Regency is that genre of romantic fiction set in the time period roughly between 1811 and 1820. King George III (that guy the American Colonies rebelled against) was deemed too ill (crazy) to rule and his son George IV took over the reins of the kingdom as Prince Regent. This was all during the time of the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars.
This also happened to be when Jane Austen was published. To her, a Regency romance was contemporary fiction. To the rest of us, it is a delightful sub-genre of historical fiction. It is a comedy of manners, and traditionally a squeaky clean read. Then the big publishing houses began to lower the rating of Regency from G or PG to PG-13 and then R. It was ruined. Regencies had become nearly indistinguishable from any other "bodice ripper."
But now Regency, in its proper form, is making a comeback. Authors like Sarah Eden are bringing back the fun. Just today, G. G. Vandagriff, who normally writes mystery/suspense, sent me a copy of The Duke's Undoing, her experimental foray into the world of Regency. (So far, I'm loving it.)
I hope this trend continues. I may just throw my hat in the ring as well.
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