Linnea Tanner's Blog, page 4
May 25, 2025
Mark Mustian Boy With Wings #LiteraryFiction #HistoricalFiction #BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub @markmustian @cathiedunn
It’s my pleasure to welcome Mark Mustian as the featured author in The Coffee Pot Book Club Blog Tour being held between May 19th – 30th, 2025. Mark Mustian is the author of the Literary Fiction / Historical Fiction, Boy With Wings, published by Koehler Books on March 15th, 2025 (322 pages).
Below are highlights of Boy With Wings, Mark Mustian’s author bio, and a guest post providing the historical background of the novel.
Tour Schedule Page: https://thecoffeepotbookclub.blogspot.com/2025/04/blog-tour-boy-with-wings-by-mark-mustian.html
HIGHLIGHTS: BOY WITH WINGS
Boy With Wings
by Mark Mustian
Blurb:
“A brilliant fever dream of a novel, a haunting coming of age story reminiscent of both Franz Kafka and Charles Dickens.”
~ Chris Bohjalian, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author of The Jackal’s Mistress
*Next Generation Indie Book Awards 2025 First Place Winner*
What does it mean to be different?
When Johnny Cruel is born with strange appendages on his back in the 1930s South, the locals think he’s a devil. Determined to protect him, his mother fakes his death, and they flee. Thus begins Johnny’s yearslong struggle to find a place he belongs.
From a turpentine camp of former slaves to a freak show run by a dwarf who calls herself Tiny Tot and on to the Florida capitol building, Johnny finds himself working alongside other outcasts, struggling to answer the question of his existence. Is he a horror, a wonder, or an angel? Should he hide himself to live his life?
Following Johnny’s journey through love, betrayal, heartbreak, and several murders, Boy With Wings is a story of the sacrifices and freedom inherent in making one’s own special way-and of love and the miracles that give our lives meaning.
Buy Link:
Universal Buy Link: https://books2read.com/u/mdxEoR
AUTHOR BIO: MARK MUSTIAN
Mark Mustian is the author of the novels “The Return” and “The Gendarme,” the latter a finalist for the Dayton International Literary Peace Prize and shortlisted for the Saroyan International Award for Writing. It won the Florida Gold Book Award for Fiction and has been published in ten languages.
The founder of the Word of South Festival of Literature and Music in Tallahassee, Florida, his new novel, “Boy With Wings,” is out in 2025.
Author Links:
Website: https://markmustian.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/@markmustian
Facebook: https://facebook.com/markmustianauthor
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/mark-mustian
Bluesky: https://markmustian.bsky.social
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Mark-T.-Mustian/author/B0CSF8JY2Y
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3463600.Mark_Mustian
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND: BOY WITH WINGS
Boy With Wings is set in the 1920s and 1930s in the southern United States, mostly in northern Florida. This is a part of Florida many are not familiar with, given its rolling hills and live oaks and a topography closer to southern Georgia and Alabama than to the beaches of south Florida. During the 1930s this area was mostly rural, with farming and timber (including turpentine camps like the one described in the book) forming the basis for much of the economy. North Florida is also the location of Tallahassee, the state capital.
The 1930s was the period of the Great Depression in the U.S., and I was deliberate in setting the story in that time frame, as this was a period of great change in the country: a time of hardship and a sense of things falling apart. Segregation and discrimination remained a huge facet of life in the South, and as the book is in large part about what it means to be different, I wanted to play on that, too. The main character, Johnny, is taken up when his mother dies by a Negro community, and the book explores similarities and differences in their experiences in being on the outside looking in. Turpentine camps were in large part indentured servitude, with the workers paid in “script” redeemable only at the company store, and debts incurred to the company that the workers could never hope to repay.
The early twentieth century also signaled the beginning of the end of sideshows in the United States. The boy Johnny is born with strange appendages on his back, and ends up in a “freak show” traveling the South. This displaying of human oddities probably peaked at the end of the 19th century with the P.T. Barnum displays in New York, and continued on as circuses began to travel the country. Many such exhibitions contained a “sideshow” that was a part of the main circus acts. In Boy With Wings Johhny becomes part of a standalone show that travels by truck instead of by train, enabling the group to get further into the U.S. hinterlands. As the Depression drags on, changes occur, including the promoter’s decision to invite Blacks to attend the shows to raise flagging revenue.
The history of the display of human oddities dates back much longer in time, and has varied in different cultures and times. The Greeks revered some oddities and scorned others; the Spartans left theirs to die; the Romans delighted in and exploited all manner of different people. In the Middle Ages, the Christians persecuted strangeness. The history of “shows” and exhibitions gathered steam in the 18th and 19th centuries in Europe, and it made some “freaks” stars, as to some extent being exhibited was a better life compared to being with families who were ashamed of their oddness and hid them away at home. I explored this dichotomy some in Boy With Wings, as Johnny at first becomes the star of “Alexander’s Traveling Oddities,” then grows tired of it, then is somewhat eclipsed by another star. Regular performers grow jealous of the “freaks,” and vice-versa. Being different has never been easy. That hasn’t changed much even today.
