Cari Hislop's Blog, page 4

A Regency Haunting…

What better subject for All Hallow’s Eve than a real Regency murder/ghost story? The following comes from a book titled ‘Haunted Inns’ by Marc Alexander (haunted English inns - published in 1973).
The Voyeur and The Sun.
If you have visited Holland and enjoyed the small canal-side villages, you will recognise something of the same atmosphere at [...]

Singing A Songwriter…

My little brother Jason has entered a singer/songwriter contest on line (with a seriously great prize - which I of course think he deserves - though I am admittedly biased). The first round is judged solely by how many different people listen to the whole song. He only discovered the contest a month in so [...]

Book review: Lady Susan by Jane Austen

Jane Austen wasn’t a woman who lived life wrapped in tissue paper. Sex, scandals, thoughtless abusive parents; these things weren’t just subjects of salacious prints, they were realities.
Frances Wilson (the author of a biography on Regency courtesan, Harriet Wilson) revealed in her book (The Courtesan’s Revenge) that Jane actually mentioned the very young Harriet in [...]

A Contest for Jane Austen Fans…winners chosen!

Sadly, the contest is over and the winners chosen (the necklace won by Coleen, the Scarf by someone known as Jo’s Daughter, and the ring was won by Heather). Congratulations to all the winners! The contest centered around the 1995 BBC version of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice (the one with Colin Firth as Darcy). [...]

A Contest for Jane Austen Fans…enter today to be in the draw!

Have you (like me) watched the 1995 BBC version of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice (the one with Colin Firth as Darcy) too many times to count? Then here is a contest for you! The singer-songwriter Jasmine Kyle (a devoted Janeite) has gathered together three fantastic prizes to give away…
Three lucky people will win (along [...]

A Contest for Jane Austen Fans…

Have you (like me) watched the 1995 BBC version of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice (the one with Colin Firth as Darcy) too many times to count? Then here is a contest for you! The singer-songwriter Jasmine Kyle (a devoted Janeite) has gathered together three fantastic prizes to give away…
Three lucky people will win (along [...]

Health update…

I apologise for my sparse blogging. In mid March I went to the doctors with a number of symptoms. The blood tests revealed an over active thyroid (which is an auto immune disorder). That’s the one where you die if you don’t take medication to sort it out. After a month I heard back from [...]

Regency Vampires…

I’ve never been a great vampire lover (though I did enjoy Buffy the Vampire Slayer after Spike became the leading man). I’ve long assumed that Bram Stoker’s vampire was based on Lord Byron’s creation (the story he started that same stormy week Frankenstein burst to life in Mary Shelley’s brain). It turns out, the short [...]

Book Review: A Garden Folly

Since finishing Dancing the Maypole, I’ve been gorging on other people’s stories. I’ve impulsively ordered quite a few books in various genres. My favorite novel out of the pile would have to be A Garden Folly by Candice Hern. I’d never read her before, though I’d seen her books on Amazon. Over the decades I’ve [...]

Icy shadows…

Last week the sun came out so even though a Siberian wind was chilling England I bundled up and went for a walk. I think I overdid it, but it was lovely to escape the house. I found some interesting photographs in the shadows on the frozen ditch water. The light shimmered through the hedgerow [...]