The Lost Letter: The Story Behind the Story
I don’t usually blog about my writing process. However, since this is launch week for my debut Victorian romance The Lost Letter, I thought I’d share with you a little bit about how the story came into being. For those of you who have read it, you’ll know that it’s dedicated to my mother.[…]Continue Reading
Twelve Victorian Era Tips on the Etiquette of Ladylike Letter Writing
“The palm of good letter-writing has been universally awarded to the fair sex.”
Etiquette of Good Society, 1893.
(Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool)
For Victorian ladies, there was much more to letter writing than simply dashing off a note. There were rules for proper correspondence, encompassing everything from acceptable shades of paper and ink to penmanship, wax seals, and conditions under which a woman must write in the third person. I can’t tackle all of these rules in a single article. Instead, I’ve gathered twelve quotes from various Victorian etiquette books addressing the basics of ladylike letter writing. I present them to you below.[…]Continue Reading
Art and Inspiration: The Paintings of Gustave Léonard de Jonghe
As a writer and art lover, I often find inspiration in the artwork of the general period in which I am writing. 18th and 19th century paintings, especially, can evoke a particular thought or feeling that is helpful to me in my creative process. Perhaps an expression in a portrait triggers an idea for a trait in one of my heroines. Or perhaps a landscape inspires me to set a scene in a park. Often, inspiration is triggered by nothing more than a particular color – a red scarf or a pair of blue shoes.[…]Continue Reading
A Soldier Writes Home: Letters from the Georgian Era through World War II
“The field of battle is a festival of honour; a sublime pageant. But this is war!”
Sir Robert Ker Porter, 1809.
Whether it is touched upon in conversation between those characters safe on the home front or dealt with directly via a character who has been in the military or is still serving abroad, war is a part of many historical novels. Indeed, there aren’t many fans of Georgian and Regency fiction who could not recite to you the salient facts of the Battles of Trafalgar or Waterloo. However, what makes us, as readers, invested in the characters does not come down to a mere recitation of facts on a timeline. It comes down to emotional authenticity.[…]Continue Reading
