Welcome! Guest authors Bill and Susan Hayes.

A warm welcome to husband-and-wife writing team Bill and Susan Hayes. I'm delighted to have you visit today. Please do share a little about yourselves by way of an introduction.

Bill and   Susan Hayes have been professional entertainers all their lives.  They appeared together on the cover of Times Magazine representing soap opera in 1976, and are still on Days of Our Lives the forty seven year old daytime drama.  Bill and Susan Hayes .com is our website if you wish to examine our past.  In the present our double memoir  Like Sands Through the Hourglass was published in 2005, and we just released our first novel for Decadent Publishing.  Bill has BA in Music and English and a Doctorate in Education.  Susan began acting professionally at age four. 

Susan and Bill Hayes.

 I understand you have a new release, "Trumpet" , please tell us a little about the book.

Trumpet is a historical novel, telling the story of a young girl’s journey to maturity through the world of English theater and beyond.  Ambitiously the tale begins in 1803 and closes in 1821.   We took our heroine Elizabeth Trumpet to the heights of fame and the disasters of loss, filling every page with our own extensive life experience.  The most exciting and colorful persons of the age are interwoven with the fictional characters, keeping true to historical events.  We personally visited the sites of her story, London, Italy, Egypt, Waterloo’s battlefield and the city of Charleston.  For the past seven years research has been our middle name.   

That sounds wonderful, I think visiting the locations adds such depth to a story. What aspect of the book are you most pleased with? 

It’s a large canvas, yet it reads colorfully and easily, with enough spice to make your heart race.   We always strive to inject humor, and feel there is a perfect combination of laughter and tears. Our goal is to make our readers enter a far away world, yet experience emotions true to the human heart.

Sounds like just my sort of escapist read! How did you feel when you first learnt that Trumpet was to be published?

Joyful.   It was such a great chunk of our lives and marriage, we plunged into the last rewrite with furious pleasure.  Creating Lizzie Trumpet’s world has bonded Hayes and Hayes even closer than our onscreen romance on NBC, as Doug and Julie.  We highly recommend such a project for any relationship that needs to deepen intimacy,   

There is a lot of competition for readers’ attention these days. What do you think singles out your book so that people will want to read it?

Profound parallels to the struggles of our lives today.  A grinding war with no end in sight, the distressing failing of a beloved parent, the many steps and missteps on the way in a career for young women; these are some of the conflicts we threw at our heroine. We mixed in  two of the most compelling lovers anywhere, one of whom was a real giant in history as well as the bedroom.  Dare I say we have the inside track on knowing about the lives of actors from a rather rich experience?  Yes, we do.    

What is the best and the worst thing about writing historical fiction? Do you find some aspects more enjoyable than others?

We drew a passel of characters from our backstage lives and read every word of dialogue aloud with each other until it danced on the page. Pure pleasure. Pin pointing point of view was not nearly as much fun   

It seems eBooks are taking off in a big way. What is your opinion on eBooks vs. traditional paperbacks?

Bill loves to grasp a good bound book, but is peering into his little Nook every night with equal devotion.  Susan says the wider the audience the better.  E books are so reasonably priced, she sees their charm

Tell me, Bill and Susan, if you need to escape from the cares of the world, how do you relax?

Open a volume of Patrick O'Brian.  Take a driving trip to anywhere.  Go to the opera. Plan a journey to somewhere in Italy.  Have a See’s chocolate.

What is the kindest act anyone has ever done for you?

Well lets see, Susan says “When Bill asked to marry me.  That was big.  And I still appreaciate it.”  Bill says “When Susan said, “OK!” 

(Awh, so sweet! G )

What would your nearest and dearest say is your most annoying habit?

Susan is neat.  More neat than accurate.  Bill sings continually.  On pitch too. 

Have you heard of ‘Room 101’ – the room where an object once placed disappears forever…I wish all alarm clocks went there! What 5 things would you put in Room 101 and why?

