Writing is always a risk. People say to “write what you know,” which is safe advice to be sure, but fiction will inevitably push these boundaries. For me, the history is what I know, so the history is where I start. But sometimes plot bunnies lead me down dangerous plot burrows. A few years ago, I was trying …
Author: Jennifer Hallock
The Road to Baguio
The opening scenes of Channel 4’s Indian Summers shows British families making the journey up the foothills of the Himalayas to Shimla, the Crown’s summer capital. There they will relax in the temperate climate: “dance and forget,” as one Indian observer says. “A hotbed of political, social and romantic intrigue set amid rolling hills,” the Guardian wrote, “no …
Screw upon a Screw: Sex Education in the Gilded Age
As you might imagine, this post is sexually explicit. You have been warned. When I started writing historical romance set in the Gilded Age, I needed to know what level of sexual ignorance I was dealing with. Did doctors of the day believe in “virginity tests”? Did they understand a woman’s body and how to bring it pleasure? …