Mary Anne Yarde's Blog: The Coffee Pot Book Club , page 45

Discover what inspired #HistoricalFiction author, Paula Lofting, to write her fabulous book — The Wolf Banner (Sons of the Wolf, Book 2) #BlogTour #CoffeePotBookClub @Paulalofting @BritonandDane

 

December 7th – December 18th 2020
Amazon UK • Amazon US

Publication Date: August 26th 2020 / Second Edition: Publisher: Longship PublishingGenre: Historical Fiction
WAR AND BLOODFEUD
"Best battle description ever!"
1056...England lurches towards war as the rebellious Lord Alfgar plots against the indolent King Edward. Sussex thegn, Wulfhere, must defy both his lord, Harold Godwinson, and his bitter enemy, Helghi, to protect his beloved daughter.
As the shadow of war stretches across the land, a more personal battle rages at home, and when it follows him into battle, he knows he must keep his wits about him more than ever, and COURAGE AND FEAR MUST BECOME HIS ARMOUR…
Head over to Let your words shine... where Paula Lofting is talking about the inspiration behind her fabulous book:
Click HERE!

Have a sneak-peek between the covers of Christine Hancock's fabulous book — Bright Helm (The Byrhtnoth Chronicles: Book 4) #HistoricalFiction #BlogTour #CoffeePotBookClub @YoungByrhtnoth

 

Bright Helm

(The Byrhtnoth Chronicles: Book 4)

By Christine Hancock

OCTOBER 22ND – 24TH DECEMBER 2020AMAZON UK • AMAZON US

Separated by anger and unanswered questions, Byrhtnoth and Saewynn are brought together by a tragic death.

Re-united, they set out on an epic voyage to discover the final truth about his father. 

The journey takes them far to the north, to Orkney, swathed in the mists of treachery, and to Dublin’s slave markets where Byrhtnoth faces a fateful decision.

 How far will he go, to save those he cares for?

Have a sneak-peek between the covers of Bright Helm over on Judith Arnopp's Official Blog.

Click HERE!

Have a sneak-peek between the covers of Anas Hamshari and Caroline Snodgress' fabulous book - Anke: The Beginning #HistoricalFiction #ShortStories #BlogTour @ExoticReads @LombardEmma

 

Anke: The Beginning

By Anas Hamshari and Caroline Snodgress

October 15th – December 17th 2020

Amazon

Publication Date: September 16th 2020

Publisher: Exotic Reads

Page Length: 111 eBook / 170 paperback

Genre: Historical Fiction

Living in the city of Mechelen, just south of once-prosperous Antwerp, in the aftermath of the Thirty Years’ War, Anke Verhaegen, an ambitious nineteen-year-old, is determined to make the most of her life.

When her brother Johan suggests crossing the Atlantic to New Netherland, Anke knows this is her destiny. Together, the two set about attempting to secure passage across the sea.

Before long, their plans are in motion, and hopes are high. Yet, with vengeful enemies, secrecy, and danger on the high sea waiting to be faced, will Anke really be able to secure a better life for herself?

Our final stop of the tour is over on Emma Lombard's Official Blog where you can take a sneak-peek between the pages of Anke: The Beginning!

Click HERE! 

Have you heard? Sharon Bradshaw is giving away a ebook copy of her fabulous book — The Bookseller's Ghost #Giveaway #GhostFiction @sharonbradshaw0

 

Publication Date: 7th December, 2020
Publisher : Independently published
Page length : 77 Pages
Genre : Ghost Fiction/Ghost Horror

Eerie, dark, and chilling... The Bookseller's Ghost is a collection of eleven, haunting, tales. Francis wanders the corridors of the Elizabethan bookshop. While the dark corners of Calvington Hall in The House On The Fens, and the ancient churchyard on Varden's hill in The Curse Of Ezekiel Marlow, have their own spirits of the dead. An archaeologist meets someone he knew long ago, but is all as it seems? Paranormal love lives on in Lost On The Moor, and Ben's Tale. As children in the reign of Queen Victoria play with Imaginary Friends. Other ghosts exist only in our memories, and the inexplicable. When the candle is burning low, the wind howling beyond the window and door, it is time to read The Bookseller's Ghost. 

