BW5: 52 Books Bingo - Something Flufferton

Woman Reading - Jacques-Emile Blanche

I think I'm in the mood for something flufferton which just happens to be a 52 Books Bingo Category.  Come join me at Flufferton Abbey as we perambulate and promenade along footpaths and around the lake, enjoy a bit of tea and scones, perhaps a few finger sandwiches, then while away the afternoon reading in the library or the garden. 

Flufferton is a term coined by Amy, one of our Well Trained Mind mom's,  in relation to all things regency, both classic and modern.  Regency stories revolve around romance, mysteries, and the Napoleonic war. Modern fiction set in the regency era can run the gamut from historical romance fiction to paranormal.  

The Regency era from 1811 to 1820 fell within the period of Romanticism which latest approximately from 1790's to 1850's.  Romanticism in English Literature began with the poetry of William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coolridge in 1790.  By the 1820's Romanticism encompassed almost all of Europe and was influenced by The Bronte sisters,  French authors Victor Hugo and Alexander Dumas and as well as American, Italian, Russian and Polish writers. 

According to Amy: 

"Flufferton Abbey is not a genre so much as a writing style.  A few genres lend themselves well to being Flufferton books such as cozy mysteries, comedy of manners, romance, and historical fiction.  Everyone has their own specific thing they look for when they pick up a book and plan to spend time at Flufferton Abbey but there are a number of things that are expected:

• A happy ending – If you are crying at the end of the book it does NOT qualify.  A Flufferton book has the couple getting together, the mystery solved, the situation put right tidily.  If anyone has died during the course of the book they had better have deserved it.
• Setting – A lot of the charm in these books is being able to sneak away to someplace wonderful for a visit.  It’s easy to imagine that the cuppa tea we’re having isn’t really in our living room but the morning room of our manor house.  Gritty?  Realistic?  Downtown Detroit in the 1960’s?  Nope.  Not Flufferton appropriate. 
• Characters – We love these characters.  They have charm.  They make us smile.  We wish we knew them in real life.   
• Humor – A mandatory ingredient.  Some books have us laughing out loud in ways that make our family worry about our mental stability.  Some books have just an occasional chuckle.  All books have at least some. 
• Re-readability - Absolutely.  These are the books that we've read so many times that there are sections we've memorized."

The queen of the modern regency romance is undoubtedly Georgette Heyer.  Although Jane Austen lived and wrote her books during the 1800's, Heyer created the Regency England genre of romance novels. Back when I was a teen in the 70's, Harlequin romances and historical romances were my favorite reads and I actually still have a few in my shelves, all yellowed and well read.  

Check out a few of these links and have fun following rabbit trails. 

Time Traveling Regency Romances 

NPR's 100 Swoon Worthy Romances

The Regency Inkwell's Contemporary Romance Writers of the Regency and Victorian Period

Goodreads Popular Regency Era Fiction

Silver Petticoat Review's regency romance

Regency Reader's Top Fifty Funny Regency Romances

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