Tag Archives: Isobel Carr

Lions and Tigers and Bears, oh my…

Updated on January 24, 2023 by Isobel Carr

Romancelandia thrives on strange pets, but the creatures authors give their characters are by no means stranger than those real people kept during the Georgian era. There was a large menagerie at the Tower of London, that included apes, leopards, lions, even a polar bear that was let loose (on a long chain) to hunt fish in the Thames. Many wealthy people kept private menageries, or strange pets.

The Moose
George Stubbs
1773
Wikicommons

William Wilberforce, the abolitionist politician, had a domesticated menagerie of foxes and hares and hedgehogs that roamed about his house. In 1824, Wilberforce founded the first animal welfare society in the world. The Duke of Richmond kept a famous collection of animals that people traveled far and wide to view. He had everything from lions and tigers to bears (too many bears!) and even a moose. One of my favorite stories about his collection is when he tried to acquire a sloth, but ended up with yet another bear (this reminds me of the people in China who keep ending up with bear cubs with they try to buy Tibetan Mastiffs).

Sr

I received your letter I am obliged to you
for it. I wish indeed it had been the sloath that
had been sent me, for that is the most curious
animal I know; butt this is nothing butt a
comon young black bear, which I do not know what
to do with, for I have five of them already. so pray
when you write to him, I beg you would tell
him not to send me any Bears, Eagles, Leopards,
or Tygers, for I am overstock’d with them already.

I am Dear Sir,
Your Faithfull
humble servant
Richmond.

Another pet that is dear to my heart, and that I may have to someday make use of, is Gilbert White’s tortoise, Timothy. Timothy had originally belonged to Gilbert’s Aunt Snooke. White inherited the tortoise from his aunt in 1780 and it lived with him for the rest of White’s life (Timothy outlived White as well as the aunt). Timothy was reportedly a great favorite in the village and during the summer months would range all over White’s five acre garden. Timothy hibernated during the cold English winters (and this clearly didn’t harm him as he lived a good, long life).

There are documented races in London parks between cheetahs and greyhounds. There was an emporium in the London docks that specialized in exotic animals. There was a constant influx of odd animals brought ashore by sailors and brought home by travelers. Everything from elephants to giraffes to dodo birds. To date, I’ve made do with dogs, but someday I just might have to go with something a little stranger…

Posted in Isobel Carr, Risky Regencies | Tagged Isobel Carr, Pets, Regency, research | 1 Reply

The Beau Monde Conference

Updated on January 24, 2023 by Diane Gaston

One of my favorite parts of the Romance Writers of America (RWA) Annual Conference is that the Beau Monde chapter of RWA holds their annual conference the Wednesday before. I try always to attend. It is a great chance to see old friends and to hear great presentations on my favorite topics–anything about the Regency era!

This years conference keynote speaker was Miranda Neville, who honored her recently deceased father in her speech. Her father nurtured Miranda’s interest in history and took her and her sister to museums throughout Europe as a result. If that wasn’t enough to envy, she also had an idyllic childhood on a farm in Wiltshire and went on to work for Sotheby’s, writing catalogues of rare books and original letters and manuscripts. This meant she was paid to read the personal correspondence of historical figures, including those of “our” time period. Needless to say, Miranda likes to get the history correct in her books!

Our Risky Janet Mullany presented a workshop on servants, but I won’t say much about that, because she may be telling you herself. She told us about Black servants who were in England for many years. She mentioned one of the duties of footmen was to deliver messages for the lords and ladies for whom they worked. I thought it a clever fact to use in a future story that the footmen might take hours to deliver such messages, even though the distances might be nor more that a mile away.

Another Risky who presented a workshop was Isobel Carr, who spoke about the fabrics of the time period, about the different weaves of fabrics and the different materials from which they were made. Isobel has so much expertise to share on this topic, it is much too extensive for me to repeat. One interesting fact, though. We all believed that Scottish clans each had their own tartans. I imagined the clans rushing into battle at Culloden each wearing their clan’s plaids. It turns out that, in the late 18th century, a man named William Wilsons published a pattern book in which he assigned clan names to different tartans. The clans themselves had nothing to do with it.

