Sunday 23 June 2024

Not now, Napoleon !

One summer afternoon at Malmaison


                             

                 
           


N   Impatiently - Joséphine, here I am, making time to spend with you and I sense you are not pleased to see me. Come here, my darling, I will soon change that.

  How kind of you to visit, Napoléon, but as you see, I have this day received a large shipment of roses from my dear friend Joseph Banks in London.

N   Hah! These Englishmen, you have them under your spell. Even when the English Navy blockades us, they allow you to have all the roses you desire. [Wheedling tone as he takes her hand] Do your roses mean more to you than me? [Smoochy kiss on her wrist].

J   Not now, Napoléon. [Sweet smile] Maybe later. There are some absolutely new China roses in this shipment. Do come and admire these beauties. My garden is going to be enchanting.

 Deep sigh It’s clear I would have more of your interest if I were a rose.

  Mmm, [gives him a quick kiss], Now what kind of rose would that be, I wonder.

 One day there will be a rose named after you, my Joséphine. But now, let us enjoy the time we have....

  [c] Beth Elliott

Lamarque - a tea-noisette rose [1]

        
Fortune's Double Yellow - China rose [1]



[1] Rose photos from   https://www.mediterraneangardensociety.org/roses.html

[2] portraits of Napoléon and Joséphine courtesy of Wikipedia.


Wikipedia

 The English nursery Lee and Kennedy was a major supplier, despite Britain and France being at war, his shipments were allowed to cross blockades. Specifically, when Hume's Blush Tea-Scented China was imported to England from China, the British and French Admiralties made arrangements in 1810 for specimens to cross naval blockades for Joséphine's garden.[32] Sir Joseph Banks, Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, also sent her roses.


Tuesday 4 June 2024

A set of covers

 

Regency Tales

  


Enjoy the trip, whether by coach, ship or on horseback.

Get cured of your ailments in Bath, enjoy the sea air in Brighton, walk in

Hyde Park, stroll along the Gravel Walk or go with Lady Hester Stanhope to a picnic with the ladies of the Sultan's harem in a park by the Bosphorus. 

All in the company of enterprising ladies and dashing gentlemen.


       www.amazon.co.uk/                               www.amazon.com/


Monday 13 May 2024

Download a FREE STORY today

 Enjoy a visit to Constantinople, the city on two continents 

where East meets West in every age





Ice meets Fire in Ottoman palaces and along the Bosphorus.


'It would be very easy, Olivia,' he insisted as she kept shaking her head, 'no servant would hesitate if I gave the order to have you sewn in a sack and thrown in the Bosphorus.'
At this she leapt to her feet. 'You are disgusting!' she shouted, 'I can hardly believe you're human when you talk like this...'

After such a promising start, how will their relationship develop?






Monday 6 May 2024

Go on an urgent mission via a FREE READ

 On FREE OFFER this week


Enjoy a fast-paced adventure with Arnaut and Louise, a totally mismatched pair of messengers, racing between England and France, dodging blades and bullets as they attempt to carry out a vital quest to save France.

Arnaut is a charming rake but with Napoleon's vengeful agents never more than one step behind, how can he make time for love?




Hartwell House, where Louis XVIII lived in exile


Delicate Huguenot silverware


Zephyre, Arnaut's prized Akhal-Teke stallion






Friday 19 April 2024

Damsel dodges distress but can't shake off her suitors.

 A bandit raid has left Rose in urgent need of help

Kerim Pasha takes one look at her, and is very eager to help. 

 

 I am indebted to  Richard Blake  author of the Aelric Series - books described as 'Nasty, fun and educational.' -  for this fun review of 

  April and May



When I was a boy, the local library refused to give adult tickets to anyone under the age of twelve. My grandmother came to the rescue by lending me hers. In exchange for being able to borrow all the moderately wicked stuff I could lay hands on, I only had to keep her fed with romantic fiction. Being a conscientious boy, I made sure to read everything before borrowing it for her. This gave me a taste for romantic fiction – especially historical romantic fiction – that has never entirely left me.

Therefore, I enjoyed the first chapter of Beth Elliott’s April and May. We are at a ball in London in 1799. Rose Graham is young and silly and in love with dashing Tom Hawkesleigh. He, of course, has designs on her that are not wholly honourable. He takes her into a quiet room and makes an advance she is more than inclined to welcome.

