Jane Austen guides

I found these delightful little "guidebooks" and absolutely love them! There's plenty of beautiful illustrations in both, and both are fun and informative reads:

"A Visitor's Guide to Georgian England"

Another one for the collection:

"The Pleasures of Men"

July 1840: The young Queen Victoria has just entered her third year on the throne when a major recession brings London's desperate and destitute into its sweltering streets. While the city crackles with tension, orphaned Catherine Sorgeiul stays locked away in her uncle's home, a peculiar place where death masks adorn the walls and certain rooms are strictly forbidden. Nineteen years old and haunted by a dark past, Catherine becomes obsessed with a series of terrible murders of young girls sweeping the city. Details of the crimes are especially gruesome--the victims' hair has been newly plaited and thrust into their mouths, and their limbs are grotesquely folded behind them, like wounded birds--and the serial killer is soon nicknamed the Man of Crows.

Catherine begins writing stories about the victims--women on their own and vulnerable in the big city--and gradually the story of the murderer as well. But she soon realizes that she has involved herself in a web of betrayal, deceit, and terror that threatens her and all those around her. A remarkable fiction debut, The Pleasures of Men is a gripping and spine-tingling thriller.

Austen adaptations

Taking a look through YouTube, I found many of the Austen adaptations from the past few decades (unfortunately, you have to rent or buy the Colin Firth and Gwenyth Paltrow ones, as well as the BBC/Masterpiece version of Sanditon)...yes, there may be ads, but is it really any different than watching via cable or basic streaming plans? At any rate, enjoy!

Episode 1

Episode 2

Episode 3

Episode 4

Episode 5

Episode 6

Episode 7

Sense and Sensibility-1981

Sense and Sensibility-1995 trailer

Pride and Prejudice-1995 trailer

Trailer

Persuasion-1995/97 (rent or buy-click the link)

Emma-1996 trailer

Emma-1996

Trailer

Mansfield Park-1999

Trailer

Pride and Prejudice-2005 (buy or rent)

Trailer

Mansfield Park-2007

Trailer 

Northranger Abbey-2007

Persuasion-2007 trailer

Sense and Sensibility-2008 trailer

Trailer 

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Emma-2009

Sanditon-season 1 trailer (2020)

Sanditon-season 2 trailer (2022)

Sanditon-season 3 trailer (2023)

Trailer 

Emma-2020 (click the link)

Persuasion-2022 trailer

"The Serpent in the Garden"

It is the summer of 1765. The renowned and exquisitely dressed portrait painter Joshua Pope accepts a commission to paint the wedding portrait of Herbert Bentnick and his fiancée, Sabine Mercer, to whom Bentnick has become engaged less than a year after the death of his first wife.

Joshua has barely begun the portrait when a man's body is found in the conservatory. A few days later, Sabine's emerald necklace disappears, and Bentnick accuses Joshua of theft. The painter is suddenly fighting not only for his reputation, but for his life.

With a sure understanding of period detail and character, Janet Gleeson creates a richly nuanced tale of greed and revenge that plays out in the refined landscapes and dark streets of eighteenth-century London.

Sandra Byrd's Victorian novels

Miss Annabel Ashton is a teacher at the Rogers School for Young Ladies in Winchester when she takes a brief visit to her family home, Highcliffe Hall at Milford-on-Sea. She believes her stay will be short but soon learns that she will not be returning to the safety of the school. Instead, she remains at Highcliffe, at the mercy of her cousin, Edward Everedge.
Annabel protests, but as the illegitimate daughter of a woman who died in an insane asylum, she has little say. Edward is running out of money and puts the house up for sale to avoid financial ruin. He insists that Annabel marry, promising her to a sinister, frightening man. But as the house gets packed for sale, it begins to reveal disquieting secrets. Jewelry, artifacts, and portraits mysteriously appear, suggesting that Annabel may be the true heir of Highcliffe.
She has only a few months to prove her legitimacy, perhaps with assistance from the handsome but troubled Maltese Captain Dell’Acqua. But does he have Annabel’s best interests at heart?
And then, a final, most ominous barrier to both her inheritance and her existence appears: a situation neither she nor anyone else could have expected. Will Annabel regain her life and property—and trust her heart—before it’s too late?

