Susan Appleyard's Blog, page 3

Discovering her Worth by Harley Patrick

This book is like a Christmas hamper: There is so much good stuff in it, I hardly know where to begin and I won’t even attempt to repackage it in a short review. I will have to content myself with a brief list of the most delectable items. Such as, mother/daughter relationship; malicious sister-in-law; death of a loved one; family business on the brink of bankruptcy; ageing spinster giving up on love and then finding it; sexual dysfunction with compassion; a deep dive into the world of Peruvian Paso horses.

The main character is Malina Garza, who agrees to try to rescue the family business, Casa Garza, to prevent her sister-in-law from declaring bankruptcy. It is a gigantic undertaking as there is only $3000.00 in the bank with a towering debt of 8 million and the repair shop and warehouses are filthy and need repairs. Malina overcomes crisis after crisis with her ingenuity and intelligence while struggling against uncooperative family members and a culture that doesn’t take businesswomen seriously.

Love interest is Ramir, an American whose modern ideas sometimes gently clash with the traditional values of the culture in which Malina was raised. Nevertheless, he is always there to support her, and she has a wide array of loyal friends and employees.

Another aspect of this book is that it introduced me to the history of a country I knew little about, which is always interesting. The author, however, has spent a lot of time there and has learned a great deal. He writes authoritatively about the law, business, and customs.

My only critique is the cover that doesn’t do justice to the story. I require only two things from a good historical fiction book – entertainment and education – and this book gave me both. I highly recommend it to readers who are keen to try something different.

*****

About the author.

FLASH: My novel “Playing Chess with God” was voted Online Book Club’s 2019 Book of the Year. Order copies for yourself or to give as gifts.

“My earliest memory,” six foot, nine inch Verne Albright remembers, “is of an English class where the teacher assigned a one-page story. The other students’ reaction was summed up by a boy who exclaimed, ‘how will I ever write a whole page!’ I however, wrote twenty and in the process discovered my life’s first passion.”

At twenty-one Verne traveled to Peru and was enchanted by the country and its people. During that first visit he, his wife, and their year-old daughter traveled by jeep in the Andes Mountains of four nations. Over the next half-century he returned to Peru sixty-four times and imported over two hundred of its Paso horses—including a pair he took overland to California, a nine-month trek of more then five thousand miles in eleven nations. Riding much of the way he came face-to-face with killer deserts, witch doctors, bandits, avalanches, poisonous reptiles, vampire bats, and a violent revolution.

“Finding a true calling is a miracle experienced by few,” he once said, “and Peru provided me with two. I promoted its Paso horses worldwide for over fifty years and more recently began writing historical fiction set in its fascinating past and rich culture.”

Verne is a master story teller and his novels are so well written that they’ve already begun appearing on Best-Seller Lists. And why not? He has lived adventures at least as exciting as the ones he writes about.

Brethren by Robb Pritchard

Set in present-day Northern Wales in A.D. 77, this story is a fictitious depiction of a true event.

Four Dogs from an enemy tribe have been welcomed into the Clan of the Crows of the Ordo-Wiki tribe, and Cadwal knows he must kill them even at the cost of his own life. His failure to do so allows the Dogs to overrun the settlement and carry the people off into slavery. Cadwal is parted from his two young sons, as he is destined for work in the mines, but swears to the gods that he will find and rescue them. Surviving male members of the tribe are chained in a carriage, but Cadwal is dragged behind causing serious injury to his feet. This means he is no use in the mines and so he is sent to the arena.

In a second plot line, Bleddyn, King of the Ordo-Wiki, is dying and his sons are vying for his throne. One has been poisoned and Helig has survived and the youngest, Derog, is willing to deal with the Romans if they will allow him to become king of the Holy Island of Mona. The Dogs have also joined the Romans against the Ordo-Wiki.

