The next "Regency" novel which Georgette Heyer published after Regency Buck was An Infamous Army. But it was a radical departure from her first Regency-set novel. Today, romance author Shannon Donnelly explains how An Infamous Army differs from Regency Buck as well as how it is connected to it, and other historical novels in Heyer’s oeuvre.
We invite our visitors to share their impressions of this important Heyer novel in comments to this post.
The Beau Monde is pleased to begin our year-long celebration of the 80th anniversary of Regency romance with an article by Alina K. Field on the very first Regency romance novel, Regency Buck. Alina is a Regency romance author herself, as well as a Regency romance reader, and she brings both viewpoints to her discussion of this seminal Regency romance novel.
We invite our visitors to post comments sharing their views on this article and the book which gave us our favorite romance genre.
Eighty years ago, in 1935, the very first Regency romance novel went to press. That novel, Regency Buck, was written by Georgette Heyer. It was not her first novel. In fact, Heyer had been writing historical fiction for more than fifteen years, and Regency Buck was her seventeenth novel. She had set her stories in a number of different time periods before she chose the scant decade of the Regency for her new book. Though few people, beyond a small number of historians, knew much about that period of time prior to 1935, before the year was out, many readers of historical romance were seeking to return to that so very elegant period in the pages of more Regency novels. Over the course of her career, Heyer would go on to write more than twenty-five novels which were set during the Regency. They sold so well that other authors began doing the same, and thus was born the Regency romance genre.
As most visitors here know, the Beau Monde is the specialty chapter of Romance Writers of America which is dedicated to the Regency. We simply cannot let this important anniversary of our favorite romance genre pass unnoticed. Therefore, throughout 2015, we will be posting articles here, each one written by one of our members, about Heyer’s Regency novels. These articles will be posted in the order in which the novels were originally published. We will also be posting articles about several of Heyer’s other historical novels, since many of our members write historical romances set in periods other than the Regency. These articles about Heyer’s books will not be standard reviews. Rather, they will serve as a point of departure to discuss her work and Regency romance in general. We also hope each article will generate discussions on the topic among our blog visitors as well, and we invite everyone to post comments to the articles with their own thoughts and opinions.
The Beau Monde would like to thank Mari Christie (who writes Regencies as Mariana Gabrielle) for our lovely new Regency Turns 80 image. In addition to writing romance, Mari also provides a number of services to authors above and beyond her talents as a designer.
Kathryn Kane is today’s Featured Beau Monde Author.
Kathryn is a historian and former museum curator who has enjoyed Regency romances since she first discovered them in her teens. She credits the novels of Georgette Heyer with influencing her choice of college curriculum, and she now takes advantage of her knowledge of history to write her own stories of romance in the Regency. She now has a career in the tech industry but she has never lost her love of the period and continues to enjoy reading Regency romance novels and researching her favorite period of English history. Though she was born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona, Kat now lives and works in Boston, Massachusetts. She misses the warm sunny winter days of the desert southwest, but access to the rich research collections of the libraries of Boston is some compensation for the snow and cold of New England. Kat is occasionally assisted (or impeded) in her writing by a furry feline friend whose primary responsibilities are neighborhood surveillance and cuteness, at both of which she excels, along with exuberant purring.
Deflowering Daisy is Kathryn’s debut Regency romance. As a play on the title, she has woven a number of snippets of floral history into the story, some of which may be unknown even to life-long Regency aficionados. Others maybe known to some readers, though probably not used in the contexts in which they will be found in this story. An extended excerpt can be found at Kat’s web site.
Find her at KathrynKane.net — The Regency Redingote — Kathryn Kane Romance
Those who enjoy Regencies look forward to meeting all those titled characters who inhabit that world. But for those of us not born into the nobility, keeping track of members of the family beyond the main title-holder can be very confusing. Fortunately, in today’s article, Regency romance author, Ann Lethbridge, whose latest romance is Falling for the Highland Rogue, gives us a primer on how to address the minor nobles who may make an appearance in the next Regency romance we read, or, perhaps, write.
