Historical romance

Female Telegraph Operators Create a New Genre

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by Sandra Merville Hart

It was fun to invite readers on this book’s journey with an aspiring writer and a female telegraph operator!

To those who lived in the 1880s, venturing into the newly-settled and largely-unsettled West had become much safer—though not without danger—with the system of railroads already in place. I enjoyed taking readers to Chicago, Omaha, Oakland, Ogden, and Sacramento, as well as frontier towns along the journey such as Cheyenne.

Our heroine is a telegraph operator. She temporarily leaves her job to escort a little girl to her ailing mother in San Francisco.

My research about telegraph jobs taught me quite a bit of terminology.

For example, a clatter arises when another operator “calls.” The call begins with something like “B m—X n”, which means the B m is the station receiving the call and X n is the caller.

B m must signal a reply that she’s ready to receive the call.

The Sounder receives sounds of the alphabet in dots and dashes. Some operators sent messages too rapidly to understand. When this occurs, the receiving operating asks for it again with a Break (she opens her “key” to break the circuit) and interrupts with “Please repeat.”

“G.A. the—” means “Go ahead” and “the” was the last word she understood.

Operators end every message with his/her own private “call” as well as the office’s call and “O.K.” at the end of each message.

Wired Love, which was written by telegraph operator Ella Cheever Thayer in 1879, provided many insights about the job’s daily tasks.

One of them was the lack of privacy on the lines. She can hear the messages sent to other wires but only offices on the same wire. In Wired Love, operators heard messages sent to and from twenty offices.

By the way, the public grew so fascinated with the role of women in telegraphy that it became the topic of romance novels and short stories, creating a new genre called “telegraphic romance” in the latter 1800s. That’s a little-known fun fact for you!

I enjoyed writing this series. I invite you to read the whole “Second Chances” series beginning with A Not So Convenient Marriage, Book 1, A Not So Persistent Suitor, Book 2, and A Not So Peaceful Journey, Book 3.

Silver Prairies by Pegg Thomas

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Reviewed by Sandra Merville Hart

A More Perfect Union, Book 3

Kenna McCrea has been helping her pa raise her siblings since she was twelve. Her family runs a diner in San Antonio and her pa has earned the reputation of being the best cook in the area. Kenna feels like an old maid at twenty and figures it’ll stay that way because her youngest sister is ten.

The War Between the States ended two years ago. Benjamin Warley wants to forget his part in it for circumstances had driven the South Carolinian to fight for both sides. He’s been pretty good at failing…he’s ready to succeed. He’s working on a business venture to move cattle from Texas to Abilene, Kansas, when he meets Kenna, who immediately captures his attention.

The adventure they all make on what was to become the Chisholm Trail takes a dangerous toll on all of them.  

The story pulled me in from the first page. Attitudes of the time are portrayed as part of the novel, showing prejudices and how those change.

Realistic characters that readers will care about face danger and hardship. The long, arduous journey they all take together binds them together. Many twists and turns in the story kept me turning pages!

Thomas beautifully portrays how everyone continued to struggle even after the Civil War ended.

A beautifully written fast-paced adventure. Well-done!

Recommended for readers of westerns and historical romance!

I was given a copy of the book by the author. A positive review was not required. The opinions are my own.

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Author Shares Inspiration for A Rebel in My House on 160th Anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg

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by Sandra Merville Hart

As dusk fell on a fall evening, staring out over the fields crossed by Pickett’s Charge from Cemetery Hill tore at my heart. Grassy fields are now calm, serene—yet the land still tells the story. Something significant happened on the farms outside Gettysburg in 1863.

I contemplated the scene before me as the sun sank beyond the horizon. My imagination soared, sparked by park rangers on various battlefield talks as well as my own research about those who fought there.

Once I discovered the significant events that took place within the borough of Gettysburg and how Confederates occupied the town, I knew I wanted to tell their story in A Rebel in My House.

To my delight, I found Tennessee Regiments, including the Seventh Tennessee, that opened the Battle of Gettysburg on July 1st and ended it on July 3rd at Pickett’s Charge. It seemed fitting to place our hero in a regiment that history deemed so important.

