Enjoyable research in Ariège

After months of working on my WIP, the people in it are as real for me as anyone I come across in my daily life. And my French friend, who follows the story chapter by chapter, is also as familiar with my characters as with her own family. Therefore she was delighted to assist by finding a suitable chateau to serve as the hero's family home. It needed to be in a remote region and so we agreed on the Ariège, where the people are still fiercely independent, and tolerant of religious heresy - it is the region of the Cathars.

      

It is also a region of caverns, stretching many miles underground to vast depths. Wall paintings from 20,000 years ago, sited well over half a mile inside, prove that these underground sites have been in use almost as long as the region has had a human population.

Grottes de Niaux

   

This is the region where my hero and his younger brothers and sisters grew up, with the mountain peaks all around, rushing rivers, mysterious caverns, the fiercely hot, sulphurous waters of the spa at Ax-les-Thermes, the feudal lords of Foix and Aragon dividing or uniting loyalties and politics, and the smugglers' routes criss-crossing the whole area. Plenty of scope for adventures.

Plateau de Beille

Add to this that they live in the opulent chateau visited by all the notable thinkers and artists of the 18th Century. Material here for a second story....

Small wonder that we enjoyed our research. We plan a second visit to investigate the 'Route des Contrebandiers'.

An Eighteenth Century chateau in a romantic setting

The hero of my WIP needs a home. He is half French and half Turkish and a diplomat - he needs to be, n'est-ce pas? So, after the groundwork was done by my French friend, she and I visited the region around Mirepoix to inspect various castles. This one at Aston, is ideal for my story - my hero can have roots here and in this region he is independent of Paris, of the French kings and of Napoleon. Perfect!

And when we saw the castle, we both agreed it is perfect  as well - both for the story and as a place to visit.

This is what you see as you get close to the castle gates, climbing up from the river through the wood.

From the other side of the entrance, you see the chateau with its massive stables and what was once a paddock.

This is the view from the main gates. Currently the roof is being restored, so the grounds are overgrown.

There are mountains all around, providing a marvellous setting. The back of the chateau rises on a rocky peak, above the river. The original defensive castle was remodelled in the 18th Century into a gracious dwelling that indicated the wealth and status of its owner.

A Regency Celebration

The RNA will be holding

a Regency Celebration

on Saturday 8 October 2011 between 9.00am-6.00pm

at the Royal Overseas League, Park Place, off St James’s Street, London SW1A 1LR (near Green Park tube station).

This event will be a celebration of Jane Austen, Georgette Heyer and the books they have influenced. It coincides with the launch of a new biography of Georgette Heyer, written by Dr Jennifer Kloester, and 2011 also happens to be the bi-centenary of the publication of Jane Austen’s “Sense & Sensibility” – both perfect excuses for a Regency themed day!
The day will be a mixture of serious talks and more frivolous activities, and will include the following:-
• Georgette Heyer, Her Life and Writing – Talk by Dr Jennifer Kloester

• Sense & Sensibility: The Things You Didn’t Know – Talk by Amanda Grange

• Austen & Heyer – Were they better than they thought they were? Panel discussion

• The Celestial Bed: Sex and the Georgians – Talk and panel discussion

• Regency Scents: Odours and Malodours – Louise Allen and Christina Courtenay “sniff-and-tell”

• Regency Clothing - Jane Walton demonstrates the fashions of the day

• Regency Dancing – Mr and Mrs Ellis Rogers take us through the steps

• Parlour Games – Learn how to play Whist, Piquet, Vingt et Un or Loo

• Regency Walk – Guided tour of St James’s

• Afternoon Tea **



(** Please note, on a first come first served basis, fifty delegates will be able to attend a special afternoon tea at the East India Club in the room where the Prince Regent was given the news of the battle of Waterloo. For everyone else, there will be afternoon tea at the Royal Overseas League.)
Throughout the day, there will be a book stall and author signings, as well as a chance to chat to authors of historical romance. There will also be a competition and a quiz, with prizes donated by the authors.
The price for the day, including a sandwich lunch, tea and coffee, is only £55 (although for those of you wanting to attend the Waterloo Tea there is an extra charge of £18). At lunchtime, there will also be a cash bar available for extra drinks.
It all promises to be a wonderful day, so please spread the word.
If you’d like to join us, please fill out the booking form below. If you have any queries, please e-mail Pia Fenton at pia.fenton@googlemail.com and you can join us on Facebook on the events page “A Regency Celebration” for regular updates.

                     Regency Celebration Booking Form 

                                                       

Accessories for the plot: Jewellery

My heroine is in Constantinople in the year 1811. Jewellery was an age old art in the Ottoman Empire. Between her own selection and the traditional pieces the hero gives her, Olivia has many fine jewels by the end of the book.

