Oh, the Places You Will Go (Part 2)…the Settings for Jane Austen’s Novel

Posted on January 11, 2013 by Regina Jeffers

Sense and Sensibility

Norland Park in Sussex – the Dashwood’s family estate

Barton Park in Devonshire – home of Sir John Middleton

Barton Cottage in Devonshire – home of the Dashwood women

Delaford in Devonshire – home of Colonel Brandon

Combe Magna in Somerset – Willoughby’s estate

Berkeley Street in London – Mrs. Jennings’ home in London

Allenham in Devonshire – the estate Willoughby is to inherit

Cleveland in Somerset – the Palmers’ estate

___________________________________________

Persuasion

Kellynch Hall (likely in Dorset or Hampshire) – the Elliot’s home; later rented by Admiral Croft

Uppercross (likely in Dorset or Hampshire) – the Musgroves’ home

Uppercross Cottage (likely in Dorset or Hampshire) – home of Charles and Mary Musgrove

Lyme Regis in Dorset – home for Captain and Mrs. Harville, as well as their friend Captain Benwick

Bath in Somerset – where the Elliots decamp to save on finances; most of the characters also arrive to spend time in Bath

_____________________________________________________

Emma

Hartfield in Surrey – home of Mr. Woodhouse and Emma

Randalls in Surrey – home of Mr. and Mrs. Weston

Donwell Abbey in Surrey – Mr. Knightley’s estate

Highbury in Surrey – the village closest to Hartfield, Randalls, and Donwell Abbey

Brunswick Square in London – home of John and Isabella Knightley

Bath in Somerset – where Mr. Elton meets and courts his wife

Richmond in London – where Mrs. Churchill goes for her health

Weymouth in Dorset – where Frank Churchill first meets Jane Fairfax

Southend in Essex – where John and Isabella holiday with their children

_________________________________________________

Northanger Abbey

Fullerton in Wiltshire – the village from which Catherine Morland comes

Bath in Somerset – where Catherine holidays; where she meets Henry Tilney

Oxford in Oxfordshire – where James Morland attends university

Putney in London – from where the Thorpes hail

Northanger Abbey in Gloucestershire – the Tilney family estate

_________________________________________

Mansfield Park

Mansfield Park – home to the Bertrams and Fanny Price

Mansfield Parsonage – home to Mr. and Mrs. Norris; later home to the Grants and to Mary and Henry Crawford

Portsmouth – where Fanny’s family lives

Sotherton – Mr. Rushworth’s estate

Antigua – Sir Thomas Bertram has a plantation there

London – from where both Maria and Julia elope

Thornton Lacey – the clerical living Edmund Bertram is to receive

_______________________________________

Pride and Prejudice 

Pemberley in Derbyshire – Fitzwilliam Darcy’s estate

Rosings Park in Kent – home of Lady Catherine De Bourgh

Hunsford Cottage in Kent – parsonage Mr. Collins receives as part of the living from Lady Catherine

Gracechurch Street in London – home of Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner

Brighton in Sussex – from where Lydia Bennet and George Wickham elope

Longbourn in Hertfordshire – the Bennet family estate

Netherfield Park in Hertfordshire – the estate Mr. Bingley lets

Lucas Lodge in Hertfordshire – home of Sir William and Lady Lucas

Meryton in Hertfordshire – the village nearest to Longbourn

___________________________________

Real Places in Austen’s Life:

Chatsworth House – likely the model for Pemberley in Pride and Prejudice

Lyme Regis – Austen visited the Dorset town in both 1803 and 1804

Cottesbrooke Hall in Northamptonshire – likely the model for Mansfield Park; Austen’s brother Henry knew the Langham family who owned the property

Bath – Austen lived in Bath for several years

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Courtship During the Regency Period

Posted on January 10, 2013 by Regina Jeffers

Elizabeth-Bennet-played-by-Jennifer-Ehle-in-Pride-and-Prejudice-19951Expectations placed on young people of the aristocracy and the gentry were quite high. A young man was “expected” to make a match that would bring wealth or position to his family name. First, a gentleman was often several years older than his potential mate.  For example, Fitzwilliam Darcy is eight and twenty years of age, while Elizabeth Bennet is twenty. In fact, Elizabeth and Jane Bennet are very close to being “on the shelf.” Girls made their Society debut at age sixteen. Gentlemen at age one and twenty.  Several logical reasons affected these unspoken rules of courtship. For example, childbirth was a difficult time for women. Dangers were aplenty. It was believed that a young wife could withstand the need to produce the necessary “heir and a spare.” For the gentleman, twenty-one was the age at which a man could enter a contract without his father’s permission. One must recall that an engagement required a written contract during the Regency Period. Men without financial prospects often waited to marry in order to establish their careers and earn enough money to support a wife and children. Therefore, it was not uncommon for a man to marry at age 30 and for his wife to be between 16 and 20 years of age.

