Pam Lecky's Blog, page 11
January 6, 2023
New Release from Marcia Clayton
A little girl, lonely and abandoned, is entrusted with a secret she must carry for a lifetime.
1820
Betsey, a sadly neglected child, is shouldering responsibilities far beyond her years. As she does her best to care for her little brother, Norman, she is befriended by Gypsy Freda, an old woman whose family is camped nearby. Freda’s granddaughter, Jane, is also fond of the little girl.
Thomas Fellwood, a young gentleman, happens across the gypsy camp and becomes besotted with Jane. However, Jasper Morris, the local miller, also has designs on the young gypsy, and inevitably, the two men do not see eye to eye.
Betsey is drawn into their rivalry for the attention of the beautiful young woman, and she finds herself promising to keep a dangerous secret for many years to come.
Universal Link: https://mybook.to/Betsey
Available on Kindle Unlimited
A Little Bit about Marcia …Marcia is a wife, mother and grandmother and loves nothing better than to curl up with a good book. She enjoys researching her family tree, and it was her love of genealogy that inspired her to write The Hartford Manor Series. Living in Devon in the South West of England, Marcia also enjoys walking in the picturesque countryside.
Although Betsey is Marcia’s fourth book, it is also the prequel to the other three books in The Hartford Manor Family Saga:
The Mazzard Tree
1880
Annie Carter is a farm labourer’s daughter, and life is a struggle for survival. When her father dies of consumption, her mother, Sabina, is left with seven hungry mouths to feed. To save them from the workhouse, Annie steals vegetables from the Manor House garden, risking jail or transportation. Set against the harsh background of the rough, class-divided society of Victorian England, this heart-warming novel portrays a young woman who uses her determination and willpower to defy the circumstances of her birth in her search for happiness.
The Angel Maker
1884
When Fred Carter, finds a young woman in dire straits by the roadside, he takes her to the inn where she gives birth to a daughter. Charlotte is unmarried and has run away from home. A few days later, Fred takes Charlotte to her aunt’s house and does not expect to see her again. However, when their paths unexpectedly cross, Fred finds Charlotte distraught as her aunt has arranged an adoption behind her back. Charlotte is desperate to find her baby and Fred promises to help but they are unprepared for the sinister discoveries that lay before them.
The Rabbit’s Foot
1885
Set in the small seaside village of Hartford, this book tells the tale of how an old man, who has spent his life with barely a penny to his name, suddenly finds himself rich beyond his wildest dreams. However, there is only one thing that Sam Fellwood truly wants, and that is to be reunited with his son, Marrok, whom he abandoned at the age of five.
Find out more about Marcia and enjoy her monthly newsletter, plus a variety of blogs on her website: https://marciaclayton.co.uk/
You can also download a FREE short story which is a spin-off from The Mazzard Tree. Amelia, a little orphan girl of 4, is abandoned in Victorian London. To find out what happens to Amelia, download the story here:
Amelia – Free Download
Social Media Links:
Website: https://marciaclayton.co.uk/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarciaC89111861
Facebook: Marcia Clayton – Author | Facebook
Instagram: Marcia Clayton: Instagram
Amazon Author Page: http://viewauthor.at/MarciaClayton
Goodreads: Marcia Clayton: Goodreads
Excerpt from Betsey“Hello Betsey, what are you doing out on such a cold morning? You need a thicker coat, this morning. Aren’t you cold?”
The child’s nose was red and she was shivering violently. “Aye, sir, I am cold, but these are the warmest clothes I have. I’m on my way to see Gypsy Freda; I’m hoping she might spare some food for me and my brother, Norman.”
“I see. Well, I’m not going all the way to the gypsy camp, but I can take you part of the way. Would you like to ride up here with me, again? I can wrap my cloak around you, and warm you up a bit.”
“That’s kind of you, sir. Yes, please.”
Thomas dismounted and lifted the child onto the horse, then clambered up behind her. He pulled his cloak open and wrapped it around her, and they set off, Betsey enjoying the warmth of his body and that of the horse below her. A little of the feeling began to return to her icy feet, making them hurt as they thawed, and she hastily brushed a few tears from her face, hoping he hadn’t noticed.
“I know your mother died, Betsey, but does your father not provide food for you?”
“No, not much, sir; he’s at work most of the time, and he doesn’t always come home, so we’re on our own a lot. I’m trying to look after my little brother, Norman, as best I can, but it’s difficult. Aunty Kezzie, from next door, has been looking after us since Mum died, but Dad had an argument with her last week and said she can’t come to our house anymore, so things are worse than ever at the moment. I’ve had to leave Norman at home on his own this morning because his shoes are even more worn than mine, and he can’t come out in this cold weather. It’ll be all right, though, I’m sure Gypsy Freda will help; she’s always been kind to me.”
Thomas could not believe a father could be so neglectful of his children and resolved to have a word with his own father to see if anything could be done. However, while he was perusing the matter, they heard a sharp scream from up ahead.
“Hold on, Betsey, I think we’d better find out what’s happening; it sounds like someone’s in trouble.”
December 14, 2022
In Conversation with Michael Ross
Michael Ross is a lover of history and great stories. He’s a retired software engineer turned author, with three children, and five grandchildren, living in Newton, Kansas with his wife of 42 years. Michael graduated from Rice University and Portland State University with degrees in German and software engineering. He was part of an MBA program at Boston University. He was born in Lubbock, Texas, and still loves Texas. He’s written short stories and technical articles in the past, as well as articles for the Texas Historical Society.
Across the Great Divide now has three novels in the series, “The Clouds of War”, “The Search”, and “The Founding”. The series has won many awards and positive reviews, including Silver Medal Book of the Year from the Coffee Pot Book Club (The Search), Honorable Mention Book of the Year (Clouds of War), Five Star Firebird award, Five Star Chanticleer International Book award, shortlisted for the Chanticleer Laramie award 2021, and Publisher’s Weekly positive review. Clouds of War was an Amazon #1 best seller in three categories in 2019. Most recently, The Founding has won a five-star review from The Historical Fiction Company.
Which genre do you write in and what draws you to it?Historical Fiction, specifically biographical fiction. I love to tell the stories of real, but little known people, especially when the themes and events parallel what is happening today.
Are you an avid reader? Do you prefer books in your own genre or are you happy to explore others?Yes, I read constantly. I do read mostly in historical fiction, but I love a good thriller or mystery as well. Favorite authors include Kate Quinn, Pam Lecky, Anne Perry, Robert Crais, and Trish MacEnulty
Are you a self-published/traditional or hybrid author?Hybrid – my first book was published by Harper Collins, the rest have been self published. I’ll be back in the query trenches soon, but will also continue to self publish some titles.
Who has been the biggest influence on your writing?I grew up with an English teacher for a mother – that’s where it all started. Aside from her, I’d have to say my editor, Jenny Quinlan, and a few days’ encounter via email with Tom Clancy, when he was alive.
Has your country of origin/culture influenced your writing?Yes, very much so. I love all history, but American history has been the rich background for most of my writing. America is a grab bag of cultures and regional customs, and it’s fascinating to explore them.
What part of the writing process do you find most difficult? How do you overcome it?Editing is always the most difficult, but necessary to have a story with the correct pacing and character development. I outline, but invariably quirks pop up, things I hadn’t considered, or characters that demand attention or a different treatment. For example, in The Search, one of the principal characters was Dove, a young Shoshone woman. Half way through the book, she simply demanded to be re-written, which was about the time I encountered Darren Parry, Chief of the Northwestern Shoshone in real life.
That is largely how I deal with the problem – I back off and get outside input, from an editor or an expert.
What was the best piece of writing advice you received when starting out?The old chestnut is to write what you know – but Tom Clancy advised me to write who I know – learn your character so thoroughly that you know them inside out, how they would think or react in a given situation. Occasionally, that may mean writing autobiographically. Tom said that Jack Ryan was basically Tom Clancy. If based on a real person, know that person intimately, even if you have to make parts of it up.
Do you have a favourite time of day to write?I love early morning quiet. My best writing time is four to seven am.
