Mary Anne Yarde's Blog: The Coffee Pot Book Club , page 37

Take your book on a virtual blog tour with The Coffee Pot Book Club and let us help you find your audience #HistoricalFiction #HistoricalRomance #BlogTours

 

What is a blog tour?​With the age of the internet and modern technology, the way books are marketed is changing. Unlike conventional book tours, a blog tour is a virtual tour on a number of relevant blogs. Virtual tours are a fabulous way to get your book in front of the audience you want to target. Why Choose The Coffee Pot Book Club?​The Coffee Pot Book Club prides itself on professional and affordable book promotion. The founder, Mary Anne Yarde, has been promoting authors, both traditional and independent, since 2015. The Coffee Pot Book Club Blog Tours Package offers the opportunity for authors to promote their books to a worldwide audience, in the comfort of their own home.

How much does it cost?

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Blog Tour Packages

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Cover Reveal / Release Day / Book Blast 

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Great for pre-release and release day exposure. Can also be used if your book is on promotion. 

• 1 day event

• Minimum 5 blog stops, no limit on blogger participation

• Social Media Exposure: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest & Bookstagram       (Instagram)

• Personalised Cover Reveal / Release Day Banner

• Personalised artwork for Bookstagram

• Dedicated Cover Reveal / Release Day Page on The Coffee Pot Book Club with unique URL

Total Cost £30.00

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Package 1

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Would you like to take your book on a virtual tour but don't have the time to write Guest Post and answer interview questions? Then, the EXCERPT ONLY tour is the blog tour for you!

• 5 blog stops over 5 days

• Social Media Exposure: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest & Bookstagram       (Instagram)

• Personalised Tour Banner

• Personalised artwork for Bookstagram

• Dedicated Tour Page with unique URL 

Total Cost £55.00

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Package 2

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Would you like to keep the momentum of your book's new release going for as long as possible, then this tour might be the one for you! 

One blog stop a week for ten weeks.

• Social Media Exposure: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest & Bookstagram       (Instagram)

• This tour includes a combination of author interviews, guest posts, book spotlight, book spotlight and excerpt

• Personalised Tour Banner

• Personalised artwork for Bookstagram

• Dedicated Tour Page with unique URL 

Total Cost £62.00

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Package 3

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• 10 blog stops over 10 days

• This tour includes a combination of *reviews, author interviews, guest posts, book spotlight and excerpt

• Social Media Exposure: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest &

Bookstagram (Instagram)

• Personalised Tour Banner

• Personalised artwork for Bookstagram

• Dedicated Tour Page with unique URL 

Total Cost £95.00

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Package 4​

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• 10 blog stops over 10 days

• This tour includes a combination of *reviews, author interviews, guest posts, book spotlight and excerpt

• Social Media Exposure: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest & Bookstagram (Instagram)

• Personalised Tour Banner

• Personalised artwork for Bookstagram

• 10 Days sidebar advertisement of your book on The Coffee Pot Book Club Blog

• Dedicated Tour Page with unique URL 

Total Cost £125.00

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Package 5​

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• 15 blog stops over 15 days

• This tour includes a combination of *reviews, author interviews, guest posts, book spotlight and excerpt

• Social Media Exposure: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest & Bookstagram (Instagram)

• 15 Days sidebar advertisement of your book on The Coffee Pot Book Club Blog

• Personalised Tour Banner.

• Personalised artwork for Bookstagram

• Dedicated Tour Page with unique URL 

Total cost £200.00

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TERMS & CONDITIONS

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• The Coffee Pot Book Club is under no obligation to accept a tour if your book is not a good fit for our hosts.

 

• The Coffee Pot Book Club makes no guarantee of sales during a tour. The focus of the tour is for you to gain exposure and to help you build a fan base.

 

• The Coffee Pot Book Club cannot guarantee the number of reviews your book may receive while on tour, nor can we guarantee positive reviews, although we do ask our hosts to hold off posting a review under FOUR STARS until after the tour has finished.

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• All tours must be booked 6 weeks in advance​.

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Refunds:

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Once payment is remitted, no cash refunds will be made as we begin organising your promotion immediately.

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If you would like to find out more, or book a tour, visit the contact page.

Welcome to the final day of the blog tour for A Painter in Penang (Penang Series, Book 3) By Clare Flynn #HistoricalFiction #APainterinPenang #CoffeePotBookClub @clarefly @ADarnGoodRead

 

January 4th – January 15th 2021

Amazon

Publication Date: 6th October 2020

Publisher: Cranbrook Press

Page Length: 362 Pages

Genre: Historical Fiction

Sixteen-year-old Jasmine Barrington hates everything about living in Kenya and longs to return to the island of Penang in British colonial Malaya where she was born. Expulsion from her Nairobi convent school offers a welcome escape – the chance to stay with her parents’ friends, Mary and Reggie Hyde-Underwood on their Penang rubber estate.