Risky friend Louisa Cornell talked about The Musical Education of a Regency Young Lady. I’ve heard Louisa speak on this topic before and I was so happy to hear Louisa, formerly a professional opera singer, sing some of the examples. She showed us what (and how) a sweet young might sing at a recital, what a talented young lady might sing, and what selections would be scandalous for a young lady to sing. Turns out, singing scandalous songs was acceptable in society.

Jackie Horne spoke about The Material Culture of Childhood and showed how the different cultural views on childhood were reflected in their toys, furniture, and clothing. Before 1750, children were rushed to adulthood, so their furniture, clothing, etc. reflected that. 1750 to 1830 was the era of the Natural Child, the belief that childhood was a special time requiring more freedom of movement than children had experienced previously. One interesting fact Jackie told us. Baby carriages were not invented until 1830, so don’t have your Regency characters pushing one!

Cheryl Bolen shared tons of information on the interiors of Regency houses, both in Town and in the country. She showed us slide after slide of wonderful Regency interiors, including some beautiful Adams rooms. You can see these images on her Pinterest Boards. An interesting fact–her floorplan of a typical Regency town house showed that the master’s bedroom was on the ground floor behind the dining room.

The Beau Monde was honored to have Jennifer Kloester, author of the recent acclaimed biography of Georgette Heyer. Ms. Kloester gave us a lovely picture of Heyer, including many of the insider tidbits she’d learned doing her research. She showed us a photograph of Heyer in her 20s by a then famous photographer. She looked like a 13 year old. Another photo the next year was more like the one on this book cover.

I missed the last workshop, because I needed to get ready for RWA’s huge Literacy Book Signing, but I heard it was wonderful, too. It was about Regency dance and was intriguingly titled Rethinking the Regency Ballroom with special guest Susan de Guardiola.

Miss Guardiola also led us in dance later at the evening soiree, where I joined other Beau Monde members, many in period costume, dancing the dances of the Regency. My dance partner was Joanne Grant, Senior Executive Editor at Harlequin UK. She and I have danced at previous soirees and it was a delight to have her attend this year’s and dance with me again!

It was a wonderful Beau Monde conference. Special thanks to Janna MacGregor, the coordinator of the conference. She did a marvelous job! And has become a great friend of mine, as well!

What topics would you like to hear presented at a Beau Monde conference? I’ll pass on your ideas!

Posted in Diane Gaston, Regency, Research, Writing | Tagged Beau Monde, Cheryl Bolen, Diane Gaston, Georgette Heyer, Isobel Carr, Jackie Horne, Janet Kloester, Janet Mullany, Janna MacGregor, Louisa Cornell, Miranda Neville, Susan de Guardiola | 2 Replies

Isobel Carr: Ripe For Seduction

Updated on November 17, 2022 by carolyn

Today, author Isobel Carr visits the Riskies to talk about her new book, Ripe for Seduction, answer some questions, and give away some books. Check it out, because she’s being very generous. Details on how to enter at the end of this post.

About Isobel Carr

Isobel Carr

Isobel grew up participating in a wide variety of historical reenactment clubs (California Renaissance Faires, the Society for Creative Anachronism, Heyercon, Dicken’s Faire, Gaskills, etc.). On top of these clubs, she and her friends recreate 18th century fashions just for fun. Isobel has spent large parts of her life studying the manners, customs, and clothing of multiple periods (most specifically Renaissance England and Germany, Georgian/Regency England and France, and Victorian England), and she has firsthand experience creating and wearing the clothes of these eras (including the correct underwear and corsets!). Because of her interest in living history, and that hobby’s strong focus on the details of daily life, she hopes she has an unusual and intimate perspective on history that gives extra life to her books.

