Pam Lecky's Blog, page 12
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
September 23, 2022
Book Spotlight: The Forgotten Promise by Paula Greenlees
I have a wee treat for any WW2 fiction fans. It is great to see that Paula Greenlees’ latest is now available in eBook format. The paperback is due for release in December and is now up for pre-order.
The Forgotten Promise, set in Malaya, looks to be a real corker! Here’s some more detail to whet your appetite!
The Forgotten PromiseMalaya, 1920: Two girls make a promise in the shadows of the jungle. A promise that life won’t let them easily keep.
Malaya, 1941: Ella is running her late father’s tin mine in the Kledang hills, while Noor works as her cook. When the war that felt so far away suddenly arrives on their doorstep, Ella is torn apart from her family. Her daughter Grace is left in Noor’s care as Japanese soldiers seize the mine.
Ella is forced to make an impossible choice that takes her to England, thousands of miles from home. She is desperate to be reunited with her loved ones. But will the life she returns to be anything like the life she left behind?
Buy Link: https://t.co/QWsHZMxGAC
Paula Greenlees
Paula GreenleesPaula has lived in various places, including Singapore, where she was based for three years. It was while living in Singapore that the first seeds of her debut novel, Journey to Paradise developed. The crumbling buildings and the modern high-rises popping up almost overnight seemed to be a metaphor for the social diversity and change in Singapore at that time. However, as a young mother living there, she wondered what it must have been like as a post-war colonial wife living miles away from the familiarity of home. Despite the gloss and glamour of colonial living, women were frequently stuck in unhappy marriages, often unable to follow careers or have the independence to divorce if things went wrong – which they inevitably did.
Her writing, although set against exotic backgrounds, is set on the cusp of change – the shift from colonial dominance to independence. She likes to dig into a variety of issues, and her main protagonist is, in many ways, a metaphor for the events surrounding her at that time. It isn’t always an easy journey, but in the end, success comes her way.
As for Paula – she has always wanted to be a writer. As a little girl she used to spend hours writing stories and turning them into books, even using flour and water as paste to stick the pages together. She spent hours writing poetry and plays as a teenager and has always written short stories in her spare time. It is this need to write and a love of reading that led her to take a degree in English and European Thought and Literature, and later a Masters Degree in Creative Writing.
As a writer, she feels it is important to have a wide range of interests – not only does it add flavour and layering to prose, but it allows time for ideas to mull and to percolate. People watching in cafés is one, long walks is another. And food! Good food is essential to her and she loves to cook using the best ingredients she can find. As well as a love of travel, she enjoys photography, hill walking, and just generally being curious about life!
She has a grownup daughter and lives in Warwickshire with her husband and an extremely friendly Labrador.
If you’d like to know more about Paula and her work, please check out her links below:
September 6, 2022
Review: Her Secret War by Pam Lecky
Thanks so much to Forbookssake for this great review.
Hey everyone!
Today, I am excited to be sharing my review ofHer Secret Warby Pam Lecky with you all.
Title:Her Secret War
Author:Pam Lecky
Release Date:14th October 2021
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher:Avon Books
Page Count: 384
Buy It Here (affiliate links):Amazon UK,Waterstones,Book Depository
GoodReads Synopsis:
A moment that ruins her life
On 31st May 1941, Germany drops bombs on neutral Dublin and Sarah Gillespie loses her family and home that fateful night. Days later, the man she loves leaves Ireland to enlist in the RAF.
A decision that changes her life
With nothing to keep her in Ireland and a burning desire to help the war effort, Sarah seeks refuge with relatives in Hampshire, England. But before long, Sarah’s family history catches up with her.
A mission that couldcosther life
Sarah is asked to prove her loyalty…
View original post 660 more words
September 5, 2022
Book Spotlight and Author Interview: Keep Her Safe by Jen Faulkner
Today, I am delighted to have Jen Faulkner in the library for a chat. I was lucky enough to meet Jen for the first time at Harrogate Crime this year. Her visit to the festival coincided with the publication of her debut novel, Keep Her Safe. Already there are some great reviews up for this book and I’m looking forward to reading it soon.
Keep Her Safe by Jen FaulknerA mother is gripped by fear as her daughter approaches adulthood, in this novel of attachments, anxieties, and buried secrets . . .
How far would you go to protect your daughter?
Catherine’s daughter is about to leave for university. Although she knows worrying about this is normal, she’s becoming increasingly anxious about Anya’s safety. And that anxiety is starting to take over her life . . .
