BRIDGET WHELAN writer

for writers and readers….

What Mrs Finnegan Discovered Rummaging in the Master’s Drawers

Late spring is the time for tackling those domestic duties you have been putting off which is why myself and a parlour maid peered into the forbidding CACOPHONY that is … Continue reading

May 13, 2025 · 6 Comments

Mrs Finnegan and the New Butler get “acquainted”

In my last missive, I mentioned – in passing – that the new butler had arrived. Mr Cubbage. Many have written asking what happened at our introduction. I DON’T know … Continue reading

April 29, 2025 · 4 Comments

Sometimes Mrs Finnegan WISHES she wasn’t a housekeeper

Housework – usually performed by women – is the work that it is not noticed until it hasn’t be done. I suspect that NO ONE in the history of time … Continue reading

April 15, 2025 · 9 Comments

Opening Pages — A Podcast from Mercia Press

From a cosy bookshop in Cork City comes voices from Ireland’s oldest independent publishing house.  In free podcasts Mercier Press authors read their opening pages, sharing the stories behind their … Continue reading

April 4, 2025 · Leave a comment

Mrs Finnegan is on the Cusp of Change

The Regency Town House Housekeeper has a spring in her step and a GLINT in her eye. I am NOT a woman easily flustered. Indeed my husband has often remarked … Continue reading

April 1, 2025 · 5 Comments

A Generous Irish Short Story Competition for Anyone, Anywhere

The Moth Short Story Prize is an international prize, open to anyone from anywhere in the world, as long as their story is original and previously unpublished. The winning story … Continue reading

March 19, 2025 · 1 Comment

Mrs Finnegan Encounters a Rocky Place and Requires URGENT Assistance

You will want to know how The Book is progressing. Many tell me it is their first thought upon awakening in the morning and their last gauze-like reflection as they … Continue reading

March 11, 2025 · 7 Comments

I Can So I Will

Mrs Finnegan Faces Tomorrow with a New Pot of Ink Dear friends, readers, fellow housekeepers, staff members, wayfarers and casual acquaintances My book burnt to a crisp on the VERY … Continue reading

February 25, 2025 · 2 Comments

Mrs Finnegan: Why I have been Silent for So Long

The Regency Housekeeper reveals the tragic reason why she has been unable to write since the New Year. But first a recipe for lard face cream…

February 11, 2025 · 11 Comments

Writing History in a Regency Kitchen

Join me in a three week course for fiction writers, historians and absolute beginners Designed for beginners, emerging writers and authors wanting to explore a new field, you will be … Continue reading

February 9, 2025 · 2 Comments

Mrs Finnegan Looks Back with Regret and Prepares for the Future with a Flicker of Hope

Well, how was your Christmas? If it was something of a disappointment let me put a SMILE on your face by drawing attention to the year I was invited to … Continue reading

December 31, 2024 · 5 Comments

Advent Calendar December 25th

Happy Christmas Dinner “Never did Christmas board display a more goodly and gracious assemblage of countenances.“ I count 32 sitting down for dinner. But I am worried about the the … Continue reading

December 25, 2024 · 2 Comments

Advent Calendar December 24th

The Mystery behind ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas ‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse; The stockings were … Continue reading

December 24, 2024 · 2 Comments

Advent Calendar December 23rd

It’s All About the Books Thanks to Kate Watson-Smyth’s Mad About the House Newsletter I have discovered Jolabokaflod.It is Icelandic for Christmas Book Flood and I can’t think of a … Continue reading

December 23, 2024 · 2 Comments

Archives