But this is 1948 and communist insurgents are embarking on a reign of terror in what becomes the Malayan Emergency. Jasmine goes through testing experiences – confronting heartache, a shocking past secret and danger. Throughout it all, the one constant in her life is her passion for painting.

From the international best-selling and award-winning author of The Pearl of Penang, this is a dramatic coming of age story, set against the backdrop of a tropical paradise torn apart by civil war.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Clare Flynn is the author of twelve historical novels and a collection of short stories. A former International Marketing Director and strategic management consultant, she is now a full-time writer. 

Having lived and worked in London, Paris, Brussels, Milan and Sydney, home is now on the coast, in Sussex, England, where she can watch the sea from her windows. An avid traveller, her books are often set in exotic locations.

Clare is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a member of The Society of Authors, Novelists Inc (NINC), ALLi, the Historical Novel Society and the Romantic Novelists Association, where she serves on the committee as the Member Services Officer. When not writing, she loves to read, quilt, paint and play the piano. She continues to travel as widely and as far as possible all over the world.

Head on over to A Darn Good Read for a sneak-peek between the covers of A Painter in Penang.
Click HERE!

Welcome to the FINAL Day of the blog tour for Beneath Black Clouds and White by Virginia Crow #HistoricalFiction #FrenchRevolution @DaysDyingGlory @Beatric09625662

 

4th January – 15th January 2021

Amazon UK • Amazon US • Smashwords • Kobo •  Barnes and Noble 

Publication Date: 11th April 2019Publisher: CrowvusPrint Length: 637 PagesGenre: Historical Fiction/Military Fiction/Family Saga
Despite adoring his family and enjoying frequenting gaming tables, Captain Josiah Tenterchilt’s true love is the British Army and he is committed to his duty. As such, he does not hesitate to answer the army’s call when King Louis XVI of France is executed.
Accompanied by his wife to Flanders, Josiah finds his path crosses with a man who could not be more different from him: an apprentice surgeon named Henry Fotherby. As these two men pursue their own actions, fate and the careful connivance of a mysterious individual will push them together for the rest of their lives.
But it is a tumultuous time, and the French revolutionaries are not the only ones who pose a threat. The two gentlemen must find their place in a world where the constraints of social class are inescapable, and ‘slavery or abolition’ are the words on everyone’s lips.
Beneath Black Clouds and White is the prequel to Day's Dying Glory, which was published by Crowvus in April 2017.
Head on over to Candlelight Reading to find a 5 star review of this fabulous book!
“If there were ever a book that I would happily read again, as soon as finishing it, this book would be the one. Virginia Crow has written a book that I not only enjoyed every word of, but one that will stay with me for a long time…” Candlelight Reading
Click HERE!

Welcome to the final stop on the blog tour for A Rooster for Asklepios (A Slave's Story Trilogy, Book 1) By Christopher D. Stanley #HistoricalFiction #BlogTour @aslavesstory @abelfrageauthor

 

January 4th – January 15th 2021
Amazon UK • Amazon US • Amazon CA • Amazon AU 

Publication Date:  May 23rd 2020
Publisher: Amelia Books
Page Length: 522 pages Genre: Historical Fiction
Marcus, a slave in the household of Lucius Coelius Felix, enjoys a better life than most slaves (and many free citizens) as the secretary and accountant of a wealthy aristocrat.  His master is rising in the civic life of the Roman colony of Antioch-near-Pisidia (central Turkey), and his responsibilities and income are growing as well. If this continues, he could soon earn enough to buy his freedom, set up a small business, and even marry.  
Then misfortune strikes, and his master falls into a deep depression that is exacerbated by a nagging illness that his physician is unable to cure.  The future looks bleak until the physician receives a dream from the healing god Asklepios calling Lucius to travel hundreds of miles across western Asia Minor to his sanctuary at Pergamon for treatment and, he hopes, a cure. Accompanied by Marcus and his new wife Selena, Lucius embarks on a long and eventful journey in which both master and slave encounter people and ideas that challenge long-held beliefs about themselves, their society, and the world around them.  Values are questioned, loyalties tested, and identities transformed in a story that brings to life a corner of the Roman empire that has been neglected by previous storytellers.
Our final stop of the tour is over on Anna Belfrage's fabulous blog - Stolen Moments, for a book spotlight.
Click HERE!

