By Time Divided by Elaine Jeremiah - Guest Post, Excerpt and Giveaway

Elaine Jeremiah is visiting us today with her new book, By Time Divided. This is a follow up to Love Without Time. You can read more about the first book on the previous post. Elaine has an excerpt from By Time Divided (which doesn't have spoilers for the first book), a guest post on Bath, where Jane Austen lived for a while, and a giveaway of both books in ebook format. Read on for more details!

Book Description for ‘By Time Divided’

Having accidentally time travelled to Regency England, Jane Austen fan Cassie Taylor finds herself unexpectedly back in the twenty-first century. But everything has changed. She’s been missing for three weeks and her parents are upset and disbelieving when she tells them where she’s been. The police aren’t too pleased either.

Cassie’s best friend Mia doubts the story, yet stands by her friend. And then the unthinkable happens when both of them end up in Regency England. Now Cassie has an even bigger problem: Mia is mixed race and they’re stuck in an era where the slave trade has only just been abolished. Cassie must somehow explain herself to her Regency friends – why she vanished and who her friend is. She also needs to find Ted, the love of her life.

How will Cassie manage to protect Mia from the insults of Regency people who see her as worthless? And how will she ever find a way for her and Ted and Mia to finally return home?

Excerpt from By Time Divided

It was now Friday. We’d been travelling for a couple of days when our carriage began the long descent down the hill into Bath. The two nights before had been spent in different inns along the route, not much better than the one I’d had the dubious pleasure of staying in during my last trip to Regency England. But now there was the payoff of seeing Regency Bath in all its splendour.

I’d been to Bath a number of times back in the twenty-first century and been enchanted by it, but of course I’d never experienced the truly Regency Bath before. And it didn’t disappoint. The newness of the buildings, their Bath stone façades bright against the backdrop of a dreary day, was breath taking.

Gone were the dirty, black and occasionally graffitied walls that you’d find on the more dilapidated buildings in my time. Now everything, or at least everything I could see from the carriage window, was smart and well kept. As the carriage trundled through the centre of Bath, bumping along on the cobbles, I could see from my vantage point in the carriage people strolling along the pavements, men, women and children.

The women were all wearing bonnets with shawls wrapped around themselves for warmth against the cool August day. Many of them were chattering to each other, their heads close together as if deep in conversation. I envied them being outside; jolted around as I was inside the carriage it was difficult to keep my seat with ease. Mia, sitting next to me, looked a bit green as if she might be sick.

‘We’ll be there soon, Miss Armstrong, never fear,’ Lord Montague said in a jovial tone, clearly amused.

‘Yes, I don’t suppose Miss Armstrong has had much experience of carriages considering her heritage,’ Lady Margaret said.

I heard Mia’s sharp intake of breath at the insult, though she said nothing. I reached for her hand and squeezed it. ‘On the contrary, My Lady, Miss Armstrong has indeed had extensive experience of carriage usage. Her father was of the nobility,’ I said, only just managing to keep the hostility from my voice. Then it occurred to me that I needed to be careful what I said.

If Mia and I invented an aristocratic father for her, we could run the risk of being rumbled by Lord and Lady Montague. I imagined they would most likely know many members of the aristocracy, as they were aristocratic themselves. So they’d soon know if we were lying.

‘Indeed?’ Lady Margaret said. ‘What was his name, pray tell? I should be interested to know from whence Miss Armstrong’s “heritage” comes.’

I bit back the angry words I wanted to say. Then Mia surprised me again.

‘My father has been dead these ten years,’ she said, dignified as always. ‘His name was Lord Barrington.’

‘Lord Barrington?’ Lord Montague frowned. I held my breath. ‘Ah yes, an interesting fellow. Fascinated by the charms of the West Indies, as I recall. I was not aware of just how fascinated.’ He gave Mia an appraising look, as if seeing her for the first time. ‘I had had no contact with him for many years,’ he went on. ‘Dead you say?’ Mia nodded. ‘Well, I’m sorry to hear it. He was an unusual fellow, there’s no denying it, but I’m sorry to hear of his passing.’

‘Thank you, My Lord,’ Mia replied in a low voice.

I breathed out slowly. Somehow we’d managed to convince Lord Montague of Mia’s parentage, but it was sheer luck that there’d been a Lord Barrington in Regency England for real. And his story fitted with our fabricated tale perfectly. It was almost as if we were in a play whose plot was slowly unfolding and we were only players, with no control over our own destinies.

Guest Post from Elaine Jeremiah

 Thank you for hosting me on your blog today Ceri. I thought I’d share some thoughts on Bath, where most of my book ‘By Time Divided’, the second in my Jane Austen-inspired time travel romance trilogy, is set.