Continue reading “Addressing Younger Sons of the Peerage by Ann Lethbridge”
A cross-post from The Regency Redingote:
"You can’t think I’m going to totter all over London looking at a lot of buildings I don’t want to see! Very happy to take you driving in the Park, but that’s coming it too strong, my dear girl! … Besides, I don’t know anything about these curst places you want to see! Couldn’t tell you anything about ’em!"
— Mr. Freddy Standen to Miss Kitty Charing
"Oh, but that need not signify! Look, I purchased this book in Hatchard’s shop this morning, and it tells one everything! It is called The Picture of London, and it says here that it is a correct guide to all the Curiosities, Amusements, Exhibitions, Public Establishments, and Remarkable Objects in and near London, made for the use of Strangers, Foreigners, and all Persons who are not intimately acquainted with the Metropolis!"
— Miss Kitty Charing to Mr. Freddy Standen
I re-read Cotillion recently, many years since I last read it in high school. This passage caught my eye this time around, because I now know how thoroughly Heyer researched her novels. Did she invent the guidebook which Kitty purchased for her London adventure? Hatchard’s was a real bookshop in Regency London. Was The Picture of London a real guidebook of the city?
In today’s article, Regency author, Angelyn Schmid, provides some details about Sir Henry Halford. A physician to the ton during the Regency, Halford was a real-life historical character who made an appearance in one of Georgette Heyer’s most delightful novels, Cotillion.
As you read Angelyn’s article, consider whether or not you would like to have Sir Henry Halford as your doctor.
Continue reading “Physician to the Regency by Angelyn Schmid”
A cross-post from The Regency Redingote:
Thanks to a dedicated group of aficionados known as the Dandy Chargers, the velocipede, which Georgette Heyer fans know as the pedestrian curricle, is not a thing of the past. Each year, the Dandy Chargers don Regency dress and ride their historically accurate "dandy-horses" at various historic estates and other venues in Great Britain. Thus, those who would like to see these vehicles in action as they might have appeared during the Regency have an opportunity to do so at one of the Dandy Chargers’ appearances this year.
The 2014 schedule of the Dandy Chargers fourteenth riding season …
Today, Angelyn Schmid shares with us her research into that fiendishly clever barrier which was often found within the grounds of English country estates, the ha-ha. By use of a ha-ha, the view from the manor house would be over an unbroken rolling green sward, but any cattle, sheep, or other animals which were grazing on the other side of the ha-ha would be unable to approach any nearer the house. Angelyn’s article will give you other important details with regard to a ha-ha, should you wish to incorporate one into an upcoming story.
Cheryl Bolen reviews the Victoria and Albert Museum’s book on Fans in today’s article. She shares some of the history of the origin of the fan and its use in Georgian England. Fans have had a place in many Georgian and Regency novels since the origin of the genre. Do you remember that scene in Georgette Heyer’s These Old Shades, when Justin, Duke of Avon, used his new fan of chicken skin to annoy his friend, Hugh Davenant? How many romance heroines have employed a fan to great effect in a dalliance with the hero?
Fans are one of those lovely accouterments of a bygone age which few of us use today. But they are still fascinating to many of us, nonetheless. Delicate and beautiful, they can become a weapon in the hands of a woman who knows how to wield it. Fair warning, if you read this review, you may find yourself with a strong desire to own a copy of this book yourself.
Continue reading “Fans from Victoria and Albert By Cheryl Bolen”
Many devotees of the work of Georgette Heyer may have first encountered the word "cicisbeo" in the pages of one of her novels. But how, precisely, did these gentlemen fit into the life of the lady they regularly escorted? In the article she shares with us today, author of Notorious Match, Angelyn Schmid, explains the origins of the term and the role which such a gentleman played in the life of a Regency lady. Do you have a place for a cicisbeo in an upcoming novel?