Twitter: @cathiedunn
Instagram & Threads: @thecoffeepotbookclub
Bluesky: @cathiedunn.bsky.social
May 21, 2025
Pam Records Tangled in Water #HistoricalFiction #Prohibition #Mermaid #BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub @thecoffeepotbookclub
I‘m delighted to welcome Pam Records as the featured author in The Coffee Pot Book Club Blog Tour being held between May 19th – 23th, 2025. Pam Records is the author of the Historical Fiction, Tangled in Water, published by Historium Press on March 18th, 2025 (418 pages).
Below are highlights of Tangled in Water, the author bio of Pam Records, and an excerpt from her book
Tour Schedule Page: https://thecoffeepotbookclub.blogspot.com/2025/04/blog-tour-tangled-in-water-by-pam-records.html
HIGHLIGHTS: TANGLED IN WATER
Tangled in Water
By Pam Records
1932. Natalia is 16 and a bootlegger’s daughter, playing the mermaid mascot on a rundown paddlewheel used to entertain brewers and distributors.
A sequined costume hides her scarred and misshaped legs, but it can’t cover up the painful memories and suspicions that haunt her. An eccentric healer who treats patients with Old Country tonics, tries to patch wounds, but only adds to the heartache. A fierce storm threatens to destroy everything, including a stash of stolen jewels.
1941. Prohibition is over, but the same henchmen still run the show. Nattie’s new mermaid act is more revealing, with more at risk. When the dry-docked paddlewheel is bought by the US Navy for training exercises, the pressure escalates further.
Can Nattie entice a cocky US Navy officer to help her gain access to the ship for one last chance to confront her past, settle scores, and retrieve the hidden loot? Is there a new course ahead?
Universal Buy Links:
Ebook: https://geni.us/cNfENHQ
Paperback: https://geni.us/3IgN95U
Hardcover: https://geni.us/EzoT1
AUTHOR BIO: PAM RECORDS
Pam and her husband, Mark, recently uprooted from the Midwest to move to Savannah, Georgia, the perfect place for enjoying the beach, historic architecture and Spanish moss.
She’s recently retired from writing content for software companies and now focuses on writing fiction, camping, and exploring historic cities.
Pam is the author of three historic novels.
Author Links:
Website: www.PamRecords.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100090920739720
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/pam-records-writes
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pam.records.author/
Amazon Author Page: https://amazon.com/author/pamrecords
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19472278.Pam_Records
EXCERPT: TANGLED IN WATER
Nattie listened for engine sounds and looked over the railing. On the main deck, passengers were finally arriving. In small clusters they strolled up to the ticket counter, carrying small valises for the three-day trip. Some had porters carrying a travel trunk. Some men had nothing. They didn’t plan to sleep, it seemed.
The onslaught of passenger voices was sharp-edged against the metal hull, ricocheting from rust patches and layers of paint over iron bones. Teeth-hurting noises, metal scraping on metal, came in bursts. Tugs in the harbor made big hoot-hoot bellows, like jumbo-sized mama owls calling their owlets for dinner. The owl babies never answered. Maybe they had deformed legs, too, and were ashamed. Maybe they were waiting for the mutiny at midnight, the one the fog spirits had wanted her to join.
She thought about slipping away before passengers had a chance to stroll up to the Mermaid Lagoon. She could use some quiet time in the rat-runs, the crew-only passageways and secret-door vaults that crisscrossed the ship, places to hide bootleg barrels in case of a raid. They were also a good hiding place for a mermaid sick of being on display.
The water was choppy, the wind gusting in haphazard whooshes and wails. The up-and-down motion of the boat was making her gastric abnormalities act up. Being sickly was inconvenient.
Margret would be by soon, making sure she was ready for passengers. Nattie checked the ink on her arms. Some scales were forever ink under her skin. Other rows were added with a fountain pen as needed. Drawn with water-blue ink and a very unsteady hand, the scales looked like ivy groping on wind. Perhaps she’d had too many dribbles and maraschino cherries from discarded Polynesian Passions when she did the last touch-up.
Nattie rubbed some spit polish on her bare shoulders, making the mix of old and new ink scales glisten like she was fresh out of the lake. Men liked her to look slippery like that, or so they said. Then she adjusted the shells hanging around her neck to make sure all her right parts were covered. No point in giving away the goods, Mimi always said.
She finger-combed her hair, tucking the big tangles behind her ears, letting the ribbons knotted with pearls and strings of sequins skim her neck and bare shoulders. She hoped she looked at least a little bit lovely. Jakub had promised he would come by. He still might.
On each side of Nattie’s tank, hanging blue and green scarves draped off a small dressing room for her. She wheeled her rollie chair through the silk curtains for one more check of how she looked.
A mirror, bolted to a metal beam, was cracked so her face looked sliced and spliced, put together by a blind man. Bangs fell over her eyes. Her hair was a dirty blond color, ordinary. But her eyes were vibrant, turquoise, like still lagoons at twilight. A saxophone player had told her that once. He smelled like BO and she told him so. He didn’t make her sit on his lap after that.
