Guest Anne Whitfield: Bringing the Past to Life

Linda Banche here. Today my guest is Anne Whitfield. Her latest book, The House of Women, is a Victorian historical novel set in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England in 1870. Anne's parents hail from Yorkshire, and here she tells us about the county and how to make Yorkshire Pudding.

Welcome, Anne!

Being a descendant from Yorkshire parents, my books are mostly set in Yorkshire, England.

Some of the places in Yorkshire that I have set my books are York, Gargrave, Hebden Bridge and Leeds, in West Yorkshire.

Leeds is only 9 miles from Wakefield where my family come from. There is belief that tribes roamed the area in Roman times and become more populated in the Anglo-Saxon period when it was called Loidis.

During the middle ages it started to become a famous wool making centre. By 1600 the population of Leeds was 4,000 and by 1661 its first Mayor was appointed. With the substantial River Aire flowing through it and trade links to the sea via River Humber, Leeds continued to grow and the cloth trade grew with it.

In 1724 Daniel Defoe visited Leeds and described the town's cloth market as 'a prodigy of its kind unequalled in the world'. In 1730 Leeds was described as one of the 'largest and most flourishing towns in the country'. Its expansion continued into the Victorian age.

Progress brought the building of industries such a weaving mills, sugar refineries, brick making and potteries. With the building and opening of the canals which linked Leeds to other major towns such as Liverpool, another sea port, the town grew rapidly. By 1841 the population of Leeds was eighty-eight thousand.

Today, Leeds is noted for its shopping and old Victorian buildings. The town was the starting point for merchandiser Marks & Spencer and Thornton’s chocolates. Four notable historic houses that can be found in the Leeds area are Harewood House, Temple Newsam, Bramham Park and Lotherton Hall.


Traditional Yorkshire Pudding recipe
(we had Yorkshire puddings every Sunday when I was growing up. It accompanied a full roast lamb dinner.)

Equipment and preparation: You will need a solid roasting tin measuring 28x23cm/11x9in.
Ingredients
· 175g/6oz plain flour
· 2 eggs
· 175ml/6fl oz milk (whole or semi-skimmed)
· 110ml/4fl oz water
· 2 tbsp beef dripping
· salt and freshly milled black pepper
Preparation method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas 7.

2. Begin by placing a sieve over a large mixing bowl, then sift the flour in, holding the sieve up high to give the flour a good airing as it goes down into the bowl. Now, with the back of a tablespoon, make a well in the centre of the flour and break the eggs into it. Add the salt and pepper.

3. Now measure the milk and water into a measuring jug. Then begin to whisk the eggs wth an electric whisk and as you beat them the flour around the edges will be slowly incorporated. When the mixture becomes stiff simply add the milk and water mixture gradually, keeping the whisk going. Stop and scrape the sides of the bowl with a spatula so that any lumps can be pushed down into the batter, then whisk again till all is smooth. Now the batter is ready for use and although it's been rumoured that batter left to stand is better, I have found no foundation for this - so just make it whenever is convenient.

4. To cook the Yorkshire pudding, remove the meat from the oven (or if it's not ready place it on a lower shelf) and turn the oven up to the above temperature. Spoon two tablespoons of beef fat into the roasting tin and allow it to pre-heat in the oven. When the oven is up to temperature remove the tin, using an oven glove, and place it over direct heat (turned to medium). Then, when the fat begins to shimmer and smoke a little, pour in the batter. Tip it evenly all round and then place the tin on a high shelf in the oven and cook the Yorkshire pudding for 40 minutes or until golden brown and crisp. Serve it cut into squares presto pronto.

The House of Women
BLURB
As the Victorian Age draws to a close, lonely and brokenhearted, Grace Woodruff fights for her sisters’ rights to happiness while sacrificing any chance for her own.

The eldest of seven daughters, Grace is the core of strength around which the unhappy members of the Woodruff family revolve. As her disenchanted mother withdraws to her rooms, Grace must act as a buffer between her violent, ambitious father and the sisters who depend upon her.

Rejected by her first love and facing a spinster’s future, she struggles to hold the broken family together through her father’s infidelity, one sister’s alcoholism, and another’s out-of-wedlock pregnancy by an unsuitable match.

