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Heather Moll's Blog
Excessively Diverted


Regency era country banks
In Without Undue Pride , recently widowed Elizabeth Fitzwilliam learns her husband’s life savings is gone because the country bank he...
May 18
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Book Review: Jane Austen's Bookshelf
Jane Austen's Bookshelf: A Rare Book Collector's Quest to Find the Women Writers Who Shaped a Legend by Rebecca Romney. Published by...
Apr 13
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Regency cooking: jugged steaks
Adventures in regency cooking continue as I tackle more recipes from the Jane Austen Cookbook. I chose this one because it sounded...
Mar 23
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Sentimental Georgian Jewelry
Jane Austen’s letters are filled with her observations on fashion, and this includes jewelry. In her letter to Cassandra from May 26-27,...
Aug 18, 2024
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What Are the Four Per Cents?
We all know that by whatever metric or conversion calculator you use, Austen’s Mr. Darcy is very rich. He owns a lot of land, supports...
Apr 28, 2024
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Coaching Inns in Regency England
Inns for travelers existed for centuries before the Georgian era, but it was the Royal Mail’s development in the 17th century that...
Apr 7, 2024
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Word Choice Part 1: Is it regency or modern?
A challenge with writing historical fiction is getting the word usage right. I like putting in as many regency era details as...
Mar 24, 2024
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Book review: Sex, Lies, and Sensibility
Nikki Payne has a follow-up to Pride and Protest with a modern adaptation of Sense and Sensibility. I am SO glad I was asked to read an...
Feb 18, 2024
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Did Jane Austen wear a shift or a chemise?
In January 1817, Jane Austen wrote to her niece Caroline Austen: 'Your Anne is dreadful - . But nothing offends me so much as the...
Jan 7, 2024
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Michaelmas and Jane Austen's Novels
Michaelmas Day is September 29, and it’s one of Britain’s four quarter days. Traditionally, quarter days were when servants were hired,...
Sep 24, 2023
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Austen's Works and the Educated Woman
I wrote an article for the Jane Austen Literacy Foundation about women’s education in Austen’s works. I was curious about what different...
Jun 25, 2023
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Rectors, vicars, and curates in regency England
There are plenty of clergymen in Austen's novels, but what was a "living" and how did one get one? What's the difference between a rector...
Apr 9, 2023
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Austen and folios, quartos, and octavos, oh my!
…and the only literary pursuit which engaged Harriet at present…was the collecting and transcribing all the riddles of every sort that...
Feb 19, 2023
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Cats during the Regency
My son keeps a cat and when he asked me if people in Jane Austen's time kept cats as pets, I had to think about it. I know that dogs were...
Jan 15, 2023
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Fireworks in the time of Jane Austen
Surely the idea of an evening out watching a fireworks display, possibly one set to music, is a modern notion, right? There is to be a...
Jan 1, 2023
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Ratafia Cakes
After my young helper didn't care for the last regency thing we baked (Georgian Chocolate Tart) because it wasn't sweet enough, I thought...
Aug 21, 2022
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Regency Income: 500 versus 10,000 per year
Jane Austen always informs us about the financial status of her characters. It wasn't a taboo topic like it often is today. James Morland...
Jul 17, 2022
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Jane's "nidgetty" cap
Jane Austen's letters to her sister Cassandra are filled with irreverent humor. In December 1798, Cassandra was visiting family in...
Feb 27, 2022
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What does precedence even mean?
Precedence might seem strange to us in the twenty-first century, especially for those of us living in places without hereditary titles....
Aug 29, 2021
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Favorite Opening Lines
All the writing advice out there discuss the importance of that opening line—that hook—that gets your potential reader to sit down, pay...
Jul 11, 2021
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