by Kristin Holt | Nov 7, 2016 | Articles
Yellow roses appear briefly in three scenes within COURTING MISS CARTWRIGHT. Yellow roses, particularly Harison’s Yellow, are found strewn along the Oregon trail, blooming feral alongside abandoned ruins of cabins and clapboard houses in ghost towns, and originated in 1824 New York. This article contains the ‘Cemetery Scene’ where Felicity, new to Mountain Home and seeking answers. visits the cemetery and first notices the yellow roses on her father’s grave. This scene is the first conversation between sisters who’ve not known about each other until their father’s will brought them together the evening before–and they’d been barely civil.
by Kristin Holt | Sep 8, 2016 | Articles
September 8th marks the anniversary of the Great Hurricane in 1900, the tremendous storm that struck Galveston, Texas and took approximately 8,000 lives. Despite numerous other hurricanes, blizzards, earthquakes, floods, and tornadoes, the Great Hurricane remains the single-most destructive natural disaster in United States History. This article encapsulates the high points of the storm’s events through two newspaper articles in the week following the storm, a YouTube presentation by a young girl, and quotes from historical sources. This historical event is of import to me personally as I spent many long, hot, sunshiny summer days on Galveston beach.
by Kristin Holt | Aug 14, 2016 | Articles
OBSERVATIONS: WIDTH OF A WOMAN’S SKIRT
The humor in a newspaper columnist’s observations taught me plenty about a man’s attitude regarding the width of women’s skirts, comparing the tight fit of the day’s fashions to the wrapping of a mummy or a soaked bathing suit clinging to the unfortunate woman’s form. He infers that the pursuit of fashion is so all-important that the wearers sacrifice comfort, modesty, safety, decency, the capacity to go anywhere by both carriage or the power of one’s own two feet. The Victorian humor in this brief piece published in 1875 is evident!
by Kristin Holt | Jul 27, 2016 | Articles
The first spark of an idea for my new release (Courting Miss Cartwright) came from The Reverend George W. Hudson 1883 book: The Marriage Guide for Young Men: A Manual of Courtship and Marriage. While this “self help” book is now in the public domain, I don’t quote the book directly; I used it as a springboard, a frame of reference, as the ideas, attitudes, and advice expressed within it are common within the latter Victorian-era. I share a segment of Hudson’s book as this true-to-life argument for methodically choosing the right woman to fall in love with becomes a major part of my new novella. Courting Miss Cartwright will debut in three days (7-30-16) within the Western Historical Romance Boxed Set Cowboys & Calico.
by Kristin Holt | Jul 24, 2016 | Articles
July 24th is Pioneer Day in the state of Utah, commemorating the arrival of the Mormon pioneers in the Salt Lake Valley (the first permanent Euro-American settlers) in 1847. This state-wide celebration includes everything from parades to rodeos, fireworks to pageants, Pioneer/Frontier clothing to Native American Inter-Tribal Pow-Wows, to covered wagon reenactments and picnics. Pioneer Day is inherent to Utah’s Victorian-Era, Old West history.