Caring for an illegitimate half-brother affords Grace an escape, though short-lived. Forced home by illness and burdened with dwindling finances, Grace faces fresh anguish –and murder– when her first love returns to wreck havoc in her life.

All is not lost, however. In the midst of tragedy, the fires of her heart are rekindled by another. Will the possibility of true love lead Grace to relinquish her responsibilities in the house of women and embrace her own right to happiness?

Available in paperback and ebook and can be ordered from these websites:

Amazon USA
Amazon UK
WH Smith bookstore
Waterstones bookstore
The Book Depository
Barnes and Noble
and from publisher - Knox Robinson Publishing Ltd

Contact Anne at http://www.annewhitfield.com/

Ladies' Footwear in the 1800s

19th Century Footwear
For my current work-in-progress, I had to research nineteenth shoe fashions, and I learned that during the 1800s, women's shoes became more varied in style than those of men, for the first time (see two-toned shoes in photo to the right, 1860s Balmoral boot).
During Victoria's long period of mourning for Albert, dark shoes came into fashion and remained popular during the latter decades of the century, when women were not supposed to draw attention to themselves. From the images, though, it's clear they found a way to bring attention to a slim ankle, even while wearing the modestly dark colors.
Styles changed with each decade, although boots were pretty much the standard for ladies' footwear. At first, boots had side laces, with sometimes up to sixteen lace holes, like these to the right, (Courtesy Bata Shoe Museum, Toronto). The boots were most often flat-heeled. Later, during mid-century, front lace boots were popular, like the ones in the photo to the right. Later, during the latter part of the century, button boots with openwork were all the craze, allowing the male observer to get a glimpse of the fashionable hosiery worn beneath.
I love shoes, and have too many, as most of us do, but after looking at some of these boots, I almost wish they would come back in fashion, because I love the look, flirty and sensible at the same time.

Regency Railroads

We think of the railroad as a Victorian invention, but railroads as we know them today got their start during the Regency.

Goods and people have always traveled from one place to another. But such movement was limited to what animal power could provide (hence the term "horsepower") until the invention of the steam engine.

The first workable steam engine was the Newcomen engine, invented in 1712 by Thomas Newcomen. Better known is James Watt, who improved the Newcomen engine in 1765 and continued improvements for thirty-five years until his patent expired in 1800.

Mining played a large role in the history of the railroad. One of the Newcomen engine's first uses was to pump water out of mines and air in. Watt's improved engine harnessed steam for the locomotive, which powered the trains that transported the heavy ores from the mines to their destinations.

The steam locomotive pulling a train was a vast improvement in the hauling of freight. Trains now conveyed coal and ores, which previously depended on horse-drawn vehicles, in a much shorter amount of time and at a much lower cost

The name most often associated with the invention of the locomotive is mining engineer and inventor, Richard Trevithick (1771-1833). He invented a steam engine of high enough power to move a loaded train's massive weight. He also built the first full-scale working railway steam locomotive in 1799 in Cornwall. The first railroad journey took place in 1804, as Trevithick's improved steam locomotive powered a train along the tramway of the Penydarren Ironworks, in Merthyr Tydfil in Wales.

Trevithick also built the first passenger locomotive, the Catch Me Who Can. In 1808, he demonstrated it in Bloomsbury, London, on a circular track.

Advances in railroad technology continued through the years of the Regency proper (1811-1820). Starting a company lagged the technology, since Parliament had to approve every railroad proposal. In 1821, Parliament authorized the Stockton and Darlington Railway, which would haul coal from the Durham mines to the North Sea ports.

The first inter-city passenger railroad was the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, which was formed in 1823. The Railway opened in 1830, and the picture above (from Wikipedia) records its first journey.

I set my Regency comedy, Gifts Gone Astray (coming from The Wild Rose Press on June 29, 2011), in 1817 in Langley, England, south of the projected route of the Liverpool and Manchester. The planning for the railroad's proposal forms part of the plot.

Thank you all,
Linda

The First Lady of the FCC

The first television debut was at the world's fair in New York in 1939. Radio was wildly popular as a new medium and vital to the war effort in WWI.
After WW2, television was dawning as a new form of broadcast medium.
In New York, a young lawyer named Frieda Hennock worked many cases for those too poor to hire an attorney.