If you would like to be in with a chance to win a ebook copy, gifted from Amazon, of Sharon Bradshaw fabulous book The Bookseller's Ghost, then just drop your name in the comment section at the end of this post (Scroll Down).
Good Luck!
*The competition is open to UK Residents only!
*The winner must be willing to provide their email address. *Giveaway closes on January 4th 2021

A Seasonal Haunting

There is a long history in the British Isles of telling stories about the supernatural at different times of the year. When the veil is believed to be thin between our world, and the place of the dead. Not only at Halloween, or the ancient Samhain. Ghost stories have also been told across the centuries during the twelve days of Christmas, from the twenty-fourth December until Twelfth Night or Epiphany. A time when families traditionally gathered together to feast through the long, winter, nights. December twenty-ninth, the Christian Feast of the Holy Innocents, is associated in particular with the macabre. 

The storytellers of the Medieval era and Dark Ages sat in front of a smouldering Yule log when they spoke of creatures like the evil dragon, Grendel, in Beowulf's tale. Casting fear into the hearts of their listeners. These tales of the otherworld, and supernatural, were often based on the conflict of good and evil. A natural balance to life which was akin to light and dark, or the warmth of a Lord's Hall against the bitter cold of the winter season outside. A time when men and women followed the rhythms of nature more closely, and the cycles of the year, so as to ensure their survival. 

The Spirits Who Haunt Us

Ghostly apparitions have for many years been thought to be souls of the departed. Cultural factors may however affect the context in which they are "seen." The ancient Roman celebration of the God Janus was on the first day of the new year. Wax masks of the Ancestors' faces were taken down from the walls, and worn in remembrance of the dead. Whilst the winter solstice continues to be celebrated at Yule, on or around the twentieth December. When the light returns again to the earth, and is another opportunity for the souls of those who have passed to ask the living for their blessing. This natural turning of the wheel of the seasons is believed to create a flow of supernatural energy. Even if only in our imagination, and beliefs. 

My Love Of Ghost Stories

My inspiration for The Bookseller's Ghost came from this seasonal contrast between light, and dark; good, and evil. Also the Christmas stories, written by Charles Dickens (1812-1870), and those of Montague Rhodes James (1862-1936). Both of whom would often terrify their friends and family, with tales of the spectres they had created. In the case of M.R. James, these usually begin innocently enough before something truly frightening happens or is suggested to the reader. Often in the very ordinary world of academia. Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) also played a part in this, as the predecessor of the horror movie genre. Those films from the Hammer House Of Horror I watched as a teenager, starring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing, with the stories they told. 

In The Darkest Of Places

The eleven tales in The Bookseller's Ghost have atmospheric settings. Ancient churchyards; haunted houses; the grounds of a ruined castle, and so on. Giving the imagination an opportunity to fear the worst. Old buildings often have strong personalities. A sense of those who have lived there, and the deeper emotions they felt. Such as love, or the much darker hatred. We have come to describe the apparitions in these haunted places, as ghosts. Some of whom live on in our folklore, and tradition, through the retelling of their tales. 

If you enjoy a little more history in your ghost stories, then you will find it as background detail in my book. The apparition of Francis in Chapter One of The Bookseller's Ghost originates during the reign of Elizabeth 1st. Whilst Charles Darwin, and his work on the evolution of the species, is part of Imaginary Friends in the reign of Queen Victoria. A Tudor dagger is found at the site of the archaeological dig in I Remember You, with all the implications of this, and there is more. 

Chapter One

The Bookseller’s Ghost                                                  

On a crisp morning when old Father Winter was nipping noses and fingertips until they ached, a shadow flitted across the narrow passage between the buildings. A low moan escaped its lifeless lips. Whilst a passerby assumed it must have been the wind. It had started to snow again on the roofs which sagged between the black and white timbered gables. Their ancient tiles, a reminder of another era. The people who lived in the rooms beneath, behind the herringbone of blackened wood, became the eyes which still stare through diamond window panes of Elizabethan glass. Watching. Always watching, those who are alive today. 

