Surely Jane Austen would know how to handle such a rake…
From the author of Hundreds of Years to Reform a Rake, a new time travel romance featuring a modern day career woman swept back in time to Regency England, where she thwarts a Napoleonic spy, chats with Jane Austen, and falls in love with a notorious rake.
Eleanor is a costume designer in England for the Jane Austen festival, where her room at the inn is haunted. In the middle of the night she encounters two ghost sisters whose brother was killed in a duel over 200 years ago. They persuade her to travel back in time with them to prevent the duel. Eleanor is swept into a country house party, presided over by the charming Lord Shermont, where she encounters and befriends Jane Austen. But there’s much more to Lord Shermont than the ghosts knew, and as Eleanor dances and flirts with him, she begins to lose her heart.
Blog: Loves the Regency Era
By Laurie Brown
One of the things I like about writing time travels is doing the research. Authentic historical details add to the setting and characters, and spark ideas for both. I’ve always been especially drawn to the Regency, at first because of the women’s fashions of the day, and then later because of the manners and lifestyle.
During my research for What Would Jane Austen Do? I realized I should have paid more attention in history class. I wanted my heroine to be an American and my hero to have something to do with catching Napoleon’s spies but I ran smack dab up against the War of 1812 of which I knew very little. When I read Jane Austen’s books, I just assumed the military men in the stories were destined to fight the French. In truth the soldiers of 1814 may well have been sent to America, and the characters could have had friends or relatives fighting across the Atlantic. That circumstance would not have made the rare American visitor the most popular guest in an English home, so I had to account for that. And because America and France had been allies during the Revolution, it also gave the hero Lord Shermont an instant reason to question why she was there. Was she involved with the French spies he was searching for?
When she goes back in time Eleanor realizes just how many modern amenities she misses. Some of those things were easy to think of, like cars, cell phones, and computers. But sometimes I had to stop and look up when something was invented. The zipper was patented in 1913 as the hookless fastener (sort of sounds like Velcro which of course was not invented until 1955). Because I was writing one day with a toothache I had her miss modern dentistry, which of course I had to look up. She also misses modern plumbing. Although there has always been some sort of waste disposal system being invented or improved, the flush toilet as we know it was not invented until 1886.
I always find interesting stuff in my research that I can’t use. Such as the “earthcloset” sort of a portable outhouse found in many houses a bit later in the 19th century. Rather like a kitty litter box for humans, dry granular clay was dispensed from a hopper into a box to desiccate waste and prevent odor. When the box was full the earth and waste could be removed for disposal elsewhere.
Eleanor misses chocolate. Some history buff might point out that cocoa has been around for centuries, but not in the form she would know as chocolate. During the Regency unsweetened cocoa powder would have been available for making into a hot beverage. Coffee houses routinely served cocoa as well as the other brews. (The first Baker’s Mill for grinding cocoa beans was opened in the U.S. in 1765.) But chocolate as in candy bar was not invented until 1847. So I had her miss M&M’s which were not invented until 1941.
I enjoy learning about other time periods especially the Regency and Victorian eras. I often wonder how I would have liked living in a different time period. Maybe that’s why I write time travels. Besides family and friends, I would miss most Reese’s peanut butter cups, Corralejo tequila, Spanx, and Lancome Absolu Night Cream. Necessities of life. 😉
What is your favorite time period/location? Would you go there if time travel were a reality? What would you miss most?
— Laurie
*****Leave a comment for the chance to win a copy of WHAT WOULD JANE AUSTEN DO? Good Luck! 🙂
I do love a good time travel, and I love the regency 😀
I would be like her and miss chocolate, real toilets and shampoo and certain hygiene products
I would like to go back to the Middle Ages, castles, pretty dresses and knights 😀
If I could time travel, it would probably be to Regency England. I don’t know why, but I just love that time period.
Margay
Regency England is my favorite time period. I would miss the internet, tv, my hair dryer/curling iron and all the modern conveniences we have today.
Renaissance Italy is a captivating era for me to experience. I would miss my computer and microwave.
If I could travel anywhere I would go to Italy, I’ve always wanted to visit there!
Probably the Highlands. Well, IF I could travel there and back, lol. I have no desire to live anywhere w/out modern plumbing, toilets, hygiene products, chocolate, COFFEE, BOOKS…I could go w/ out the internet for a while, but couldn’t go w/ out books.
One of the things I like about Lynn Kurlands time travels so much is she always points out these things that the hero/heroine misses, and even has them smuggling them along in some.
What Would Jane Austen Do sounds lovely.
I haven’t read a time travel in a while, and I so love them.
As I’m reading more historicals, I’m finding lots of time periods I’d be curious to visit (Scottish highlands, Regency England, the old West, etc.) but a visit would be it, I think–I’m spoiled by the conveniences of modern living (huge fan of running water and central heat!) and couldn’t imagine living without the developments of modern medicine (say, epidurals ;)) A very fun question, Laurie!
