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Chapters (30)
  1. Cover
  2. Glamour in
  3. ONE
  4. TWO
  5. THREE
  6. FOUR
  7. FIVE
  8. SIX
  9. SEVEN
  10. EIGHT
  11. NINE
  12. TEN
  13. ELEVEN
  14. TWELVE
  15. THIRTEEN
  16. FOURTEEN
  17. FIFTEEN
  18. SIXTEEN
  19. SEVENTEEN
  20. EIGHTEEN
  21. NINETEEN
  22. TWENTY
  23. TWENTY-ONE
  24. TWENTY-TWO
  25. TWENTY-THREE
  26. TWENTY-FOUR
  27. TWENTY-FIVE
  28. Author’s Afterword
  29. Glamour Glossary
  30. Reading Group Guide

GLAMOUR. This basically means magic. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the original meaning was ‘Magic, enchantment, spell’ or ‘A magical or fictitious beauty attaching to any person or object; a delusive or alluring charm.’ It was strongly associated with fairies in early England. In this alternate history of the Regency, glamour is a magic that can be worked by either men or women. It allows them to create illusions of light, scent, and sound. Glamour requires physical energy in much the same way running up a hill does.

GLAMURAL. A mural that is created using magic.

GLAMOURIST. A person who works with glamour.

CHASTAIN DAMASK. A technique which allows a glamourist to create two different images in one location. The effect would be similar to our holographic cards which show first one image, then another depending on the angle at which it is viewed. Invented by M. Chastain in 1814, he originally called this technique a jacquard after the new looms invented by M. Jacquard in 1801. The technique was renamed by Mrs. Vincent as a Chastain Damask in honor of its creator.

ETHER. Where the magic comes from. Early physicists believed that the world was broken into elements with ether being the highest element. Although this theory is discredited now, the original definition meant ‘A substance of great elasticity and subtlety, formerly believed to permeate the whole of planetary and stellar space, not only filling the interplanetary spaces, but also the interstices between the particles of air and other matter on the earth; the medium through which the waves of light are propagated. Formerly also thought to be the medium through which radio waves and electromagnetic radiations generally are propagated.’ (OED). Today you’ll more commonly see it as the root of ‘ethereal,’ and its meaning is similar.

FOLDS. The bits of magic pulled out of the ether. Because this is a woman’s art, the metaphors to describe it reflect other womanly arts, such as the textiles.

LOINTAINE VISION. French for ‘distance seeing.’ It is a tube of glamour that allows one to see things at a distance. The threads must be constantly managed or the image becomes static.

OMBRÉ. A fold of glamour that shades from one colour to another over its length. This technique was later emulated in textile by dip-dying.

NŒUD MARIN. A robust knot used for tying glamour threads. This was originally used by sailors for joining two lines, but adapted by glamourists for similar purposes. In English, this is known as a Carrick Bend.

PETITE RÉPÉTITION. French for ‘small repetition.’ This is a way of having a fold of glamour repeat itself in what we would now call a fractal pattern. These occur in nature in the patterns of fern fronds and pinecones.

SPHÈRE OBSCURCIE. French for ‘invisible bubble.’ It is literally a bubble of magic to make the person inside it invisible.

Reading Group Guide

•   Did you learn any new historical facts from Glamour in Glass? If so, what?