Oh, to be Mrs. Astor or Mrs. Vanderbilt...and barter away your daughter!

 

The Gilded Age on HBO has charmed us with its vibrancy, color, fashions and trauma!

Worth of Paris did create the gowns for these mighty matrons and debutantes. These heiresses took Europe by storm with their ambition and their daddy's wealth. Not all were happy with their lots. Nor were  all fathers pleased with their sons-in-law nor with their business success.

To celebrate the richness of the era and the stories we authors love to tell, I have each of my novels in THOSE NOTORIOUS AMERICANS selling for 99 cents this month.

We will meet dukes and princess. Dine with the newly rich in Europe. Meet artists. Dance at the top of the Butte in raucous Montmartre at the Moulin de la Galette. Fall in love and fight to keep the one person worth it all.

Find them all here for sale and on Kindle Unlimited: 

https://amzn.to/3yOzLll

 

Want to visit Malmaison? Paris? Josephine's court?

In my new series, SCARLETT AFFAIRS, I give you the excitement of falling in love during the tumultuous time when Europe was awash in revolutions and the rise of one unknown man to power shook the Continent and the foundations of every other country.

Sweeping you from London to Paris, I am tickled to take you to Malmaison and the problems of navigating Josephine and Bonaparte’s court. The intrigues of spies, ambassadors, merchants, military men and the women who loved and aided them create a canvas of actual events that shaped the fate of millions. 

Over the years of Bonaparte’s rise and reign, espionage agents of all nationalities tried to stop him. Many failed. Like the attempt in LORD ASHLEY’S BEAUTIFUL ABLIBI to abduct Bonaparte in June 1800. A few succeeded easily, like the attempt of the British government to plant agents throughout the Continent during the peace of the Treaty of Amiens. 

Some of these events were documented, like the abduction of the duc d’Engien. Others still remain mysteries, such as the identity of the mysterious English woman who for decades sent thousands of coded secrets home to London. And the lady who stole documents from Talleyrand in Vienna during the Congress of 1814.

In SCARLETT AFFAIRS, I take you to those cities and towns that live in our history books—and palaces and streets I have walked. They are places that exude their own charm—and hold for the people of that time secrets and challenges for agents of all countries. 

You will go to the tunnels beneath Compiègne and to the palace where Napoleon met his second wife and within minutes escorted her to their bedroom. You will go to Reims, where kings were crowned, and enter the caverns of St. Denis in Paris where they were buried. You will go to the church in Varennes where gendarmes captured Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette and sent to Paris to die. You will go to Baden where a greedy German margrave sold out his subjects to Bonaparte for land and money. You will track Bonaparte and his aide Caulaincourt as they race away from Moscow and are tracked by agents all the way to Paris.

 

I will also take you to other seemingly insignificant places that really existed. A public bath house, the smelly abattoir of Montmartre, then south to the huge fortress of Amboise and the vineyards of the Loire. To Verdun where the citadel becomes the prison for hundreds of British trapped inside France by the wily new emperor.

A panoply of stories, the series will be a rich discovery of the challenges of fighting an enemy while falllng in love with one irresistible person. I hope you enjoy them all, from this first search for a missing friend, to the action-adventure of saving an entire family from death, to the rewards of stealing Bonaparte’s gold and more. Through each story, one man and woman will try to save the world from a despot—and save each other and the love they treasure above all else.

Today's bon bon: A peek inside Lord Bellamy's London townhouse!

    Using the architectural  plans of a house for a  novel is one of my joys!
 

   Here (with my giggle!) are a few pictures of Miles St. John Armstrong, Viscount Bellamy's marvelous home!

The foyer

   Yes, it does exist today. I could not paint a picture of what it is like if I did not have a firm idea in my own mind as to what it actually is.

The library with globes and marble fireplace!

The back parlor

As many of you who gaze upon these rooms can surmise, Bellamy's "house" is really my interpretation of a few fine London homes I have had the honor to tour!

NEW VIDEO! Like vids to learn about new books, new authors? Try this one for my series THOSE NOTORIOUS AMERICANS!

   THIS MARVELOUS VIDEO has been in the works for a long time! Promoting all the novels in my family saga of the Gilded Age, this video is a wonderful composition of concept, covers, stills and video clips.
   Where did they come from?

