Category: British countryside
-
Down Another Rabbit Hole
Hi there. Well, this is my last post here on Always Austen. Thanks for reading my goofy and off the wall posts. I know I am not everyone’s cup of tea. I have been doing some research again tonight, which means its rabbit hole time. If you have ever done research, you will understand what…
-
Unexpected Moments of Reaching Out
One scene has kept me coming back to George Eliot’s Middlemarch for fifty years. Dorothea, a young and engaging woman, has married an older man, clergyman Mr. Casaubon, out of an intellectual and religious ardor for his scholarship. After just eighteen months, she realizes that she is trapped in a loveless marriage with a third-rate…
-
Rochester Cathedral and the Villages Surrounding It During the Regency Era and How They Fit Into My Writing Process
I am writing this post on New Year’s Eve 2025, with the idea that I will need this information for the release of the 5th book in my Dragonblade mystery/romantic suspense series. Actually, the first draft of the book,Lyon on the Inside is finished. I am busy typing it. Yes, I know that sounds laborious.…
-
The Tolpuddle Martyrs, Changing the Face of Employment Rights in Victorian England
This year is the 185th anniversary of when six Dorset farm labourers were sent to an Australian penal colony, but their ‘crimes’ helped change the face of employment rights for generations to come – and it all began in the small village of Tolpuddle. Tolpuddle is a village near Dorchester in Dorset. During the years…
-
ReRelease of “Darcy’s Passions” from Ulysses Press, Arriving 2/3/2026
In June 2025, my original publisher of “Darcy’s Passions” approached me about rereleasing the book, along with another title from the nine books I did for them back in the early 2000s. Like many publishers they wanted back on the Austen train, especially with the resurgence of Austen’s popularity after her 250th birthday. When all…
-
My Husband, Mr. Darcy, and Me: An Anniversary Trip to England
This summer my husband and I are planning a trip to England to celebrate our 35th anniversary. Huzzah!!! Now, to be clear, my sweet husband is not a Jane Austen fan. I doubt he could name all six of her novels, or perhaps even two of them. But he knows the plot of Pride and…
-
York Castle’s Role in the Final Chapter of “Lyon in Disguise” from Dragonblade Publishing (Arriving 17 December 2025)
The final chapter of Lyon in Disguise, which releases December 17 and is currently on preorder, is set around the York, England, and specifically York Castle. At the time the story is set, meaning late 1812 and early 1813, York Castle was used as a prison and a place for hanging of criminals. The last…
-
Crossing the Irish Sea in the Early 1800s, Not for the Faint of Heart
I have written several books of late that feature my characters traveling to Ireland from different points in England. One of the more recent ones was my Taming Lord Truist, the second book of the Strong Women Duo that accompanied Loving Lord Lindmore. In Taming Lord Truist, I had my main characters come into Ireland…
-
Blessed Be this All Hallow’s Eve
Given that this is one of the few posts a year that can step beyond the boundaries of the Regency time, I took full advantage of it. The lore of witches, those with mystical learned skills or powers, are mentioned in tales of old, centuries before any sect of the Christian religion was formed. “In…
-
Pride, Pursuit, and Pictures
It’s just over a year since I released Pride and Pursuit, my most recent Pride and Prejudice variation, a caper wherein Darcy steals a carriage… with Elizabeth Bennet inside! On the run for their lives, they need to put personal differences aside as they make all haste for the one place Darcy thinks they will…