Our heroine is a fictitious Gettysburg seamstress. Actual Gettysburg residents, such as Sallie Myers, are used in very minor roles in the story. The battle, setting, and events are as historically accurate as possible. I studied the history and then dropped my characters in the middle of the action.

To write this story, I had to try to go back in time. I strolled the streets of Gettysburg. I walked the battlefields. I read monument inscriptions, soldier accounts, citizen diaries, and many research books until I felt like I experienced those horrible events in some small way.

Writing this novel changed me.

Research proved that heroes sprang up everywhere, both soldiers and citizens. Tragic events demanded more strength than folks believed they possessed, yet somehow courage rose to face the turmoil. The fear before the battle pushed folks to their limits. Learning their stories inspired me.

Firestorm at Gettysburg quotes Gettysburg resident, Sarah Broadhead, as saying after the battle, “We do not know until tried what we are capable of.”

 My gaze riveted on that “no-man’s land” that became Pickett’s Charge as I stood on Cemetery Hill at dusk. A dozen emotions ripped at my heart.

I left, knowing I had a story to write.

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A Summer at Thousand Island House by Susan G. Mathis

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Reviewed by Sandra Merville Hart

Romance at the Gilded Age Resorts, Book 4

Addi Bell has plenty of teaching experience when she arrives for a summer of caring for young children at the Thousand Island House. She plans adventures and learning experiences to enthrall the children because she has no intention of wasting those days.

Liam Donovan, the resort’s manager and her boss, doesn’t know what to make of the Addi’s child-like enthusiasm for life. The last nanny had never planned anything beyond playtime for her charges—Addi insists upon being allowed to teach them. Before long, the Scottish manager finds himself falling in love with her.

Addi’s heart goes out to Jimmy, the only son of the stern widower, Lieutenant Worthington.

The lonely little boy tugged at my heart immediately. I loved Addi’s enthusiasm for the children. Liam’s Scottish sayings made me smile. I was quickly drawn into the story by concern for Addi, who is alone in the world.

The author weaves history of the island into her story, which I appreciate.

A delightful read for lovers of historical romances!

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Receiving A Gold Medal for Byway to Danger

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by Sandra Merville Hart

I learned a few weeks ago Byway to Danger, Book 3 in my Spies of the Civil War series, won the Gold Illumination Award for Romance Fiction. What fun it was to open the package containing the award, a gold medal, and seals for the book!

When we think of winning medals, our thoughts most likely go to the Olympics where we celebrate our gifted athletes. It’s such an honor to win this award.

I love the hero and heroine in this book as I hope you have grown to love this fictional family in the whole series who live in the turbulent times of the Civil War where the way isn’t always clear. Though this series is about a fictional family, there are actual historical spies who touch the stories.

I’m happy to announce that this series will be extending! Book 4, where we move to another section of the country, will soon be submitted to my publisher.

More about that later…

Byway to Danger is set in the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, in 1862. Because Richmond was the capital of the Confederacy, the Union army was often threatening the city. One might suppose that all of Richmond’s citizens supported the Confederacy, yet there were a lot of Union supporters and Union spies in the capital.

Here’s a bit about the book:

Everyone in Richmond has secrets. Especially the spies.

Meg Brooks, widow, didn’t stop spying for the Union when her job at the Pinkerton National Detective Agency ended, especially now that she lives in the Confederate capital. Her job at the Yancey bakery provides many opportunities to discover vital information about the Confederacy to pass on to her Union contact. She prefers to work alone, yet the strong, silent baker earns her respect and tugs at her heart.

Cade Yancey knows the beautiful widow is a spy when he hires her only because his fellow Unionist spies know of her activities. Meg sure didn’t tell him. He’s glad she knows how to keep her mouth shut, for he has hidden his dangerous activities from even his closest friends. The more his feelings for the courageous woman grow, the greater his determination to protect her by guarding his secrets. Her own investigations place her in enough peril.

As danger escalates, Meg realizes her choice to work alone isn’t a wise one. Can she trust Cade with details from her past not even her family knows?

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Cobalt Skies by Pegg Thomas

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Reviewed by Sandra Merville Hart

A More Perfect Union, Book 2

Susannah Piper had planned to go to Oregon to start a new life after the War Between the States with her husband. It seemed a good enough goal after he died. She’d head West, find a wagon train to Oregon, and start a new life. But a woman traveling alone faces many dangers.  