Nuclear warheads.  Skin heads. Bed bugs. Throw rugs. Wet slugs.  I feel further explanations unnecessary.

It’s been lovely chatting with you both, and before you go, where can we find out more about Trumpet?

Those who have read Trumpet, say they hated to see it end, because it was so much fun.  Writing it was like planning a party for our dearest friends.  Everything we love is in those pages.   Dear readers, open Trumpet and have a wonderful time.

SYNOPSIS.

Brilliant and sassy Elizabeth Trumpet fantasizes starring on the London stage, but to become an actress in 1803 is tantamount to losing her virginity in the most debasing way.

After watching her mother die and her father lose his mind, the courageous sixteen-year-old must find a way to save her family. She scores her first acting job as a fencer—the deadly skill she learned from her brother training for the military. Blessed with talent and a rare singing voice, Lizzie pursues her career, learning from theatrical characters high and low.

When reckless actor Jonathan Faversham sets eyes on Miss Trumpet, he knows he’s found the partner of his life. But Faversham carries ruinous baggage from a dark past. Entangled in lust and ambition, Lizzie gives him her heart and they reach the heights together. Until Lizzie gets more applause than he…

From the magnificence of Regency palaces and the Theatre Royal Covent Garden to the sun-baked pyramids of Egypt and the arms of a real-life Samson, Lizzie is never far from trouble. As her brother rides to glory with Wellington in the Napoleonic Wars, great events threaten her survival. Danger lurks behind stage curtains, when a madman sets fire to take her life and she lifts a sword in revenge.

Will this once innocent girl, with her rise to stardom, be remembered for her art? Or for her shame?

Trumpet is published by Decadent Publishing, and is available from Amazon UK, Amazon US, All Romance eBooks, Smashwords and all other good eBook retailers.

*****

COMMENT TO WIN!

Bill and Susan are generously giving away two prizes on this tour! One is their double memoir, Like Sands Through the Hourglass, and the second is Bill's CD, This is Bill Hayes. Just leave a comment (please include your email address in the body of the comment) on this post to be entered. This giveaway is tour wide, and the more comments you leave, the more chance you have of winning, so check out the rest of the tour schedule here: http://www.writermarketing.co.uk/prpromotion/blog-tours/currently-on-tour/bill-susan-hayes/

A Local Legend - Smuggling

'The Smugglers' cottage, IOW, getting ready for the Diamond Jubilee!

18th century smuggling - a world of danger, daring, hi-jinks and romance!
This June, with the release of "Hope's Betrayal", welcome to a series of blog posts about the world of smuggling, including: press-ganged doctors, church hideouts, ghosts, tunnels, fake funerals, myths, pitfalls and more!

Low tide in St Helens harbour- the shallow waters made it ideal for smugglers to navigate.

The starting point on this journey is the Isle of Wight which is also the inspiration behind "Hope's Betrayal." I fell in love with the Island about ten years ago. In a strange quirk of fate for seven years I lived in Portsmouth, a twenty minute ferry ride away but without visiting. It took motherhood and two dinosaur mad sons both desperate to visit the newly opened "Dinosaur Isle" museum on the IOW (Isle of Wight) for us to go. 

Dinosaur Isle Museum (shaped like a Pterosaur) Sandown, IOW.

We stayed in a caravan park overlooking St Helens harbour and on a walk round the village I spotted a blue plaque on a fisherman's cottage. (In the UK places of special historical interest are marked with a 'blue plaque' giving brief details of who lived there.) Intrigued by the inscription about "The Lady of Chantilly" I visited the Newport Museum to do some research. The result was a fascinating true story of a humble fisherman's daughter, born around 1792, who was a part-time smuggler. This girl was so beautiful, that when caught her red-handed, the revenue officer couldn’t bring himself to arrest her. What a fabulous idea for a historical romance and out of this local legend, the idea behind "Hope's Betrayal" was born.

