strange and random happenstance

Fire and Blood by George R.R. Martin
Published by: Bantam
Publication Date: November 20th, 2018
Format: Hardcover, 736 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The thrilling history of the Targaryens comes to life in this masterly work by the author of A Song of Ice and Fire, the inspiration for HBO’s Game of Thrones.

Centuries before the events of A Game of Thrones, House Targaryen—the only family of dragonlords to survive the Doom of Valyria—took up residence on Dragonstone. Fire and Blood begins their tale with the legendary Aegon the Conqueror, creator of the Iron Throne, and goes on to recount the generations of Targaryens who fought to hold that iconic seat, all the way up to the civil war that nearly tore their dynasty apart.

What really happened during the Dance of the Dragons? Why was it so deadly to visit Valyria after the Doom? What were Maegor the Cruel’s worst crimes? What was it like in Westeros when dragons ruled the skies? These are but a few of the questions answered in this essential chronicle, as related by a learned maester of the Citadel and featuring more than eighty all-new black-and-white illustrations by artist Doug Wheatley. Readers have glimpsed small parts of this narrative in such volumes as The World of Ice and Fire, but now, for the first time, the full tapestry of Targaryen history is revealed.

With all the scope and grandeur of Gibbon’s The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Fire and Blood is the the first volume of the definitive two-part history of the Targaryens, giving readers a whole new appreciation for the dynamic, often bloody, and always fascinating history of Westeros."

No. This isn't the GRRM book you've been waiting for. Yes it's in Westros. Yes there are Targaryens. No this isn't the book.

The Dark Days Deceit by Alison Goodman
Published by: Viking Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: November 20th, 2018
Format: Hardcover, 544 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The thrilling, genre-bending conclusion to Lady Helen's demon-hunting adventures, set in the glittering Regency world.

Lady Helen has retreated to a country estate outside Bath to prepare for her wedding to the Duke of Selburn, yet she knows she has unfinished business to complete. She and the dangerously charismatic Lord Carlston have learned they are a dyad, bonded in blood, and only they are strong enough to defeat the Grand Deceiver, who threatens to throw mankind into chaos. But the heinous death-soaked Ligatus Helen has absorbed is tearing a rift in her mind. Its power, if unleashed, will annihilate both Helen and Carlston unless they can find a way to harness its ghastly force and defeat their enemy.

In the final book of the trilogy that began with The Dark Days Club and continued with The Dark Days Pact, the intrepid Lady Helen's story hurtles to a shocking conclusion full of action, heartbreak, and betrayal."

Hint, this series might just be a part of Regency Magic next year...

The Secret Witch by Alyxandra Harvey
Published by: Open Road Media Teen and Tween
Publication Date: November 20th, 2018
Format: Kindle, 403 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"For Emma and her cousins Gretchen and Penelope, the stuffiness of 1814 London society is simply unbearable - even as Emma wishes the roguish Cormac Fairfax would pay her any kind of attention.

But that all changes when Emma accidentally breaks a glass memento left to her by her mother. Suddenly, all three young women find themselves gifted with powers of witchcraft - and they will most certainly need them.

For they have unwittingly unleashed a scourge upon London: an evil coven whose powerful members gain their strength from killing young witches.

And Emma has just caught their very unwanted attention..."

The Witches of London Trilogy is all available today, this being the first book, and they just might feature in a future Regency Magic...

Master of His Fate by Barbara Taylor Bradford
Published by: St. Martin's Press
Publication Date: November 20th, 2018
Format: Hardcover, 416 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From #1 New York Times bestselling author Barbara Taylor Bradford comes the first book in a stunning new historical saga.

Victorian England is a country of sharp divides between rich and poor, but James Lionel Falconer, who spends his days working at his father’s market stall, is determined to become a merchant prince. Even as a child, he is everything a self-made man should be: handsome, ambitious, charming, and brimming with self-confidence. James quickly rises through the ranks, proving himself both hardworking and trustworthy, and catching the eye of Henry Malvern, head of the most prestigious shipping company in London. But when threats against his reputation – and his life - begin to emerge, James will have to prove that he truly is the master of his fate.