When Samuel Hickman, a Union cavalry officer, finally left the army behind, he never wanted to be in charge of anyone again. Rescuing Susannah Piper left him in a quandary. He couldn’t just leave her on the trail for the men who’d shot her to find her again. She wants to go to Oregon didn’t affect his plans to train while horses in the mountains.

But helping Susannah comes with a cost. The pair face danger and judgment and lots of surprises on the journey.

The story pulled me in from the beginning. So many believable, lovable characters with their own tragic stories to tell kept me turning pages. The author weaves the story swiftly from conflict to conflict while keeping the inner struggles of the main characters in focus.

Although this story takes place after the Civil War, I love how the author shows the struggles everyone continued to face because of it.

A beautifully written fast-paced adventure with surprises at every turn. It held my attention so effectively that I read the last half in one sitting. Such a great story. Well-done!

Recommended for readers of westerns and historical romance!

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Telegraphic Romance

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by Sandra Merville Hart

The heroine in my recent release, A Not So Peaceful Journey, Book 3 in my “Second Chances” series is a telegrapher in Hamilton, Ohio. I researched to find out about the daily activities required by the job in 1884.

Female telegraph operators had been hired for the job as early as the 1840s. In 1846, Sarah Bagley performed that job in Lowell, Massachusetts. Three years later, Phoebe Wood accepted the position in Albion, Michigan.

During the Civil War, the need for telegraphers heightened when the men enlisted in the military for both sides, putting more women in the industry. Training for female telegraphers became more available when Western Union opened a school for them in 1869. A year later, 4% of the telegraphers were female and that number continued to rise.

One fun thing I learned in my research was that the increased number of women in the profession sparked public interest. This led to novels and stories being written about them.

A new literary genre, telegraphic romance, was born. In these stories, young women found romance with operators they “met” in the course of their job.

Desiring to learn more about the day-to-day job of the telegraphers, I read Wired Love: A Romance of Dots and Dashes by Ella Cheever Thayer. It was published in 1880 and it provided all those daily details—and more—that I needed for my story.

In the novel, Feisty Nattie Rogers is a telegraph operator. She meets the mysterious “C”, a telegraph operation in another station on her wire. He refuses to tell her his full name and they develop a friendship over the wire that soon has her dreaming of love.

Nattie tells her fellow boarders all about “C” and they can’t wait for the two of them to meet. But the course of true love meets some hurdles.

This book is written in the omniscient viewpoint. The reader knows what everyone is thinking all the time. Written in 1880, this story has the long conversations prevalent in writings of that day. I confess that I skimmed over some of those, but still enjoyed the story.

What was important to me wat that the author gives a thorough overview of a telegrapher’s job in the story.

What fun that this occupation inspired a new genre in the late 1800s!

Sources

Thayer, Ella Cheever. Wired Love, 1880.

“Women in telegraphy,” Wikipedia, 2022/10/19, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_telegraphy.

Behind the Scenes: A Not So Persistent Suitor, Book 2

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by Sandra Merville Hart

I have wanted to write a story set in Cincinnati, Ohio, in the 1880s for several years. It seems to me that it was on my heart to write while I was still working as a Programmer Analyst and writing was but a dream.

Twins Cora and John had been living on their family’s farm before moving to Cincinnati to attend college. John went rogue on me (he does that in Book 3 too 😊) and got a job at a newspaper working with Ben, and decided against college. Meanwhile, Ben begins to court Cora.

When our story begins, Cora is in her second and final year at the Cincinnati Kindergarten Training School. Kindergarten is still in its infancy in 1883. In fact, the demand for kindergartens grew in the 1870s. There were about four hundred kindergartens by 1880, and the need to train teachers for them was a natural part of that growth.

A training school in Cincinnati was organized in March of 1880. At first, kindergarten students (aged four – six) learned the 3 R’s –reading, writing, and arithmetic. Before long, principals in higher grades complained that kindergartners also needed a basic knowledge of music, drawing, and manual training.

This led to greater training for kindergartener teachers, who learned teaching tools that included games, songs, and handwork.