She’s fallen back into a habit of going into Anya’s bedroom when she sleeps to watch her breathe, and is secretly tracking her daughter’s movements on an app.
Anya, struggling with her mum’s suffocating behaviour, hides her own anxieties about leaving home for fear of panicking her mother further.
But with Anya preparing to move out, who will check on her and keep her safe?
Do other people pose a threat or is her own mother the one she should be afraid of?
Link to buy Keep her Safe: https://geni.us/KeepHerSafeCover
Jen Faulkner: BioJen FaulknerJen Faulkner completed an MA in Creative Writing at Bath Spa University in 2015, where she was shortlisted for the Janklow and Nesbitt Prize. Since then she has run creative writing sessions for a charity in Bristol and volunteered at Mothership Writers, a year-long programme of writing workshops for new mothers run by the novelist, Emylia Hall. She also teaches English Language to college students. When she’s not writing or teaching she enjoys karate. She is currently plotting and writing her next book, about how a shared traumatic event can affect two people in very different ways. Keep Her Safe is her debut novel.
Which genre do you write in, Jen, and what draws you to it?
I find genre a tricky thing to pinpoint with my novels, but they are marketed as psychological suspense. I’m drawn to writing about real people and their lives. I find people and their behaviours infinitely fascinating and love writing about everyday lives… with added suspense of course.
Are you an avid reader? Do you prefer books in your own genre or are you happy to explore others?
I read all the time and always have done. I love losing myself in other worlds and read most genres, although I would say I’m not a huge science fiction fan. I mainly read in my genre, but the ‘crime’ umbrella is so huge that it spans many different types of books. I love character driven books, especially when you end up rooting for a character you don’t particularly like.
Are you a self-published/traditional or hybrid author?
I am published with a fantastic independent publisher called Bloodhound. They have been incredible and the whole experience from start to finish has been relaxed and I’ve felt very well supported. There are so many ways to get published these days and I think that can only be a good thing!
Who has been the biggest influence on your writing?
This is such an interesting question. And to be honest I don’t now how to answer succinctly. Everyone I’ve ever read, is probably the easiest way to sum it up. As a writer I am inspired and influenced all of the time, I think when you are a writer you do read books as a writer and that changes everything. I’m always learning. But it’s not just authors and poets who influence me; conversations with friends, disagreements, chance encounters, human behaviours, they all play a part in making my writing what it is.
What part of the writing process do you find most difficult? How do you overcome it?
I LOVE the first write of a new draft where the story is unfolding and even though I’ve planned it, new and exciting things emerge. I think for me, once I get going I do like the editing process and fixing issues and plot holes, but it’s definitely the part I find the hardest. Responding to (often brilliant) feedback takes time, and sometimes I find it overwhelming, even though I know I always do find a solution in the end. I find taking time to process feedback is important. I can have a mini strop that I haven’t nailed something and it needs yet more input, and then I go for a dog walk or chat to a friend, and then I knuckle down and work it out.
Editing is not as much fun as writing, but it is where the magic happens.
What was the best piece of writing advice you received when starting out?
I was lucky enough to be tutored by Fay Weldon when I did an MA in Creative Writing at Bath Spa University. Her advice was to write less, think more. It’s brilliant advice because it makes me stop forcing myself to write when inspiration isn’t striking. I’ve learnt to wait for the right time and for the right words, which is huge because I am usually anything but patient. She also taught me to persist. There have been many times when rejections have come and I’ve questioned giving up, but she always said if I wanted to be published I had to persist. And she was right. If I hadn’t persisted I wouldn’t be published.
Do you have a favourite time of day to write?
Late afternoon has always been a productive time for me – it’s currently 4.50pm as I’m writing this – I get a lot of writing done in the hours between school pick up and dinnertime, when I’m not ferrying my children to after school activities, of course. Mornings are also good, but I’m not an early riser so won’t ever be part of the 5am writers club even though I wish I could be!
If you weren’t an author, what would you be up to?
Good question! I’d still be writing, of course, but also I think I’d be a full-time teacher again. I tutor teenagers part-time and absolutely love it. The students are amazing. And so yes, if I couldn’t be an author then I’d be a full-time English teacher for sure.
If a movie was made of your book, who would you like to play the lead roles?
I love Suranne Jones and think she would be a great Catherine. She plays troubled women so very well. As for Anya, I’m not sure. I have such a firm image of her in my head that doesn’t fit with any actor I can think of, although I am sure the perfect person is out there somewhere. Now if only I could secure that film deal…
If you could travel back in time, what era would you go to? What draws you to this particular time?
