An Elegant Madness: High Society in Regency England

by Venetia Murray

The Regency period was one of the most turbulent ages in British history, one that spanned the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, that witnessed unprecedented industrial progress, artistic accomplishment, and violent social unrest and--paradoxically--the most sparkling social scene English high society has ever enjoyed. Under the influence of the obese, loose-moraled Prince of Wales (to whom Jane Austen dedicated Emma ), the Regency was the apex of British decadence, an era of lavish parties and relentless bed-hopping that set a standard for elegance and vulgarity. With wit and lively style, Venetia Murray chronicles the scandals, courtships, and daily life of these aristocrats, and evokes the tempestuous times of the early industrial and French revolutions. Sumptuously illustrated with rare contemporary cartoons, prints, diaries, and caricatures, An Elegant Madness is a book readers of social history and historical romance alike will devour.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Regency, Research, British Literature, Reference, Historical

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

Reviews

[Nick Imrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm reading a lot of Regency-era stuff at the moment, Byron's Journals, Fanny Burney's Journals, Jane Austen's unpublished works, and of course, Georgette Heyer.

Georgette Heyer, the queen of the regency romance. The second chapter of this history 'Bucks, Beaux, and Pinks of the Ton' reminded me so much of Heyer that it was almost like reading a guide to Heyer-land rather than the real history. Heyer was famous in her time for her meticulous historical research, so her novels had a certain realism that is lacking almost anywhere else. This puts the budding regency novelist in a tight spot - simply, that if you faithfully reproduced the slang and behaviour of the young men of the regency, you would not seem to be writing an original novel, you'd seem to be writing a Heyer rip-off, so nobody does it.
If you were to have your male characters agonising over their ties the oriental, the waterfall, the mathematical your reader would immediately recognise all this from Heyer's work, and later authors have steered clear. But Heyer didn't make this up: men really were obsessed with their cravats. They really did gamble whole fortunes in one night. They really were obsessed with boxing (this was a peculiarly English thing, apparently, foreigners thought it was mad that English gentlemen enjoyed puching each other in the face for sport). They really did make very silly bets about everything and race everywhere! They really did pay their debts to fellow gentleman at once, and loans never! (This is actually not as snobbish as it seems. The logic was that a fellow gentlemen would not charge interest and so it was unfair to leave him hanging, but a commercial loan would be accruing interest, so the lender would be perfectly happy to wait).

In other areas, I'm beginning to see where Heyer's silver fork novels diverge from the reality. Not least in their morality. The Regency was a very strange time. The Honour culture of the Georgians was dying, dueling was on the way out, language was becoming more euphemistic, courtesy towards ladies was fading. But the strict religious morality of the Victorians had not yet arrived, there was still far more adultery, more drunkeness and gambling, and more gaiety!
Heyer wrote clean romances. There are a few references to fair Cyprians, but the Cyprians usually exit speedily when love and marriage come together. And while Heyer's heroines acknowledge that men can stray, they never imagine that a woman would want to. But all the aristocracy took it for granted that they would have affairs with each other, and women strayed just as much as men. Caroline Lamb's mother told her she had a duty to give her husband one son, and after that she could do as she pleased. Lady Oxford had so many children by different men they were called The Harleian Miscellany.
As far as I can tell, the Georgians also cheated a lot, but their code of honour was all about appearances. As long as women were discrete it was acceptable. The Regency nobles shocked their parent's generation by being shamelessly public about their affairs, which also shocked their children so much that the Victorians had a fierce backlash against their immorality!

The other thing that stood out for me was the social calendar. Heyer introduced us all to the notion of The Season. This is something that other regency writers have picked up on! That time when all the Top Ten Thousand converged on London for a glittering social whirl of balls, morning calls, and rides in the park. But the season was only three or four months of the year from March to June. Most of the year was spent at their country seats. I must admit this sounds like an excellent way to live to me: the hostess invites everyone she likes to come and stay at their house, the house fills up with friends, people wake up at noon for breakfast, start drinking, eat and drink all day, put on plays, make comedy newspapers about what they're doing, write letters, talk, sing, dance, play games, go for long walks, hunt, shoot, and fish. Count me in! And good for the regency adulterer too, as husbands and wives don't share beds, it's very easy to sneak around the house and jump into bed with whoever is your current fling. A good hostess will be sure to assign bedrooms conveniently!

