How Quickly Times Changed!!

I’m currently writing my first “modern” book set in 1881. It’s such a thrilling time period! Until now, my most “modern” time period was the 1850s. It’s shocking how much technology changed in those twenty to thirty years! What a thrill it would have been to live then. But trying to keep up would have been a challenge and makes for interesting character development for some. A great time period for a historical writer <grin>

For example, in my current manuscript, my heroine is answering the newly invented telephone for the hero’s industrial company. His company is involved in running the wires on the streets for the newly developed electricity. And heroine’s mother hates all this modernizing and didn’t want the wires coming to her house. Thankfully, her husband insisted that for the future property value of their house, they had to at least have the wires run while the company was working on their street. My heroine tries to reason with her mother by asking how she would like to be without the indoor plumbing that they now take for granted but had only been run through their city in the last thirty or so years.

These are things that we take for granted nowadays, but it’s fascinating to think about how some

might have resisted these “newfangled gadgets”!

Even transportation! When I was writing my Proxy Brides books, I had to keep researching just how far West the train would have gotten in the year I wanted. Connecting the East and West coasts by train travel changed everything! And in the twenty-five years between my eras, train travel times shrunk exponentially. When they first connected the coasts, it took two weeks or more to make the trip which was still extremely fast compared to travelling by ox pulled wagons, but by the 1880s it only takes a few days!

Fortunes were gained and lost even more quickly with the advancement of technology. Those who could adapt, thrived. Those who could not, lost out. This is a thrilling time period for historical authors. I personally read and write for the escapism of it. Because of that, all my books have an extreme. Usually extreme wealth – the hero is a duke or an earl or a wealthy land owner or struck it rich with the gold rush. I think the 1880s will allow for many extremes as so many were learning and discovering new and improved things.

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In the meantime, please enjoy one of my Proxy Brides books, A Bride for Ransom:

They find themselves married...but can they be a family?

Ransom is just looking for a mother for his orphaned niece. The fact that she’s from Boston is a bonus. Their arrangement allows him to get out of town.

Hannah needs a husband. Her new name will protect her siblings. The fact that he lives in the back of beyond gives them a place to hide. She hadn’t counted on him being so appealing.

But what happens when they realize how very permanent their proxy marriage truly is?

Available from Amazon, included in your KU subscription.