#BookReview — Falling Pomegranate Seeds: All Manner of Things, Book #2 by Wendy J. Dunn #HistoricalFiction #Tudors @wendyjdunn

 

Publication Date: January 15th 2021.Genre: Historical Fiction.Publisher: Poesy Quill PublishingPrint Length: 449 Pages

Winter, 1539
María de Salinas is dying. 
Too ill to travel, she writes a letter to her daughter Katherine, the young duchess of Suffolk. A letter telling of her life: a life intertwined with her friend and cousin Catalina of Aragon, the youngest child of Isabel of Castile. It is a letter to help her daughter understand the choices she has made in her life, beginning from the time she keeps her vow to Catalina to share her life of exile in England.
Friendship, betrayal, hatred, forgiveness – All Manner of Things tells a story of how love wins out in the end. 


"I serve Catalina with my life, and will until I die."
Queen Elizabeth had seen with her own eyes how the crown could destroy even the bravest of men. If Arthur were to die, and Henry ascended the throne, then it would destroy him as it had done her father and her husband. Queen Elizabeth had warned them what would happen, and she had been right. So very right. The way Henry had treated Catalina was eclipsed only by the way he had treated María. María had never known hate until she had unknowingly met the future King of England.
When the bell of the church tolled the hour, and the candles were just flickering flames at the end of a wick, María de Salinas, Baroness Willoughby de Eresby, put down her quill. The letter was finally finished. It was hard to die when your only daughter resented you and blamed you for her currently intolerable situation. But with a forlorn hope, María prayed that her daughter would come to understand the choices she had made and find it in her heart to forgive her, one day…
From a tender, yet forbidden, romance to the death of her dearest friend, Falling Pomegranate Seeds: All Manner of Things, Book #2 by Wendy J. Dunn is the unforgettable story of María de Eresby as she, along with Catalina of Aragon, learns to dance to a decidedly deadly Tudor tune.
Dunn has penned a gripping account of love, hate, loyalty and betrayal. But above everything else, Dunn has given her readers a novel that has been written with a sensitivity, not only to the plight of Catalina (Catherine) of Aragon, but also to the controversy that always seems to surround the English throne. Through the eyes of María, Dunn allows her readers to witness it all—the excitement, the disappointment, first love, abandonment, happiness, despair, loneliness, and a realisation that a woman had no control over her destiny. This was a man's world, and there was nothing that anyone, not even a queen, could do about it.
María is a protagonist that I simply adored. She is a remarkably brave and courageous young woman whose loyalty to her best friend is absolute. She is the one constant in Catalina's life—she was there near the beginning, and she would be there at the end, despite what Henry had to say about it. María's determination to remain constant, to not abandon Catalina, made her a character that I really came to care about, and although much of this story is centred around Catalina and the Tudor court, I came away from this book with a real sense of who María was. This novel has left me wondering why I have never come across María in literature before. Her story was one that was begging to be told, and I thought Dunn's portrayal of her was shamelessly compelling.
Likewise, Catalina was an arrestingly refreshing character. Dunn allows her readers to witness the young princess at the beginning of her journey to England, all the way to the end of her life, where a dying Dowager Princess of Wales was not even allowed the small mercy of seeing her only surviving child before she died. Catalina was an endlessly fascinating character. Her tender romance with Arthur, the appalling treatment she receives after his death, and then her subsequent marriage to Arthur's brother, makes for an endlessly fascinating tale. Throughout her marriage to Henry, Dunn hints that Catalina falls in love, not with the Henry that María knows, but with the ghost of his brother. Henry can be tender, kind and generous, but unlike Arthur, Henry is also flamboyant, full of life, and unfortunately inherently cruel and uncaring. Henry is a direct contrast to Arthur, who is pale, ill, but loyal and caring. Arthur’s love was real, Henry's, as real as it may have seemed at the time, was only ever going to be fleeting. He was a flame that the moths found irresistible, even if the outcome would scorch their wings and leave them broken and dying in the shadows.
Henry VIII, the monarch that is famous for all the wrong reasons is, as one would expect in a tale that involved the Tudor dynasty, a character that despite his charm, good looks and sense of humour hid a dark heart who relished in his own power. With the untimely death of his brother, Henry is thrust into the limelight far too early and, although his youthful extravagance and courtly manners hid all manners of sin for a time, the cruelty, the selfishness and the mercilessness of this king's dark soul would be etched in stone forever. Witnessed through the eyes of María, Dunn explores the complicated relationship between the young king and his Spanish bride. Dunn does not gloss over the dark nature of this infamous monarch. Henry is the antagonist in this story, and although Catalina is determined to see in him a shadow of what she had seen in Arthur, María is not so hoodwinked. Dunn has given her readers a Henry who is awfully easy to despise. She has also given us a plausible portrayal of a spoilt young child who grew up to be an extremely volatile and unpredictable monarch. Wyatt was right when he said that in Henry's kingdom, *circa Regna tonat and that is certainly the kind of king Dunn has given her readers. Despite Henry being the villain of this tale, I thought his depiction was superbly drawn, and he came across as very real in the telling.
Dunn explores in great depth the role of women in the Tudor era. Through the depiction of María and Catalina, Dunn shows her readers just how little control these women had over their own lives. They were dependent upon their fathers and husbands for everything. Catalina finds herself in a dire circumstance when Arthur dies. Her father's indifference to her letters and Henry VII's lack of compassion is heartbreakingly tragic. Catalina is treated abhorrently, and it really broke my heart to witness everything that this young woman had to go through, and in the end, as history tells us, she was passed over once again because, through no fault of her own, she could not give Henry a healthy male heir. Likewise, María finds herself in some perilous situations, and like Catalina, there is nothing she could do but comply, despite what that means for her own physical and mental wellbeing.
In this novel, reputation can either make you or see you locked up in the Tower and therefore, the fear of guilt by association is particularly pernicious. The plight of Edward Plantagenet, 17th Earl of Warwick, and indeed, Edmund Dudley demonstrated not only how cruel and fickle the crown was but also how the Wheel of Fortune turned so cruelly and how sometimes, to survive, you had to leave family and friends to their terribly unjust fate.
Falling Pomegranate Seeds: All Manner of Things, Book #2 by Wendy J. Dunn, is a novel that is absolutely irresistible from beginning to end. This is the kind of story that stays with a reader long after they have turned the last page.
I Highly Recommend.
Review by Mary Anne YardeThe Coffee Pot Book Club.
*Wyatt, Thomas (1503 –1542): Innocentia Veritas Viat Fides Circumdederunt me intimici me, (1536).