• I wrote the script.
• I purchased the video clips from wonderful PERIOD IMAGES!
• I bought the stills from a stock art company.
• And sent them all to my producer!

   I hope you will now want to read all the books in this series! Available on Amazon, KOBO, NOOK and iTunes, this series begins with the first generation of robber baron Killian Hanniford's family.
   Each story is different, each incorporates historical detail pertinent to the romances. The theme—money can buy anything—works in all the plots but in different ways.
   WILD LILY stars Killian's oldest daughter who sails to Europe with him for the fun of it, definitely not for a husband.
   DARING WIDOW features Killian's niece. A widow who wishes never to tie herself to any man, Marianne is a talented artist. When she meets a famous sculptor (think Rodin!), she is tempted to love him and leave him. But can she?
   SWEET SIREN features Killian himself. Older than your average romance hero, he is nonetheless a charming character. Too bad he cannot seem to charm one woman who enchants him anyway!
   SCANDALOUS HEIRESS stars Killian's youngest daughter. Ada finds herself in love with a widower who needs no wife and no complications in his life. When he falls in love with her anyway, he must choose to save her...or himself. Can he find happiness? And can she love a man whom she ruins?
   RAVISHING CAMILLE, to come out this winter, is the last of the first generation to find happiness. She's a wild child, forever in love with one man who tells himself he needs no entanglements to any woman, least of all to the one who has enchanted him for years.

What to eat? How? When in Rome, Paris or London, partaking of dinner parties was a ritual fit to burst your buttons! European dining rooms that inspire!

Formal Dining Room at Malmaison where Josephine entertained
before and after Napoleon divorced her.

 If you were invited to a dinner party in the nineteenth century, you would have to be on your manners and either starving or terribly polite!

Why?

The meal was hours-long. The service slow and measured. The servants ready to deliver your every need. And the portions to the numerous courses were hearty.

Here are a few of my pictures of houses and dining rooms I adore. In them, kings and queens, emperors and generals ate, laughed and decided the fate of millions of others.
Shall we talk about an average evening and the menu?

Oh, let's!

First, do let out your corset an inch. You're going to need the room to breathe.
Second, roll back your long gloves, darling. No getting those dirty. Just put them in your lap after you've been assisted in your chair by a footman.
Third, remember to sit ramrod straight as your third governess taught you and please do not crush your bustle!
Fourth, you should know which fork or spoon to begin with. Your fourth governess taught you that, remember? Yes, that's right, the soup spoon is the big bowled one.
Remember your nanny's instructions about soup? "Like a ship upon the sea, I scoop my soup away from me!" Good.
That other one above your serving plate? It's for the cream, or shall we say, the ice, later. Hmm. Right.
Fish fork? Tiny, ugly thing. Unmistakeable.
Dinner fork, you'll know right off. Knife too.
Butter knife, ditto.

Now as we begin remember we speak only to the one gentleman on our right. He gets to chat you up for half the meal. If he has not cultivated the art of conversation at teatime with his granny, you must pick up his slack. He needs his bit of talk and you are his to enchant or vice versa, if he is lacking. This means you may well need to be well versed in botany, architecture or archeology, bugs, worms or coal mining. While it is best not to display an understanding of stocks and bonds, it is useful (in your future life as a duchess, etc etc.) to understand farming, goats and sheep, sale thereof, grassland availability on your property, weather patterns. All of this helps immensely when in need of sound dinner conversation.

On to the menu.
First Service:
   Potages (Soup) 
      For example: Consomme or  Puree
   Poisson (Fish)
      Any type: roasted, grilled, sauteed, fried or souped
   Entrees:
      Chicken, Beef or Lamb in any cut or form
   Larger Service:
       Venison
        Beef roast, etc
Second Service:
     Roti:
         Vegetable with meat, fish, protein
     Entremets:
          Salad
           Fruit
           Gateau of fruit (baked, custard, etc with fruit)
      Cheese      
Now you can see that you have eaten your way through your corset and volunteer to walk home! The meal was truly heavy. Furthermore, we have now learned that many of the well-to-do in this era suffered from obesity, too few vegetables in their diet and too much protein. The added sugar in desserts did not help make them any healthier. To be so, one had to be selective in portions and in the types of foods consumed.
       As for me, I am happy to have access to fresh fruits and vegetables, fresher meals and fish, all of which is deemed safe before it is stocked in our groceries!