A cross-post from The Regency Redingote:
One of my favorite signs of Spring is the arrival in my email box of the Dandy Chargers annual schedule of appearances. For those of you who may not know, the Dandy Chargers are a group of gentlemen, and ladies, in Britain, who are aficionados of that particularly Regency vehicle, the velocipede. Readers of the works of Georgette Heyer may also know this vehicle as the pedestrian curricle which wreaked such havoc in her novel Frederica. These two-wheeled, pedal-less vehicles were also known as hobby-horses, draisiennes, or dandy-horses, and were very popular for a short period during the Regency.
Each year, the Dandy Chargers make appearances through the spring and summer at various venues across Britain, in full Regency costume, riding their hobby-horses. For those of you who live in Britain, or will be spending time there during the next few months, I offer the 2013 schedule of the Dandy Chargers appearances for your perusal and edification.
Today you can find Berry Bros. & Rudd wine merchants at No. 3 St. James Street in London—just as you could during the Regency period from 1811 to 1820, though the name over the door then was “George Berry.” This historic establishment has been in business since 1698 at the same location. The current owner, Simon Berry tells me the shop has changed little since it opened. Though the fireplace has been abandoned for central heating, and the cellar is now a place for elegant wine dinners, it still has the original oak plank floors, and it still honors its roots as a merchant selling provisions, exotic spices, tea and coffee—as well as wines from around the world.
Berry’s was first established in 1698 by the Widow Bourne as a grocer’s shop, the “Coffee Mill,” and remained in the hands of the good widow until her daughter, Elizabeth, was successfully wooed by William Pickering. In 1731, Sir Thomas Hanmer, Speaker of the House of Commons, leased the shop to Pickering to be rebuilt along with the houses in the court behind, now known as Pickering Place.
In 1734, William Pickering died and his widow Elizabeth took over the running of the business until 1737, when she handed over both the grocery and the “arms painting and heraldic furnishing” side of the business to her sons William and John. John Pickering died in 1754. With no suitable heir, his brother William took as his partner John Clarke who was distantly related.
By 1765, at the sign of the “Coffee Mill,” (which still hangs from the storefront but cannot be clearly seen in the picture as it’s at a right angle), Berry’s not only supplied the fashionable “Coffee Houses” (later to become Clubs such as Boodles and Whites), but also began weighing customers on giant coffee scales. Records of customers’ weights, including those of the Royal Dukes, Lord Byron, former Prime Minister William Pitt and the Aga Khan, span three centuries and are still added to, to this day.
Berry’s first supplied wine to the British Royal Family during King George III’s reign, and today holds two Royal Warrants for H.M. The Queen and H.R.H. The Prince of Wales.
John Clarke died in 1788, and while he had no son, his daughter, Mary had married John Berry, a wine merchant in Exeter. Their son, George, although only one year old, had already been designated by his grandfather as heir to the Coffee Mill. Before he died, John Clarke found as a suitable “caretaker” to manage affairs, the Browne’s of Westerham, a rich and prospering family of lawyers and yeomen into which John Berry’s sister had married, and they agreed to look after the business until George was old enough to take over.
George was only sixteen in 1803 when he made the two-day journey from Exeter. For seven years he must have played the part of apprentice, for it was not until he was 23, in 1810 that his name was stretched across the double-fronted fascia of No. 3 St James’s Street. And this is how it looked in Regency England.
In 1815, St James’s Street was a very masculine domain (Georgette Heyer describes her heroine in The Grand Sophy as risking her reputation just by driving her phaeton down St James’s Street); however, the Dighton etching of the shop front, which dates from that same year, shows women amongst the male passers-by, and they do not seem to be causing too much scandal. They are either walking with a male companion or as a pair, so perhaps some form of protection was still the norm.
The paving of Westminster’s streets began in the mid 18th century, but wasn’t completed until the mid 19th. Still, the main roads, such as St James’s Street, would have been paved by 1815 as suggested in the etching.