During the 40's, Hennock became politically active and campaigned for FDR and Harry Truman. Truman repaid her efforts by giving her a job with Federal Communications Commission. It was surprising to many when Congress voted her into the FCC. She was a woman first hand, and a democrat on the other; but she had heart and skill in the political arena.


As the fifties neared, television became ridiculously popular, exploding onto the scene with numerous people demanding air time. The demand was so high that a freeze was put on applications for stations until the FCC could work out rules and regulations for TV broadcasts.

Frieda became a warrior for educational television. She saw the big broadcasters muscling each other out of the way for more channels. Television meant big money, and she knew if she didn't act; educational television would never have a chance.
She campaigned across the country to adovocate for public broadcasting. She warned educators they were "sleeping at the switch" where this new media was involved. Her efforts resulted in an agreement of 500 channels to be reserved for educational television.

Detractors felt her public broadcasting efforts would lessen their paychecks with fewer channels avaliable for for profit broadcasting. Her enemies were powerful: Paramount theaters, ABC and AT&T among them.
Rumors and gossip about Frieda began to fly. There was speculation about her relationship with a co-worker and her single status. It was the fifties and a proper lady was expected to be a wife and mother. She refused to succumb to nasty rumors and continued to fight for public television. The freeze was lifted in 1952 and 12% of the channels would be reserved for noncommercial broadcasting. She protested stating the percent should be higher and continued to campaign for her cause, greater educational access to television.

She eventually got married, in her own time, at the age of 50. She was only married four years before her death in 1960.

In specualation, I have to wonder if Frieda Hennock's interest in television stemmed from her childhood. She was born a Polish Jew in 1927. she moved to America when she was six and graduated law school in 1924 (it only took 2 years back then)
Did she hear broadcasts from Europe during the war? Did she understand the Nazi use of media to spread propoganda and could this have inspired her to use education in media to combat this type of misuse in the future?

It's all assumption on my part, but I do know she took a pay cut to become the first lady of the FCC. Despite rumors, I could see no sinister motive in her interest in public television. In a culture obsessed with looks, it is great to see a woman who used her brain and heart to fight for a good cause. She's an inspiration.

The Calendar of the French Revolution

The French Revolution in 1789 was supposed to create a new order in France. Out with aristocratic tyranny, in with republican democracy! Liberté, égalité, fraternité!

Well, not quite. As part of the process of ousting monarchy, the French Revolution swept away many of the trappings of the Ancien Régime, or attempted to. One of the things they changed was the calendar.

Various versions of the revolutionary calendar existed from 1789 until 1792. But the dates were confusing. What was the start date, January 1, 1789, or July 14, 1789 (the storming of the Bastille)? Since financial transactions especially suffered from this confusion, the legislature made a final decision in 1792 when the French Republic was established. By naming 1792 Year One, the Calendar of the Revolution is in reality the Calendar of the Republic. In France, the same calendar is known as both calendrier républicain as well as the calendrier révolutionnaire.

The Calendar of the Revolution consisted of twelve months of thirty days each and started at the autumnal equinox. The months received new names derived from nature, the nature mainly the weather around Paris. The years are written in Roman numerals.

From Wikipedia:

Autumn:
Vendémiaire in French (from Latin vindemia, "grape harvest"), starting 22, 23 or 24 September
Brumaire (from French brume, "fog"), starting 22, 23 or 24 October
Frimaire (From French frimas, "frost"), starting 21, 22 or 23 November

Winter:
Nivôse (from Latin nivosus, "snowy"), starting 21, 22 or 23 December
Pluviôse (from Latin pluvius, "rainy"), starting 20, 21 or 22 January
Ventôse (from Latin ventosus, "windy"), starting 19, 20 or 21 February

Spring:
Germinal (from Latin germen, "germination"), starting 20 or 21 March
Floréal (from Latin flos, "flower"), starting 20 or 21 April
Prairial (from French prairie, "pasture"), starting 20 or 21 May

Summer:
Messidor (from Latin messis, "harvest"), starting 19 or 20 June
Thermidor (or Fervidor) (from Greek thermon, "summer heat"), starting 19 or 20 July
Fructidor (from Latin fructus, "fruit"), starting 18 or 19 August

The calendar changes didn't end with the months. Within each month were three weeks of ten days apiece, called décades.

