The Fascinating 1920's with Lauri Robinson

The Roaring Twenties was a fascinating time for America. A time of great change around the world. Economies were thriving, cities were booming, and industries were blossoming.

Cars: People from coast to coast had access to the same merchandise thanks to chain stores, and new transportation opportunities allowed long distance traveling. Ford vowed to build a car that all Americans could afford—a Model T cost $260 in 1924—and dozens of other car manufactures grew from the demand for more options. By 1929 there was one car on the road for every five Americans and new business, gas stations and motels, lined the roadways.

BOOK 1

Women: The 19^th Amendment guaranteed the right to vote, opportunities to attend colleges, and to pursue careers, paved the way for younger women to embrace who they were, and fashion and beauty products allowed them to showcase their individuality like never before. The increased availability of birth control made it possible to plan for children, and new technology brought freedom from the drudgeries of house work with electric refrigerators, washing machines, and vacuum cleaners.

Whiskey: Prohibition—the 18^th Amendment had been ratified in 1919 and on January 16, 1920 at 12:00 AM the federal Volstead Act closed every saloon, bar, and tavern in the United States. The act made it illegal to manufacture and sell any alcoholic beverage. However, consumption of alcohol was not illegal. The liquor trade went underground and bootleggers, gangsters, and racketeers soon battled amongst themselves to control the wealth gained by this enterprising opportunity. Speakeasies were born and embraced.

BOOK 2

Entertainment: Radios became a must have and radio stations popped up across the nation bringing the news as it happened and entertainment into homes. Movie theatres and amusement parks became popular businesses in large cities and small towns alike.  Americans had more leisure time than ever before and quickly fell in love with going to the movies. Stars of black and white films, and singers, became household names as theatres popped up across the nation. Hollywood hosted over 20 film studios that produced an average of 800 movies a year.

The roaring twenties is one of my favorite time periods. The glitz and glamour of entertainment, the dangers and underworlds of gangsters, the liberty and revolution of women, the freedom and travel of fast cars and airplanes, all gives way for never-ending opportunities for exciting settings and compelling men and women to fall in love and find their happily-ever-after.

This year, Brides of the Roaring Twenties, my two-book series, will be released. These books are about two women, Helen and Shirley, who are looking for fresh starts and head to where the bright lights beckon—Hollywood—where they find adventures amongst the speakeasies, starlets and the silver screen! Though they weren’t looking, they each find a handsome Hollywood bachelor to guide them through the dazzling new world they’ve entered and eventually down the aisle! 

Baby on his Hollywood Doorstep was released in May.

Stolen Kiss with the Hollywood Starlet will be released in September.

Lauri with fan at B&N book signing

Currently, I’m working on another series set in the twenties and again in Hollywood, this time about sisters who are wealthy heiresses by day, and flappers by night! They too find adventures, scandal, and handsome Hollywood bachelors.

Lauri Robinson has written a variety of historical romance novels. She lives in lives in Minnesota where she and her husband spend every spare moment with their three grown sons and their families—spoiling the grandchildren.

You can learn more about Lauri and her books at www.laurirobinson.blogspot.com, http://www.amazon.com/author/laurirobinson 

and connect with her on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/lauri.robinson1 https://www.facebook.com/authorlaurirobinson/

or Twitter https://twitter.com/LauriR

20th Century Historical Romance's Allure by Anna Brentwood

What draws me to the time periods in my books? There is no one answer. I am drawn by the characters where they lead, compelled to weave their truths with real history.

Because my first published book percolated years through career and raising a family, I had ample time to develop a passion for research. Getting immersed in the times I write about is one of my greatest pleasures. This makes me a thorough writer but a rather slow one.

Anna Brentwood and her Flapper Collectibles

Even before I know the entire story I want to write; I create a history timeline.

When the story begins and when it will end, place, I note things that may affect my characters life be it local, national, what newspapers they read, music they listen to, popular or not places they might go, people they might see or be influenced by…even weather conditions. 