It really was a fascinating time. Beautiful and stylish, but in the end, as ephemeral as the fortunes that were gambled away. It was just one generation that devoted itself to art. Not just paintings, literature, architecture, fashion, interior design, sculpture, landscaping, but the art of living.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extensively researched, deliciously gossipy account of aristocratic life during the Regency. A terrific read.

[Margaret · Rating 2 out of 5]

This social history of the Regency period (which Murray arbitrarily defines as 1788-1830) is an entertaining read, but with some issues. It's organized by topic rather than chronologically, which leads to a lot of jumping around and repetition, as well as inevitable confusion about how things actually changed over the long period she's considering (particularly as there aren't a lot of dates). There are flat-out errors; she confuses various members of the Spencer and Cavendish families, for instance, and a look at the reviews on Amazon leads me to believe that there are more errors I just didn't catch, not being terribly well-read in the period.

I mean, I can't say I didn't enjoy reading it, because it's fun and sprinkled with numerous quotations from letters and diaries, and it does provide some background for Heyer and other Regency romance writers. But I think I'd have been better off just reading some of the sources she quotes, or a good political history of the period, or a good biography of George IV.

[Eleanor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book so much: it's beautifully written, wonderfully researched and quite deliciously full of scandal and gossip about the great and not-so-good of the period.

For example, the wife of the first Viscount Melbourne was "another of the Whig grandees whose attitude towards marriage did not include the concept of fidelity. (She) was reported to have told a young bride that her duty to her husband was to provide one male heir, and that after that she was free to amuse herself as she pleased. It was advice which Lady Melbourne herself had followed without a qualm throughout her marital career: her eldest son, Peniston, was certainly her husband's, but at least two of her five children, including William, the future Prime Minister, were fathered by Lord Egremont, and her other lovers included such eminent men as the Duke of Bedford, Lord Coleraine and the Prince of Wales himself." A footnote adds that it was generally accepted that the Prince of Wales was the father of Lady Melbourne's third son, who was even christened George.

The quite appalling overspending of many of the aristocrats, led of course by the Prince Regent himself, was all the worse when considering the situation of much of the populace and the harshness of the regime which led to transportation of convicts who were fortunate enough to escape hanging. The book is interesting to read alongside the early history of the European settlement of Australia.
It also has a very good bibliography and index. An excellent piece of historical writing.

Four and a half stars.

[Curlemagne]

What it says on the tin - covers the scandals, tastes, fashions, and spending habits of the haut ton. The tone rotates between shaking one's head at the excess and nostalgic admiration for the era. A tone which makes more sense when you read that the author consulted with the estates of the Crown and the Duke of Devonshire for her research - her approach was never going to side fully with modern, frugal middle-class prudes.

It's a fine intro to the culture of the nobility, full of the same personalities, businesses, bon mots and anecdotes that appear in every Regency history: not too gossipy but not particularly footnoted or historically organized either. As is unsurprising given the sources mentioned above, the most impressive details all concern the Prince Regent, Carlton House & his Royal Pavilion at Brighton. If you like to read about gluttonous menus, this book has that in spades.

Some good primary sources mentioned for household expenses and Murray does conclude with an acknowledgment of Reform and industrial change, but it all feels a bit dated and slight apologia for the elite.

[Rebekah · Rating 4 out of 5]

