Bonnie wrote "I don't think Prudence is snobbish. I compare her to a contemporary woman who puts her husband/boyfriend through college to make a better life for themselves and then finds herself divorced/left behind because she doesn't fit his new world."
Bonnie, I had to admit I saw the same parallel. It used to be very common -- at least for the wife to work so the husband could get a qualification -- but I hope it's not so much these days.
As I said in the author's note, it's based on a true story of the 18th century.
Sue wrote "I just don't like the phony assumptions of some novelists that those in the lower classes actually could rise to the upper classes"
Ah, yes. There was social mobility in Britain and we do have men from the lower classes rising through their own endeavours, but it wasn't easy. More importantly, they weren't easily accepted within the upper circles. If they handled things right, their children might be. Something like that happened to the Georgian owners of Aske Hall, mentioned above.
Generally, a woman took the status of her husband, so if a middle class woman married up, she rose, but if she married down, she sank. That's why some women didn't marry. They might have been able to get a husband from a lower rank, but they didn't want to "lower themselves."
It's also why rich "cits" were so keep to marry daughters into the aristocracy. Their grandchildren would be part of the elite. And why later, American Robber Barons wanted to do the same thing.
All this kind of thing fascinates me, and I try to stick as closely as possible to plausibility in my novels.
Mary Anne, I take your point about the working hero, but what bugs me in historical romance are the peers who don't seem to do any work.
If they're heroes, in my way of looking act things they do their job conscientiously. Their job is to at least oversee their vast estates, to be sure that their tenants and servants are taken care of, even if through deputies, and to take their place in the House of Lords and help govern the country. We can add in, and include the ladies, being patronesses of charities of many kinds, and patrons of artists and musicians.
I'm not saying this should be a big factor in a romance unless it's part of the plot but I like it when I read something like "when he returned from the House..." or "He reviewed some letters his secretary set before him and signed them, and then he looked up into her angry eyes..."
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