Find Isobel at her website: www.isobelcarr.com
On Twitter: @isobelcarr
On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/isobel.carr

Ripe for Seduction

A cover in which a hunky dark-haired man is embracing a lovely blonde woman. His shirt is falling off. omg

Cover of Ripe for Seduction

After the scandalous demise of her marriage, Lady Olivia Carlow knows the rakes of the ton will think her fair game. So when a letter arrives bearing an indecent offer from the incorrigible Roland Devere, she seizes the opportunity. Turning the tables on the notorious rogue, she blackmails him into playing her betrothed for the season. But no matter how broad his shoulders or chiseled his features, she will never fall prey to his suave charm.

When Roland boasted he’d be the first into Lady Olivia’s bed, he couldn’t have imagined that behind those brilliant blue eyes lurked a vixen with a scheme of her own. Still, Roland is not about to abandon his original wager. If anything, learning that the lovely Olivia is as bold as she is beautiful makes him more determined to seduce her into never saying “never” again.

Get your hands on Ripe For Seduction: Amazon

What they’re saying about Ripe For Seduction:

Starred review from Publisher’s Weekly!

Carr is sure to balance her characters’ roguish antics with genuine heart, making the double love story a delightful and erotic page-turner.

4-Stars (RT Book Reviews)

For her third in the League of the Second Sons, Carr delivers not one, but two love stories that will charm and titillate readers. It’s intriguing that, at times, the more mature romance overshadows the younger couples love story, but it is the underlying passion in both, as well as the marvelously crafted backdrop, that holds readers’ attention. You will be easily drawn into the naught and bawdy era through Carr’s deft prose.

Five Fun Facts

The indecent offer my hero, Roland, makes to my heroine was based on one a real one made to Lady Mary Coke. The real-life lord got off easier than my hero, LOL!

Giant dogs, this time Scottish Deerhounds, once again put in an appearance. Deerhounds were a very rare breed by this point in history. It’s doubtful that most people had ever even seen one, but luckily for us all, a few people kept the breed alive. I am lucky enough to know several Deerhounds, as they frequent my local dog park. Watching them run across the field is truly a sight to behold. The Wolfhounds and Great Danes can’t keep up with them, and the Greyhounds are simply dwarfed by them.

RIPE FOR SEDUCTION features a shallop race on the Thames. The Queen’s Jubilee, with its display of historical boats, couldn’t have been more timely.

I based the house they all end up at in Paris on one that I stayed at in the Marais. Just down the street is my favorite Parisian café, Le Bouledogue, where you can meet Didier and his adorable French Bulldogs. Order the duck. You won’t be sorry.

After you’ve finished RIPE FOR SEDUCTION, you can read the reconciliation scene for the secondary couple on Ripe for Seduction’s page on my website. I deleted it from the novel to keep Margo and Philip from taking over, but it’s a scene I really love, so I kept it as a bonus for readers.

Excerpt!

You can download the first three chapters here (Word doc).

Q. Tell us about the series:

The League of Second Sons was a writers’ lunch burst of inspiration. I knew I wanted to write about a group of younger sons, men who would be hungrier, less secure, and have entirely different issues to wrestle with than their elder brothers. After the passage of the Marriage Act in 1753, the easy path of heiress abduction was essentially cut off (marriage under duress now being voidable) and this created even greater scope for setting up interesting plots. Add into it their banding together in the fight to claim what they can in a world that gives everything to the eldest brother, and you have a solid, interesting subset of the ton that most would be essentially unaware of as a force.

Q. We are all about author pet pictures. I understand you have a dog. A very large dog. Can you tell us about him? Does he help you write? Do you have a picture of him?

Clancy: Photo by Isobel Carr (All Rights Reserved)

Oh, Clancy is perhaps the most well documented dog that doesn’t belong to William Wegman. He has his own gigantic Flickr page (along with his sisters, Slag and Tallulah, who belong to my sister and best friend respectively). http://www.flickr.com/photos/49097059@N00/3283805430/sizes/s/in/set-72157607307911869

He’s half Neapolitan Mastiff and half Bullmastiff and 175lbs of cuddly sweetness. Mostly, it’s like living with a lion. Mostly he’s napping (bed, couch, dog bed), but he’s defiantly aware of what’s going on around him. As for “helping” me write, not so much. He like likes to lay on the couch behind me and sigh gustily as I ignore him in favor of “petting” the evil glowing box. But he and his sisters were the inspiration for Pen, the dog in the first League book, so I guess he does help after all, LOL!

