Mad and bad Real heroines of the regency

The Regency in England lasted only 10 years (1810--20), but the era's impact is still felt, especially in historical romance. Koch, co-owner of the L.A.-based romance-novel bookstore The Ripped Bodice, sets out to refute popular misconceptions about ladies of that time. In fact, the women of the Regency were varied and badass. Mad & Bad starts with Almack's Assembly Rooms and the patronesses who made and broke the rules there. Koch also covers families with several generations of lady talent--like the Beethams, in art; Sarah Siddons and the Kembles, on the sta and scientific pioneers, like Caroline Herschel, who is credited as her brother's assistant when she actually discovered eight comets and literally wrote a catalog of the known universe. There are also chapters on queer heroines, Black heroines, and Jewish heroines, belying the notion that this period was only straight and white. Koch concludes each charmingly written chapter by relating the subjects to contemporary women, and with a bibliography with academic, cinematic, and romance-novel suggestions, making this a wonderful resource for romance readers and history buffs alike.

Koch, co-owner of Los Angeles bookstore The Ripped Bodice, debuts with an entertaining and fact-filled history of Regency England focused on notable women whose lives have inspired the mold-breaking heroines of historical romance novels. She describes the " 'marriage mart' culture" of Almack's Assembly Rooms and other upper-class social clubs, sketches the biographies of royal women, such as Queen Caroline of Brunswick, and highlights the personal agency and artistic accomplishments of famous mistresses of the era, including Lord Byron's lover Caroline Lamb, author of the roman á clef Glenarvon. Koch also profiles marginalized female scholars, including astronomer Caroline Herschel and science writer Jane Marcet, who wrote educational books for young women. Other chapters explore queer identities; the presence of notable women of color in 19th-century fiction; and the work of Jewish women to improve the reputation of Judaism. Koch's detailed profiles exhibit a storyteller's flair and carry just the right whiff of iconoclasm, though she carefully notes the importance of social networks among her rule-flouting subjects. Throughout, she persuasively contradicts the notion that modern stories featuring accomplished and diverse heroines in 19th-century England are necessarily revisionist. This fun and informative account will be treasured by readers of Jane Austen and contemporary Regency romance novelists, as well as fans of feminist history. (June)

A pop-history look at England's Regency era, a time period popular in the romance genre. Koch is one of the owners of the Ripped Bodice, a Los Angeles--area bookstore "dedicated to romance." In her debut book, the author examines the Regency (1811-1820), when George III's illness rendered him unfit to rule and his son was installed as Prince Regent. After a cursory introduction to George III, Koch launches into stories of women who lived before, during, or after the Regency period. The author cannot explain the importance of the Regency period, however: "Ten short years in the grand scheme of history….What about the Regency continues to draw us in? I wish I had an answer (I would make millions of dollars)." Her lack of clarity about the Regency's relevance makes the text rambling and unfocused. Koch organizes brief biographical sketches into chapters according to women's relationships to men, to their interests, or to their own identities. Although the author notes that men controlled the historical narrative, she does little to examine how that negatively influenced the record of women in history. Much of the book features gossipy retellings of women's lives during the period and how they were connected--or not. Several times, Koch cites fictionalized dialogue from films to support her claims. In a chapter on historical accuracy, Koch focuses on the lives of Mary Seacole and Dido Elizabeth Belle, two black women, to showcase the rich diversity present in London during the 19th century. However, the author inexplicably ends the chapter with the story of Princess Caraboo, a character created as an elaborate scam by a white woman named Mary Baker. Koch is unconvincing in her argument that Baker "shows us that everything we and her contemporaries think and thought about nineteenth-century women barely scratches the surface of the truth." A disjointed work that adds little to our understanding of the Regency period. (b/w illustrations) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.