from booklender.com (originally from amazon?)

Charity and Sylvia is the intimate history of two ordinary women who lived in an extraordinary same-sex marriage during the early nineteenth century. Based on diaries, letters, and poetry, among other original documents, the research traces the women's lives in sharp detail. Charity Bryant was born in 1777 to a consumptive mother who died a month later. Raised in Massachusetts, Charity developed into a brilliant and strong-willed woman with a passion for her own sex. After being banished from her family home by her father at age twenty, she traveled throughout Massachusetts, working as a teacher, making intimate female friends, and becoming the subject of gossip wherever she lived. At age twenty-nine, still defiantly single, Charity visited friends in Weybridge, Vermont. There she met Sylvia Drake, a pious and studious young woman whose family had moved to the frontier village after losing their Massachusetts farm during the Revolution. The two soon became so inseparable that Charity decided to rent rooms in Weybridge. Sylvia came to join her on July 3, 1807, commencing a forty-four year union that lasted until Charity's death.

Over the years, the women came to be recognized as a married couple, or something like it. Charity took the role of husband, and Sylvia of wife, within the marriage. Revered by their community, Charity and Sylvia operated a tailor shop employing many local women, served as guiding lights within their church, and participated in raising more than one hundred nieces and nephews. Most extraordinary, all the while the sexual potential of their union remained an open secret, cloaked in silence to preserve their reputations. The story of Charity and Sylvia overturns today's conventional wisdom that same-sex marriage is a modern innovation, and reveals that early America was both more diverse and more accommodating than modern society imagines.

to explain this; "Charity took the role of husband, and Sylvia of wife, within the marriage." charity is listed first in tax records and in the census, which didn't record the names of women and dependents until 1850. she bought sylvia a ring, which she presumably used as a wedding ring (men didn't really wear them until WW2 when the were pushed as a reminder of wives left behind for married me serving). all the domestic chores were handled by sylvia, since charity hated them. both of them sewed & mended clothes to make a living.

it is a very interesting read. chairty was the aunt of poet & long time editor of the new york post william cullen bryant and was a poet herself, as were several members of her family. it also briefly touches on lesbian history in america after the revolution and how the bryant & drake families were influential members of their community. as well how difficult it was for an unmarried woman to be independent during the late 1700s & 1800s.

full title;
Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey: The Lost Legacy of Highclere Castle

from amazon;

Drawing on a rich store of materials from the archives of Highclere Castle, including diaries, letters, and photographs, the current Lady Carnarvon has written a transporting story of this fabled home on the brink of war. Much like her Masterpiece Classic counterpart, Lady Cora Crawley, Lady Almina was the daughter of a wealthy industrialist, Alfred de Rothschild, who married his daughter off at a young age, her dowry serving as the crucial link in the effort to preserve the Earl of Carnarvon's ancestral home. Throwing open the doors of Highclere Castle to tend to the wounded of World War I, Lady Almina distinguished herself as a brave and remarkable woman.

This rich tale contrasts the splendor of Edwardian life in a great house against the backdrop of the First World War and offers an inspiring and revealing picture of the woman at the center of the history of Highclere Castle.

really only interesting if you're a fan of downton abbey, or have an interest in english houses of the time period. or even egyptian archeology, king tut's bomb in particular. because almina's husband, the 5^th earl of carnarvon, bankrolled the excavation & there are a couple of chapters that deal with that.

Seven Neighborhoods in Detroit: Recipes from the City by J N Cameron


We picked this cookbook because my partner Doug grew up in Detroit (the inner city, not a suburb). The featured neighborhoods are Little Italy, Hamtramck, Chinatown, Paradise Valley, Dearborn, Greektown, and Mexicantown. The recipes are organized per neighborhood rather than by type of dish.

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Saka Saka: Adventures in African Cooking, South of the Sahara
by Anto Cocagne and Aline Princet

This is a full-color cookbook with many gorgeous photos. In addition to the recipes, it also includes interviews with people from Africa about their favorite foods from there. If you like learning about folks in different parts of the world, you'll enjoy these inserts.

The front matter is extremely useful. It includes the Cuisines of Africa, Tastes of Africa, Principles and Traditions, Benefits of African Cuisines, Main Specialties, Staple Ingredients Region by Region, and the Ideal Pantry. I was intrigued by the Principles section, with points like "Eating with your hands is completely normal" and "We do not eat baby animals." The section on Staple Ingredients makes a great comparison among west, central, east, and south Africa regarding starches, meats, produce, and spices. This part of the book is interesting and educational, whether or not you make any of the recipes.

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Sidelights on New London and Newer York and Other Essays by G.K. Chesterton

Chesterton mostly on the Jazz Age.

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