Homage to the City of Bath by Cheryl Bolen

 

I first visited Bath, England, in 1996. I didn’t know then how important it would become to me. I had wanted to see it because it had been immortalized by my all-time favorite author, Jane Austen (1775-1817). She not only set her Persuasion there, but she also spent a great deal of time residing in Bath.

During the Georgian era, people flocked to this city for the baths, first established by the Roman occupation nearly two-thousand years previously. It was thought that “taking the waters” and even drinking the city’s water could restore good health to the infirm. Invalid chairs—what we now call wheelchairs—were a common sight in eighteenth and nineteenth century Bath.

It was also the era of the sedan chairs which were borne by strapping young men, front and back. The city even regulated the fares for these “chair men,” many of whom were Irish immigrants.

Bath rivaled London for social offerings, too. There was a Theatre Royal, assembly rooms for weekly balls, and the famed Pump Room, where the finely dressed would gather daily for a cup of the supposed medicinal waters. While at the Pump Room, newcomers to the city would sign the guest book which was eagerly examined by all.

No city could rival Bath for its aesthetically pleasing architecture.  Almost all the buildings were constructed in the Georgian era by the Woods, father and son architects. Not only do the structures all  display the classical features that characterize Georgian architecture, but they are also built of golden Bath stone.  To provide relief from the grids of most cities are built upon,  Bath features a Royal Crescent of a couple of dozen upscale townhouses that face a huge park, Crescent Fields. There’s also a round street of townhouses known as the Circus. 

Bath Cathedral is a central feature of this watering city, and the lovely River Avon winds through the imminently walkable town. The Pulteney Bridge, lined on either side with shops, is another of Bath’s distinctive features.

Today's visitors can view the Assembly Rooms that have been restored to their eighteenth-century grandeur, and the magnificent Pump Room has become a lovely restaurant where we always take high tea to the accompaniment of chamber music. (My husband loves eating there as much as I do.) All that was attractive in the eighteenth century remains today, and museums have been added--housed in those wonderful Georgian buildings.

My Brides of Bath Series

In 2000, I came up with a proposal for a series of Regency romances to be called Brides of Bath, and my editor at Kensington bought it. The first of my seven Brides of Bath books, The Bride Wore Blue, was published in paperback in 2002. It wasn’t available in eBook until 2011!

My original contract was for a trilogy. The year after the trilogy was published my editor asked for a fourth book. Those four books eventually went out of print, and I got my rights back to republish them. in 2011 and 2012. In 2014 the fifth book, Love in the Library, was published, and that Christmas saw the publication of the series' Christmas novella, A Christmas in Bath. 

I’ve been back to the city two more times since that initial visit, and the last time I had the opportunity to stay at the luxury Royal Crescent Hotel. It was an incredible experience. The Regent’s brother, the Duke of York, once stayed in the same place.

Worldwide, the series has sold about half a million copies. I’m so grateful to the  thousands of fans who’ve read my Brides of Bath, and I’ve listened to their requests for the bachelor known as Appleton to get his own story. Preorders are now being taken at all retailers for his  story, Once Upon a Time in Bath, the seventh Brides of Bath book. 

I eagerly await a vaccine for COVID-19 so I can return to Bath. Its pull is strong.

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