(And yes, all of these photographs are mine!)

Napoleon and Josephine's gold plate, minted for him at Sevres China Factory and given to Josephine's son,
Eugene after her death. Thereafter it was owned by a family in Russia until recently when the French Government
bought it back to display here.

Dining room in Palais Imperial at Compiegne, France set for Emperor Napoleon III and his wife.

A bit different, oui? The servants' dining hall in Vaux le Vicomte south of Paris!

Vive la difference! This is the owners' dining room (set with only half a table) in Vaux le Vicomte!

The Pump Room in Bath, England!
Do go for a full cream tea, music, atmosphere and warm mineral water from the spring!

Cerise went to #England, brought home #gin, a carriage and a yummy earl!

http://www.sipsmith.com

Yes, I went on my annual research trip, lugging along only 1 suitcase, my iPad, tons of notes...and my husband. He is such a good bloke to go with me each year. I promise different sights. He promises to like (most of) them. I also promise great dining at yummy restaurants and he finds the wine. And the brandy. This year we discovered Sipsmith Gin! (Swoon worthy G and Ts were appreciated by Mr. DeLand and me at Rules and I'll have more on that divine feast in another post!)

And did I bring home an earl?

And a carriage?

Well, the next best thing to both, I brought home fab pix of carriages and lots of info about men of some (varied) repute. All of this, of course, is for character building, house and estate "establishment" and other words of historical accuracy while permitting two people to fall in love and have an HEA!

This year we did England. Almost two weeks in London found us taking the Tube each morning to a new and exciting destination, previously chosen for sound research in the Regency period (and some in the Victorian, too). I have wonderful tales to tell in succeeding blogs and hope you will return for the fun of it, and the news of how this all folds into this new novel or that one!

First up, where did I find that carriage? And that earl, you ask? Well, while hubby and I have been to England often, we'd never taken in the Royal Mews. We began there.
And what a great site it is too for finding sumptuous carriages fit for...well, yes, a queen. But I found a few other oldie but goodies, too.

Near Buckingham Palace, the grounds were opened by Henry VIII. With horse stables and separate areas for the royal motorcars, the Mews is arranged around a courtyard. Here, the stable doors are open to visitors to view the horses, royal carriages and autos.

While I was not able to get a picture of any of the horses (because staff ask that you not disturb the animals overmuch with snapping and flashes and such), I did get a few great shots of the elaborate, immaculate carriages which Her Majesty and her family use for many state and family occasions.

Semi-State Landau, Royal Mews. (My picture.)

The one that appealed to me most was this one. The Semi-State Landau. Although its top is up, I can imagine it down, people riding graciously in facing seats whilst being taken around town by matching horses.

This wonderful coach is often used by the younger royals in parades such as the Trooping of the Color for the Queen's Birthday. Very popular with Queen Victoria, the coach gives a feeling of youth, vibrancy and allows for a full view of those in the seats. It was gilded and decorated for her Golden Jubilee in 1887, surviving today with the excellent care of the staff at the Mews.

But what would you do, what carriage would you want if it rains?

The Scottish State coach, used by Queen and Prince Phillip
during wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton.
Picture is mine.

Try this one! Known as the Scottish State Coach, it is used for glamorous state occasions when being seen is the best PR tactic. Built in 1830 for George IV's younger brother, the Duke of Cambridge, it was refurbished for the Royal household a century later. Used by Her Majesty to attend Scottish Parliament and other state occasions, the coach bears the Scottish crown on the top. 

As for me, I intend to use a coach similar to it in my next Regency. Of course, the hero must be fabulously rich, perhaps even fabulously vain! Hopelessly handsome, too. Hence, the reason for the grand display.

