Marilyn's Musings

The Shakers (or The United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Coming) had a number of mottos they lived by. One was Hearts to God, Hands to work. They believed that working, and perfection in your labor, was another way of honoring God. One does not offer something less than perfect to God. As a consequence, the items they manufactured – whip handles, flat brooms, even the humble clothespins, were made as perfectly as possible. Like those items, Shaker seeds, medicinal herbs, and cider were considered superior and were much in demand. Cider was made in the fall when the apples ripened. The cider used for drinking was extremely popular. Of course, without refrigeration, it rapidly fermented into hard cider. Since this was a hard-drinking age, hard cider was considered a restorative. Cider was also very important in cooking. It was boiled down (one recipe calls for boiling four gallons down to one) and then used for sweetening, usually with maple sugar or brown sugar....

The scantily dressed female circus performers are such a feature of American lore that few of us considers their history or how unusual they were when this entertainment first arrived in the United States.  Although the circus has a long history – the Egyptians are commonly credited with inventing acrobatics – all forms of entertainment including the jugglers and the acrobats were banned during the Puritan era.  It was not recreated in England until Sergeant-Major Philip Astley began exhibiting his equestrian prowess on the outskirts of London in 1768. He performed in a circle (a ‘circus’ in Latin). In 1770 he decided to expand the appeal of his show by adding acrobats, ropedancers (or wire walkers) and jugglers. (The trapeze, which evolved from the high wire acts, had not yet been invented.) He finished the production with a pantomime, a farcical play that included characters from the Commedia del Arte: Harlequin, Columbine and Clown. His new circus was a huge succ...

A Devil’s Cold Dish is as much a story about being an outsider as it is about malice and revenge.  I am always fascinated by the consequences of being different – or at least being perceived as different. And there are so many ways to be different: mental and physical defects, sexual orientation, even living outside the sexual mores of the local village (I explored this in Cradle to Grave ) to mention a few.  Even now, in this modern age when we encourage tolerance and speak of inclusiveness,  being perceived as Other can cause suffering. How much worse must it have been two hundred years ago? In A Simple Murder, my first book, Mouse (Hannah Moore) was born with cleft palate. The superstition of the times claimed that if a pregnant woman saw a hare, her child would be born with this deformity. Now the defect is easily correctible with surgery. But then, in the late 1700s? What would happen to a girl with this defect when marriage was almost the only path...