Through scandal and romance, tragedy and triumph, the Falconer and Malvern family’s lives intertwine in unexpected ways in this expansive and intricately detailed new novel filled with drama, intrigue, and Bradford's trademark cast of compelling characters."

A new series! Let's hope this means she's going to leave those poor Cavendons alone now...

Lies Sleeping by Ben Aaronovitch
Published by: DAW
Publication Date: November 20th, 2018
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The seventh book of the bestselling Rivers of London urban fantasy series returns to the adventures of Peter Grant, detective and apprentice wizard, as he solves magical crimes in the city of London.

The Faceless Man, wanted for multiple counts of murder, fraud, and crimes against humanity, has been unmasked and is on the run. Peter Grant, Detective Constable and apprentice wizard, now plays a key role in an unprecedented joint operation to bring him to justice.

But even as the unwieldy might of the Metropolitan Police bears down on its foe, Peter uncovers clues that the Faceless Man, far from being finished, is executing the final stages of a long term plan. A plan that has its roots in London's two thousand bloody years of history, and could literally bring the city to its knees.

To save his beloved city Peter's going to need help from his former best friend and colleague - Lesley May--who brutally betrayed him and everything he thought she believed in. And, far worse, he might even have to come to terms with the malevolent supernatural killer and agent of chaos known as Mr Punch...."

Seven books and still going strong! 

His Royal Dogness, Guy the Beagle by Guy the Beagle
Published by: Simon and Schuster
Publication Date: November 20th, 2018
Format: Hardcover, 48 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"“Sit...Stay...Enjoy! Good reader!” —Stephen Colbert

The hilarious, heartwarming, and rebarkable true story of Guy the Beagle, Duchess Meghan Markle’s rescue dog.

Like all good stories, Guy the Beagle’s begins lost in the woods of Kentucky. But his fortunes change when he’s rescued by none other than Princess…er, Duchess-to-be Meghan Markle. Practically overnight, Guy goes from wags to riches. But does this backwoods beagle have what it takes to be welcomed into the royal family?

For the first time ever, Guy reveals how he went from pawper to proper, with help from Emmy award-winning writer and producer of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert Mike Brumm and publishing veteran (and devoted Anglophile) Camille March, beautifully illustrated by EG Keller (illustrator of the New York Times bestselling A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo). Guy’s story of finding acceptance in an exceptional family will have readers of all ages barking with laughter."

This team!?! Damn, they sure are giving Guy the Royal treatment! Can not wait! I'm more excited for this than I was the Royal Wedding!

Art Matters by Neil Gaiman
Published by: William Morrow
Publication Date: November 20th, 2018
Format: Hardcover, 112 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A stunning and timely creative call-to-arms combining four extraordinary written pieces by Neil Gaiman illustrated with the striking four-color artwork of Chris Riddell.

“The world always seems brighter when you’ve just made something that wasn’t there before.”—Neil Gaiman

Drawn from Gaiman’s trove of published speeches, poems, and creative manifestos, Art Matters is an embodiment of this remarkable multi-media artist’s vision—an exploration of how reading, imagining, and creating can transform the world and our lives.

Art Matters bring together four of Gaiman’s most beloved writings on creativity and artistry:

• “Credo,” his remarkably concise and relevant manifesto on free expression, first delivered in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo shootings
• “Make Good Art,” his famous 2012 commencement address delivered at the Philadelphia University of the Arts
• “Making a Chair,” a poem about the joys of creating something, even when words won’t come
• “On Libraries,” an impassioned argument for libraries that illuminates their importance to our future and celebrates how they foster readers and daydreamers

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Alison Goodman, Alyxandra Harvey, Anglophile, Art Matters, Barbara Taylor Bradford, Ben Aaronovitch, Dogs, Fire and Blood, GRRM, Lies Sleeping, Neil Gaiman, Regency Magic, Rivers of London, Royalty

