Author: Corrie Garrett
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Easter Sunday in Regency Era
What was Easter like in the Regency Era as opposed to now? Read on and find out what went on.
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Valentine’s Day in Regency England
Valentine’s Day, associated with love since the late Middle Ages, became popular during the Regency era as a time for expressing romantic interest within societal norms. Common practices included exchanging handwritten Valentine cards with poems, small tokens, and light-hearted customs. It provided a unique opportunity for flirtation amidst strict social codes, despite some skepticism from…
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An Austen for Every Age: A Book for Each Decade of Your Life
Here is my entirely subjective guide to which Jane Austen novel belongs to each decade of life—and why. Have you loved different books as you age? I’ve always loved Persuasion and P&P, but as I get older, Mansfield Park is growing on me.
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Launch Week for Muslin & Mystery!
The trunks are loaded, the mailbags are sealed (securely this time), and our packet ship has sailed!. Muslin and Mystery launched on Monday! This voyage began with a question: what if some of Jane Austen’s most composed and self-assured characters found themselves crammed together on a small ship, far from home, with nothing to do…
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Caroline Bingley Goes to Sea: On Reforming a Snob
Several people have asked if they could read my latest novel without reading the previous books in the series. “Is it self-contained, would it still make sense?” And the answer is yes! Er, sort of! Here’s the main thing: If you’re willing to take it on faith that Caroline Bingley had a moment of clarity…
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Packet Ships, Peril, and Persuasion: Setting Sail in 1813 (+ an Excerpt)
There’s something gloriously impractical about sending a lady to sea in the Regency era. The skirts! The cockroaches! The chamber pots that slid everywhere! Yet by 1813, Britain was bursting with people doing exactly that—soldiers, diplomats, merchants, and, occasionally, their wives—rattling around the globe in those sturdy little packet ships I’ve been describing lately. My…
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The Free Indirect Discourse of Jane Austen
I tend to be a very black and white thinker, and I was told–as so many are in early writing classes–that an omniscient narrator is a bad idea. It leads to head-hopping; it’s old-fashioned; it’s not popular. Only attempt it if you’re a genius with literary aspirations. And I’m not paraphrasing, that is exactly what…
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Giving Birth on a Sailing Ship in the 1800s, or Things to Avoid at All Costs
The Journal I began skimming the newly digitized journal of Augusta Hendee, the wife of ship captain Thomas Hendee, and I fell in love. I have now spent two days reading the whole thing in depth. At moments hilarious and at others tragic, it is at all times relatable. The first half of the digitized…
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Dangers of Sea Travel in Regency Times
As I continue writing Muslin and Mystery, my cozy mystery/romance on a sailing packet ship of the early 1800s, I’ve been looking into all things nautical. Of course, I must watch Master & Commander with my husband–he wouldn’t pass up a chance for that!–but that was a ship of the line, of the Royal Navy.…
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Sailing with Style and Salt Pork: A Look at Regency Packet Ships
In a Jane Austen novel, sea travel usually happens offstage. A letter arrives, Tom Bertram returns, Captain Wentworth is promoted to captain—that sort of thing. But if you lived in Austen’s world and needed to get to the Continent (or the West Indies, or the Cape of Good Hope), you would likely have found yourself…