…And these are a few of my favorite things…
Tea
If you follow me on Instagram, you will see my books, yes, you will see other people’s books, yes, but you will also see LOTS of baked goods and LOTS of tea–> in mugs, in teapots, in tea cups. Hopefully none of it spilled.
Baking
Meringue mushrooms dusted with cocoa powder, and constructed with melted dark chocolate.
My baked goods are not THAT inspired–nothing that you would see on TV–but I bake with my little dude (3 years old) and for him. So we have lots and lots of cookies and fresh bread. Do you have a favorite recipe that you go to over and over again? If you’re interested in mine, I did contribute to a free holiday dessert recipe book with my fellow Paper Lanterns. The free download is here.
Bridgertons
Did you watch it? How many days did it take you? Were you able to do one-a-day to savor the experience? Or a binge because you couldn’t stop?
Coming from someone who spends a lot of her time in history worlds–reading non-fiction histories, engaging with other historical fiction authors, discussing in those forums, reading other historical fiction–I don’t want you to take my word as gold, but I think it counts for something.
Daphne and Simon at the ball
My books take place in the same time period as Bridgerton. Even the same years for some! So I’ve spent time reading not just about clothes and manners, but about the feel of the period, what people were like, how they might think. I’ve heard some nitpick about the lack of hats in Bridgerton (I’ve read that they had a very strict “No Bonnet” rule for their costuming), or the inconsistent use of gloves, or the lack of appropriate cravats for the Duke of Hastings (yes, but then we would not be able to see his lovely neck). Those things are all true.
But what it does get right, in my opinion, is the feel of those years. The divide between the rich and the poor is huge then. There is no middle class. So wealth, when had, is immense, which explains the Bridgertons. When not, it can create desperation (Miss Thompson). And the parties? The parties were legendary and ridiculous. This was a time period not of restraint and manners, but of drinking, gambling, and fornicating. Their architecture is symmetrical and square, which makes us believe it was more tidy of a mind-set than it was. Jane Austen, writing about a very small social subset (the shrinking middle-class, always on the brink of disaster), showed the fine lines young ladies had to walk to be accepted in the upper echelons. But for the very wealthy and already married? There was a lot of freedom to be had for everyone.
Confession:
I read all of the Bridgerton books a few years back. And while I enjoyed them, after each book I had to take a bit of a break. It was too sweet–too happy. I wanted something that showed the poor people, the other half. What about those who didn’t have a big family or a title? What about the girls who were betrayed by their own families?
I couldn’t really find what I was looking for, so I wrote it. My series, When the Blood Is Up, is about this other side. It explores the anger that the Bridgerton books glosses over. It shows the poor and the outcast.
It is lovely that Daphne Bridgerton finds love. But she starts out as a Diamond of the First Water. What if you are too snarky, too angry, and you cannot keep quiet and demure? Or that you understand the power in collecting secrets to trade in for favors? What if you see all the money and power and decide that certain people have had quite enough, and you want to take them down a notch? Then you are Lady Lydia in A Lady’s Revenge.
What about if you don’t have the luck to be born to a wealthy family? Or even a loving family? What if you are too tall to be considered pretty, and people mistake you for a boy all the time? Part of what gets you mistaken for a boy is the quickness of your feet, your ability to take a punch and stay standing, waiting to deliver your own fists in return? You don’t have a chance for dresses and balls when you are just trying to find food and a place to sleep at night. You have to dodge the kid-catchers so you don’t end up in a Northern factory, where children get their hands cut off by the industrial looms. Better the devil you know. Then you are Bess Abbott in The Boxer and the Blacksmith.
What about if you don’t like men? They smell, they’re strange, they act superior to you at all times. You have the title, the money, and if you can keep invisible just a little longer, you’ll be considered “too old” for a reasonable marriage. It gives you time to follow your real love, Miss Franklin. Until she dumps you because she wants a conventional marriage with babies–which means a man. She doesn’t want the vision you’ve proposed: two women, in a house in Town, taking care of their chosen charities, being exquisitely happy in each other’s company. You don’t want what Miss Franklin wants, what you are supposed to want. Then you are Lady Agnes in my work-in-progess, A Lady’s Finder.
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