Lord Digby Osgood held tightly to the lady on his arm after she lost her footing on the ice. He gave her a reassuring smile silently telling her he would never let her fall. Lady Constance Whittles murmured a soft thank you and Digby swore his heart flipped end over end when she moved a little closer to his side.
They continued on their way through the stalls of the Frost Fair. It had already been a fun-filled day despite the cold weather. They had enjoyed the Tea Shoppe on the Ice followed by the stall featuring Anna’s Hot Roasted Chestnuts. He had been more than thrilled when they had come upon Wilfred Bagshotts Portraits on Demand and he insisted Lady Constance sit for a drawing. The miniature was now tucked away in his coat and he would see that it was properly framed once he returned home.
But when they came upon The Book Palace on Ice for Imaginative and Curious Minds, a squeal of delight escaped Constance’s lips. Digby could not refuse her plea to take only a small peek at what the stall had to offer. Small peek, indeed. He should have known the lady would become lost in the makeshift bookstore the moment she stepped foot inside. Digby had been waiting for the past twenty minutes. Not that he minded. Constance loved her books and he would deny her nothing as long as she was happy.
“Checking out my sister’s competition, Lord Osgood?” That voice held a hint of sarcasm but still remained civil enough to not offend.
Digby turned and saw none other than Samuel Clemens, the editor and owner of The Teatime Tattler. “Mr. Clemens,” Digby replied with a nod of his head. “What brings you here in such inclement weather?”
“My stall is just around the corner and business has never been better. Not only have I sold more copies of my newspaper than usual, but everyone wants a keepsake from the Frost Fair. We keep running out of paper,” he said before he held out a sheet for Digby to take.
His newspaper was nothing more than a gossip rag, Digby thought but took the offering of the keepsake knowing Constance would like it. “It appears the Frost Fair has been a big success for everyone who has a stall,” he replied before pulling the edges of his coat closer together.
“I could not agree more,” Samuel said before his attention turned to the people in The Book Palace stall. “Ah… I see what keeps you here. Lady Constance has been very helpful to my sister’s business. I hope she does not lose the lady to another store once this is over,” he said with a chuckle.
“I am certain Lady Constance is more than happy to work for your sister as long as Miss Amelia will have her.”
Samuel tipped his hat. “I must be off. I cannot keep the world waiting for the latest news.”
Digby watched the man leave before he noticed Constance reaching for her reticule to make her purchase. He quickly stepped forward. “Allow me, my lady,” Digby said.
“I do not mind paying for the book, my lord.” Constance once more brightened his day with her smile.
“I must insist.” Paying the man, Digby offered his arm again to his lady as they began perusing the other stalls. They came upon the next stall, The Mystical Oracle Madam Amy Quinton. “Do you wish your fortune to be told, Constance?” he asked with a grin.
“Perhaps after we see the elephant? You did promise me you would take me to see it,” she said, her eyes twinkling in delight.
“And so I did. Let us make our way to see the beast then we can return here to see what the oracle has to say about our future.”
Constance gave his arm a squeeze. “I already know our future, Digby,” she replied.
“You do?” he said looking down into her beautiful face. Constance never looked lovelier.
“Of course! We shall live happily ever after!”
Digby swore his heart melted right then and there. His future indeed looked bright as long as Lady Constance remained in his life.
Was there really a bookstall at the 1814 Frost Fair?
None of my research found an actual bookstall on the ice but there were nearly a dozen printing presses producing keepsakes and commemorative poems. A printer named George Davis published a 124-page book called Frostiana; or A History of the River Thames In a Frozen State and the Belles referenced this material when we were working on our common theme for Fire & Frost. The entire book was typeset and printed in Davis’s printing stall set up on the frozen Thames.
The 1814 Frost Fair was also it’s last. With the old London Bridge being demolished in 1831, it was replaced with a new bridge with wider arches. This allowed the tide to flow more freely. The river was also embanked during the 19th century causing the river less likely to freeze.
You can read more about printing at the frost fairs here: http://www.letterology.com/2014/02/printing-at-frost-fairs.html
My contribution to Fire & Frost is A Second Chance At Love featuring Lord Digby Osgood and Lady Constance Whittles whom you first met in Under the Mistletoe.
Can the bittersweet frost of lost love be rekindled into a burning flame?
Viscount Digby Osgood returns to London after a two-year absence, planning to avoid the woman he courted and then left. Surely she has moved on with her life; even married by now. A bit of encouragement from a friend, however, pushes him to seek the lady out. Can she ever forgive him and give them a second chance at love?
Lady Constance Whittles has only cared for one man in her life. Even after he broke her heart, it remains fixed on him. Another man tries to replace him, but she soon learns she can never feel for him a shadow of what she still feels for Digby. One brief encounter with Digby confirms it; she is more than willing to forgive him. Can they truly take up where they left off?
