This is something I've been thinking about for some time, and the events of the past days have made me want to revisit it. I have long avoided speaking about politics as an author, and have figured my work probably speaks for itself...after all, my last published work was a very long novel with a climate crisis as the central plot driver.
But racism isn't politics. Fighting against racism and for equality is a
human rights issue, so lest anyone is in any doubt of where I stand,
it's firmly in that fight.
Replica of Schooner Amistad
I've also been thinking about it because I write stories set 200 years in the past. At this time in Britain, the slave trade has been abolished but slavery is still legal. The British Empire has already been exploiting people in colonies around the world for wealth, and that exploitation will continue both for people of color and those of the lower classes in Britain who are forced to work in the factory conditions brought on by the Industrial Revolution. Women are the property of their husbands; paternalism is the way of the world.
How could I write stories set in such a world? I found out about the hashtag
#vintagestylenotvintagevalues from
posts by Zach Pinsent, who does amazing Georgian and Regency period tailoring. I think writers of JAFF and historical fiction need to embrace the same: Historic stories, not historic values.
I can't change the time period my characters live in. What I can do is show that these things are happening and as much as realistically possible, have my main characters react as we would want them to with modern values. I value historical accuracy in my work, but this is one area where I'm perfectly willing to depart.
I'd already been working on this in
A Generation's Secrets. Like
A Season Lost, it includes some heavy themes, among them slavery, racism, poverty, spousal and parental abuse. It also introduces a Black character; something else we're largely missing in the Regency historical world. Yes, the
Sanditon miniseries had its flaws, but bringing Miss Lambe to our screens in Austen's world was sorely needed, and
Sanditon deserves nothing but praise for that. I'm also very aware of the potential of getting this new character wrong, as a white female writer. I am committed to doing the work to avoid making her a stereotype, and to have the white characters around her act as allies to raise up her voice, rather than white saviors. Readers will see some of her in AGS, and I'm planning a bigger plotline for her in the fifth book, after I've had a chance to do more learning from sources I'm wishing I had discovered and followed earlier, like
Not Your Momma's History.
I will admit, when I included the capture of the slave ship in
A Season Lost, I was waiting in fear for a comment or review questioning what slavery was doing in a JAFF novel, or saying the reader didn't want to be reminded of it in a JAFF novel. That never came, and I was proud of the JAFF community. People can be afraid of speaking up for fear of reprisal, or afraid to include such scenes, but I honestly believe that people who read and love Jane Austen's close studies of humanity are far more likely to stand on the side of human rights. We shouldn't be so afraid, but even if we are, we should still speak up.
I know this is a difficult time, and readers often turn to fiction when they need a break from the real world. I have been doing the same. And I understand there is an element of escapism in Regency fiction like my works, that many readers like to put themselves in Elizabeth's ball slippers and dresses and enjoy the beautiful environs of those country houses I'm often providing you all pictures of. I once saw a good quote, that I think was from Sophie McShera, the actress from
Downton Abbey, that we all like to pretend we're Lady Mary upstairs when we're watching the show, but the reality of it is most of us would have been Daisy in the kitchen. Not just Daisy, though...some would have been a paid servant in the kitchen, while others would have been working as slaves in the kitchen or the fields, and still others in the dangerous conditions of the industrial world. Even these situations were not remotely equal.
I think there's still room for escapism, but we need to escape without completely ignoring the greater context of the time period. We need to put ourselves in the slippers of characters who go to balls and fall in love, but also those who use their class and immense privilege for good. Doing good in that time period should be part of the fantasy. It's the most important part.
.jpg)