The blue plaque that inspired a novel!

My story is a fictional account of two people on opposite sides of the law, falling desperately in love. How can such love survive if it means compromising everything they believe in? In a choice between betraying your family, or losing a career, what you chose?

I was on the Island during the recent Diamond Jubilee celebrations for Queen Elizabeth II and hope you enjoy the photos of some of the local cottages, decked out with bunting.

The local pub (overlooking the Village green) decked out with bunting.

Next week: Smuggling - Women Smugglers.

'Hope's Betrayal' - the story:

One wild, winter's night two worlds collide.

Known for his ruthless efficiency, Captain George Huntley is sent to stamp out smuggling on the south coast of England. On a night raid, the Captain captures a smuggler, but finds his troubles are just beginning when the lad turns out to be a lass, Hope Tyler.

With Hope as bait, the Captain sets a trap to catch the rest of the gang. But in a battle of wills, with his reputation at stake, George Huntley starts to respect feisty, independent Hope. Challenged by her sea-green eyes and stubborn loyalty Huntley now faces a new threat - his growing attraction to a sworn enemy. But a love where either Hope betrays her own kind, or Captain Huntley is court-marshaled, is not an easy destiny to follow.

Widget relaxing whilst on holiday on the IOW.

Historical Dogs: Mysterious and Romantic - by Carola Dunn

Today I'm thrilled to welcome author Carola Dunn to the blog. Carola has an impressive back catalogue of books ranging from the regency novels that started her career in 1981, to the Daisy Dalrymple mysteries set in 1920's England and a new series of Cornish mysteries, set in the 1960's and 1970's. So without further ado, please welcome Carola!

Historical dogs--mysterious, romantic...

by Carola Dunn

Apart from a few years when I was first married and we kept moving from rental to rental, I've always had dogs in my life, from the German Shepherd, Wendell, who kept the District Nurse away from my pram to my present companion, Trillian (border collie, probably, with a bit of black Lab?). Is it any wonder that so many of my books have dogs who aren't merely present but are characters and often an important part of the plot?

Trillian (A Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Universe reference? G)

Nana (named after the dog in Peter Pan) enters my Daisy Dalrymple mystery series, set in England in the 1920s, in the seventh book, Styx and Stones. She's a farm-bred puppy of uncertain ancestry. At her first appearance, she's car-sick, hardly surprising considering the state of rural roads in 1923. However, she redeems herself in Mistletoe and Murder by finding a clue. Unfortunately, just as the police are about to examine it, she steals it back and runs off to rebury it. Dogs will be dogs.

Nana's big moment comes in Black Ship, when she discovers a body in the bushes. She actually appears on the cover of the book—not looking at all as I'd imagined her. The cover now adorns the e-book edition, so I guess that's how she'll be for all eternity.

My other series, the Cornish Mysteries, set in 1970 or thereabouts, has a permanent resident West Highland Terrier, Teazle. She's modelled on my mother's last dog. So far she hasn't discovered any bodies, nor starred on a cover, but she goes everywhere with my sleuth, Eleanor Trewynn.

The author, Carola, with Candy.

Before I started to write mysteries, I wrote a large number of Regencies. Needless to say, dogs were important in many of them. There was Osa, in Angel, who saved her master from drowning; Curly, in The Improper Governess, who not only had curly fur but kept a little boy warm by curling up with him for the night when he ran away from home; Ragamuffin, in the Tudor Signet; and in A Lord for Miss Larkin, large black Midnight and small snow-white Flake, Goose, and Drop.

The only unpleasant canine character I ever created was Mudge, a pug, in Mayhem and Miranda. He was a beastly little biter, but he, too, had a major role to play. He not only saved his mistress from a kidnapper, he brought the hero and heroine together.

I also wrote a dozen or so Regency novellas. Maera, large and shaggy, was a major character in A Conformable Wife, now in the e-collection A Second Spring.