After enduring much hardship and escaping from seemingly impossible situations, Cadwal joins forces with Brei, a healer, Helig, and an unpleasant druid named Tegan to thwart the plan. I have never read of druids being agents of terror, but when confronted by Tegan, our hero turns into a wimp – so much so that he is forced to forego his promise to find his sons and agrees to walk into the lion’s den after coming within an inch of losing his life while escaping from that situation. The motivation was a bit weak there.

Once the author had established the characters and background (the latter without any lengthy and intrusive visits to the past) in the early pages, the action was non-stop and the danger of Roman occupation always hovered in the future. Despite what I saw as a weak main character in Cadwal, I enjoyed the book.

In the end notes, the author writes that the book has been edited twice. I suggest a further edit or proofreading as there are many mistakes, principally missing words.

****

About Robb Pritchard

For the day job, I have the unbelievable privilege of travelling the world to test drive classic Porsches and Ferraris and the occasional crazy off-roader.

The passion though, has long been writing novels. It’s taken a few long years to get here but Brethren is about to malt its fluffy fledgling feathers and be released into the wild. Hopefully, I wrote it well enough that it can fend for itself.

Is this the dumbest thief ever?

The Son left the garage door open one night. In crept a thief – a hungry thief, who ate a Fibre One Bar from a shelf where the Family kept extra food. He took four longbows, several arrows, some tools, and two boxes of Fibre Ones. The thing that annoyed the Son most of all was that he discovered a pair of brand new work boots in a box on a high shelf, took off his shabby runners and had the cheek to leave them instead. Then he discovered the keys. In front of the garage door, on the driveway, was a pickup truck on blocks, behind it a newer model Subaru. Inside the car, he found the Son’s wallet (with all they usually contain – i.e. credit cards) and three unopened envelopes containing paychecks. All these things, wallet, envelopes, and a set of keys, he took the trouble to put in separate baggies and laid them in the back of the pickup, which he then attempted to start. I repeat, it was up on blocks as if it was being worked on, which it was! And there was a car behind it, blocking it in! The Family knew he had attempted to start it because he left the keys in the ignition.

What happened next? All the Family knew was what was captured on a neighbour’s camera. He took one of the Son’s bicycles, grappling with the four bows, arrows and tools, leaving the wallet, paychecks and keys in the back of the pickup, fell off the bike when the chain came off a short way down the street, walked back past the house he had just robbed, found another bike from somewhere and made off with his ill-gotten gains.

It has to be admitted that apart from the Son, the rest of the Family had a good laugh about it all. Even the cop had a chuckle about the stolen work boots.

(Names have not been included to protect the innocent.)

The White Rajah by Tom Williams

A fictionalised account of true events

In his early thirties, James Brooke retired from the East India Company’s army and is looking for adventure and opportunities in the East. In the 19th century, the Dutch rule trade in the China Sea, but Brooke sees a chance to open trade with Borneo (Malaysia) for the British. The Sultan is at war with rebels and persuades Brooke to lead an army against them. There follows – I can’t call it a battle – it is almost a siege, with the Sultan’s force refusing to engage if there is a risk of death to any of the men. (This was a time when there were still headhunters in Borneo and possibly cannibals.) It made for hilarious reading as Brooke struggled to maintain his sanity. Back he goes to the Sultan with the intention of quitting. To persuade him to stay, the Sultan offers him the lordship of Sarawak and later makes him Rajah.

That is just the beginning of James Brooke’s adventures. He has tribal issues to deal with and pirates who create carnage in peaceful villages.

In this action-packed book, the reader will discover a little-known culture. Love interest is provided by the narrator, who is Brooke’s lover and assistant, John Williamson (fictitious). He cringes at cruelty in war and acts the part of Brooke’s conscience.

I noticed that the author described Brooke as ‘tall’ and in the same paragraph ‘of medium height’. As critiques go, it is a minuscule one – the kind of mistake it is so easy to make. All in all, a splendid book, not terrible gruesome, well-researched and well-written. I enjoyed it.

****

Tom Williams used to write books for business. Now he writes novels set in the 19th century that are generally described as fiction but which are often more honest than the business books. (He writes contemporary fantasy as well, but that’s a dark part of his life, so you’ll have to explore that on your own – ideally with a friend and a protective amulet.)

