A Question for Harry
Page 33
Then in 1894, the British Ladies Golf Championship tournament began, just in time for Fiona to get there. I can’t imagine playing as a woman back then when women were required to play in long-sleeved, high-necked blouses, tight jackets and full-length skirts. Screw-in metal spikes on the bottom of button-up shoes. They were just as much of a handicap to playing well, I imagine.
Women’s golf has come a long way since then, though it was only in 2012 that the Augusta National Golf Club, home of the Master’s, allowed women to play there for the first time.
I love the late 19th century as a setting for my books because so many fabulous inventions were just coming to light at that point. One of those was the very first cinematographs or movies, ever made. Credit is given to many inventors for different parts and achievements - Louis Lumiere, Edison and others. I won’t go into them all but Lumiere is credited for the first public showing of a film was in December of 1895 in Paris. In Britain the first public showing was a short film – just 39 seconds – by Birt Acres and Robert W. Paul called Rough Seas at Dover on January 14, 1896. Newspapers reported viewers in the front row crying out in surprise as the water lapped toward the edge of the screen, fearing they might actually get wet. Not many of these early silent, black and white films have survived the test of time but you can see a brief snippet of Rough Seas at Dover by clicking here.
The film I used in my story, Birt Acres’ Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race, was filmed on March 30, 1895. It was first played at the Cardiff town hall on May 6, 1896 so obviously I took some artistic license to make it work for me.
The Empire of India Exhibition did open in London in May of 1895. The twenty-four acres of the Earl’s Court had been rebuilt beginning in 1894 to house the exhibition, which cost just one schilling to attend and was much as I described it in my narrative. The 300-foot Great Wheel (also called the Gigantic Wheel or Ferris wheel) was also much as I described it though the forty carriages could accommodate thirty people each. You can view the official catalogue of the Empire of India Exhibition of the event online.
The 1890s produced some of the most glorious dresses ever seen in any era. Though the style changed wildly over those ten years, names like Worth, Paquin, de Rouff and Doucet created gowns for the top fashion icons of the time like Alexandra, Princess of Wales, Tsarina Alexandra Romanov and Marie Feodorovna of Romania. You can see some of them and some that I used as inspiration for Fiona’s wardrobe on my Tumblr page or on my Pinterest board for A Question for Harry.
The early 1890s were also some of the most productive years of playwright Oscar Wilde’s career. Plays like the Picture of Dorian Gray, Lady Windermere’s Fan, Salome, A woman of No Importance, and the Sphinx were performed in London and Paris. The Importance of Being Earnest opened at the St. James Theater in London on February 14, 1895. Despite being married and the father of several children, rumors circulated through London society of Wilde’s homosexuality. He was rumored to have begun an affair with Lord Alfred Douglas, the son of the Marquis of Queensberry in the summer of 1891. That relationship would alter the course of his life.
When Douglas flaunted the relationship over the following years, Queensberry accused Wilde of sodomy, which was illegal according to an 1885 law banning such relations between men. Though Wilde sued Queensberry for libel, his own charges for “acts of gross indecency” were brought to the courts, though with Queensberry’s influence, his son was never named.
Wilde was convicted and on May 25, 1895 was sentenced to two years of imprisonment with hard labor. A friend of his later stated: ‘I have seen many awful happenings at the Old Bailey, but to me no death sentence has ever seemed so terrible as the one Justice Wills delivered when his duty called upon him to destroy and take from the world the man who had given it so much’.
It was a traumatic for Wilde, he wrote about his time in prison often. After his release, bankrupt and having lost custody of his children, Wilde moved to France and resumed his affair with Douglas.
He died in Paris on November 30, 1900 at the age of forty-six from cerebral meningitis resulting from a abscess of the ear. His last words were said to be regarding the terrible wallpaper in his rooms.
“One of us had to go.”
I hope you enjoyed the tale of how Fiona found Harry once again. Though I know there are some who would say that Fiona took too long to forgive him, there are others out there who’ve had their hearts trounced upon who would say that they would hate a man until their dying day, if he ever treated her like that.
It didn’t take Fiona quite that long.
As Mark Twain once said, “Denial isn’t just a river in Egypt.”
About the Author
Angeline Fortin is the author of historical and time-travel romance offering her readers a fun, sexy and often touching tales of romance.
Her first release in May of 2011, the Highland time travel novel A Laird for All Time, has steadily ranked in Amazon's Top 100 in Time Travel for the past three years with more than 80 five-star reviews so far.
A Question of Trust, the first of her Victorian historical romance series Questions for a Highlander, was released later that year and quickly followed by series additions A Question of Trust and A Question of Lust. The series primarily follows the siblings of the MacKintosh clan. Ten brothers and their lone sister who end up looking for love in all the right places.
While the series continues on with familiar characters well known to those who have read the entire series, each single title is also a stand-alone tale of highland romance.
With a degree in US History from UNLV and having previously worked as a historical interpreter at Colonial Williamsburg, Angeline brings her love of history and Great Britain to the forefront in settings such as Victorian London and Edinburgh.
As a former military wife, Angeline has lived from the west coast to the east, from the north and to the south and uses those experiences along with her favorite places to tie into her time travel novels as well.
Angeline is a native Minnesotan who recently relocated back to the land of her birth and braved the worst winter recorded since before she initially moved away. She lives in Apple Valley outside the Twin Cities with her husband, two children and three dogs.
She is a wine enthusiast, DIY addict (much to her husband's chagrin) and sports fanatic who roots for the Twins and Vikings faithfully through their highs and lows.
Most of all she loves what she does everyday - writing. She does it for you the reader, to bring a smile or a tear and loves to hear from her fans.
You can follow Angeline on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Tumblr, LinkedIn and Pinterest.
Also visit her website for news about upcoming publications and events or to send her a message.