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A review by juniperjenn
Mad and Bad: Real Heroines of the Regency by Bea Koch
3.0
Light, breezy tone with snapshots of some influential women who lived during the Regency period. Has a bibliography and footnotes with a few period images. Place to start (like a Wikipedia article) but if you're already familiar with the period, you may not find much new here.
I would have liked more references to regency romances - as it was, there were only a few plot and character notes in the middle of the book. I would have thought there would be more, considering the author co-owns a romance bookstore.
As I finished the book, I found it slightly ironic that she separates women by labels (lesbian, Jewish, etc.) but these were women that did not want to be labelled. They didn't want to be (just) mothers or housewives, but scientists, siblings, artists, friends, etc. Two of the women she focused on in the LGBTQ chapter refused to be labelled - yet here we are slapping a label on them. (I also have issues when assumptions are made about historical figures, based on little more than gossip. Grrr.)
I would have liked more references to regency romances - as it was, there were only a few plot and character notes in the middle of the book. I would have thought there would be more, considering the author co-owns a romance bookstore.
As I finished the book, I found it slightly ironic that she separates women by labels (lesbian, Jewish, etc.) but these were women that did not want to be labelled. They didn't want to be (just) mothers or housewives, but scientists, siblings, artists, friends, etc. Two of the women she focused on in the LGBTQ chapter refused to be labelled - yet here we are slapping a label on them. (I also have issues when assumptions are made about historical figures, based on little more than gossip. Grrr.)