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Rose's post about Jane Eyre -- which everyone should read if you haven't already!-- got me thinking about historical "feel" as conveyed through fiction. Reading period novels provides an excellent sense of the "feel" of a particular time period, even if that feel isn't always exactly what we thought it would be. But what about historical novels written by non-contemporary authors? I'm talking about the Sir Walter Scotts, the Alexandre Dumas, the Georgette Heyers. When reading contemporary authors-- our contemporaries, that is-- we tend to automatically factor in a modern bias. We allow for the discrepancy between the modern author and the time period the author is attempting to convey. We automatically take this into account when reading Philippa Gregory or Anya Seton or even Kathleen Winsor. But what about authors who aren't our contemporaries writing about time periods that weren't contemporary to them? Thackeray's Vanity Fair ...

The Oscar decision that most disappointed me last week was that Jane Eyre didn't win for Best Costume Design. I thought the costumes were beautiful, and complemented the vibe of the story and the personality of each character perfectly. The interesting thing is that I noticed for the first time a few years ago (on about my fifteenth re-read, but my first since college) that  Jane Eyre is actually set during the (long) Regency. I was wondering, because of some details in how clothing and hair is described in the book, but this weird passage clinched it: "[H]e laid on the table a new publication—a poem: one of those genuine productions so often vouchsafed to the fortunate public of those days—the golden age of modern literature.  Alas! the readers of our era are less favoured.  But courage!  I will not pause either to accuse or repine.  I know poetry is not dead, nor genius lost; nor has Mammon gained power over either, to bind or slay: they will both assert the...

Okay, I admit it: I have thirty two bookcases. There are times when I’d like to have fewer, like when I’m dusting. On the other hand, a big, fat reference book with tons of illustrations is heaven on earth for a historical author. What’s an author to do? E-readers and e-reading applications – like Kindle, Nook, and iBooks – aren’t known for their ability to showcase illustrations or complex tables, comparing multiple factors. They simply wrap text around the screen, no matter how large the letters or the screen are. Over and over again, until the book reaches the end of its tale. This means that I read fiction as ebooks but almost no research books in that format. Other people feel the same way: for example, this week’s top ten bestsellers in print were non-fiction while fiction ruled the digital bestsellers. But I’d love to do research in a digital book and do so whenever I get the chance. For example, biographies are often delightful. A friend gave me Adrian Goldsworthy’s Antony ...

 John Mitchell, c.1870 (courtesy - Seely Family)  I had the great pleasure recently of visiting one of the oldest and most historic homes in Hockessin. The house --which will be the subject of a future post -- is an amazing piece of history. It's been owned by several of the most prominent families in the area over the past 226 years, including spending the past 144 years in the same family. The house is now owned by Mrs. Gertrude Bell, whose grandfather purchased the property in 1868. Yes -- her grandfather. His name was John Mitchell, and he was certainly one of the most industrious men in 19th Century Mill Creek Hundred. John Mitchell (1818-1897) was the fifth of eleven children born to Joseph and Sarah Mitchell, and grew up on his family's farm near North Star, the property now known as the Woodside Farm Creamery ( featured in a previous post ). Presumably, John spent his first 29 years living on the home farm, working alongside his father and brothers. In 1847, Joh...

I was watching 30 ROCK the other night, and the irrepressible Tina Fey and her writer Luke Del Tredici came up with a marvelous alternate universe for her characters -- one in which all of them celebrate Leap Day. They all know about an avuncular guy named "Leap Day William" and everyone wears blue and yellow (they all looked like the Swedish flag) to honor Leap Day. The television show even had a meta referential show-within-a-show: a Jim Carrey movie costarring Andie Macdowell in which he plays a regular guy who is magically transformed on February 29 into Leap Day William (the movie was continuously playing on TV screens on the set). The whole 30 ROCK episode was filled with various Leap Day traditions, all of which were of course invented for the purposes of the show, but which got me wondering about real Leap Day traditions. It was the ancient Egyptians who figured out that the man-made calendar needed to play catch-up with the solar year (it actually takes the Earth 365...

My first Regency romance series centers around a group of women, called the Muses of Mayfair, who pursue secret artistic talents. It has been so much fun to research, particularly since it’s allowed me to indulge my inner history nerd and learn more about the actresses, writers, and painters of the Regency period. In the first book, Heiress Without A Cause, Lady Madeleine Vaillant is a well-bred spinster with a secret passion for theatricals. While I’ve read lots of Regencies that involve dark deeds in shadowy theatre boxes (which, ahem, may be slightly inaccurate given that the theatre was fully lit throughout the performance), I didn’t know much about the theatre of the time. So I thought I would share some fun facts that I found in my research. Fun Fact 1: A Night At The Theatre Was Loooooooong (5+ hours!) Joseph Grimaldi as The Clown I think it’s natural to send characters to the theatre or the opera because, as modern readers, we can still imagine how it would feel – it’s certai...