To meet the “perfect” or “not-so-perfect” mate, one attended dances (private balls and public assemblies) or other socials. Family and friends were a source of potential mates. When someone of interest appeared, finding private time to learn more of one another was difficult. A young lady was expected to chaperoned at all times. Dancing was one of the few activities in which the couple could participate and hold a conversation. However, a couple could dance no more than two 30 minute sets, otherwise, the couple would be thought to have an understanding in place, meaning they were considered engaged.

Apart from dancing, young people attended family parties or functions. At such social events, one was expected to be sociable with everyone in attendance. Again, spending time alone together was nearly nonexistent. Walking out or riding together required proper chaperones. Marianne Dashwood risks her reputation in Austen’s “Sense and Sensibility” by riding alone in Mr. Willoughby’s gig, and in “Northanger Abbey,” Catherine Morland is very upset when John Thorpe maneuvers her into his gig alone.

A couple could not even correspond until they were officially engaged. Marianne pushes the lines of propriety when she writes Willoughby. Her letters are why Elinor assumes that Marianne is engaged to Willoughby.

wedding-ringsActually, the first time most couples were alone was during the actual proposal. Engagement rings were not necessarily given as a symbol of the lady’s acceptance.  A woman’s power of refusal was her only control in the situation. Henry Tilney says as such in “Northanger Abbey.” Rarely did a woman refuse the proposal (except in the case of Elizabeth Bennet with both Mr. Collins and Mr. Darcy). If one recalls, Mr. Collins points out that Elizabeth is not likely to receive another proposal if she refuses him. Occasionally, a woman would break the engagement, but it was frowned upon for a gentleman to break the engagement. Society’s disapproval of his breaking the engagement is why Edward Ferrars keeps his word to Lucy Steele in “Sense and Sensibility.”

Once the proposal is accepted by the woman, the gentleman then asks the bride’s father for permission to marry her. Once the bride’s father approved, the marriage articles were drawn up. This contract defined the distribution of wealth and property in the marriage and what would happen to the wife and children if the husband met an early death. Occasionally, a jointure became part of the articles.  A jointure stated that the wife would receive a guaranteed portion of her husband’s property upon his death.

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The Massacre at St. Peter’s Field

Posted on January 8, 2013 by Regina Jeffers
A depiction of the Peterloo Massacre by Richard Carlile

A depiction of the Peterloo Massacre by Richard Carlile

The events at Peterloo play a pivotal point in my February release of His. Peterloo brings my heroine and hero together in the second of the two novellas, “His Irish Eve,” which make up this new anthology.

On August 16, 1819, the Peterloo Massacre occurred at St. Peter’s Field in Manchester. A crowd of 60,000-80,000 had gathered to protest the lack of parliamentary representation for the heavily populated industrialized areas.

With the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, the Corn Laws exacerbated the famine of the Year without Summer (1816) and the growing unemployment problems. By the beginning of 1819 the pressure generated by poor economic conditions, coupled with the lack of suffrage in northern England, had enhanced the appeal of political radicalism. In response, the Manchester Patriotic Union, a group agitating for parliamentary reform, organized a demonstration to be addressed by the well-known radical orator Henry Hunt.

Fearing the worst, local magistrates called on the military to dispense with the crowd. They also demanded the arrest of Hunt and the other featured speakers. The Cavalry charged the crowd with sabers drawn. In the melee, 15 people were killed and some 500+ were injured. The massacre was given the name Peterloo, an ironic comparison to the devastation found at the Battle of Waterloo. The Peterloo Massacre became a defining moment of the age. Unfortunately, the massacre’s immediate effect was the passage of the Six Acts, which labelled any meeting for radical reform as “an overt act” of treasonable conspiracy.”