A silver filigree and carnelian pendant

a pair of gold and diamond earrings [Top Kapi Museum ]

a gold and diamond bracelet with an emerald [Topkapi Museum]

A hand mirror

Güherse jewellery

The term güherse refers to decoration consisting of tiny metal beads welded onto articles made of silver and gold. Güherse is a very ancient ornamental technique for metalwork, probably discovered because of the natural tendency for the noble metals to form drops when cooling from the fluid state. Mesopotamia, a region which was cradle to civilisation in many different respects, is also where güherse work was first discovered. It was in the hands of Turkish jewellers, however, that it was taken to its final stage of refinement. During the Ottoman period jewellers became so expert that today it is virtually impossible to replicate their work.

Güherse involves overcoming two major problems; the first to produce equal sized drops, and the second to weld these to the metal surface of the object. The Ottomans mastered this technique to perfection, producing beautiful works of art. [From M Zeki Kusoglu ]

                                    

This is fun! A Regency dress up doll

Regency Hero Dress Up Doll by ~savivi on deviantART


http://www.savivi.deviantart.com/
 
Go on, click the link and enjoy a few minutes of fun.
 
http://fav.me/d1oj4iz

A guest Blog with ARRA

Today I'm very happy to be the guest of the Australian Romance Readers Association.

Guest blogger: Beth Elliott

AUGUST 21, 2011

by arrawebmaster

Finding inspiration

First I’d like to say thank you for having me as a guest on your blog. I read a number of Australian-set romance stories and enjoy learning a little about people’s lives and different areas of Australia through them.

I write tales set in Regency times. That means describing a world that has gone by, especially in terms of the social framework that people were bound by. It was a harsh era but also glamorous if you had wealth. We still admire and copy the elegant fashions of the period, and admire the wonderful architecture of cities like Bath. So there is plenty of concrete evidence to help the imagination along.

Then there is the written evidence; parish registers and so on. But it is novels like the works of Jane Austen that truly show us what life was like. As a girl I used to imagine I was one of the Bennett sisters in Pride and Prejudice. For me, making up a story set in the Regency era feels like going on holiday. And in fact, doing research often is the reason for a short holiday. In All Honour takes place in Bath. It was fun to walk round the city, choosing homes for the hero, heroine and villain and measuring the distance from their lodgings to the Pump Room and the Assembly Rooms. I even drank a glass of the famous waters! (Ugh!)

A visit to any museum usually throws up details of something I can put into a story. Going with a friend to a Corkscrew Museum (her idea!), I spotted an 18th Century folding corkscrew. It was made of gold and in a blue velvet case. That will make a suitable gift for a heroine to offer a hero. On a visit to Jane Austen’s home at Chawton, a member of a Regency dancing group showed us some moves from the language of the fan. So I put that into my latest story, The Rake’s Challenge. Anna learns how to send messages by gesturing with her fan. It helps her to get out of a very tricky situation.

I used London, Bath and Brighton for different adventures and also set one in Constantinople (Istanbul) and London. That was not hard because my husband was Turkish and we spent several years living in eastern Turkey. I have used that experience to help me write a couple of ‘Ottoman Regencies’. In April and May I only show the Turkish way of life as Rose, the English heroine, sees it. But in the novel I’m currently writing I have a much more exotic flavour. My heroine has ruined herself in English society and the part-Turkish hero assumes she is his for the taking. But from a very stormy beginning, they gradually learn to understand and respect each other. There are plenty of exotic episodes in this novel. All the settings are places I’ve visited and the customs are what I’ve learned of the Turkish way of life, thanks to my husband’s family.

My fourth Regency tale, The Rake’s Challenge, set in Brighton, is just out. This is about a rake who is forced to become guardian to a young lady running away from home. She is devoted to the works of Lord Byron, like her three schoolfriends; so there will have to be one or more sequels as they all pursue their hero.

The Rake’s Challenge

Giles Maltravers has his rakish lifestyle turned upside down the day he saves Anna Lawrence from a pair of drunken young bloods. The irony is that Giles is now honour-bound to protect this headstrong girl.

Inspired by a fervent devotion to the works of Lord Byron, Anna is determined to live a life of adventure, but she plunges from one disaster into another. Giles has no time left to enjoy his former carefree existence, especially when the Prince Regent decides that Anna is just in his style …

Beth Elliott grew up in a tiny Lancashire village, so needed lots of books for companionship. When not writing, she loves to travel and hopes that one day she’ll make it across to Australia. You can find out more about Beth on her website.

Beth’s books are published in hardback by Robert Hale and can be found on Amazon and at all good bookshops.

What does it take to challenge a Rake?

Suppose you were one of Regency London's most notorious rakes; drinking, gambling, racing, having your pick of exquisite women and all to excess, when and where you wish. No matter how scandalous your latest excess is, everyone fawns on you. Bor-ing!! The pattern of your life has become too predictable....but then you chance upon an innocent girl being molested by a pair of drunken young bloods. She has no one else to help her, so you have to advise her - and dammit!! - rescue her - not once but time after time. The chit has her own outrageous ideas of living a life of adventure but she always ends up in trouble. Can't have that, by Thunder! Can it be that you have a spark of decency in you? That shocks you so much it takes a bottle or two of brandy to drown the idea. But you can't abandon your protegee...not when your mistress is out to ruin her and the Prince Regent has a lascivious eye on her.