Early on, pre-internet, my research involved studying and reading countless books and magazines, libraries, museums, eBay, antique shops, correspondence and interviews. Today, while I still study quite a bit, visit museums and talk to people, I rely heavily on the internet and Pinterest.

For example, if I need to know what music people listened to in 1930, I google, YouTube or iTunes it. If I need to see what women wore in 1940, or the kind of hats available to men in the 1920’s, I pull up images from Pinterest or Google images. Instead of having to dig, I can immediately see and describe it from actual visuals.

The Sapphire Songbird Series evolved from one book, The Songbird with Sapphire Eyes (TSSE).

TSSE takes place from 1918 through 1928, through Pre-Prohibition and the roaring 1920’s. It came to me in a series of dreams, so real, so enticing and accurate, it prompted me to investigate and develop a passion for the time and quite a collection of memorabilia.

Mermaid’s Treasure (MT), a prequel, happened differently, from an assignment to develop a story based on my book and incorporating a holiday theme. I didn’t think I had another book in me, but I wrote it in six months to deadline and it follows an object—a brooch with mystical properties that is one of the threads now tying all the characters and books in the series together. It takes place between 1893 to 1921.

MT ties to several countries and cultures and three main, real historical events; the sinking of the Russian battleship, Rusalka, the Decembrists (Russia) and the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City. Descended from mostly Russian immigrants myself, I was attracted to that idea and country and I plan to revisit this backstory in the future.

My current work-in-progress, Anthony’s Angel (AA) takes place from 1929 through 1949.

Compared to the roaring 1920’s, before researching AA, I considered the 1930’s drab, the 1940’s and the war years dull, but Bee’s Knees, was I a dumb dolly—it is anything but dull.   

AA weaves in characters and situations from both books, history of life at home in Brooklyn, New York during the war years to overseas; the brave men who flew into danger, the ladies who left home to join the workforce. Let me just say, it’s not called the greatest generation for nothing and Rosie the Riveter doesn’t have a monopoly on riveting…

If I have learned anything from the characters that I take these journeys with, human life is brief and every time, every era, every living creature has a unique story to tell. History can repeat itself and that’s not always good, but reading about it and gaining a better understanding, is.

About Anna: Anna Brentwood grew up in Philadelphia amidst a large family of interesting and colorful characters-think Godfather, Yentil, the Sopranos or Meet the Fockers. Her childhood home was noisy; televisions were always on and annoying-at-the-time, neighbors, friends, family and various younger cousins abounded. Her mother forced her to play the piano, pledge a sorority and be a girl scout. As a child, Anna had to hide in the closet to read or she would get in trouble for being anti-social. As a young woman, she had to dodge her mother’s relentless matchmaking attempts and she once sent a potential suitor to the gym where Anna worked out to spy on her.

After graduating University of the Arts where she majored in graphic arts and illustration, she moved to Southern California. Anna enjoyed working in publications in Marina del Rey and Venice and being able to read to her heart’s content in her own studio apartment in Orange County, CA, spending many weekends gorging on chips, diet coke, tuna sandwiches and romance novels.

Anna and spouse at Speakeasy Event

She especially enjoyed meeting and marrying her former Navy Seal, country boy husband of now thirty-six years because not only did he save her from her mother’s diabolical attempts at matchmaking, he gave her two beautiful, now grown up children. They share two amazing grandchildren and several pets and he fulfilled many of her greatest dreams. Anna had a successful career as an illustrator, graphic artist, publications director and more and with her husband’s early encouragement and support, she moved to Oregon with her family and turned her passion for reading into writing. 

For more about Anna Brentwood and her books, go to www.annabrentwood.com or email annabrentwood@ymail.com

Please like me on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Anna-Brentwood/447346295303805

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The Twenties Roared !

By: Marcia King-Gamble

www.lovemarcia.com

I thought about this one long and hard. If I had a choice of time and place, where would I want to live?

