It’s a New Year, and time to get down to research!

Just before Christmas I received a thank you email from Barbara and Bethany Lincoln who’d come across some of my research articles while working on a school project. I’m delighted that they found the information useful!

Like all generous Regency researchers, they shared a useful resource they’d found: https://www.lulus.com/blog/resources/regency-era-fashion-history-culture-and-lifestyle/

Lulus has a webpage devoted to the Regency era. I would never have expected this sort of link from a fashion retailer!

Thank you for sharing it, Barbara and Bethany!

People of Color in the Regency

Diversity is very much a topic among authors nowadays, and not just among authors of contemporary fiction.

One contemporary romance author I know opined that historical romance authors choose that genre to write in order to avoid dealing with diversity issues.

Not true! Obviously this is someone who doesn’t read historical romance. Most of us are interested to learn more of the nitty-gritty details of the people and conflicts of an era. When it comes to people of color, this can be difficult to do without good resources. So I was happy when author Vanessa Riley shared her website link and her research on Black People in the Regency. https://vanessariley.com/blackpeople.php  And, btw, this is just one page on her website. She offers more links and opportunities to dive deeper into the era.

What I’m reading, or planning to read (for research)

I’ve picked up a couple of new, well-reviewed history books:

The British in India, A Social History of the Raj

I’ve been mulling over a plot that involves connections to India. This new book by David Gilmour provides an amazing amount of interesting detail about the British in India.

The Scottish Clearances, A History of the Dispossessed

Scotland has piqued my interest because I’m writing a Christmas story set there. The impact of the Scottish Clearances was a plot element in Lizzie Tremayne’s story, Somewhere Like Home, in the Bluestocking Belles holiday boxed set, Follow Your Star Home. And so, when I saw a glowing review of this new book by T.M. Devine, I decided to go for it. I used a Christmas gift card to purchase it, and it hasn’t arrived yet, darn it!

Voices of the French Revolution, by Richard Cobb

I have another story idea involving the French Revolution. While there are out-of-copyright books available as pdfs from Google (look for Reign of Terror) I always prefer research books that I can hold in my hands and flip through. This is another gift card purchase that hasn’t arrived yet.

Do you have any resources to recommend? 

Send them my way in the comments, and thank you in advance!

Image Credit: Depositphotos.com, Amazon book pages