Would it be weird to say my childhood? I’d love to go back and see if it’s really how I remember it and relive some of those times. Obviously I wouldn’t want to change anything as if I did I wouldn’t end up where I am now, and I like where I am now. But I’m a very nostalgic person and I’d love to relive it and be more present at the time. Either that, or I’d want to go back to the Victorian times. I once visited a National Trust house as a child and was convinced I’d been a servant there in a previous life. I find the kitchens in these buildings fascinating and love everything to do with the way of life and all the history of the families and people who’ve lived in them.
And finally; 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?
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie, Jamaica Inn by Daphne Du Maurier, Three Women by Lisa Taddeo, The Island by Victoria Hislop and The Twelve Dancing Princesses by the Brothers Grimm.
Thanks so much, Jen, for dropping by. Wishing you all the best with your new release.If you would like to know more about Jen and her writing, please check out her links below:Twitter: @jfaulknerwriter
Instagram: Jen Faulkner Writer
Facebook Page: Jen Faulkner Writer
Website: www.jenfaulkner.co.uk
August 3, 2022
The Du Lac Chronicles: The Coffee Pot Book Club Blog Tour
You can check out the details of this tour on the tour schedule page: https://maryanneyarde.blogspot.com/2022/06/blog-tour-du-lac-chronicles-book-1-of.html
The Du Lac Chronicles (Book 1 of The Du Lac Chronicles) By Mary Anne Yarde
A generation after Arthur Pendragon ruled, Briton lies fragmented into warring kingdoms and principalities.
Eighteen-year-old Alden du Lac ruled the tiny kingdom of Cerniw. Now he half-hangs from a wooden pole, his back lashed into a mass of bloody welts exposed to the cold of a cruel winter night. He’s to be executed come daybreak—should he survive that long.
When Alden notices the shadowy figure approaching, he assumes death has come to end his pain. Instead, the daughter of his enemy, Cerdic of Wessex, frees and hides him, her motives unclear.
Annis has loved Alden since his ill-fated marriage to her Saxon cousin—a marriage that ended in blood and guilt—and she would give anything to protect him. Annis’s rescue of Alden traps them between a brutal Saxon king and Alden’s remaining allies. Meanwhile, unknown forces are carefully manipulating the ruins of Arthur’s legacy.
[Trigger warnings: Torture, Warfare]
Buy Links:
This novel is available on #KindleUnlimtiedUniversal Link (if you have it): https://books2read.com/u/b5lYy7Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Du-Lac-Chronicles-Book-ebook/dp/B01CDK2MK0Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Du-Lac-Chronicles-Book-ebook/dp/B01CDK2MK0Amazon CA: https://www.amazon.ca/Du-Lac-Chronicles-Book-ebook/dp/B01CDK2MK0Author Bio: Mary Anne YardeMary Anne Yarde is a multi-award winning and bestselling author of Historical Fiction, as well as an award-winning blogger. She studied History at Cardiff University and went on to study Equine Science at Warwickshire College.
Mary Anne YardeMary Anne is a passionate advocate for quality Historical Fiction and founded The Coffee Pot Book Club in 2015 and became a professional Editorial Reviewer in 2016.
Mary Anne’s award-winning series, The Du Lac Chronicles, is set a generation after the fall of King Arthur. The Du Lac Chronicles takes you on a journey through Dark Age Britain and Brittany, where you will meet new friends and terrifying foes. Based on legends and historical fact, The Du Lac Chronicles is a series not to be missed
Born in Bath, England, Mary Anne grew up in the southwest of England, surrounded and influenced by centuries of history and mythology. Glastonbury—the fabled Isle of Avalon—was a mere fifteen-minute drive from her home, and tales of King Arthur and his knights were part of her childhood.
Social Media Links:
Website: https://authormaryanneyarde.blogspot.com/Twitter: https://twitter.com/maryanneyardeBookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/mary-anne-yardeAmazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Mary-Anne-Yarde/e/B01C1WFATAGoodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15018472.Mary_Anne_YardeOn Bur Oak Ridge: Coffee Pot Book Club Blog Tour
You can learn about the entire tour here: https://maryanneyarde.blogspot.com/2022/04/blog-tour-on-bur-oak-ridge-sheltering.html
On Bur Oak Ridge (Sheltering Trees: Book Three) By Jenny Knipfer“The plot has its twists and turns to keep readers intrigued…to the very end. A great comfort read that will soothe the spirit with renewed hope and faith.” Readers’ Favorite five-star review
A HISTORICAL NOVEL OF FINDING HEALING AND A SECOND CHANCE AT LOVE
In the early 1900s, quiet and reserved Molly Lund finds refuge from her past at the Nelsons’ farm in Minnesota. In an attempt to turn a new page in her life, Molly works at making peace with her losses and coming to terms with the disfiguring burns on her face.