Sadly –

“How dare you conduct yourselves in such a disgusting manner?”
Her sister-in-law Augusta has caught them just in time. Tom is ejected in disgrace. Rose is told she will never see him again:

“After such a disgrace, that is impossible. You cannot be trusted, and he is only a younger son.”
Not a bad opening, and I expected the next chapter to move to Bath, with a foppish Lord or two and a villainous rake. Instead, however, we move straight to 1804, and are in Constantinople. Tom is a senior intelligence officer at the Embassy there. He is deep in negotiations with Kerim Pasha, who wants British help to modernise the Ottoman armed forces. Everything must take place in secret. Though some kind of modernisation is essential if the Empire is not to be pulled apart, the forces of conservatism are strong in Constantinople. Worse, the French still have ambitions in the Near East, and will do anything to stop an agreement with Britain.

Into this comes Rose – now Rose Charteris, but a widow. She had been in Egypt with some relatives, trying to make sense of the hieroglyphs. A bandit raid has left her in urgent need of help. Kerim Pasha takes one look at her, and is very eager to help. Tom is jealous and protective, but uncertain of his own continuing feelings.

From here, we move back to London, where the cast reassembles for what becomes a tight thriller – high politics, deception, attempted abduction, attempted murder. If you want to know more, I suggest you should find out for yourself.

What did I enjoy about this novel? I have mentioned the plot already. But there is also a talent for describing places. My imagination has been filled for over a decade now with Constantinople, and I go to Turkey every year. In the relevant chapters of this book, I could smell the City and feel the warm bath of its climate. London is unexpectedly dark and mysterious. The sub-plot about the Egyptian hieroglyphs is convincing. This is primarily a romantic novel, and, if that is what you like, you will find everything you want. At the same time, it has touches of Patrick O’Brien and a steely quality that should make it of general interest.

My only complaint is that I am not aware of a sequel. The politics alone make the story worth continuing – perhaps a trip to Egypt and a chase by French agents beside the pyramids. Also, if sketchily drawn, some of the characters are worth developing – Lady Westacote, for example. If I found Max a little dull, he would make a good murder victim in the ruins of Ephesus. Even horrid Augusta has potential. She could be abducted in Cairo by Bedouins, and go native in someone’s harem.

And so, my overall judgement is – give us more. A writer’s fictional world is like a child. If you go to the trouble of creating one – and doing it as well as Beth Elliott has done – you are only at the beginning of your duty. The closing kiss should not be the end of this story.


Saturday 6 April 2024

A work of art

 

Thanks to author Loretta Chase for posting this charming dress on her Facebook page.

To see the exquisite embroidery in more detail, visit 

                             Evening dress in Classical style, 1800-1810
 
on the V&A website.



From the V&A website: "This evening ensemble characterises Neo-classical dress of the early 19th century. The high-waisted style with short sleeves imitated the forms of Greek and Roman dress seen in surviving sculpture. The white muslin fabrics used for these gowns were either imported from India or, in the case of this example, made in Europe to imitate Indian materials. A design of acorns and vine tendrils has been worked in down the front and around the hem of the gown.

A scarf of knitted silk has been printed in a pattern similar to those of the popular Indian cashmere shawls.⁠

Evening dress of white muslin, embroidered all over in white cotton. The embroidery is worked in a pattern of French knots, with the collars, skirt border, and centre stripe embroidered in chain stitch. The design links vine tendrils and acorns. The dress has a low square neck adjusted with a draw-cord, and 'stomacher' front closing over inner lining flaps. The waist is high and the skirt cut straight and gathered at the centre of the back, fastening with a tape tie. It extends into a long oval train. The sleeves are short and have a 'vandyke' trimming."⁠
©Victoria and Albert Museum, London


And many thanks to Loretta Chase for her wonderful novels.
We await the third Difficult Duke's story eagerly.

Tuesday 26 March 2024

Easter memories of Wales

Easter always meant a visit to Wales 

                     and time with the Welsh side of our family 


                      Some memories from the hills and valleys of wild Wales

Happy Easter  - Pasg Hapus



Mount Eryrii / Yr Wyddfa

   



Bore da / Hello





Elan Valley dams



Old Market Hall, Llanidloes.