Amazon UK • Amazon US • Amazon CA • Amazon AU




Wendy J. Dunn
Wendy J. Dunn is an Australian author, playwright and poet who has been obsessed by Anne Boleyn and Tudor History since she was ten-years-old. She is the author of three Tudor novels: Dear Heart, How Like You This?, the winner of the 2003 Glyph Fiction Award and 2004 runner up in the Eric Hoffer Award for Commercial Fiction, The Light in the Labyrinth, her first young adult novel, and Falling Pomegranate Seeds: The Duty of Daughters.
While she continues to have a very close and spooky relationship with Sir Thomas Wyatt, the elder, serendipity of life now leaves her no longer wondering if she has been channeling Anne Boleyn and Sir Tom for years in her writing, but considering the possibility of ancestral memory. Her own family tree reveals the intriguing fact that her ancestors – possibly over three generations – had purchased land from both the Boleyn and Wyatt families to build up their own holdings. It seems very likely Wendy’s ancestors knew the Wyatts and Boleyns personally.
Connect with Wendy:Website • Facebook • Instagram • Twitter • Goodreads.

Welcome to Day #9 of the blog tour for Beneath Black Clouds and White by Virginia Crow #HistoricalFiction #FrenchRevolution @DaysDyingGlory @CaigJamie

4th January – 15th January 2021

Amazon UK • Amazon US • Smashwords • Kobo •  Barnes and Noble 

Publication Date: 11th April 2019Publisher: CrowvusPrint Length: 637 PagesGenre: Historical Fiction/Military Fiction/Family Saga
Despite adoring his family and enjoying frequenting gaming tables, Captain Josiah Tenterchilt’s true love is the British Army and he is committed to his duty. As such, he does not hesitate to answer the army’s call when King Louis XVI of France is executed.
Accompanied by his wife to Flanders, Josiah finds his path crosses with a man who could not be more different from him: an apprentice surgeon named Henry Fotherby. As these two men pursue their own actions, fate and the careful connivance of a mysterious individual will push them together for the rest of their lives.
But it is a tumultuous time, and the French revolutionaries are not the only ones who pose a threat. The two gentlemen must find their place in a world where the constraints of social class are inescapable, and ‘slavery or abolition’ are the words on everyone’s lips.
Beneath Black Clouds and White is the prequel to Day's Dying Glory, which was published by Crowvus in April 2017.
Head on over to The Whispering Bookworm to find a 5 star review of this fabulous book!
“I felt like I was in the story, alongside the characters, as I read, and I will certainly not forget this book anytime soon!” The Whispering Bookworm
Click HERE!