Behind the Shattered Glass by Tasha Alexander
Published by: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: October 15th, 2013
Format: Hardcover, 272 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy

Emily and Colin are rusticating and recuperating at Colin's ancestral home Anglemore Park in Derbyshire after the birth of their twins. Aside from a few staffing issues involving their ward Tom their calm is only strained by the continued presence of Emily's mother, Lady Catherine Bromley, and her opinions on child rearing. After another torturous night en famille the calm is finally shattered when a man staggers through the French doors and drops down dead on the Axminster. Thanks to Lady Bromley's obsession with the aristocracy she quickly identifies the victim as the new Marquess of Montagu, Archibald Scolfield, who just happens to be Emily and Colin's neighbor. Emily rushes to Montagu Manor to deliver the tragic news to Archibald's cousin and Emily's acquaintance Matilda who is holding a party for her now deceased cousin. But could Matilda have had a motive for killing Archibald? She inherited all her grandfather's money but the title and the ancestral seat went to Archibald. Could this have strained their cordial relationship? Once Colin convinces the police to let him handle the investigation he vows they will get to the bottom of this crime.

As Emily and Colin dig into Archibald's life his character isn't as upstanding as one would assume. He had two fiancees, one an American buccaneer, Miss Sturdevant, the other the daughter of the local vicar, Miss Cora Fitzgerald. His rapacious attitude toward women might have been the reason for a scandal at Oxford. He ruined his best friend, Mr. Porter, with plagiarism accusations after they toured the continent together. And as for Matilda, who thought she was next in line for the title, in walks Rodney, the heir apparent, a treasure hunter who might be from the wrong side of the sheets. With everyone having a motive and more than a few of them lying Emily and Colin have their job cut out for them. And while they are trying to come to grips with this horrendous crime they have romance blooming under their own roof as their house guest, Simon Lancaster, Earl Flyte, seems to have fallen for their housemaid Lily. Things are precarious enough with a murderer on the loose but a romance crossing classes might be the final straw for everyone.

Every Anglophile of a certain age can trace the origins of their affliction to PBS airing Upstairs, Downstairs in the 1970s. I myself am a second generation sufferer with my parents indoctrinating me throughout my childhood until the whole series became available on DVD and the binge watching commenced. In fact I'd go so far as to say that Downton Abbey succeeded because it tapped into this need of American Anglophiles to root for the denizens of a grand manor house from both sides of the baize door. Behind the Shattered Glass is a break, pun intended, from Tasha's other Lady Emily books in that her secondary story isn't letters, diaries, or correspondence, but a view behind the baize door. We are seeing Emily and Colin from the POV of the servants. But more than that we are a party to their trials and tribulations, their loves and their animosities, we are finally seeing Cook in the kitchen instead of her sending up a menu. Davis the butler isn't just proffering port he's holding court in his chambers. There is just so much more that happens in houses of this period that for the first time in this series we're getting a complete picture instead of just a view upstairs.

While I have seen a few reviews critical of this installment saying the narrative is constricted I would like to firmly refute that by saying a more focused narrative doesn't mean a more constricted narrative. Just look to Gosford Park! A long weekend, a murder, and all the suspects available to us which is the bedrock of so many British mysteries and is a movie I could watch again and again. And much like Gosford Park, Behind the Shattered Glass shines a light on the issues that arise when those from the two different levels of the house interact. This is a powerful book to read in the #MeToo movement because it deals with many facets of consent. Not just sexual consent, though that is the core of this book not just with Archibald Scolfield's predilections when he is away from home, but the burgeoning relationship between Simon and Lily and how they navigate a relationship when one member is viewed as having all the power. But also consent to access someone's personal space. I know Lady Emily is involved in a dire investigation when she searches the servants rooms, but at the same time, it sat badly with me. She was wielding her power over her servants and not being the enlightened employer, showing that even Emily can occasionally stumble.

