Yikes! my 9th traditional historical romance is available for pre-order

 By Sword and Fan, my ninth novel (can it really be the ninth?) is up on Amazon (release date is 10/18/23) for $3.99. Somehow that makes it real. This novel was a particularly hard slog for me.

Despite the slightly Freudian cover, your twelve-year-old or your great-grandmother could read this without embarrassment. 

Meanwhile, I'm about 5,000 words from completing the first draft of  Hidden Treasures. Then I've got a novella (I think) with a Christmas theme in progress.

After that, I have an idea for a mystery with one of the minor characters from By Sword and Fan, a magistrate, as the main character. Magistrates had a good deal of leeway in the 18th century. 

 How do you plan a road trip in mid-eighteenth-century England? If it’s to take place on the Great North Road, it’s not difficult, as that was the main road running north, and the modern A1 motorway parallels it. But if your characters venture elsewhere, it’s more complicated. For A Peculiar Enchantment, I needed to trace Adelaide and Gervase’s route from London to Northumberland in detail and it couldn’t be by way of the Great North Road (for fear of pursuit).

Searching 21^st century maps for eighteenth century routes is seldom helpful. The Tradesman’s Guide; or The Chapman’s and Traveller’s Best Companion by Charles Pickman (1727), lists the towns between London and the traveller’s destination (if it was a market town or held a fair), mileage, and places where coach routes cross. With that information, I was able to work out where my characters might stop for the night and how long the journey might take.  

At Carlisle, they went east on the Stanegate, the old Roman road running east-west south of Hadrian’s Wall, and turned north at Corbridge. The Roman roads crisscrossing England were better built than those built later with less engineering skill and are easy to research online.  

I made use of the extensive network of Roman roads in my upcoming novel, By Sword and Fan (worldwide release date 10/18/2023). 

Sometimes the fan is more useful than the sword.

   

My last post contained an error; here's the (important) correction

 It started out all right:

And who doesn't like free books? Here's the link to the reader sign-up:

https://www.facebook.com/kathryn.knight.1297/posts/pfbid02nBfsSVThPTjspTuYd6oPjXYdU4VPTWi5UzdjKyejWdXCuZ6xvLsDWnd5q3AZeAkKl

The Summer Fling does run from July 4 to August 4, 2023 but the book I'm offering is my second, Most Secret, not A Peculiar Enchantment. Lots of other authors are participating and they're giving away ebooks, too.  

Set at the outset of the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745, it involves treason, murder, romance, and arson. And it’s even occasionally funny:

 They rode north by the highway that ran from Kirkcaldy to Newport, where a ferry crossed the Tay to Dundee. Through the whole journey, some fifteen or eighteen miles, Alex tried to decide what to do. He was guarded by a corporal and several privates, making any attempt to escape a forlorn hope.

…

“It’s a fine, new building,” the corporal said chattily as they reined in before a great, steepled building fronted by an arcade. A number of men were idling there, talking in low voices. Even without being able to make out the words, there was an air of palpable tension. He’d sensed something very like it as they had ridden through the town: a sensation like that when amber is rubbed on silk.

 “They call this the Town House, and the official offices are here. I’m told the cells are not bad. As cells go,” Corporal Fisk added.

A chance to get free books for review

 And who doesn't like free books? Here's the link to the reader sign-up:

https://www.facebook.com/kathryn.knight.1297/posts/pfbid02nBfsSVThPTjspTuYd6oPjXYdU4VPTWi5UzdjKyejWdXCuZ6xvLsDWnd5q3AZeAkKl

The event begins July 4, 2023 and ends 8/4/23, and my book, A Peculiar Enchantment (no, not paranormal or fantasy, despite the cover), is one of them.

  

Another Excellent Regency Romance

 An Unsuitable Heiress, a recent release by Jane Dunn, is very much in the Georgette Heyer tradition, with above-average writing, rich detail, vivid characters, and more depth than the standard cookie-cutter Regency romance. There's also a lot more going on than in the usual historical romance.

I’m not going to describe the plot because you can get an idea of that from reading the blurb or a summary of the story in any other book review. I think anyone who loves Georgette Heyer’s historical romances or traditional historical romance in general will find this a treat.  

Ordinarily, I would quibble about one detail regarding a special license to marry but in this case, the novel’s many strengths far outweighed that one issue. Instead, the next time I run out of something to read, I’m going to re-read it. In the meantime, I'm going to buy her first book, The Marriage Season.  

An Excellent Traditional Romance in the Style of Georgette Heyer

 The Country Gentleman by Dinah Dean received a rave review on a social media site which intrigued me enough that I bought it.

I’m a cranky critic and I’d give it six stars if book ratings went that high. It’s that good.

What did I love about it?

This is a traditional Regency romance set in a village among gentry and common folk. No titles, no fabulous balls, and no sex. A Georgette Heyer or Jane Austen sort of novel, with some wit, deft characterization, and a smooth, clear style.   

Excellent writing in addition to the style: no grammatical infelicities, no typos that I noticed (except one or two introduced by the scanning process (the book was originally published in 1986).

Ms. Dean’s grasp of the period goes well beyond the average. The characters are not 20^th or 21^st century people in costume; their attitudes and behavior feel right for the period. They eat what people actually did eat at the time (not a chocolate or a scone in sight, because bon-bons and scones as we know them did not yet exist).  She knows that while in the Regency “Corinthian” referred to a sporting gentleman, earlier it meant something quite different (“a very impudent, harden’d, brazen-fac’d fellow”, from a 1699 dictionary of cant terms).

Her descriptions of Woodham and the surrounding countryside are so rich and convincing that the background is almost another character.    

If you enjoy romance in the Georgette Heyer manner, you should not miss this book. I’m going to go on a Dinah Dean reading binge.

PS: I don't know if I ever posted a link to my (very occasional) newsletter. If you're interested in Georgian trivia, news about my upcoming releases, special offers, etc., here it is: https://18thcenturyromance.com/subscribe-to-my-newsletter-2/

Review: The Nightingale Girls: 5 stars

 I bought the e-book of The Nightingale Girls by Donna Douglas because it was on sale for $0.99. A novel about nursing students in 1930s England sounded potentially interesting and sometimes I discover my new favorite author when I read a bargain book. 

This was one of those times. I finished that one and bought the next several. I’ve now read nine of the eleven in the series and the only reason I’m taking a breather is that I have stuff to do—like working on my own tenth novel.

The books in Ms. Douglas’s Nightingale series, while sharing a common thread (the Nightingale teaching hospital and its students and employees) are all distinctly different and they’re all fascinating. They feel authentic, with good historical background and detail. The characters are well-developed and believable. There are plot twists. There are elements of horror: chiefly in the medical care as described. There’s romance. There’s good writing. I’m smitten with admiration.  

This is not Cherry Ames, Student Nurse but it’s not steamy, either. It is, however, a really good read. Five stars.