Category: customs and traditions
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When Mercury was a Cure-all
Everyone who reads my books knows that I have the Miss Bennets, particularly Mary, and, at times, Charlotte Lucas to be extraordinarily capable alchemists in the stillroom. Rarely is it without a later purpose, from scented waters that may be included in travel kits to medicinals that Miss Kitty needs to ease her cough to…
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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…
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Some Days are Hard
Today’s blog analyzes Jane Austen’s exploration of gender-based violence and oppression in her novels, emphasizing how societal norms silenced women’s voices during her time. Austen’s nuanced portrayals reveal the limitations imposed on women, illustrating themes of coercion, economic pressure, and the struggle for autonomy while critiquing cultural attitudes towards female agency and victim-blaming.
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Unusual Regency Hobbies
Shoe making, graveyard picnics, and anthropomorphic taxidermy…just a day in the life of the Regency and Victorian upper class.
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The Wonders of the Royal Menagerie
So many books set in the Regency mention the Royal Menagerie that I could not resist learning how close my imagination and other authors are to the real deal. What I did not realize was that there were two places to see exotic animals in London. The Tower of London housed animals for much of…
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Fillin’ the Pudding-House!: Regency Slang
Your personal dictionary of Regency slang
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No Phones, No GPS: How People Navigated England Before Maps Were Standard
One of my favourite 1-star reviews of Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice was left on Amazon in July of 2010. It reads as follows: “Just a bunch of people going to each other’s houses.” Now, can you argue with that, really? It’s a very apt description of the main action and plot devices in our…
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Feliz Sexta-freira Santa!
Bees are sipping from the dogwood blooms out my window, and I hope each of my wonderful readers is enjoying a glorious spring or autumn morning – and that the continuous summer is not too scorching for those readers residing along the equator. Since today is Good Friday – and a blessed one to those…
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Beekeeping is all the Buzz!
My mother spins honey all summer long as she and my stepdad have a honey business. She used her own honey when she made mead after I wrote the blog After Dinner Drinks, and I can vouch that many recipes in The Elder Scrolls: The Official Cookbook were as delicious as we had hoped! Having…
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The Peculiar History of Clay Pipes
Almost as soon as the English settlers in Jamestown figured out how to feed themselves, they figured out how to make money growing tobacco, that seductive and pernicious weed. Old Father Thames, back in London, is still feeling the effects of that discovery