If you weren’t an author, what would you be up to?Teaching, writing code, or both. It’s what I did before becoming an author. Writing code pays better 
It’s still creative. Code has been described as “thought stuff”. It is rewarding to make things or make tools to make things. My code has been in airplanes, run databases, and been used as a tool to write MORE code that controls dams, medical devices, and other mission-critical software.
I would love to see Josh Young, my narrator, cast in the lead role as Will Crump. He’s a Broadway actor and simply nails the part.
If you could live the life of a historical figure for one day, who would you choose and what would you get up to?I think Abraham Lincoln is my favorite historical person. I would increase the pace of emancipation and civil rights for black people, Native Americans, and women.
If you could travel back in time, what era would you go to? What draws you to this particular time?Difficult to choose, but since we’re dreaming, why not two? I would love to go to what is now Israel and watch the ministry of Jesus in person, and to 1859 Kentucky to meet my main character Will Crump in the flesh – might drop by Abraham Lincoln in the process. Did you know that Spencer, the man that invented the Spencer repeating rifle, simply waltzed into the White House with his rifle to show to Lincoln, after being rejected by the Secretary of War? Lincoln went out on the White House lawn, tried the rifle, and ordered them to be placed in the hands of the troops. Perhaps I could gain an audience without an appointment.
You have been chosen as a member of the crew on the first one-way flight to Mars – you are allowed to bring 5 books with you. What would they be?The Bible, C. S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity, The Lord of The Rings, Practical Chemistry by Lyman Newell,
Amazon Link: The Founding [Book Three in the Across the Great Divide Series]
Two men, two dreams, two new towns on the plains, and a railroad that will determine whether the towns—one black, one white—live or die.
Will Crump has survived the Civil War, Red Cloud’s War, and the loss of his love, but the search for peace and belonging still eludes him. From Colorado, famed Texas Ranger Charlie Goodnight lures Will to Texas, where he finds new love, but can a Civil War sharpshooter and a Quaker find a compromise to let their love survive? When Will has a chance to join in the founding of a new town, he risks everything—his savings, his family, and his life—but it will all be for nothing if the new railroad passes them by.
Luther has escaped slavery in Kentucky through Albinia, Will’s sister, only to find prejudice rearing its ugly head in Indiana. When the Black Codes are passed, he’s forced to leave and begin a new odyssey. Where can he and his family go to be truly free? Can they start a town owned by blacks, run by blacks, with no one to answer to? But their success will be dependent on the almighty railroad and overcoming bigotry to prove their town deserves the chance to thrive.
Will’s eldest sister, Julia, and her husband, Hiram, are watching the demise of their steamboat business and jump into railroads, but there’s a long black shadow in the form of Jay Gould, the robber baron who ruthlessly swallows any business he considers competition. Can Julia fight the rules against women in business, dodge Gould, and hold her marriage together?
The Founding tells the little-known story of the Exodusters and Nicodemus, the black town on the plains of Kansas, and the parallel story of Will’s founding of Lubbock, Texas, against the background of railroad expansion in America. A family reunited, new love discovered, the quest for freedom, the rise of two towns. In the end, can they reach Across the Great Divide? The Founding is the exciting conclusion to the series.
Social Media Links:
Website: HistoricalNovelsRUS.com
Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/michaellross7
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/historicalnovelsrus
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-ross-87505026?original_referer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/HistoricalNovelsRUs
Book Bub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/michael-l-ross
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Michael-Ross/e/B07PTB7WMK/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_book_1
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19005014.Michael_L_Ross
December 8, 2022
Son of Anger – Book Spotlight: The Coffee Pot Book Club Blog Tour
I am delighted to bring you news of Donovan Cooks’s new release, Son of Anger, book one of the Ormstunga Saga series.
You can follow this blog tour here: https://maryanneyarde.blogspot.com/2022/09/son-of-anger-ormstunga-saga-book-1-by.html
Son of Anger b
y Donovan CookUlf is like a storm, slowly building up its power, he grows more dangerous with each passing moment. And like all storms, he will eventually break. When he does, he will destroy everything in his path.
Ulf is one of a long line of famous Norse warriors. His ancestor Tyr was no ordinary man, but the Norse God of War. Ulf, however, knows nothing about being a warrior.
Everything changes when a stranger arrives on Ulf’s small farm in Vikenfjord. The only family he’s ever known is slaughtered and the one reminder of his father is stolen – Ulf’s father’s sword, Ormstunga. Ulf’s destiny is decided.
Are the gods punishing him? All Ulf knows is that he has to avenge his family. He sets off on an adventure that will take him across oceans, into the eye of danger, on a quest to reclaim his family’s honour.
The gods are roused. One warrior can answer to them. The Son of Anger.
Buy Links:
This book is available on #KindleUnlimited.
Universal Link (if you have it): https://books2read.com/u/m2dMOr
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08NCNQPLH
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08NCNQPLH
Amazon CA: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B08NCNQPLH
Amazon AU: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B08NCNQPLH
Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/son-of-anger-donovan-cook/1137982445?ean=9781838300814
A little bit about Donovan Cook
Donovan Cook was born in South Africa but raised in England, and currently works as an English tutor. He is the author of the Ormstunga Saga, which includes his debut novel Son of Anger and the follow up, Raid of the Wolves. His novels come from his fascination with the Viking world and Norse Mythology and he hopes that you will enjoy exploring this world as much as he did writing about it.
When Donovan is not teaching or writing, he can be found reading, watching rugby, or working on DIY projects. Being born in South Africa, he is a massive Springboks fan and rarely misses a match.
Social Media Links:
Website: https://www.donovancook.net/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DonovanCook20
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DonovanCookAuthor
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/donovan-cook
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Donovan-Cook/e/B08PC3BDRX
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/20887374.Donovan_Cook
December 6, 2022
Her Castilian Heart: The Coffee Pot Book Club Blog Tour
Anna Belfrage is on the blog today to tell us a little about her new release, Her Castilian Heart, and to share an excerpt [see below].
You can follow the blog tour here: Tour Schedule: https://maryanneyarde.blogspot.com/2022/08/blog-tour-her-castilian-heart-by-anna.html
Her Castilian Heart By Anna BelfrageBlood is not always thicker than water…
At times a common bloodline is something of a curse—or so Robert FitzStephan discovers when he realises his half-brother, Eustace de Lamont, wants to kill him.
A murderous and greedy brother isn’t Robert’s only challenge. He and his wife, Noor, also have to handle their infected relationship with a mightily displeased Queen Eleanor—all because of their mysterious little foundling whom they refuse to abandon or allow the queen to lock away.
Eustace is persistent. When Robert’s life hangs in the balance, it falls to Noor to do whatever it takes to rip them free from the toothy jaws of fate. Noor may be a woman, but weak she is not, and in her chest beats a heart as brave and ferocious as that of a lioness. But will her courage be enough to see them safe?
Trigger Warnings: [There is some sexual (consensual) content. Also some violence]
Buy Links:
Is your book on Kindle Unlimited? YES
Universal Link (if you have it): http://myBook.to/HEART
Amazon UK: https://amzn.to/3cj9TIq
Amazon US: https://amzn.to/3dVZuCE
Amazon CA: https://amzn.to/3KfqvgF
Amazon AU: https://amzn.to/3AIBfks
A Little Bit about Anna …Had Anna been allowed to choose, she’d have become a time-traveller. As this was impossible, she became a financial professional with two absorbing interests: history and writing. Anna has authored the acclaimed time travelling series The Graham Saga, set in 17th century Scotland and Maryland, as well as the equally acclaimed medieval series The King’s Greatest Enemy which is set in 14th century England.
Anna BelfrageAnna has also published The Wanderer, a fast-paced contemporary romantic suspense trilogy with paranormal and time-slip ingredients.
Her Castilian Heart is the third in her “Castilian” series, a stand-alone sequel to her September 2020 release, His Castilian Hawk. Set against the complications of Edward I’s invasion of Wales, His Castilian Hawk is a story of loyalty, integrity—and love. In the second instalment, The Castilian Pomegranate, we travel with the protagonists to the complex political world of medieval Spain. This latest release finds our protagonists back in England—not necessarily any safer than the wilds of Spain!
