Diana Davis In Freedom’s Ring, Temperance Hayes loves games of strategy—whether they’re board games or games of the heart. Check out all the games we refer to! Believe it or not, one of the very first games a child learns to play actually led me to a research rabbit hole when I couldn’t figure out what my … Read more
In Freedom’s Ring, Temperance Hayes loves games of strategy—whether they’re board games or games of the heart. Check out all the games we refer to! Dissected maps Temperance doesn’t use this one, but her sisters are playing with a dissected map in one scene. This is not an early biology lesson, but an early puzzle! … Read more
In Freedom’s Ring, Temperance Hayes loves games of strategy—whether they’re board games or games of the heart. Check out all the games we refer to! A Journey Through Europe The first board game by an individual designer! (Before this, board games are “folk games,” developed over centuries.) Designed in 1759 by John Jefferys. Players start … Read more
In Freedom’s Ring, Temperance Hayes loves games of strategy—whether they’re board games or games of the heart. Check out all the strategy games we refer to! Checkers/draughts I was really excited to call checkers “draughts,” but when I consulted the definitive Oxford English Dictionary, I found that checkers became the term in British America as … Read more
In Freedom’s Ring, Temperance Hayes loves games of strategy—whether they’re board games or games of the heart. Check out all the strategy games we refer to! Fox and geese Fox and geese is played on a + shaped board. One fox and 13 or more geese pieces are placed on vertices of the lines on … Read more
A lot of the time, we look back at 18th century clothing and develop a serious case of presentism: we decide that our clothing today is so much more practical and comfortable. However, 18th century women’s clothing was designed for practicality and comfort in their daily lives–and maybe fewer serious body image issues! Here are … Read more
In A Gentleman’s Daughter, Cassandra and Helen wear riding habits for travel. That was inspired by this 1770s riding habit at the Victoria and Albert Museum. ©Victoria and Albert Museum. Used with permission I also liked the idea of having them wear a fashionable Brunswick traveling ensemble, but I thought that might be harder to … Read more
Like most of us, we thought that 18th century clothes were silly and impractical as we started working on our stories in this time period. And then we saw this video that totally changed our perspective. Let’s just say we’re shopping for stays now.
For character names, I found a set of tax and constable records from 1772 Philadelphia and analyzed them. I was looking at the list and decided David would perfect for him. Cassandra’s name was chosen because I was looking at some historical fiction and was reminded that Jane Austen’s sister was named Cassandra—and in Greek mythology, Cassandra was … Read more
Obviously this style of music and Early Modern English predate the setting of Sisters of the Revolution, but while we were writing the first two books, these medieval style covers of popular songs were posted on YouTube. This one in particular was appropriate for A Gentleman’s Daughter! Not sure what part made us think this? … Read more