Mary Lydon Simonsen's Blog: What readers are saying about The Second Date, page 9

So little time...: Review and GIVEAWAY: Darcy Goes to War

So little time...: Review and GIVEAWAY: Darcy Goes to War By Mary Lyd...: World War II is a time in history that has always interest me.  It was a time when so many people band together to fight for a cause... For more of the review, please visit Candy's blog.

So little time...: Review and GIVEAWAY: Darcy Goes to War By Mary Lyd...

So little time...: Review and GIVEAWAY: Darcy Goes to War By Mary Lyd...: World War II is a time in history that has always interest me.  It was a time when so many people band together to fight for a cause.  Peo...

Rosemary Clooney - I'll Be Seeing You

In Darcy Goes to War , Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy have a favorite song, I'll Be Seeing You, which was a huge hit during World War II. The lovely Rosemary Clooney (George's aunt), a mega star in the 40s and 50s, sings it here. Thanks to Angie Kroll for finding it on youtube.com. I dedicate it to my Mom and the entire World War II generation.

Launch of Mr. Darcy Goes to War and WWII Posters

I have officially launched my newest Pride and Prejudice re-imagining, Mr. Darcy Goes to War. I am very pleased with the cover for this novel. I was so fortunate to find that the National Archives in Britain released dozens of World War II posters into the public domain. The poster I used, Barrage Balloons Over the Thames, is by artist Eve Kirk.


There is so much to see in this picture. The barrage balloons tell you that this is a country at war. Hundreds of balloons soared above London for the purpose of entangling Luftwaffe bombers or to snare the V-1 and V-2 rockets launched in 1944 and 1945. Despite the German air raids, the cranes, warehouses, and bustle of the ships show the port of London is alive and well, and the undamaged Tower Bridge represents the will of the British people to fight on. An aura of calm is created by the pastel palette. In my opinion, Ms. Kirk succeeded in putting on canvas a country that is fighting for its survival, but a nation that will prevail.


To see more British posters from World War II, click here.

Celebrate Labor Day - Thank a Worker

I am the great granddaughter of four coal miners, all Irish immigrants, who worked in the hard-coal country of eastern Pennsylvania. Two of them were killed in roof falls, and one died of pneumonia in his thirties. Both of my grandfathers worked at the coal breaker picking slate out of the coal chutes before they were 12. My father graduated magna cum laude from the University of Scranton and worked in an office near Wall Street. From despair to success in three generations. Celebrate labor!

Free Kindle E-book Three's A Crowd

On August 28 and 29, Three's A Crowd , my first mystery, will be available on Kindle for FREE! Tell your maw, tell your paw, tell everyone down in Arkansaw. In other words, I hope you will spread the word. This is very helpful to someone who is trying to break into a new genre. Thanks. Mary

Review: The English, Portrait of a People

In Jeremy Paxman's, The English, A Portrait of a People, the author attempts to establish a national identity for the English, not British, people. With their Celtic roots, he argues that the Welsh and Scots have a strong “national” identity. The Welsh have managed to hold on to their language and their songs while the Scots have their bagpipes, Parliament, legal system, and field their own football teams in World Cup competitions. So what about the English?

Paxman traces the history of the British stereotype, beginning with the obese, meat-eating, ale-drinking John Bull in the 18th Century, followed by the stiff-upper-lipped Englishman of the 19th and early 20th Centuries. The latter stereotype is the result of the British public (private in the U.S.) school system in which boys are treated badly as a matter of course, made to eat vile or tasteless food, and are expected to just “take it.” Their training served them well in the two world wars. But what about their 21st Century identity? That is the essence of the book.

For 266 pages, Paxman wanders the country in search of a national identity for the English, and in some cases, with amusing results. An editor and uber patriot, Roy Faiers, contends that you don’t have “to be English to be English.” “The actor James Stewart was an American, but he has Englishness.” By the time you get to the end of the book, you still have no sense of who a late Twentieth Century Englishman is (other than he loves football and prefers lager). But in a country as ethnically diverse as England, is it even possible?

Although I enjoyed Paxman’s book, I was looking for something to hold on to--a Eureka moment where Paxman would reveal the true Englishman, but it never came. And so I ambled along. Because it was written 14 years ago, it is dated. But even in 1998, Paxman came up with very little to show for his efforts to find an English persona. I would think his task would be impossible today.

Winner of Three's A Crowd

My thanks to everyone who entered the giveaway for Three's a Crowd. The winner is Sarah Robertson. The book will be shipped directly from Amazon. Mary

Winner of Trhee

Three's A Crowd Giveaway Opportunities

There are two giveaways going on for my mystery,  Three's A Crowd . Maria Grazia is hosting the giveaway of two Kindle e-books on her blog Fly High that ends on August 15. Your chances of winning are excellent!
I am hosting a giveaway of a paperback copy of Three's A Crowd on Goodreads that will end on August 17. I have received nine four or five-star reviews which thrills me to no end because this is my first mystery.
If you can't wait, and who could blame you, the e-book is available on Amazon for .99. Here's a summary:

In Three’s A Crowd, we are introduced to Patrick Shea, a young detective sergeant with the Hampden Criminal Investigation Department, whose career is being fast-tracked by the Metropolitan Police in London. With an eye to an appointment with a murder investigation team at New Scotland Yard, Shea is doing everything by the book. Unfortunately, his love life is a bit of a mess and gets messier when he learns his former lover, Annie Jameson, has been assaulted on someone else’s patch. Will Shea’s involvement in the under-the-radar investigation of his ex-girlfriend put his career in jeopardy and possibly her life as well?

If you are a fan of the television series Law & Order UK, you will enjoy Three’s A Crowd. This novella is the first in the Patrick Shea Mystery Series.

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming. :)