Assembly Rooms: Where Everything That Matters Happened

In Regency England, Assembly Rooms were not optional. They were the social engine of a town—the place where reputations were polished, dented, or quietly undone. Balls, concerts, card evenings, public lectures—all of it happened there, under chandeliers and the sharp eyes of polite society.

These rooms were carefully controlled spaces. Introductions mattered. Dancing mattered more. Who stood against the wall, who claimed the floor, and who was not invited at all told a story everyone understood without a word being spoken.

The gold standard was the Bath Assembly Rooms, immortalized through the novels of Jane Austen. Elegant, imposing, and unforgiving, they embodied everything Regency society prized—and feared. One misstep could linger longer than the music.

Assembly Rooms were never just about entertainment. They were pressure cookers. Courting couples, anxious parents, social climbers, and quiet observers all occupied the same space, playing by the same rules, pretending the stakes weren’t as high as they truly were.

That same tension pulses through a pivotal scene in The Bird of Bedford Manor, set within the Bedford Assembly Room. What should be a respectable evening of music and manners becomes something far more dangerous, as glances carry meaning, movements are watched, and secrets press close beneath the polite surface. In a room designed for civility, the true nature of power, threat, and survival is quietly revealed—proving that Assembly Rooms were never as harmless as they appeared.

The Bird of Bedford Manor is due out February 1st, 2026. Preorder now for 20% off at Baker Books. Or grab your copy at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or a favorite bookseller near you.