Welcome to Day #9 of the blog tour for A Rooster for Asklepios (A Slave's Story Trilogy, Book 1) By Christopher D. Stanley #HistoricalFiction #BlogTour @aslavesstory @Beatric09625662

 

January 4th – January 15th 2021
Amazon UK • Amazon US • Amazon CA • Amazon AU 

Publication Date:  May 23rd 2020
Publisher: Amelia Books
Page Length: 522 pages Genre: Historical Fiction
Marcus, a slave in the household of Lucius Coelius Felix, enjoys a better life than most slaves (and many free citizens) as the secretary and accountant of a wealthy aristocrat.  His master is rising in the civic life of the Roman colony of Antioch-near-Pisidia (central Turkey), and his responsibilities and income are growing as well. If this continues, he could soon earn enough to buy his freedom, set up a small business, and even marry.  
Then misfortune strikes, and his master falls into a deep depression that is exacerbated by a nagging illness that his physician is unable to cure.  The future looks bleak until the physician receives a dream from the healing god Asklepios calling Lucius to travel hundreds of miles across western Asia Minor to his sanctuary at Pergamon for treatment and, he hopes, a cure. Accompanied by Marcus and his new wife Selena, Lucius embarks on a long and eventful journey in which both master and slave encounter people and ideas that challenge long-held beliefs about themselves, their society, and the world around them.  Values are questioned, loyalties tested, and identities transformed in a story that brings to life a corner of the Roman empire that has been neglected by previous storytellers.
Head on over to Candlelight Reading to find a 5 star review of this fabulous book!
“This is one of those books where I seemed to forget I was actually reading. Instead, it felt as if I was witnessing the events - watching as the plot plays out…” Candlelight Reading
Click HERE!

Welcome to Day #9 of the blog tour for A Painter in Penang (Penang Series, Book 3) By Clare Flynn #HistoricalFiction #APainterinPenang #CoffeePotBookClub @clarefly @Beatric09625662

 

January 4th – January 15th 2021

Amazon

Publication Date: 6th October 2020

Publisher: Cranbrook Press

Page Length: 362 Pages

Genre: Historical Fiction

Sixteen-year-old Jasmine Barrington hates everything about living in Kenya and longs to return to the island of Penang in British colonial Malaya where she was born. Expulsion from her Nairobi convent school offers a welcome escape – the chance to stay with her parents’ friends, Mary and Reggie Hyde-Underwood on their Penang rubber estate.

But this is 1948 and communist insurgents are embarking on a reign of terror in what becomes the Malayan Emergency. Jasmine goes through testing experiences – confronting heartache, a shocking past secret and danger. Throughout it all, the one constant in her life is her passion for painting.

From the international best-selling and award-winning author of The Pearl of Penang, this is a dramatic coming of age story, set against the backdrop of a tropical paradise torn apart by civil war.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Clare Flynn is the author of twelve historical novels and a collection of short stories. A former International Marketing Director and strategic management consultant, she is now a full-time writer. 

Having lived and worked in London, Paris, Brussels, Milan and Sydney, home is now on the coast, in Sussex, England, where she can watch the sea from her windows. An avid traveller, her books are often set in exotic locations.

Clare is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a member of The Society of Authors, Novelists Inc (NINC), ALLi, the Historical Novel Society and the Romantic Novelists Association, where she serves on the committee as the Member Services Officer. When not writing, she loves to read, quilt, paint and play the piano. She continues to travel as widely and as far as possible all over the world.

Head on over to Candlelight Reading to find a 5 star review for this fabulous book!
“This is a novel that once started cannot be turned away from. It is utterly engrossing from start to finish…” Candlelight Reading
Click HERE!

Have a sneak-peek between the covers of Michael Stolle's fabulous book – The Dark Shadows of Kaysersberg #HistoricalFiction #France @MichaelStolle16

 

Publication Date: December 27th 2020Publisher: Amazon Page Length: 223Genre: Historical Fiction/Historical Romance/Adventure
How can a young man deal with love, when it’s no longer a game, but a dream beyond reach?
Armand de Saint Paul, the younger son of a great noble house, is leading a carefree life in Paris, dedicating his time like to such pleasures as gambling, hunting and amorous pursuits.
It’s the year 1646 and infant King Louis XIV reigns over France; but wily Cardinal Mazarin holds the reins of power and has his own plans... and needs money,  desperately.
Unexpectedly, Armand has to defend the honour of his house in a duel that transpires to be a deadly trap, set up by a mighty foe of the house of Saint Paul.
Will Armand be able to escape the deadly net of intrigue that soon threatens to destroy him?
The all decisive question is: What is going on behind the façade that is Castle Kaysersberg, where nothing is as it seems to be … until the day when the dark shadows come alive?