Given my predilection for dogs, my reaction when asked to write a novella about a kitten was predictable: Can't I make it a puppy? "No," said my editor. "Kittens sell." So Wooing Mariana (in My Dearest Valentine)* does indeed include a kitten, Pirate. Of course, I sneaked a puppy, Lyuba, into the story as well. Kittens do indeed "sell," especially in German translation!

(*Originally titled (by the publisher) A Kiss and a Kitten, in the anthology Snowflake Kittens.)

There was one other memorable feline, a kitten in The Road to Gretna. Lily was constantly getting into trouble, hardly surprising as she was taken on a days-long carriage trip by her equally troublesome young mistress.

But I'm a dog-person, and now it's time to give Trillian and her visiting friend 'Oli their dinners.

Trillian's visiting friend, Oli.

Thank you Carola, for such an animal friendly post. As you may have gathered I have a bit of a bias towards cats, but as you saw the light with your kitten books, I'm sure we can agree to differ!

If you would like to know more about Carola and her books please visit:

http://www.CarolaDunn.weebly.com

Grace x

Mouse-Skin Eyebrows - A Short History of Makeup.



The modern beauty is not afraid to wear false eyelashes, but how would she feel about adding mouse-skin eyebrows?

            This is not such an odd question as it sounds, because as we discovered in earlier posts, lead-based makeup had several unwanted effects on the skin, which included making hair fall out. Whilst this could be of benefit for a hirsute top lip, it's not so great when fashion in the 17th century demanded bold black eyebrows.

            "All the ladies have…snowy foreheads and bosoms, jet eye-brows and scarlet lips."   Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, 1716, describing fashionable ladies at the theatre.

Ester Boardman - 1780 - who wore mouse-skin eyebrows.

            One way round this was to use black-lead to paint on a defined brow, and the other was to trim a glossy mouse pelt into shape and glue it to the forehead!

            It seems ladies were quite philosophical about setting mouse traps to provide a fresh, glossy pelt for the next day.

            On little things, as sages write,

            Depends our human joy or sorrow,

            If we don’t catch a mouse tonight,

            Alas! No eyebrows for tomorrow.

            Unfortunately these glued on brows had a habit of coming unstuck, and many a grand society lady had trouble keeping her dignity whilst covertly trying to reposition a wayward eyebrow that had slipped out of place. The poet Matthew Prior wrote in 1718:

            Helen was just slip into bed

            Her eyebrows on the toilet lay

            Away the kitten with them fled

            As fees belonging to her prey.

            Of course, there is nothing quite so beautiful as a smile that reveals a lovely set of white teeth, but when oral hygiene was poor and teeth frequently fell out (lead makeup again!) or were black with decay, this wasn’t easy. One solution was false teeth - hippo ivory was very popular as it was a good colour match to human teeth! And for those whose cheeks had sunk in, there was always 'plumpers'. These were defined in the Fop Dictionary, 1690 as:

            "Made of cork…very thin, round and light balls to plump out and fill up the cavities of the cheek."

            Heaven knows how anyone managed to talk whilst keeping plumpers and hippo-false teeth in place!

            Another artificial adornment to beauty was the use of patches. The Romans first used patches in emulation of the goddess, Venus. She was reputated to have a beauty spot, the one lovely touch of darkness that highlighted her otherwise perfect complexion. In England the idea caught on in the late 16th century and persisted well into the 18th.

            Beauty spots were make of black silk, velvet or fine leather and glued to specific parts of the face to highlight certain qualities. For instance a coquette would wear it by the corner of her mouth, a flirt by the corner of her eye, whilst a gallant as a dimple in the middle of the cheek. However, some people had no choice since they used patches to cover scars and pimples. There were others who became addicted to patches and wore far too many, giving the appearance of being covered by a swarm of flies!

A hamster trying out cheek plumpers.

            And finally, there were those who used patches used to denote political allegiance:

            Politically minded dames used their patches as party symbols: the Whigs patching on the right, and the Tories on the left side of their faces, while those who were neutral, decorated both cheeks.