His stories about James Burke (based on a real person) are exciting tales of high adventure and low cunning set around the Napoleonic Wars. The stories have given him the excuse to travel to Argentina, Egypt, and Spain and call it research.

Tom lives in London. His main interest is avoiding doing any honest work and this leaves him with time to ski, skate and dance tango, all of which (before covid) he thought he did quite well. In between he reads old books and spends far too much time looking at ancient weaponry.

Tom’s blogs appear regularly on his website, https://tomwilliamsauthor.co.uk where you can also find details of all his books. You can follow him on Twitter as @TomCW99 or Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/AuthorTomWilliams).

The Blue Dolphin by Kathryn Gauci

Another great book from an author who knows the country so well and writes of it so poignantly.

Nefeli lives with her eight-year-old daughter Georgia and owns the Blue Dolphin Tavern near the coast on a small island. She was widowed four years earlier and is now struggling to make ends meet. The village ladies think it is time for her to marry again. They select a husband for her and, in order to provide Georgia and herself with a secure future, she agrees although her heart isn’t involved in the bargain. One night while walking on the beach, she discovers a badly injured Luftwaffe pilot. She knows that if the villagers find him, they will kill him, and should she decide to help him, she would probably be killed also. Nevertheless, she is a compassionate and pious woman who feels it is her duty to help him. She did not anticipate the feelings he would arouse in her which seem to her like a betrayal of her country.

In this book, the author has created a portrait of life on a tiny remote island that I suspect has changed little over the centuries. The peaceful existence is brought to an end by the war. The descriptions of the landscape and cobalt blue roofs, of warm breezes and Homer’s wine-dark sea, will evoke memories in anyone who has had the pleasure of visiting the Greek Islands – and depict a stark contrast to the violence that unfolds. Like all good stories, this one incorporates elements of betrayal and tragedy, romance and heroism, conflict and resolution. The author uses simple prose to portray simple people, and just a few words are enough to give us a feel for the characters.

It was a slow starter, but the scene was set very well in the beginning. Another great novel from a prolific author. Highly recommended.

*****

Kathryn Gauci was born in Leicestershire, England, and studied textile design at Loughborough College of Art and later at Kidderminster College of Art and Design where she specialised in carpet design and technology. After graduating, Kathryn spent a year in Vienna, Austria before moving to Greece where she worked as a carpet designer in Athens for six years. She now lives in Melbourne, Australia.

Alexandra Feodorovna Empress of Russia

The youngest of five siblings, Alexandra, was born Alix of Hesse and by Rhine on the 25th May 1872. Alix met her future husband Nicholas at the wedding of her elder sister Ella to Grand Duke Sergei of Russia and returned for another visit six years later when they fell in love.

Alix at 15.

Although Alix was a granddaughter of Queen Victoria, Hesse was a grand duchy and not a particularly distinguished house. Nicholas’s parents did not consider Alix of good enough lineage to marry the heir to the imperial throne and refused their permission.

Although she was a granddaughter of Queen Victoria, Hesse was a grand duchy and not a particularly distinguished house. Nicholas’s parents did not consider Alix of good enough lineage to marry the heir to the imperial throne and refused their permission. Furthermore, they were both anti-German. Queen Victoria opposed the match. She liked Nicholas but disliked Russia. Alix’s father also was not in favour, fearing that his daughter would come to some harm in Russia. The only ones in the young couple’s corner were Ella and Sergei, but they didn’t carry much weight compared to those who opposed the match.

Nicholas was determined and refused all other offers. He would have Alexandra or remain a bachelor, and his persistence paid off. When his father’s health began to fail, Alexander III gave his permission. However, at that time, a new and unexpected stumbling block arose. Imperial brides were required to convert to the Russian orthodox faith. Although she loved Nicholas, Alix had been raised as a Lutheran and was reluctant to convert.

Nicholas was devastated. He pleaded, and she cried but held firm until her sister told her that she herself had not been obliged to give up Lutheranism to convert to Orthodoxy. Alexandra surrendered.

