![]() Which is actually more appealing to Gladys than marrying someone she doesn’t love and who doesn’t love her. She’s never received a marriage proposal and this is her last chance if she doesn’t get married now her dowry will pass to her sister and she’ll become the spinster sister who never leaves home. She’s not old by today’s standards but in Regency eyes she’s practically an old maid. She’s not drop-dead gorgeous like her younger sister and her marriage prospects are slim, as her mother never hesitates to point out. This unforgiving environment is the one Gladys Bell has grown up in. And the reason I love Regency romance is because talented authors like Erica Ridley take these dark, dreadful, dreary circumstances and turn them into immensely entertaining stories for us to enjoy! And if someone holds a grudge against you and lies about what caused your downfall it doesn’t matter they will be believed and you will be shunned. You’re ruined, fallen, you no longer exist. Being a rake was kind of a charming thing for a man but get caught accidentally in the garden unchaperoned with a man and that’s the end for a woman. Of course most of these rules applied to women only. Consequences and punishment were swift and irrevocable. ![]() And this is from not just society but your own family. ![]() Who cares how you make a living, or if you go on living. Many of the rules were cold, cruel, uncompromising. But everyone was affected by them, often very negatively and for the rest of their lives. ![]() Nobody followed them if all the little trysts are any example. ![]()
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