            The Spectator 1711.

DEATHLY PALE - A Short History of MakeUp.

            What woman wouldn’t want perfect, luminous skin, free from blemishes and wrinkles?

            But at what price?

            Queen Elizabeth I applied to her skin a concoction of finely ground white lead powder blended with vinegar to achieve such an effect - and the small fact that lead is a deadly toxin did not deter her (Sounds reminiscent of Botox doesn’t it?) 

            Part of the pressure on Elizabeth to look beautiful was that she needed the political power that dangling marriage alliance in front of foreign kingdoms gave her, so she had to appear fresh long after her beauty had started to fade. The trouble was the whilst her 'peint' or white lead makeup gave the illusion of a flawless complexion, it was actually eating away at her skin, leaving the surfaced pocked and scarred and the only solution was a yet thicker layer of makeup.

The Ladies Waldegrave - 1781 - showing the fashion for skin as white as their gowns.

            In fairness to Elizabeth, there was a fair amount of naivety about the effects of lead. A little over half a century later, in 1661, a paper was presented at the Royal Society by Sir Robert Moray in which he was quite candid about the illness suffered by workers making lead makeup. They suffered from stomach cramps, dizziness, severe headaches and even blindness, brought on my the fumes of lead during the manufacturing process. But despite his observations no link was made between these symptoms and the product being dangerous to apply it to large areas of skin.

Lady Coventry - who died because of cosmetics.

            Almost a century after this, in 1755, a correspondent in the "Gentleman's Magazine" warned that women should be wary of beauty's deception because the makeup had "the most nauseous taste imaginable" and smelt vile. Incredibly, it seems no one linked swollen gums, tooth and hair loss, tremors and headaches to the wearing of lead makeup…until the death of Lady Coventry in 1760.

            At her debut in 1751, Maria Gunning, who married and became Lady Coventry, was haled as a famous beauty. Her husband disapproved of her wearing makeup and reputedly chased her round the dining room at a dinner party, to scrub her face clean with a napkin. However, her wishes prevailed and she was never seen without makeup - with the tragic result that she sickened, and in 1760 died a slow, agonising death of lead poisoning.

Elizabeth, Duchess of Hamilton (Maria's sister) - who survived her makeup.

            Maria's sister, Elizabeth, who became Lady Hamilton, also suffered severe illness but survived - albeit with ruined looks. But denial seemed the order of the day, as Horace Walpole wrote is 1766,

            "that pretty young woman, Lady Fortrose, is at the point of death…killed like Lady Coventry and others by white lead, of which nothing could break her."

            So if the threat of horrible illness didn’t stop the use of lead makeup - what did?

The answer lies in the late 18th century and revolutionary France. The fashion set by French Aristocrats for heavy makeup became a symbol of their decadence and was decreed a capital offence. The more stubborn aristocrats showed defiance to the end, wearing their 'maquillage' on the way to the guillotine- whilst those who wished to escape notice when without! A new fashion craze started -  a la'Anglaise- modelled on country living and freshness, and so the days of heavy makeup were numbered. 

Mrs Lauzun 1795 - showing a more natural look.

Next week: Mouse-skin eyebrows - the quirky side of cosmetics!

COUNTERFEITING and PAINTING - A Short History of Makeup.

Did you know in 12th century, there was a fashion for women to pluck all their hair back to the crown of the head, to give a bald, egg-shaped silhouette to their face? A high, elegant forehead, devoid of eyebrows or hair was considered highly attractive because it left the face delicate, vulnerable and pious looking. Chaucer describes one such beauty in his translation of 'Romaunt of the Rose.'

            "Her yellow hair, her lily-white brow…using no peynte [paint]."

            In this short series of blog posts, we look at the changing face of beauty and cosmetics.

