She Tamed the Lady – a breath of spring in a winter romance

Those of you who’ve been with me a long time remember I used to do a countdown on social media of history tidbits that went into making the book. Well, I’m not actively using Facebook or Twitter any more, and I don’t know how many of you are following me on Bluesky, where I hang out most (or Threads, which I’ve just started to get into), but I thought I’d share a few of the history tidbits that I sent to my newsletter subscribers – some of you ask for them specifically. So here’s a little handful:

• Horse breeding for horse racing had already started to be a thing a century before the book – you’ll see why that matters;
• We know every winner of every major race! Yay for history! So I try not to fudge any of the winners; the horses specific to this story get names of their own.
• Nothing sexier than plant sex (except when I’m allergic to it) – Birch trees produce catkins, long, cool looking seed pods that are very delicate, and would be interesting to draw.
• I can never get over the colors reported of the gowns in Regency fashion plate magazines – puce we’ve all heard (and I don’t think it’s nearly as ugly as its name), but Russian flame, dust of ruins, and celestial are all referred to in period as well – and therefore you’ll see them when our ladies go shopping.
• Ice cream flavors! So many people talk about the odd Regency love of garlic and parmesan ice creams (have you ever had garlic ice cream? I have, it’s delicious). But there were plenty of other flavors that we would all happily eat, like cinnamon and honey, and when Talbourne House hosts an ice-themed party – well…
• Regent’s Park in London was, in fact, a park at the time, too. The plan was to fill it with houses for the Regent and his retinue, but that did not happen before the Prince Regent became King. It was indeed the home of archery clubs in the summer, and I believe it was flooded for an ice-skating pond at one point.
• And the incredible sled described in the book is based on real ones – there is no record of any Russian noble sending a sled to Britain at this time; but there is a record of Russian nobles enjoying target games with beautiful gold figured sleds like this one, at a sledding party in Vienna in 1815, so I transported one to London for a most extraordinary race. You can see the seat in back where the gentleman driver was to sit, and the lady sat down inside.
  So intimate!

There, that’s a sneak peek at the historical notes at the end of the book – if you’re a history nerd like me, that might pique your curiosity for more!