What's Past is Prologue Blog Tour! ~ Guest Post & Giveaway

Hello, my friends! It's my pleasure to be part of the What's Past is Prologue Blog Tour! Ann Galvia is here to close out the tour with thoughts about Lady Catherine. I hope you enjoy! 

Be sure to enter the giveaway! Details are at the bottom of the page! 

I want to thank Candy for hosting this final guest post in the What’s Past is Prologue blog tour!

We began with a pop quiz about Elizabeth. Then, we looked at Fitzwilliam Darcy’s patented approach to interpersonal conflict. And now, we end it all by taking a peek at the woman you are all so eager to know more about…

Lady Catherine!

(No joke, Lady Catherine was my mother’s favorite “Pride and Prejudice” character. She never read the book, only saw the 1940 film where Lady Catherine was played by veteran character actress Edna May Oliver. There was to be no criticising anyone played by Edna May Oliver in her house! Mom liked that Lady Catherine was ultimately a good guy in the film, much as that led to wild flailing from me.)

As for “What’s Past is Prologue,” Lady Catherine presented something of a conundrum from the start. I wanted the Darcys to have a compelling reason to stay despite the tension, but I was hesitant to present a woman as incapable of running an estate. Eventually, I capitulated. After all, “Pride and Prejudice” does not exactly paint her ladyship as a skilled landlord.

Elizabeth soon perceived that, though this great lady was not in the commission of the peace for the county, she was a most active magistrate in her own parish, the minutest concerns of which were carried to her by Mr. Collins; and whenever any of the cottagers were disposed to be quarrelsome, discontented, or too poor, she sallied forth into the village to settle their differences, silence their complaints, and scold them into harmony and plenty.

She’s also a being made pretty much entirely of ego, not that there’s much to brag about.

"Of music! Then pray speak aloud. It is of all subjects my delight. I must have my share in the conversation if you are speaking of music. There are few people in England, I suppose, who have more true enjoyment of music than myself, or a better natural taste. If I had ever learnt, I should have been a great proficient.” 

So...her economic theory is that scolding=financial success and if she HAD learned something, she’d be great at it, but she DIDN’T. Fantastic. 

We also know that despite Anne being the heiress of Sir Lewis’s fortune, Lady Catherine appears to be in charge of it for now. It is she who awarded Collins his living. It is she who is an active leader in the community (however poor.) Lady Catherine needed to have real power. But since the nexus of the story revolved around the Darcys being stuck at Rosings, she also needed to need their help.

When I started doing the research, this was still a Year Without a Summer story. I read accounts of the Parliamentary investigations into farmland, and of the laws that were passed in the hopes of circumventing the worst of the crisis. (The farmers amassing wealth by cheating their migrant laborers out a fair wage is a real thing that went on during the Summer, and so was the expectation that the landowner should cover the difference.) When the timeline changed, so did the disaster.

We know very little about Sir Lewis. In order to create Lady Catherine’s precarious circumstance, I ran as far as I could with every scrap Jane Austen gave us. The man who spent a lot on window glazing became a man who tore down and rebuilt the ancestral home when he inherited. The man who saw no reason to cut females out with an entail became an 18th-century feminist. Sir Lewis’s overspending and inability to coach Lady Catherine from Never Learnt to the next Theodosia Burr Alston exploded into a poorly managed estate plagued by massive debt.

Add a flood, and Elizabeth and Darcy have a compelling reason to stay. They can’t just abandon the farmers.

So what happens now that they are here? What does it mean to be guests, and what does it mean for Lady Catherine to host them? Even now, and even among family, there’s an etiquette for hosts and guests. But what does a Regency-era houseguest situation look like? 

For starters, a good hostess doesn’t ask their guests for their preferences because she already knows them. And if, for some crazy reason, she doesn’t know, then she needs to play it safe. For example, there were no rules when it came to sleeping arrangements. Some couples liked one bedroom. Some couples liked separate rooms. Both are valid and it’s totally up to the individual couple’s preference. If you don’t know the couple’s preference, it is safest to default to separate rooms. That way, the couple has options. If they want to share, they can pick one room and bunk together. If they want to be separate, great, done. If you default to one, they can’t choose to be separate. (And separate means separate. Being apart is the point.)

Some considerations are household specific. There is no gentleman in residence at Rosings Park. So while houses like Longbourn or Pemberley would not need a guest to sit at the bottom of the table and do the male host’s duties, Rosings does. In “Pride and Prejudice,” we are given a scene where Collins gets this honor and it’s probably the happiest moment of his life.

The dinner was exceedingly handsome, and there were all the servants and all the articles of plate which Mr. Collins had promised; and, as he had likewise foretold, he took his seat at the bottom of the table, by her ladyship's desire, and looked as if he felt that life could furnish nothing greater. He carved, and ate, and praised with delighted alacrity; and every dish was commended, first by him and then by Sir William, who was now enough recovered to echo whatever his son in law said, in a manner which Elizabeth wondered Lady Catherine could bear.

