Boarding school in the 1830s/early 19th century? http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/historical-fiction/threads/48413 SaraCrewe Hey guys! I'm writing a story (historical romance) based on a fictional account of how my actual 4th great grandparents met and got together. What we know about them is that a slave named Harriet was a domestic servant in the household of a white family in the Bahamas. She ended up marrying Richard, the youngest son of a neighboring planter family (the two planter family's were friends) about a year before emancipation in the British colonies and that they stayed married for 40+ years and had lots of kids. Anyway, since I don't know the details of how they got together, I am free to make stuff up. Lol! I want to put her in his actual household instead of in a neighboring one because if they are constantly around each other the tension is higher. I also want them to have just met when the story begins. I was thinking maybe he has been away at school in England for a few years and she might have been bought by his father from a neighboring island relatively recently, before he returns home. I know there were boarding schools in the 1800s, but does anyone know how many years a student typically attended school and between what ages? I was thinking of giving him some sort of aversion against returning home (not sure why yet), so he's been away for a while and has not returned even for visits, but now something (family emergency, maybe?) has forced him to return. Does this seem somewhat realistic? Thanks so much! :) Mon, 26 Dec 2011 03:08:48 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/historical-fiction/threads/48413?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1000657 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/historical-fiction/threads/48413?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1000657 Grand Poobah The person you want is Rosina. She may or may not be monitoring these threads now, so you might want to IM her directly. Mon, 26 Dec 2011 10:00:24 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/historical-fiction/threads/48413?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1001149 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/historical-fiction/threads/48413?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1001149 SaraCrewe Thanks Grand Poobah! Will do. :) Mon, 26 Dec 2011 15:12:25 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/historical-fiction/threads/48413?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1001306 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/historical-fiction/threads/48413?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1001306