Twitter: @cathiedunn
Instagram & Threads: @thecoffeepotbookclub
Bluesky: @cathiedunn.bsky.social
May 15, 2025
Wendy J. Dunn Falling Pomegranate Seeds #HistoricalFiction #TudorFiction #KatherineOfAragon #Duology #BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub @wendyjdunnauthor @thecoffeepotbookclub
I‘m delighted to welcome Wendy J. Dunn as the featured author in The Coffee Pot Book Club Blog Tour being held between May 14th – 16th, 2025. Wendy J. Dunn is the author of the Historical Fiction / Tudor Fiction, Falling Pomegranate Seeds: The Katherine of Aragon Story, published by Poesy Quill on February 28th, 2025 (1030 pages).
Below are highlights of Falling Pomegranate Seeds, Wendy J. Dunn’s author bio, and a snippet from her book
Tour Schedule Page: https://thecoffeepotbookclub.blogspot.com/2025/04/blog-tour-falling-pomegranate-seeds-duology-by-wendy-j-dunn.html
HIGHLIGHT: FALLING POMEGRANATE SEEDS
Falling Pomegranate Seeds: The Katherine of Aragon Story
By Wendy J. Dunn
Blurb:
In the Falling Pomegranate Seeds Duology, readers are transported to the rich historical tapestry of 15th and 16th-century Europe, where the lives of remarkable women unfold against the backdrop of political upheaval and personal struggles.
In the first book, beginning in 1490 Castile, Doña Beatriz Galindo, a passionate and respected scholar, serves as an advisor to Queen Isabel of Castile. Beatriz yearns for a life beyond the constraints imposed on women, desiring to control her own destiny. As she witnesses the Holy War led by Queen Isabel and her husband, King Ferdinand of Aragon, Beatriz dedicates herself to guiding Queen Isabel’s youngest child, Catalina of Aragon, on her own path. Beatriz’s role as a tutor and advisor becomes instrumental in shaping Catalina’s future as she prepares to become England’s queen.
Fast forward to the winter of 1539 in the second book, where María de Salinas, a dear friend and cousin of Catalina (now known as Katherine of Aragon), pens a heartfelt letter to her daughter, the Duchess of Suffolk. Unable to make the journey from her London home due to illness, María shares her life story, intricately woven with her experiences alongside Catalina. Their friendship has endured through exile and tumultuous times. María seeks to shed light for her daughter on the choices she has made in a story exploring themes of friendship, betrayal, hatred, and forgiveness. Through María’s narrative, the eternal question Will love ultimately triumph?
Triggers: This is a story for adults, with adult themes and situations.
Buy Link:
Universal Buy Link: https://books2read.com/u/bax5n6
AUTHOR BIO: WENDY J. DUNN
Author Bio:
Wendy J. Dunn is an award-winning Australian writer fascinated by Tudor history – so much so she was not surprised to discover a family connection to the Tudors, not long after the publication of her first Anne Boleyn novel, which narrated the Anne Boleyn story through the eyes of Sir Thomas Wyatt, the elder.
Her family tree reveals the intriguing fact that one of her ancestral families – 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.
Author Links:
Website Facebook Instagram Threads
Book Bub Amazon Author Page Goodreads
SNIPPET: FALLING POMEGRANATE SEEDS
María fought against her queasiness, her stomach rolling like the ship’s own deck. She grabbed the rail, gazing first to land, then to her princess. Catalina broke away from the chattering women, looping her arm through hers. “Fool- hardiness or bravery, do you think?”
Before María could answer, wind whipped her veils against her face and into her open mouth. She burst out laughing. She laughed at the black clouds already gathering on the horizon and a churning, endless ocean. She laughed at how small their ship was when compared to the sea’s vastness. She swallowed, her laughter skating close to weeping, and met Catalina’s troubled eyes. “I pray to get to England safely; I pray for all of us,” she said quietly, with all the control she could muster.
From All Manner of Things
Twitter: @cathiedunn
Instagram & Threads: @thecoffeepotbookclub
Bluesky: @cathiedunn.bsky.social
May 14, 2025
Book Review Sister Rosa’s Rebellion Sister Rosa’s Rebellion #Fiction #HistoricalFiction #Meonbridge #BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub @writingcalliope @cathiedunn
I’m delighted to welcome Carolyn Hughes again as the featured author in The Coffee Pot Book Club Blog Tour, being held between April 24th – May15th, 2025. Carolyn Hughes is the author of the Historical Fiction, Sister Rosa’s Rebellion: The Sixth Meonbridge Chronicle), published by Riverdown Books on 4th April 2025 (446 pages).
Below are highlights of Sister Rosa’s Rebellion, Carolyn Hughes’ author bio, and my 5-star review of her compelling novel set at the medieval Northwick Priory in England.
Tour Schedule Page: https://thecoffeepotbookclub.blogspot.com/2025/03/blog-tour-sister-rosas-rebellion-by-carolyn-hughes.html
HIGHLIGHTS: SISTER ROSA’S REBELLION
Sister Rosa’s Rebellion
(The Sixth Meonbridge Chronicle)
By Carolyn Hughes
Blurb:
How can you rescue what you hold most dear, when to do so you must break your vows?