Francis used to run past the terracotta house opposite when he was playing. Margaret lived there, and Molly thinks it is quaint. That’s all, but there’s more to a memory than that! Francis knows, as his shadow flits from room to room. Place to place, but he must always return to the hole. It’s the reason he can’t leave. Although he is curious about Molly. If her child is a boy, he will be able to run with him and play games again. 

Meanwhile, Molly was in the bookshop below. With her hands around a mug of tea she wouldn’t drink. Its warmth seeping through the gloves which Beryl had made for her. She looked around the shop in dismay. Her Mother was right, even if she didn't want to admit it. This wasn’t the place for Joe and her, or the baby. The different levels of the floors in the building, especially at the top where they lived. All of it seemed so strange. The ceilings sloped in the most awkward places, as if they were deliberately holding themselves out to collide with someone's head. It probably wouldn’t have been quite so bad if the passage ways had been straight, like modern corridors. Instead of all that twisting and turning backwards when you least expected it. Molly shuddered. It was the cold in the alcove under the stairs which bothered her the most. 

Beryl said that old buildings had a soul. When she passed away Molly used the money from the sale of her bungalow to buy the bookshop, ignoring her mother’s opinion. She had been desperate to have it, and regretted not going into the alcove when she walked around the building with Joe last winter. The feeling that something bad had happened there began almost immediately after they moved in. When it was too late to change her mind. They couldn’t afford the cost of another removal, even if they could find a buyer. Molly’s fingers grasped the crucifix which she wore around her neck. It had belonged to Beryl.

Amazon

Sharon Bradshaw is a Historical Fiction Author, Storyteller, and Poet. She writes the 8th century Durstan series, set in the real Middle Earth we called the Dark Ages. A collection of her faerytales, based on tradition and folklore, have been published in The Woodcutter And The Faery Queen. The Bookseller's Ghost, and her other books, are available now on Amazon 

Subscribers to The Storyteller’s Newsletter will receive a free short story from her every quarter. Sharon enjoys speaking about her books, and life as an Author. She is also a freelance Ghostwriter and Editor, living with her family, near Warwick Castle in the UK. 

Please visit Sharon Bradshaw's Website for more information, and follow her on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Welcome to day #1 of the blog tour of The London Monster by Donna Scott #HistoricalFiction #Excerpt #BlogTour @D_ScottWriter @CraftygasheadZo

December 16th – February 17th 2021Amazon US • Amazon UK

Publication Date: 21st November 2020

Publisher: Atlantic Publishing

Page Length: 322 pages

Genre: Historical Fiction/Historical Mystery

In 1788, exactly one hundred years before Jack the Ripper terrorizes the people of London, a sexual miscreant known as the London Monster roams the streets in search of his next victim…

Thomas Hayes, having lost his mother in a vicious street assault, becomes an underground pugilist on a mission to rid the streets of violent criminals. But his vigilante actions lead to him being mistaken for the most terrifying criminal of all.

Assistance arrives in the form of Sophie Carlisle, a young journalist with dreams of covering a big story, though she is forced to masquerade as a man to do it. Trapped in an engagement to a man she doesn’t love, Sophie yearns to break free to tell stories that matter about London’s darker side—gaming, prostitution, violence—and realizes Tom could be the one to help. Together, they come up with a plan.

Straddling the line between his need for vengeance and the need to hide his true identity as a politician's son becomes increasingly difficult as Tom is pressured to win more fights. The more he wins, the more notoriety he receives, and the greater the chance his identity may be exposed—a revelation that could jeopardize his father’s political aspirations and destroy his family’s reputation.

Sophie is also in danger as hysteria spreads and the attacks increase in severity and frequency. No one knows who to trust, and no one is safe—Tom included, yet he refuses to end the hunt.

Little does he realize, the monster is also hunting him.

