BREAKING CODES

It's my pleasure to welcome back Donna MacMeans to Over Coffee. I thought it quite interesting to find that there were personal ads for finding companions and mates as early as the 1800's. Precursor to dating sites in our day. A lesson in the more things change the more they stay the same.
One commenter has the opportunity to win an autographed copy of Donna's latest release, The Casanova Code. 

A few years back, a friend sent me an article about Victorian personal ads:  man seeks woman, woman seeks man...yes, they had those sort of things back then, only they were more eloquent in their phrasing.  Here’s an example:

B.78 Middlesex – Age 25; fair, slight, fond of music, and a lively temperament; would like to make the acquaintance of an educated, refined man not under 30; not necessarily for marriage; wishes to correspond with a gentleman who is cultured and of a sympathetic disposition, either a business or professional man, but must be at least 30, and not more than 50; not a clergyman; a man of broad views and fond of music.July 1898

The ads make perfect sense when you think about it.  The industrial revolution brought people into the cities, expanding the population and changing the methods used to find a life partner.  Personal ads came into being about fifty years after newspapers began to widely circulate, but it wasn’t until the Victorian period that the ads became common.

Which got me thinking...(always a dangerous development)...what if someone knew that a notorious rogue was behind the placement of an ad for a quiet, unassuming female, and what if that someone felt obligated to warn any respondents of the danger they faced.  Thus my group of women determined to save other women from unscrupulous men was born - The Rake Patrol.

I discovered something interesting in my research of personal ads that helped shape the first book in my Rake Patrol series.  Sometimes the personal ads were written in code because the two correspondents didn’t want others “eavesdropping” on their otherwise public conversations. I gave my heroine, Edwina Hargrove, the ability to break code and read some of those secret conversations.  That particular talent gets her in more trouble than she ever imagined possible.

 

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THE CASANOVA CODE:

“A refined gentleman, age 25, of wealth and education, seeks the acquaintance, with a view to matrimony, of a high-minded, kind-hearted lady who prefers an evening of quiet conversation to the lively demands of society.”

Edwina Hargrove knows that this “gentleman” was, in fact, Ashton Trewelyn, a rake notorious for seducing the young and naive. In fact, five decent women have already been tricked and bundled off to the continent for scandalous purposes. There was a way to thwart his scheme though—by shadowing this devilishly handsome Casanova and warning his prey.  If only it were that simple.

Wounded and weary, Ashton Trewelyn returns home to London from the King’s Royal Rifles but soon discovers a coded message that has implications for the Crown and his family.  His only hope to unravel the mystery lies in the enigmatic Edwina’s ability to recognize patterns.  Even as he leads her on a path of secret societies and risque temptations, he discovers she arouses his jaded soul with temptations of her own.  Must they risk everything to decipher Casanova’s Code? EXCERPT

Secret Codes, secret societies, sexy heroes - what more could you want in a romance?  I had a great time writing THE CASANOVA CODE and I’m hoping your readers will enjoy it as well.  Someone leaving a comment on the blog today will win an autographed copy.

I suppose the modern equivalent of personal ads are the online dating services.  

• Have you ever tried one?  Would you ever try one?  What attributes would you advertise for in a partner?  Would you be honest about yourself or take creative license (grin)?  Let’s chat!

(BTW, the first personal ad came from a book called “Classified, The secret history of the personal column”  written by H.G. Cocks, which according to the copyright page, stands for Harry Cocks  - Yup, you read that right.  Poor man!)

Before beginning her writing career in earnest, Donna MacMeans kept books of a different nature. A certified public accountant, she recently abandoned the exciting world of debits and credits to return to her passion: writing witty and sensuous romances. Her debut novel, The Education of Mrs. Brimley, won the 2006 Golden Heart for Best Long Historical. Her second book, The Trouble with Moonlight, won the Romantic Times Reviewers Choice award for historical love and laughter. Originally from Towson, Maryland, she now resides in central Ohio with my husband, two adult children and her kitty keyboard companion, Shadow.

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