Saturday, November 23, 2019

Books We Love Insider Blog: Regency Travel Part 2 – the Vehicles by Victoria C...

Books We Love Insider Blog: Regency Travel Part 2 – the Vehicles by Victoria C...: In my last post I wrote about the horses used for pulling vehicles in the Regency era. In this post, I will address ...

Regency Travel Part 2 – the Vehicles by Victoria Chatham




In my last post I wrote about the horses used for pulling vehicles in the Regency era. In this post, I will address the vehicles themselves. There is, I think, the romantic idea of what a coach and four should look like, largely engendered by illustrations for British Christmas cards. From those, it would be easy to think of the coach as being of British origin which is far from the fact. The English word ‘coach’ derives from the Hungarian post town of Kocs (pronounced koch) which  was introduced into England from France during the reign of Elizabeth 1, reputedly by Henry FitzAlan, 19th Earl of Arundel.

The coach, as we think of it today, is a closed-cab heavy, four-wheeled vehicle drawn by four or six horses. This, together with harness, coachmen, and grooms is termed a turnout. The Four-In-Hand Club of many a Regency tale grew out of a driving club formed in 1807. Four-in-hand means to hold the reins controlling all four horses in one hand, the left, while the whip is held in the right. A ‘veritable whip’ would be someone having mastered the art of driving a coach and four.

The Four-In-Hand Club dictated that their members wear ankle-length drab coats (drab is an undyed light brown wool) fastened with large mother-of-pearl buttons beneath which they sported blue waistcoats with inch-wide yellow stripes. The Barouche Club rules stated that the horses should all be bay and wear silver-mounted harnesses with rosettes at their head.  

Gigs, curricles, chaises, and phaetons are the usual vehicles of choice by Regency characters. A gig was a light, two-wheeled cart with fixed shafts drawn by one horse or pony. The curricle was also a light, two-wheeled vehicle but big enough for a driver and passenger. This was the most favoured vehicle for the young man about town, particularly if he could afford a carefully matched pair of horses to pull it. The chaise or post-chaise was a versatile closed-body four-wheeled carriage. It could seat two or four persons and could be drawn by two or four horses which, because the chaise was designed as a fast means of travel, would be changed every ten- to fifteen miles.
Postillion boots
Note the right boot is larger

This type of carriage could also be driven by postillions rather than a coachman. The postillions, often in the livery of their employer, rode the horse on the left side of the pair, their right leg being protected from the central wooden shaft and the right hand, or ‘offside’ horse, by a heavy, rigid boot. Horses are typically mounted on the left, or ‘nearside’, this method left over from medieval times. Right-handed knights wore their swords on their left side to make the sword easier to draw. Mounting their horses from the left side was simply the means to not have the sword in the way when they swung their right leg over the saddle.  




Ladies who enjoyed the sport of driving might be seen out and about in a phaeton, an open well-sprung four-wheeled carriage with the pair of back wheels larger than the front pair. It could be drawn by one or two horses and the very skilled or daring whipster, either male or female, might opt for the high-perch phaeton. The unfortunate downside of this particular vehicle was the fact that it was notoriously unstable, particularly when cornering and especially in the hands of an unskilled driver.
High Perch Phaeton

There were also barouches, landaus, and hackneys, the latter developing into the familiar black, two-wheeled conveyance drawn by one horse so familiar in Victorian times and continuing today with the familiar black London taxicab. Travelling anywhere during the Regency era could be fraught with danger, from the notoriously bad roads made worse by inclement weather, attacks by highwaymen, poor maintenance which could cause the harness to break or wheels to detach from the axles or inexperienced or careless coachmen.

Inspiration for my heroine's driving scenes in His Dark Enchantress came from the notorious Lady Letitia Lade and from more recent history, Mrs. Cynthia Haydon. Here is a short excerpt.

Lucius’ prized Hungarian horses, polished so they gleamed like copper and harnessed once more, were hitched to the barouche without further incident. Jem and Sid held the leader’s heads while Emmaline draped herself in the driving coat and settled herself on the box. Juliana handed her a three-cornered driving hat and settled herself against the buttoned velvet squabs as Noble swung up onto the seat beside Emmaline.

“Have no fear, Mr. Noble, I had an excellent teacher.” Emmaline carefully threaded the reins through the fingers of her left hand. “I drove a pony and trap when I turned six years old, a pair when I turned nine, a tandem when I turned eleven and my first four-in-hand on my fourteenth birthday. His Lordship shall not be disappointed.”
He might not be disappointed, Emmaline thought as she pointed the leaders out of the yard, but he would undoubtedly be furious.







Victoria Chatham










Friday, November 22, 2019

Books We Love Insider Blog: Holiday Releases from BWL Publsihing Inc.

Books We Love Insider Blog: Holiday Releases from BWL Publsihing Inc.: BWL Publishing takes a break in December, so instead of our normal new release posts we're offering you our Holiday eBooks for only ...

Holiday Releases from BWL Publsihing Inc.

BWL Publishing takes a break in December, so instead of our normal new release posts we're offering you our Holiday eBooks for only .99 cents each.  Scroll to the bottom for purchase information.