            From early Christianity until well into the 15th century the use of cosmetics was frowned upon as 'giving entry to the devil'. In 'The Book of the Knight of La Tour' 1371, a moral tale is recounted of a woman who spends so long at her mirror that she is late for church.

            "As she looked in a mirror, instead of the mirror, the devil turned to her his arse [!] which was so foul and horrible that for fear she was sick."

Cat-Mirror prank photo courtesy of ROFLzoo.com

            The author, Geoffrey De La Tour Landry, goes on to write how when a lady 'plucked from her brows and forehead to have away the hair' in order to make herself 'the fairer and pleasing to the world' her vanity gave the devil a chance to enter her soul.

            "In every hole that her hair hath been plucked out…the devil [enters] a burning needle into the brain."

            This aversion to prettifying was because trying to improve what god had created was an implied criticism of his skill and a mark of ingratitude. It was feared that on judgement day god would refuse to recognise those that had altered his work with make-up. (An additional and unfortunate off shoot of this attitude was that people thought god marked out sinners with ugliness and deformity.)

Mary Tudor (Elizabeth's predecessor) with her severe looks.

Attitudes to makeup gradually changed during the Renaissance, with new opinions on beauty, especially in Italy making the use of 'complexion improvers' and 'tints' more widely accepted. In England, things also changed when Queen Elizabeth I came to the throne. When Elizabeth I was crowned in 1559, her ivory complexion looked young and virginal and she also wished to emphasise she was her father's (Henry VIII) child, so displayed her golden red hair. She needed to dissociate herself from her mother, Anne Boleyn, who had been accused of being a witch and Elizabeth adopted the view:

            "Beauty springs from god…and so one cannot have beauty without goodness."

            Castiglione

Elizabeth I in her coronation robes, emphasising her pale, virginal skin.

            And if that meant giving beauty a helping hand with cosmetics, then so be it. In short, Elizabeth set out to make herself an icon in order to inspire the devotion and allegiance of her subjects. She needed to create the impression of being more than a 'weak and feeble woman' - but against the costume of her huge and richly jewelled gowns her face ran the risk of becoming lost. Even though the church still held cosmetics to be bad:

            "A woman, through painting and dying her face, sheweth herself to be more than whorish. For she hath corrupted and defaced the workmanship of god on her."

Philip Stubbes 1585

             Elizabeth's response, just as her father had before her, was to set herself above the church. It is possible that a bout of smallpox in 1562 left her complexion scarred and started her obsession with make-up, specifically a blend of finely ground lead powder, mixed with vinegar and applied to give a luminous, finish that blended away imperfections.

As her youth ebbed, Elizabeth relied on lead based make-up to enhance her skin.

            Of course anything the queen did, would be copied by her courtiers and soon a fashion for makeup gripped those who wanted to appear fashionable. Elizabeth also used rouge to highlight her cheeks; red ochre to give a brownish red, or red mercuric sulphide to give brighter shades. Her lips were accented with a pencil of ground alabaster mixed with cochineal, mixed in a wax paste, formed into sticks and dried in the sun - the forerunner of modern lipsticks!

            Unfortunately, the lead used in Elizabeth's base, was highly toxic and ironically one of the side effects was pitting and scarring of the skin. The only remedy was to apply another, thicker coat of the toxic substance…

....and so the subject of next week's post is "Dying for Fashion" - a look at those who died as a result of using make up.

The SYMBOLISM OF GLOVES - by Deborah Swift.

Today I'm thrilled to welcome author, Deborah Swift, to my blog. Deborah writes highly acclaimed historical fiction - "The Lady's Slipper" is currently rated 5 stars on Amazon - and Deborah has kindly taken the time to visit and post on the subject of: 'The Symbolism of Gloves.'
Welcome, Deborah!
In The Gilded Lily, Jay Whitgift, the dashing but dangerous man-about-town, gives Ella, my feisty maid, a pair of gloves. As I researched the sort of gloves that Ella might have worn I re-connected with the idea that gloves often had a symbolic meaning. Their unmistakable form, and their manner of taking on an individual’s body shape so that they appear to be part of the person even when they’re off, must be why they have attained such social and psychological significance. And this is why I chose them as an intimate gift.

