Austen Week, yay!

Happy Jane Austen Week, everyone! I’m so excited to see our annual tribute to everything Jane on the blog. But first things first–I have a new cover! The Shy Duchess will be out in March 2011, and is a spin-off from the Diamonds of Welbourne Manor anthology. (I think this looks exactly like Lady Emily–and I seriously want to steal her tiara…). The Harlequin Historical Advent Calendar contest Diane mentioned yesterday is still going strong (my day is the 16th–you can go to my website to see details! You can win a grand prize of a Kindle, or any number of daily prizes). And I’ll be at the Borders True Romance blog tomorrow!

And Christmas is flying at us! It’s busy around here, making Christmas candy, finishing the shopping, getting over a throat infection (yuck!). I’ve also been working at the part-time job, teaching a children’s ballet class, as I get them ready for their winter recital this weekend, a smaller version of The Nutcracker. It’s pink tulle, snowflakes, and craziness! And then I had to find something to write about for Jane Austen Birthday week (which is also my mom’s birthday week), and couldn’t think of anything. I’ve already talked about my favorite Austen novel (Persuasion) and my first Austen novel (Emma), and great Austen gifts (you can never go wrong with the Jane action figure!). But what to write about this year???

Since I’m buried in The Nutcracker, I started to wonder–what would it be like if Austen (or one of her contemporaries?) wrote the story? For one thing, there would be lots of opportunity for some great Regency-style costumes!

Let’s say Lady Whatsit is having her annual Christmas Ball at her grand estate of Whatsit Park, an invitation much sought after by every member of the ton. She has a claret punch, a roast goose, and fruit cakes, and copious decorations of holly and ivy with red bows. (No tree of course–they’re Regency, not Victorian! Maybe a giant stalk of ivy will have to grow out of the ballroom floor when the scene changes). There’s waltzing and flirting in the conservatory. Lady Whatsit’s two adorable children, Lady Clara and Lord Bratley, attend the party, and their godfather, the eccentric Lord Lotsamoney, gives them gifts. Clara’s is a nutcracker doll (were there such things in the Regency? I don’t know…), in the shape of–let’s say Wellington. Lord Bratley (who lives up to his name) snatches it from his sister and breaks it!

Lady Clara is heartbroken. She sneaks down after the party, bandages up poor Wellington, and falls asleep. But she’s not alone for long. Along come the French army of nefarious mice! Wellington battles them valiantly, and Clara helps out by tossing her shoe at Napoleon Mouse’s head. The French are run out of the drawing room!

In gratitude, Wellington takes Lady Clara to a grand campaign tent where the Sugar Plum Fairy (who is emphatically not Harriette Wilson) introduces her to all the grateful nations of Europe, who dance for her. Spain, Russia, China (don’t know how they got in there), etcetera. They shower her with sweets, tiaras, and gowns before she dances once more with Wellington and is then whisked back home again!

What is your favorite part of The Nutcracker? If they made an Austen novel into a ballet, which should it be? (I’d love to see a Pride & Prejudice ballet!) To one commenter on today’s post, I have a copy of Jane Austen: An Illustrated Anthology!

The Arts Journal website (thanks, JA for this resource) led me to an article on Big Questions Online: A Not-So-Distant Mirror by Alan Jacobs, a professor of English at Wheaton College, who writes the Text Patterns blog.

The article is about how the 18th Century is similar to the 21st. His article is based on a social history of Georgian England, English Society in the Eighteenth Century by Roy Porter.

Because people often lump the Regency into issues relevant to the late Eighteenth Century, I thought this article was relevant to “our” time period. But, I warn you, my “social worker” self will be peeking out here.

Here are some of Jacobs’ (and Porters’) points:

1. The English in the 18th century were developing a social conscience, showing more concern for the poor and for children than their ancestors. Certainly through our modern times, we’ve developed more services for the poor–welfare, food stamps, unemployment, disability, etc. We’ve shown concern for children–education, head start, WIC, Child Protective Services, Foster Care, etc.
Of course, Jacobs quotes Porter as saying, “Tears for the exploited, the unfortunate and the afflicted flowed freely, but sympathy cost little, and was only occasionally translated into action.” I suppose we could make a case for this in our present society, too.