And if that one is in repair, then perhaps this one would appeal more! This is the Golden State Coronation Coach made for George III in 1762 at the then cost of more than 7,000 Pounds. Covered in gold leaf, this enormous carriage sits in the Mews in splendor. Like the other coaches, it remains in a constant state of readiness at significant cost to the Crown. Hand painted outside and in by a contemporary artist of period, Giovanni Cipriani, this coach boasts red velvet interiors to complement the priceless artwork inside. It requires a team of 8 horses. This coach has been used at every coronation since George IV,  including Queen Elizabeth to her coronation and on her Diamond and Golden Jubilees.

Each coach is described by a plaque to one side of the carriage. Do enlarge to read this one and then note you can also see the extent of many of the stables to the left.

Throughout the exhibit area, other means of conveyance are exhibited.
A pony cart. A child's miniature carriage. And here is a sedan chair, looking extremely uncomfortable, I must say!

And what about that earl?
Where did I hide him?
Is he happy here in Texas with me?

View of courtyard of Royal Mews.
My photo.

As soon as I give him more than one of these carriages to ride in, more than a stiff G and T and a proper home to live in (Osterley, perhaps?), he'll be well satisfied!

17th Century Sedan Chair.
My picture.

The Irish State Coach built for an Industrial Exhibition in 1853 in Dublin
in hopes of attracting the attention of Queen Victoria.
The Crown purchased the coach and Queen Victoria used it often.
Picture is mine.

Cerise went to #London #England, visited #Wellington's home, got #Regency pointers!

Wellington Arch
Across Street from entrance to Apsley House

Breathing life into a novel, especially an historical, demands research. While most of us think of dusty libraries as That Place, many authors get their kicks from traveling to the actual sites. That includes me.

Yes, it is expensive. Yes, it is time consuming, not only because you must plan well, but also because it takes weeks out of your writing schedule and you hope you don't get ill or the family dog doesn't! 

But oh, yes, it is gratifying. As the child's book says, Oh, the things you'll learn!

Reading about the Duke of Wellington, he who won at Waterloo and defeated finally the might of Napoleon Bonaparte, is a far cry from visiting his home.

After all, what does one learn from visiting another's home. Think on it. Do they love art? Do they dine in bed? How vast is their library? And when in country, gazing at some long deceased nobleman's home, you may ask, where did the servants live? And was there a wine cellar?

The facts you learn from a research of Number One London, so called because it sat originally at the post road out of the city, include:

• It was originally built by another man, Baron Apsley, not a Wellesley.
• The price to build it? £10,000 
• The architect, Robert Adam, was one of the most celebrated masters of that refined style which we can call Palladian or Regency-Georgian.
• Richard, Arthur's older brother, bought the house.
• But he sold it to his more famous brother in 1817 because Richard realized his brother, famous beyond imagining after Waterloo victory, needed a stately home in London from which to...well...impress the masses and involve himself in the politics of the day.

What you learn from visiting Apsley House is amazingly complementary to those seemingly insignificant facts.

Marble statue of Napoleon
in main alcove
staircase to first floor

Walking through the house, you have that marvelous feeling of elegance, carefree expenditure on wall coverings, paintings and sculpture, appointments and upholstery. Robert Adams' attention to detail, the ceiling plaster designs, the cornices all add to the lavish feeling of air and light. The colors of yellow and red hit the eye and please you. The furniture is sumptuous, because they still do hold the annual Waterloo Dinner here each year to celebrate that 200-year-old victory that put Napoleon to an island and Britain to command all the seas.

One room of the house, on the ground floor, is entirely devoted to the Iron Duke's gifts from many nations and rulers who were freed from the threat of French imperial domination. The gold and silver, the banners abound.

Upstairs, the dining room with its enormous table and huge chairs may hold guests who can look up to find immense portraits of the men who gained from the victory at Waterloo. George IV was still Prince Regent or Prinny in June 1815, not to rule until 1820 after the death of his father George III. The emperor of Austria stands here as does the restored French Bourbon King Louis XVIII. King Leopold of Belgium is a handsome creature and you nod, understanding why Princess Charlotte fell in love with the man instantly.

The next room, a salon, boasts portraits, large and small, of all those who aided or served the Iron Duke in some capacity during the wars and in particular, the battle of Waterloo. It's wonderful to look upon the originals of many portraits one finds only reproduced in books or on the web.

The Banquet Room was added to the house later at a significant cost to the Iron Duke himself. In fact, he argued with the architect's expenditures. But to your eyes and mine, (and the Iron Duke would most likely agree) the expense was worth it. Why?