I enjoy a great time travel book every now and then! As for where and when, I do not know which I would choose… they each have their appeal! But I would miss peanut M&Ms! 😉
the Victorian period.
Love the balls, beautiful gowns, the manners of curtsying, etc.
I’d miss the modern amenities of air conditioning, the pain pills.
Sounds like a great book. Humm the time frame I’d most want to visit, well I have several, as long as I know I can come home at anytime.LOL I’d love to visit the 1700s in America, especially NC, I’d love to visit the 12 and 13th centuries in Scotland(don’t ask it was a very hard time but I’d love to see it)
There are others but the American Revolution is actually the only time frame I’d done extra research on. I’d love to go back in time and find out what really happened to the Lost Colony(if you don’t know who they are ask……I’d love to talk about them, they fascinate me), I’d love to go back in time and see when and how my grandmother’s family first arrived in the country(legend stated they arrived on the Mayflower but all prove of it was stolen)…………..
So I have a few times I’d love to visit, but mind you only visit. I’d miss my family, tv, books(romance) as I know it, washing machines, dishwashers, toilets,……………oh there are alot of things I’d miss.LOL
What a great post, and what a great thing to think about.
Your book sounds really interesting.
hugs,
WendyK
Sounds like a great read!
Great post, I love a good time travel book! If I could time travel there would be a lot of different time periods that I would love to visit. I am not sure I could just pick one. Because I love the medieval time, civil war, times. I would just love to visit them all.
This book sounds like a really fun read! I love history and reading historical romances, so it is fascinating to me to read about a contemporary hero/heroine traveling to another time. I would like to travel to the Medieval, Regency, old American West, and the American Colonial periods. I would just like to stay a couple of days, though, because I am too spoiled by modern conveniences!
Darcy is wonderful!
I enjoy reading about the Regency Period.
Don’t think I would want to go there–no indoor amenities, chocolate, modern toilet paper, etc.
I like the time travel books and wouldn’t mind a visit to lots of different places and times but I just couldn’t stay…not only because of what I would miss but because of the great differences in attitudes and cultural norms. I am a 20th century American woman wanting more and not accepting any less!
This novel sounds amazing! I’m so entering myself for a chance to win! As for my favorite time period.. well, as a History major, I love almost all History.. but I would love to take a nice time travel trip to Ancient Rome, just to see what it was really like. Honestly.. it sounds like a blast.
Hi Laura!! I’m actually re-reading PRIDE & PREJUDICE now! I was hearing from others who read some ‘sequels’ or related to Jane Austen’s books and realized how much I was missing! So first time I’m re-reading it since HS (long ago!) and so much is coming back to me as I read it! So reading about this book is exciting!
I love TT!!! I’ve read those mostly that TT back to Westerns and a few I found that TT back to Regency. For me, I think I’d love to TT back to Regency but too Medieval! I can imagine visiting those castles and seeing the MIK (Men in Kilts) 😀 Ah the fun it would be (but some not since they didn’t have some personal things we so are used to now) LOL
Great hearing about your book, I’m excited!
Laura, you have a site? Thanks!
Check the sidebar, Cathie, under Schedule of the week, have a link to her site. 🙂
Sorry I called you Laura instead of Laurie!!
I’ve always been interested in ancient China, medieval Europe (yes, the plague years included), the old American West, Renaissance Era Italy, and 1920’s US. As for what I would miss most? Modern pain killers, especially meds for migraines and cramps.
Count me in; love the cover.
I would have to say the Civil War era and also the 20’s, 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s. I really don’t think I could live without indoor plumbing 🙂 I only said the Civil War because that’s always been really interesting to me. Thanks for the giveaway! This really sounds like a great book. I love reading about time travel 🙂
I would love to have been a pioneer traveling across the American west, seeing the wilderness and discovering new territories.
I would miss indoor plumbing too! What can I say. But I do a lot of camping, so I know I could cope. Actually, now that I think about it, medical care out there in the wilderness would have been nonexistent, maybe that’s what I would really miss.
Please include me in your giveaway.
Thanks
Debbie
debdesk9(at)verizon.net
Hi everyone,
I’m blown away by all the wonderful posts. Thanks for your good vibes. There are a lot of us time travel junkies out there. I love reading about almost any time period and I especially like the heroine to travel back in just for the reasons Amy Kathryn said. I relate better to someone who rails against the position of women in almost every historical period. A tt western would be fun. I grew up in New mexico and have a serious weakness for cowboys. Hmmm, ancient Rome. A hero in an easy-to-remove toga. Definitely something to think about. Civil war, Colonial, Highland–all such intriguing times to set a book. I guess I’d better get busy writing another tt.
So many good books here. Count me in.