A gorgeous miniature by Vestier of two unknown sisters, painted in 1775.
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Madame Guillotine
"You'd find it easier to be bad than good if you had red hair," said Anne reproachfully. "People who haven't red hair don't know what trouble is." - Anne of Green Gables.
I am a middle class housewife, History geek, Versailles obsessive, Paris lover, historical fiction writer, Victorian Prostitute re-enactor, Art History graduate, committed vegetarian, GIN taster, curry lover and Pimms addict living in the deepest darkest West Country with my family.
I'm a member of the Romantic Novelists' Association, Whitechapel Society and London Historians and also a reviewer for the Historical Novel Society.
I shouldn't really need to say this but all the written content on this site is my own work and copyrighted to me so please ask before using elsewhere. I've come across a couple of sites now that have lifted my work without any acknowledgement and it leaves a nasty taste to be honest and makes me YOUR ENEMY FOR LIFE.
Most of the art work is a free for all so help yourself so long as it isn't for reasons of personal gain and iniquity, but a lot is down to my own lame photographic skills so please ask if you suspect this to be the case.
I'm really dedicated to introducing people to gorgeous art work that they might not otherwise have seen - I try my best to ensure that the works that I feature fall within the boundries of fair use and are either my own work, freely available or I have permission from the source. However, if I have accidentally posted up something that I really ought not to have done, let me know and I'll remove it straight away! Thanks!
Come and pester me on Twitter!
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I can also be friended on Goodreads, where I have an author profile with links to my books.
There is also a Tumblr account just for pictures from this blog, which you may enjoy!

The Secret Diary of a Princess
When I'm not being a vegan and daydreaming about cupcakes, knitting and marrying Aidan Turner, I am a writer!
My first book The Secret Diary of a Princess, about the early life of Marie Antoinette and her transformation from a gawky Austrian princess to the fashionable, elegant Madame la Dauphine is OUT NOW and available to buy rather thrillingly as a Kindle book from Amazon UK or Amazon US.
Blood Sisters
My second novel, Blood Sisters was inspired by the stories of several intrepid, courageous and amazing women who lived through the upheaval of the French Revolution, in particular the Princesse Joseph de Monaco, Emilie de Saint-Amaranthe, Princesse Rosalie Lubomirska and Lucile Desmoulins, all of whom followed very different destinies.’
‘The French Revolution was a period of political upheaval, and of terrifying and appalling violence. I wanted to interweave that political background with my story so my heroines weren’t just passively sitting at home waiting for men to do everything, but getting out there and making history themselves.’
Blood Sisters is an historical epic with a romantic, adventurous edge, and out now for Kindle from Amazon US and Amazon UK.

Before the Storm
My third novel of POSH DOOM and iniquity is a tale of passion, woe, betrayal and true love based on The Buccaneers by Edith Wharton and played against the glittering, exciting and yet often dangerous backdrop of Georgian London, Versailles and Revolutionary France.
It's available to buy for Kindle from Amazon UK and Amazon US.
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