The old Santa’s drunk and Mandy Brooks, assistant manager of Wentworth’s, an upmarket department store doesn’t do Christmas. Then she’s forced to play the part of Mrs Santa in the store’s grotto. Trouble is Santa’s replacement is a blast from her past – one she ran away from at the altar five years ago.

Ditched on his wedding day, Tate Sullivan left town. Now he’s back and he’s got unfinished business with Mandy Brooks. He wants her back in his bed on his terms, his way. But nothing is going according to plan. (A Novella)

I really liked the premise of this story: two people being locked into a store on Christmas Eve during a snowstorm. Mandy and Tate have a lot of feelings, both good and bad about each other, and neither knows the whole story. Their mothers have a lot to answer for. The love scenes between the two are scorchers and the Mrs. Claus outfit makes for a few chuckles. This is a great holiday story. Maura, Reviewer for Coffee Time Romance & More





Every Christmas Eve, Luke and Mary Cassidy’s friends and family gather to celebrate the holiday. From the kitchen wafts the scent of sugar cookies, fruit cake, and hot cider, not to mention all the other goodies.

Gathered around the piano singing carols is a prelude to the Christmas Eve church service.

This year Mary is worried about her beloved Luke’s health and she’s keeping an eye on the newly wedded Rob and Kayla. The poor girl is having a hard time keeping her cowboy hog-tied.

Then there’s Cale and Michelle. She loves Michelle like the daughter she never had, and Mary is afraid the silly girl will let her pride get in the way of her happiness with the young vet who has bought into the practice. A match maker’s work is never done it seems. What better season than Christmas to give true love a tiny push?





 Ryan hopes the adage “you can’t go home again” isn’t true because he hopes to find a miracle in his hometown.

A single dad, he quits his job and takes Emma, his ten year old daughter, back to Snow, the sometimes magical coal mining town in the hills of western Pennsylvania.

In addition to helping his aunt at the bakery, Ryan reconnects with a group of friends he’s known all his life as they struggle with the controversy for more efficient energy – coal versus wind – hard to do in a coal mining town.

As autumn turns to winter, Emma explores the secrets of Snow with her new friend, Charlie. When they discover an old man, new to town, remodeling the toy store, they set out to prove he’s Santa Clause.

Always Believe is a heartwarming story with all the enchantment of the holiday – a small town with stores like the Snickerdoodle Bakery and Wonderland Bookstore, a snow festival and children’s Christmas pageant, a touch of romance, and of course, a miracle or two.



Chantilly Morrison is set to launch Chantilly Frost, a new cosmetics line, by holding a “Dear Santa” contest to make women’s fantas

ies come true. But because of an error in the ad copy, she’s inundated with letters from children, whose scribbled wishes tug at her heart. She hires an investigator to find the letter writers so she can throw a huge Christmas party and make the children’s fantasies come true.

AJ Anderson can find the unfindable, whether it’s lost artifacts or people, and he’s very good at his job. But when Chanti dumps hundreds of letters in his lap with the directive to find the children-- before Christmas Eve-- he knows the request is impossible, but the woman is irresistible.

Should he use his skills to make her Christmas wish come true, or can he use the count down to Christmas to find the key that unlocks the lady’s heart?




 Stacy Martin, who has been married three times and had many relationships, doesn’t want a man in her life right now but her friends have other ideas. As a forty-ninth birthday present they pay for her to join three dating sites on the Internet. She just has to fill out the forms and pick the men she wants to meet. The only stipulation is that she must find a man by Christmas Eve so that the two of them can join Kate, one of her friends, and her boyfriend in Hawaii for New Year’s Eve.

“All you have to do is pick twelve men to date in December,” Kate said. “After the first date you can decide if you want to see each again. In the end you should be able to choose one for our Hawaii trip.”

Stacy has a full life with owning a flight attendant school, owning a rental condo, and owning a cat. Will she choose a man from a dating site, the man who has accused her female renters of being prostitutes, or a stranger she meets as he is leaving the rental condo building?







Angel has a job to do—leave heaven and fix Clark Lannigan’s life, teaching him to live again, and to love. But how can she succeed when Clark is living a life surrounded by so much guilt that he’s too afraid to let go.


Then there’s Angel Rule 750.2, paragraph A, no canoodling with the client. Oops she’s broken that, and now she’s fallen in love with him. So what does an angel do?

She sets him ten tasks, but neither of them want to obey rule number ten….NO KISSING

“To Kiss An Angel is a cute, humorous holiday treat. Filled with sass and wit, you will enjoy Clark and Angel’s story. This is a great gift for yourself or a friend anytime of the year you would like a bit of sweet treat.” ~ Matilda, Reviewer for Coffee Time Romance & More



It’s the first day of December, snow is in the air and Gracie Singleton Saylor is shopping for a Christmas tree, when she runs smack into Merett Bradmoore, her High School hero and his seven-year-old daughter.

Seeing he’s not the happy-go-lucky guy he used to be, she’s determined to restore the gift of optimism he gave her fifteen years ago. But can she return his hope without losing her own?

Enter the zoning board, an old enemy and the personal problems of Gracie’s two sister, Hope and Faith. Mix in a mischievous cat named Spook, a huge furry mutt named Dumbell, and a spirit named Mirabelle who’s looking for her lost love, and you wonder – can holiday magic triumph?






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