Category Archives: excerpt

Guardianships During the Regency

Posted on June 23, 2023 by Regina Jeffers

So, who or what determined whether a person was a fit guardian? Guardianship during the Regency era had its strictures. For example, guardianship was not hereditary. If a guardian dies, someone had to apply to the Court in Chancery to be appointed the minor child’s next guardian. All children over the age of 14 had a right to suggest the person he or she wanted as guardian. Quite often two or three guardians were named in case one of them died before the child reached his/her majority. At one time, the guardians were the child’s godparents—2 males and 1 female for a male child and 2 females and 1 male for a female. The mother and her brother were often named. However, the mother lost her rights as guardian if she remarried. Continue reading →

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The Honourable East India Company + the Release of “The Earl’s English Rose” + a Giveaway

Posted on June 21, 2023 by Regina Jeffers

The vast majority of men who went into East India Company employment had some family/friend connection who assisted them to become established. Such is why we often read how the hero has a distant relative who is a Director of the East India Company and assists him to earn a position with the firm. Alternatively, the hero of one’s tale could have been in military service; by the Regency era, the East India Company had its own private army and navy in India, with English officers and mostly Indian ‘sepoys’ (privates).

The man might be required to work in London for several years, likely something to do with their warehouses – as a writer or secretary or clerk, perhaps. Or he could work directly for East India House, possibly as a secretary to one of the directors. I found one mention (in The East India Company’s London Workers) of a minor aristocrat working as a warehouse laborer, although this would be very very uncommon (and probably unbefitting of a romance novel hero). Continue reading →

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‘Kinder- un Hausmärchen’ + the Release of “Amending the Shades of Pemberley” + a Giveaway

Posted on April 30, 2023 by Regina Jeffers

Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm published the first volume of their collected fairy tales in 1812 under the title Kinder- und Hausmärchen. By 1822, the brothers had published three volumes containing 170 tales total with subsequent editions bringing that number to over 200. Continue reading →

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Cecil Sharp’s Influence on “Amending the Shades of Pemberley” + a Giveaway

Posted on April 28, 2023 by Regina Jeffers

As with many folk songs, the author and date of origin of “Hush, Little Baby” remain an unknown. The English folklorist Cecil Sharp collected and notated a version of this song found in Endicott, Franklin County, Virginia in 1918, but such simply means the song had been around much longer, passed down from generation to generation, with little changes in it depending on whether one’s ancestors were from Scotland, Ireland, England, Wales, or Northwest Europe. Sharp, himself, found a different version with complete lyrics in Micaville, North Carolina. A version recorded by James Madison Carpenter on a wax cylinder in the early 1930s in Durham, North Carolina, can be heard online at the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library website. Naturally, that date is well past the time of my story, but Cecil Sharp discovered such songs over and over again. If you have never heard of Sharp, you will be surprised by all he accomplished. Continue reading →

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Abolitionism in the UK and the Rerelease of “Darcy’s Temptation” + a Giveaway

Posted on January 27, 2023 by Regina Jeffers

In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, a movement took root to end the practice of slavery in the United Kingdom, as well as the British empire, including putting an end to the Atlantic slave trade. Western Europe and … Continue reading →

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Happy 5th Book Birthday to “Pride and Prejudice and a Shakespearean Scholar: A Pride and Prejudice Vagary”

Posted on December 14, 2022 by Regina Jeffers

Back in 2017, I landed upon an idea that became part of an Austen-inspired book. You see, there is this whole faction of people/experts who believe Francis Bacon and others within Bacon’s circle wrote Shakespeare’s plays. And guess what? Francis … Continue reading →

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Female Inheritance and the Release of “His Christmas Violet, a Regency Second Chance Romance”

Posted on December 7, 2022 by Regina Jeffers

Under English law, women were subordinate to their husbands. It was expected that the woman was under the “protection and influence of her husband, her baron, or lord.” The law stated the old adage of “two shall become one.” She … Continue reading →

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Happy 11th Book Birthday to “Christmas at Pemberley: A Pride and Prejudice Holiday Vagary, Told Through the Eyes of All Who Knew It”

Posted on December 5, 2022 by Regina Jeffers

December must mark a Christmas romance. ®Hallmark does it. Therefore, this month I mean to highlight a few if the Christmas tales I have written over the years. “Christmas at Pemberley” was the first. It is a sweet tale, but … Continue reading →

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Egyptians and Birthstones, and the Release of Bell, Book, and Wardrobe + a Giveaway

Posted on November 18, 2022 by Regina Jeffers

On December 1, 2022, Dreamstone Publishing will release our latest Christmas anthology, this one entitled A Regency Christmas Doubled, for it is all about twins. Double your pleasure! My tale, Bell, Book, and Wardrobe is one of the tales. In … Continue reading →

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Happy Book Birthday to my “Vampire Darcy’s Desire” – Entering Its Teenage Years!!!!

Posted on October 7, 2022 by Regina Jeffers

Vampire Darcy’s Desire: A Paranormal Pride and Prejudice Adaptation Vampire Darcy’s Desire:  A Paranormal Pride and Prejudice Adaptation   by Regina Jeffers (Released October 1, 2009; Rereleased October 4, 2016) Vampire Darcy’s Desire presents Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice as a heart-pounding vampire romance … Continue reading →

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