Anna has also authored The Whirlpools of Time in which she returns to the world of time travel. Join Duncan and the somewhat reluctant time-traveller Erin on their adventures through the Scottish Highlands just as the first Jacobite rebellion is about to explode!
All of Anna’s books have been awarded the IndieBRAG Medallion, she has several Historical Novel Society Editor’s Choices, and one of her books won the HNS Indie Award in 2015. She is also the proud recipient of various Reader’s Favorite medals as well as having won various Gold, Silver and Bronze Coffee Pot Book Club awards.
Find out more about Anna, her books and enjoy her eclectic historical blog on her website, www.annabelfrage.com
Social Media Links:
Website: www.annabelfrage.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/abelfrageauthor
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/annabelfrageauthor
Instagram: https://instagram.com/annabelfrageauthor
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/anna-belfrage
Amazon Author Page: http://Author.to/ABG
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6449528.Anna_Belfrage
Excerpt from Her Castilian HeartIn which Robert is given suggestions as to how to handle his brother
It was not quite noon the next day when Sir Piers de Geneville rode into their bailey, having first had to wait while the sentries unbarred the heavy gate.
“It has become a disconcerting habit of yours to keep your gates barred to me,” Sir Piers said in jest as he dismounted.
“Never against you, my lord,” Noor replied. “Against Eustace de Lamont.”
“He’s not here. He’s in Gascony to do homage for his lands. Now that his dear sire has done him the courtesy of finally expiring, he must hasten to do what must be done for him to come into his own.” Sir Piers preceded them up the stairs to the hall and settled himself in the large armchair that was usually reserved for Robert. “I’d do the same had it been my sire who passed. Fortunately, dear Papa is as hale as a fiddle, and as he is happier in Ireland and I am happier here, I have the best of it: wealth and independence and a living father.” He smiled affectionately. “A good man, my father.”
“Some wine, my lord?” Noor asked, already pouring from the pitcher of hippocras.
Sir Piers sipped. “Ah yes, nice and sweet.”
Too sweet in Robert’s opinion, but he didn’t say as much. Instead, they made small talk about the weather and the recent events in Gascony, Piers listening with interest as Robert outlined the conditions of the Treaty of Canfranc.
“Seventy-six hostages? Where on earth did our liege find that many?” Sir Piers bit into a chickpea fritter.
“Mostly in Gascony—and the local lords were none too pleased by it.”
“I imagine not. Should Charles of Salerno defect, then they’re stuck.” Sir Piers chuckled, extending first one booted leg, then the other. Bright blue hose matched the colour of his open surcoat, the tunic underneath a soft grey of wool so fine it shimmered. “Something tells me our king would be very, very displeased should that happen.”
“Aye. But our king says his cousin’s word is his bond, so he is not overly concerned.” Not entirely true. Until all the hostages were safely back with their families, the king would not relax.
“Mmm.” Sir Piers held out his goblet for more, Noor hastening to replenish it. It irked Robert to have his wife act the page like that, but for the conversation they were about to have, the fewer ears the better. “So.” Sir Piers reclined. “About Eustace.”
Once Robert had finished telling him, he gave his overlord an expectant look. Sir Piers steepled his hands.
“Not good,” was all he said. “And we all know the word of a ruffian will carry no weight in a court of law.”
“There must be something we can do to stop him,” Noor said.
“Other than killing him, you mean?” Sir Piers asked. “And no, Robert, that would not be wise.”
Robert shot to his feet. “He threatens me and mine!”
Sir Piers gave him an irritated look and waved him down to sit. “If you kill him while he is, in fact, threatening you, it is fine. But Eustace is far too wily for that, and he has the resources required to hire others to do his dirty work for him.”
“So we live in constant fear?” Noor asked, clasping her hands as if in prayer.
“You could go to the king and ask him to allow a trial by combat,” Sir Piers said.
Robert snorted. “The king does not hold with such. He calls it old-fashioned. A man should be tried by his peers.”
“It still happens among the common people,” Sir Piers said. “We all know Bishop Swinefield keeps a champion or two on retainer.”
Champions? Likely, the bishop employed men like the ones who’d ambushed them to do his combatting, men who’d long since left the life of true soldiering behind.
“We do?” Noor asked. “Why would he need a champion?”
“To sort all those minor legal disputes that otherwise cost far too much money and effort. Lawyers do not come cheap,” Sir Piers replied. “But that is neither here nor there, is it?”
“I still say the king would not allow it.” Besides, he was not entirely convinced the king would find any merit in their case. They had no witnesses; no one had as much as mentioned Eustace’s name. All of it was conjecture—damned convincing conjecture, but Edward Plantagenet was a firm believer in the rule of law, more specifically, his law.
“You could ask him,” Sir Piers said. “And if the king says aye, Eustace will have no choice but to fight you.” Sir Piers’ brows rose. “I take it you are confident you’d win?” he drawled.
“Against Eustace? With one hand tied behind my back.”
Sir Piers pursed his lips, a deep wrinkle between his brows. “Beware, FitzStephan, pride goes before fall.” He stood. “Another thing: I’d recommend you take seisin of those lands as soon as possible. The sooner you do, the harder for Eustace to try and claim them back.”
November 10, 2022
Skull’s Vengeance: The Coffee Pot Book Blog Tour
Today on the blog, I am delighted to share an excerpt from Linnea Tanner’s Skull’s Vengeance, book four in the Curse of Clansmen and Kings Series.
You can find out more about the blog tour here: https://maryanneyarde.blogspot.com/2022/01/blog-tour-skulls-vengeance-curse-of.html
Skull’s Vengeance By Linnea TannerA Celtic warrior queen must do the impossible—defeat her sorcerer half-brother and claim the throne. But to do so, she must learn how to strike vengeance from her father’s skull.
AS FORETOLD BY HER FATHER in a vision, Catrin has become a battle-hardened warrior after her trials in the Roman legion and gladiatorial games. She must return to Britannia and pull the cursed dagger out of the serpent’s stone to fulfill her destiny. Only then can she unleash the vengeance from the ancient druids to destroy her evil half-brother, the powerful sorcerer, King Marrock. Always two steps ahead and seemingly unstoppable, Marrock can summon destructive natural forces to crush any rival trying to stop him and has charged his deadliest assassin to bring back Catrin’s head.
To have the slightest chance of beating Marrock, Catrin must forge alliances with former enemies, but she needs someone she can trust. Her only option is to seek military aid from Marcellus—her secret Roman husband. They rekindle their burning passion, but he is playing a deadly game in the political firestorm of the Julio-Claudian dynasty to support Catrin’s cause.
Ultimately, in order to defeat Marrock, Catrin must align herself with a dark druidess and learn how to summon forces from skulls to exact vengeance. But can she and Marcellus outmaneuver political enemies from Rome and Britannia in their quest to vanquish Marrock?
[Trigger warnings: Sex, Slave trafficking and abuse, Violence, Childbirth]
Buy Links Skull’s Vengeance:
Universal: https://books2read.com/u/bao09y
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Skulls-Vengeance-Curse-Clansmen-Kings-ebook/dp/B0BC2GCFGG/
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Skulls-Vengeance-Curse-Clansmen-Kings-ebook/dp/B0BC2GCFGG/
Amazon CA: https://www.amazon.ca/Skulls-Vengeance-Curse-Clansmen-Kings-ebook/dp/B0BC2GCFGG/
Amazon AU: https://www.amazon.com.au/Skulls-Vengeance-Curse-Clansmen-Kings-ebook/dp/B0BC2GCFGG/
Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/skulls-vengeance-linnea-tanner/1142034153?ean=2940185587164
iTunes: https://books.apple.com/us/book/skulls-vengeance/id6443334037
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/skull-s-vengeance
GooglePlay: https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=CTSDEAAAQBAJ
Booktopia: https://www.booktopia.com.au/skull-s-vengeance-linnea-tanner/book/9781733600200.html
Chapter 24 EscapeBrutius’s Villa, Rome, 22 March, 28 AD
The plan was set into motion. Falco was at the entrance of Brutius’s villa, waiting to deliver the false message to Brutius. Marcellus had ridden off to his father’s home with the hope that Brutius would take the bait and ride there with Adonis. Cynwrig and Falco were next to Catrin, on the hilltop overlooking the villa, as she scanned the area for a small animal that could easily enter undetected as soon as Brutius opened the door to take the summons.
