This is so exciting. Queen of Exiles is a Sunny Lit Pick!!! On August 2nd, she introduced Queen of Exiles to The View.

Meet Queen Louise. This is a historical fiction about a true queen, Hayti’s 1st and only queen. It’s a sweep tale which will take you through the politics and intrigues of the Haitian Court to the twists and turns of Regency and Victorian England and France and Italy. Queen Louise was a brave woman who dared to be Black, royal, and happy.

Queen of Exiles is a good book to read.

It’s a good book to listen to.

The audiobook performed by Robin Miles won an Earphone Award from Audiofile Magazine. It’s an Editor’s Choice Selection for the Historical Novel Society.

Riley’s historical novel feels timely and relevant, commemorating a time when Black women were queens. – Jodi Picoult, #1 New York Times bestselling author

Originally posted 2023-08-09 04:02:11.

(Adapted from, Regency House Christmas: The Definitive Guide to a Remarkably Regency Yuletide by Linore Rose Burkard)

The Christmas card, (the first of which was not printed until 1843- and even then, was not in color) became affordable with the introduction of the penny post–cheap mail. So this catapulted the onslaught of a huge mass of printed Christmas scenes which we still see today.

The Regency never knew the lavish Christmases of the late 1800s, the Victorian ideal. England had still not fully recovered from the former ban on all things Christmas made
in the 16th century as a response to subversion. The fact that they celebrated as we shall see they did, is in fact evidence of a great desire to keep the holiday.

Originally posted 2012-12-19 10:00:00.

Kristi here. Did you know the Christmas season has arrived? To be honest, it’s pretty hard to miss, at least where I live. Driving down the street you see the lights on the lamp posts and the town square, baked goods wrapped in red and green cellophane are already appearing on our counter, and the jingling of bells greets you as you enter nearly every store.

I love Christmas. I especially love Christmas music. I’ve been known to break it out in June. While some tunes gracing the airwaves today are clearly modern inventions, others we tend to feel have been around for centuries.

Most of them haven’t.

The plethora of Christmas carols as we know and love them today came about mostly in Victorian days. Several composition dates fall in within ten years of 1850. I find it hard to believe that music wasn’t part of an English Christmas celebration, though. Given that the entertainment at many a party involved one or more young women displaying their musical prowess, I think that for many music would have been part of Christmas as well.

So, if you’re like me and you can’t help but picture your favorite Regency heroine belting out a exalting song or two while celebrating the birth of Christ, what do you have her sing? Here are a few possibilities of songs that Regency families might have had access to:

The First Nowell… sort of

The First Nowell (or Noel, as it is commonly written in America) was first published in 1823, though evidence suggests it was sung long before then. The words, however, are slightly different that the ones we sing today. At least one published version of the song had the angels singing “O well” instead of “Noel”.

Joy to the World, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, and Angels From the Realms of Glory… sort of

While each of these songs had words closely relating to those we sing today, their tunes were very different. Many of these songs were poems or lyrics sung to the tune of other, year-round hymns. It wasn’t until the mid-1800s that these songs began getting their own music.

Silent Night… sort of… not really

Unless your hero had connections in a small German town, they would not have heard of this song as it was written in 1816. Even if they did have it somehow, you’d still be singing it in another language.

Songs you could likely have sung with your favorite hero around the pianoforte:

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, O Come All Ye Faithful (Although you were more likely to hear it in it’s original language as Adeste Fideles, English translations existed as early as 1799.), The Twelve Days of Christmas, We Wish You A Merry Christmas

Some songs you wouldn’t hear because they had yet to be written:

Away In A Manger (1885), O Holy Night (1847), Good King Winceslas (1853), It Came Upon a Midnight Clear (1849), O Little Town of Bethlehem (1867), We Three Kings of Orient Are (1857).

What’s your favorite Christmas carol? Do you prefer the older carol-style songs or some of the more modern compositions?

Originally posted 2012-12-03 10:00:00.

Imagine you were transported back to Regency England. What would you want to be? A commoner? Peerage? Royalty? Why? 

Susan Karsten:

I would want to be in the merchant class. I do believe the women of this class had less societal strictures and could also sometimes help in the family business. Of course, let my fantasy be that of a successful merchant! 🙂

Ruth Axtell:

I would want to be what I am today in my own era: a romance writer. I’ve been researching the popular novels of the Regency, and it seems that women authors were quite numerous and prolific. The “Minerva novels” were gobbled up by women readers. They specialized in inexpensive romances and gothic novels, which reader could purchase or take out from “circulating” libraries. Mary Russel Mitford and Fanny Burney were two popular authors who made their living writing romantic novels.

Kristi Ann Hunter:

I’m gonna have to go with the peerage, or at least gentry, on this one, for several reason. One, I’m lazy. The idea that someone else would cook my meals and do my laundry has a certain appeal, I must confess. But also, with a higher rank you had the power, time, and money to change things. I would like to have the influence and ability to run a charity or work with the underprivileged. The glitzy parties wouldn’t be bad either.

Kristy Cambron:

I am not sure I would have been a proper member of the peerage (or royalty, for that matter) in Regency England. I find too much pleasure in the vocation of writing, I enjoy the modern comforts of jeans and coffee shops, and I value the rights women have to cote and pursue our dreams in modern society. I also wouldn’t know the first thing about having a service staff attend to my every whim, so I’d have been a poor member of the aristocracy. I’d rather have been a commoner with some means (so I wouldn’t have to stress about where the next meal is coming from), perhaps a friend that was invited into Jane Austen’s parlor from time to time, so we could write our next novel together? I know one thing for sure – I’d adore the clothes more than anything!

Laurie Alice Eakes:

Given the choice, I’d like to be a peeress in my own right like Diana in the Malloren series by Jo Beverley. It was rare and it did happen. The woman had lots of freedom and power other women did not enjoy, even after they married.

Vanessa Riley:

I’d have to be peerage or have enough rank and wealth to assure my family’s position and a suitable match for my daughter. A house in the country and a townhouse in the city, large enough to host a ball.

Naomi Rawlings:

I’d prefer to be a commoner. It’s a hard choice to make, because when I think of peerage, they had such a posh life full of luxuries, beautiful clothes, and the best that money could afford them. But so very little of their wealth was earned. Most of it was handed down generation to generation. Plus the upper class wielded so much power on the back of regular, every day people. I couldn’t live with the guilt of spending a year’s salary on a dress. So I pick commoner. Boring and ordinary, yes. Harder style of living, yes. But they were still the backbone of the country.

What about you? What would you want to be? 

Originally posted 2012-11-21 10:00:00.