My interest in this entertaining history stems from my love for Georgette Heyer and some of her followers' novels. It really illuminates that the Regency world of Georgette Heyer was indeed her version of that period of history: a much gentler, sanitized, and proper version. So many things in her portrayal of that time were very accurate, but it was the aspects of those times that she skirted around, ignored, or romanticized that interested me much more.
The most surprising thing I learned was how the ton wore their emotions on their sleeve. Apparently, it was not uncommon for men to publicly burst into tears and weep and wail when they were frustrated or angry. Venetia Murray supports this with numerous references in letters and other contemporary accounts. It is pretty obvious that Georgette imbued the Regency period with the “stiff upper lip” values of her generation.
Gluttony is another thing that GH did touch on in passing, but is explored in detail here. 2 or 3 or more enormous steaks at one sitting, conservatively, for example. The obsession with sauces and gastronomy and gourmet meals was amazing. Menus with literally over a hundred dishes. The extravagance and the waste in all areas of daily life. The over-indulgence in drink. Murray writes that it was common, indeed, fashionable for certain segments of male high society to be drunk, or tipsy all day long. High society as a whole were bored or idle all of the time. Meals were often the highlight of their day and would last for hours and hours.
And the immorality, of course. Discreet or not, married lovers and mistresses were not shunned and neither were courtesans. They were known and accepted in the highest levels of society.
It is much easier to understand and be sympathetic to the Victorian mindset as being a reaction and rejection of the ways of Regency England after reading this book.
The choices of illustration are curious. All of the plates are caricatures, cartoons, and drawings. I wish she had chosen more realistic portraits of some of the interesting people she discussed.

Yes, Georgette Heyer did romanticize and ignore some certain truths about high society while being very historically true in most things. Frankly, I’m glad she did!

[Nell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This social history focuses on the beau monde familiar to readers of Regency romances and historical novels. While the Regency proper comprised only 1811–1820, the book covers the period from 1778, the first Regency crisis, to 1830, the death of George IV. The author characterizes this time as one of “glamour and gaiety, colour and fun, in spite of the subtext, which was an awesome indifference to reality.” All this was led by the Prince of Wales from the time he came of age, through the regency, until his death after ten years as king.

The elegance, artistic sensibility, education and wit of high society contrasts sharply with their widespread bad behavior. The aristocracy indulged themselves in all kinds of excesses, from gluttony and drunkenness to sexual promiscuity and open acceptance of long-standing extramarital liaisons, to gambling and disdain for debts save those of “honor.”

The reality was one of dramatic disparity of wealth between the richest and the poorest and the economic hardship of the latter; almost continuous war with France (1793–1815); violence in both military and civilian life; and corruption in government, the military, and even the church. The industrial revolution was causing great changes in society, including rapid population growth and urbanization. Money insulated the richest from some of the worst effects; Francophilia, and some commerce with the enemy, continued among the upper classes during hostilities, so they were not deprived of fine clothing, furnishings, and wines. But before the creation of a police force, everyone was subject to highwaymen and footpads, boxing and blood sports were common, dueling was the way to settle disputes, and military discipline was brutal with flogging sometimes ending in death. Those who dared to protest the laws that increased their hunger or technology that cost them their jobs were likely to be shot by authorities.

A good book to read in conjunction with Jenny Uglow’s In These Times: Living in Britain Through Napoleon's Wars, 1793–1815. When I read it I awarded it only 3.5 stars, I think because it packs so much in that it can be hard to follow, but it gives a fuller picture of what was going on in society.

[Lauren Stoolfire · Rating 2 out of 5]

I only made it about third of the way through this book before I lost interest as it reads just like a textbook that requires quite a bit of prior knowledge on the subject. So, if you're looking for a textbook on Regency England and already know quite a bit about the topic this history book may be for you.

[Maggi LeDuc · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very engaging and I learned a lot! The Regency is probably my favorite historical period in England, yet there aren't nearly enough books on it like this one.

[Elaine Skinner · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this immensely. As a fan of Jane Austen, and on occasion a Regency romance, this period in time has always intrigued me. The author did a wonderful job painting a clear and bright picture of high society during Regency England. The same names, approx 50 or so, were repeated throughout the entire book which was a relief. Trying to keep track of hundreds of names is exhausting!

If you are interested in the social aspects of high society this is for you!

[QNPoohBear · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book provides a look into the lives of the haunt ton (upper ten thousand) in the Regency era. There are chapters on "An Impolite Society," "Bucks, Beaux and 'Pinks of the Ton'", "'The Seventh Heaven of the Fashionable World'," "Relative Values: The Cost of Living," "London: The Most Prosperous City in Europe," "From the Seaside Resorts to the Northern Meeting," "'The Mistress Had a Better Deal Than a Wife'," "Clubs and Taverns: Gambling and Gluttony," "The Age of Indulgence," "The Pursuit of Pleasure," "Charades and Epigrams: The Country House," "Fashion, Manners and Mores: The New Liberalism," and "On the Eve of Reform."