Since Catrin’s last gladiatorial contest in Lugdunum, at which time she had summoned lightning from the sky to destroy Decimus in the stands, she had hesitated to use her druidic powers. The ramifications of using these forces were unpredictable. She had decided it was too risky to shape-shift into an animal’s form. Previously, she had lost consciousness during the transition from one form to another and often felt drained afterward, both physically and mentally. Seeing through the eyes of a small animal might be easier, though she had only previously done so with a raven.
She had difficulty concentrating, a sudden sadness weighing her heart down as she worried that Marcellus’s farewell kiss could be their last. Struggling to rein in the shroud of gloom, she spotted a yellow-necked mouse scampering nearby. She focused her eyes on the rodent. Her thoughts floated in and out of the creature’s mind until, finally, a flash of light blinded her—a signal she had entered its mind. Seeing through the mouse’s eyes disoriented her at first. She had anticipated that a mouse would have sharp visual acuity, but everything was a blur around her. The wooded landscape appeared as black shadows with hues of blue and purple. Even so, her other senses were heightened. Various odors of moss, pine needles, and urine assaulted her nostrils. Any light touch on her whiskers and fur, she discovered, helped orient her to her immediate surroundings. She directed the mouse to jump on its hind legs and squeak to alert Falco and Cynwrig that she had successfully entered the rodent’s mind. She saw her human form leaning against a tree, motionless as a corpse. As long as she was in the mouse’s mind, she knew her human form would be vulnerable. There was no time to practice the mouse’s movements. She had to scurry now!
Catrin leapt from rock to rock until she felt the cobblestone beneath her paws. Seeing only the shadow of the villa straight ahead, she scurried on the open road, despite her instincts to hide. Finally, she saw a bleary human figure and surmised it was Falco. Her heart jumped into her throat when she saw the door closing. With a burst of speed, she slid through the narrow opening before the door slammed.
She heard a man shout, “What just came in?” Then, she ran close to the vestibule’s wall, the touch on her whiskers helping her to maneuver down the hallway to the main quarters. Though her vision was blurry, she could look in different directions for a housecat that might pounce on her.
Scrambling from chamber to chamber on the side of the atrium, she searched for Selena. Most of the rooms were empty except for a handful of slaves scrubbing the floors. Near the back of the atrium, she heard footsteps and a man yelling, “Get my horse ready.”
Catrin’s heart raced with anticipation that Brutius had taken the bait. Staying in the shadows along the wall, she sniffed at the man’s slight urine odor and followed him outside into the colonnaded peristyle. Gut-wrenching screams from the far end of the central garden blasted into her ears. She felt the mouse’s rapid heartbeats roll like a drum as she scurried behind the man’s sandaled feet through the garden. Her paws hurt from pounding on the sharp, pebbled pathway as she tried to keep up. The man halted in front of what looked like an enclosed stall. In the adjacent corral were two skittish horses prancing back and forth, snorting. To her right, she glimpsed a shadowy man’s figure coming out of a back room onto the portico. A blurry stableman pulling the reins of a horse came into her right eye’s view.
“Is Adonis going with you?” the man standing under the peristyle’s roof called out.
“No. You can be my escort,” the sandaled man, whom Catrin surmised to be Brutius, replied. “Adonis is busy punishing a slave.”
“Who will transport the slaves tomorrow?”
“Gaius will transport them by wagon to Capri. I may need to stay the night at my father’s house.”
The sound of the stall unlatching drew Catrin’s attention. She turned and saw the shadowy figure of a woman against the wall through a door-way. Liquid was flowing down her legs. Unable to discern the red color, she nonetheless smelled the metallic odor of blood. The pit of her stomach dropped like an executioner’s axe. She closely watched the two fuzzy men, astride their horses, riding through an open gateway. After they left, the stableman latched it shut.
With the urgency to save Selena, Catrin forced herself out of the mouse’s mind. A flash later, she found herself in her human body, but she felt woozy from the quick transition.
Trying to clear her head, Catrin said, “Selena is in there.”
“Where, exactly?” Falco asked in Celtic.
“At the back of the villa. In an enclosed stall,” Catrin answered.
“Is there a way we can get in?” Cynwrig asked.
“A gate at the back. But it’s latched,” Catrin said, picturing what she had seen through the mouse’s eye.
“Any guards?” Falco asked.
“One guard, for sure. A handful of house slaves.” Catrin closed her eyes, trying to recall what the guard had said about other slaves. “There may be others I didn’t see that are to be transported tomorrow.”
“I’ll boost you over the wall,” Cynwrig told Catrin, “so you can let Falco and me in. Everyone ready?”
A Little Bit About Linnea…
Award-winning author, Linnea Tanner, weaves Celtic tales of love, magical adventure, and political intrigue in Ancient Rome and Britannia. Since childhood, she has passionately read about ancient civilizations and mythology. Of particular interest are the enigmatic Celts, who were reputed as fierce warriors and mystical druids.
Linnea has extensively researched ancient and medieval history, mythology, and archaeology and has traveled to sites described within each of her books in the Curse of Clansmen and Kings series. Books released in her series include Apollo’s Raven (Book 1), Dagger’s Destiny (Book 2), Amulet’s Rapture (Book 3), and Skull’s Vengeance (Book 4).
A Colorado native, Linnea attended the University of Colorado and earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in chemistry. She lives in Fort Collins with her husband and has two children and six grandchildren.
Social Media Links:
Website: https://www.linneatanner.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/linneatanner
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LinneaTannerAuthor
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/linnea-tanner-a021932b/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/linneatanner/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/linneatanner/_created/
Book Bub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/linnea-tanner
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Linnea-Tanner/e/B01N6YEM04
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16474282.Linnea_Tanner
November 2, 2022
Squire’s Hazard: The Coffee Pot Book Blog Tour
I’m delighted to host Carolyn Hughes on my blog today, as part of the blog tour for her new release, Squire’s Hazard, The Fifth Meonbridge Chronicle. Please check out the excerpt from this book below.
You can find out more about this tour here: https://thecoffeepotbookclub.blogspot.com/2022/09/blog-tour-squires-hazard.html
Squire’s Hazard by Carolyn HughesHow do you overcome the loathing, lust and bitterness threatening you and your family’s honour?
It’s 1363, and in Steyning Castle, Sussex, Dickon de Bohun is enjoying life as a squire in the household of Earl Raoul de Fougère. Or he would be, if it weren’t for Edwin de Courtenay, who’s making his life a misery with his bullying, threatening to expose the truth about Dickon’s birth.
At home in Meonbridge for Christmas, Dickon notices how grown-up his childhood playmate, Libby Fletcher, has become since he last saw her and feels the stirrings of desire. Libby, seeing how different he is too, falls instantly in love. But as a servant to Dickon’s grandmother, Lady Margaret de Bohun, she could never be his wife.
Margery Tyler, Libby’s aunt, meeting her niece by chance, learns of her passion for young Dickon. Their conversation rekindles Margery’s long-held rancour against the de Bohuns, whom she blames for all the ills that befell her family, including her own servitude. For years she’s hidden her hunger for retribution, but she can no longer keep her hostility in check.
As the future Lord of Meonbridge, Dickon knows he must rise above de Courtenay’s loathing and intimidation, and get the better of him. And, surely, he must master his lust for Libby, so his own mother’s shocking history is not repeated? Of Margery’s bitterness, however, he has yet to learn…
Beset by the hazards these powerful and dangerous emotions bring, can young Dickon summon up the courage and resolve to overcome them?
Secrets, hatred and betrayal, but also love and courage – Squire’s Hazard, the fifth MEONBRIDGE CHRONICLE.
Buy Links:
This book is available to read on #KindleUnlimited.