I imagine that incorporating games, songs, and activities engaged the children’s interest in a new and fun way for them.

Part of my research included The Songs and Music of Friedrich Froebel’s Mother Play by Fro. Bel. Friedrich. Early training schools used Friedrich Froebel’s writing extensively in their training so I mentioned his Mother Play book within the story.

Though demand for kindergartens was growing, most schools didn’t address the needs of these four to six-year-old children by providing a kindergarten class. Cora has to fight for a local school to start a new class to open the fall after she graduates.

Another fun thing about this novel is the places I’ve included that the modern reader familiar with Cincinnati will recognize: Fountain Square, the Suspension Bridge, St. Peter’s Cathedral, and the Zoological Gardens to name a few.

Follow characters you’ve grown to love in A Not So Convenient Marriage, Book 1 in the “Second Chances” series into A Not So Persistent Suitor, Book 2!

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The Lieutenant’s Secret Love by Elva Cobb Martin

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Reviewed by Sandra Merville Hart

Charleston Brides, Book 5

Hannah White’s father orders that his newborn infant be left to die when his wife dies at childbirth. Hannah has no idea that the family who finds and raises her are not her blood relatives until the truth is revealed the first time she meets her father at age sixteen.

Adam White learns that the girl he’s always considered isn’t actually his sister. He’s a lieutenant with the U.S. Navy when he learns differently. His feelings for the sister he’s always adored begin to reshape themselves in the months he is away.

His job is a dangerous one and Hannah prays for his safety. Hannah moves to Charleston where her aunt teaches her nursing skills. She catches the eye of other bachelors, but, her love for Adam changes with the knowledge of her true birth.

This story is so intriguing. It snagged my attention from the tragic prologue and kept me turning pages.

I enjoyed this story! There were twists and turns throughout the story that surprised me. The main story starts in 1800. I loved learning about the U.S. Navy and the job of the marines at the time. Forgiveness is a believable theme throughout the novel.

I will look for more books by this author!

Recommended for readers of inspirational historical romances.

I was given a copy of the book by the author. A positive review was not required. The opinions expressed are my own.

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Behind the Scenes: A Not So Convenient Marriage, Book 1

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by Sandra Merville Hart

There are some stories that must be told. A Not So Convenient Marriage is one of them for me.

I don’t know what it is about this story, but once I began writing it over a dozen years ago, the characters wouldn’t leave me alone.

I wrote the first draft of this book a few years before my first book—another book, A Stranger on My Land—released, so I was still learning about the writing journey. I’m certain that my first draft of A Not So Convenient Marriage wasn’t ready for publication—it was rejected.

But the characters in my imagination wouldn’t allow me to let this one go. I edited and reedited, using skills I learned at writing conferences. Then I tried again with another editor. Another rejection.

Discouraged, I worked on other writing projects and met with a little success. When my first Civil War romance published, I decided to follow my heart and continue writing about that turbulent time period.

This book was set aside.

Still, every morning I woke up thinking about the characters in A Not So Convenient Marriage. In my mind, I’d rewrite a scene from the book as I lay, trying to sleep, in the middle of the night. Or the story would haunt me before falling asleep at night, keeping me awake an hour or two.

This happened almost daily for years.

Finally, I pulled up the manuscript again. It had been written in my early days so it required a lot of modification. I asked my agent to begin showing my updated proposal for the book. She was happy to do this because she’d always believed in this book. In fact, she decided to represent me after reading for proposal for it.

By the way, the story was still keeping me awake as I waited to sign a book contract.

Last year, I was thrilled when Misty Beller at Wild Heart Books, offered me a contract for a three-book series for this novel. Not only that, she also gave me a three-book contract for my “Spies of the Civil War” series, that published in 2022. (I invite you to read that series beginning with Book 1 Avenue of Betrayal, Book 2 Boulevard of Confusion, and Book 3 Byway to Danger. I’m writing Book 4 in the series now!)

Misty told me that she cried when reading my manuscript for A Not So Convenient Marriage—the first time that had ever happened for a submission. That touched my heart.

I’m happy to say that scenes from the book no longer keeps me awake at night…for now the story will be told.  

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