The author quotes extensively from primary sources of the period which is great. I always want to know the source and if something is accurate. Ever wondered where Georgette Heyer found all that slang? In a book called The True History of Tom and Jerry; or the Day and Night Scenes of Life in London first published in 1820. The author also differentiates between the late Georgian, the Regency and the late Regency periods. Each one had their own set of rules or lack thereof. Some of the entertainments in London in the Georgian era sound like fun but the Regency society was too hedonistic for me. There was a whole lot of shocking behavior going on until middle class religious morality caught up with everyone.

Georgette Heyer could have and should have written this book. It's a source book for many Regency romance authors. I would caution against making it the only source, however, because the focus is on the ton. You will find a bit about the Corn Laws, the recession following the end of the Napoleonic wars and a mention of the Peterloo Massacre. There's also not much in the way of critical thinking about the primary sources. The author does acknowledge that a source is biased once in awhile and she does state that the mistresses she talks about weren't ordinary prostitutes but middle and upper class women who chose that life. She also never mentions Beau Brummel's syphilis and how it affected his life in exile. She writes about his life as if he were perfectly normal, which was not the case. (No mention of disease in general).

If you're looking for a light read to understanding the history behind the novels, then definitely read it. I learned a few things and I've been reading Regency novels and blogs for several years now. I would also read What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew From Fox Hunting to Whistthe Facts of Daily Life in 19th-Century England, Jane Austen's England and (if you are an adult and not squeamish about disease) Beau Brummell The Ultimate Man of Style.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Regency England was a time period that technically lasted from 1811-1820 and which you might recognize as the setting of the genre known as “regency romances”. An Elegant Madness is an impressively thorough discussion of the time period, with chapters on everything from clothes to dinners, to society and scandalous sex lives. Although the author’s tone is fairly scholarly and dry, the topics and first hand accounts make for some fascinating reading.

The author’s research was clearly extensive and I loved all the snippets of letters she shared. I also appreciated the in-text citations, which are always useful for distinguishing fact from speculation. On the other hand, the author’s writing style was somewhat dry and the chapters occasionally felt like a collection of loosely connected anecdotes. The random, untranslated bits of French were also somewhat distracting. Fortunately, one thing saved the book from being too scholarly and hard to follow. Through the anecdotes chosen, the author does an amazing job conveying the feel of the fascinating society that was Regency England.

I would honestly recommend this book to anyone with some interest in history. The time period includes much upheaval and many contradictions, so it contains a variety of aspects that could appeal to many different kinds of readers. There was chivalry and romance, high society and balls and duels. There were crazy sexual escapades and and fabulous feasts and grandiose entertainments. And the author does a great job covering all of these aspects of Regency England with smoothly integrated quotes and superb commentary. I doubt anyone could read this book without at least a momentary desire to experience life as a member of high society in Regency England.

This review first published on Doing Dewey.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I definitely enjoyed this and found it to be an excellent bedtime read when I needed something that wasn't exciting enough to keep me away all night reading. It is incredibly well researched and I learned loads. I think it will be a very beneficial resource if I ever return to writing Regency romance and I would highly recommend it to any other Regency writers.

I had two problems with this book. The first one is very minor: I thought the chapters were way too long and slightly scattered. For example, the chapter about reform has a very detailed section on carriages. I'm not sure what that has to do with reform, but it was still interesting. The chapters could have been divided up further I think, which would have made it a more organized read.

The second is also pretty minor, and only applicable to certain people: I do not have a good grasp on historical British currency and British politics post the Glorious Revolution. I found many of the sections to be quite confusing because I was not familiar with the various parties, coins, etc that Ms. Murray was discussing. I think this is aimed a British audience which made my American reading a little more difficult. However, it did interfere overly much with my enjoyment of the text and what I was learning.

Final Grade: B

[Erika · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you are like me and your main impression of the Regency Era was based on just the snippets of the works of Jane Austin you had been partially exposed to over the years you will be quite surprised to find out that this time period was not as staid, reserved and restrictive as it seemed, I had always had the impression it wasn't that much different than the Victorian Era. And boy was I wrong.

This was a very dynamic and chaotic time of near constant change and flux.
And yet this book shows how elements and inventions from this time period have influenced our world to this day.