In 1838 the Chartist riots raged through provincial England and spread panic in London. Accompanied by his friend Prince Louis Napoleon, George Berry was sworn in as a special constable. Prince Louis Napoleon, who as Napoleon III founded the Deuxième Empire in 1851, had a close association with Berry’s. During his two-year stay in London he used the cellars for sundry secret meetings with Sherer the (reputed) editor of the “Standard.”
My new Regency Christmas story, The Holly & The Thistle, begins in Berry’s wine shop where the heroine, a young English widow (“the holly”) and the hero, a Scot (“the thistle”) meet just before Christmastide, each believing the other is someone else. It will put you in the mood for Christmas, I promise!
Regan Walker
It occurred to me that as lovers of a genre it might be helpful to read some of the classics to see where we’ve come from and to enjoy the greats who have contributed so much to the craft.
I’m not going as far back as Ivanhoe, Pride and Prejudice or Jane Eyre.
I’m not even reaching back to the seminal novels of Georgette Heyer in the early 20th century.
No, I’m starting in the 1970s when the bedroom door was flung open never to close again. And while I may not have included your favorite author, by reading the romances on this list, you’ll have a good idea of our beginnings and what so many wonderful authors have done for the genre.
Think of it as an education in modern historical romance. Where an author has written many novels (some early ones are still writing best sellers today), I tried to use their earliest work that influenced the genre.
So, here’s the list of the historical romances I recommend you read. Each has something to show you. Some may require you to shop online for a used book, though many are available as eBooks. I’m not saying they will all be your favorites, or that they are all mine. And I realize some readers will think I left off one I should have included.
This is a sampling meant to give you a picture of how the genre has developed over time. Most are novels I’ve rated 5 stars, so I promise you won’t be bored.
Included because of its significance…
• Bond of Blood by Roberta Gellis (1965)
The 1970s: The Pioneering Years
• The Flame and the Flower by Kathleen Woodiwiss (1972)
• Sweet Savage Love by Rosemary Rogers (1974)
• Devil’s Desire by Laurie McBain (1975)
• Love’s Tender Fury by Jennifer Wilde (aka Tom Huff) (1976)
• Captive Bride by Johanna Lindsey (1977)
• Caroline by Cynthia Wright (1977)
• This Loving Torment by Valerie Sherwood (1977)
• The Rainbow Season by Lisa Gregory (1979)
The 1980s: The Explosive Years
• Lady Vixen by Shirlee Busbee (1980)
• Skye O’Malley by Bertrice Small (1981)
• Devil’s Embrace by Catherine Coulter (1982)
• Rose of Rapture by Rebecca Brandewyne (1984)
• Whitney, My Love by Judith McNaught (1985)
• The Wind and the Sea by Marsha Canham (1986)
• The Hawk and the Dove by Virginia Henley (1988)
• Capture the Sun by Shirl Henke (1988)
• Edin’s Embrace by Nadine Crenshaw (1989)
• Sweet Savage Eden by Heather Graham (1989)
• Heartstorm by Elizabeth Stuart (1989)
The 1990s: The Developing Years
• Dark Fires by Brenda Joyce (1991)
• Flowers From the Storm by Laura Kinsale (1992)
• Outlander by Diana Gabaldon (1992)
• Enchanted by Elizabeth Lowell (1994)
• The Passions of Emma by Penelope Williamson (1997)
• Kilgannon by Kathleen Givens (1999)
The 2000s: The “Standing On The Shoulders of Giants” Years
• By Possession by Madeline Hunter (2000)
• Beyond the Cliffs of Kerry by Amanda Hughes (2002)
• The Captain of All Pleasures by Kresley Cole (2003)
• Laird of the Mist by Paula Quinn (2007)
• Broken Wing by Judith James (2008)
• My Lord and Spymaster by Joanna Bourne (2008)
• The Duke of Shadows by Meredith Duran (2008)
• Raeliksen by Renee Vincent (2008)
Reposted on The Beau Monde with the kind permission of member and author, Regan Walker, from Regan’s Romance Reviews.
