by Molly Owen | Sep 21, 2012 | Blog
The authenticity of a historical romance novel depends largely upon the author’s knowledge and use of historical detail. Since it can’t be assumed that a reader is familiar with the time period in which a novel is set, the author must include enough detail to ground the reader in the setting, but not so much that it slows down the story and overshadows the romance.
Even those of us who love history have likely come across a book that had so much historical detail we put it down to take a nap. Conversely, we’ve likely also read a book that had so few historical details that we couldn’t picture how the hero and heroine’s world looked.
Most historical authors spend countless hours, days, even weeks or months researching a book. So how do we decide how much of that research to include in our book? While each author has her own personal style, I think a commercially successful book must provide a framework for the story while keeping it firmly focused on the romance between the hero and heroine. (more…)
by Molly Owen | Sep 14, 2012 | Angelyn Schmid, Blog
Wentworth Woodhouse began as a Baroque mansion in the early eighteenth century, built in South Yorkshire, England by the 1st Marquess of Rockingham (1693 – 1750). His son, the 2nd Marquess, was a powerful Whig in politics and could not bear the fact his house was already old-fashioned.
His friends thought it more suited to a Tory. (more…)
by Molly Owen | Jun 14, 2012 | Angelyn Schmid, Blog
Things had come to a crisis in Victorian London. What to do with all the bodies?
It had always been known that the occupation of grave digging held peculiar risks. Generally an unhealthy lot, those performing the task faced increasing risk of accidently striking a coffin already buried while making room for a new one. The gas released was so terribly noxious men had been known to fall dead on the spot as if they had been shot. One Valentine Haycock was asked about his experience in these matters:
“When you have been digging yourself, have you felt yourself affected immediately?—Yes, I have been obliged to get up in the best way that I could, and I have been in such a tremble that I did not know whether I was going to die myself or not; I have gone indoors, and have sat a little time to recover myself.”
Things were getting worse. Grave diggers were not the only ones who were struck down “beneath the breath of the dread king of terrors.” Churchyards, historically the only places where one could be buried in London, were beginning to reek. Clergymen were resigning their offices to seek work in country parishes, even at lower wages. Doctors were advising their patients to “remove from the neighborhood of such places.” Cholera and fevers among the living were most prevalent where the dead congregated the most.
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by Molly Owen | Nov 14, 2011 | Angelyn Schmid, Blog
Jane Maxwell, Duchess of Gordon and son
“She kiltit up her kirtle weel tucked/To show her bonie cutes sae sma’
And walloped about the reel/The lightest louper o’ them a’!
While some, like slav’ring, doited stots/Stoit’ring out thro’ the midden dub, Fankit their heels amang their coats/And gart the floor their backsides rub.
Gordon, the great, the gay, the gallant/Skip’t like a maukin owre a dike, Deil tak me, since I was a callant/Gif e’er my een beheld the like!”
—On the Duchess of Gordon’s Reel Dancing (published March 27, 1789 – London’s Star newspaper, Peter Stuart, ed.)
Much has been written on Jane Maxwell, Duchess of Gordon (1749?-1812). I shall not attempt to review it all in this post, but suffice it to say she was born in Scotland, either in Edinburgh or her family estate at Myrton, and made a brilliant marriage to the Duke of Gordon. She was alleged to have been desperately in love with a Fraser lad who she thought had died. Sadly, she was already ensconced in the Bog-of-Gight stronghold of Gordon Castle when her lover resurrected–too late for her to accept his proposal of marriage.
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