The authors style is very light and humorous making the book very accessible to even casual history fans, but it is also very informative and her knowledge base is quite vast.

My only quibble with this book was the use of illustrations. I feel the author used far to many cartoons satirizing the social and political scene vs. more realistic illustrations that would have made what she was writing about seem more real. After awhile I didn't even bother to look at them any more.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent overview of the history and cultural habits of the Regency period. The organization of the book was a bit hard to follow - for example, a chapter about country houses wandered around between what happens at a house party, children's education, and the beginning of the Reform movements. Also, for all the notes in the book, there were instances of French phrases or object names that were not noted either in the footnotes or endnotes (the objects I was able to Google, but the French was difficult since Google Translate doesn't do idioms well).

[Kara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Murray gleefully takes a torpedo to the fantasy of the elegance and romance of the Regency period, showcasing each and every member of the Ton, and making a good argument for why you would have no happily ever after with any of them.

Basically, this book argues, they were all jerks, but with the wild, excessive style of rock stars – so extreme you just can’t get enough of it.

[Meredith · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very different from what I expected. This book is for history buffs that are well read on the Regency period in England. Not an enjoyable read otherwise; reads almost like a textbook.

[Penny Hampson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good overview of life for those in the highest society during the Regency. Contains an excellent bibliography for those interested in following up on particular aspects.

[Jessica · Rating 1 out of 5]

Did not finish.

"An Elegant Madness" has some interesting tidbits, but the layout is not conducive to sitting down and reading the whole thing. It feels closer to a reference book, something you can perhaps use for a brief moment as an opening for further study on a subject, but not the type of book that one sits down and reads cover to cover.

Velentia Murray's writing is filled with her own personal commentary on the subjects. While I understand that no writing can be without some prejudice, most writers aren't so blatant about it. Murray will comment repeatedly on how "silly" some custom is (let me be the judge of that, thank you) and even goes so far as to refer to one woman's actions are little more than "bitchiness". Hers is never presented as one viewpoint, but rather the ONLY viewpoint. It became grating after a while.

I was also hesitant to keep reading after seeing a few non-spoiler reviews that said the book had numerous inaccuracies. I don't know enough about Regency England to be able to verify (sort of the reason I picked this up) but it made me shy away from trusting anything she said, always wondering if it was actually true.

The layout of the book is all over the place. Murray uses the term "Regency" very loosely, allowing her book to cover a wider span of time. I have no problem with this, but the book itself is structured based on topic rather than time period. In addition, she is lax with sharing time frames, making it confusing to figure out exactly when many of the events took place, or how they may fit into a larger narrative.

As though the format of the book as a whole wasn't confusing enough, each paragraph feels like a jumble of thoughts tossed together with little to no organization. A paragraph can begin by talking about one person, but the next sentence will jump into someone completely different, with absolutely no transition. It became increasingly difficult to follow Murray's train of thought, or to glean anything from the book other than a random tidbit of information or two.

I gave the book nearly 100 pages before deciding to quit. I simply couldn't justify slogging through the whole thing in the hopes of picking up one or two small nuggets of new information. It feels too muddled to be used as reference material, and too scattered to be a cohesive narrative. There are likely much better books on Regency history out there.

[Lisa Maxwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

An encyclopedic treasure trove of Regency-era culture, Venetia Murray's An Elegant Madness is a "must read" for any Anglophile with a passion for this period. For romance writers -- and aspiring novelists -- this book is absolutely invaluable as a research aid. Not only does it provide a wide overview of culture and history, it contains entertaining excerpts from books and letters of that day. Because it is so packed with facts, you'll need to read this slowly, to fully appreciate and digest the information. (It has taken me well over a year to finish it; and my copy is so full of highlights that I'm going to have to go back and underline key words within the highlighted sections to make categorization easier.)

The one flaw I've noticed is that the chapters ramble, so they aren't succinctly organized. For example, you will find a lengthy discussion on the private purchase of church pews in the chapter entitled "Charades and Epigrams: The Country House." A chapter on Almack's ("The Seventh Heaven of the Fashionable World") includes an extended narrative on bankruptcy and borrowing within tony Society. (This is why I'm going to have to go back and categorize my highlights with underlines. I'll have to use color-coded page-flags as well.)