I’m lucky enough to live down the road from Bath in Bristol. But despite being a huge Jane Austen fan for most of my life, having grown up in Hampshire, I didn’t actually visit Bath until after I got married and moved to Bristol.

It was worth the wait. Bath is a truly lovely, magical city, somewhere you can easily imagine Jane Austen and her family being. It is like stepping back into the past. There’s so much to see and do – whether it be visiting the Pump Room, trying the spa water (I did – it’s horrid!), visiting the fashion museum – which has a fabulous collection of clothes from the eighteenth century onwards (there’s some amazing Regency gowns) – or seeing the Roman Baths. There’s plenty more to see and do of course.

For me, of all the things I’ve done in Bath, visiting the Roman Baths was the most incredible experience. It was hugely atmospheric and absorbing. I truly felt like I was travelling back in time to the Roman era. As you walk around and see the remains of the pools that the Roman era Britons would have used, you can also see the pools that would have been used in Jane Austen’s time. These pools are unused now, but there’s a modern-day spa down the road which I’ve yet to visit but would like to.

When you visit Bath, you’re surrounded by Regency buildings, that gorgeous-coloured Bath stone, which I reference in my book. It’s possible to see all the places – or at least most of them – that Jane Austen knew. I think if she were to visit Bath today (if only!) she’d recognise much of it. One of the most impressive buildings is the Theatre Royal, which I’ve been to a number of times – and I’ve seen a few productions of adaptations of Austen’s novels there, including ‘Pride and Prejudice’. Can’t get much better than that! The Theatre Royal is a beautiful, sumptuous Regency theatre and if you get the chance to visit it, you should.

The annual Jane Austen Festival which takes place in Bath in September is also great. I’ve been involved with this twice now, having taken part in the Regency Promenade through the streets of Bath this year and last. It’s a wonderful occasion, seeing so many people dressed in Regency era clothes – and being with likeminded people is so lovely too. This year I went to the pre-festival gathering where my friend Cass Grafton and her co-author Ada Bright were relaunching their book ‘The Particular Charm of Miss Jane Austen’. Well worth a read if you get the chance. If you’re ever able to get to it, the Festival is a must for Janeites. You won’t be disappointed.

So if you’ve never been to Bath, make sure you visit sometime and see all its treasures for yourself.

* * *

I can't agree more with Elaine's take on Bath. She lives closer to it than I do but I'm only an hour away and I've been there many times. I posted about it previously, and you can see my visit to Bath posts - Part 1 (Assembly Rooms & Royal Crescent) and Part 2 (The Fashion Museum). I've since been back with the family and they loved it too. We took the time to go around the Roman Baths which I'd highly recommend. I'll post a pic below.

Bit of a facepalm moment though - when we went in to the Roman Baths I exclaimed to my husband that it hadn't changed since I'd been there as a child - D'oh! It's a historical site which has been preserved :) 

I loved the story of how the baths were discovered; somebody had a recurrent problem with flooding in their basement and when the cause was investigated it turned out that the house had been built on top of the Roman baths! We are so lucky to have such a well-preserved piece of history. If you ever get a chance to go there you should definitely go, but go there early in the day, because the queues get big.

About the Author

Elaine Jeremiah lives in England with her husband and their golden retriever. When she was young she wanted to be a famous actress and win an Oscar. Sadly for her that never happened.

Instead writing took over. She has written stories from a young age, winning writing competitions at school and praise from her teachers. Growing up she continued to write, inspired by events in her life and even dreams she'd had. In recent years, especially since graduating from university with a degree in English, she has had more time to devote to writing.

She has now written and self-published four novels. Her latest, 'Love Without Time', is her first Jane Austen-inspired story, a time travel romance, and the first in a trilogy.

• Website • Goodreads • Twitter • Facebook

Buy Links

This book is available to buy now in paperback, kindle and through kindle unlimited - Amazon UK / Amazon US / Amazon Canada - Add to Goodreads Shelf

You can also buy the previous book, Love Without Time. It's on Amazon UK / Amazon US / Amazon Canada or add to your Goodreads Shelf.

Giveaway Time!

Elaine is kindly giving away an ebook copy of both books, Love Without Time and By Time Divided to one of you. To enter, just leave a comment on this blog post by the end of the day on Thursday 3rd October. Please leave your name too, anonymous posts won't be entered for the giveaway.

I love to read your comments, but a few blog visitors have reported difficulties in commenting while using the Safari browser. If you are unable to comment, please try using another web browser, such as Google Chrome, or please contact me and I will add your comment for you :)

* * *

If you don’t want to miss any of my future posts, please subscribe:

Subscribe to Babblings of a Bookworm

If you'd like to be friends on Goodreads then please invite me - just say that you visit my blog when it asks why you'd like to be friends with me.