Mar
A Tale of Two Minervas
The lady herself
Welcome one and all to my ballroom. Recently, I received a tweet from a Miss @sonomalass. I don’t believe I am related to any @sonomalasses. Must be Scottish. Anyway this tweet, which for the uninformed is a very brief communication delivered by carrier pigeon, informs me that the Festival of Minerva runs from the 19th to the 23rd of March. Funny, I though it was this week. Wait, she adds that it’s a pagan Roman feast. (I’m not sure my cousin the Archbishop of Canterbury would approve. On the other hand who cares what he thinks? He has meager calves.) Anyway, this week is the Festival of Minerva at My Ballroom because both Miss Dare and Miss Neville are introducing their new heroines who are both, confusingly, named Minerva. Ah! Here they are.
Tessa and Miranda enter, accompanied by unfamiliar young ladies. Both of these new acquaintances are dressed in glowing white with teal and fuschia trim.
Lady B: One dark, one fair. Thanks goodness they don’t look entirely the same.
Miranda: Lady B. Allow me to introduce Miss Minerva Montrose who is making her debut in London this month.
Minerva M: [curtsies] How do you do Lady B. Thank you for inviting me today. Is the Prime Minister here?
Lady B: Dear me. He doesn’t seem a suitable companion for a young gel.
Minerva Montrose
Miranda: Minerva wants his job.
Lady B: That’s very forward of her.
Miranda: I’m afraid Minerva does possess a certain impetuous ruthlessness when in pursuit of her ambitions.
Minerva M: I know I can’t be Prime Minister thanks to the antiquated political system.
Miranda (aside): I haven’t told Minerva about Margaret Thatcher in case she cuts her hair and invades the Falkland Islands.
From behind her book, dark-haired Minerva Highwood grumbles: Men keep all the interesting professions for themselves.
Minerva M: But I can marry a man and help him to be Prime Minister.
Lady B: That seems unwise. Men dislike being made to do things. I don’t attempt it with Lord B, which is why he never attends my balls. Of course if I really want something I have methods of persuasion you’d be well advised to adopt.
Minerva H: Such as bribery?
Lady B: Bribery? Why, Miss Highwood. I’m shocked.
Minerva Highwood
Minerva H: I may have no plans of marrying a man with political ambitions, but there is a certain feckless aristocrat I’m hoping will escort me to a scientific symposium in Edinburgh. He’s low on funds at the moment, so I plan to bribe him.
Lady B: Isn’t that a bit immoral?
Minerva H: Believe me, morals hold no sway with this particular gentleman–and I use that term loosely. For myself, I see the plan as imminently logical.
Tessa, aside: My Minerva is a scientist, you see.
Lady B: My dear Minervas. What on earth would make you think of plying powerful men with coercion and bribery, when you have so many other persuasive charms?
The two Minervas turn and stare, nonplussed, at one another.
Minerva H: Charms?
Lady B tsks and waves them toward the ratafia with her fan. Run along now, gels. I’m sure you can find lots of things in common. I need a word with your creators.
Lady B: Dear me, Miss Dare. I don’t know what to say about your Minerva and her ‘imminently logical’ schemes.
Tessa: Don’t worry. Min’s about to have all her logical assumptions about Colin–and herself–upended, the moment they leave on their crazy road trip to Scotland.
Lady B: But Miss Neville. Your heroine appears to suffer from Delusions of Grandeur. How will you ever marry her off?
Miranda: Funny you should mention grandeur because that, at least, is what my Minerva is going to get. She is shortly going to find herself forced to marry Lord Blakeney, son and heir to the Duke of Hampton. Unfortunately he’s only interested in sports and she thinks he’s an idiot.
Tessa: What a coincidence! My Minerva’s hero, Colin Sandhurst, Lord Payne, is widely thought to be a shallow, featherbrained rake.
Lady B: Two excessively handsome gentlemen have arrived. Could they be our heroes-in-the-making?
Miranda: That’s Blake.
Tessa: With Colin.
Lady B: I don’t know about their brains, but I approve of their legs.
All three of us nod. And share a quiet sigh.
Lady B: [startles] Oh dear. I just had the most distressing thought. Even I’m confused about the two Minervas. Seeing as how both Blake and Colin are known more for their looks than their intellects…
Miranda: Oh, no.
Tessa: The men might be confused too. They might end up paired with the wrong Minervas!
Lady B: Well, we can’t have that. Quickly, let’s make a chart. Even if these gentlemen aren’t the sharpest pins in the caddy, surely they can read a simple chart.
| Minerva Montrose | Minerva Highwood | |
|---|---|---|
| Hair Color | blonde | dark brown |
| Eye Color | blue | brown |
| Physical challenge | migraines | farsightedness |
| Mother-daughter relationship | warm | strained |
| Protective male relatives | many | none |
| Beautiful older sister | Diana | Diana |
| Dowry | moderate | poor-to-middling |
| Field of interest | politics | geology |
| Hidden weakness | no head for champagne | occasional self-doubt |
| Secret weapon | bossiness | rock-filled reticule |
| Best qualities | Social conscience and empathy | Courage and loyalty |
| Intelligence | High | High |
| Ambition | Higher | Higher |
| Expectations of a man | Highest | Highest |
| Capacity for devotion and love | Boundless | Boundless |
Lady B, Tessa, and Miranda look on with interest as the gentlemen study the posted chart.