Head over to Zoe's Art, Craft and Life for a sneak-peek between the covers of The London Monster.Click HERE!

Welcome to Day #5 of the blog tour for Discovery (The Orphan Train Saga, Book 1) by Sherry A. Burton #HistoricalFiction #BlogTour @SherryABurton @cathiedunn

 

DISCOVERY THE ORPHAN TRAIN SAGA, BOOK 1 BY SHERRY A. BURTON

NOVEMBER 18TH – JANUARY 20TH 2021
AMAZON UK • AMAZON US • BARNES & NOBLE

Book Title: Discovery

Series: The Orphan Train Saga, Book 1

Author: Sherry A. Burton

Publication Date: December 25, 2018

Publisher: Dorry Press

Print Length: 229 Pages

Genre: Historical Fiction

While most use their summer breaks for pleasure, third grade teacher Cindy Moore is using her summer vacation to tie up some loose ends concerning her grandmother’s estate. When Cindy enters the storage unit that holds her grandmother’s belongings, she is merely looking for items she can sell to recoup some of the rental fees she’s spent paying for the unit.

Instead, what she finds are secrets her grandmother has taken to the grave with her. The more Cindy uncovers, the more she wants to know. Why was her grandmother abandoned by her own mother? Why hadn’t she told Cindy she’d lived in an orphanage? And how come her grandmother never mentioned she’d made history as one of the children who rode the Orphan Trains?

Join Cindy as she uncovers her grandmother’s hidden past and discovers the life that stole her grandmother’s love.
Head over to Ruins & Reading for a sneak-peek between the covers of this fabulous book!
Click HERE!

Welcome to Day #8 of the blog tour for - Three Monkeys (DCI Jack Callum Mysteries Book 1) by Len Maynard #HistoricalFiction #Crime @len_maynard @CraftygasheadZo

 

Three Monkeys

(DCI JACK CALLUM MYSTERIES BOOK 1)BY LEN MAYNARD
OCTOBER 28TH – DECEMBER 30TH  2020AMAZON UK • AMAZON US

Publication Date: 22nd July 2020

Publisher: Sharpe Books

Page Length: 270 Pages

Genre: Historical Crime

1958.

A girl’s body is found in Hertfordshire.

Her eyes and mouth have been sewn shut. Candle wax has been poured into her ears to seal them.

DCI Jack Callum, policeman and dedicated family man, who cut his teeth walking the beat on the violent streets of London, before moving his family away from the city, to a safer, more restful life in the country, leads the investigation into this gruesome crime that shatters the peace of the sleepy English town.

Images of three monkeys are sent to the police to taunt them: see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. Something more sinister than a mere isolated murder seems to be going on as more victims come to light.

Who is doing this and why?

At the insistence of the first victim’s father, a local dignitary, officers from Scotland Yard are brought in to bring about a speedy conclusion to the case, side-lining Jack’s own investigation.

In a nail-biting climax, one of Jack’s daughters is snatched. Before she can become the next victim, Jack has to go against the orders of his superiors that have constantly hampered his investigation, and risk his own career in an attempted rescue at the killer’s own home.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Len Maynard was born in North London in 1953.

In 1978, a book of short ghost stories, written in collaboration with Michael Sims, was published by London publisher William Kimber. For the following forty years the pair wrote ten more collections of ghost stories before moving into novels in 2006, completing over thirty more books, including the successful Department 18 series of supernatural/crime crossover novels as well as several standalone novels and novellas in the supernatural and crime genres. Always a keen reader of crime novels, and with a passion for the social history of the twentieth century it was fairly inevitable that, when he decided to branch out and write under his own name, some kind of combination of these two interests would occur.  The six DCI Jack Callum Mysteries were the result of several years of total immersion in the world he created for Jack Callum, his family, his friends (and enemies) and his work colleagues. He has also written a trilogy of adventure thrillers set in the Bahamas (also available from Sharpe Books) He is currently at work on the seventh book in the DCI Jack Callum series.