Crazy as it may seem, I would choose this era, because of the many opportunities that women fought for and finally achieved.

I don’t mean to come off as some strident woman’s libber. Though I will proudly admit I am a huge supporter of women’s rights, and a staunch believer in women having control of their own bodies, and having the right to equal pay.    

That said, the Roaring Twenties would be the era that mostly piques my interest. I could never exist in the Victorian era with its horrible double standard, and a prudery and snobbishness that would probably have gotten me jailed.

Why the Roaring Twenties then? 

It was a time of  great economic prosperity, and boy did we need it. Flappers were coming on the scene and women were coming into their own. Females were becoming independent and "girls" were making an impact on the ‘Good ole boys Club.”  So, where would I like to “Roar?’’ certainly not in this country, but in Paris, where people of color were accepted, respected, and revered for their talent, at least more so than in the United States.

In fairness, in 1920, the USA was slowly coming into its own. There was an artistic explosion in Harlem; a renaissance it was called.  Zeta Phi Beta, an African-American sorority was founded at Howard University. The following month, The Negro National Baseball League got its start, and that summer, the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, granting women the right to vote, although African-American women living down south, would tell you otherwise. They faced enough restrictions to make voting impossible thanks to poll taxes, literacy tests, and grandfather clauses. It just wasn't easy.

Yes, off to Paris I would go.  Women had started earning salaries which meant they had choices. The Suffragettes emerged and so did the Flapper.  It was a fascinating time in history, especially after the austerity and bloodshed of World War I, the joy and light-heartedness of this era was a welcomed change. New lifestyles and technologies made for exciting times. Les Années Folles had roared in with a vengeance. The mad years some called it.  Automobiles were being produced in record numbers, mass production now making them more affordable. As more and more cars appeared on the roads, many were driven by these  young “Flapper” women. As a result,  city living received a huge boom, and strides in birth control made women sexually freer.  Silent movies played in picture houses, and radios appeared in homes. This was the era of jazz, and over the top entertainment. Patrons flocked to musical halls and speakeasies and talent like Josephine Baker and Maurice Chevalier  found a home.

Oh, yes Paris was the beating heart. In Paris, you drank freely.  Fashion was in vogue, and new artist got  to showcase their talent. Architecture and design thrived, and the movers and inspirational thinkers of the day, drew from cubism, modernism and neoclassicism creating what is known today as art deco.

In Paris, struggling artists and writers found acceptance and appreciation. Women could walk arm in arm with each other without someone batting an eye.  Paris was where American expat, Gertrude Stein, opened her house to the 'Lost Generation' of American literati, courting talent like Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Picasso and Matisse. So huge was the impact of these artists, that Left Bank cafés still live off their legacy today.

Until then, women had been considered no better than chattel; creatures to be quickly married off to a handler/caretaker. Yes, we have a lot to thank the Twenties for.  While I still think there is no better era to live in than the here and  now, had it not been for this light-hearted time in history, women would probably still have jobs, and not careers, and we still  wouldn't be heard.  Today, politicians court women for our votes, and because we are well paid, we can walk away from abusive partners and buy homes. 

As women, we have come a long way.    

About Marcia King-Gamble

Marcia King-Gamble is a best selling author of over 40 novels and novellas. She is primarily known for her multi-cultural novels set in exotic parts of the world.  You can find her on Facebook or  at www.lovemarcia.com.  Magnolia Moments is her latest full length novel.

Bees Knees and The Twenties

By Anna Brentwood

People often ask me why I chose to write a story that takes place in the 1920’s, but this story chose me. Hannah, my main character came to me in a series of dreams that over a long period of time, I became compelled to explore and eventually write about.  

What I discovered when researching the 1920’s is a strong respect for my character and her friends, all women who came of age in a world that is as foreign to us today as an alien world on another planet would be.  