Which brings everything back to Colin's argument against aristocracy and why he keeps refusing to accept a title from the Queen. Who is anyone to set themselves up as better than their fellow man? Just because they treat their servants well at Anglemore doesn't mean that these people should be stuck being servants forever. There's almost this idolatry going on at Anglemore where all the servants drank the Kool-Aid and just love their work making everything perfect for their masters. What's more they view them as their betters! Hard, physical labor, and yet they love it because they are given basic humane conditions in which to live? This here is showing how the class system really started to fall apart and how the era of the grand country houses would implode. This era needed to end because it wasn't glorious or wonderful, it was hard work that for some is soul crushing. Just look to kitchen maid Prudence! She is miserable and I think she more accurately depicts what life was truly like downstairs. You are cut off from family and friends and work so that others can just live the idle life. Yes, this might be harsh on Lady Emily and the dream of Downton Abbey, but it's the truth!

Which brings me back to Pru. I literally spent the entire book hating her, because there's always that one servant that you hate, hello Thomas Barrow, meet your new BFF since O'Brien fled the coop, Pru! Though I doubt Thomas would talk to her, a kitchen maid being so far below a footman... But there it is, Pru is our Thomas, we are meant to hate her, yet by the end you see her more fully, more clearly, and pity should be your only feeling. She is what the class system made her. For comparison, whenever someone asks me "why are you angry" I think, hang on, I wasn't angry until you insinuated I was and therefore you made me what you thought of me. Pru has been made to be bitter and spiteful! So going back to those critics who call Behind the Shattered Glass constricted, no, it's not, it's you who have a constricted mind. You are unable to see how Tasha is exploring all these different angles of what it means to be a servant and what it means to be a master and how there's not just a symbiotic relationship there but a duty of care, actually in both directions. To say a book that is grappling with all these rather weighty issues isn't dealing with enough I just think you, whomever you are, need to open your mind.

But in today's America a closed mind is more common than an open one and we women, well, we are facing some scary realities. Our rights are in peril so it's nice to look back on historical context and precedent and think, at least we got from there to here so if we have to keep fighting we can. Also, please, go out and vote next week! Back to the book... it's interesting to see historical precedent which occasionally favors women. Because titles going down the male line is total BS. With Matilda it makes sense that she would want her family's title, not just because she was closest to her grandfather, but because she is for women's suffrage. She's Lady Emily on speed. She's throwing bricks and taking names versus trying to gently persuade. So much of this book is showing that change was needed and change was coming but it needed people like Matilda and Emily and Lily and even Pru for that change to happen. A man isn't always right and a patriarchy isn't always the right way. An episode of Magnum, P.I. I was watching the other day had a bumper sticker that said "The right man for the job is a wo-man." Now, I'm not going all militant feminist here, all I want is equality. Therefore can we hear it for Marchioness Matilda? Even if Queen Victoria wouldn't agree.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: #MeToo, Alexander Autumn, Anglophile, Aristocracy, Behind the Shattered Glass, Consent, Downton Abbey, Gosford Park, Magnum P.I., Murder, Patriarchy, Servants, Tasha Alexander, Thomas Barrow, Upstairs Downstairs

I don't remember when I finally bought The Secret History of the Pink Carnation. I had seen it on the front table of Borders for so long that I eventually was worn down by sheer exposure. I might not remember when I bought it, but when I first read it is forever ingrained on my memory. Think how often a book becomes entwined with the memory of first reading that book. The two become inseparable and that is where my cat comes in. Spot has been gone quite a few years now, he lived to the grand old age of twenty-two and I think in human terms that made him a crotchety dowager duchess whose will was law. If he had only know that certain dowager duchesses had palanquins to carry them about I think he would have put in an order for one. But as you can see from the picture above, at least he was an Anglophile through and through. If there was a chaise and four in a miniseries he would get worked up planing how to kill and eat the four horses. Yes, there were chittering sounds and many incidents of him actually attacking the TV. To get back to the time of this particular story...