An official engagement photo.

Nicholas was devastated. He pleaded, and she cried but held firm until her sister told her that she herself had not been obliged to give up Lutheranism to convert to Orthodoxy. Alexandra surrendered.

On 1st November 1894, Alexander III died, and three weeks later, Nicholas and Alexandra were married. Many saw her as a bad omen, coming as she did so soon after the tsar’s death.

She was never popular with the Russian people, who saw her shyness as coldness and arrogance and had trouble communicating because she spoke English and German but not French, the language of the court and upper class, and only started learning Russian when she became empress. Her mother-in-law and many of the imperial family despised her.

In roughly two-year intervals, she gave birth to four beautiful, healthy daughters and then, finally, the long-awaited heir. Alexandra created a close-knit family life away from the court and the turmoil that beset Russia, devoting herself to her husband and children, especially to the tsarevich, Alexei, a haemophiliac who she cared for, disregarding her own health, for the rest of her life. The parents decided to keep Alexei’s tragic disease secret from the Russian people, shrouding the boy in mystery. Had they not done so, I feel the family would have become the focus of sympathy.

With the outbreak of World War I, Alexandra was vilified even more, being German, and in the newspapers, she was accused of being a German spy. (Germany was a pot in which Russian royalty and nobility frequently dipped to find wives.) Alexandra and her two oldest daughters, Olga and Tatiana, took nursing courses, and she opened rooms at the Catherine Palace at Tsarkoe Selo as a hospital. Only then did she earn a measure of respect from the people.

It didn’t last long because the revolution was coming.

Alexandra the Empress

It is impossible to find a photo of her where she doesn’t look melancholic.

I’m curious to know why in this photo she is wearing a glove on one hand and not on the other.

Learn more about Alexandra and her family in my new book The Disappearance of Michael Romanov – coming soon.

Fortune’s Child by James Conroyd Martin

Excellent narrative of the early life of Empress Theodora, wife of Justinian I. Her story is told by Stephen, who was imprisoned by her, then released after 5 years when she is dying and wants an honest account of her life. The author describes her as a great beauty, and I’m sure she must have been to rise to such heights. Hers is not the kind of life anyone would expect to lead to the imperial throne. Raped at the age of twelve, she determined not to follow her older sister into a life of prostitution. Instead, she had quite a list of ‘careers’: a popular comedic actress, which led to her mostly unclothed still portraits, such as Leda and the Swan, then as a seamstress and part of a troupe of leaping dancers. (6th-century term for ballet, I assume.) When one of her lovers becomes governor of an African province, she goes with him with the expectation of marriage and a better life. When that doesn’t work out, she is cast adrift in the world, penniless, friendless, and far from home.

Theodora is a wonderful character, and the author draws her with precision. She never gives up. When she is thrown down by the troubles that fall on women in a man’s world, she manages to drag herself upright again. Strong, resilient, and ambitious, she is determined to rise not just for her own sake but to improve the circumstances of her two sisters.

On the ship carrying her home to Constantinople, she meets Philip, who tells his own story along with hers. A beautiful boy, he was sold by his father to become one of the ‘cut ones’. He is a gentle youth with a good heart. The pathos of his mutilation is amplified by his love for Theodora and described movingly by the author.

If I have to nitpick, I would say that the end of the book seemed a little rushed. However, there is now a second book about Theordora and I look forward to reading that.

Great book, memorable characters, an altogether satisfying read. Highly recommended.

*****

I started “Fortune’s Child” when I lived in Hollywood a couple of decades ago. An agent who was trying to sell an incomplete Push Not the River told me to start working on something else. As it happened, I was taking an Art Appreciation course at a community college. One day we were studying the exquisite mosaics of Emperor Justinian and Empress Theodora from the Basilica di San Vitale in Ravenna, Italy, and the professor pointed to Theodora and said, “I’m not a writer, but if I were, that is the woman I would write about.”

Little did he know what he had unloosed.