During the Battle of Vitoria in June 21, 1813 as Wellington chased Napoleon's brother Joseph (whom he'd named King of Spain) back into France, the king, poor man, ran so quickly, he left behind his baggage train.
What had he taken?
A wealth of art from the Spanish royal collection at the Prado. Luckily, though British soldiers looted much from Joseph's train, officers stopped the robbery before the Madrid collection could be seized. Wellington had the collection shipped home to England in the safe-keeping of his brother, Richard. After Waterloo and end of the wars, Richard turned over his brother's captured art to him. Wellington offered the art to the newly restored King Ferdinand of Spain. However, that man was so grateful for Welllington's services, he gave them to him. They are still here, hanging in splendor in the room where the annual dinner occurs to celebrate the victory.

A few tidbits from my tour?

• The statue of Napoleon the Peacemaker by Italian sculptor Canova inspired my husband to remark after we left the house that he had the distinct impression that the Iron Duke respected Napoleon in many ways. In fact, he did. He thought that Waterloo victory was "a close run thing" and had studied Napoleon's military tactics and care of his soldiers for years. This was wise as it gave him food for thought and use among his own men.
• The price of the house originally was £10,000. But what is that in current British and American currency? £1,480,000 or $2,145,482.00
• The only portrait of a French woman in the Waterloo salon? That of Napoleon's sister, Pauline Bonaparte! Why would he have a portrait of her, you may ask? The British Government bought her house in Paris in 1814 for Wellington to live in after he chased Napoleon out the first time. After he won at Waterloo in June 1815, he resumed possession of it. The Hotel Charost on Rue Faubourg is famous for many reasons. Wellington lived in it after Waterloo. Much of the furnishings and paintings remain. Today the Hotel Charost is the official residence of the United Kingdom's ambassador to France.

And for a marvelous mystery about the Hotel Charost's purchase and Pauline's attempt to salvage items from the purchase, I hope you will read my new Regency romance, MASQUERADE WITH A MARQUESS, out soon.

More about Apsley here: http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/apsley-house

Cerise visits #London with 10 BURNING Questions About #Regency #England!

Every author and many readers often wonder precisely what is real and what is true fiction in any novel.

As I walk around London, I am asking myself these often overlooked aspects.

See if any of them are also your burning questions!

1. If I live on Brook Street, is it really a friendly walk to Oxford Street?

2. If I want to buy a hat at a milliner's shop or visit a dressmaker on Half Moon Street, must I hire a carriage, say, if I live in Grosvenor Square?

3. And if I do hire a carriage, where would mine be housed? Is there a mews behind many of these famous squares in Mayfair? Or were there?

4. How do the numbers run around a square? Might not seem like a Burning Question, but when one writes a series (as I do) about folks who live and work in one, it helps to know how the numbers run or ran so that I'm not sending people helter-skelter.

5. In the rear of grand squares do alleys run? Or are they something else? Named something other than alley or access or lane?

hmmm.

6. When I go to Rules, opened in 1798, what's on the menu that a lord and lady might have ordered for their meals?

Think I'll ask my waiter!

7. Where can I get bangers and mash? (And why?)

8. I also need a pasty. My mother made them often and I yearn for a good one. Question is where do I go?

This pix of the TOWER gives me chills because it shows the poppies,
one ceramic flower for each man lost in the Great War
from each country in the Empire.

9. Finally, when I go visit the TOWER for my empty-umpth time, will I still get that little shiver of excitement...and will Mr. DeLand (who frankly seems addicted to the place!) once more swear he was there long ago with William, his pal?

10. In Bath, can I find one superb little gift for my new granddaughter? And in London, I must find a really good set of English buses or trains for my grandson. Question is where?

Ta Ta! Talk soon! When I get answers to these I will post them! Yes, I know. You think I am thorough but a little barmy, too, eh?

Cerise gives you her #England #research trip schedule! #knights #Lords #castles

AMAZON   ARe   NOOK   KOBO   iTunes

I'm packing my bag (small, black, within airline weight), for England! Want to come along?

