When I wanted to reference a fairy tale in Accidentally His, I ran into a problem. It was a Grimm fairy tale that no one in England had ever heard of until 1823. Except, of course, for people who had a facility for multiple languages (cough, cough, Rafe) or an uncle who traveled a great deal (also Rafe). Believe it or not, I had already chosen both of those things for Rafe’s character when I stumbled across the fact that the fairy tale I wanted to reference had never appeared in English in England. So, that was a nice bit of serendipity. Rafe’s facility for languages was related to his start as a spy with the Corps of Mounted, which I discuss in another Regency tidbit.
