About Ten Things I Hate About the Duke

You’ll easily imagine my joy in reporting that Ten Things I Hate About the Duke has entered the (rather lengthy) production process, aimed at December 2020 release.

The Green Man Inn, pictured here from my last trip to England, featured in A Duke in Shining Armor and reappears in Ten Things I Hate About the Duke. Photo © Walter M. Henritze

It beats me why it took three years, but it’s done at last. That is to say, the story is written. It will return to me after copy editing and again for review of page proofs. But these stages deal with technical matters, repairs, and adjustments. The Duke of Ashmont’s story is told, and in Cassandra Pomfret he has found, I hope you’ll agree, the perfect match.

After a short break, I intend to begin the Duke and Duchess of Blackwood’s story.

Meanwhile, I’m celebrating. Then I’ll start tackling the thousands of household chores and obligations that were shoved aside in order to finish Ashmont’s story.

I hope you and all those near and dear to you are well and safe. Books, at least, are safe, and if you’re like me, you’ve doubled (at the very least) your reading quotas. After a day of not-so-good news, it’s a beautiful thing to allow myself to be lost in the pages of a novel.

It makes me deeply grateful and happy to know my books give you a place to be lost, too. A number of you have written to me in appreciation, making me feel doubly thankful for my good fortune in embarking on and being able to sustain this career. I’m proud to be writing books that offer escape and comfort (and a dose of humor, I hope) at any time, but especially during these difficult times.

Thank you for sticking with me. Thank you for your many messages of support. I hope Ten Things I Hate About the Duke lives up to your expectations. I know I did my best for you.

What's a Pomatum?

January 1831 Magazine of the Beau Monde

In A Duke in Shining Armor (and in other of my books),  the term pomatum appears. If the context leads you to believe that this has something to do with styling hair,  you’ll be right.

A pomatum,  based on a grease of some kind (usually lard), was used to style hair and to keep it smoothly in place, like today’s gels, mousses, hair waxes, and sprays.

March 1831 Magazine of the Beau Monde

Some recipes call for bear grease, but it appears that other forms of grease or fat usually masqueraded as bear grease (luckily for the bears). The initial reaction of the modern mind to putting lard and/or suet in the hair is ick. But re-enactors don’t seem to find it icky, and some have become converts to the 18th and 19th century ways of caring for the hair.

May 1831 Magazine of the Beau Monde

Parisian Pomatum was one formula I came across again and again, in all kinds of books and magazines. Very often, I saw the exact same recipe in several different publications, a reminder that copyright was not protected, and publications stole freely from one another. I'm listing several recipes here, to show both variations and the extent of "borrowing."

A New Supplement to the Pharmacopoeias of London, Edinburgh, Dublin, and Paris: Forming a Complete Dispensatory and Conspectus; Including the New French Medicines and Poisons (1833).  Recipe here.

The Art of Preserving the Hair (1825).  Recipe here.

The Art of Beauty (1825). Recipe here.
The Duties of a Lady's Maid (1825).  Recipe here.

Finally, in the London Magazine (1826) you’ll find this lovely rant about the advice offered in The Duties of a Lady's Maid.

If you'd like details about how milady’s maid arranged the complicated styles of the 1820s and 1830s, you may peruse my Two Nerdy History Girls blog post on the subject.

Susan, the other Nerdy History Girl, offered this post on one of the fashionable hair accessories.

Portions of this post appeared previously at Two Nerdy History Girls, but the images did not. The images are hair styles from 1830s ladies' magazines online. Gallery first row, left to right: all from May 1833 Magazine of the Beau Monde; second row left to right: June 1833 Magazine of the Beau Monde, June 1833 World of Fashion (courtesy Los Angeles Public Library, Casey Fashion Plates collection), August 1833 Magazine of the Beau Monde. 

 

 

A Duke in Shining Armor has a cover and a website page and everything

The cover for my latest book, scheduled for release on 28 November,  appeared on the online bookstores a while ago, but since I had no advance warning, and life here is busy, my website update didn’t happen simultaneously.

By now, if you’ve looked up A Duke in Shining Armor online, you’ve seen the synopsis that appears on the back cover. Now, though, it has its own page here on my website, where you can read an excerpt as well.

A Duke in Shining Armor is the first of a planned trilogy titled Difficult Dukes. This one is the Duke of Ripley’s story. But in it you’ll also meet the other two members of the trio known as Their Dis-Graces: the Dukes of Blackwood and Ashmont, whose stories I’ll tell in the next books.

For those who wonder if the Dressmakers will make an appearance: I set the book in 1833, a couple of years before the Dressmakers series (1835-1836). Since I'd taken that story arc as far as it would go, I wanted to start fresh. From the writing standpoint, it makes things simpler when I don’t have to worry about events in previous books interfering with or contradicting events in the plot of the current one. It's less stressful, too, if I don't have to account for characters from previous books. Still, you might recognize a name or or two from the Dressmakers books, and a young person whose life has included at least two aliases. For the most part, though, it’s all new people.

In a few weeks, I’ll be heading to England for an extended period of research and inspiration-seeking. If all goes well with the technology, you can expect me to report, though probably not as regularly as a less confused person would do.

If you haven’t already subscribed to the Loretta Chase website blog, you might want to consider it. Since my newsletters go out only once or twice a year, the blog is the best way to keep up-to-date with releases, appearances, adventures, and information that I hope will enhance your enjoyment of my books. The subscription link is in the upper right corner of the blog page.