Book Review Club: A Bachelor Establishment #review #RegencyRomance

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A Bachelor Establishment
by Jodi Taylor, writing as Isabella Barclay
Regency Romance
Audio book narrated by Anna Bentinck

audio book cover

After years of traveling the continent, Lord Ryde goes to his family estate to see what he can sell to finance his travels, only to be almost trampled while examining a ditch in one of his fields. The rider of the horse is Mrs. Elinor Bascombe who jumped the hedge onto his property while taking a short cut to her own. They clash immediately, but when she is shot, he saves her life and takes her to his home. Before he knows it, five more females from her estate descend on him and disrupt his bachelor establishment.

Lord Ryde is a forty-something curmudgeon and Elinor a plump 38-year-old widow, so I liked that the characters were different from the typical teenage girl and older man. They fall in love, of course, as do their respective sidekicks. There are two mysteries in the plot, one involving the question of who shot Elinor and the other related to the death of Lord Ryde’s father and the disappearance of Elinor’s brother-in-law years before. Taylor’s typical witty banter and snarky inner thought plus Bentinck’s stellar performance made the audio book really enjoyable.

Taylor also writes the Chronicles of St. Mary’s, those crazy time-traveling historian books that I enjoy so much. I reviewed the first two books in the series back in 2015.

What are you reading?

Linda

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Dear FCC, I purchased the audio book from Audible.com.

Dublin’s Easter Rebellion Revisited #TuesdayTravels #Ireland #history

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Tuesday Travels

My new Tuesday Travels banner.

I haven’t done a Tuesday Travels post in a while but today we’re revisiting Dublin in honor of the 102nd anniversary of Ireland’s Easter Rebellion.

The uprising began on April 24, 1916 while the United Kingdom was in the midst of World War I. Rebels from the secret the Irish Republican Brotherhood, led by Patrick Pearse, streamed into Dublin from the countryside. The armed men attacked government buildings and seized the General Post Office. After initial success, they declared Irish independence.

Dublin post office

The historic General Post Office, Dublin, Ireland.

However, the British launched a counteroffensive and the rebellion was crushed after only five days. The Irish people were initially not supportive of the rebellion, but the harsh measures meted out to the rebels stirred public resentment. The leaders of the uprising, including Pearse and James Connolly, were executed and became instant martyrs. When I visited Dublin Castle, we learned about the execution of the prisoners and visited a room dedicated to their memory.

Armed protests broke out and in 1921, a vote was held. 26 of Ireland’s 32 counties voted for independence and the Irish Republic was born. The other counties remain part of Northern Ireland, in the United Kingdom.

Statue of Michael Collins

When I was in Ireland, we took a day excursion to west County Cork where I saw this statue of Michael Collins, who participated in the Easter Rebellion and went on to be a leader of Sinn Fein and the Irish Republican Army. In Jan. 22, he became Chairman of the Provisional Government of the Irish Free State until his assassination in August 1922.

Irish history is turbulent and disturbing, but quite fascinating. I’d love to see more of the Emerald Isle some day.

Linda