Royal mistresses are often given a bad rap. After all, by definition they are either engaged in adultery or enjoying (or enduring) decidedly outside of marriage sex with little hope for marriage. Beyond this, many such women are accused of acting solely out of greed: why else, after all, would anyone sleep with a prince or a king? To be fair, in ( Read more... )

I have got to stop doing this. And by "this," I mean, "read irritating sequels to Jane Austen novels by contemporary writers." The latest one is The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet, by Colleen McCullough. Colleen McCullough, not usually a major favorite of mine, but I always felt rather drawn to Miss Mary Bennet, who seemed to be a lot like me; ( Read more... )