In today’s article, Cheryl Bolen, award-winning romance author, tells us about Nielsen’s BookScan, which tracks point-of-sale statistics on book sales at a number of retail outlets. This article was written in 2005, and sadly, some of those retail outlets have fallen to the economic pressures of recent years. Nevertheless, publisher’s do use this list to…
A cross-post from The Regency Redingote: First introduced in France as the eighteenth century slipped into the nineteenth, and despite the ongoing Napoleonic wars, this particular type of sentimental jewelery soon crossed the English Channel to become all the rage in England, just as the Prince of Wales was poised to become Regent. The majority…
A cross-post from The Regency Redingote: Earl Grey, that is. In the last several months, I have read at least three novels set in the English Regency in which the characters are depicted drinking Earl Grey tea. Which was completely impossible, since Earl Grey tea was not introduced in England until the reign of William…
A cross-post from The Regency Redingote: In great agitation, she took a sheet of foolscap from the desk drawer. Placing it on the blotter, she dipped her sharpened quill into the inkwell and began to write furiously … Or, something like that. How many characters in how many Regency romances have written or received a…
A cross-post from The Regency Redingote: The English wake during the Regency had nothing to do with the ceremony which many people in westernized nations today observe in honor and memory of someone recently departed. In fact, wakes in England by the early nineteenth century were considered by many such profane and unruly events that…
Horse racing can be an exciting aspect of a Regency romance novel. In today’s article, Cheryl Bolen gives us a brief overview of the origins of the sport and some historical details about some of the most prominent racing venues in England.
With the entry period for Beau Monde’s Royal Ascot Contest now underway, many of us are polishing our manuscripts and daydreaming about what effect a win might have on our budding writing careers. In today’s article, Cheryl Bolen, award-winning published author of several historical romance novels, records her conversations with a group of Golden Heart…
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…
Lauren Smith is today’s Featured Beau Monde Author. Lauren Smith has been obsessed with writing since the third grade, when her teacher convinced her to submit her mystery thriller novella to a young writer’s conference in her hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Ever since that fateful day, Lauren’s been a dedicated writer. Having grown up on…
Today, Cheryl Bolen gives us a biographical sketch of a coterie of notable Regency Cyprians. Most Regency devotees are well-aware of the notorious courtesan, Harriette Wilson, who blackmailed scores of powerful and famous men when she was writing her memoirs. But did you know she had three sisters who joined her in her scandalous profession?