I went down to the Hollywood Public Library and took out at least a dozen books on the period and the reign of Justinian and Theodora. The empress seemed to me like the Eva Peron of the sixth century, and I was hooked. I made a good start on her story, but life threw some curves. I went back to finishing Push Not the River, but when it didn’t sell, other agents came and went. One publisher held on to it for two years. I returned to teaching and the years passed. When St. Martin’s Press picked up Push Not the River in 2003, I figured my Theodora book would follow. Ah~but St. Martin’s wanted a sequel, so that led to other books and more years.

So~now Theodora is getting her just due. Please give Fortune’s Child a chance.

Fate goes ever as it must.

Tsar Nicholas II

My latest book, still in the editing phase, is set before, during, and after the Russian Revolution and contains lots of interesting characters, perhaps none more so than Nicholas Romanov.

Nicholas was born on 19th May 1968, the eldest child of the Tsarevich Alexander Alexandrovich and Marie Feodorovna (formerly Dagmar of Denmark). He was only twelve years old when his grandfather was killed by a bomb thrown at his carriage and was a witness when the shattered body was brought into the palace. Because of this, and other attempts on the lives of the Imperial Family, Nicholas’s father, Tsar Alexander III, moved his family to the palace in Gatchina for security reasons.

Nicholas was now the Tsarevich (the heir). It was said later that Alexander III failed to prepare his heir to become tsar. There were a couple of reasons why that my be true. He was known to be a particularly devoted family man. While conscientiously performing his duties, he found the time to take walks with his children gambolling around him, to play games and spend time with them. He did his best to give them a normal childhood and shield them from the ugliness outside the walls of the palace. Also, he was only forty-nine, a big man of rude good health, until he fell mortally ill and probably thought he had many years left in which to educate his heir in the complexities of ruling.

Any ruler would have had difficulty negotiating the challenges that were awaiting Nicholas, but although he had attended some meetings of the state council, he had never been given any responsibilities. Not only was he unprepared, but he lacked confidence in his ability to govern. What’s more, he had to fend off a plethora of uncles and cousins who tried to manipulate and dominate him.

His mother, now Dowager Empress, helped him as much as she could, but eight days after the death of his father, Nicholas married the woman he loved, Alexandra of Hesse and by Rhine. Alexandra was the one person who gave him confidence in himself, and she very quickly became the dominant influence in his life.

In roughly two-year intervals, the imperial couple produced four daughters and a son. Following his father’s example, Nicholas moved his family to Tsarskoe Selo (the people’s village) about twenty-five kilometers south of St. Petersburg, returning to the capital only on state or formal occasions.

In the meantime, in 1905, mighty Russia suffered a humiliating defeat in a war against Japan, which came about because of the conflicting expansionist policies of both countries. In a peace treaty brokered by President Theodore Roosevelt, Russia was forced to give up all interests in the Far East. The people were angry, certain that if the war had continued, their nation could not have been beaten by the little, racially-inferior Japanese. The result was strikes, demonstrations, and the first embryonic sign of revolution. On the day known as Bloody Sunday, unarmed demonstrators were shot by the hundreds in the square of the Winter Palace.

Nicholas was not in St. Petersburg at the time and was so shocked by the event that he gave in to the dissident elements, agreeing to the establishment of a Duma (parliament) and changing the political system of Russia from an autocracy to a constitutional monarchy. The Duma was not a great success, and Nicholas himself soon came to regret his decision and turned his back on it.

Anyone remotely interested in the era will already know the tragic story of Nicholas, so I don’t intend to go into much detail about that here, but there will be more about this unique family later.

Note the striking similarity between Nicholas and his first cousin, King George V of England. Nicholas is on the left.

The joys and horrors of moving

On June 1st. I moved from an apartment to a lovely house with a horrible garden. I left the apartment spotless, going back to clean the floor after the movers had departed. In visiting the house before buying, I saw the windows were extremely dirty but fully expected them to be cleaned up before we moved in. Nope! As if that wasn’t bad enough, the kitchen shelves were filthy. How can people leave a house in such a condition? Oddly, shelves in other places such as the hall and bedroom closets were clean.