The year ended with five extra days to fill in the discrepancy between the order of the French calendar and the disorder of the physical year, which refused to use less than 365 days (or 366 days in leap years).

In the French Calendar of the Revolution, today, May 25, 2011 is 5 Prairial an CCXIX. A Gregorian-Revolutionary Calendar converter is here. (use Internet Explorer).

The adoption of the final form of the new calendar didn't end France's calendar woes. The French still had to communicate with the outside world which used the Gregorian calendar. The onus of translating between two calendars added another level of tedium and confusion to the dating of events.

The Calendar of the Revolution came to an end some thirteen years after its adoption, when Napoleon declared the day after 10 Nivôse An XIV as January 1, 1806.

Thank you all,
Linda

Picture is the Calendrier républicain de 1794 from Wikipedia

Guest Maria Hamilton: Mr. Darcy!

Linda Banche here. Today I welcome Maria Hamilton and her Pride and Prejudice retelling, Mr. Darcy and the Secret of Becoming a Gentleman. Here she tells us about our absolutely, without a doubt, most favorite in all the world Jane Austen character, Mr. Darcy. And Elizabeth, too.

Leave a comment with your email address for a chance to win the copy of Mr. Darcy and the Secret of Becoming a Gentleman which Sourcebooks has generously provided. Maria will select the winner. Check the comments to see who won, and how to contact me to claim your book. If I cannot contact the winner within a week of the selection, I will award the book to an alternate. Note, Sourcebooks can mail to USA and Canada addresses only.

And the winner Maria selected is OregonKimm! OregonKimm, if I do not hear from you by June 9, 2011, I will award your prize to an alternate. Congratulations, and thanks to all who came over.

Welcome Maria!

1) Tell us what you find most attractive about Mr. Darcy.

I am always drawn to Mr. Darcy because he is such a wonderful mix of contradictions. He exudes control but often acts impulsively. He appears to value the rigid rules of proper behavior but seldom follows society’s dictates. He seems to embody the archetype repressed Englishman but is actually seething with passion and has a streak of mischief.

For instance, Darcy makes clear that he would not allow his sister to walk unescorted through the wood, but secretly admires Elizabeth for doing so. He judges Elizabeth’s family harshly for failing to exhibit the social niceties while he is simultaneously giving offense to most of Hertfordshire by failing to exert himself at conversation or dance. He wants any man who would court his sister to do so only with her guardian’s blessings but asks Elizabeth to marry him without any regard for the propriety of the situation or her father’s wishes.

This might make a lesser man seem hypocritical, but we instinctively know that Darcy behavior stems from the fact that he is torn between two competing images of himself. He is trying to uphold his family name and what he perceives as the obligations that go with it, while also trying to act in a manner that might help him obtain his happiness. We feel his pain when it appears that he cannot do both. We see glimpses of the more relaxed man when he tells Caroline Bingley and Elizabeth in an almost flirtatious manner that their walking about the room will give him a better opportunity to admire their figures. Similarly, we can almost hear the war within himself during his disastrous proposal at Hunsford.

In the end, though, my attraction to him is simpler. I love Elizabeth and can identify with her as I am sure most readers do. That Darcy falls in love with Elizabeth almost despite himself, makes me love him. The image of him watching her every move in Hertfordshire seems to humble his character regardless of what foolish things he might say or do. Despite his professed control, he is like anyone else in love. Once you realize that about him, you cannot help but take pity on him when he tries to win Elizabeth regards and fails miserably.

2) Who's your second favorite P&P character?

As I mentioned above, I love Elizabeth, but as characters go, there’s none more interesting than Mrs. Bennett. It’s not clear whether she is a good mother or a terrible one. She is silly, harsh, embarrassing, prone to gossip, and exhibits an alarming amount of favoritism toward some of her children. She also loyally believes that any man would be lucky to marry any one of her daughters. Mrs. Bennett appears to be the story’s comic relief, except that her fear for her family’s precarious future makes her the one realist in the family and provides an explanation for her other flaws. Mrs. Bennett seems to have less sense than any other member of the family, but her concern for her family’s ultimate welfare demonstrates more wisdom.