Universal Link: https://books2read.com/u/bW5yJz
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Squires-Hazard-Meonbridge-Chronicle-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B0BHKH1QB1/
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Squires-Hazard-Meonbridge-Chronicle-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B0BHKH1QB1/
Amazon CA: https://www.amazon.ca/Squires-Hazard-Meonbridge-Chronicle-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B0BHKH1QB1/
Amazon AU: https://www.amazon.com.au/Squires-Hazard-Meonbridge-Chronicle-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B0BHKH1QB1/
The paperback is available to buy at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Waterstones.
Excerpt from Squire’s HazardSomeone must have sent word up to the house, for his grandmother was awaiting him.
‘My darling boy,’ she cried, as Piers shoved open the heavy bailey door and ushered Dickon into the great hall. A welcome mantle of muggy warmth at once enfolded him. He threw off his damp and chilly cloak and eased off his soggy gloves, letting them all fall onto the floor, as his grandmother came forward, her arms outstretched. ‘How glad I am to see you.’
He was glad to let himself be embraced. ‘And I you, Grandmama,’ he said, and meant it, more so this time than he’d ever done before.
She took his arm and drew him over to the fire, blazing in the wide stone hearth and sending its smoky billows skywards up the towering chimney. He slumped down onto a nearby bench, all of a sudden exhausted and looking forward to his bed.
But Grandmama was eager for conversation. ‘How was your journey? Not too onerous? Or cold?’
‘Bayard made it easier. But the cold…’ He grimaced and, despite the fire’s heat, his whole body gave a shudder. Yet he managed a rueful grin. ‘It’s a pity Christmas is in December. Riding from Steyning to Meonbridge in midsummer would be almost a pleasure. Perhaps I’ll ask his lordship if he can change our annual holiday to June?’
His grandmother threw back her head and laughed. ‘What a wonderful idea. But even as powerful a man as Raoul de Fougère cannot alter the Church’s calendar.’
He shivered again, then couldn’t stop, and Grandmama called to a servant to bring a fur-lined wrap. Moments later, a snug fox fur was enveloping his shoulders, and he held out his icy hands towards the fire and kneaded at his fingers.
Piers came over, bearing a cup of steaming spiced ale. ‘Here, my lord, this’ll warm you up.’
‘I’m not sure I can hold it,’ said Dickon, grimacing again. ‘Best put it on the table.’ Leaning forward, he wrapped his hands around the cup and waited for his tingling fingers to thaw out.
‘Do tell me your news,’ said his grandmother, after they’d shared a little supper in the privacy of her chamber. They were sitting before the fire until it was time to retire to bed. ‘Last Christmas, you were so full of excitement about your new life at Steyning. Has this year been even better?’
Dickon bent down, pretending to fiddle with the buckle on his shoe. He was sure his face must betray the anxiety that had built up during the long ride home. He’d tried to work out what he was going to tell his grandmother about his squiring life. As he rode, he practised what to say, about the training and about his move to the earl’s personal retinue, though not why it had happened. But now he was confronted with the need to say it, he feared he might without intention betray the truth.
‘Actually, Grandmama, I’m very tired,’ he said at last, glad, as he sat up again, that the light in the room was dim enough to conceal his face. ‘Do you mind if I tell you all about it in the morning?’
It wasn’t that he’d never lied to her before: he’d become quite practised at it as a boy. But those lies had been trifling matters, not a bald concealment of something so humiliating as being dismissed from Sir Eustace’s service.
‘Oh, my dear boy,’ she cried, ‘of course. How unthinking of me to keep you from your bed, when you must be so weary from your journey.’ She leaned across and patted him on the arm, her smile tender. ‘In the morning, then.’
In his own chamber, Dickon was alone a while, though Piers would soon come to share it with him, as he’d done for many years when he was younger. He rolled out the truckle from beneath his fine oak bed in readiness for Piers, then threw himself down upon his own mattress. He felt bad about putting off his grandmother, when she was so eager to hear his news. Maybe, by the morning, he’d feel both stronger and more certain about how to paint his life at Steyning in the most favourable light.
A Little Bit about Carolyn…
CAROLYN HUGHES has lived much of her life in Hampshire. With a first degree in Classics and English, she started working life as a computer programmer, then a very new profession. But it was technical authoring that later proved her vocation, as she wrote and edited material, some fascinating, some dull, for an array of different clients, including banks, an international hotel group and medical instruments manufacturers.
Having written creatively for most of her adult life, it was not until her children flew the nest several years ago that writing historical fiction took centre stage, alongside gaining a Master’s degree in Creative Writing from Portsmouth University and a PhD from the University of Southampton.
Squire’s Hazard is the fifth MEONBRIDGE CHRONICLE, and more stories about the folk of Meonbridge will follow.
You can connect with Carolyn through her website http://www.carolynhughesauthor.com and on social media.
Social Media Links:
Website: www.carolynhughesauthor.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/writingcalliope
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CarolynHughesAuthor/
Book Bub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/carolyn-hughes
Amazon Author Page UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Carolyn-Hughes/e/B01MG5TWH1/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16048212.Carolyn_Hughes
October 25, 2022
The Godmother’s Secret: The Coffee Pot Book Blog Tour – Book Spotlight & Excerpt
Today, I am thrilled to host Elizabeth St.John’s blog tour for The Godmother’s Secret, her fabulous new release. Please check out the excerpt from the book below.
If you’d like to know more about the tour, please check out the schedule here: https://thecoffeepotbookclub.blogspot.com/2022/08/blog-tour-godmothers-secret-by.html
The Godmother’s Secret by Elizabeth St.JohnWhat if you knew what happened to the Princes in the Tower. Would you tell? Or would you forever keep the secret?
November, 1470: Westminster Abbey. Lady Elysabeth Scrope faces a perilous royal duty when ordered into sanctuary with Elizabeth Woodville to witness the birth of Edward IV’s Yorkist son. Margaret Beaufort, Elysabeth’s sister, is desperately seeking a pardon for her exiled son Henry Tudor. Strategically, she coerces Lancastrian Elysabeth to be appointed godmother to Prince Edward, embedding her in the heart of the Plantagenets and uniting them in a destiny of impossible choices and heartbreaking conflict.
Bound by blood and torn by honour, when the king dies and Elysabeth delivers her young godson into the Tower of London to prepare for his coronation, she is engulfed in political turmoil. Within months, the prince and his brother have disappeared, Richard III is declared king, and Margaret conspires with Henry Tudor to invade England and claim the throne. Desperate to protect her godson, Elysabeth battles the intrigue, betrayal and power of the last medieval court, defying her husband and her sister under her godmother’s sacred oath to keep Prince Edward safe.
Were the princes murdered by their uncle, Richard III? Was the rebel Duke of Buckingham to blame? Or did Margaret Beaufort mastermind their disappearance to usher in the Tudor dynasty? Of anyone at the royal court, Elysabeth has the most to lose–and the most to gain–by keeping secret the fate of the Princes in the Tower.
Inspired by England’s most enduring historical mystery, Elizabeth St.John, best-selling author of The Lydiard Chronicles, blends her own family history with known facts and centuries of speculation to create an intriguing alternative story illuminating the disappearance of the Princes in the Tower.
Buy Links:
This title is on #KindleUnlimited.
Universal Link: https://geni.us/GodmothersSecret
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0B9YM4JF5
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B9YM4JF5
Amazon CA: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0B9YM4JF5
Amazon AU: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0B9YM4JF5
An Excerpt from The Godmother’s SecretChapter 2
Autumn 1470 | Westminster Sanctuary
The following morning is the Day of the Dead, and the queen attends Mass. I kneel at her side before the simple altar in the icy Cheyneygates chapel, the spirits congregating around us. The wax-white face of my own infant hovers like a vision under my eyelids, suppressing every prayer, bringing forth hot tears of guilt on my frozen cheeks.
Meg takes my hand, her familiar touch comforting. “I am praying to the Virgin for your lost child,” she whispers. My stepdaughter understands the nightmare I inhabit, my son’s empty cradle, Jack’s empty eyes.
“God grant him protection on his first All Souls Day,” I reply. “Blessed Virgin Mary, care for my beautiful boy.”
“Aargh!” The queen crosses herself and attempts to rise; she sways, clutches the base of her spine. She grips her gown between her legs. A dampness spreads from her pelvis, darkening the green velvet to black, puddling on the floor before her.
