Today’s guest blogger is a writing colleague whom I’ve known what feels like forever, and I mean that in a good way! Though our writing styles and settings are wildly different, we always somehow seem to be in tune with each other.
While I lean hard into YA Victorian era-ish adventures, Ben’s contemporary books are male/male romance novels with a focus on character-driven stories. Learn more about Ben at his Facebook page. You can browse Ben’s catalog of work at Amazon, which includes my personal favorite of his books, Hound Dog & Bean.
Ben’s taken a huge leap of faith for me – it’s a jump that pulled him out of the present day and dropped him smack into the middle of the Victorian Era, where he landed on a big pile of poetry. Let’s see how he fared on his time-travel trip, shall we? Take it away, Ben!
Parlor Poetry: A Victorian Versification Abecedary”: A Treat in Every Way!
To paraphrase the infamous Mrs Judith Beasley, “Hi. I am not a professional critic, I am a real person like yourself. I am not here to sell you a product but to give you some good consumer advice.” And that advice today is to pick up, peruse, and yes, hopefully purchase Lori Alden Holuta’s whimsical and delightful, “Parlor Poetry.”
Now stop right there, everyone who’s immediate thought was, “Well, I don’t like poetry.” Please. Don’t let that stop you. Do you enjoy the lyrics to songs? Of course you do. And the description that suits Ms Holuta’s missive for me is “lyrical.” And delightful. Did I say delightful?
I’ll start with the art. And that is stunning. Simply stunning. Nearly each and every page has something that makes me stop and stare. The illustrations are by the talented Olivia Wylie and I am enchanted by it all. The style is perfect for this book on the Victorian age. There is also some amazing vintage art as well that took me to a different time. It all took a wonderful book and made it a visual treat.
So now of course I must speak about the book itself, and the writing. It was all by an author who always impresses, the incomparable Lori Alden Holuta. And I’m not just saying this because I know her. She explains, in just a couple pages, how to read the book and what it is all about right off the (twinkle, twinkle little) bat.
I don’t know how interested I was in the Victorian Era before reading this book, but now I am doing what the author hoped for. I’m looking more into it. She wrote every poem, and researched researched researched to give us a book that is easy to read and fascinating as well. I simply can’t tell you how much I loved this book, and will be purchasing it in paper form. It needs to sit out on the coffee table and be admired by guests.
I cannot begin to tell you all the things that grabbed me: Do you know what a knocker-upper is? Well, guess what they did in industrial cities, before alarm clocks, to make sure people got up in time? Well, there were people who’s jobs were to go around the city and tap on windows (or use peashooters if you lived on an upper floor) to wake you up in the morning?
Did you know there was actually a “subway” in 1863 London? I didn’t! Lori explains how it was made and reveals that 9,500,000 passengers rode the railway that first year.
She talks about corsets (“the binds that tie”), alternatives to tea (how to make tisanes), an early style of bicycle called a velocipede (the “boneshaker”) and much, much more.
And even the fonts are lovely! All of this is to say that you really should check out “Parlor Poetry: A Victorian Versification Abecedary” (and she explains what that means as well). I really think you will love it.
Parlor Poetry: A Victorian Versification Abecedary is available at Amazon in eBook, paperback, and hardcover editions.
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