Book Five, The Rake’s Unlikely Redemption, has gone out to beta readers for a final check over, and responses are coming back in.  I am aiming for a 15 April release and I will let you know as soon as it is available, to make sure that you, my loyal subscriber, get it at the launch price.

Book Six, The Marquess’ Scandalous Mistress, will follow soon.

Books Seven,  Eight and Nine are being planned, with the plots coming together nicely.  I will keep you posted on progress.

Book One is now available on Nook and Kobo, and will soon be available on iBooks.  I will be releasing all of the books to the wider distribution channels progressively, so if you like to read on a different platform, its coming! By the end of this month, Book2, The Captain’s Compromised Heiress, should be available on those sites too.

In a longer term plan, I am starting to put together a Derbyshire Set Companion – this will be a book full of short biographies of each character, information on the locations mentioned, and other interesting bits of information about people, places and events from all of the books.  I expect that to be released in about 3 to 6 months time.

Today I want to talk about the relationship between the nobility, and their servants.  In my books, we have touched on the lives of servants a few times, especially in Book Three, and I am sure that it is obvious to you that the gap in wealth between the common people and the nobility was enormous.  What may not be so obvious is the way that the economics and social structures worked, around that.

In everything that you read about the period, you will see mention of noble families with huge houses and huge numbers of people employed to maintain them. Whilst, obviously, it does take a lot of people to keep homes like the mansions of the aristocracy in immaculate condition (just imagine the dust, when most roads were not paved and the passing traffic was all horses, whose hoofs stirred up the dirt with every step!), there were often more staff employed than absolutely necessary.  Why?

Because creating employment was a responsibility of the aristocracy, that came right along with the title and the properties.  Titled persons (of the landed nobility, to be precise, we could get complicated here, but that is for another day), had a number of properties which were ‘entailed’ to the title – went with it regardless and could not be sold or willed to anyone else.  The wealth of the noble families came from the crops and animals raised on the land attached to their properties (or resources mined from their land), which were raised by their tenant farmers.  The villages in their lands survived because the nobles maintained the tenant farmers houses, in return for their labour, and because the nobles employed a large percentage of the villagers in their houses, stables, dairies etc.

Where the lands were large, and productive, and had been so for generations, it was not uncommon for the nobles to employ more staff than needed, as part of their obligation to their dependants – and often whole families worked for the nobles, for generations.  This was not always the case though – the aristocracy were not immune to human failings, or the fickle effects of nature.  Where crops failed multiple years ain a row, times were hard for villagers, servants and nobles alike.  Equally, if the nobles were not so noble, and wasted their money in gambling, or unwise investments (yes, there were plenty of scam artists then too!) then times were hard.  But under those conditions, the nobles could often live on credit for many, many years, but it was their servants, tenant farmers, and those businesses that supplied them (and were not getting paid!) that suffered.

The economic effect of a noble family falling into debt and poverty went far beyond their own suffering – it caused a wave of economic disaster which rolled out from them through hundreds of other people, whose livelihoods depended on them.  Not too different from the effect when a big corporation fails today.  If you had lived in the Regency period, what do you think that you would have done, to support your servants?

On a completely different topic from last weeks trivia, today I’d like to talk about horses.

Why? Because in the Regency period, the horse was still the primary form of transport, either ridden, or used to pull a carriage or cart.  Railways were just coming into existence, as were steam ships, and there were quite a few canals across England, but still, around 80 to 85% of transport was achieved with horses.

Now, we have so many different forms of transport, that it is easy to forget that our favourite Regency characters did not have those options.

The fact of the horse being the primary mode of transport has a number of implications for our characters – the first being how long it took to go anywhere – even a fast coach, changing teams of horses regularly, did not cover more than 50 to 80 miles in a day.  The second implication, which is the most important for any author telling a story set in the Regency period, has to do with the familiarity of most people, with horses.