The garden, however, did not come as a shock. There was no mistaking foot-high thistles and an invasive weed threading its way through two weigelas and along a row of hostas.

I lost one hosta but the weed (I don’t know what it is) is gone from that area, but I doubt the shrubs can be saved. The thistles have been removed but as I was digging them out, I discovered to my horror that beneath the mulch was a layer of stones and beneath that a layer of garden mesh. It was time to call in a man! I had chosen that area for my first flower bed – there are none apart from the hostas and some hydrangeas which I love – so we cleared the whole lot out and put in fresh soil and a few plants.

I lost one hosta but the weed (I don’t know what it is) is gone from that area, Next year I will have flowers. That was my moment of joy among the horrors. I gave myself a pat on the back. There are four more areas that seem to have been cut out for flower beds although nothing but weeds remain. What I have accomplished so far will have to do for this year.

Now I can spend more time on the second draft of my new book. I would love to share the title but I can’t think of one, so I will only say it’s set before, during and after the Russian Revolution.

Lost Lady by Michael Reidy

            I have often observed that writing a book is like making a cake. If you put in all the right ingredients, it is not entirely guaranteed success, but if you miss one out, it will surely fail.  Imagine a book that lacks a basic ingredient and yet still manages to be a wonderful, intoxicating read.

            The missing ingredient concerns the two main characters, Charles and Danielle, very good friends who wine and dine together, attend art galleries and concerts, and believe they can maintain a platonic relationship. We do not know what they look like: the colour of their eyes and hair, how tall they are, good-looking or otherwise. We don’t even know their ages except that they are young-ish. Their mode of dress is never related. Most authors expend great effort to describe the main characters. But here, the author’s skill is such that we know them intimately despite not knowing the colours of their eyes. They are a blank slate upon which we can paint our own impressions.

            Another odd thing is the antagonist. At first, I thought there wasn’t one. The Okhrana lurks menacingly in the background but doesn’t impact the lives of the two main characters. I came to the conclusion it was Natasha, who doesn’t fit the mould because she is a good person, but she is the one who prevents the two friends from resolving their conflict.

            Natasha is a young girl who works as a model and sleeps with artists in exchange for a place to stay. She introduces the two friends to Russian emigres who escaped the revolution and yet are still in fear for their lives, and before long the two find themselves steeped in Russian culture. From the beginning, Natasha is an enigma. She appears to be a malnourished and penniless waif, who cadges drinks and dinners and leaves before they can find out much about her. But she has refined manners, can quote Tolstoy and knows some aristocratic Russians. She is a mystery the two friends are determined to solve.

            Paris in the 1920s is in the process of change, trying to shake off the post-war gloom and rediscover itself. The Russians, on the other hand, are desperate to hold onto the past, its culture and privileged society. Charles and Danielle both have shadows from the past standing in the way of present happiness. For Charles, it is his experiences in the Great War. For Danielle, it is the death of her fiancé in the same war. They too make a conscious effort to leave the past behind and enter the post-war world.

            This is an excellent book, rich in the culture of a place and time, with three unforgettable characters who bring out the best in each other. I thoroughly enjoyed it and didn’t want it to end.

            I must also note the cover. So simple, and so evocative of the era.

*****

Abut Michael Reidy:

A deracinated New Englander, Michael Reidy has lived in the UK since 1974, with three years off for good behaviour.

After several years as a military journalist for the Department of Defence attached to the Navy (a DINFOS-trained killer), he taught English for 15 years in the UK and USA. He then worked for a specialist PR and marketing consultancy for 25 years.

During this time, Michael drafted several novels and numerous short stories – as well as writing three thousand press release, features, interviews, advertisements and other collateral for his work.

While continuing PR and marketing work during semi-retirement, Michael is publishing old and new novels and stories. He also writes articles on divers subjects for a number of websites.

While his fiction draws on several main subjects and themes, his plots and settings vary widely, making it difficult to pigeon-hole his work.