Showing posts with label Facebook. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Facebook. Show all posts
Sunday, 14 February 2021
Saturday, 28 November 2020
Tuesday, 4 August 2020
Saturday, 1 August 2020
Introducing…the Bronte’s Mistress Blog Tour!
It’s August! That means it’s finally release month for my debut historical novel, Bronte’s Mistress, which will be published by Atria Books on August 4! I’d love to see you all at my virtual launch event at Strand Book Store, NYC, which will be the night before on August 3 (register here). And, if you love the Victorian period as much as me, please consider ordering Bronte’s Mistress in hardcover, audiobook, or e-book now.
As a blogger who’s shared my passion for nineteenth-century literature and culture with you here for the last seven years, I’m especially excited to use this post to announce the Bronte’s Mistress Blog Tour, which will be running from August 3 to August 16.
What does this mean? Two weeks of great content as popular blogs and websites specialising in historical fiction, historical romance, and women’s fiction feature guest blogs and interviews with me, and excerpts from/reviews of my novel. The tour is being organised by Laurel Ann Nattress of Austenprose and I’m looking forward to all the stops!
Think of this blog post as the blog tour contents page. Each day throughout the tour, I’ll update the list below with links to the newly published pieces.
Before the official launch of the tour, Austenprose published an exclusive preview of Bronte’s Mistress
A guest blog by me on 10 fascinating facts I learned about the Brontes while researching Bronte's Mistress
A Q&A with me about my main character Lydia Robinson, her parenting choices, and the Bronte siblings’ demons
A review of Bronte’s Mistress
A review of Bronte’s Mistress
Aug 4 – Best Historical Fiction
A review of Bronte’s Mistress
Aug 5 – English Historical Fiction Authors
A guest blog by me on the villages of Great and Little Ouseburn—the forgotten stops on the Bronte trail
Aug 6 – Historical Fiction Reader
A review of Bronte’s Mistress
A review of Bronte’s Mistress
A review of Bronte’s Mistress
An excerpt from Chapter Three of Bronte’s Mistress
A review of Bronte’s Mistress
I’m interviewed by fellow historical novelist Elizabeth Kerri Mahon
Aug 10 – Historical Fiction with Spirit
A review of Bronte’s Mistress
A review of Bronte’s Mistress
Aug 11 – A Bookish Way of Life
A review of Bronte’s Mistress
Aug 12 – Chicks, Rogues and Scandals
A review of Bronte’s Mistress
A review of Bronte’s Mistress
Aug 12 – Historical Fiction Reader
A Q&A with me, including who I would cast in a Bronte's Mistress movie...
An excerpt from Chapter Five of Bronte’s Mistress
Aug 14 – Silver Petticoat Review
A guest blog by me on the “Victorian Mrs Robinson”
A review of Bronte’s Mistress
Aug 16 – Probably at the Library
A review of Bronte’s Mistress
I hope you enjoy the tour! And if you pre-ordered Bronte’s Mistress, thank you so much. I hope you love it. If you did, please review the novel on Goodreads and Amazon, and spread the word. You can also connect with me on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
If you’d like to win a signed hardcover copy of Bronte’s Mistress, sign up to receive my email newsletter below. If you’re already subscribed, or if you sign up in August 2020, you’ll be in with a chance of winning one of three signed copies (open internationally). Winners contacted September 1.
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Monday, 8 September 2014
Review: What’s Bred in the Bone, Grant Allen (1891)
Last week one of my Facebook fans recommended I read perhaps
the craziest nineteenth-century novel I’ve ever come across –Grant Allen’s 1891
What’s Bred in the Bone. If you’re
after a novel with identical twin heroes who get toothache simultaneously, a
heroine who struggles to overcome an overwhelming desire to dance with snakes
(or feather boas), murder, illegitimacy and a rather morally dubious spell of
diamond-hunting in South Africa, (after all who isn’t?!) then this one’s definitely
for you. Thanks for the recommendation, Brian!
 | |
| The Snake-Charmer, John Evan Hodgson |
For general readers:
Allen wrote this novel as a competition entry and it’s not difficult to see why
he beat 20,000 other entries to pocket the sizeable £1,000 prize money. What’s Bred in the Bone is ridiculous but also ridiculously fun,
and well-written enough to be incredibly readable. The novel isn’t one which
leaves readers guessing – it’s apparent to us immediately who the father of the
Waring twins must be and, later in the novel, that neither of them is responsible
for murder – but it is difficult to guess exactly how everything will work out,
especially as the odds mount against the ‘good’ characters. The plot is well
thought through (if coincidence-laden), although the central moral – that the
pedigree of your breeding will shine through in your actions – may seem a
little unsavoury. The ending ties everything together nicely, although I was
left with a few important questions. How is Elma an abbreviation of Esmeralda? Did
Gilbert Gildersleeve QC ever see his wife do the crazy snake dance? And did
Cyril get rid of his snake?!
For students: I
think this is definitely one to throw into an essay to impress and amuse your
lecturers. What’s Bred in the Bone is interesting in its
treatment of criminal justice, Africa and the diamond trade, foreign blood (described
as Romanian, gypsy and Oriental), and railway accidents (of which there is a particularly
dramatic example in the opening pages). The importance of marital records, level
of detail as regards transportation times and written correspondence and trial
scene also link the novel to many of the tropes of sensation fiction.
Canadian born Grant Allen is largely under-studied today,
apart from his 1895 novel The Woman Who
Did (an example of New Woman literature), and What’s Bred in the Bone would be a lively example of some of his
lesser-known work. Allen’s prominence as a scientific writer and proponent of
evolution is also a notable context for the rather more dubious scientific claims
made at times in the novel, which could merit from further study.
Have you read any Grant Allen? Do you know of an even stranger nineteenth-century novel you’d love the Secret Victorianist to review? Let me know – here, on Facebook or by tweeting @SVictorianist!
Friday, 12 July 2013
A 19th Centurist Joins the 21st Century!
The Secret Victorianist now has a Facebook page! Find me here.
Like the page to keep up to date with new blog posts and
more.
Or you can follow me, as always, on Twitter @SVictorianist.
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