He was late, as usual.

The young groom scampered down the slippery cobbled street. He barely noticed the repulsive smell of garbage and the pungent vapours of sewage that mingled a few yards later with the appetizing scent of fresh bread and meat pastries coming from a row of freshly painted stalls.

This was Paris, a city like an experienced whore, enticing and filthy at the same time.

He turned left and approached a small square where merchants from all over France were praising the quality of spices and exotic wares that came from the most remote places. Protected from the rain, the wooden stalls had been tucked beneath century-old limestone arcades, next to the portly and less vociferous merchants selling dyed woollen cloth, delicate broidery and finest lace from Flanders.

The young groom loved the spice stalls; awash with colours and exotic scents they never failed to make him dream. In his mind he’d travel to faraway countries shrouded in legends. He saw himself sail to the mysterious Ottoman Empire or the Spanish colonies in the Americas; places where the streets were believed to be paved with gold. How much he craved to be there; living adventures, living like a nobleman and not like the humble servant he was.

He had the confident manners of a groom serving in one of the great noble houses of France, but he realized fast that riding through the streets on a horse, and with a livery showing the coat of arms of the Marquis de Saint Paul, was entirely different from walking through the same streets in disguise and being pushed around by the notoriously rude Parisians.

Normally, his answers would have been an even ruder and more colourful insult, but he swallowed his pride and slowing down he trod on, hiding his face under a large hood. His mission must remain secret at all cost.

The young groom heaved a sigh of relief when he approached the crossing and the Church of St Nicolas came into sight. The old church was towering above the flock of unpretentious timber houses around it, like chicks nestling close to their mother hen.

Nervously, he looked left and right before opening the church door. The brass handle felt cold and slippery, wet from the rain, smoothened and polished by generations of worshippers – it was shining like gold. He pushed the heavy door and was surprised to find the forged hinges swinging open easily and in dignified silence.

Inside the bustle and noise of the city of Paris died away immediately and the young groom entered a world of prayer and silence.

Powerful smells were assaulting his nostrils, so intense that they made him sneeze – the typical odour of unwashed bodies of the poor masked by the lingering cold smell of the precious incense used lavishly during the holy mass.

Close to the altars he was hit by another nauseating smell. It seeped into the nave from the decomposing bodies buried under the flagstones adorned with noble crests. These families had bequeathed large sums of money or tracts of land to their parish, thus ensuring the privilege to be the first to rise with the saints to heaven on the day of resurrection.

He sneezed again; the groom preferred the coarse smell of horses and stables.

Walking down the aisle, he dropped down for a quick genuflection in front of the shimmering altar. Stopping at the statue of the tormented, crucified Christ, he crossed himself as every faithful worshipper must do and whispered a quick prayer. Some steps further, he reached his destination – the confessional boxes.

His nerves were strung like a harp, what if somebody had followed him?

Pretending to offer his prayers to the statue of a minor saint hidden in a dark recess, he went down on his knees and looked around.

The church was almost empty; only a shrivelled old woman was kneeling in front of the statue of the Holy Virgin, talking to the Virgin as if in a trance.

The young groom watched her for two or three minutes, but she kept talking to the smiling statue, unaware of his presence and oblivious of the world around her.

Reassured to see the woman absorbed in her own world, the young groom sneaked into the last confessional box, the one closest to the statue of Saint Nicolas.

He had been expected.

‘Praise the Lord, what can I do for you, my son?’ came the voice from behind the wooden grid. It was an educated voice, speaking with authority, certainly not a minor priest or some country bumpkin.

The young groom closed the curtain and replied with a slight stutter: ‘Praise the Lord, mon père. Praise the angels in heaven.’

‘All the angels in heaven, my son?’

The young groom was relieved, this was the agreed clue, all was going to plan.

‘Lucifer must be damned forever; may the lord protect our country and the Holy Church from evil,’ came his fluent reply.

The unctuous voice changed; it became business-like.

‘Your answer is correct. Do you know your instructions by heart, my son?’

The young man felt the blood rushing to his head, relieved that the priest behind the dark grid couldn’t see him.

‘The monk who met me, well, he told me what ...’ he started and broke again into a stammer, ‘I mean, I’m ... what I mean ... I’m supposed to...’ his voice trailed off, he didn’t dare to repeat aloud those scary instructions.