Miss Eleanor Sheffield is a talented evaluator of antiquities, trained to know the difference between a genuine artifact and a fraud. But with her father’s passing and her uncle’s decline into dementia, the family business is at risk. In the Victorian era, unmarried Eleanor cannot run Sheffield Brothers alone.

The death of a longtime client, Baron Lydney, offers an unexpected complication when Eleanor is appointed the temporary trustee of the baron’s legendary collection. She must choose whether to donate the priceless treasures to a museum or allow them to pass to the baron’s only living son, Harry―the man who broke Eleanor’s heart.

Eleanor distrusts the baron’s motives and her own ability to be unbiased regarding Harry’s future. Harry claims to still love her and Eleanor yearns to believe him, but his mysterious comments and actions fuel her doubts. When she learns an Italian beauty accompanied him on his return to England, her lingering hope for a future with Harry dims.

With the threat of debtor’s prison closing in, Eleanor knows that donating the baron’s collection would win her favor among potential clients, saving Sheffield Brothers. But the more time she spends with Harry, the more her faith in him grows. Might Harry be worthy of his inheritance, and her heart, after all? As pressures mount and time runs out, Eleanor must decide whom she can trust―who in her life is false or true, brass or gold―and what is meant to be treasured.

"Pride and Prejudice: Having A Ball"

I saw this BBC production when it originally aired back in 2013, and am delighted to find it on YouTube...enjoy!

"The Book of Fires"

It is 1752, and seventeen-year-old Agnes Trussel is pregnant with an unwanted child. Facing certain misery at home, she flees rural Sussex for London. Overwhelmed by the crowded, grim streets, Agnes finds herself at the home of Mr. J. Blacklock, a brooding fireworks maker who hires her as an apprentice. As she learns to make joins his quest to make the most spectacular fireworks the world has ever seen. Meanwhile, the clock is ticking on Agnes's secret-but her mysterious mentor is hatching plans of his own.

"Belgravia"

Having seen the first season of this series (brought to us by the indomitable Julian Fellowes), I just discovered that season two is upon us in three days time...I'm very much looking forward to it!

Belgravia trailer

The Next Chapter trailer

Regency dance albums

I discovered these albums on Amazon and am absolutely in love with them! I find them perfect for adding depth to any regency era novel dance scene:

Buy here

Buy here

Some examples of Regency dances, some which appear on those albums...enjoy!

Ally Croaker

Corn Rigs (1830 version)

Der halbe mond-1796

Way 1

Way 2

Haste to the Wedding

La Boulanger-1780 or 90

Le Carillon de Dunkerque

Les Ombres Chinoises-1780

Miss Pultney's Fancy-1788

Money Musk

Lady of the Lake

Off She Goes (Preston version)-1805

Paine's 1st set of quadrilles-1815 or 16

Lancer's Quadrille 1, 2 & 3-1817

Lancer's Quadrille 4 & 5-1817

Savage Dance-1784

Sir Roger de Coverley

Trip to Dunkirk-1794

Bath (or Prussian) Waltz

Cambridge Waltz-1816

Miss Bedford's Waltz-1813 (obviously the wrong outfits, but still definitely period dance wise)

Duke of Kent's Waltz (as duple)-1801 or 2

Gloucester Waltz

Wilson's Waltz Suite-1816

Wilson Slow French Waltz-1816

Should you be interested in more, do check out RegencyDances.org, a site dedicated to exactly that, as well as their YouTube channel, this book by Susannah Fullerton

And this wonderful spiral bound book by Allison Thompson which can be found on her site

"The Quality of Mercy"

It is the spring of 1767, and the vengeful Erasmus Kemp has had the mutinous sailors of his father’s ship brought back to London to stand trial on piracy charges. Much to Kemp’s dismay, the Irish fiddler Sullivan has escaped, and retrieving him proves too much in the midst of overseeing the dramatic legal case and a new business venture in the northern coal and steel industries of Thorpe. But the two men’s paths are about to collide once again, for Sullivan is also on his way to Thorpe to fulfill the dying wish of his shipmate.