3) Tell us what behavior was required of a Regency gentleman.

My new novel, Mr. Darcy and the Secret of Becoming a Gentleman, examines that very issue. In it, I try to explore how Mr. Darcy is motivated to change from a selfish individual to a fully realized member of society truly entitled to bare the moniker of gentleman. In my novel, I introduce the reader to Mr. Darcy immediately after Hunsford when he is attempting to overcome Elizabeth’s rejection and struggling with the knowledge that he has unfairly separated Mr. Bingley from Jane. He determines to correct his mistake much earlier and in the process of doing so has to return to Hertfordshire. He asks Jane for a private interview in order to determine if she still has feeling for Mr. Bingley and Mrs. Bennett assumes that Darcy has come to court Jane. Once Darcy is thrown into Elizabeth's company again, he vows to show her, by every civility in his power, that he that he can be a gentleman worthy of her esteem. As Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy become reacquainted, he pursues her and a slow courtship evolves as they attempt to see each other without their prior misunderstandings.

My story focuses on the dialog between Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth and tries to explore their developing intimacy. I wanted to see how the characters would react in some of the scenes that I wished were in the original book, like Darcy asking Mr. Bennett for permission to marry Elizabeth, Darcy telling Bingley that he was in love with Elizabeth and had wrongly separated him from Jane, Caroline learning that Darcy had asked Elizabeth to marry him (twice), and Darcy and Elizabeth transformations from suitors to husband and wife. In doing so, I wanted to keep to Austen original intent but give the characters enough the room to act in new ways. I think I accomplished my goal, but I will leave it to the readers to decide.

About the Author

Maria Hamilton has been a lifelong Jane Austen fan. Her first novel, Mr. Darcy and the Secret of Becoming a Gentleman, will be published by Sourcebooks in May of 2011. She is presently working on several projects including a new Pride & Prejudice variation. She attended Boston College where she earned a B.A. and then a M.A. in history. She received her J.D. from Harvard Law School and presently works as an attorney in Boston. Her interests include travel, cinema, the Red Sox, and bicycling. She lives in southern New Hampshire with her husband, two children, and her dog Poseidon.

If you are interested in Maria’s writing style, she has two Pride & Prejudice short stories available on the internet at http://www.austeninterlude.org/maria/maria.html.

Mr. Darcy and the Secret of Becoming a Gentleman by Maria Hamilton

When Elizabeth Bennet refuses his hand, Darcy is devastated and makes it his mission to change. By every civility in his power, Darcy slowly tries to win her affections, but Elizabeth is not easily swayed. Darcy vows to unlock the secrets that will make her his. He curses himself for his social awkwardness and appearance of pride, and sets out to right the wrongs he’s done her family.

Elizabeth’s family and friends misunderstand his intentions, and being in Elizabeth’s presence proves to be both excruciating for the shy Darcy—and a dream come true. For the first time in his life, he must please a woman worth having, and the transformation leads him to a depth of understanding and love that he never could have imagined.

Regency Terms, the Cut, and Cut Direct

The Cut or Cut Direct

The term "cut" or "direct cut" is an English term which means a public snub. That term was used in the Regency, and it still in use today, so my British friends tell me. People who pretend they didn't see someone, when they clearly did, have cut that other person. An ordinary cut is less of an embarrassment than a cut direct, and less insulting, because it might be explained away by saying, "She didn't see me."

A cut direct, however, was a much greater insult, and impossible to explain away. If two people make eye contact, leaving no doubt whether or not they've been seen, and then one turns away without any acknowledgment, he or she has just given the cut direct. If this happens in public, at say, the promenade or a ball, the person being cut is more humiliated because there were more witnesses to the snub.

I've also read in older Regency Romance novels the term "cut him dead" which refers to making eye contact while in close proximity, and not across the room, and then turning away...all in a very public place.

A young lady who wishes to discourage the advances of unwanted or persistent suitors might use this tactic, but those with higher sensibilities may not have wished to be so hurtful or cause such humiliation. I'm sure a great number of cuts and cuts direct were dished out by those who were either just plain mean-spirited or had a strong grievance against the other person...just like today, only we don't use that term.

I like using these terms in my Regency romance novels because they, among other things, help create that believable Regency feel.

Do you have a favorite historical term?