Samuel Woodson, the Nelsons’ hired hand, carries his own cares. Split from his family and bearing a burden of misplaced guilt for an act that haunts him, Samuel–seeing past Molly’s scars–draws her out of her self-protective shell.
Molly and Samuel form a friendship, but just as their hearts lead them deeper, an unexpected guest comes calling, demanding what’s his.
Will Molly and Samuel find a way to be together or will they be separated, due to impediments beyond their control? Can they trust in God’s plan and travel a path that heals the hurts of the past?
Readers of historical fiction, Christian historical fiction, and Christian historical romance will delight in this beautifully wrought story of the healing power of love.
“A heart-warming story of healing from external and internal scars. Through some of life’s harder lessons the characters learn to trust, forgive, and find second chances out of the ashes of pain and loss.”
Anne Perreault, author of eighteen inspirational novels, including the Yellowstone series
[Trigger Warnings: Grief, trauma from burns, accidental death, time in an insane asylum]
Buy Links:
Available on #KindleUnlimitedUniversal Link: https://books2read.com/u/3JELBXAmazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bur-Oak-Ridge-Sheltering-Trees-ebook/dp/B0B2KXB19FAmazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Bur-Oak-Ridge-Sheltering-Trees-ebook/dp/B0B2KXB19FAmazon CA: https://www.amazon.ca/Bur-Oak-Ridge-Sheltering-Trees-ebook/dp/B0B2KXB19FAmazon AU: https://www.amazon.com.au/Bur-Oak-Ridge-Sheltering-Trees-ebook/dp/B0B2KXB19FExcerpt from On Bur Oak RidgeSamuel
I fear my heart will be forever tied to what I can ’ t have. The word “ home” once meant everything good to me: safety, warmth, love. Now, however, I have no home. It was ripped from me by the devious dealings of Mr. Alfred Skaggs. I wish I could put what that man did out of my mind. My conscience tells me I should write Mother, but hurt and anger still hold me back.
“ She made her bed; let her lie in it.”
The phrase rings in my mind like a warning bell whenever I think of her, but I know it ’ s not charitable or forgiving. It keeps the door shut to my empathy and, dare I say, my love for her.
But reason tells me we are not meant to live with permanently closed doors between us and our family. Perhaps we need each other, but I can ’ t make the first move. Not yet. I need more time to come to a place where I would be willing to set the past aside.
Maybe she doesn ’ t want to see me.
The thought comes from behind me, shocking me with its unexpected presence. But after all, I blame myself for separating her from her new husband. I think back to my outburst and the second worst day of my life.
“Still scribbling, I see,” a familiar voice says.
I look up from my writing, startled. Lincoln stands on the steps, peering at me like he’s caught me doing something naughty. I set my pen down and rise from the one armchair in the loft. I would invite Linc to join me, but there’s nowhere for him to sit, except my bed.
I offer a weak smile and nod. “Yes. I write most every day. It’s become a habit, I suppose.” I scratch the back of my neck. “Want anything in particular?”
I stand in the middle of the room, awkward and wondering.
He takes the last few steps. Soon his eyes are level with mine. “Can’t an old friend stop by for a visit?”
Shrugging, I snicker, “Shucks, I guess so.” I turn and gesture toward my vacated chair. “Want to sit a spell?”
Linc makes a big show of looking around. “I see I need to wrangle up another chair for this place. Doesn’t do to have nowhere for company to sit.” He walks closer and points toward my unmade bed. “Reckon that’s comfy enough for me. Sit yourself back down in your chair. I’ll plant myself on the bed.”
He moves to do so.
“Suit yourself,” I say, again wondering what it is he has come for.
Lincoln isn’t one for dropping in for social calls. And I’m still not sure how to navigate my role as the hired-help but also a friend. We sit and stare at each other for a few seconds then both start to speak at the same time.
I laugh. “You go ahead.”
“Well, I was just wondering how your mother’s doing.” Linc’s grinning face turns serious. “You know, with winter coming on and all. Has she written to you?”
A forked furrow lines the spot over the bridge of his long nose.
I brush the back of my hand over my forehead. “That’d be mighty hard for her to do since…she doesn’t know I’m here.”