Q. Based solely on clothing alone (that is do not account for the status of women or minorities etc.) What time period would you most like to live in and why?

Mid to late 18th century. I love the clothing from about 1750-1790. Love, love, love it! The hoops and silks and hair (ok, not the 1770s hair). There’s a reason I set my books in the 1780s (my all time favorite decade for fashion).

Q. I have heard you say you like men with big noses. Like who?

Oh, I do. There’s nothing like a really nice, distinctive nose. Julian Sands, Joe Manganiello, Adrian Brody, Richard Armitage.

Q: Red-headed heroes. Go.

I love red-heads. Love ‘em. I can’t wait to write one (Leo, in Ripe for Pleasure is a red-head, but my editor made me change all the references to “auburn”). But I see Eric Stoltz, Domhnall Gleeson, David Wenham. Yum!

Q: Fill in the blank:

You walk into an antique store and you get short of breath because right there is a Limbert rocker. When you look in your wallet, you have enough money to purchase it. What is the item and why does it make you short of breath?

Well, mostly because we’re going to pretend I have that kind of money in my wallet. I own a 1916 Arts and Crafts bungalow, and one of the pieces of furniture I COVET for my living room is a genuine rocker from that period. The Stickley ones are nice, but there’s a Limbert one that I saw once in a local antique store that just called to me. The clean lines, the amazing quarter-sawn grain of the oak, the heft and solidness of it. That beautiful chair could hold up to being knocked about by my giant dog. Unfortunately, it was six grand.

Q: Corset vs. brassiere. Go.

Corset! I really do loathe the way a bra digs into my ribs. Corsets don’t do that, and if you lace them just snug, they’re really very comfortable. But I’m not yet ready to be the eccentric author who wears a corset every day…

Q: Your book is going to be a movie! Who do you cast?

Roland was based on Hal Ozsan. He played the witch in Supernatural “The Curious Case of Dean Winchester” and I just found him mesmerizing to watch. I love how dark he is, and how his hair curls. And yes, he has an amazing nose! Evidence that Isobel is right?

For Olivia, I pictured a young Rosamund Pike. I loved her as Lady Harriet in Wives and Daughters. There’s something really strong about her, but also a hint that she could shatter under the right circumstances. She’s an actress I just really enjoy watching.

Q: What’s next for you?

Next is Marcus Reeves’s book, Ripe for Revenge, which will be my first foray into self-publishing:

Running has always served Caro Frazier well. It worked when her parents disapproved of her chosen groom, when her husband took umbrage at his young wife’s social success, and when circumstances forced her to flee London altogether. But when her past comes back to haunt her—in the delicious form of Marcus Reeves—running is the last thing on Caro’s mind.

Marcus Reeves never expected to see—never wanted to see—Caroline Frazier again, not after he saved her when her husband cast her off and then she abandoned him too. He certainly never expected to discover her living in a quiet, rural hamlet with a child who is unmistakably his. Whatever her reasons for betraying him, she’s his now, and Marcus is ready for a little revenge . . .

Giveaway

Isobel is giving away 3 copies of her new book and one full set of the series for a new to her reader! Yes. That’s four winners. Woot!

Rules: No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited. International is OK, provided The Book Depository ships there. The winner will be picked at random from among qualified comments. Leave a comment on this post by midnight Pacific Thursday December 20. To be eligible for the full set of the series, mention whether you are new to Isobel’s books. Feel free to tell us about your pet, or the antique store item that would have you palpitating.

Posted in Former Riskies, Giveaways, Interviews | Tagged books, Fab Authors, Georgian Romance, Isobel Carr, Mastffs | 62 Replies

Interview with Isobel Carr

Updated on April 27, 2011 by carolyn

Let’s Give a Big Risky Welcome to Isobel Carr!