‘My son, you must trust the wisdom of the Holy Church and eternal paradise will be yours.’ The voice was unctuous again. ‘You’ve been chosen to fulfil a sacred task for the Church, you’re a chosen son of the Church, you won’t falter?’

‘No, mon père, I’ve come to honour my promise.’

‘That’s how it should be, my son. Your master has ridiculed the Church and he’s known to participate in the in the worship of the devil. The Church therefore deems it necessary to save his soul. As you know, death is not the end, our Lord in his mercy will let him purify his soul in the purgatory. You’ll help your master to cleanse his soul and enter paradise.’

The carved wooden grid swung open and a small leather bag appeared. The groom heard the noise of clinging coins and his heart beat faster.
‘This is your reward, as promised. Now take this!’

A second bag made from black velvet, much smaller than the first one, appeared.

‘Your master has been invited to join a royal hunting party in the vicinity of the royal hunting lodge in Versailles this weekend. Many nobles and peers of the kingdom will attend. Add five drops of this liquid to his wine flask before you set off. Don’t worry, nothing will happen immediately, nobody will be able to trace the poison. All will appear to be perfectly natural.’

‘Yes, mon père, I’ll follow your instructions. Five drops.’

The voice behind the curtain became unctuous again.

‘By the authority bestowed on us by Petrus, the keeper of the keys of heavenly paradise, I hereby redeem you of all sins. Pray three Ave Marias and return to the stables. May the Lord be with you. Amen.’

Amazon UK • Amazon US


Born and educated in Europe, Michael has always been intrigued by the historical setting and the fact that what makes us human was as true in the 17th century as it is now.
He has been reading and writing about history for longer than he cares to recall...
Connect with Michael:
Twitter • Goodreads

#BookReview — Bertha: Shine like the Dawn by Lisa M. Hutchison #Historical #Biographies

 

Publication Date: 24th May 2019
Publisher: Word Alive Press
Page Length: 282 Pages
Genre: Historical Biographies
Bertha: Shine Like the Dawn is the true story of Bertha, the author’s great-grandmother, born into relative wealth and comfort in 1860 Germany, orphaned as a baby, and begrudgingly raised by two sets of grandparents.
Violated by her uncle at seventeen, Bertha becomes pregnant and is quickly married off to a man beneath her standing. After enduring years of domestic violence and forced pregnancies, she finally walks away with four young children and with only her grandmother in Berlin for support. Once there, Bertha finds love with a mysterious man—but will it last?
Bertha, who lives through the turn of the century, the sinking of the Titanic, the First World War, the Spanish Flu, The Great Depression, and the Second World War, accepts whatever life gives her, with courage and passion, but most of all with love.
This is a tender romance, filled with compassion and many unexpected turns in life. Bertha experiences unbelievable trials, tribulations, and triumphs, as well as great love and great loss. Readers will cheer for her, cry for her, and love with her.

“You should find yourself a husband…”

Everyone was telling Bertha that it was time to find herself a husband, but she was only sixteen years old, and she wanted to live a little first before settling down to a life of domestic bliss.

But, like her mother before her, Bertha was not destined for a simple, trouble-free life. Instead, by the age of seventeen, she is forced to marry a man who she does not know, and despite trying her very best, Bertha soon becomes resigned to the fact that her husband, Karl Hoffmann, will never love her, nor will he treat her with the respect that she deserves. There is no escape for Bertha, for even if she did flee the marriage, Karl would still be her legal guardian until she reached the age of twenty-one.

Unfortunately, there is no one for Bertha to turn to. Even the Pastor sided with her husband—after all, it is a husband’s right to discipline his wife as he sees fit, and there is no such thing as rape in marriage. To save herself, and her children, Bertha realises that she cannot wait until she is twenty-one, she needs to flee now. But, will Bertha have the courage to do so? And what kind of life can she expect to live as a single mother in Germany in the late 19th / early 20th Century?

From a desperately distressing death at sea to the last weeks of World War II, Bertha: Shine like the Dawn by Lisa M. Hutchison is the unforgettable true story of Bertha Holtzmann.

There are no words that can encompass how great this novel is. Within a mere 282 pages, Hutchison has penned a truly extraordinary story of unimaginable hardship, abuse, grief, and joy, but above everything else, this is a story about love. Set in an era of industrial growth and violent warfare, Hutchison has taken her readers on a voyage of emotional discovery. This story, this wonderfully compelling narrative, grabbed me from the opening sentence and left me gasping, reaching for the tissues, as I noted that final, devastating full stop. Hutchison demands every conceivable emotion from her readers, and such writing made this book next to impossible to put down.