It also led directly to the foundation of The Manchester Guardian, but had little other effect on the pace of reform. In a survey conducted by The Guardian in 2006, Peterloo came second to the Putney Debates as the event from British history that most deserved a proper monument or a memorial. A plaque close to the site, a replacement for an earlier one that was criticized as being inadequate, as it did not reflect the scale of the massacre, commemorates Peterloo. 650px-PeterlooRedPlaque

HisCrop

 

 

 

The Deepest Love Is Always Unexpected

“His American Heartsong”

Lawrence Lowery has been the dutiful elder son his whole life, but when his father Baron Blakehell arranges a marriage with the insipid Annalee Dryburgh, Lowery must choose between his responsibility to his future estate and the one woman who makes sense in his life. By Society’s standards, Arabella Tilney is completely wrong to be the future Baroness–she is an American hoyden, who demands that Lowery do the impossible: Be the man he has always dreamed of being. (A Novella from the Realm Series

“His Irish Eve”

When the Earl of Greenwall demands his only son, Viscount Stafford, retrieve the viscount’s by-blow, everything in Adam Lawrence’s life changes. Six years prior, Lawrence had released his former mistress Cathleen Donnell from his protection only to learn in hindsight Cathleen was with child. Lawrence arrives in Cheshire to discover not only a son, but also two daughters, along with a strong-minded woman who fascinates him from the moment of their first encounter. Aoife Kennice, the children’s caregiver, is a woman impervious to Adam’s usual tricks and ruses as one of England’s most infamous rakes. But this overconfident lord is about to do battle: A fight Adam must win – a fight for the heart of a woman worth knowing.

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Poison, Passion, and Politics

Posted on January 7, 2013 by Regina Jeffers

Albertus Magnus

The German scholar, Albertus Magnus, is generally credited with the discovery of arsenic in or about 1250. All sorts of poisons have been used since the time of the ancient Greeks and Romans. The Greeks had a fondness for water hemlock, a plant in the carrot family, not the evergreen family. Plato celebrated the use of hemlock in his description of the death of Socrates.

Beginning with the Roman Empire forward, arsenic became the preferred poison. There are some references to the use of arsenic as far back as the 4th Century B.C., but Magnus perfected the compound in the 1200s. A metallic arsenic is mentioned in the writings of Paracelsus, a physician-alchemist in the late Middle Ages, who is often referred to a the “Father of Modern Toxicology.”

In the first century, Dioscorides, a Greek physician at the court of the Roman Emperor Nero, offers a brief listing of the advantage of arsenic for sinister uses: no odor or taste when mixed with food/drink and its lack of color. Arsenic is readily found in nature, which makes it easily accessible to ALL people. Because arsenic poisoning mimics food poisoning, making it harder to detect, especially before physicians had full toxicology labs available to aid their diagnoses.

A single large dose of arsenic brought about diarrhea, vomiting, and death from shock, while smaller doses over a period of time resulted in lost of muscle control, paralysis, and mental confusion. As203 became the arsenic of choice for it could kill a man with a dose less than that of tip of a teaspoon in the powder.

Poison became the way to go about business in politics during the Roman reign. It became commonplace to deal with those who were disliked by slipping a dose of poison in their drinks or food. The poisons were so common that few believed in the natural deaths of kings, emperors, or clergymen. In 82 B.C., the Roman dictator Lucious Cornelius Sulla issued the Lex Cornelia, the first law outlawing poisons. Poisons were readily used during the Renaissance. A woman named Toffana from Florence, Italy, was renowned for making arsenic-laced cosmetics. Hieronyma Spara taught young married women how to rid themselves of their husbands of convenience.

Cesare Borgia

The Borgias perfected the art of poisoning during the Middle Ages. Pope Alexander VI and his son Cesare easily rid themselves of interfering bishops and cardinals. Cesare’s half sister Lucretia is often thought to have mastered the art of poison, but many experts think her an innocent. Following the inevitable death of their victims, the Borgias profited by the law of the church, which reverted the victim’s property to the church (i.e., the pope).

The Borgias knew great wealth from their acquisitions, from Cesare’s position as a captain-general in the papal army, and from Lucretia’s three successful marriages for money and station. Ironically, the Pope and Cesare partook of some poisoned wine by accident. The Pope died. It is said that Cesare invoked the ancient superstition of encasing himself in an animal’s carcass. He had a mule slaughtered and wrapped himself in the animal skin. Surprisingly, the remedy worked. Cesare lived.