Charity projects and a Frost Fair on the Thames bring them together, but another stands in their way. Will he tear them apart?
Fire & Frost:
A Bluestocking Belles Collection
Release Date: February 4, 2020
Preorder for $0.99
In a winter so cold the Thames freezes over, five couples venture onto the ice in pursuit of love to warm their hearts.
Love unexpected, rekindled, brand new or rediscovered—even one that’s a whack on the side of the head—heats up the winter. After weeks of fog and cold all five stories converge on the ice at the 1814 Frost Fair when the ladies’ campaign to help the wounded and unemployed veterans of the Napoleonic wars culminates in a charity auction that shocks the high sticklers of the ton.
In their 2020 collection, join the Bluestocking Belles and their heroes and heroines as The Ladies’ Society For The Care of the Widows and Orphans of Fallen Heroes and the Children of Wounded Veterans pursues justice, charity, and soul-searing romance.
Celebrate Valentine’s Day 2020 with five interconnected Regency romances.
Melting Matilda by Jude Knight – Fire smolders under the frost between them.
My One True Love by Rue Allyn – She vanished into the fog. Will he find his one true love or remain lost, cold and alone forever?
Lord Ethan’s Courage by Caroline Warfield – War may freeze a man’s heart; it takes a woman to melt it.
A Second Chance at Love by Sherry Ewing – Can the bittersweet frost of lost love be rekindled into a burning flame?
The Umbrella Chronicles: Chester and Artemis’s Story by Amy Quinton – Beastly duke seeks confident woman who doesn’t faint at the sight of his scars. Prefers not to leave the house to find her.
Buy Links:
Amazon US | Apple Books | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Smashwords
Amazon Global:
AU BR CA DE ES FR IN IT JP MX NL UK
Comment to Win
Comment on this post, each of the other four, and the page on the Belles’ website here https://bluestockingbelles.net/frostfairhop/?fbclid=IwAR2qQS4IMhZYgVNvhbfFVmTf6Bm5tFwAJy5bxu21remzDRHzcM5rcRXa1sU to go into the drawing for the main prize in the blog hop, a $50 US Amazon card.
Tell me… what would have piqued your interest at the frost fair? What would you have liked to see? All comments on this post will go in a drawing for an eCopy of one the previous four Bluestocking Belles’ collections, plus a copy of Under the Mistletoe a prequel to A Second Chance At Love found in the Belles’ new box set Fire & Frost.
Did you miss the previous blog hop stop? You can access it here.
And don’t forget you have one more hop that surely you don’t want to miss. Find your way to That Mystical Oracle Madame Amy Quinton here: http://amyquinton.net/?p=2308
102 responses to “The Book Palace on Ice for Imaginative and Curious Minds”
Hi Sherry, what a brilliant idea for this collection! I would have wanted to see it all and definitely get a souvenir paper!! Love it❤️
We really enjoyed this common theme for our box set. You’re going to love it! Thanks for leaving a comment, Lori. 🥰
Digby and Constance sound so lovely together. It is a shame that it won’t happen again. Thank you.
Thanks for dropping by! 💞
I would spend time in the book stall
I would too!
I would be everywhere
It would have been lovely to see!
I would be in awe of everything
Me too!
[…] Your next stop is The Book Palace on Ice […]
I think I would have liked to see what types of Tea and Cakes they had and if they had any Italian Ice
Sounds like a fun time!
I would love to see it all! The energy of a festive market place would bring me great joy! A psychic reading would be the perfect ending to my day on the ice.
The next stop on the blog hop will take care of that, Deb!
Wow, I really love the sound and looks of this lovely book collections! I really hope Digby and Constance stay together.
Thank you, Alicia. Digby and Constance have been waiting a while for their story. ☺️
I would have partaken of hot chocolate or cider but the thrill of a bookseller on the ice would warm me up!
I would have loved to see this. Thanks for dropping by, Laura!
A souvenir paper would be neat. I would definitely go to a printing press booth.
There were plenty to choose from!
I would have loved to have seen everything at the Frost Faire!!!! I’ve always been fascinated with fairs and what they have to offer and am always oohing and aahing over the handmade goodies:) Loved your story!!
Glad you enjoyed it Carole!
I would have hoped for a skating rink that I could enjoy with my beau…… I hope the elephant didn’t catch a cold!
Lol let’s hope not! 😂
Oh I most definitely would be stopping at the bookshop on the frozen river! I love bookstores and so does my husband. We could easily spend an hour or so inside of it!
It would have been so much fun!
I’d want to see it all!
It would have been something to see!
Truly enjoyed these stories. I would have loved attending that fair! I would even have wanted to participate in the auction. I think I would have wanted to really see that elephant on the ice!!
I loved putting my characters go off to see the elephant! 🐘
5 really lovely stories. I would have loved to have visited the fair, to drink in the atmosphere & to see as much as possible & probably buy as many trinkets as possible as momentos
So happy you enjoyed the stories, Janet.