With historical sweep and deep pathos, Unsworth explores the struggles of the downtrodden against the rich and the powerful.

"The Crimson Petal and the White"

London, 1870s. At the heart of this panoramic narrative is a young woman’s struggle to lift her body and soul out of the gutter. Sugar, a nineteen-year-old whore in the brothel of the terrifying Mrs. Castaway, yearns for a better life. Her ascent through the strata of Victorian society begins with the egotistical perfume magnate William Rackham. Infatuated with Sugar, William’s patronage brings her into the circles of his family and milieu: his wife who barely overcomes chronic hysteria to make her appearances during “the Season”; his mysteriously hidden-away daughter, left to the care of minions; his pious brother, foiled in his devotional calling by his lust for the Widow Fox; as well as preening socialites, drunken journalists, untrustworthy servants, vile guttersnipes, and whores of all stripes and persuasions.

Twenty years in its conception, research, and writing, The Crimson Petal and the White is teeming with life, rich in texture and incident, with breathtakingly real characters.

Michel Faber’s tale of love and lust in the Victorian Era, The Crimson Petal and the White, was hailed as “a Dickensian novel for our times.” Now a major BBC TV drama, the saga of a prostitute named Sugar and the man who longs to possess her captured hearts and left readers desperate for more (The Guardian, UK).

In The Apple, Faber returns to Silver Street to find it still teeming with life, and conjures further tantalizing glimpses of Sugar, Clara, William, Mr. Bodley and many other favorites. For both fans of the novel and newcomers to this rich and historically vivid world, The Apple confirms that “Michel Faber is a master of the short-story form” (The Times Literary Supplement, UK).

The bestselling novel also became a miniseries, which I reviewed here

Lady Whistledown anthologies

If you're like me and have a fondness for Bridgerton's infamous "tattler of the ton" and are one of those who are going through withdrawals, then these books are definitely worth reading if you haven't already!

Who Stole Lady Neeley’s Bracelet?

Was it the fortune hunter, the gambler, the servant, or the rogue? All of London is abuzz with speculation, but it is clear that one of four couples is connected to the crime. —Lady Whistledown’s Society Papers, May 1816

Julia Quinn enchants: A dashing fortune hunter is captivated by the Season’s most desired debutante...and must prove he is out to steal the lady’s heart, not her dowry.

Suzanne Enoch tantalizes: An innocent miss who has spent her life scrupulously avoiding scandal is suddenly—and secretly—courted by London’s most notorious rogue.

Karen Hawkins seduces: A roving viscount comes home to rekindle the passionate fires of his marriage...only to discover that his beautiful, headstrong bride will not be so easily won.

Mia Ryan delights: A lovely, free-spirited servant is dazzled by the romantic attentions of a charming earl...sparking a scandalous affair that could ruin them both.

You’ll hear it first from Lady Whistledown!

"Slammerkin"

Slammerkin: A loose gown; a loose woman.

Born to rough cloth in Hogarth's London, but longing for silk, Mary Saunders's eye for a shiny red ribbon leads her to prostitution at a young age. A dangerous misstep sends her fleeing to Monmouth, and the position of household seamstress, the ordinary life of an ordinary girl with no expectations.

But Mary has known freedom, and having never known love, it is freedom that motivates her. Mary asks herself if the prostitute who hires out her body is more or less free than the "honest woman" locked into marriage, or the servant who runs a household not her own? And is either as free as a man? Ultimately, Mary remains true only to the three rules she learned on the streets: Never give up your liberty. Clothes make the woman. Clothes are the greatest lie ever told.