I study the splintered wood of one of the boards beneath my feet in a kind of shame. It’s gray and weathered like I feel.
“Sam,” Linc says in a soft rebuke. He pauses, and I look up into his kind eyes. “You’re gonna have to go back sometime. She’s your ma.”
His last words are a plea. He’s right, but I don’t want to. I can’t face her yet.
“I know, but now’s not the time.” I breathe in through my nose and say firmly, “Don’t press me, Linc. Let me get over this in my own way and time. I appreciate you giving me work, a place to stay, and a table to eat at, but I ask you to respect my wishes. I asked you not to talk about this.”
Lincoln shakes his head and releases a hefty sigh. “Friends broach the hard subjects, Sam. Mabel and I care about you and can see you’re hurting. We want what’s best for you.” He narrows his eyes. “At least get away from the farm now and then. The only time you leave is when I send you to town. Come to church with us. Socialize a bit.”
He should know me better than that. I never was one for small talk. “I thank you kindly for concerning yourselves, but I’m managing just fine being here.”
“I figured that’s what you would say.” A sly grin hikes Linc’s lips up on his right side. It makes him look a little like a court jester. “Mabel wouldn’t stop pestering me until I asked.”
He shrugs, as if apologizing for following his wife’s wishes. The man is in love and would clearly agree to almost anything Mabel asked of him, I’m sure.
Linc regards me with one eye, while he tilts his head back a little. “Saw you conversing with Mrs. Lund the other day.” He waits, with an expectant look, like a hawk eyeing a mouse. “She’s been a mighty fine friend to Mabel and Mabel to her. Had a hard life, I hear. Maybe you two have something in common, but…” He leaves his statement open-ended, and before I can respond, he stands and brushes his hands together. “Bit chilly up here, isn’t it? You’d think your landlord would provide you with fuel for this drafty dump.”
He winks.
I laugh. “Ya, if only I could find him to ask for some.”
I stand as well. We grin at each other and share a chuckle. “But seriously, you better haul some wood up and stoke your fire. And maybe shove a few more rags in the cracks.” We walk toward the stairs.
“If Mabel has an extra quilt in the house, I wouldn’t mind if she borrowed me another.”
“I’m sure she’d be more than happy to. I’ll ask.” Linc tips his head toward me. “Well, goodnight.”
I nod and smile, glad for the distraction from my woes. “See you tomorrow.”
Linc leaves as quietly as he came. I should go back to my chair and finish my journal entry, but I tire of rehashing the whole sordid affair over again in my mind. Instead, I do as Linc suggested, and I go down the stairs, light a lantern, take up a barrow, and walk to the woodshed to restock my supply of firewood. While I walk, I think about Molly. I’d like to know her better. She interests me, and Linc may be right: We have something in common; we share some deep wounds.
Author Bio: Jenny KnipferJenny lives in Wisconsin with her husband, Ken, and their pet Yorkie, Ruby. She is also a mom and loves being a grandma. She enjoys many creative pursuits but finds writing the most fulfilling.
Jenny KnipferSpending many years as a librarian in a local public library, Jenny recently switched to using her skills as a floral designer in a retail flower shop. She is now retired from work due to disability. Her education background stems from psychology, music, and cultural missions.
All of Jenny’s books have earned five-star reviews from Readers’ Favorite, a book review and award contest company. She holds membership in the: Midwest Independent Booksellers Association, Wisconsin Writers Association, Christian Indie Publishing Association, and Independent Book Publishers Association.
Jenny’s favorite place to relax is by the western shore of Lake Superior, where her novel series, By The Light of the Moon, is set.
She deems a cup of tea and a good book an essential part of every day. When not writing, Jenny can be found reading, tending to her many houseplants, or piecing quilt blocks at her sewing machine.
Her new historical fiction four-part series entitled, Sheltering Trees, is set in the area Jenny grew up in, where she currently lives, and places along Minnesota’s Northern Shore, where she loves to visit. She is currently writing a four-part novella series entitled: Botanical Seasons and a three-part fantasy series entitled: Retold Fairy Tales.
Social Media Links:
Website: https://jennyknipfer.com/Twitter: https://twitter.com/JennyKnipfer/Facebook: https://facebook.com/jennyknipfer.writer/Instagram: https://instagram.com/jennyknipferbrave/Pinterest: https://pinterest.com/JennyKnipfer/BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/jenny-knipferAmazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Jenny-Knipfer/e/B07QV9HPH4%253FGoodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19133392.Jenny_KnipferBook Trailer: https://youtu.be/LeAAhaLqekk
