). This seems shockingly inadequate to us today, but it actually exceeded Board of Trade requirements. The thinking was a) they needed the deck space for passengers to stroll around, b) even the ship sank, it wouldn’t be very fast thanks to the watertight compartments and the boats would only be for ferrying passengers to rescuing ships.

–The first film version of the disaster was made about a month later, starring actress and survivor Dorothy Gibson. For her star turn in Saved From The Titanic, she wore the actual gown she was rescued in, but the prints were destroyed in a fire a few years later.

–It’s long been thought the last song the orchestra played was “Nearer My God To Thee,” but survivor Harold Bride stated that it was “Autumn”

–There were lots of famous names and robber baron types aboard, but two canceled their trips at the last minute–JP Morgan and Milton Hershey

–If you want to own some Titanic stuff for yourself (and have room for stuff like a deck chair, a part of the bulkhead, and a cherub from the staircase), there is an auction of Titanic items tomorrow in Richmond, Virginia

–I love these menus from last night on the ship (a local college is having a Titanic dinner this weekend–maybe someplace near you is as well)

Are you interested in the story of the Titanic? What are some of your favorite things about the disaster, or the whole Edwardian era??
And on a whole different note, be sure and enter my contest to win a copy of my may release, The Taming of the Rogue! It will be going on until the end of today…
Posted in Research | Tagged | 7 Replies
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