Anna Brentwood

The twenties were a time when people lived hard, worked harder, smoked incessantly, drank continuously and got steady doses of heroin, morphine, cocaine and opium in their soft drinks, candy or medicines. People could pretty much get away with murder, and often did. It was a rough, bawdy time where fortunes were lost or made in a single night and criminals became kings. Fashion was innovative, shocking and society’s rules and morals and tastes were being challenged daily.  

City life was very different from country life but life in general was brutally hard, short and contained very few pleasures. Even the standards and luxuries of the very richest of that time pale in comparison to the common luxuries we all take for granted today.  

In The Songbird With Sapphire Eyes, Hannah begins her life on a rural farm in Kansas where all her widowed mother, Emalith does is work. A rainbow in a world of beige, young Hannah yearns for a life that offers more than hard work.   

A young woman's prospects for marriage were restricted to the size of her town or neighborhood. It was common (and not a crime) for girls as young as fifteen to be courted by men twenty, thirty or forty years older. If a girl were a sheltered, so-called respectable girl, her family would have a say in whom she could love or marry. Because there were so many “rules” between family approvals, religious and social orientations, proper methods of meeting, and because men were the ones who had to both initiate and propel courtship, a woman’s choices, especially if she were poor were limited.   

Few learned about the "birds and the bees" factually and garnered the information through gossip, misinformation or supposition witnessing animals mating outdoors or attending funerals of women who died in childbirth. Puberty was shrouded in fear, shame and mystery and when a girl started her menses, there was no such thing as sanitary pads or tampons, and instead rags were bundled and boiled clean and reused. Usually discreetly and G-D Forbid, never discussed openly.  

One of the elderly widows I interviewed had grown up in the country, in a small, rural Oregon town. She’d attended school in a one room schoolhouse and as a young woman began working in a neighboring town as a law clerk. She met a young man studying to be a lawyer and they got engaged. They planned to marry after he finished his studies. She looked forward to finally moving into her own home and starting a family.  

One day after church she attended a cousin’s party. Her male cousin’s friend, a young man new to the area and a Scot was nice but she didn’t think much of him, his dress or his looks and quickly forgot all about him. However, he did not forget about her. With seeming assistance from her cousin, he seemed to pop up everywhere she went with her family. She didn’t think much of it but it wasn’t more than a week or so later that her fiancée suddenly began avoiding her. Soon after that to her utter shock, without explanation he broke off their engagement.  

She was heartbroken, but in those days, a respectable young woman didn’t chase after a man or show up at his home uninvited or demand an explanation.  

Her cousin and his friend in tow started showing up on the pretense of cheering her up. The Scot would sometimes show up alone or at her work. He’d bring flowers, presents and tell her stories that made her laugh. What she didn’t know at the time, but found out many years after she’d been married to her persistent Scot was that he had purposely sabotaged her engagement. While he never would admit the exact details of what he’d done, she suspected he’d either threatened her beau or insinuated something that had humiliated the fiancée.  

Entranced by her romantic courtship, I asked her if she’d “loved” him. Like every single woman of that era I spoke with, she was uncomfortable with the term love. They all would shrug, stammer or  say “I grew to love him…we were married for 60 years…or he was a good man, a good provider, a good father…he didn’t beat me…he wasn’t a drunk but they didn’t think in terms of love.  

All of them could not wait to marry. It was a way out of their parent’s rule and to be on their own. They looked to marriage and having children as a major achievement and this was their definition of success. A good provider was key to all of them. They all defined themselves and their lives by their husband’s financial success and their children. Unlike us today, who seek to match so many different criteria to define ourselves and our relationships, they were much less complicated. They simply sought someone they shared common values with, someone who would treat them kindly and maybe they could grow to love, but mostly they married for security and family. They wanted someone to take care of them and be a good provider.  

When you consider that the average American life expectancy then was age 53 for a man and 54 for a woman and that is only if you survived childhood, maybe there was a good reason they didn't spend years trying to "find" themselves. Or date incessantly to find "Mr. or Mrs. Right."