Finally, something you can never forget is precedence. Every man, woman and child in Regency England knew precisely where they stood in line in any given room. Rank was first nature in this extraordinarily class-conscious culture, but for us, it’s tough stuff. Fact is, precedence was deeply contradictory. Things that affect where you stand in line include: your father’s rank, a woman’s marital status, your age and even how well the people you are with know you. Among people you are particularly close to, you can be bumped down the line for no other reason than you should feel at home. And much as you need to know where you stand, it is very rude to insist upon your place. Austen illustrates this in "Persuasion."

Again, it was Mary's complaint, that Mrs Musgrove was very apt not to give her the precedence that was her due, when they dined at the Great House with other families; and she did not see any reason why she was to be considered so much at home as to lose her place.  And one day when Anne was walking with only the Musgroves, one of them after talking of rank, people of rank, and jealousy of rank, said, "I have no scruple of observing to you, how nonsensical some persons are about their place, because all the world knows how easy and indifferent you are about it; but I wish anybody could give Mary a hint that it would be a great deal better if she were not so very tenacious, especially if she would not be always putting herself forward to take place of mamma.  Nobody doubts her right to have precedence of mamma, but it would be more becoming in her not to be always insisting on it.  It is not that mamma cares about it the least in the world, but I know it is taken notice of by many persons."

What’s Past is Prologue places Lady Catherine in a role she doesn’t like very much: being powerless and dependent upon others. She’s going to want to exert her formidable force of will in any manner left to her. And, well, knowing the rules is the first step to using them to your advantage.

What's Past is Prologue
by Ann Galvia

Book Description:

Elizabeth Darcy has her eye on the future. 

Before her marriage, she saw herself making the best possible choice. Her husband saved her family from ruin. All he asked in return was her hand. Secure in his good opinion, Elizabeth married him. Only with hindsight and his cryptic warnings that passion is not immutable does Elizabeth question her decision. Her solution? Give him a son as soon as possible. Once his lust for her has been slaked, this service she has rendered him will ensure her value. 

The newlyweds are summoned to Rosings Park almost the moment they are married. Though the estate can boast of beautiful grounds, Elizabeth and Darcy arrive to find devastation. A flood has swept away Lady Catherine’s last hopes of hiding debt and years of mismanagement. She expects Darcy to shoulder the recovery efforts. 

The effort to save Rosings strains the already tense relationship between Elizabeth and her husband. To make matters worse, her presence is met with disdain and disinterest from the family. As the days in the besieged estate drag on, Elizabeth slowly untangles the histories and secrets of her new relations. 

Like Elizabeth’s marriage, the crisis at Rosings is the culmination of past events. Disaster need not be the result of only bad choices; good principles have led them astray as well. As for Elizabeth, she barely knows her husband, and loving him might be impossible. Yet, she is determined to save all that she can—her marriage and the estate—and somehow, create the future she longs for.

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FTC Disclaimer: Link to Amazon. I am an Amazon Associate. Should you purchase a copy of the book through the link provided, I will receive a small commission. Thanks! 

About the Author

Ann started writing sometime before she knew how letters functioned. Her first books were drawings of circus poodles heavily annotated with scribbles meant to tell a story. Upon learning how letters were combined to represent words, she started doing that instead. This has proven to be much more successful.

Sometime after that, she decided she wanted to study Anthropology and sometime after that, she decided she liked cats more than dogs. And sometime after that, she decided to become an educator and teach a new generation of kids how to combine letters to represent words, and use those words express ideas.

And sometime after that, she realized all she really wanted to do was write, which probably should have been evident from the beginning.

Connect with Ann

Twitter • Facebook • Blog

Blog Tour Schedule

August 1 / Savvy Verse & Wit / Guest Post & Giveaway

August 2 / Of Pens & Pages / Book Review & Giveaway

August 3 / Babblings of a Bookworm / Book Review & Giveaway

August 4 / Just Jane 1813 / Book Excerpt & Giveaway

August 5 / Liz’s Reading Life / Author Interview & Giveaway

August 6 / From Pemberley to Milton / Book Review & Giveaway

August 7 / More Agreeably Engaged / Guest Post & Giveaway

August 8 / My Vices and Weaknesses / Book Review & Giveaway

August 9 / Diary of an Eccentric / Book Review & Giveaway

August 10 / Austenesque Reviews / Book Excerpt & Giveaway

August 11 / Margie’s Must Reads / Book Review & Giveaway

August 12 / My Love for Jane Austen / Book Excerpt & Giveaway

August 13 / So Little Time… / Guest Post & Giveaway

* * * GIVEAWAY * * *

It's giveaway time! Meryton Press is offering eight eBooks of What's Past is Prologue to eight lucky winners in conjunction with this tour. To enter, fill out the Rafflecopter below!

• One eBook per winner.
• Eight winners will be randomly selected by Rafflecopter.
• Readers may enter the drawing by tweeting once each day and by commenting daily on a blog post or review that has a giveaway attached to this tour. Entrants must provide the name of the blog where they commented.
• Giveaway is open to international readers.

Good luck!

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A big THANK YOU to Ann for visiting with us today!  Haha, I can't believe Lady Catherine would be your moms favorite! Congratulations on your newest novel, What's Past is Prologue!

Thanks to Claudine @ JustJane1813 for organizing this tour, and including me! :) 

So, friends, what did you think? Oh, I can certainly see how Lady Catherine wouldn't want to be powerless. That would be a huge problem for her.