Gloves were made mostly of leather, suede or kidskin, which would stretch to fit the hand. Black ones were worn at funerals, and those attending would be expected to wear them. Relatives of the deceased would often supply black gloves for the poorer members of the congregation for fear of the shame of un-gloved mourners.

Yellow was worn for hunting and blood-sports, and white at balls or social occasions, and for the aristocracy who could afford servants to keep them clean. Hands dressed in with pale kid gloves looked manifestly unacquainted with work, and this was desirable for the upper classes.

In the 16^th and 17^th century  women would go to bed wearing gloves filled with marigold cream to whiten and soften their hands. Glovers often scented their gloves - common perfumes were cinnamon or cloves, but the most costly gloves were scented with musk, civet, ambergris, and spirit of roses.

Click for link.

Queen Elizabeth I's gloves.

Eighteenth-century Irish "chickenskin" gloves were even thinner and smoother than kid. They were cut from the skins of aborted calves, and so fine that they came folded into the shell of a walnut.

Margaret Visser – The Way We Are.

(Not sure I like that idea, it sounds very grim! )

As with a handshake, gloves meant faith in the transaction or confidence in the person, so transactions of land or property could be made by handing over the symbol of a glove.

The tradition of “throwing down the gauntlet”, has survived in language at least, where a knight might challenge another to a duel by casting a glove at his feet – the glove being a symbol of hand to hand combat.

And Judges often used to wear gloves as a symbol that their hands were unsullied by the criminals they had jurisdiction over. Gloves "lined" with money were famous as formal bribes and judges and other high up members of society often received far too many pairs of gloves to use them all; for this reason, many fine specimens survive. These are often highly decorative, with gold braid, embroidery and sumptuous beading, as in this example. The poorer gloves, such as the ones Ella is given, that would be worn for warmth, rarely survive.

Early 17th century glove (Courtesy of V&A)

In the 16^th and 17^th centuries so much etiquette developed around them that men’s gloves in particular grew wider and more decorative as they were so often carried rather than worn. It was taboo to offer to shake a hand wearing gloves, or to accept a gift in a glove. Nor was it acceptable to remove them with the teeth. Approaching an altar in Church, men had to remove their gloves, and the right glove had to be removed when coming into the presence of a social superior as a mark of respect. The keeping on of your gloves indicated that you retained power by declining physical contact, whereas the removal meant you deferred to a higher position. Gloves were also to be put off when playing cards (to deter cheating, I suppose) or when eating.

From the symbolic use of gloves the custom grew up of presenting them to people of distinction on special occasions. When Queen Elizabeth visited Cambridge in 1578 the vice chancellor offered her a

" a paire of gloves, perfumed and garnished with embroiderie and goldsmithe's wourke, price 60s."

Up until quite recently women always carried matching handbags and gloves, a style now only seen as a remnant at weddings, or with the royal family who, as befitting their perceived status, keep on their gloves in public. I love this Vogue pattern, which still incorporates gloves as an essential part of “the look”.

Click for link

In The Gilded Lily, Ella is delighted by her new gloves, which her sister Sadie dismisses scornfully as “trumpery”.

The Gilded Lily will be out in September, my other book The Lady’s Slipper (still ranked 5 stars on Amazon!) is out now.


Click for link.

‘fabulous …her characters are so real that they linger in the mind long after the book is back on the shelf. Highly recommended.' Historical Novels Review

Thanks to Grace for hosting me. More information about the history of gloves can be found at http://www.goleathergloves.com/history-of-gloves.htm

Deborah’s blog: www.deborahswift.blogspot.com

Twitter @swiftstory

Deborah's cat, Tabby - obviously an intelligent cat with excellent taste!