Author’s Notes

Okay, let me start this off by saying that Regency Era contraception was…eesh. Condoms did exist, and they were often made of sheep's gut or other such unpleasant materials. They would be sold dried and had to be soaked in liquid to make them pliable enough for use.

Interestingly, at the time they weren't used so much as a method to prevent pregnancy as to avoid various venereal diseases. With some middling success. There were also various other methods used at the time, such as herbal teas made of tansy, Queen Anne's lace, and pennyroyal. They're known to be fairly toxic today (please do not rely upon potentially injurious herbal teas to prevent pregnancy; we have much more reliable options available to us). Sponges soaked in vinegar were also a popular method, but who wants to have vinegar in their nether regions?

For the sake of convenience and happily-ever-afters, we'll say that Kit was, indeed, rendered sterile by his illness, they will never suffer so much as even the most minor of pregnancy scares, and they will remain happily childless.

At the time, Phoebe's purpose in life according to societal conventions and expectations would certainly have been to marry and to produce children. At the very least the heir and the spare than an aristocratic husband would have expected to carry on his line and to inherit his estates. Not wanting children would make her something of a rebel for the time period, and would certainly have been worth avoiding marriage.

As much as I love baby epilogues—and I do love baby epilogues—I don't feel I see quite enough happily childless women in literature. Babies are not the only path to happiness, and even if it would have been highly unusual at the time, I think love stories that don't involve children deserve to be told.

Transportation to Australia was a viable punishment for a crime at the time. Prisoners were transported between 1787 and 1868, and could be sentenced to terms of seven or fourteen years, or, for more severe crimes, life. Conditions were fairly brutal upon prison transport ships, and many prisoners did not survive the journey. It was possible for transported prisoners to return after their sentence had ended, but they were expected to pay for their own passage back, and it could take a significant amount of time to save up the funds to afford it.

Policing at the time was basically non-existent. If you were the victim of a crime, you were often expected to apprehend the person who had committed it yourself and bring them to the courts for justice. In June of 1829, the Metropolitan Police Act was passed by Parliament, which allowed a formal police force within London. It was expanded many times to encompass larger and larger areas, until the police became the institution we know today.

At the time, the Metropolitan Police Act was not particularly well-received, but the Bow Street Runners (the prior policing organization), fell by the wayside with the advent of the Metropolitan Police, and by September of 1829, policemen were out patrolling the streets of London.

You might have noticed that Kit is visited by a surgeon who is called Mr. and not Dr. This is because at the time, surgeons trained as apprentices beneath another surgeon rather than receiving a formal medical education. Surgeons in the UK are still called Mr. today, because of longstanding tradition.

Mary Shelley—the daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft—was only 18 when she wrote Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus, and like many women of the time, she chose to publish it anonymously. But by 1823, new editions were available published in Shelley's name. Also like most novels of the time, the book was published in three volumes.

Turtles have not been indigenous to England for thousands of years. I didn't originally intend to give Kit a pet, but I made the mistake of calling him a "rat man"

(that is to say, someone who seems like he'd be perfectly comfortable living in the sewers) to some friends, and they made one too many Ninja Turtles jokes at me.

So I came up with a way for Kit—who didn't seem to me like he'd be the sort to own either a dog or a cat—a pet of his own, and named him, appropriately, after the Renaissance artist Hieronymus Bosch.

Curiously, there are now plenty of wild turtles in England. Mostly they are turtles that were once pets who were acquired during the Ninja Turtles craze of the late 80s and early 90s.

I actually intended to write this book first. I started it two years ago, in fact, and got approximately ten thousand words in. But I realized I didn't have a clear idea of who, exactly, I wanted Kit and Phoebe to be. I always intended to come back to them, but I enjoyed inventing more about them as I wrote other books first, and sprinkled them into other people's stories. By the time I'd finished the other three, I went into Kit and Phoebe's story with a much clearer picture of who they were, and with a healthy head start, since much of what I'd already written required just minor revision.

This book marks the end of the series! But I've still got plenty of ideas—in various stages of development—for future books. I intend to get started on a new book soon, and I hope you'll join me for it!

And don't forget: I've got a free holiday novella coming out closer to Christmas! If you're a subscriber to my newsletter, you'll receive it via email. Otherwise, you'll have to wait until I can get it online. If you're not already subscribed, you can sign up on my website, www.aydrarichards.com.

As always, you can find me on Facebook and Instagram (@aydrarichards), or reach me via email at [email protected]!

Love,

Aydra