Susanna Fraser kicks off my 'Let's hear it for Regency romance' campaign

I'm delighted to welcome Susanna Fraser to IIR today to kick off my brand new (and hastily named) Let's Hear it for Regency Romance campaign. Regency romance is one of the most popular categories in the romance genre and for very good reason. Let's embrace it without reservation and give it the love it deserves!

Before we get on to Susanna's reasons for loving the Regency, a quick word about Susanna's books:

A Marriage of Inconvenience (buy here): Lucy Jones is a nobody. As an orphan she was reluctantly taken in by her wealthy relatives, the Arringtons, on the condition that she be silent and obedient, always. When her lifelong infatuation with her cousin Sebastian is rewarded by a proposal of marriage, she's happy and grateful, even though the family finds excuses to keep the engagement a secret. James Wright-Gordon has always had the benefits of money and a high station in society, but he is no snob. He's very close to his sister, Anna, who quickly falls for the dashing Sebastian when the families are brought together at a wedding party. Meanwhile, James is struck by Lucy's quiet intelligence, and drawn to her despite their different circumstances in life.Lucy suspects that Sebastian has fallen for Anna, but before she can set him free, a terrible secret is revealed that shakes both families. Will James come to her rescue—or abandon her to poverty?

The Sergeant's Lady (buy here): Highborn Anna Arrington has been "following the drum," obeying the wishes of her cold, controlling cavalry officer husband. When he dies, all she wants is to leave life with Wellington's army in Spain behind her and go home to her family's castle in Scotland. Sergeant Will Atkins ran away from home to join the army in a fit of boyish enthusiasm. He is a natural born soldier, popular with officers and men alike, uncommonly brave and chivalrous, and educated and well-read despite his common birth. As Anna journeys home with a convoy of wounded soldiers, she forms an unlikely friendship with Will. When the convoy is ambushed and their fellow soldiers captured, they become fugitives—together. The attraction between them is strong—but even if they can escape the threat of death at the hands of the French, is love strong enough to bridge the gap between a viscount's daughter and an innkeeper's son?

And now to the Regency and the delights thereof!

Tumperkin: What is it about the Regency setting that interests you?

Susanna: It’s close enough to our time that people’s attitudes, hopes, and dreams feel recognizably modern, but it’s still a low-tech world in many ways—no telegraphs, trains, steamships, or electricity, so people and information can still only travel at the speed of a galloping horse on land and are at the mercy of the wind while at sea. I’m glad I don’t have to live in that world (or one without antibiotics or women’s rights, to name just two), but I enjoy imagining it. [T: me too!]

I’m also fascinated by the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, all the violent and dramatic change they wrought. What an eventful quarter-century 1789-1815 must’ve been to live through, you know? It makes me ponder the nature of history—do the times we live in make us, or do we make the times? I sometimes make jokes about wondering what was in the water in the late 1760s, that so many gifted generals were born then. But really, I think what was going on is that Napoleon was the truly unique talent of the era, and that the other great commanders, whether his allies or his enemies, had to up their games just to keep up.

Take Wellington, who happens to be my favourite Regency historical figure [T: We all love the Duke!]. (I like my men cool, capable, and snarky.) He was extremely intelligent, driven, and hard-working, so in a world without Napoleon I’m sure he still would’ve had a successful career in the army and in government. But without the challenge of a Napoleon to make him develop his gifts to their fullest extent and give him such a large stage to display them on, I doubt any of us born 200 years after him would know he’d existed. Such is the line between excellence and fame.

And on a much lighter note, the Regency era has great clothes, for both sexes. [T: oh yeah!] I’d much rather imagine my heroes and heroines in Regency attire than in what their grandparents or grandchildren would’ve worn.

Tumperkin: Why did you pick the Regency setting - what 'work' does it do for you?

Susanna: Both of my books involve heroes and heroines from different social classes, and the fact that class divides were starker and harder to bridge than they are now enhanced my stories’ conflict. Also, my first book, The Sergeant’s Lady, is set mostly in Spain during the Peninsular War, which allowed me to throw together two people who never would’ve met in England and force them to depend upon each other for survival.

Tumperkin: Which Regency character would you most like to meet/ Regency experience would you most like to have?

Susanna: Hm. If by “character” you mean a fictional one, Richard Sharpe. If real historical figures count, the Duke of Wellington. Either way, we’d be at the Duchess of Richmond’s ball just before Waterloo.

Tumperkin: If you could travel back in time, would it be to the Regency or to some other time period?

Susanna: I’d want to visit lots of time periods, but the Regency would definitely be on the list. I’d want to take the ultimate Peninsular War and Waterloo research trip, and then go about a decade earlier and across the Atlantic to accompany the Lewis and Clark expedition. I live in Seattle, and I’d love to see what the Pacific Northwest looked like 200 years ago.

Tumperkin: What is your favourite Regency-set book?

I have many. On the romance side, I love:

A Lily Among Thorns and In For a Penny, both by Rose Lerner
The Rules of Gentility, by Janet Mullany
Mr. Impossible, by Loretta Chase
Forbidden Magic, by Jo Beverley
Shattered Rainbows, by Mary Jo Putney

And in other genres, I’m a fan of:

Bernard Cornwell’s Sharpe series
Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey-Maturin series
Naomi Novik’s Temeraire series

Thanks Susanna!

And what about you? What do you find interesting about the Regency? Or Regency romances? Who is your favourite Regency figure?