Today I’m thrilled have Isobel Carr visiting the Riskies to tell us about her new book, Ripe for Pleasure, dish some secrets and give away some books.

Welcome to the Riskies Isobel!

About Isobel Carr

Isobel is originally from Boulder Creek, California, but she’s lived in the Bay Area (San Francisco, Berkeley and Oakland) since finishing undergrad at Hollins College in Virginia and moving “home” for graduate school. Her BA is in philosophy and English (wrote her thesis on the Absurd Skeptical Hero as the living embodiment of the existentialist), but she minored in creative writing and history. She won the Intro Journals Award when she was an undergraduate, and went on to study poetry at San Francisco State University under Frances Mayes (yes, as in Under the Tuscan Sun).

After finishing graduate school, it became painfully clear that a job in the arts wasn’t going to pay enough to eat, so she set about looking for a “real” job and ended up putting the analytical skills she learned as a philosophy major to work as an international trade consultant (basically, she fights with lawyers for a living). When not doing that, Isobel is usually writing, though very occasionally she still takes a day to go to a historical re-enactment . . . in the name of research of course.

Currently, she lives in a 1916 bungalow in Oakland, California with her Mastiff, Clancy, a crowntail betta named Nigel, and Nigel’s minions, the kuhli loaches (who can’t be told apart, and thus do not get names). If you’re ever at The Heart and Dagger by Lake Merritt and you see a woman with a giant, dark-brindle dog, say hi. There’s a 99.9% chance it’s Isobel.

http://www.isobelcarr.com/ You can find her as Isobel Carr on both FaceBook and Twitter.

Ripe for Pleasure

London’s most sensual former courtesan, Viola Whedon, is incapable of being seduced-she does the seducing. Until she meets Leonidas Vaughn. Her salacious memoirs have made her the target of half the lords in England, and Vaughn is the only man she can turn to. When he promises to protect her-and to make her beg for his touch-the alluring beauty finds both offers impossible to refuse.

Leonidas Vaughn secretly believes Viola possesses a fortune given to his family by the King of France. So the strong and sexy Vaughn charms his way into Viola’s life . . . and her bed. But when their arrangement is consummated, he’ll experience pleasure far beyond his wildest fantasies-and realize his heart may need the most protection of all.

Carr is a born storyteller. — RT Book Reviews

Buy Ripe For Pleasure
ISBN-10: 0446572756

Read an Excerpt (pdf)

1. Tell us about your book (or the series)

RIPE FOR PLEASURE is the first book in the LEAGUE OF SECOND SONS series. I’ve always been intrigued by younger sons. Wellington was a younger son. So was Nelson. So was Charles James Fox. And so is Lord Peter Wimsey in Dorothy L. Sayers’s brilliant books, which I was reading at the time. These guys have to find something to DO with themselves. They have to make their own way (to a certain extent). I just think they have more scope than a man who’s fated to inherit a title and money, but has to wait in the wings for his father to die before he actually has any power (there’s a reason why kings and princes rarely get on).

I was watching THE LIBERTINE, and loving the sexy carriage ride after the opening monologue. The whole idea of abducting a wife, of her being complicit in it, got me thinking about the profound changes caused by the Marriage Act of 1753. If you could no longer easily abscond with an heiress, what might you do to better your odds? Who would you rely on? A club, made up entirely of younger sons, seemed ideal (and utterly practical).

Everything just kind of fed into the idea (because, really, it all feeds the beast one way or another). I’d been kicking around the idea of using the lost fortune the King of France sent to support Bonnie Prince Charlie in a book, and I’d also been toying with a courtesan heroine who was publishing her memoir, a la Harriette Wilson. I ended up combining all my ideas into one plot and calling it NO GENTLEMAN (because really, the hero is behaving very badly at the outset, when he’s planning on seducing the heroine and stealing a fortune out from under her). We lost the title due to another author’s series already having something quite similar in the works [shakes fist at Eileen Dryer], but I love the titles we hit upon for the series. So sexy, and unusual enough that I think they stand out in a sea of “How to F*ck a Duke” titles (as my editor calls them, LOL!).