At this time Spot was a spry nineteen year old going on twenty, and yes, when he was younger I did sing songs to him from The Sound of Music around his birthday. He had a bad tooth removed and there were complications which resulted in him having some surgery. For a few months he required round the clock supervision. In pure cat logic, instead of wanting to sleep in his comfy bed which was next to the couch, or on my lap, he decided that the faux British manhole cover doormat in the pantry was to be his new home. Therefore the uncomfortable floor next to said manhole cover became my new reading spot. But it was a magical reading spot. Because sitting there, protecting my cat, I fell into the world Lauren created with the Pink Carnation. I quickly devoured the first book and ran out to get The Masque of the Black Tulip. Followed very quickly by The Deception of the Emerald Ring. Quite shortly after that I started hitting up my publishing connections for an ARC of The Seduction of the Crimson Rose. No matter how many times I have read these initial volumes I always think of that first time. Uncomfortable on a cold vinyl floor, but surrounded by the love of my cat and a great story. If it wasn't for Lauren's books I wouldn't have this precious memory of time spent with my best friend who left me too soon. I will always be grateful to Lauren for this.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 1 comments  

Labels: An August Adieu, Anglophile, British, Cats, Spot, The Deception of the Emerald Ring, The Masque of the Black Tulip, The Secret History of the Pink Carnation, The Sound of Music

Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
Published by: Back Bay Books
Publication Date: 1945
Format: Paperback, 351 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)

"If it could only be like this always – always summer, always alone, the fruit always ripe and Aloysius in a good temper." 

Vomiting through a window doesn't seem like the most promising start to a friendship, yet that is how Charles Ryder first meets a rather inebriated Sebastian Flyte. Charles is swept up in Sebastian's wake of luxury, decadence, eccentricities, and alcohol vapors. Throwing off his rather mundane life, Charles is wooed by the world of privilege that Sebastian belongs to. Charles falls not just for this sot with a teddy bear, but for his whole life; the family, the house, everything. Looking back on those halcyon days while mired in the WW II, Charles lovingly thinks of the world that has been lost forever. Yet Charles lost entre into that world earlier then the announcement on the wireless that England is at war. His love affair with the Flytes had soured over the years, moving from Sebastian to his sister Julia, Charles took whatever he could of this family, but it the end, it was something deep in the family that made certain he was never one of them, and never could be.

Before I became an avid reader Brideshead Revisited was one of those books that my father kept saying I had to read. I won't say that it's his favorite book, because the author is Evelyn Waugh and not Sherwood Anderson and the book's title isn't Winesburg Ohio, but Brideshead Revisited is firmly in place as one of his favorite books. Much like this little old lady I met at a Rembrandt show in New York who was insistent on how memorable his work would be when seen in it's original setting (ie Amsterdam), my Dad has the same tenacity and insistence of how the language of Brideshead Revisited would capture me and not let me go. Many conversations with him start "I remember how the language captured me the fist time I read..." insert any of his favorite classic books here, usually Jude the Obscure, but for this instance, Brideshead Revisited. Though, for Brideshead Revisited the refrain is more "when Lord Marchmain comes home to die..." or anything to do with Edward Ryder, Charles's father. Still, despite the copious copies of the book laying about the house, I just didn't pick it up.

When I started to hone myself into the Anglophile that I am today I watched as many miniseries as I could lay my hands to, and Brideshead Revisited finally entered into my life officially in at least one form. At this point my father had already worn out his old VHS copy and for his birthday I had upgraded him to the DVD set which I now watched. Brideshead Revisited is literally THE definition of a miniseries, and it set the standard for what we expect in our miniseries today. Mainly it was the first to be shot entirely on location. I loved all the houses and scenery, and Anthony Andrews, such a perfect actor, as are every other actor save one, I didn't love Jeremy Irons. There's something about Jeremy Irons that bothers me. He has a wonderful voice, but I think his voice has led people to ignore the fact that he seriously can't act. I am 100% anti-Jeremy Irons. So watching the miniseries all I could think was, ok, I've had enough of this for quite awhile now (except the John Gielgud lunch scene, that can NEVER be watched enough), I don't think I'll read the book right now... and so, until this month, I had never realized how right my father was in this instance.

