A Jo Beverley Newsletter

[Jobev]

Hello,

We're in our new house and enjoying the lovely view over the bay
toward Exmouth, but moving and finishing A Scandalous Countess has
eaten a lot of time. It's a bit scary that the end of 2011 is in sight
when it seems only a little time since I was enjoying January in the
warmth of Southern Spain.

Though there's a lot of turmoil in the world, I hope 2011 has been
good to you.

I've had a lot of reissues out this year, which you can check out
here.
http://www.jobev.com/recent.html

The last is out now -- An Unwilling Bride, which is book 2 of the
Company of Rogues series. That also feels odd to me. Was it really 20
years ago that I wrote that book? How strange that then I had no idea
about the storylines for the other Rogues, and especially not the way
the seeds planted in An Arranged Marriage and An Unwilling Bride would
grow over the next 15 years until brought to an end in To Rescue a
Rogue.

If you're unsure of the details of the series, you can find out more
here.
http://www.jobev.com/reghist.html

I don't suppose it's a spoiler for any of my readers that in An
Unwilling Bride Lord Darius Debenham was reported dead at Waterloo.
That event and the reaction of the Rogues back home is part of a blog
I posted yesterday at the Word Wenches because there is an interesting
link between the novel, the quote, and the sad events of 9/11, brought
together by the coincidence of An Unwilling Bride being reissued
almost on the 10th anniversary.

You can read that blog here.
http://wordwenches.typepad.com/word_wenches/2011/09/threads-through-time.html

There are a couple of events coming up that might be of interest.

In October the anthology Jane Austen Made Me Do it will be published,
and I have a story in it. It's an expansion and reworking of a story I
had on line for a while called Jane Austen and the Mistletoe Kiss, so
Jane really does make it happen.

Do you live in the UK?
In particular, close to London? On October 8th I'll be attending a
special day for Regency Readers which promises to be lots of fun, with
talks, Regency games and dancing, and guiided walks of parts of
Regency London. If you're interested, sign up quickly as places are
limited.
http://www.romanticnovelistsassociation.org/index.php/activities/event/rna_regency_readers_day.

You may be interested in some videos of Regency dancing.
As you'll see there's not a lot of opportunity for conversation, On
the other hand, in most such dances the dancers move around from
person to person, so plenty of opportunity to flirt with men other
than your partner!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCtkiWBR2GI&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgCcc6uzamg&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJOsft5Wi5s

The stately minuet was more popular in the 18th century, but still
used as a formal opening to a ball in the Regency.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doJ9bphxxKU

This is a rather fanciful version of the minuet a deux which Lucien
and Beth dance at their wedding ball -- in Regency costume, of course!
This version is for a couple dancing alone as a kind of performance
which was usually followed by a group minuet above.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ik1b4jH9Rk8.

All best wishes,

Jo