So in RIPE FOR PLEASURE, we have Lord Leonidas Vaughn, new owner of his grandfather’s hunting box, frantic to keep it, but without the fortune to maintain it. He finds hints of Jacobite treason in the family tree and sets out to find the missing money. It’s not fun and games for him. He HAS to find it, or he’ll have to sell the estate he loves.

The last known whereabouts (per the letters he finds) are a house in London. A house that now belongs to a retired courtesan who’s making the male half of the ton miserable with her memoir. Leo sees the perfect opening to insinuate himself into her life and hunt for the treasure . . .

2. I hear you have a cute little dog who inspired one of the characters in RIPE FOR PLEASURE. Is that true?

I’m not sure “cute” is the word most people would use for my 170lb drool machine, but I think he’s cute, LOL! My friend Jess calls him a handsome beast, and my mom calls him disgusting. The truth is somewhere in-between.

Clancy is a 2 year-old Mastiff mix (momma was a Bullmastiff and daddy was a Neapolitan Mastiff), and he does seem to have the magical ability to make other people want to own a giant breed . . . after I got him, my best friend and her husband went and got a girl from the same litter, and then my sister did the same. Last Thanksgiving my best friend from college came to visit, and he promptly went home to Manhattan and got a Giant Schnauzer puppy. There’s just something undeniably awesome about having a person-sized dog. They’re so huggable. And boy do you feel safe!

The mastiff in RIPE FOR PLEASURE is probably more like a combo of my boy’s sisters and the Staffordshire Terrier I had before him, but yes, still inspired by “my” dogs. Clancy is super mellow, while his sisters are bit more obvious about being “on guard” (but when we have them all together, the girls are the second line of defense, and he’s clearly expected to meet whatever bogyman they’re identified head-on).

3. A lot of our readers probably already know about your expertise in period clothing, but could you tell us about that anyway? How’d you get into the area and what do you think led to the development of your expertise in that instead of something like, uh, doorknobs?

Well, those who know my secret, alternative identity might, LOL! But I imagine my background is new to a lot of people. I grew up doing historical re-enactments of all kinds, so costumes and history were simply an everyday part of life. There were always events to go to, new costumes to be made, and weekly “stitch and bitch” sessions (frequently accompanied by costume dramas). My first solo costume project came when I was twelve. I’d picked out a 12^th century Spanish gown and my mom just laughed and said, “You want it, you make it.” So I did. After college, I fell in with a group of truly crazy re-enactors who wanted everything to be uber-period. They researched period sewing techniques and made all their costumes by hand. They made their own trim. They made their own hook and eyes. I tried to resist, but eventually I succumbed, and I couldn’t be happier. I LOVE hand sewing, though I don’t really have time to costume right now. *sigh*

4. What’s the strangest or most surprising historical fact you’ve learned? Bonus points if the answer is Risky!

Hmmmmmmmmmm. So many options . . . but the “riskiest” is probably the stuff in “Aristotle’s Masterpiece”. There are recipes for tonics to purge “moles” and bring on menses. Basically, it’s an 18^th century morning after pill.

The most surprising, and annoying, historical fact is that scones are Victorian! Oh, the word was in use, but a scone in late-Georgian/Regency England was a type of Scottish griddle cake (peasant food)

5. If you had a bazillion dollars, what would you buy me? (I would buy you the V&A, just so you have a benchmark.)

Well, if you’re getting me the V&A, I’ll get you the Kyoto Costume Institute, and then we can join forces, move them both to San Francisco, and make the mean girls at the MET cry.

Give Away!

I’ll be giving away 5 copies of RIPE FOR PLEASURE here on Risky Regencies today. Let’s make it simple: What the title of the second book in the LEAGUE OF SECOND SONS series (answer can be found on my website or on Amazon)?

So, leave a comment folks!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Interview, Isobel Carr, Ripe For Pleasure | 25 Replies