1363. When Mother Angelica, the old prioress at Northwick Priory, dies, many of the nuns presume Sister Rosa – formerly Johanna de Bohun, of Meonbridge – will take her place. But Sister Evangelina, Angelica’s niece, believes the position is hers by right, and one way or another she will ensure it is.
Rosa stands aside to avoid unseemly conflict, but is devastated when she sees how the new prioress is changing Northwick: from a place of humility and peace to one of indulgence and amusement, if only for the prioress and her favoured few. Rosa is terrified her beloved priory will be brought to ruin under Evangelina’s profligate and rapacious rule, but her vows of obedience make it impossible to rebel.
Meanwhile, in Meonbridge, John atte Wode, the bailiff, is also distraught by the happenings at Northwick. After years of advising the former prioress and Rosa on the management of their estates, Evangelina dismissed him, banning him from visiting Northwick again.
Yet, only months ago, he met Anabella, a young widow who fled to Northwick to escape her in-laws’ demands and threats, but is a reluctant novice nun. The attraction between John and Anabella was immediate and he hoped to encourage her to give up the priory and become his wife. But how can he possibly do that now?
Can John rescue his beloved Anabella from a future he is certain she no longer wants? And can Rosa overcome her scruples, rebel against Evangelina’s hateful regime, and return Northwick to the haven it once was?
Buy Links:
Universal Buy Link: https://books2read.com/u/bWaYM0
This title is available to read on #KindleUnlimited.
AUTHOR BIO: CAROLYN HUGHES
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, word-smithing for many different clients, including banks, an international hotel group and medical instruments manufacturers.
Although she wrote creatively on and off for most of her adult life, it was not until her children flew the nest that writing historical fiction took centre stage. But why historical fiction? Serendipity!
Seeking inspiration for what to write for her Creative Writing Masters, she discovered the handwritten draft, begun in her twenties, of a novel, set in 14th century rural England… Intrigued by the period and setting, she realised that, by writing a novel set in the period, she could learn more about the medieval past and interpret it, which seemed like a thrilling thing to do. A few days later, the first Meonbridge Chronicle, Fortune’s Wheel, was under way.
Seven published books later (with more to come), Carolyn does now think of herself as an Historical Novelist. And she wouldn’t have it any other way…
Author Links:
Website Twitter Facebook Bluesky
Book Bub Amazon Author Page Goodreads
BOOK REVIEW: SISTER ROSA’S REBELLION
Sister Rosa faces a moral dilemma. Does she continue to embrace the beliefs she holds dearly, to obey her prioress, or must she betray Evangelina in her effort to save the priory and to maintain its religious traditions? The situation is further complicated when a widow, Annabelle, escapes from her in-laws’ demands by reluctantly joining the order as a novice nun. When Rosa learns that John atte Wode, a bailiff who advised her and the former prioress on the management of the estates, should she again go against her ethical principle to retain Annabelle or encourage the couple to fulfill their desires?
Author Carolyn Hughes masterfully weaves a tale of corruption, betrayal, and lust in a religious order restrained by strict rules and discipline. Life’s choices for Rosa are not black and white but shades of gray. The story is told from the perspective of various characters, delving into each of their internal struggles and motivations for choices they make. Despite their objections, many characters are tragically banished to the priory by their families. Some find solace and redemption serving in the religious order while others resent the sacrifices forced upon them. Each of the characters are well-drawn and engaging, their experiences relatable to modern times.
The story is a page-turning tale that drops pieces of information that keeps you reading to find out what happens next. What seems to be disparate subplots weave together into a cohesive ending. It is a thought-provoking novel in which Rosa must wrestle with her conscious and compromise her long-held beliefs for the greater good of restoring the traditions in the religious order. It is a twisted tale of corruption, betrayal, vengeance, and lust in a medieval society that defines the role and moral code for each person.
I highly recommend Sister Rosa’s Rebellion to readers who enjoy reading character-driven, medieval fiction with a compelling plot of how one determined sister rises against corruption in the church and finds redemption.
May 13, 2025
Apollo’s Raven Audiobook Linnea Tanner#ApollosRaven #LinneaTanner #CurseOfClansmenAndKings #HistoricalFantasy #HistoricalFiction #Britannia #Rome #CelticMyth #BlogTour #audiobook @cathiedunn
Apollo’s Raven
Audiobook
Curse of Clansmen and Kings, Book #1
by Linnea Tanner
*Audiobook Blog Tour*
Publisher: Apollo Raven Publisher LLC
Pages: 394
Genre: Historical Fantasy / Historical FictionPublication Date: May 24th, 2017 (audiobook)
Audiobook Publisher: Apollo Raven Publisher LLC
Listening Time: 11 hrs 56 mins
Narrator: Kristin JamesA Celtic warrior princess is torn between her forbidden love for the enemy and duty to her people.