Evelyn Waugh's writing is like a palate cleanser, everything that you read before was lugubrious and everything that you read after is sub par. Brideshead Revisited shows how fast a book that is well written goes. Time disappears, the words just flow, except for the occasional drunken tumble over a word or phrase that is now out of it's time. The lunch between Anthony Blanche and Charles, where Anthony dominates the conversation, felt just as if you were sitting opposite him in that restaurant and were being overwhelmed by his torrent of words and your inability to get a word in edgewise, a sensation that I am sure we have all experienced with certain of our own friends and were vividly reliving while reading this passage. And even while I didn't necessarily like or relate to any of the characters, the language usage is so lush that you can't help but agree with the little quote on the cover that calls the book "[h]eartbreakingly beautiful... The 20th century's finest English novel." To write a story that is so of it's time and so unrelatable to a certain extent, yet to have it forge a connection with me, well that is wondrous writing.

Even if the world of the novel is unrelatable to a certain extent, except in our daydreams, it's the themes of the book we relate to. Waugh wrote this book looking back on a golden age that was gone, destroyed by war and an ever changing world. The Flytes embody this full stop. They lived at the height of decadence but look what happens to them. Their world ends and they are literally a dead end gene pool. Look to the four Flyte children, Brideshead has married a woman too old to bear children, Julia is living apart from her husband and due to her previous miscarriage on top of the fact a reconciliation is unlikely she will never have a child, Cordelia lives as a nun, and well, Sebastian, even if he wasn't homosexual, he's basically living a monastic life now. They are the world that has come to an end, so it is only right that they too have come to an end. This mourning for what is lost and can not be had again, their youth, this golden age, this innocence... the light snuffed out on the bright young things is the spine of this book. The world keeps turning, and while the story of the Flytes is a bit fatalist, we can relate to the loss, because as we age and move on we lose all the time.

Now I do have to address one thing. The Catholic question. Does it really matter? Yes and no. While I do find it ironic that a catholic wrote what might be the most anti-catholic book out there, the religion aspect is more a signifier then an actual physical thing. We are like Charles Ryder, we are on the outside looking in at this world of popery that we don't quite understand, even if some of us were even raised Catholics. But I really think that it's not a question of religion, but more a symbol of something in your life that you don't necessarily want but still you need it and it is all consuming to your detriment. So am I basically saying that Catholicism is a form of addiction like Sebastian's drinking? Now that I think on it, yes I am... Now I'm not saying that it is like this for anyone other then the Flyte's, but their relationship with God is unhealthy and not only brings down their lives but takes away their happiness and fills it with guilt and remorse. It's this dogged insistence that they stick to the old ways that links back into the fact that their time on earth is done. We must adapt in order to survive. At least Waugh was able to give us this loving eulogy to a world now lost.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Alcohol, Aloysius, Anglophile, Anthony Blanche, Brideshead, Brideshead Revisited, Catholic, Downton Denial, Downtonesque, Evelyn Waugh, Jude the Obscure, Oxford, Sebastian Flyte, Sherwood Anderson, Winesburg Ohio

For those of us colonials who got to catch the new version of Upstairs, Downstairs that aired over the past few nights in England, we had a special treat indeed. All worries that the show would just bank all its credibility on nostalgia and star names was forgotten once the old theme music started playing. But it wasn't all veneer. We get the thrill of the old sets newly built and repainted in a blue that would have made the Beeb producers proud back in the 70s but coupled with story lines that did a credible job creating a new generation for 165 Eaton Place. Sure the comparisons are to be drawn between the current and the past inhabitants, but this reinvention was obviously done with a reverence and a love for the old series. The production also embraced the ideals of the old show to portray current events and politics in a real and human way.