Recommend it? Indeed I do -- as a resource for writers and history buffs. Not only does it contain a wealth of information, it can also expand your reading list. (I've added The Interesting Memoirs of Harriette Wilson and Girouard's Life in the English Country House to mine.)

[Fern F · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 Stars

"An Elegant Madness" is brimming with information about Regency England... almost too much. it's definitely not a book for someone who has no interest in this time period, because Venetia Murray doesn't ease the reader into the information, but rather dumps it on them. Murray has done incredible research and had access to countless letters and papers in various archives, but less attention was paid to how all that information would be delivered. As someone who already likes the period, it was interesting to learn more about it and be given a number of anecdotes and even full lists (in French) from a royal dinner, but I can see how someone who is less invested in the Regency might find the book a slog to get through.

[Sara Kellogg · Rating 5 out of 5]

How much money did it cost to keep a single horse in Regency England? What does that mean in terms of a person's socioeconomic status? How much more was it to keep a carriage and four horses? Who could afford new clothes and when? These questions and more are answered by An Elegant Madness: High Society in Regency England and the answers will help you to put your favorite Regency novels into an understandable context. I highly recommend this book to any casual reader or historian. For fun or for facts this book is a great read.

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

The history behind all those Regency Romances (hello Bridgerton!). What happened in the Regency, why was it so wild and indulgent and why are we still so obsessed with it? Fascinating portrait of an era and the rich and titled who ate, drank, gambled, slept with the wrong people and had all the power. We also get stories here about the actual Prince Regent and his wild excesses as well as his appreciation and investment in the arts which still influences England today.
This book is more "readable" i.e. less academic that The Beau Monde.

[Lucy Cummin · Rating 4 out of 5]

To write proper comments on An Elegant Madness is going to take some time. I would say to anyone who loves this time period, this is essential, rewarding and delightful reading. Venetia Murray covers a great deal, enough so that deciding what to mention here is impossible. She starts with the prince regent himself for he had much to do with the atmosphere. And then she's off: the clothes, the food, the carriages, the balls (like Almack's), the clubs, the gambling, the mistresses, the country houses, snuff, the games, the inventions . . . a treasure trove for the regency devotee! ****1/2

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a long time fan of Georgette Heyer and a reader of history, this is a very interesting overview of England in the late 18th and early 19th century. It uses the Regency of the Prince of Wales as it's framing device but the author ranges before and after this period to give a sense of how life was changing for the upper classes. I had borrowed this from my sister and it sat on my 'to read' pile for quite sometime but once I picked it up it kept me reading.

[Leslie Graff · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good review of Regency England life and would be a nice primer for someone unfamiliar with the period. It gets a bit repetitive if you try to read it as a book in itself, but might be great as a teaching tool if you were to excerpt sections relevant to a piece of literature or art being covered. It is thorough and does reference primary works which is again, a great teaching tool, but I can't say that I walked away with much new knowledge.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Meticulously researched, this account of the "real" Regency sparkled like a Georgette Heyer romance. In fact, one can see where some novels' plots derived - truth being much stranger than fiction! I may have read an earlier edition, but I wish Murray had included a cross reference of names, as people changed titles, used nicknames, and remarried, creating a "terrible muddle" in this reader's mind. In addition, I'd have loved to see a glossary of slang. But a fun read for a Regency reader!

[Hayden]

I personally preferred this overview of the Regency period much more than Our Tempestuous Day; while I have seen some reviews complaining of errors I am of yet not educated enough on the subject to catch, just the healthy number of primary source quotes are valuable in and of themselves. Readable and interesting, and definitely helpful, though I do wish the author had been clearer about specific dates for certain events and/or quotations.

[Joanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent, very readable account of High Society in the Regency Period. There are some fascinating details that really bring the story alive but not so many that one gets bogged down. Highly recommended if you want to know the background to Georgette Heyer's or others' Regency romances.

[Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic but brief introduction to the time of Jane Austen’s writing period. It also covers the ten years before and after, so from about 1790-1829, until George IV died. This puts some of her work in context but also shows a Britain already grappling with 19th century issues. A great primer on what Austen’s Britain was like.