2. Child rearing practices were changing. Porter says, “Many ladies abandoned the wet nurse and experimented with breast-feeding; swaddling disappeared, partly in response to mothers’ new-found desire to fondle, dandle and dress their infants.” Our Regency mothers are more apt to breast feed than their mothers. From, say, the 1950s, when formula and scheduled bottle feeding was the norm, in more recent times mothers have turned back to breast feeding. Jacobs also notes that 18th century parents were more apt to turn away from physical punishment and to rely on “reasoning, coaxing and kindness” in disciplining their children. We in modern times have also turned away from physical punishment, relying on “consequences” and “time out.” Jacobs also notes that 18th century parents could tend to be over-protective and we can certainly relate that to parenting today where parents are involved in every aspects of their children’s lives.

3. Jacobs notes that ethical norms were loosening in the 18th century, much like today, and were more apt to be based on an individual’s own psychological make-up and what feels right and good to the individual. An 18th century version of the Me Generation!

I thought of other parallels, more attuned to the Regency, like, maybe:

1. An economic downturn and high unemployment? Certainly that was the experience in the Great Britain after the Napoleonic Wars. The populace complained about what the Parliament enacted to try to solve the problems (which did protect the wealthy landowners who tended to be themselves)

2. More relaxed fashions? Enter in the era of grecian fashions, empire waists for women, and elimination of brocades, lace, and a rainbow of colors for men. No more powdered hair or wigs. Of course, we have turned even more casual than the Regency. Remember when we used to dress up to ride in airplanes?

3. A long war? The Napoleonic Wars lasted from 1803 to 1815.

Can you think of any other social or political parallels between today and the Regency?

Don’t forget to enter the Harlequin Historical Holiday Contest. Prizes are awarded every day and the Grand Prize is a Kindle. Go here for more information. This Thurday is my day! Come to Diane’s Blog on Thursday for a chance to win your choice of a signed copy of one of my backlist books and a $10 Amazon gift certificate.

Cathy P, you’ve won copies of Duchess of Sin and Mistress by Midnight! Please send us your contact info at Riskies AT yahoo.com, and enjoy….

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend! All the leftovers here have been consumed, and I spent far too much money online for Christmas presents–both for my family and for myself. Most of these were books of course, because books make stupendous holiday gifts!

My own new book, Duchess of Sin, is out now (shipping today from Amazon!), and I’m setting out on a blog tour (see the dates here on my blog!). I’m so proud to see Anna and Conlan’s story on the shelves now, as they had to work so hard to find their HEA.

I had lots of inspirations for this “Daughters of Erin” series, and one was my love of non-fiction about historical marriages. I can’t seem to get enough of reading about how couples of the past, whether middle-class sorts like Jane Austen’s family or the nobility, made their relationships work–or not work, as the case may be! There are certainly some spectacular failures in marital history (hello, Prinny and Caroline!). I like to imagine how my own characters will build a life together.

I recently read two books about just such couples. Couples who really had almost nothing in common with each other, except that both wives were unusually strong women and both couples were very much in love. Also they lived through times of immense conflict.

The first was Joseph J. Ellis’s First Family: Abigail and John Adams. Ellis calls them the “premier husband and wife team in all American history” and for 54 years they were lovers and friends, real partners, through very turbulent times. I love the Adamses–theirs was an enviable marriage, and I like to imagine my Anna and Conlan end up something like them, working together in everything and always passionate about each other!

The other was Katie Whitaker’s A Royal Passion about Charles I and Henrietta Maria. Unlike the Adamses, this was an arranged marriage that didn’t start all that well. But it grew into a passionate and devoted marriage. A partnership that ended in disaster, but was fiercely united. Whitaker says that this marriage was both Charles’s greatest strength and greatest weakness. I highly recommend both books!

So, what are your favorite historical couples? Do you find inspiration (or warning!) in their stories??

I’ve been so remiss in posting winners!! Here are two to make up for that:

Rachel/Jane Austen you’ve won Grace Elliott’s A Dead Man’s Debt

Amy Kathryn you’ve won Elyse Mady’s Debutante’s Dilemma

Congrats! Please email us your contact information at Riskies AT yahoo.com