AWARD-WINNING APOLLO’S RAVEN sweeps you into an epic Celtic tale of forbidden love, mythological adventure, and political intrigue in Ancient Rome and Britannia. In 24 AD British kings hand-picked by Rome to rule are fighting each other for power. King Amren’s former queen, a powerful Druid, has cast a curse that Blood Wolf and the Raven will rise and destroy him. The king’s daughter, Catrin, learns to her dismay that she is the Raven and her banished half-brother is Blood Wolf. Trained as a warrior, Catrin must find a way to break the curse, but she is torn between her forbidden love for her father’s enemy, Marcellus, and loyalty to her people. She must summon the magic of the Ancient Druids to alter the dark prophecy that threatens the fates of everyone in her kingdom.
Will Catrin overcome and eradicate the ancient curse? Will she be able to embrace her forbidden love for Marcellus? Will she cease the war between Blood Wolf and King Amren and save her kingdom?
Praise for Apollo’s Raven:
“Mystery and intrigue with each word, Tanner is a master wordsmith. Her vivid imagery and imagination are captured in her story and character development.”~ The Audiobook Reviewer
“Many surprising twists enrich the historically drawn plot. Points of view shift between different characters effectively, heightening the tension from one moment to the next.”~ Historical Novel Society Review
Listen to Excerpt of Apollo’s Raven
Buy Link:
Audiobook Buy Links:
Series Links:
*Audiobook Giveaway UK*We have a promo code available for one lucky audiobook listener in the UK.
Please comment below if you’d love a chance to win!
A lucky winner will be chosen at random after the end of the blog tour. All rights are reserved.
Author Bio: Linnea Tanner
Award-winning author, Linnea Tanner, weaves Celtic tales of love, magical adventure, and political intrigue in Ancient Rome and Britannia. Since childhood, she has passionately read about ancient civilizations and mythology. She is particularly interested in the enigmatic Celts, who were reputed as fierce warriors and mystical Druids.Linnea has extensively researched ancient and medieval history, mythology, and archaeology and has traveled to sites described within each of her books in the Curse of Clansmen and Kings series. Books released in her series include Apollo’s Raven (Book 1), Dagger’s Destiny (Book 2), Amulet’s Rapture (Book 3), and Skull’s Vengeance (Book 4). She has also released the historical fiction short story Two Faces of Janus. A Colorado native, Linnea attended the University of Colorado and earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in chemistry. She lives in Fort Collins with her husband and has two children and six grandchildren.Author Links:Website• Facebook • Instagram • Twitter / X • Pinterest • BlueskyAmazon Author Page • BookBub • Threads • LinkedIn • GoodreadsBlog Tour Schedule
May 12th
Jennifer C. Wilson’s Official Blog
Carolyn Hughes’ Official BlogHistorical Fiction Blog
Let Your Words Shine
Candlelight Reading
May 13th
Mary’s Bookcase
MJ Porter’s Official Blog
The Whispering Bookworm
Yarde Reviews & Book Promotion
The Historical Fiction Company
When Angels Fly
May 14th
Catherine Meyrick’s Official Blog
Judith Arnopp’s Official Blog
The Coffee Pot Book Club
Ruins & Reading
May 3, 2025
Susan Lanigan White Feathers #HistoricalFiction #IrishHistoricalFiction #saga #BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub @cathiedunn
I‘m delighted to welcome Susan Lanigan as the featured author in The Coffee Pot Book Club Blog Tour being held between April 11th – May 2nd, 2025. Susan Lanigan is the author of the Historical Fiction, White Feathers (White Feathers Book 1), published by Idée Fixe Press on March 21, 2025 (398 pages).
Below are highlights of White Feathers, Susan Lanigan’s ’s author bio, and a guest post about her research process for the book.
Tour Schedule Page: https://thecoffeepotbookclub.blogspot.com/2025/04/blog-tour-white-feathers-by-susan-lanigan.html
HIGHLIGHTS: WHITE FEATHERS
White Feathers
(White Feathers Book 1)
by Susan Lanigan
Blurb:
“Anti-war and anti-patriarchy without ever saying so – a bravura performance of effortless elegance” – Irish Echo in Australia
SHORTLISTED FOR THE ROMANTIC NOVEL OF THE YEAR AWARD 2015
In 1913, Irish emigrée Eva Downey receives a bequest from an elderly suffragette to attend a finishing school. There she finds friendship and, eventually, love. But when war looms and he refuses to enlist, Eva is under family and social pressure to give the man she loves a white feather of cowardice. The decision she eventually makes will have lasting consequences for her and everyone around her.
Journey with Eva as she battles through a hostile social order and endeavours to resist it at every turn.
Triggers: Abortion (non-graphic), Death
Buy Link:
Universal Buy Link: https://books2read.com/u/4APnB0
AUTHOR BIO: SUSAN LANIGAN
Susan Lanigan’s first novel White Feathers, a tale of passion, betrayal and war, was selected as one of the final ten in the Irish Writers Centre Novel Fair 2013, and published in 2014 by Brandon Books. The book won critical acclaim and was shortlisted for the UK Romantic Novel of the Year Award in 2015. This edition is a reissue with a new cover and foreword.