Head over to Zoe's Art, Craft & Life for a sneak-peek between the covers of this fabulous book!

Click HERE!

Welcome to Day #8 of the blog tour for The Wolf Banner (Sons of the Wolf, Book 2) By Paula Lofting #HistoricalFiction #BlogTour #CoffeePotBookClub @Paulalofting @CaigJamie

 

December 7th – December 18th 2020
Amazon UK • Amazon US

Publication Date: August 26th 2020 / Second Edition: Publisher: Longship PublishingGenre: Historical Fiction
WAR AND BLOODFEUD
"Best battle description ever!"
1056...England lurches towards war as the rebellious Lord Alfgar plots against the indolent King Edward. Sussex thegn, Wulfhere, must defy both his lord, Harold Godwinson, and his bitter enemy, Helghi, to protect his beloved daughter.
As the shadow of war stretches across the land, a more personal battle rages at home, and when it follows him into battle, he knows he must keep his wits about him more than ever, and COURAGE AND FEAR MUST BECOME HIS ARMOUR…
Check out another fabulous review over on The Whispering Bookworm:
Click HERE!

Welcome to the FINAL Day of the virtual blog tour for The Brittle Sea by Tom Kane #HistoricalFiction #TheBrittleSea #Titanic @TigerBites @SylvDotNet

 

The Brittle SeaBy Tom Kane
OCTOBER 14TH – DECEMBER 16TH 2020AMAZON (KINDLE) • AMAZON (PAPERBACK) 

Publication Date: 19th June 2020

Publisher: TigerBites

Print Length: 295 pages

Genre: Historical Fiction

The Titanic disaster is the catalyst that sparks a bloody feud between two families in early 20th century America.

Magda Asparov is travelling from her home in the Ukraine to be the chosen bride of American businessman Matthew Turner III. But the ill-fated voyage of the unsinkable ship has far reaching consequences for her and her savior.

Magda has lost her memory and a new personality, Maggie, has taken hold. The Captain of her rescue ship, Richard Blackmore, has fallen for Maggie.

A mental illness, betrayal, murder, and corruption destroy Blackmore's life until all that remains is for him to seek revenge.

For the FINAL Day of this blog tour we are over on Sylv.net for a sneak-peek between the covers of this fabulous book!

Click HERE!

By Love Divided (The Lydiard Chronicles Book 2) by Elizabeth St.John really needs to be on your #HolidayReading list. Check out these 5 star reviews! @CaigJamie @MaddieS39950549 @ElizStJohn

 

By Love Divided(The Lydiard Chronicles Book 2)By Elizabeth St.John


December 7th – December 18th 2020
Amazon  • Books2Read

Book Title: By Love DividedSeries: The Lydiard Chronicles, Book 2Author: Elizabeth St.JohnPublished: October 2017Publisher: Falcon HistoricalPage Length: 381Genre: Historical Fiction

London, 1630.
Widowed and destitute, Lucy St.John is fighting for survival and makes a terrible choice to secure a future for her children. Worse still, her daughter Luce rejects the royal court and a wealthy arranged marriage, and falls in love with a charismatic soldier. As England tumbles toward bloody civil war, Luce’s beloved brother Allen chooses to fight for the king as a cavalier. Allen and Luce are swept up in the chaos of war as they defend their opposing causes and protect those they love.
Will war unite or divide them? And will they find love and a home to return to—if they survive the horror of civil war. In the dawn of England’s great rebellion, love is the final battleground.
A true story based on surviving memoirs, court papers, and letters of Elizabeth St.John's family, By Love Divided tells of the war-time experiences of Lucy St.John, the Lady of the Tower. This powerfully emotional novel tells of England's great divide and the heart-wrenching choices one family faces.
Check out these fabulous 5 star review by Oh look, another book! and The Whispering Bookworm:
To read the review by Oh look, another book:
Click HERE!
To read the review by The Whispering Bookworm:
Click HERE!
Pick up your copy for only 0.99 on #Kindle for a Limited Time!
Amazon  • Books2Read