Elena Greene – Featured Beau Monde Author

Elena Greene is today’s Featured Beau Monde Author  

Elena Greene grew up reading her mother’s Georgette Heyer novels, but it wasn’t until she went on an international assignment to the United Kingdom that she was inspired to start writing her own.

Her first Regency romance was published in 2000 and was followed by five more Regencies and a novella.

Her books have won the Desert Rose Golden Quill and Colorado Romance Writers’ Award of Excellence.

Her Super Regency, LADY DEARING’S MASQUERADE, won RT Book Club’s award for Best Regency Romance of 2005.

Elena lives in upstate New York with her stroke survivor husband and two daughters.

Website: Elena Greene

Blog: www.riskyregencies.blogspot.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/ElenaGreene

The Reticule, or The Lady’s Pocket Exposed

A cross-post from The Regency Redingote:

I first learned of the existence of that small lady’s handbag, the reticule, from the novels of Georgette Heyer. Later, as a museum curator, I had the opportunity to see a number of actual Regency-era reticules, both in person and in museum photographs. As I continued to research these often exquisite little bags, I discovered they had their origins in the late eighteenth century. Prior to that time, ladies carried their personal essentials in pockets under their skirts. Not in their skirts, under their skirts.

So, when and how did the lady’s pocket come out from under her skirt and make its debut as the reticule?

Alicia Rasley – Featured Beau Monde Author

Alicia Rasley is today’s Featured Beau Monde Author.

Alicia grew up as the oldest girl in a family of ten. She had a lot of responsibility early, but she is a self-admitted daydreamer. Books provided an escape from her routine life, and some of the books she read were the Regency novels of Georgette Heyer. "Suddenly there was a new world for me, far from the noise and chaos of a big family and school, a place of elegance and wit," she tells us. She was inspired to write Regencies, and after beginning a dozen, she finished her first when she was twenty-five. She wrote a half dozen Regencies, winning a Rita Award along the way.

But Alicia did not stay entirely faithful to Regency novels. She wrote a couple of women’s fiction novels and two non-fiction writing how-tos. But she has returned to the writing of Regencies once again, admitting that she has been seduced back into that elegant, exciting time and place. She likes rakish heroes, reckless heroines and elegant stories.

Regardless of all the romance she has read and written, Alicia says she has always been practical and is the most unromantic romance writer one would ever meet. She pours all her romantic notions into her writing. "Just ask my husband!" she says. "He’ll tell you he really gets off easy when it comes to anniversary and birthday gifts!"

Her most recent novel is The Year She Fell.

The Year She Fell - Alicia Rasley

Find her at   Facebook — regencystories.wordpress.com/ — www.rasley.com

Blakeney Manor

A cross-post from The Regency Redingote:

The stories of The Scarlet Pimpernel take place during the French Revolution, more than a score of years before the beginning of the English Regency. And yet, without the work of Baroness Orczy, we might not have all those delightful Regency novels written by Georgette Heyer.

Regency or Regency-set Historical? by Cheryl Bolen

One of our recently featured authors, Cheryl Bolen, has graciously given us permission to publish some of her articles here at the Beau Monde. We begin with an article she wrote in which she explains how she got started writing Regencies. She also provides a clear and concise explanation of the difference between traditional Regencies and romance novels set in the period of the English Regency. This article was originally published in 2002, and sadly, since its original publication, her predictions on the fate of traditional Regency romances have come to pass. Nevertheless, this article will give those writing in the Regency genre a rare look at the development of romance novels set in our favorite period of history, from the perspective of an author successfully published in that genre.

We hope you will enjoy reading Cheryl’s candid look at the business of Regency romance writing  . . .

Regency London Walk with Sue Attwood

The UK Telegraph’s Travel section gives this wonderful suggestion for a Regency walk through parts of London.
Regency London: Let a romantic novelist be your guide – Sue Attwood goes in search of Regency London and finds much of it still just as described in Georgette Heyer’s historical novels.