I meet her eyes. “Your baby comes. We must go to your birthing room.”
The queen stands proud. “I will go to the chamber. My child will be born in Jerusalem.”
I stand taller. “If you go into labour in that miserable hall, your child will be born dead.” And I wait.
The queen rocks on her feet and then gasps as a birth pain clenches her in its fist. She lifts her crucifix to her lips, murmurs an “Ave Maria.”
I lock eyes with her. Get on, woman. My life depends on your child’s survival. “Come, Your Grace, it is best for you. Your husband would want you to care for his heir.”
“It is not your place to tell me when to leave.”
The queen has already delivered three children. In my experience, this birth could go quickly.
“It is not safe for you to stay.” I turn to Meg. “Please send for the midwife; tell her to come quickly.”
The queen gasps as another birth pain doubles her over. “I must remain to hear mass.”
“Enough, Your Grace. We must go now.”
Three more birth pains of increasing frequency and the queen shuffles forward. As if she has a choice and all the time in the world, she lets herself be walked haltingly from the chapel to the womb-like room and lays down.
“It is a bad omen, deserting God,” the queen moans. “Where is Goodwife Cobbe? She is the midwife, not you.”
I ignore her words, build up the fire, and heat a tisane of chamomile.
As a toll marks the end of mass, Meg returns, and the midwife arrives in a swirl of fog and wood smoke with her bag of scissors and linens and vials of mugwort and pennyroyal electuaries, a rabbit’s foot, and St. Margaret’s birthing girdle to ensure an easy labour. The crone smells strongly of her workroom spirits, but her hands appear steady.
The relentless abbey bells mark the longest hours. The room is so dark night loiters within. The scent of purifying lavender oil mingles with stinking melting tallow and smoke from the damp logs. The hours pass with no sign of the child, and then creeps over us a sharp odour of fear-sour sweat, drenching the queen’s moans.
“This is not like the others,” she pants, her stomach mounded over her long slender legs. “There is something wrong.”
The midwife leans over her, casting a humpbacked shadow on the wall. “Hush, my lady,” she says. “Your child is just slow to arrive. Bite down on this kerchief, and do not push further, for just a moment.”
The queen cries, her body rigid. Meg bathes her forehead with a damp cloth. I beckon the midwife to the fireside. The crone’s lined face gleams with perspiration, and the smell of fear is strongest from her.
“What is happening?” I demand. “The queen employed you because she trusts you. This birth is going on for too long.”
The midwife wipes her mouth with the back of her hand. “The queen is narrow,” she says. “And the baby is large. That is all.” She turns away from me, hunches over her bag, and rummages for another curative. This time she places a dried toad upon the queen’s stomach, arranging it this way and that with deliberate care, chanting an unintelligible rhyme as she does so.
I turn my back on the woman, shaking my head. I do not put much store in these witching tokens, but if the queen does, then it is her decision.
“Belle-Maman!” Meg hisses. “Look!”
The midwife is tipping a stone bottle into her mouth and drinking the contents. She sees me looking at her and quickly drops it back into the bag.
“What are you doing?” I cry. “Are you drunk, woman?”
The midwife laughs and pulls the bottle forth. “Want some? Prepare yourself, Lady Scrope.”
“Get away from me.” I smack her hand.
The crone sneers. “And you think you can do more? From what I’ve felt, the cord is wrapped around the child. If it is not freed, the queen will kill it. And likely herself too.”
A Little Bit about Elizabeth…
Elizabeth St. JohnElizabeth St.John spends her time between California, England, and the past. An acclaimed author, historian, and genealogist, she has tracked down family papers and residences from Lydiard Park and Nottingham Castle to Richmond Palace and the Tower of London to inspire her novels. Although the family sold a few country homes along the way (it’s hard to keep a good castle going these days), Elizabeth’s family still occupy them— in the form of portraits, memoirs, and gardens that carry their legacy. And the occasional ghost. But that’s a different story.
Having spent a significant part of her life with her seventeenth-century family while writing The Lydiard Chronicles trilogy and Counterpoint series, Elizabeth St.John is now discovering new family stories with her fifteenth-century namesake Elysabeth St.John Scrope, and her half-sister, Margaret Beaufort.
Social Media Links:
Website: www.ElizabethJStJohn.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ElizStJohn
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ElizabethJStJohn
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabethjstjohn/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elizabethjstjohn/
Book Bub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/elizabeth-st-john
Amazon Author Page: https://geni.us/AmazonElizabethStJohn
Goodreads: https://geni.us/GoodreadsElizStJohn
October 17, 2022
Small Eden by Jane Davis: The Coffee Pot Book Blog Tour
Today, I am delighted to host Jane Davis as part of the book blog tour for Small Eden. Read on to find out more about this, her latest release, including a short extract to whet your appetite.
You can find out more about this tour here: https://thecoffeepotbookclub.blogspot.com/2022/07/blog-tour-small-eden-by-jane-davis.html
Small Eden by Jane DavisA boy with his head in the clouds. A man with a head full of dreams.
1884. The symptoms of scarlet fever are easily mistaken for teething, as Robert Cooke and his pregnant wife Freya discover at the cost of their two infant sons. Freya immediately isolates for the safety of their unborn child. Cut off from each other, there is no opportunity for husband and wife to teach each other the language of their loss. By the time they meet again, the subject is taboo. But unspoken grief is a dangerous enemy. It bides its time.
A decade later and now a successful businessman, Robert decides to create a pleasure garden in memory of his sons, in the very same place he found refuge as a boy – a disused chalk quarry in Surrey’s Carshalton. But instead of sharing his vision with his wife, he widens the gulf between them by keeping her in the dark. It is another woman who translates his dreams. An obscure yet talented artist called Florence Hoddy, who lives alone with her unmarried brother, painting only what she sees from her window…
Buy Links:
Universal Link: https://books2read.com/u/bPg68r
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B09X61J6PR
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09X61J6PR
Amazon CA: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B09X61J6PR
Amazon AU: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B09X61J6PR
Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/small-eden-jane-davis/1141322156
Waterstones: https://www.waterstones.com/book/small-eden/jane-davis/9781838034825 (POD) /
https://www.waterstones.com/book/small-eden/jane-davis/9781838034818 (Trade paperback)
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/small-eden
iBooks: https://books.apple.com/gb/book/small-eden/id1617742505
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1142088
An Extract from Small EdenThe air in the Greyhound’s bar room is thick with warming smells. Woodsmoke, pipe tobacco, penny Woodbines and whatever stew is on tonight’s menu. “I’m not sure I can stomach another lecture about treading a fine line between parkscape and wilderness!” Robert rolls his eyes. “I’m coming round to the idea of running a competition for the design.”
Frank takes up his tankard and drains the dregs. “You’ll get every young so and so who’s trying to earn himself a bit of a reputation.”
“That’s what I’m hoping. The more publicity the better.” The scent of hops – of resin and pine and citrus – rises up as Robert brings his mug to his lips. He isn’t really a beer man. “Meanwhile, I’ll start clearing the site. Get a feel for it.”
“Can’t work against chalk.” Frank points to Robert’s tankard. “Another?”
“I’ve hardly made any headway with this one.”
Frank scrapes back his chair. “No rush.”
He comes back from the bar with two brimming tankards, picking up seamlessly where they left off. “Thinking of clearing the site yourself?” Elbowed from his blind side, Frank turns to see who has almost spilled his pint of old and mild, a glare and a sharp word ready, but when he finds it’s the barmaid he brightens, winking his good eye.
“I fancy I might roll my sleeves up,” Robert says.
Frank looks scathing. “Show us your hands.”
Robert holds them out, palms uppermost. To his own eyes, they look deeply creviced, the whorls of his fingerprints puckered, fine vertical lines running the length of his digits.
“When’s the last time you held a shovel? Take a look at these. These are a working man’s hands.” Frank’s hands are a landscape of their own, each callous a badge of honour. He has cut chalk since he was old enough to grasp a spade. He leans back and looks under the table at Robert’s shoes. “Spats,” he scoffs. “I’ll wager you don’t even own a pair o’ work boots.”