Sir Hallam Holland and his wife, Lady Agnes, have just inherited 165 Eaton Place, which has remained empty since the tragic end of the original series, 35 years ago in our world, a mere 8 in theirs. Hallam's father inherited the house from James Bellamy but never set his foot through the door. Sadly for Hallam, that doesn't stop his mother, Lady Holland, her secretary Mr. Amanjit, and her pet monkey from invading the house and making over one of the rooms as a study for which to write her memoirs of her life abroad, much like a bohemian M.M. Kaye. There is also Lady Agnes' younger sister, Persie, who is brought under the wing of her sister, only to develop radical ideals and ties to the Nazis. Because as ever, Eaton Place is a battleground of politics and intrigue, with Wallace Simpson walking through the doors with her lover, the one who isn't the King. To Cecil Beaton, to the future King of England himself, what happens in Eaton Place is a microcosm of the outside world. There's life and death and acceptance and forgiveness, and humor and tears.

But life above stairs would never be what it is without those below. As ever, we have Rose Buck... who you can barely believe is 35 years older. Jean Marsh looked as stalwart and true as she ever has. Running a household she lived in for 40 years, she is finally back in her element and not in Bucks of Belgravia. We have a new cook, much the perfectionist that Mrs. Bates ever was, and a butler, who warms the cockles of your heart just in the way Hudson did, even if Hudson never had a letter of recommendation from Errol Flynn! We have discontented housemaids who are a little saucy, and a tempting chauffeur, as it seems all chauffeurs must be, radical and just the little extra dash of sex appeal.

What I found most wonderful is how, for the first time, I got the politics. I saw Upstairs, Downstairs originally long ago... long before I had evolved into the Anglophile I am today, in fact I still suspect that Christmas present all those years ago was more of an excuse for my parents to get their hands on the show again. The show had so much more depth knowing who Walter Mosley was when they started to discuss him, so I could see the looming storm clouds of what was to come. He was a fascist who, eventually, married Nancy Mitford's older sister Charlotte, of which Jessica Mitford gives a great account of in Hons and Rebels. Also the waiting with baited breath for the King to abdicate the throne for Wallace Simpson in December of 1936, which was captured very well in the tv movie, Wallace and Edward. But as always I must say that I hate those two selfish people and am grateful for his abdication because Hitler probably would have won the war with Edward's appeasement and buddyy buddy attitude. Because any "fairy tale" that ends with dinner parties with The Hitlers is no happily ever after to me.

Stateside the new miniseries won't air till April, when they will painfully draw it out over three long weeks. My advice. DVR them all and marathon it, it's the only way to watch it. But thankfully there's Downton Abbey in the meantime... but more on that gem later... but until then, a little something to tide you over.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Anglophile, Charlotte Mosley, Eaton Place, Errol Flynn, Facist, Hons and Rebels, Hudson, James Bellamy, Jessica Mitford, M.M. Kaye, Nancy Mitford, Nazis, Rose Buck, Upstairs Downstairs, Walter Mosley

December and the holidays are now upon us and the BBC has been plentiful with their presents this year! So let's take a look at what the coming month has to offer us Anglophiles...

Well, the much blogged about (by me) two part Cranford Christmas special is drawing ever nearer. But this little bit of casting news has me in an apoplexy of joy! Tim Curry is in it! He will play the conjurer Signor Brunoni. Also, in an effort to make sure the denizens of Cranford stick to their Gaskell roots, the production is firstly incorporating characters that didn't get included in the first telling, including Signor Brunoni. But secondly it's looking to Gaskell's other works using both her story, The Moorland Cottage and The Cage at Cranford for inspiration. Oh, I can't wait. On a final Cranford note (for now) Carl (P&P) Davis is back doing the score and there will be a behind the scenes special entitled: Corsets, Carriages and Christmas at Cranford (way to go for alliteration!)