In 1821, Napoleon Bonaparte passed after suffering many of the symptoms of arsenic poisoning. Modern toxicology has never proven this rumor, but it persists. Trace amounts of arsenic were found in Bonaparte’s hair, but those amounts were in line with what could have been readily absorbed into the body. The official cause of death was stomach cancer.

Claire Booth Luce became a victim of arsenic poisoning when she was the U.S. Ambassador to Italy. Believe it or not, the arsenic-based paint from the ceiling of the embassy easily fell into the food. Luce resigned her position.

Carl Scheele developed “Paris Green,” an arsenic compound in 1775. It was used as a pigment in paints, wallpaper, and fabrics. Although thousands of people reportedly took ill from exposure to the compound, it was the end of the 1800s before Paris Green was recognized as a health hazard.

In the 1830s, a British chemist named James Marsh became the first to use arsenic detection in a jury trial. Marsh had developed a method for determining the level of arsenic in foods and beverages. Arsenic lingers in the urine, nails, and hair of the victim. Arsenic was an ingredient in Victorian fly papers. A deadly liquid was created when the paper was soaked in water. The liquid could then be used to cook food or mix with drinks. Arsenic is sometimes called “inheritance powder” due to its ready availability.

Arsenic is a favorite means to an end, especially in the hands of mystery writers. As late as the 1940s, arsenic was given to syphilis patients, as well as to those who suffered from yaws and leprosy. Today, it is used to remove color from glass, to promote growth in livestock, to preserve animals in taxidermy, and to create a metal alloy.

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Celebrating the Epiphany

Posted on January 6, 2013 by Regina Jeffers

Epiphany (Koine Greek: ἐπιφάνεια, epiphaneia, “manifestation”, “striking appearance”) or Theophany (Ancient Greek (ἡ) Θεοφάνεια, Theophaneai meaning “vision of God”), which traditionally falls on January 6, is a Christian feast day that celebrates the revelation of God the Son as a human in the form of Jesus Christ. Western Christians commemorate principally (but not solely) the visitation of the Biblical Magi to the infant Jesus, and thus Jesus’s physical manifestation to the Gentiles. Eastern Christians commemorate the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan, seen as his manifestation to the world as God’s son. 

Eastern churches following the Julian Calendar observe the Theophany feast on what for most countries is January 19 because of the 13-day difference today between that calendar and the generally used Gregorian calendar. 

Since 1970, the date of the celebration by Latin Rite Roman Catholics is fixed as January 6 only in countries where the feast is a Holy Day of Obligation, while in other countries it falls on the Sunday after January 1. In the Church of England,  also, the feast may be celebrated on the Sunday between January 2 and 8 inclusive.

A separate celebration of the Baptism of the Lord  was introduced for Latin Rite Roman Catholics in 1955. Initially, this was to be held on January 13, previously the octave day of the Epiphany, but in the 1969 revision of the General Roman Calendar the date was changed to the first Sunday after January 6. In countries where in a particular year the Epiphany falls on January 7 or 8, the feast of the Baptism of the Lord is celebrated on the following Monday. In the Church of England, the same custom may be followed. In the Episcopal Church in the United States, the feast of the Baptism of the Lord is always the Sunday after January 6.

Christians fixed the date of the feast on January 6 quite early in their history. Ancient liturgies noted Illuminatio, Manifestatio, Declaratio (Illumination, Manifestation, Declaration); cf. Matthew 3:13-17; Luke 3:22; and John 2:1-11;  where the Baptism and the Marriage at Cana were dwelt upon. Western Christians have traditionally emphasized the “Revelation to the Gentiles” mentioned in Luke, where the term Gentile means all non-Jewish peoples. The Biblical Magi, who represented the non-Jewish peoples of the world, paid homage to the infant Jesus in stark contrast to Herod the Great (King of Judea), who sought to kill him. In this event, Christian writers also inferred a revelation to the Children of Israel. Saint John Chrysotom identified the significance of the meeting between the Magi and Herod’s court: “The star had been hidden from them so that, on finding themselves without their guide, they would have no alternative but to consult the Jews. In this way the birth of Jesus would be made known to all.”

The West observes a twelve-day festival, starting on December 25, and ending on January 5, known as Christmastide or the Twelve Days of Christmas. Some Christian cultures, especially those of Latin America  and some in Europe, extend the season to as many as forty days, ending on Candlemas (February 2).