Miranda: They’re so quiet.
Tessa: That’s not like them.
Lady B: Well, they’re not running away! Which means they must be a great deal smarter than either of them let on.
Blake: Interesting about the champagne.
Colin: I hope there’s not going to be a quiz.
Lady B: I could make a splendid chart about Lord B, but he’d be annoyed at me for telling secrets. I daresay it would take all night to make up to him for it. Hmm …. Never mind.
Do you know two people, either in real life or fiction, with the same name? With the same name as you? Or other romance characters with the same name? Make a list of distinguishing attributes. (And by a list we mean anything from one to the sky’s the limit)
To celebrate the release this week of A WEEK TO BE WICKED and CONFESSIONS FROM AN ARRANGED MARRIAGE, Miss Dare and Miss Neville are giving away copies of their books to two Ballroom guests. Make a comment to enter the drawing.
Mar 29, 2012
12:33 pm
Well I have rarely met anyone with the same spelling as my name… Catie with a “C” is rather unique… though I do have a number of friends whose name is pronounced as Catie so that can get somewhat confusing!
Congratulations Miranda, Tessa, Minerva and Minerva!
P.S. I am also entertained by the sisters name both being Diana. Sounds like another chart with another set of hero’s in the making!
Mar 29, 2012
1:05 pm
Hi, Catie-with-a-C!
You know, I suspect Miranda and I were thinking along the same lines with the Diana/Minerva names… parents both inspired by Roman goddesses. But it is quite the coincidence, yes!
thank you for the congrats!
Mar 29, 2012
1:01 pm
Fabulous, ladies! I giggled through this entire post. LOVE the chart. Ingenious idea, really. If I weren’t already SO EXCITED to read Minervas’ stories I would be now, most certainly.
))
I’ve come across two Katherine Ashes (spelled with an “e” in the middle of Katherine instead of my “a”). One writes history books about English twelfth-century political drama. The other is a wonderful woman with a military husband and three adorable children, who is eternally kind to send me the many mistaken emails she receives that are meant for me. I’m proud to be near-name-twins with both.
Mar 29, 2012
1:04 pm
Oh, wow–the other Katherine Ashe’s are so kind! How lucky.
It reminds me of when I first went googling Kieran Kramer and found a wedding singer in Ireland.
Mar 29, 2012
1:57 pm
I was once contacted by another Gaelen (different last name), but they are few and far between.
I also loved the chart. So funny!
BTW, I owe some emails and cannot answer them because something is desperately wrong with AOL Mail today. I hope they straighten it out soon!!
Argh!
Gaelen
http://www.GaelenFoley.com
http://www.EGFoley.com
Mar 30, 2012
1:08 am
Oh wow, I thought it was my puter! Glad to know it was AOL … yeah, it wouldn’t open and when it did it took forever and then the message wouldn’t load. Glad it’s fixed.
I love the name Gaelen … I think it’s a great name for a heroine!
Mar 29, 2012
1:12 pm
With my common name, let’s just say there were a million of us around during my school years. Oddly enough, I never became bosom buds with another Sue, Susan or Suzie. Congrats ladies on your new releases. They have been added in my very larde TBR pile. Cheers!
Mar 29, 2012
5:06 pm
Thank you very much for the congrats!
I know a writer named Sue Phillips – she has to write under a pen name to avoid being confused with the other Susan Phillips – the one with an “Elizabeth” in the middle!
Mar 29, 2012
2:27 pm
Sadly, I grew up at the beginning of the Jennifer era – as a result, my wing of residence at university had FIVE Jennifers, a Jessica, a Janet and a Jenna. Did I mention there were only twelve of us in the wing?
Having said that, my dear friend is also a Jennifer – and we both have brothers named David, who work in the same industry. She married a wonderful man who has – wait for it – a brother named David and a sister named Jennifer.
All the Jennifers are teachers and are within three years of age of each other.
All the Davids work in web design, and are within two years of age of each other.
Really? There weren’t any other names available at the time? It’s like destiny….
Love the chart and the premises of the books – thanks for the chance to enter, ladies! Can’t wait to read them!!
Mar 29, 2012
5:03 pm
Hey, I’m from that same generation – Jenneration? lol. Two of my closest friends in high school were named Jenn. We had to give one a completely different nickname just to keep things clear.