I'm doing Major Research and I have an Agenda. Want to see? Bring your walking shoes, umbrella, raincoat (could be chilly too), and a sweater. Also do bring your camera because I take a picture of ANYthing which appeals. Your shoelace. The waiter's tie. Notorious. Yes. And sad. I need many cameras for shots so I can write other blogs like this one! With GOOD pictures...we do pray.

YES! I'm off for England soooon for 2+ weeks!!! Our trip this year is to London, Windsor, Reading and Bath. I am so tickled, I am silly with it.

Yesterday at a day-long FB party (Hey, forgive spelling here, I'm still recovering), I "served high tea." My mother was of English origin and tea was served at our house the English way in a pot, mind you, milk and sugar on the side with a homemade scone or good shortbread cookie.

Mr. DeLand chuckles at my English tea. He needs his java. But he says he will partake. While in England, do as they do, you see.

I am going with superb expectations that I will cram everything in I need to do and see to satisfy my historian's soul—and my writer's heart. This means, of course, that Mr. DeLand knows how to amuse himself while I shop (that verb to him is dawdle) in a museum store or the palace bookshop. (He has decades of experience with me, so he is primed.)

This year I have research goals, as ever. But they are a tad different than in past. This year we do a LOT of Regency and another shot of Victorian areas and experiences. Why? Well, I am excited about Regency architecture. This is for my series that began with HER BEGUILING BUTLER. (See here.) DELIGHTFUL DOINGS IN DUDLEY CRESCENT is my series about lords and ladies (rom com, mystery, and tons of history to titillate) who fall in love with servants. Of course, none of the servants is of that class, else what is a Regency romance for, eh? It must focus on noblemen acting in extraordinary ways to achieve the ultimate goal, marriage. I digress.

Ready for that schedule? 

DAY ONE (which is really Day 2 because the DeLands get JET LAG like the POX has arrived!)

Apsley House, London Regency walking tour; and TOWER OF LONDON

This makes the 6th or 7th or umpty-umpth time we have done THE TOWER. But Mr. DeLand's forefather (and mine) came over from Normandy with William the Conqueror and Mr. DeLand  gets crazy mad goosebumps every time he visits. Ergo, one must, eh? I say his ancestor helped to either build said castle, defend it or had a room there. Hmmm.

DAY TWO: Windsor Castle  

I do wish I could say I am taking tea here.
Alas, it is Buckingham Palace and this year,
HRM is busy when we arrive.

See us on the train, walking, dining there. I was there back in the my grad school days. Mr. DeLand has never been. I think that decades on, for me, I will get to see more of the castle than I did back in the day. So much more is open these days!

DAY THREE: Royal Mews and Cavalry Museum

I am up for the Mews! Last year, we were in Paris for our research trip and we went to the Palais Royale in Compiegne. We dined in a FAB 5 star place for lunch, made our way to the Palais and by the time we finished the main house, the mews was closed. I wept fat tears. Give me a carriage. Always. I get my fix here!

DAY FOUR: Spencer House. Regency Walk around London in which we amble along to haberdashers, Fortnum and Mason, a few squares to look at architecture and to dine and do high tea!

DAY FIVE: Hampton Court Palace or Blenheim. This choice depends on how we feel that morning. Why? After doing this self-guided touring for years now, we understand that occasionally we have to NOT run ourselves mad and do something simpler, not so strenuous. Especially if the weather is not wonderful, we want to be certain to be kind to ourselves, our feet and our health.

Blenheim is necessary to me as I begin a series about American Heiresses who married English noblemen in the Victorian era!

DAY SIX:  Banqueting House and Museum of London. The Banqueting House is a bit of an aside, one of those "must do-haven't been there yet thingies" but it calls to me. In my un-copious free time, I want to write (research) Restoration period. 

DAY SEVEN: Osterley Park.

This is my big Regency house tour day. Mr. DeLand will sigh and nod and humor me for hours. But he will love the train and the countryside. I know he will!

DAY EIGHT: Arundel Castle or Free

This is a bow to Mr. DeLand's delight in early medieval castles and my tendency to write a medieval now and then!

DAY NINE:  Sir John Soanes House, St. Paul’s, and Dinner at Rules!