Her second novel, Lucia’s War, also concerning WWI as well as race, music and motherhood, was published in June 2020 and has been named as the Coffee Pot Book Club Honourable Mention in the Modern Historical Book of the Year Award.
Susan lives by the sea near Cork, Ireland, with her family.
Author Links:
Website Facebook Instagram Threads Bluesky
Book Bub Amazon Author Page Goodreads
GUEST POST BY SUSAN LANIGAN: RESEARCH PROCESS
When I was writing White Feathers, I never lost sight of two facts: that people in the past are different from us, and also that they are very similar. Behind all the technological changes, we have the same urges, the same emotions and perceptions, and (as current events have shown) the same tendency to idiocy at a state level. If there is anything these turbulent times have shown us, it’s that we’re not as smart as we think we are, and that a small cohort of stupid people can drag the whole world into chaos.
A bit like how they did on 4th August, 1914.
In White Feathers, Eva and Christopher are pushed into this vortex of stupidity. I had to be sure that I conveyed the oppressive sense of institutional hysteria adequately. I was aided in this effort by a weekend in London, where I stayed at the (overpriced) Travelodge near Waterloo station and spent my days in the Imperial War Museum reading artefacts such as a letter to a railway porter from the Scoutmistress of Bath Girl Scouts sarcastically offering him the position of “washer-up” since he “was not man enough to join the Army.” I read an article in The Guardian by Francis Beckett about how his grandfather, turned down by the military on account of his eyesight, had been given a white feather. He enlisted, and was killed in battle shortly afterwards. According to Beckett, it destroyed his mother’s life, and she never forgave the woman who shamed her father.
Research is not just about what happened, what people did. It’s about how people felt. Kipling’s rage at the loss of his son at Loos, Vera Brittain’s desolation at the cruel death of her fiancé, Roland. The terror so many gay and lesbian people must have felt at Pemberton Billings’s ravings and his Black Book. The horror of being a serving soldier and having to open fire on one of your own comrades. The resentment West Indian soldiers must have felt when they realised they could never become officers or treated with the same dignity as their white counterparts. The anti-Irish prejudice. The humour. The little expressions. Navigating a byzantine class system. All these things. In Parade’s End there is an entire section where a general rants about a shortage of fire extinguishers. This very obviously came from Ford Madox Ford’s real experience of being in battle and the general numptyism that accompanied it. That’s the feeling I want to convey, of being right in the middle of it.
There are occasional blips. When I visited London I realised that for Sybil to have made her trip up Gower Street, she would have been going the wrong way on a one-way street. I tried to figure out if it was a one-way street back in 1915, but I got no data. I did get the temperature for that day, which was fifteen to sixteen degrees Celsius. Unusual for November, though probably not so unusual now, sadly.
Twitter: @cathiedunn
Instagram & Threads: @thecoffeepotbookclub
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April 28, 2025
Book Spotlight The Finding Jane Hunt#HistoricalFiction #WorldWarII #BlogTour #BookBlast #TheCoffeePotBookClub @cathiedunn
I‘m delighted to host the book spotlight for The Finding by Jane Hunt in The Coffee Pot Book Club Blog Tour being held today on April 29th, 2025. The Finding is a Historical Fiction novella published by Historium Press on January 7th, 2025 (85 pages)
Below are highlights of The Finding and Jane Hunt’s author bio.
Tour Schedule Page: https://thecoffeepotbookclub.blogspot.com/2025/02/blog-tour-the-finding-by-jane-hunt.html
HIGHLIGHTS: THE FINDING
The Finding
by Jane Hunt
Blurb:
This poignant novella is a tale of forbidden love, resilience, and the human cost of war.
In the quiet fields of Wiltshire during World War II, Eveline, a sheltered young woman, stumbles upon a life-altering discovery: a German Luftwaffe pilot, Fritz, has crash-landed near her home. Against the backdrop of war and suspicion, her family takes the injured man in, nursing him back to health. Beneath his reserved demeanor and burned body, Eveline senses a mystery—and something stirs an unfamiliar longing within her.
As Eveline’s infatuation deepens, she faces a storm of challenges: her overbearing mother’s rigid rules, a zealous preacher’s warnings, and the scrutiny of the town’s gossips. Despite Fritz’s attempts to keep her at arm’s length Eveline’s heart defies reason, falling for the man branded as her enemy.
But Fritz harbors secrets that could shatter Eveline’s fragile world. When the truths of war and the weight of loyalty collide, Eveline must confront the reality of loving someone forbidden.
Will their bond endure the hostility of a nation at war? Or will the scars of betrayal and loss prove impossible to heal?
Buy Link:
Universal Buy Link: https://books2read.com/u/3JAedg
AUTHOR BIO: JANE HUNT
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Born in Reading UK, Jane grew up with a love of reading. She remembers taking Enid Blyton books to bed and reading them under the covers when she should have been asleep! Her love of the written word extended into the classroom where the teachers commented on her vivid imagination and length of stories—probably accompanied with a few sights when they realized the amount of time the reading would take!
On leaving school Jane spent a brief spell at college before finding employment as a Dental Nurse where she spent many happy years meeting lots of wonderful people and mixing lots of fillings. After meeting her husband, she later went on to have three children and found work as a Teaching Assistant.
