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,...
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Excessively Diverted
Apr 28
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...
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Apr 7
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...
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Mar 24
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...
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Feb 18
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...
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Jan 7
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...
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Sep 24, 2023
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,...
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Jun 25, 2023
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...
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Apr 9, 2023
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...
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Feb 19, 2023
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...
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Jan 15, 2023
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...
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Jan 1, 2023
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...
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Aug 21, 2022
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...
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Jul 17, 2022
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...
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Feb 27, 2022
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...
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Aug 29, 2021
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....
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Jul 11, 2021
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...
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Apr 18, 2021
Regency Mac and Cheese
In Nine Ladies, our regency time traveler to 2011 has to navigate a strange world with strange customs, and one of them is grocery...
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Mar 21, 2021
Neatness Counts in Crossed Letters
It’s rare to get “real” mail, something handwritten that arrives in the mailbox. Texts social media have replaced it, but I think there’s...
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Feb 13, 2021
So, I can't sew
I 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...
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Heather Moll's Blog
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