The aristocracy could afford the best horses, and everyone of noble birth learned to ride from almost as soon as they could walk, unless they had a significant infirmity which prevented it.  People of the merchant class also rode, although less often, but would certainly have a carriage available, or ride in a hackney cab. People of the lower classes were familiar with horses, but often did not ride.  In  the country they might have a cart, or have plough horses, or work in the stables of a Lord.  In the city, they had to deal with streets full of horse drawn vehicles, every day.

What this means, for any author telling a story of the period, is that it is inevitable that horses will feature in your stories – because the nobility used them every day.  It is therefore important to know enough about horses, and horse breeds, saddles, harness and riding styles in the period, to describe them as part of the story, correctly.  As a person living now, you cannot assume that the way that horses were trained, ridden and driven was the same then, as it is now.  Nor can you assume that saddles and harness were the same then, as what you use today.  Because they were not – they were, in fact, very different.

I frequently read Regency stories (yes, I love reading about the period as well as writing about it!) where the author gets the ‘horse stuff’ so very wrong, and it frustrates me a lot. I have been a horse person all my life – have ridden, bred and trained horses, so I notice these things.  It fascinates me that many authors, who put meticulous effort into researching the clothes, food, words, manners and social structure of the era, do not bother to research something so fundamental to Regency daily life as horses, as used in that period.

Its a kind of cultural blindness – we forget to consider that such a thing might have been different then.

Are there things like this that annoy you too?  Are you expert in a topic that authors often misrepresent?  If you are, I would love to know about it – about what annoys you, and why.  And, especially if its something that you think I have not done well in one or more of my books, I really want to know – I am always ready to learn, so that I can improve my stories.  So – if you do know something like that – please do email and tell me!

Following on from last weeks trivia (about Love)  today I am going to talk about Divorce.
In today’s world, the two words often come close together!  We regard it as normal to have marriages not last long, and divorce is, in most places, seen as an ordinary part of life.
In Regency England, the situation was rather different.  Prior to an act of parliament introduced in 1857, the only way to get a divorce was via the church courts, or by bringing a private bill to parliament!  This was, understandably, rather extravagantly expensive.  Even with that option, it was much easier for a man to ask for, and get, a divorce, than for a woman.  If a woman was unfaithful once, the man could ask for divorce.  A man could be unfaithful as often as he liked, and the woman could not ask for divorce unless she could prove severe cruelty or a few other things.  It was a very, very, unbalanced situation. There is an excellent article on the history of divorce through the centuries at http://www.historyofwomen.org/divorce.html if you are interested.
The impact of this, combined with the ease with which a man or woman could get trapped into marrying as a result of being compromised (as we discussed last week), was that a very large proportion of the aristocracy were very unhappy in their marriages, trapped married to someone they did not love, and could not leave.  It is no wonder than both men and women took lovers, and that scandals were not uncommon!  This is also why there was such a focus, in the dreams of young girls at the time, on the concept of actually managing to fall in love with someone that you were able to marry.
Imagine living in that time – how would you go about trying to find someone that you could love for the rest of your life, when you couldn’t even be alone with them to talk????

Amongst the aristocracy, marriage was mainly a dynastic affair – arranged by the parents to ensure the best chances of continuing the inheritance into the next generation, and keeping the family safely in funds (a daughters dowry could go a long way to dealing with a serious ‘debt issue’ in her new husband’s family!).  So marrying for love was rare, and the chances of coming to love ones spouse after marriage were somewhat limited.  Young girls were often married off to much, much older men, who did not have an heir to their title, and desperately needed to breed a son.

Courting (which was really more about finding a potential wife or husband that would fulfil the monetary and dynastic needs of your family) was a chancy affair – in this era, the unsullied nature of a girl at marriage was regarded as essential, partly because, if she came to marriage with you a virgin, you could be sure that any child that appeared was yours! To maintain this situation, there was a simple, but very effective approach – if a girl was found alone with a man in what was considered a ‘compromising position’ (which could be as simple as an embrace in a darkened corner, or a quick stolen kiss)  that was it, they were forced to marry, as fast as possible – on the assumption that if they had been discovered like that, who knew what else they had been up to.