This story maps the life of Bertha Holtzmann from birth to death. This seemingly insignificant child grows up to be a resilient fighter who strongly believes in family and never gives up hope that she will find true love one day. Bertha was a woman who I instantly connected with. The hardship she faced, the cruelty, and the courage she demonstrated throughout her life only made me love her all the more. Bertha is a wonderful example of the resilience of the human soul. Her quick sense of humour, her patient understanding of her children’s choices as they grow and become independent and her unconditional love made her a woman before her time. I can understand why Hutchison felt so compelled to tell her great-grandmother’s story and the scrupulous care she has taken to depict Bertha and the historical setting, as well as the historical controversy of the era, makes this book one in a million. Bravo, Ms Hutchison. Bravo indeed.

The historical detailing in this novel is staggering. Having tutored modern history for many years, I, like many avid readers of Historical Fiction / Historical Biographies set in the early half of the 20th Century have the misfortune, one might call it, of hindsight, and while Bertha and her family bravely stepped forward into a rapidly changing world, I felt a growing pit of dread in my stomach as I knew where this story was going to lead and the hardships that this family would be forced to endure. Many times, I found myself holding my breath, hoping for the best, hoping that the persecution and war would pass this family by unharmed.

Bertha is a heroine that I could not help but love. She made me laugh, she made me cry, but above everything else she earned my respect—who else would be brave enough to threaten the Gestapo armed only with a black umbrella when they tried to enter her flat? There was simply nothing about this feisty woman that I did not adore. Her sense of humour, her determination not to become bitter at the hand fate had dealt her, and her courage in the face of significant emotional loss, made her an unforgettable heroine. Bertha’s story deserved to be told, and I am sure she would be proud of the way Hutchison has portrayed her.

The historical research that has gone into this novel is staggering. Hutchison covers over 80 years of history, and as each era slips into the next, there come new challenges, new dangers. The historical accuracy, the sense of realism throughout makes this novel not only shamelessly compelling, but it really felt as if I had stepped back in time. The sinking of the Titanic, the horrors of the First World War, the 1918 flu pandemic, the terrible terms of The Treaty of Versailles and what that meant for Germany, the hyperinflation of 1923, the rise of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party, The Wall Street Crash of 1929, and the horrors of the Second World War are depicted with a great deal of skill and diligence. Such emotional writing makes this book an enthralling read. 

There is a huge cast of characters in this novel, and each character has a story to tell. I adored the depiction of Oma Anna. Anna is very much like her granddaughter, she is a strong woman, not because it is in her nature to be so but because she had not been given a choice. She is the rock which Bertha depends upon. She is also a wise council, and a trusted friend. I thought Anna’s depiction was sublime.

There are several antagonists in this story, as there are so often in life, and Bertha has the misfortunate of being related to one and married to another. These two despicable men could have utterly vanquished Bertha, but her instinct for survival meant she dared to take the risk and leave an unbearably volatile situation. Once Bertha takes life into her own hands, once she has the courage and the conviction to take control of her own life, that was when she really came into her own. The antagonists may have done their very best to weaken her, to break her, but their cruelty somehow made her all the stronger. 

Bertha: Shine like the Dawn by Lisa M. Hutchison is a truly remarkable book. It is astoundingly ambitious and in all ways an absolute triumph. This is a book that deserves to be read again and again.

I Highly Recommend.

Review by Mary Anne Yarde.
The Coffee Pot Book Club.
Amazon UK • Amazon US

Lisa Hutchison is a Canadian author, living with her husband in Stratford, Ontario. She has penned two very successful books, Pieces of Us and Iron Annie and a Long Journey. Both are books based on first-person experiences and both are compelling accounts of her own life. Her latest book, Bertha, retraces the life of her great-grandmother. Lisa was born in Germany, immigrated with her parents as a child to Canada, and grew up mainly in Toronto. She has a degree in Commerce and has worked mostly in the financial field. Since retirement she has, together with her husband, Robert, travelled the world. She is also an active volunteer at the local hospital, church, and retirement homes. Lisa has always loved to write essays, short stories, poetry, music lyrics, and journals, and was instrumental in setting up and administrating her church's monthly newsletter for many years. While conducting research into her family's history, she found enough material to write Iron Annie and a Long Journey, a biography on her parents' life. Lisa and Robert have three adult children and six grown grandchildren. When they're not in Stratford, they can be found in Portugal, their favourite winter retreat. 

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