The mourning rites we customarily think of as being so strict during the Regency era, were actually those imposed by Queen Victoria after the death of her husband, Prince Albert. Victoria was known to wear black for many years and strict forms of comportment during the mourning period. The Georgian Era/Regency held its moments, especially during the country's mourning for King George III and later, King George IV. But the mourning of individuals differed.
Showing posts with label Regina Jeffers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Regina Jeffers. Show all posts
Wednesday, 12 September 2018
REGINA JEFFERS, MOURNING CUSTOMS IN REGENCY ENGLAND & WHERE THERE'S A FITZWILLIAM DARCY, THERE'S A WAY
The mourning rites we customarily think of as being so strict during the Regency era, were actually those imposed by Queen Victoria after the death of her husband, Prince Albert. Victoria was known to wear black for many years and strict forms of comportment during the mourning period. The Georgian Era/Regency held its moments, especially during the country's mourning for King George III and later, King George IV. But the mourning of individuals differed.
Saturday, 12 August 2017
MR DARCY'S BRIDEs BLOG TOUR & GIVEAWAY - AUTHOR REGINA JEFFERS, BREACH OF PROMISE LEGALITIES IN THE REGENCY
In
Jane Austen’s Pride
and Prejudice,
Miss Austen brings up the issue of “Breach of Promise Suits” as they apply to
Lydia and Wickham. This exchange actually occurs after Darcy’s second proposal
(chapter 60) when Elizabeth is asking Darcy when he fell in love with her:
Friday, 18 November 2016
REGINA JEFFERS, ANNUITIES IN THE REGENCY ERA AS THE BASIS OF THE PLOT OF 'MR DARCY'S BARGAIN' + GIVEAWAY
Much of the action of latest release, Mr. Darcy's Bargain, is based around a scam
perpetrated by Mr. Wickham upon the citizens of Meryton, as well as Mr. Darcy's
attempts to thwart him. Wickham convinces many in Hertfordshire to invest in an
annuity scheme. But how exactly did annuities work during the Regency?
First, if you are like me, your eyes blur over
when people in other fields start tossing around the "jargon"
associated with their occupations. I do not pretend to be an expert in such
matters as annuities, but I will attempt to keep my description of public funds
at the time as simple as possible.
First, there were Navy five percent annuities
that were produced from about fifty millions of stock, partly formed out of
navy bills and converted in 1784, into a stock bearing interest at five
percent, whence the name.
Four percent consolidated annuities were popular
at the time. They were produced from a like stock as was the Navy five percent
funds. They offered a profit of 4% as the title indicated. They originally
carried a higher percentage rate.
Thursday, 22 September 2016
MR DARCY'S PRESENT BLOG TOUR - REGINA JEFFERS' S GUEST POST & GIVEAWAY
I admit it. I love
autumn. I live in North Carolina where for the past two summers we have had a
string of 90+ degrees days. This year, since May 27, we have had 82 such days.
The lowest temperature we have experienced in three months is 83. So, I am thankful
for the latter days of September and the early days of October when the heat
and the humidity take a backseat. We will still receive a few days of 85+
degrees until November, but the heat eases, and people start thinking of the
upcoming holidays.
Moreover, in my family,
we have a series of birthdays between now and year’s end. I turned a sweet 69 years on
September 17. [There was a time I thought being 69 meant one was ANCIENT! Not
so much now.] My granddaughter Annalise turns 3 in early October. My stepson
Tim will be 40 on Halloween. My grandson James will be 5 in early November, and
his father (my son) Josh will be 32 in mid November. We have Thanksgiving in
the States at the end of November [which included my late mother’s birthday] and Christmas in December. And
the much anticipated event at the beginning of January will be a new
grandchild. So you can see how my heart grows lighter once the heat of summer
disappears.
On one of those recent
hot summer evenings, I was speaking to my long time friend Charlotte on the
phone, and is customary between us, we were reminiscing about some crazy antics
from our childhood. Soon, I was telling her about the year I received four
Easter baskets. This was a monumental event for my parents were separated in a
time when divorce was still not “accepted.” My mother did not
know whether she could scrap up enough money to purchase an Easter basket, and
so she had prepared me for disappointment. Then God smiled on my 10-year-old
self for my grandfather bought me a basket, our neighbors, who had no children
of their own, did likewise, the woman for whom my mother worked presented me
with a third one, and my mother was the bearer of the fourth. It was too much
chocolate for one child, but I rationed it out to last a LONG time. What was
odd about each was that somehow the little note from the presenters were mixed
up, and I kept thanking the wrong people for the chocolate bunnies or the jelly
beans. Soon the situation became a family source of laughter.