I would look at all the books. It sounds amazing.
Thanks for leaving a comment, Rachael and good luck on the giveaway!
Hot tea bourbon…lol everything better with bourbon forget the gin.
Chestnuts. People. Im assuming music food and maybe ice skating?
Lots of food stalls!
I can’t resist bookstores and I love artist sketches. I am sure I would have made a plan to see everything, exhausting my husband in the process!
Lol! Hopefully he’d be a good sport! 😁
I would definitely get lost in the book store, just as I have from time to time. Just as I often get lost in reading books.
I always get lost in bookstores too!
I’m afraid that if there was a bookstall on the ice, I would be there until the ice melted!
I would loved to see it all! Especially the book store!
I didn’t know that we met them in a previous book that’s out. I’ll have to look into that!! 😉
Constance and Dingy have also showed up in several posts for our Teatime Tattler blog. 🥰
I would spend most of my time in the book stall, but still would have to get a sketch or two of the faire itself. It must have been amazing to see!
I agree, Kathy, which is why I loved our theme for this box set.
I would check out everything-try the chestnuts, watch the skaters and go to the bookstore
I’d try the chestnuts too and go see the elephant! 🐘
If there was a bookseller at the Frost Fair I would be found there. I love books and reading. I will always get lost in any book shop, I have to look at everything and then I can decide what is my next book to read.
I would be there too!
If there is a book shop anywhere, even at a fair, that is where you will find me. I have to look at every book to make a decision of what I am reading next. My search for a perfect story would explain why I am always found in book shops.
Nice!! My daughter gets lost in them too. 📚
What an exciting time & so much to see & enjoy, especially the food stalls & the book stall. I would love to have been there tasting delicious hot roasted chestnuts. We have a Chestnut Fair of sorts up in the hills here in Melbourne & it is very well patronised.
How exciting, Irene. We went to the Dickens Fair in December and had a lot of fun.
What a terrific idea to have a book shop on the ice! This would definitely be the place I would spend my money since it’s what I do on a regular basis, even now. It seems sad that this was the last Frost Fair but what a wonderful experience it must have been for those attending!
I couldn’t agree more, Merrie.
I would be thrilled to have a Frost Fair book stall to explore! I can only imagine the treasures that could be found. But I also can’t help to imagine how awful it would be to have to drag all those heavy crates of books out there and back again!
That would take a lot of muscle!
I think i would have lived in the book stall. That would have been the most enjoyable place on the ice for me.
After reading these I cannot wait to read the book!!!!😊
I love Faires and would have wanted to visit everything. The book stall would have been the big draw for me. Look forward to reading all these stories.
Carol Luciano
Lucky4750 at aol dot com
I would have loved looking at all the oddities and food stalls. I think I might take home a little pot of jam.
I would have enjoyed the whole Faire! It just seems so fun & exciting! What a treat during the long winter months!
It certainly would have been exciting to see! 😁
If there had been a book stall at the Frost Fair, that’s where you would find me. I would probably not leave the stall lol
I’d have a hard time leaving, too! 😂
I would have visited as much as possible, but the elephant would have ben a definate on my list.
I would have wanted to see it to, Joanna.
I would have loved to see how they were keeping all the hot food Hot while on Ice! And the elephant, I’d have to see that of course!
Oh, I don’t think I could have picked just one thing! I would want to see it all.
I would too, Dee!
I would have loved to experience all the brightly colored and plain tents, the Owners selling their wares, The brightly layered ice below them, the scents of all the treats and drinks. Most of all the bookstall. The scent of ink and paper.
Lots of printing presses too for keepsake items!
I loved this tour of the Frost Fair through the eyes of Constance and Digby. They visited each shop which I feel most people would do going to the fair. The story was delightful and charming. Can not wait to read more.
Thanks for stopping by, Rory!
I would have loved seeing & walking on the old London Bridge!
The whole fair atmosphere would have been a delight to feel!
Lovely snippet, Sherry. I’m not sure what I”d like to see. I just think the novelty of having a frost faire on the thames would be enough.
So true!
A perfect place for a book stall. It’s hard for me to believe the river froze enough for all those printing presses, they must have weighed a ton! You would definitely find me at the book stall probably with a cup of hot chocolate!
And an elephant walking across the ice too!
perhaps a stall with ribbons or cloth
loved the excerpt and blurb
denise
That would be lovely!
Everything sounds fun!
It sure does!
I love fairs of all kinds, I would look at every booth. Thanks for the fabulous giveaway.
Thanks for leaving a comment, Charlotte. Good luck.
I would have searched high & low for a book stall. Definitely would have wanted to see the elephant.
It would have been very exciting to see. 😁
Who can resist books! I love it! 😊
Glad you enjoyed it, Lori!