In more "classics" news, the new adaption of The Turn of the Screw will also be airing... A new adaptation of A Child's Christmas in Wales staring Ruth Jones of Gavin and Stacey, will be shown and I'm sure harshly judged by my father (it's one of his favorite stories). But as I said, at least Ruth Jones is Welsh! Plus, after her turn in both Tess and Little Dorrit, she has proven she can do period pieces as well as being the best friend to the only gay in the village. But is anyone else a bit worried there was no mention of Lark Rise to Candleford's Christmas episode?

Elsewhere on the BBC, David Tennant is back battling the Master, while Donna, his erstwhile companion Catherine Tate is back for her very own Christmas Special... I really wonder if this one will top her previous foray into the holidays with lots of angry letters from viewers... personally I didn't find it too offensive, unless you really dislike watching Catherine make out with George Michael. There is also going to be a Gavin and Stacey Christmas Special attached to the currently airing 3rd season. Also in what is sure to be the weirdest spoof documentary since Christopher Guest and the gang first created Martin Di Bergi, we have Steve Coogan: The Inside Story to look forward to. Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer help Steve chronicle his rise to fame. Also diconcerting... no mention of The IT Crowd's rumored Christmas episode...

Posted by Miss Eliza at 1:28 AM 0 comments  

Labels: A Child's Christmas in Wales, Anglophile, Catherine Tate, Christmas, Cranford, David Tennant, December, Elizabeth Gaskell, Holidays, Lark Rise to Candleford, The Turn of the Screw, Tim Curry

Today I have a very special treat in store for you lucky readers! No, not tea and biscuits. The author Gail Carriger is here for a guest blog. Her debut novel, Soulless, was released upon the book buying masses yesterday, and lets hope those masses were buying this book, I know I was trying to influence you.... As it says on her website "Soulless, book the first in the Parasol Protectorate Series, is a comedy of manners set in Victorian London: full of vampires, dirigibles, and tea. It is either Jane Austen does paranormal, or PG Wodehouse does steampunk." Either way I'm in, loving anything English, especially Jane Austen and PG Wodehouse. It's like a Buffy and Anglophiles dream! Well, enough of me, you get enough of me every day, it's not that often I hand the reins of my blog over to someone else...so without further ado, I present Gail Corriger:

There is something incredibly appealing about Victorian London. While I'm certain it was stinky, uncomfortable, unsanitary, and largely unpleasant for many of its residents - the romantic appeal is unassailable. I don't know what makes it so alluring to others, but for me it is equal parts the clothing, the manners, and the intellectual revolution of the time. London in 1873 seemed to me a natural habitat for vampires, with all their vaunted urbanity (not to mention the whole "can't enter without an invitation" thing - the only people more obsessed with proper etiquette than vampires were the Victorians), just as the army of the British Empire seemed like the perfect place for werewolves.

There is an odd kind of logic to the Victorian mentality, and that, coupled with a sense of scientific superiority, makes acceptance of the supernatural easy to imagine. One can envision the Victorians sipping tea with werewolves, discussing ancient philosophy with ghosts, or playing cards with a vampire. One simply can't imagine the 19th century French or Italians doing anything nearly so civilized when confronted with fangs or fur.

I just love the idea of a whole genre centered around a stately yet pompous mixture of paranormal and high society, gravitas ab umbraculum. (Dignity in Parasols, or something like.) Gothic literature, after all, had its heyday during Victorian times, and what is the urban fantasy genre but gothic writing modernized? In a way, returning to Victorian London is full circle for paranormal authors. Toss a little steampunk in there and what could be more fun? I, for one, was excited by the idea of urban fantasy quitting its contemporary setting. And since I had nothing better to do – I wrote about it myself.

(Me, Miss Eliza again...I hope you enjoyed that wonderful post, and make sure to go out and get that book and check out Gail Corriger's site, it's lots of fun, it even has an interactive paperdoll! And we all know how much I love those...)

Posted by Miss Eliza at 1:50 AM 1 comments  

Labels: Alexia Tarabotti, Anglophile, Gail Carriger, Gothic, Jane Austen, Parasol, PG Wodehouse, Soulless, Steampunk, The Parasol Protectorate, Vampires, Victorian London