A side consequence of this was unscrupulous ladies, or gentlemen, who desperately needed to marry for one reason or another (usually money) would set out to trap their chosen ‘prey’ in a suitably compromising position, when they were certain to be discovered.  So becoming ‘betrothed by accident’ was not unusual.

Amongst the middle class merchants, things were a little more flexible – marriage for love did occur, although the dynastic approach was still common.  Amongst the poor / servants / lower classes, both arranged marriage and marriage for love happened, as did, quite often, a lack of marriage at all.  So – a very different world from ours of today!

In each of these newsletters I talk about some aspects of the Regency World – a time so different from now, with unique words, items, behaviours and beliefs. A time when England was still the holder of a massive global empire, but when change was accelerating, with the impacts of the Napoleonic wars, the introduction of railways, and the beginnings of the industrial revolution.
It was a time when the privileged nobility lived in a glittering world of wealth,
and the poor were very poor indeed.

Whilst my books are unashamedly about romance and happy endings, the more
I write about the period, the more fascinated I become by the complexity of society then, and the contradictions that people faced in everyday life. With these trivia pieces I want to show you just a few of those fascinating details.

Clothing –

In the early 1800s, whilst the making of fabric was already starting to be industrialised, with huge cotton mills and weaving shops with semi-automated looms, the making of clothing was still completely by hand. If you have ever tried to hand sew a garment, you will have some idea of just how challenging it is, to sew neatly and precisely, and to produce a garment that sits properly and looks good.

Imagine then, the task of creating one of those spectacular ball gowns, complete with beading and lace decoration, all by hand! Add to that the amazing fact that, quite often, the dresses of the nobility were created in only one or two days………   The modistes who owned the shops that created gowns for the nobility, and the seamstresses who worked for them, were able to hand sew such remarkable pieces with incredible precision and speed, and adapt their designs as they went, to suit each lady (There were no conveniently purchasable sewing patterns then).  Every single garment was uniquely created for the noble lady who ordered it, exactly tailored to her shape.  So precise was the fitting, that at times a lady needed to be pinned or sewn into her dress, to ensure that everything sat exactly in place as designed (there were no convenient zippers then!).

It was not uncommon for women who worked as seamstresses to go blind at an early age, as a result of sewing for long hours, with only candlelight to work by.

There were, however, second hand dress shops, where the cast off dresses of the nobility and the wealthy merchant classes might find their way. Poorer women would buy those dresses, and hand alter them to fit, as best they could. Imagine yourself in such a situation – what would you wear?

(Image courtesy of https://www.antiquedress.com/item7405.htm – a wonderful site where you can buy antique and reproduction clothing, which is truly spectacular!)

Book Four of The Derbyshire Set, The Count’s Impetuous Seduction, was released on 21 February, so if you haven’t had a chance to grab it yet, make sure that you do so while it’s still on the 99c launch special! Book Four is Charlotte’s story (she’s the sister of Blanchette who is the heroine of Book Two), and introduces some other characters that you will meet again in later books!

Book Five, The Rake’s Unlikely Redemption, will follow soon – it’s currently in the late stages of editing! You can read a teaser of Book Five at the end of Book Four. Book Five is James Blackwood’s story.  We last saw Mr Blackwood in Book Two, where he was rather badly behaved – read Book Five to find out what happens in his life following those somewhat dramatic events.

Book Six, The Marquess’ Scandalous Mistress, will follow soon – I am halfway through finalising it now! It features some characters that you have already met – some from book three, and one from Book Four – for now, I’ll leave you to guess who that might be.

Who are your favourite characters? Which characters would you like to know more about?  Let me know, and perhaps you will see their story told in a future book!