In which I'm finishing up reader questions
Reader Diana emailed me the following questions and has been waiting most patiently for a response:
1) What will Julia's married name be? Will she be referred to as Lady Julia Brisbane?
2) Was it more difficult to maintain the romantic tension between Julia and Nicholas in Dark Road to Darjeeling (and the next one!) than in the first three?
3) There's a quote from you on the back of Charles Finch's The Fleet Street Murders, so I was wondering if you have reviewed any other novels lately.
Julia would indeed be styled Lady Julia Brisbane. As the daughter of an earl, she takes her rank from her father's position. (The general rule of thumb is that a lady can't marry down, meaning even if she marries below her father's rank, she won't have to give hers up.) As the wife of Sir Edward Grey, a baronet, she would have been Lady Grey, except that she already had the more prestigious title of Lady Julia which she retained upon her marriage.
I do get this question from time to time from readers who are confused by Julia's title since the wife if a baronet is usually styled "Lady Lastname". The best example to use for illustration is that in Pride and Prejudice. Darcy's mother and aunt are the daughters of an earl. His mother, Lady Anne, marries plain Mr. Darcy and is styled Lady Anne Darcy. His aunt, Lady Catherine, marries Sir Lewis De Bourgh, and is styled Lady Catherine De Bourgh. (If Sir Lewis had married a lady without a title of her own, she would have been styled Lady De Bourgh upon her marriage to him.)
The romantic tension was different in book four because the question is no longer "will they or won't they?" Um, they do. The question at the heart of their relationship is now how will they reconcile their very different approaches into a harmonious marriage that still keeps the reader guessing. Tricky, but a very interesting challenge for me, so I enjoyed it.
I have recently given a quote for Elizabeth Loupas for her book, The Second Duchess, to be released next March. It's DIVINE. Go and order it at once, I insist! (And I feel compelled to point out, Charles Finch is a very nice guy.) Also, Stephanie Barron was kind enough to send me her newest for endorsement, and Jane and the Madness of Lord Byron was absolutely delicious. Go order that too!
Comments
Video
Will you do a video for the new book like you did for SITG?
Thank you so much...
...for the shout-out! I'm so excited and counting the days until March 1st.
I think the further back one goes in history the more fluid titles of address seem to become. In medieval settings, all the ladies (barring queens) seem to be addressed as "Lady Given Name." At what point, I wonder, did titles of address (not the hierarchy of peerages themselves) settle into a specific form of correctness? Was it with Queen Victoria? Or was it earlier? I find all this so fascinating.
I recently saw Sir Francis Bryan styled as "Sir Bryan," which really set my teeth on edge!
Lady Bettiscombe
Hi Deanna,
That is my understanding on noble titles as well, but I'm curious as to why Julia's sister is introduced as Lady Bettiscombe and not Lady Portia Bettiscombe. Why the difference between the two sisters? Each time I read one of the Julia mysteries, I keep wondering if I missed something!
Good question!
Portia married a nobleman, not a baronet. As her husband was a peer and had a title of his own, she took her style from him because it was a jump up in status.
Do Men Ever Visit Boston?
It drives me barking mad when writers, romance or otherwise, do not know the order of precedence in the British peerage. I read a novel that claimed a "Viscountess" was the highest rank of peerage and that a Duchess was addressed as "Lady Last Name. To say my flabber was gasted was an understatement.