Alongside a busy life, she completed a comprehensive writing course, which saw her having non-fiction work published in newspapers and magazines. But the desire to do something ‘creative’ burned ever brightly. Having recently undertaken a lot of research into her family tree, a desire to find out what life was really like for her ancestors took hold, and she developed a fascination with World War II. Heeding the advice of her late parents to ‘put pen to paper’, she decided to get a story that had been buzzing in her head for quite some time written.
The result of her endeavour was a very ‘raw’ manuscript: The Finding. With some professional help—thank you, Dee, the story evolved into a book—something she still can’t quite believe!
Author Links:
Publisher’s Author Page: https://www.historiumpress.com/jane-hunt
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jane-Hunt/author/B0DRJ7KNHK
Twitter: @cathiedunn
Instagram & Threads: @thecoffeepotbookclub
Bluesky: @cathiedunn.bsky.social
April 22, 2025
Book Spotlight The Cross of Ciarán Andrea Matthews #TimeslipRomance #HistoricalRomance #CelticRomance #BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub @AndreaMatthewsAuthor @cathiedunn
I‘m delighted to host the book spotlight for The Cross of Ciarán (The Cross of Ciarán series – Book #1) by Andrea Matthews in The Coffee Pot Book Club Blog Tour being held on April 23rd, 2025.The Cross of Ciarán is a Time Slip Romance independently published by the author on June 18, 2020 (362 pages)
Below are highlights of The Cross of Ciarán and the author bio of Andrea Matthews.
Tour Schedule Page: https://thecoffeepotbookclub.blogspot.com/2025/02/blog-tour-the-cross-of-ciaran-by-andrea-matthews.html
HIGHLIGHTS: THE CROSS OF CIARÁN
The Cross of Ciarán
(
The Cross of Ciarán
series
– Book #1)
by Andrea Matthews
Blurb:
When a fifth century pagan priest is unearthed in Ireland fifteen hundred years after being entombed, archaeologist Caitlin O’Connell is convinced it’s the find of the century. The body is in perfect condition, right down to the intricate tattoos adorning the Celt’s skin. In fact, if scientific data hadn’t proved otherwise, she would swear he hadn’t been interred more than a few hours.
Eager to discover more about the mysterious Celt, Caitlin accompanies the body back to the New York museum where she’s employed, but before she has time to study him, the priest disappears without a trace.
Rumors surrounding the event begin to circulate and result in the excavation’s benefactor pulling the plug on the entire expedition. The rumors are not far off the mark though.
After being buried alive for betraying his goddess and his priesthood in the dawning age of Christianity, Ciarán wakes to a strange new world. Alone and frightened in an unforgiving city, he stumbles upon the only thing familiar to him and seeks sanctuary within the church walls. With the help of the parish’s pastor, Father Mike, Ciarán slowly grows accustomed to his surroundings, though he’s plagued by dark dreams and the disturbing sensation that an evil from his past has followed him into the future.
But a more immediate danger lurks on his doorstep. Caitlin is determined to get to the bottom of the mystery concerning her missing Celt, and when she meets her Uncle Mike’s new handyman, Ciarán Donnelly, she’s convinced the handsome Irishman knows more about the theft than he’s letting on.
Yet, even she can’t deny the attraction between them, simmering below the surface and blurring the lines between her personal and professional life.
But will Ciarán’s secrets draw them together or shatter their future forever.
Triggers: Sex scenes
Buy Links:
Universal Buy Link: https://books2read.com/u/mBl5XN
This title is available to read on #KindleUnlimited.
Amazon UK Series Buy Link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08BWRW1WC
Amazon US Series Buy Link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08BWRW1WC
AUTHOR BIO: ANDREA MATTHEWS
Andrea Matthews is the pseudonym for Inez Foster, a historian and librarian who loves to read and write and search around for her roots, genealogical speaking. She has a BA in History and an MLS in Library Science, and enjoys the research almost as much as she does writing the story. In fact, many of her ideas come to her while doing casual research or digging into her family history.
She is the author of the Thunder on the Moor series set on the 16th century Anglo-Scottish Border, and The Cross of Ciaran series, where a fifteen hundred year old Celt finds himself in the twentieth century.
Andrea also writes historical mysteries under the pen name I. M. Foster. Her series A South Shore Mystery is set in the early 1900s on Long Island. She is a member of the Long Island Romance Writers, and the Historical Novel Society.
Author Links:
Website Facebook Instagram Threads
Book Bub Amazon Author Page Goodreads
Twitter: @cathiedunn
Instagram & Threads: @thecoffeepotbookclub
Bluesky: @cathiedunn.bsky.social
April 20, 2025
Katherine Mezzacappa The Ballad of Mary Kearney #HistoricalFiction #IrishHistory #WomensFiction #BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub @cathiedunn
I‘m delighted to welcome Katherine Mezzacappa as the featured author in The Coffee Pot Book Club Blog Tour being held between April 14th – 25th, 2025. Katherine Mezzacappa is the author of the Historical Fiction, The Ballad of Mary Kearney, published by Histria on 14th January 2025 (288 pages).