Ah, yes. That architecture thingie? This is where I get to drool. Soanes was a major architect during the Regency period for many and I understand that the house alone is a treasure. See me dropping many POUNDS in the shop. Not weight, no. MONEY. 

Why St. Paul's? To be honest? While Mr. DeLand has been here often, I have never. I must go this time. 

And dinner at Rules? Ah. Mr. DeLand says we must take out a home equity loan to pay the bill, but go we will. Have you seen the menu? O.M.G. An Englishman's heaven. Roast beef and oysters and kidney pie and soups. I may never leave. (See me doing the dishes?)

DAY TEN, ELEVEN, TWELVE, THIRTEEN, FOURTEEN: BATH

We take the train. Love trains. Bought our tickets on line and let me just give a plug to British Railways who, when this American could not read their website well, did reimburse me for the 4 extra tickets I managed to purchase for 2 people on the same train, same day, and another 2 which went the wrong way immediately after the first 2 arrived.

Yeah.

Don't ask.

In Bath, we will go go go to:

1. Museum of Bath Architecture

2. Fashion Museum, open 10:30-5:00 every day, 

Tours at 1200 noon and 4:00 each day.

See Georgian Exhibit

Entry to the Assembly Rooms is included in the Fashion Museum ticket. - See more at: http://www.fashionmuseum.co.uk/assembly-rooms#sthash.VTqcQfzi.dpuf

3. Assembly Rooms, 10:30 - 5:00, every day

4. Jane Austen Center, open every day

5. The Circus

6. Royal Crescent

7. Roman Baths

Before we leave Bath, I will ship home my READER SWAG and goodies for all those FB Parties in 2015-2016.  I learned to do this years ago rather than accosting airline check-in clerks with my displeasure at their dislike of my weighty luggage!

DAY FIFTEEN: We leave Bath. Color me sobbing! We take the bus from Bath to our hotel at the airport!  I do love airport hotels. Means I can get up the next morning and look like a human being instead of this mad woman who has to get to the airport through wild traffic only to stand in line...again.

DAY SIXTEEN: We fly home!

Cerise shares 5 Facts in INTERLUDE WITH A BARON, HER #REGENCY in THE INCOMPARABLES

Ever wonder how much is really true about what you read in historicals?
We all do!
I want to share with you 5 statements that are true in my story in the 99 cent smash hit, THE INCOMPARABLES, INTERLUDE WITH A BARON.

1. When the book opens (and the box set), Drayton Worth goes to a ball in Brussels.

Did a ball really occur?

Indeed it did!

The Duke of Lennox was put in charge of the defense of the city. His wife, who was the Duchess of Richmond (and Lennox), gave a ball for most general staff, officers in town, foreign officers and others who were invited by any of the above.

A glittering affair, the ball is recreated each year. There was one the other night in Brussels to commemorate the 200th Anniversary of the battle.




2. In the scene in the novel where Drayton follows the spy and sees part of the battle, Dray sees French Eagles captured during the fray.

Is it true that the Scots Greys (armed cavalry) seized French Eagles from men of the French line?

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Yes. This is true.  To this day, the Scots Greys have that French Imperial Eagle and are very proud of it's capture.

3. In all of the stories in THE INCOMPARABLES, the heroes are founders of a men's club in St. James' where they house and assist veterans of the Allied forces who fought in the 3-day battles which we collectively call Waterloo.

Is there such a club?

No. The Incomparable Club is a fiction which we six authors created to give us a basis for our collaboration and to give our men a link, so to speak.

4. In many of the novels, we six authors state that veterans were not cared for after the victory at Waterloo.

Is this true?

The Incomparables: 6 Heroes of Waterloo and the 6 Ladies They Adore

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Yes. It is. Men who enlisted did so with the knowledge that they would be discharged after the wars were concluded. There was no provision for pay, disability, aid to widows or orphans or death benefits. All of these are benefits which were created mostly after standing armies became the norm in the mid-1800s.

5. Our hero, Drayton Worth lives temporarily in Queen Square. He also leases a house next door.

Does Queen Square exist?

Yes. It does! Queen Square is actually a square with garden in the center in Bloomsbury area of London. Begun between 1716 and 1725, it survives to this day and is a center for medical facilities and professionals. 

Here are pictures!

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The art by Kim Killion resembles a great oil painting!