Thank you all so much for the lovely comments about my books and for all your wonderful ideas for things that women might do in the Regency period. I reckon you have all given me so many ideas for future books!
Lynn, I think that it was the case that pregnant servant girls were often turned off "without a character." However,from my researches into the Craven family in particular I know that this was not always so - one example I discovered was of a housemaid who became pregnant by the Earl and was paid off with a farm in a neighbouring village. Her ancestors are still around, related to the Cravens down the wrong side of the blanket! I have come across other examples too. Sometimes maids would be married off and the couple set up in a cottage. There are some fascinating cases in the archives which give me lots of story ideas.
Wow! What a lot of fabulous ideas. I love them! Travel is also one of the things that I would have loved to do in the Regency period, assuming that I could do it in style. Beverly, fighting for women's rights is what the heroine of my next book does and I was right behind her in that. And I also love the idea of all these outspoken women trying their hand at raising horses or doing their own cooking - and lightening the clothing load in hotter months! Thank you all so much for the comments!