Monday, 29 June 2015
REGINA JEFFERS, THE PROSECUTION OF MR DARCY'S COUSIN - AUTHOR GUEST POST & GIVEAWAY
When I began writing The
Prosecution of Mr. Darcy’s Cousin: A Pride and Prejudice
Mystery,
I thought to use the actual Regency era case known as “The Ratcliffe
Highway Murders” in the plot line
for the although a suspect was identified, the man committed suicide and
nothing was proved in court. P. D. James and T. A. Critchley discuss this case
in great detail (and a bit of editorializing) in “The Maul and the
Pear Tree.”
However, as I set up the story line
for my novel, many changes needed to be made to the actual Ratcliffe mystery to
fit my manuscript. Most importantly, the Ratcliffe murders occurred in December
1811. In my books, Major General Fitzwilliam (Colonel Fitzwilliam in the
original Pride and Prejudice) married Miss Georgiana Darcy right after Napoleon
escaped from Elba and right before the Major General returned to serve with
Wellington at Waterloo. That means my story is set in 1816.
The Major General and Mrs. Fitzwilliam
have been married sixteen months and are the parents of a daughter. The major
general resigned his commission and became a landed gentleman in Oxfordshire.
Yet, doing so brings Fitzwilliam no success for 1816 was the “Year Without
Summer,” when the ash from
the Mount Tambora eruption spread across Europe, England and America,
disturbing the weather and disrupting crops. Fitzwilliam knew much success as
an Army officer, and this “failure” plays hard with his
nature.
I used the concept of the mass
hysteria associated with the Ratcliffe Murders in this book. What would happen if
several gruesome murders occur in Wapping? What if the prime suspect is the son
of an earl? Would justice prevail? Would the victims, part of the poor of
London, know justice? There are bits of Jack the Ripper-like hysteria in the
tale.
Monday, 16 December 2013
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JANE AUSTEN! REGINA JEFFERS, WRITER
What would my life have been
without Jane Austen? Regina Jeffers answers:
If Jane Austen had not quietly crept into my world when I was but
twelve, I would have developed a liking for Edith Wharton, and a recent New Yorker article summed it that
possibility: “Nobody Likes Edith Wharton.” In 1929, Janet Flanner described
Wharton as: “On the
whole she finds herself living in a generation in which conversation is lost.
She is a dignified little woman set down in the middle of her past. She says
that to the greener growths of her day, she must seem like a taffeta sofa under
a gas-lit chandelier. Certainly she is old-fashioned in that she reserves her
magnanimity for special occasions. In belief she is still nothing of an
iconoclast but has become liberal through reflection.”
Now, I ask you what kind of role model would that have been for an impressionable young girl, who was inflicted at birth with the “Cinderella” gene? A girl who craves her “Happily Ever After”? I prefer my characters to learn to love intelligently, as well as to have the weak and the powerless protected by a formal code of behavior. I also prefer the “sound” of Austen’s slightly biting voice in my head rather than the sound of wealth and disdain found in Wharton’s novels. I was raised on the ideals of duty to society, the want for education and extensive reading, religious seriousness, and the need for manners. I required an author who would speak to those issues and provide them importance. So, without Austen, I would go to sleep with images of Selden discovering Lily’s overdosed body or of Zeena tending to Mattie after Ethan Frome’s death. I am much more inclined toward the delicious Mr. Darcy, the honorable Captain Wentworth, and excessively understanding Mr. Knightley to the “reality” of Wharton’s works. In truth, there is already too much reality in my life; I require my HEA to know hope for a brighter tomorrow. That is Jane Austen’s place in my life.
Now, I ask you what kind of role model would that have been for an impressionable young girl, who was inflicted at birth with the “Cinderella” gene? A girl who craves her “Happily Ever After”? I prefer my characters to learn to love intelligently, as well as to have the weak and the powerless protected by a formal code of behavior. I also prefer the “sound” of Austen’s slightly biting voice in my head rather than the sound of wealth and disdain found in Wharton’s novels. I was raised on the ideals of duty to society, the want for education and extensive reading, religious seriousness, and the need for manners. I required an author who would speak to those issues and provide them importance. So, without Austen, I would go to sleep with images of Selden discovering Lily’s overdosed body or of Zeena tending to Mattie after Ethan Frome’s death. I am much more inclined toward the delicious Mr. Darcy, the honorable Captain Wentworth, and excessively understanding Mr. Knightley to the “reality” of Wharton’s works. In truth, there is already too much reality in my life; I require my HEA to know hope for a brighter tomorrow. That is Jane Austen’s place in my life.
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