Mar 30, 2012
8:01 pm
I love that – “Talkin’ ’bout my JENN-eration…” My nickname of Jenn came about as we needed different ways to figure out which Jennifer was which. Made for fun times when the guys snuck in to see “Jennifer”, let me tell you …
Mar 29, 2012
3:34 pm
Besides the ex-hubby thing with the name Susan, i was once subpoenaed because of my name. It was funny cause I was the 5th Susan Cxxxxxxx they had tried. That was just ina 3 county area.
Mar 29, 2012
5:04 pm
Oh no! That’s goes beyond an amusing story of similar names, to a frustrating/scary one! Hope you got it worked out okay.
Mar 29, 2012
4:42 pm
I, too, am from the Philadelphia area — Bucks County. So to answer your question – what are Taskykakes?
They are a local snack food — think Drakes Cakes or Little Debbie cakes. My fave ones are the Peanut Butter Kandy Kakes and the Coconut Juniors. I am putting a link to the website, so you can see — though you might have to copy and paste into your address line.
http://www.tastykake.com/products/
Mar 29, 2012
5:02 pm
Ooh, yum! Thank you!
Mar 29, 2012
9:07 pm
coconut juniors! — they were a fave of my mom’s. when I was young it was a real treat (extra special treat) if she actually shared a coconut junior with you
can’t really find them any more in western pa where she lived, but my brother-in-law (who also lives in central pa) came across them somewhere & would be her boxes of them every so often. don’t think I’ll ever be able to see one without thinking of her & smiling at the memories 
Mar 29, 2012
8:57 pm
I went to high school with 3 other Donna’s in my class, that’s one of the reasons I started adding my middle name Ann when signing notes & such to friends; liked the flow & kept it anytime I was signing things (informally) wether family, friend, or even work
Mar 30, 2012
2:47 am
Oh, I love the name Donna Ann! Has a lovely sound to it. Makes me sing that old Richie Valens song, “Oh, Donna.”
Mar 29, 2012
9:25 pm
My niece is named Elizabeth Banks, just like one of the actresses in the Hunger Games.
Mar 30, 2012
2:43 am
Hah! That’s so funny.
Mar 29, 2012
11:24 pm
I’ve never met anyone with the same name as me.
Mar 30, 2012
2:46 am
Is your actual name bn100? If so, I can see what you mean. That would be unusual indeed!
Well, we are glad to have met you today. Welcome!
Mar 30, 2012
2:22 am
Wanna hear a trippy story about having the same name as someone else. When I was 17 I was at the doctors for a check-up and the doctor called my name and two of us stood up. The tried last name, still two. Tried middle name, still two. They tried birthday and still two of us. We were also born in the same city and state. They finally had to try social security number s to get the right one. I also have a friend name with the same name. It avoid confusion I go by Liz and she goes by Beth.
Mar 30, 2012
2:45 am
That is AMAZING. I hope you weren’t born in the same hospital , or I’d start worrying you’d been switched at birth! Wow, the writer in me sees so many possibilities in that scenario.
Mar 30, 2012
10:42 am
did you try and contact your double later??
Mar 30, 2012
10:35 am
Wow awesome post!! I can’t wait to read the two upcoming books now.
I met a lady called laura, and we also shared the same birthday as me but different years. She was a very kind lady so I didnt mind sharing both name and bday with her. I had a friend in my close group of friends who was also called Laura and we were differentiated by our last names. Mine starts with the letter A and hers with B so were were simply Laura A and Laura B.
In my classroom there are 2 little girls with the same name. They are differentiated by one keeping her name and the other one being called by her last name. I find it so funny since that is so British Aristocracy to be called by your title or last name and not your first name. And this is happening in ASIA!!
Mar 30, 2012
5:20 pm
I went to high school with a girl who had nearly the same first name (Angie) and same last name as mine. She was always getting in trouble and then they would send the suspension notices to my house, I on the other hand was an honors student who rarely if ever got in trouble. I got a whole lot of grief from my parents until I was finally able to prove to them it was not me! Then a few months back I get pulled over and they say my license is suspended for a hit and run that happened a few years ago at a time when I didn’t even own a car…after 7 visits to the BMV and two court dates I was able to convince them that the hit and run was the other Angie and not me (Angelique). I actually went as far as to track down her family members to get them to testify that yes she was involved in a hit and r un…Good Gravy was it a MESS!!!
Mar 31, 2012
10:58 pm
I’ve never met someone with my name. But perhaps if I went to a different country… It’s German in origin and is pronounced Mick-eye-ay-la. I’ve met a couple Michaelas but never one with my exact name. I go by Miki (pronounced like the Mouse) because that’s so much easier than teaching people how to say it correctly.
The only person who ever pronounced my name correctly on the first go was my college European history teacher who was Italian. Made my year!
Mar 31, 2012
11:12 pm
Miki,
I promise I know how to say it correctly
My European roots come in handy. In Romania your name is written Mihaela and a is read u (as in British mum) and not e. My cousin’s nickname (she’s Mihaela) is Mica which also means tiny in Romanian.