2 days agoCarriage and Horse Accidents in An Affectionate HeartAs delightful as it might sound to us to ride in an open carriage, driving and riding in Georgian England wasn’t as carefree as you might...
Apr 24What's a turnpike road?In An Affectionate Heart, Elizabeth speaks to Darcy for the first time at the pedestrian path next to a tollgate, and later in the book a...
Feb 27Jane's "nidgetty" capJane Austen's letters to her sister Cassandra are filled with irreverent humor. In December 1798, Cassandra was visiting family in...
Dec 12, 2021A Regency MasqueradeWhat do The Sylph (1778) by the Duchess of Devonshire, Cecilia (1782) by Fanny Burney, and Belinda (1801) by Maria Edgeworth have in...
Nov 14, 2021What are "Tea Things"?Drinking tea, making tea, or using "tea-things" are often mentioned in Austen. Elizabeth Bennet hopes that after the tea things are...
Aug 29, 2021What does precedence even mean?Precedence might seem strange to us in the twenty-first century, especially for those of us in places without hereditary titles. But the...
Jun 13, 2021Paste or Real? It doesn't matter!If you hear "paste jewelry", do you think ugly knockoff or, worse, Elmer's glue? Paste jewelry was popular among Georgian society and was...
Apr 18, 2021Regency Mac and CheeseIn Nine Ladies, our regency time traveler to 2011 has to navigate a strange world with strange customs, and one of them is grocery...
Mar 21, 2021Neatness Counts in Crossed LettersIt’s rare to get “real” mail. Something handwritten that arrives in the mailbox. Not junk, not a bill, but words put to paper for my eyes...
Feb 13, 2021So, I can't sewI can reattach a button near enough to the right place so it gets into a buttonhole. I only got as far as cross-stitch bookmarks as a...
Jan 3, 2021Regency Ice SkatingWhile Jane Austen’s brother Frank was eager to skate, it seems that the women in his
Dec 13, 2020Like Pulling TeethMy son is ten and his baby teeth were slow to come in… and they’re slow to fall out. He’s only had a few fall out on their own, even...
Nov 21, 2020I Just Wanted to Talk About Earrings!I thought this blog post would be about cute earrings. I’d share more detail and pictures than I can in a #GeorgianJewelry tweet or FB...
Nov 14, 2020Isolated Spinster or In-Touch Citizen?Some think that Jane Austen was a culturally and politically myopic person because her novels are seemingly oblivious to those matters....
Oct 10, 2020Music and the Austen CoupleIn the Georgian era, female accomplishments were indispensable assets on the marriage market. Like Miss Bingley describes, the ability to...
Sep 18, 2020Twining, Tea, and Jane AustenAnyone who knows me well knows that I’m a tea drinker. Some might unfairly say tea snob, but I do like my tea, which is kept in...
Aug 21, 2020Wedgwood, Austen, and EleganceI love dishes. I would use the good china and crystal every night. My favorite is a small Edwardian tea set that belonged to my maternal
Jul 18, 2020Wait ... how many shillings in a pound?Have you read a JAFF where a character lays out 5 shillings to buy a yard of muslin, or pays off £1,000 in gambling debts, or tips a servant
Jul 6, 2020Ten Duel Commandments and a Jane Austen VariationWhat does Hamilton have to do with a Jane Austen variation? How many of you watched Hamilton on Disney+ ?
May 21, 2020Furniture is Fun, and an Accurate Setting MattersI’m often asked how much research I do for my books. The answer falls somewhere between a lot and too much! I have strong opinions about...