On the Feast of the Epiphany, the priest, wearing white vestments, will bless the Epiphany water, frankincense, gold, and chalk. Chalk is used to write the initials of the three magi over the doors of churches and homes. The letters stand for the initials of the Magi (traditionally named Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar), and also the phrase Christus mansionem benedicat, which translates as “may Christ bless the house”.

According to ancient custom, the priest announced the date of Easter  on the feast of Epiphany. This tradition dated from a time when calendars were not readily available, and the church needed to publicize the date of  Easter, since many celebrations of the liturgical year depend on it. The proclamation may be sung or proclaimed at the ambo by a deacon, cantor, or reader either after the reading of the Gospel or after the post communion prayer. 

The Roman Missal  thus provides a formula with appropriate chant (in the tone of the Exsultet) for proclaiming on Epiphany, wherever it is customary to do so, the dates in the calendar for the celebration of Ash Wednesday, Easter Sunday, Ascension of Jesus Christ, Pentecost, the Body and Blood of Christ, and the First Sunday of Advent that will mark the following liturgical year.

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The Twelve Days of Jane Austen – Day 12

Posted on January 5, 2013 by Regina Jeffers

On the twelfth day of Christmas, Jane Austen gave to me
Twelve Months of Reading
Eleven Woodhouse/Knightleys
Ten in Fanny’s Family
Nine Named Musgrove
Eight Minor Pieces
Seven Austen Siblings
Six Classic Novels
F-i-v-e Bennet Sisters
Four Abbey Tilneys
Three Sailing Captains
Two Dashing Colonels
And a Love for Mr. Dar…cy.

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Celebrating Twelfth Night

Posted on January 5, 2013 by Regina Jeffers

Defined by the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary as “the evening of the fifth of January, preceding Twelfth Day, the eve of the Epiphany, formerly the last day of the Christmas festivities,” Twelfth Night is a Christian-based holiday. However, there is currently some confusion as to which night is Twelfth Night: some count the night of Epiphany itself (sixth of January) to be Twelfth Night. One source of this confusion is said to be the Medieval custom of starting each new day at sunset, so that Twelfth Night precedes Twelfth Day. For the majority of the followers, the 25 December is the first day of Christmas, so therefore 5 January is the 12th day.

A recent belief in some English-speaking countries holds that it is unlucky to leave Christmas decorations hanging after Twelfth Night, a belief originally attached to the festival of Candlemas, which celebrates the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple (2 February).

In medieval and Tudor England, Twelfth Night marked the end of a winter festival, which started on All Hallows Eve, now more commonly known as Halloween. The Lord of Misrule symbolizes the world turning upside down. On this day the King and all those who were high would become the peasants and vice versa. At the beginning of the Twelfth Night festival, a cake, which contained a bean was eaten. The person who found the bean would rule and the world would return to normal. The common theme was that the normal order of things was reversed. This Lord of Misrule tradition dates back to pre-Christian European festivals, such as the Celtic festival of Samhain and the Ancient Roman festival of Saturnalia.

Food and drink are the center of the celebrations in modern times, and all of the most traditional ones go back many centuries. The punch called wassail is consumed especially on Twelfth Night, but throughout Christmas time, especially in the UK. Around the world, special pastries, such as the tortell and king cake  are baked on Twelfth Night, and eaten the following day for the Feast of the Epiphany  celebrations. In English and French custom, the Twelfth-cake was baked to contain a bean and a pea, so that those who received the slices containing them should be designated king and queen of the night’s festivities.

In colonial America, a Christmas wreath was always left up on the front door of each home, and when taken down at the end of the Twelve Days of Christmas,  any edible portions would be consumed with the other foods of the feast. The same held true in the 19th-20th centuries with fruits adorning Christmas trees. Fresh fruits were hard to come by, and were therefore considered fine and proper gifts and decorations for the tree, wreaths, and home. Again, the tree would be taken down on Twelfth Night, and such fruits, along with nuts and other local produce used, would then be consumed.