A blog for lovers of romance novels, particularly historical romance–a forum where we can share great novels and our views about those we have read.
In addition to authors guest blogging, I will share my reviews, my favorite authors and my “best” lists. Come join us!
Elena Greene is today’s Featured Beau Monde Author
Elena Greene grew up reading her mother’s Georgette Heyer novels, but it wasn’t until she went on an international assignment to the United Kingdom that she was inspired to start writing her own.
Her first Regency romance was published in 2000 and was followed by five more Regencies and a novella.
Her books have won the Desert Rose Golden Quill and Colorado Romance Writers’ Award of Excellence.
Her Super Regency, LADY DEARING’S MASQUERADE, won RT Book Club’s award for Best Regency Romance of 2005.
Elena lives in upstate New York with her stroke survivor husband and two daughters.
Website: Elena Greene
Blog: www.riskyregencies.blogspot.
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ElenaGreene
A cross-post from The Regency Redingote:
I first learned of the existence of that small lady’s handbag, the reticule, from the novels of Georgette Heyer. Later, as a museum curator, I had the opportunity to see a number of actual Regency-era reticules, both in person and in museum photographs. As I continued to research these often exquisite little bags, I discovered they had their origins in the late eighteenth century. Prior to that time, ladies carried their personal essentials in pockets under their skirts. Not in their skirts, under their skirts.
So, when and how did the lady’s pocket come out from under her skirt and make its debut as the reticule?
Continue reading “The Reticule, or The Lady’s Pocket Exposed”
Alicia Rasley is today’s Featured Beau Monde Author.
Alicia grew up as the oldest girl in a family of ten. She had a lot of responsibility early, but she is a self-admitted daydreamer. Books provided an escape from her routine life, and some of the books she read were the Regency novels of Georgette Heyer. "Suddenly there was a new world for me, far from the noise and chaos of a big family and school, a place of elegance and wit," she tells us. She was inspired to write Regencies, and after beginning a dozen, she finished her first when she was twenty-five. She wrote a half dozen Regencies, winning a Rita Award along the way.
But Alicia did not stay entirely faithful to Regency novels. She wrote a couple of women’s fiction novels and two non-fiction writing how-tos. But she has returned to the writing of Regencies once again, admitting that she has been seduced back into that elegant, exciting time and place. She likes rakish heroes, reckless heroines and elegant stories.
Regardless of all the romance she has read and written, Alicia says she has always been practical and is the most unromantic romance writer one would ever meet. She pours all her romantic notions into her writing. "Just ask my husband!" she says. "He’ll tell you he really gets off easy when it comes to anniversary and birthday gifts!"
Her most recent novel is The Year She Fell.
Find her at Facebook — regencystories.wordpress.com/ — http://aliciarasleybooks.com/
A cross-post from The Regency Redingote:
The stories of The Scarlet Pimpernel take place during the French Revolution, more than a score of years before the beginning of the English Regency. And yet, without the work of Baroness Orczy, we might not have all those delightful Regency novels written by Georgette Heyer.
One of our recently featured authors, Cheryl Bolen, has graciously given us permission to publish some of her articles here at the Beau Monde. We begin with an article she wrote in which she explains how she got started writing Regencies. She also provides a clear and concise explanation of the difference between traditional Regencies and romance novels set in the period of the English Regency. This article was originally published in 2002, and sadly, since its original publication, her predictions on the fate of traditional Regency romances have come to pass. Nevertheless, this article will give those writing in the Regency genre a rare look at the development of romance novels set in our favorite period of history, from the perspective of an author successfully published in that genre.
We hope you will enjoy reading Cheryl’s candid look at the business of Regency romance writing . . .
Continue reading “Regency or Regency-set Historical? by Cheryl Bolen”
The UK Telegraph’s Travel section gives this wonderful suggestion for a Regency walk through parts of London.
Regency London: Let a romantic novelist be your guide – Sue Attwood goes in search of Regency London and finds much of it still just as described in Georgette Heyer’s historical novels.
