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A Letter from Caitlyn Paxson
Dear Reader,
It’s unseasonably warm on the Island and we’re battening the hatches for a wind storm that’s heading up the coast this afternoon. The solstice is approaching with Christmas on its heels, but today, given the unseasonable weather, I feel further from both than I did for most of November! When you work in historic house museums, November and early December are inherently full of holiday shennanigans.
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Image Description: I spent a weekend helping out at an event at Green Gables, fulfilling all the wildest dreams of Anne-obsessed child Caitlyn.
The cats have been especially sassy for the last little while and seem very pleased that I am now mostly at home for a bit of a winter break.
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Image Description: The Contessa and Bruce pose for an album cover. Monty and Bruce, the latter of whom seems to have misplaced his dignity.
With my formal reviewing done for the year, I’ve spent the last month and a half absolutely glutting myself on my current genre obsession, historical romance (and in some cases, historical fantasy romance). I’m going to give you a bit of a review blitz of the ones I liked the best – I should mention that most of these are Romance with a capital R and I would classify them as spicy (except for The Witchwood Knot).
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Image Description:A stack of swoony, gorgeous, wildly entertaining romances.
I have to declare that I am now a huge fan of Diana Biller, who writes the most deliciously loveable characters. I started with Hotel of Secrets, which is set in Vienna and is about a woman who is trying to revive her family’s hotel business but gets caught up in a dangerous political intrigue in the process. A stern American arrives in town intent on doing a little light espionage, but he keeps finding himself in the position of rescuing her. The grumpy/sunshine dynamic in this one was so delightful (and also pleasingly subverted) that I immediately picked up The Widow of Rose House, which also delivers on that trope, but somehow in a completely different way.
The Scandalous Letter of V and J is an artfully constructed narrative, consisting mostly of letters and journal entries that tell the story of an impoverished trans aristocrat and the gender-fluid painter he falls in love with while they are both rooming at a dodgy lodging house in 18th century Paris. It’s full of dangerous and transformative magic and really makes you feel immersed in period details while offering a very modern portrait of gender and sex.
A Power Unbound is the last in a magical Edwardian trilogy that began with A Marvellous Light (which you can read my review of here) and it really brings the story home in a satisfying way, wrapping up all the plot that had been building up and bringing back all the great characters I was already enamored with. I was a little skeptical about this one because the main couple are two of my least favorite characters from the first two books, but then I actually really enjoyed the dynamic of two assholes finding love and making each other both worse and better.
And last but not least is my favorite of the bunch, The Witchwood Knot. I’ve recommended the author’s previous faerie-regency-romance books before in this newsletter (you can find my review of Half a Soul here) and since then, we’ve actually become literary agent siblings as I related so much to her work that I queried her agent and we’re now working together! This book is set in the same world but jumps ahead to a Victorian setting and gives us a pitch-perfect gothic romance where a woman who isn’t really a governess must rescue her young charge from faeries. This deals with dark themes with a very gentle hand, and the romance is earnest and satisfying (and won't scandalize readers who prefer closed-door love stories).
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Interpreting
I’ve already mentioned that it’s been a busy time for museum programming. November was all about preparing – there were decorations to be made, carols to practice, halls to deck, and I even dove into the most complicated sewing project I’ve ever attempted and made myself a Victorian walking skirt! All of this was building up to two weeks of Christmas programming at Beaconsfield Historic House. The program involves a tour peppered with lots of weird information about the history of Christmas, a harp concert, a craft activity, and refreshments. It’s a lot! But it’s also very rewarding, and I love getting to help people feel the holiday spirit while also being really frank about things like colonialism and slavery and tuberculosis, because we can romanticize the beautiful elements of the season while also being critical of the horrible institutions that built the splendors of the era! Mostly people really seem to enjoy the harp, and it’s nice to have an excuse to play.
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Image Description:The Double Drawing Room, appropriately decked. The plum pudding and roast goose I made from Styrofoam and paper. Hanging the last ornament on the tree.
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Crafting
As I looked around the garden in November, I found that while things had died back, many plants left behind starkly beautiful seed pods, dried leaves, and other bits and pieces. November’s Wreath of the Month was made of these last gifts.
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Image Description: November and December’s Wreaths of the Month.
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For December, I decided to make my wreath in honor of my dear friend Claire in celebration of her birthday. I’ve raved about her as both a friend and author here before, and this wreath depicts Doédenna, Saint Death, from her beautiful book Saint Death’s Daughter. The book is about a necromancer who worships Saint Death, and her magic smells of citrus. I got the idea of drying the citrus slices from researching traditional holiday décor, and decided to make an exception of my usual rule that all my wreath materials must be foraged in order to make this homage a reality.
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Musing
There is so much information and content coming at us all the time, and so many important things that we must all work to stay aware of and engaged with. I am paying special attention to what is happening in Palestine right now and stand in support of a ceasefire. I highly recommend this essay, written by my friend Amal, as a very personal window into this crisis.
As we reach the end of 2023, I continue to be so grateful that all of you are here and that you take the time to read my letters each month. I hope they continue to be a pleasant moment in your life, like a cup of tea and a borrowed book and a walk through the garden. I look forward to meeting again in 2024.
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Image Description: The actual last bouquet, an unexpected surprise from the November garden.
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Until next time, wishing you the best books and the most berry-full brambles,
Caitlyn
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I write this from the traditional unceded territory known as Mi’kma’ki. Two books by Indigenous authors that I really enjoyed recently are To Shape a Dragon’s Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose and Into the Bright Open by Cherie Dimaline.
(All opinions expressed in this newsletter are my own and do not represent my employer.)
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