In the eastern Alps, a tradition called Perchtenlaufen exists. Two to three hundred masked young men rush about the streets with whips and bells driving out evil spirits.  In Nuremberg until 1616, children frightened spirits away by running through the streets and knocking loudly at doors. In some countries, and in the  Catholic religion worldwide, the Twelfth Night and the Epiphany marks the start of the Carnival season, which lasts through Mardi Gras Day. Modern American Carnival traditions shine most brightly in New Orleans, where friends gather for weekly King Cake parties. Whoever gets the slice with the “king”, usually in the form of a miniature baby doll (symbolic of the Christ Child,  “Christ the King”), hosts the next week’s party.

In parts of Kent, there is a tradition that an edible decoration would be the last part of Christmas to be removed in the Twelfth Night and shared amongst the family.

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Fill Up Your Kindle or Nook – Last Day of the Three Day Sale

Posted on January 4, 2013 by Regina Jeffers

 

This is the last day of our three day sale. Six Austen Authors have placed 28 of their eBook titles up for sale on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. The sale runs from January 2-4, 2013. Nothing higher than $2.99. This is the last chance to scarf up some of your favorite titles. Here is the list of titles with their prices.
Regina Jeffers
$1.99
The First Wives’ Club
Second Chances: The Courtship Wars
$2.99
A Touch of Velvet
A Touch of Cashémere
A Touch of Grace
Honor and Hope: A Contemporary Romantica Based on Pride and Prejudice
Mary Simonsen
$0.99
For All the Wrong Reasons
Mr. Darcy’s Angel of Mercy
A Walk in the Meadows at Rosings Park
Captain Wentworth Home from the Sea
Three’s A Crowd, A Patrick Shea Mystery (Kindle Only)*
$2.99
Mr. Darcy Goes to War (Kindle Only)*
Darcy on the Hudson
Mr. Darcy Bites Back
Becoming Elizabeth Darcy (Kindle Only)*
Abigail Reynolds
$0.99
Morning Light
A Pemberley Medley
$2.99
Mr. Darcy’s Refuge
Mr. Darcy’s Letter
By Force of Instinct
Marilyn Brant
$0.99
Double Dipping
$2.99
On Any Given Sundae
Holiday Man
Shannon Winslow
$0.99
Mr. Collins’s Last Supper
$2.99
The Darcy’s of Pemberley
For Myself Alone
Maria Grace
$1.99
Darcy’s Decision
$2.99
The Future Mrs. Darcy
Great way to start the new year!*A promotion on Amazon for these titles exist. When that happens, Amazon has exclusive digital rights for 90 days. Once that time period has expired, the titles will become available on Nook.
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The Twelve Days of Jane Austen – Day 11

Posted on January 4, 2013 by Regina Jeffers

(Sung to the tune of “The Twelve Days of Christmas”)

On the eleventh day of Christmas, Jane Austen gave to me,
Eleven Woodhouse/Knightleys
Ten in Fanny’s Family
Nine Named Musgrove
Eight Minor Pieces
Seven Austen Siblings
Six Classic Novels
F-i-v-e Bennet Sisters
Four Abbey Tilneys
Three Sailing Captains
Two Dashing Colonels
And a love for Mr. Dar…cy.

Henry Woodhouse+Mrs. Woodhouse

Emma                        Isabella+John Knightley                              George Knightley

                             Henry       John       Bella     George    Emma

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Changes in Copyright Laws Give Writers New Life

Posted on January 4, 2013 by Regina Jeffers

This article comes from paidContent. Please take time to read the complete article. There is a wonderful list of the best sellers from 1978, which could be affected by this ruling.

Nov 27, 2012 – 12:04PM

Publishers brace for authors to reclaim book rights in 2013

by Jeff John Roberts

A copyright law that lets authors break contracts after 35 years will start taking effect in January. The law, which is meant to give authors like Stephen King and Judy Blume a “second bite at the apple,” could provide yet another disruption for traditional publishers.

The book publishing industry, already facing disruption from Amazon and  e-books, will confront a new form of turbulence in 2013. Starting in January, publishers face the loss of their back lists as authors begin using the Copyright Act to reclaim works they assigned years ago.

These so-called “termination rights,” which let authors break contracts after 35 years, have already made the media thanks to a court squabble between the Village People and music studios. On the book front, publishers  and agents are staying mostly mum even though the bestseller lists from 1978 reveal some very big names eligible to reclaim their work  – Stephen King, Judy Blume, John LeCarre and so on. Here’s a plain English overview of how the law works and why (for now at least) we’re likely to see literary types negotiate rather than litigate.

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