And the work goes on…..

     This has been an amazing week! I have gotten quite a bit accomplished with my current work in progress. Notes, new chapters, more research-things have been falling into place on this first draft. (I have even dreamed plot lines that I was able to remember long enough to write down!!!) This happens so seldom that I have to revel in it and share it. Writing is so much fun when it flows!

Bits and Pieces-the work in progress

    

York Minster by John Hunter 1784

For several months, I have been researching for and working on another historical novel.  The setting is in York, England, duirngthe last years of the Georgian era.  Such a fascinating city with a wonderful history!   The research has been challenging and enjoyable-at times, I find myself getting caught up in pursuing  the reading and neglecting the writing.  However, progress has been made!  

     The heroine is Anne Emmons, a young woman of respectable birth.  There is wealth, accumulated in trade.  The novel looks at friendship, the contrasts between the formal, stratified world of London  society and the more flexible society of York, and the possibility of finding happiness on one’s own terms.  Meanwhile, her father was concerned….   I thought I would introduce a few bits and pieces as I work.  Here is the first bit:

He had hoped Anne would settle long before now.  At twenty-five years of age, she had long participated in the social seasons at home in York, and in London.  There was no doubt that Sir Henry and his wife had done their best by Anne, put her in the way of meeting eligible young men, even arranging for her presentation.  Somehow, Anne had just never “taken.”  Even at home in York, acting as his hostess, she had entertained numerous young men, ranging from young fashionables in town for the races to successful young merchants and bankers.  She showed the poise of an older, more experienced hostess, yet never indicated the slightest tendre for any of them.  “Not a one of ’em stirred so much as a flutter, ” he thought gloomily, “and for all the notice she paid, none had the least inclination to pursue it.”  Well, he was going to have to take a hand, as distasteful as he found it.

     I hope you will let me know what you think of this little segment!

It’s A Scandal….

In the 18th and 19th centuries, women were extremely limited in their options, and one false step could literally ruin them. In MY LADY SCANDALOUS The Amazing Life and Outrageous Times of Grace Dalrymple Elliott, Royal Courtesan, by Jo Manning, we read of a woman whose choices were frequently (to say the least) unconventional. There is no doubt that Grace Dalrymple’s life story is extremely colorful, ranging from her love life to her time in France where she may have obtained useful information for her country. However, what made this book fascinating to me were the many notes, sidebars, quotes, illustrations and comments that illuminate Mrs. Dalrymple’s story. This book is full of historical snippets, anecdotes and explanations that bring many of the personalities, and the era itself, to life. It also highlights just how limited the choices were that women had, and how devastating the wrong choices could be. Grace’s life was frequently not a particularly comfortable life, and she died alone, in obscurity. Her story certainly provides some insight to the difficulties that someone like Eliza or Young Eliza in SENSE AND SENSIBILITY would face as a result of their poor decisions. (Very few rose to the heights (?) that Grace did in her hey-day, after all.) It is very well-written, and is an excellent source of period information for any one interested in the Georgian period.