Turning tragedy into timeless romance.
Sarah MacFarlane, a widow, began an affair with her neighbor, Augustus Dalmas, months after his wife died. What followed were rumors, lies, and rambling letters filled with love and hate...and murder.
Before 1839, women had no rights to their children if their marriage failed and led to separation or divorce, nor could a wife own property or keep independent wages. Then came Caroline Norton, poet, author, and early women's rights advocate.
Eliza Fenning had the misfortune of being hired as a cook for the Turner family, and 7 weeks into her employment, she got entangled in a complex web of family tension and murder.
Mary Seacole was a nurse, hotelier, and traveler. She traveled across the globe learning nursing techniques, aiding soldiers and patients, and assisted during the Crimean War, even after the British government turned her away. This is the story of Mary Seacole, known to those she helped as "Mother Seacole."
Love potions have been around since ancient times, if not sooner. The concept of the love potion is simple. Concoct a magical potion, give it to the object of your desires, and she or he will fall in love with you. Some recipes called for very innocent ingredients. Medieval Europeans used roses or honey in... Continue Reading →
Many of our treasured traditions, Christmas cards, Christmas trees, hanging stockings, and caroling, didn’t appear until the 1840s. This makes much of Christmas a Victorian invention., and like anything from the Victorian era, many of these beloved traditions have weird, wacky, and even sinister roots. Here's 7 weird Victorian Christmas traditions.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning were the literary power couple of the Victorian era, and their love story was just as entertaining as their poetry.
“The slide from Summer into Fall can sneak up on you, like footsteps keeping pace until they speed up and overtake you. We invited fellow writers and poets to create original pieces that would sweep us up in stories and poems about the other, moodier season of change. We received a cornucopia of work that skews... Continue Reading →
Looking for a book to get you in the Halloween spirit? Check out Autumn Noir: An Unsettling Reads Anthology, its pages packed with horror, thrillers, and mysteries by over 20 brilliant authors. My first attempt at something other than historical fiction will be included in this anthology in a contemporary suspense short called "Perdita's Shoes."... Continue Reading →
In 1723, England introduced a criminal system that is called “The Bloody Code” by today’s historians. Although the name is not contemporary to the time, it captures the severity of the list of 220 offenses attached to capital punishment in Georgian & Regency England.
Kat Devitt 