“A wager you’d win.” Robert grins. He started his working life as an office boy. He filled inkwells, fetched files, ferried messages. It was a job that required a wing-tipped collar and polished shoes, things that at the age of twelve made him feel important. Though he’s progressed to business owner, a pen-pusher he remains. Robert may know what needs to be done and the best way to go about it, but he’s the man who does the deals and writes the cheques.
The fingers of Frank’s left hand drum the tabletop. “I’ve the time if you think you could use me.”
“I thought you’d be glad to see the back of the place.”
“What am I going to do with myself?” Frank’s face is plunged into shadow as he looks to the corner of the room. “We did things the traditional way. I was taught by my father and he was taught by his father before him.” Generations of Reynolds worked that plot; now, everything they achieved will be erased. “There are fewer places for skilled workers in this world of steam-power. The whole rhythm o’ life’s changed.”
Robert’s business relies on mechanisation. The extraction of poppy resin can’t be automated, but the process of distillation runs on steam, increasing output at a reduced cost. The quarry might have closed by the time his name was added to the deeds, but he’s played his part in the story of progress. He’s about to ask Frank if his brothers have found work, but Frank shakes his head wearily.
“Ventures like ours fall by the wayside – and I’m the wrong side of forty.” Then he takes a sip and brightens. “But you’re going to need someone who knows a thing or two about chalk.”
Robert had men in mind, men in need of a wage, while Frank has the proceeds from the sale. But Robert knows what it is to be uprooted. He owes it to old William’s memory, old William and his history lessons. A man who would share things Robert’s mother was incapable of sharing. Having worn every emotion on her sleeve while his father was alive, she kept them under lock and key in the aftermath of his death and assumed that Robert – a child – would understand what it was she was holding inside. More than that, she expected him to be her consolation, and he couldn’t. Not when she’d insisted they left the home where they’d been happy and come to the place that killed his father.
“I’d be glad of your help,” Robert says. “Though it might only be short-term.”
“You’ll be impressed by how useful I can make myself.”
“How much is this usefulness going to cost me?”
“Ten shillings a week seems fair.”
Somewhere between the wage of an agricultural worker and a bricklayer. “I think I can see my way to that.”
“And I’ve my two youngest. Good lads. They’ll want four shillings apiece.”
Robert’s eyes widen. “I dare say. How old are they?”
“Eleven and thirteen. Do you have boys?”
In a blink, his boys’ coffins. The size of them. At times like that, you stand outside yourself. How else could you do what must be done? Another blink and the vision is gone. “Girls,” Robert replies. “You?”
“Four boys and a girl, but we’ve only the two youngsters with us now. I’ll make sure you get a decent day’s work out of them.”
“I don’t doubt it.” They shake hands across the table.
“You drinking that?” Frank points to the second tankard he brought back from the bar.
The man can certainly hold his ale. “Be my guest.”
A Little Bit about Jane …Hailed by The Bookseller as ‘One to Watch’, Jane Davis writes thought-provoking literary page turners.
She spent her twenties and the first half of her thirties chasing promotions in the business world but, frustrated by the lack of a creative outlet, she turned to writing.
Her first novel, Half-Truths and White Lies, won a national award established with the aim of finding the next Joanne Harris. Further recognition followed in 2016 with An Unknown Woman being named Self-Published Book of the Year by Writing Magazine/the David St John Thomas Charitable Trust, as well as being shortlisted in the IAN Awards, and in 2019 with Smash all the Windows winning the inaugural Selfies Book Award. Her novel, At the Stroke of Nine O’Clock, was featured by The Lady Magazine as one of their favourite books set in the 1950s, selected as a Historical Novel Society Editor’s Choice, and shortlisted for the Selfies Book Awards 2021.
Jane DavisJane Davis lives in Carshalton, Surrey, in what was originally the ticket office for a Victorian pleasure gardens, known locally as ‘the gingerbread house’. Her house frequently features in her fiction. In fact, she burnt it to the ground in the opening chapter of An Unknown Woman. In her latest release, Small Eden, she asks the question why one man would choose to open a pleasure gardens at a time when so many others were facing bankruptcy?
Interested in how people behave under pressure, Jane introduces her characters when they are in highly volatile situations and then, in her words, she throws them to the lions. The themes she explores are diverse, ranging from pioneering female photographers, to relatives seeking justice for the victims of a fictional disaster.
When she isn’t writing, you may spot Jane disappearing up the side of a mountain with a camera in hand.
Social Media Links:
Website: https://jane-davis.co.uk
Twitter: https://twitter.com/janedavisauthor
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JaneDavisAuthorPage
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jane-davis-b1159563/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/janeeleanordavi
Book Bub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/jane-davis
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Jane-Davis/e/B0034P156Q
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6869939.Jane_Davis
October 11, 2022
The Coffee Pot Book Club Blog Tour: JULIA PRIMA by Alison Morton
I am absolutely delighted to host Alison on my blog today as part of her current book blog tour. Alison kindly gives us some insights into writing ‘alternative’ historical fiction, which I am sure you will find as fascinating as I do. World building is such an integral part of historical fiction.
Alison’s latest book, JULIA PRIMA, was published recently. You can find the details of this book and her back catalogue at the end of this post.
You can find out more about the blog tour for JULIA PRIMA here: https://thecoffeepotbookclub.blogspot.com/2022/07/blog-tour-julia-prima-by-alison-morton.html
I’ll let Alison take it away from here!
Writing historical fiction ‘alternatively’Setting a story in the past, or in another country, is already a challenge. But if you invent the country and the timeline diverges from our own one at a point in the past, then things become complicated!
Alternate history stories usually stay in the world we know geographically speaking, i.e. Planet Earth. Once you’ve decided on the approximate region of the world (in my Roma Nova books, south central Europe), you need to think about whether it’s mountainous, near the sea, by a river, has sweeping plains and/or upland hills. What’s the weather like? How advanced is the society? What would you see in their towns and cities? How do people earn their living and who holds the power? And importantly, what is their history? Every living person is a product of their local conditions and their country’s history. Their experience of living in a place, and struggle to make sense of it, is expressed through culture and behaviour.
How do writers weave all this into their stories? The key is plausibility. Take a character working in law enforcement. Readers can accept cops being gentle or tough, enthusiastic, intellectual or world-weary. Law enforcers come from all genders, classes, races and ages and stand in different places along the personal morality ruler. But whether corrupt or clean, they must act like a recognisable form of cop. They catch criminals, arrest and charge them and operate within a judicial system. As with stories set in the past, legal practicalities in the alternative timeline may differ significantly from those we know, but they must be consistent with that society while remaining plausible for the reader.
Almost every story written in any genre hinges upon implausibility – a set-up or a problem the writer has purposefully created. Readers will engage with it and follow as long as the writer keeps their trust. One way to do this is to infuse, but not flood, the story with corroborative detail so that it verifies and reinforces the original setting the writer has introduced.
Even though my series is set in the 20th and 21st centuries, the Roma Novan characters say things like ‘I wouldn’t be in your sandals (not ‘shoes’) when he finds out.’ And there are honey-coated biscuits (Honey was important for the ancient Romans.) not chocolate digestives (iconic British cookie) or bagels in the squad room.
In my first novel, INCEPTIO, the core story of a twenty-five year old who faces total disruption to her life when a sinister government enforcer compels her to flee to another country could be set anywhere. But in the Roma Nova timeline, I’ve made New York an Autonomous City in the Eastern United States (EUS) that the Dutch only left in 1813 and the British in 1865. The New World French states of Louisiane and Québec are ruled by Gouverneurs-Généraux on behalf of Napoléon VI. California and Texas belong to the Spanish Empire and the Western Territories are a protected area for the Indigenous Peoples. These are background details as the New World is only the setting for the first few chapters. But as J K Rowling knew with Harry Potter’s world, although you don’t put it in the books, you have to have worked it all out in your head.
Practical stuff1. Decide on your Point of Divergence [PoD] from real history
Research the political set-up, religion, customs, dress, food, agriculture, geography, economy, legal background, defence forces, cultural attitudes, everyday life of all classes and groups current at the time of the PoD. These are the building blocks for your alternate society.
Illustrating this with Roma Nova: in AD 395, three months after the final blow of Theodosius’ last decree banning all pagan religions, over four hundred Romans loyal to the old gods, and so in danger of execution, trekked north out of Italy to a semi-mountainous area similar to modern Slovenia. Led by Senator Lucius Apulius at the head of twelve senatorial families, they established a colony based initially on land owned by Apulius’ Celtic father-in-law. By purchase, alliance and conquest, this grew into Roma Nova.
2. Know how you want your society to be and develop it with historic logic
If your story world doesn’t hang together, you will break a reader’s trust. The world of your imaginary timeline needs to have reached that place in a credible way. Writers need to provide motivation, whether personal or political or just forced by circumstances from outside.
In my modern Roma Nova world, women are prominent. This seems a long way from the ancient world where Roman attitudes to women were repressive. But by Late Antiquity, women had gained much more freedom to act, trade and own property and to run businesses of all types. Divorce was easy, and step and adopted families were commonplace.
In the late fourth century, the then tribune Apulius met Julia Bacausa, the tough daughter of a Romanised Celtic princeling in Noricum. Women in Julia’s mother’s family made decisions, fought in battles and managed inheritance and property. Apulius and Julia’s daughters were amongst the first pioneers of Roma Nova so necessarily had to act more decisively than they would have in a traditional urban Roman setting.
Given the unstable, dangerous times in Roma Nova’s first few hundred years when new peoples were invading Rome’s territory and radically changing Europe, daughters as well as sons had to put on armour and carry weapons to defend their homeland and their way of life. So I don’t think that it’s too far a stretch for women to have developed leadership roles in all parts of Roma Novan life over the next sixteen centuries.
3. Keep some anchors to the readers’ pre-knowledge
Creating a story should be fun for the writer and the result rewarding for the reader. But writers shouldn’t bewilder readers. Earlier, I mentioned how to drop in details to make the world being created believable. Anchors to our world are equally important. For example, if you say “special forces soldier”, “forum”, “cop” or “rush hour”, most readers have an idea of these concepts already.
4. Make the alternate present real
Writers need to imbue their characters with a sense of living in the present, in the now. This is their current existence – for them it’s not a story in a book! Readers are intrigued by what happens to individual people living in different environments as well as taking part in major historical events. Sometimes it’s more interesting to follow the person’s story than the big event itself . . .
5. Be visual
An imagined country is pretty hard to photograph. If you can draw, then you have the tools literally at your fingertips, but if like me your artistic skills are limited to turning out sketches of pin-men, then it’s back to the camera.
Images suggest tones, possibilities and elements on which to base your ideas. Roma Nova is situated in the middle of Europe. I’ve visited most of the real versions of my settings such as the Alps and Rome, so I have an idea of how the imaginary countryside and cityscapes should look like. The results are here; I refer to them if I’m finding it difficult to visualise my characters in a particular location. Readers have loved the photos which I’ve used in my blog posts – a double benefit.
In summary, alternate history gives us a rich environment in which to develop our storytelling to maximum stretch. As with any story in any genre, the writing must create a plausible, consistent world, backed by meticulous research, but the writer is, of course, the master of their universe.
Why have I gone back to “real” history with JULIA PRIMA?
This new book is a prequel to the modern stories and is set in AD 370, before the divergence into the alternative timeline. Modern-day characters in the rest of the Roma Nova series often refer to their legendary ancestors – Julia Bacausa and Lucius Apulius – so when readers urged me to tell the story of how they met and the mysterious threat against Julia, I knew I had to get typing! Then the “rules” of standard historical fiction applied.
JULIA PRIMA by Alison Morton“You should have trusted me. You should have given me a choice.”
AD 370, Roman frontier province of Noricum. Neither wholly married nor wholly divorced, Julia Bacausa is trapped in the power struggle between the Christian church and her pagan ruler father.
Tribune Lucius Apulius’s career is blighted by his determination to stay faithful to the Roman gods in a Christian empire. Stripped of his command in Britannia, he’s demoted to the backwater of Noricum – and encounters Julia.
Unwittingly, he takes her for a whore. When confronted by who she is, he is overcome with remorse and fear. Despite this disaster, Julia and Lucius are drawn to one another by an irresistible attraction.
But their intensifying bond is broken when Lucius is banished to Rome. Distraught, Julia gambles everything to join him. But a vengeful presence from the past overshadows her perilous journey. Following her heart’s desire brings danger she could never have envisaged…
Buy Links:
Universal Link: https://books2read.com/JULIAPRIMA
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0B5LX41B7/
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B5LX41B7/
Amazon CA: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0B5LX41B7/
Amazon AU: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0B5LX41B7/
Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/julia-prima-alison-morton/1141719007?ean=2940186610922
Waterstones: https://www.waterstones.com/book/julia-prima/alison-morton/9791097310356
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/ebook/julia-prima
Apple: https://books.apple.com/us/book/id6443066547
A Little Bit about Alison …
Alison MortonAlison Morton writes award-winning thrillers featuring tough but compassionate heroines. Her nine-book Roma Nova series is set in an imaginary European country where a remnant of the ancient Roman Empire has survived into the 21st century and is ruled by women who face conspiracy, revolution and heartache but with a sharp line in dialogue.
She blends her fascination for Ancient Rome with six years’ military service and a life of reading crime, historical and thriller fiction. On the way, she collected a BA in modern languages and an MA in history.
Alison now lives in Poitou in France, the home of Mélisende, the heroine of her latest two contemporary thrillers, Double Identity and Double Pursuit. Oh, and she’s writing the next Roma Nova story.
Social media links:
Alison Morton’s World of Thrillers site: https://alison-morton.com
Facebook author page: https://www.facebook.com/AlisonMortonAuthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/alison_morton
Alison’s writing blog: https://alisonmortonauthor.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alisonmortonauthor/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5783095.Alison_Morton
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/alison-morton
Alison’s Amazon page: https://Author.to/AlisonMortonAmazon
Newsletter sign-up: https://www.alison-morton.com/newsletter/
September 28, 2022
Book Spotlight: Martha’s Cottage by Fiona Cooke
A very happy Publication Day to Fiona Cooke! I’m a huge fan of Fiona’s writing and if you haven’t checked out her previous work, you should do so. Her collections of short stories are fabulous dark tales, deliciously creepy, and are guaranteed to give you sleepless nights!
Martha’s Cottage is Fiona’s first novel and is a heart-warming and humorous story (see blurb below). The book is published today by SpellBound Books.
Martha’s CottageBe careful what you wish for. Sarah and Ben Stephens had it all. Attractive thirty-somethings, upwardly mobile; good careers in the city, a sizeable house in the suburbs. To all concerned it was the perfect picture of marital bliss. Or was it? Years of infertility treatment have taken its toll on their marriage. Barely speaking, they’re strangers who share the same bed. Then the fallout from a surprise birthday party and a lifechanging discovery send Sarah fleeing to the West of Ireland. And there, at Martha’s Cottage, a tiny stone house by the wild Atlantic Ocean, she licks her wounds and must decide on the course of her future.
Home is where the hurt is …
A heart-warming and humorous tale of marriage, motherhood, friendship and betrayal. Lost chances and new beginnings. From the author of ‘The Lights Went Out and Other Stories’.
eBook Buy Link: Martha’s Cottage
Fiona CookeFiona Cooke is a writer, mum, blogger, cat whisperer and zombie enthusiast living in rural Ireland. She writes in a number of genres from romantic comedy/contemporary fiction to dark faerie, supernatural to ghost stories, and gothic horror. She’s greedy like that.
Fiona CookeMartha’s Cottage, a tale of infertility and infidelity, motherhood and marriage is set in Dublin and the West of Ireland and is published by SpellBound Books. You can find her quirky collection of short and longer fiction, The Lights Went Out and Other Stories, on Amazon along with her novella, What Happened in Dingle.
Fiona writes dark fiction under the name F.B Hogan and her latest collection of gothic and contemporary horror, The Nightmare was published by Spellbound Books Ltd. in October, 2021.
You can find her on:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/cookehogan
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fionacookehogan/
And read her incessant musings on unusualfiction.wordpress.com