Below are highlights of The Ballad of Mary Kearney, Katherine Mezzacappa’s author bio, and a guest blog about the historical background for the novel.
Tour Schedule Page: https://thecoffeepotbookclub.blogspot.com/2025/03/blog-tour-the-ballad-of-mary-kearney-by-katherine-mezzacappa.html
HIGHLIGHTS: THE BALLAD OF MARY KEARNEY
The Ballad of Mary Kearney
by Katherine Mezzacappa
Blurb:
‘I am dead, my Mary; the man who loved you body and soul lies in some dishonorable grave.’ In County Down, Ireland, in 1767, a nobleman secretly marries his servant, in defiance of law, class, and religion. Can their love survive tumultuous times?
‘Honest and intriguing, this gripping saga will transport and inspire you, and it just might break your heart. Highly recommended.’ Historical Novel Society
‘Mezzacappa brings nuance and a great depth of historical knowledge to the cross-class romance between a servant and a nobleman.’ Publishers Weekly.
The Ballad of Mary Kearney is a compelling must-read for anyone interested in Irish history, told through the means of an enduring but ultimately tragic love.
Triggers: Some scenes of violence, including judicial killing; rape.
Buy Link:
Universal Buy Link: https://books2read.com/u/3yxPpJ
AUTHOR BIO: KATHERINE MEZZACAPPA
Katherine Mezzacappa is Irish but currently lives in Carrara, between the Apuan Alps and the Tyrrhenian Sea. She wrote The Ballad of Mary Kearney (Histria) and The Maiden of Florence (Fairlight) under her own name, as well as four historical novels (2020-2023) with Zaffre, writing as Katie Hutton. She also has three contemporary novels with Romaunce Books, under the pen name Kate Zarrelli.
Katherine’s short fiction has been published in journals worldwide. She has in addition published academically in the field of 19th century ephemeral illustrated fiction, and in management theory. She has been awarded competitive residencies by the Irish Writers Centre, the Danish Centre for Writers and Translators and (to come) the Latvian Writers House.
Katherine also works as a manuscript assessor and as a reader and judge for an international short story competition. She has in the past been a management consultant, translator, museum curator, library assistant, lecturer in History of Art, sewing machinist and geriatric care assistant. In her spare time she volunteers with a second-hand book charity of which she is a founder member. She is a member of the Society of Authors, the Historical Novel Society, the Irish Writers Centre, the Irish Writers Union, Irish PEN / PEN na hÉireann and the Romantic Novelists Association, and reviews for the Historical Novel Review. She has a first degree in History of Art from UEA, an M.Litt. in Eng. Lit. from Durham and a Masters in Creative Writing from Canterbury Christ Church. She is represented by Annette Green Authors’ Agency.
Author Links:
Website: https://katherinemezzacappa.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/katherinemezzacappafiction
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katherine-mezzacappa-09407815/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katmezzacappa/
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/katmezzacappa.bsky.social
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/author/katherinemezzacappa
GUEST POST: KATHERINE MEZZACAPPA
Thank you for inviting me onto your blog today, Linnea.
You have asked me about the historical background to The Ballad of Mary Kearney. In a way it owes a lot to my own historical background, even if I wasn’t around in the 18th century! I was born in Carrickfergus in Co Antrim, a coastal town dominated by a massive Norman castle, built by an Anglo-Norman knight, John de Courcy, in 1177. William of Orange landed in Carrickfergus in 1690. Louis MacNeice’s poem of 1937 with the town’s name as its title references the fault lines in the north of Ireland that I remember from childhood, when he writes: ‘The Scotch Quarter was a line of residential houses/ But the Irish Quarter was a slum for the blind and halt.’ There is too the folk song, beginning ‘I wish I was in Carrickfergus.’
It was also the place where a Presbyterian farmer, William Orr, was hanged in 1797, having been found guilty of administering the oath of the United Irishmen to a soldier, after what was widely seen as a show-trial. I first learned of the United Irishmen and the Rebellion of 1798 in a Belfast primary school in 1973. It was the United bit that startled me because it really didn’t fit with the divisive narrative of the Troubles. Here’s one of the shorter versions of the oath: ‘I, [name], do voluntarily declare that I will persevere and endeavour to form a Brotherhood of affection amongst Irishmen of every religious persuasion [my italics]. I do further declare that I will persevere and endeavour for a Parliamentary Reform, and for an equal representation of all the people in Ireland.’ People then meant men, for female emancipation was still a long way in the future, but what was so remarkable for me, aged 11, is that here was an organisation whose stated aim was equal rights regardless of creed, something that was so contrary to what was happening in Belfast then. Furthermore, its leadership was mainly Protestant.
Another element of the historical inspiration for my novel was the Anglo-Irish ‘Big House.’ Ascendancy landowners, granted their estates in the land grabs of the seventeenth-century under Cromwell and then William III, built vast homes for themselves, often in the Palladian style they had observed when on the Grand Tour in Italy. The rents of tenant farmers, whose forbears had once owned the land they farmed, would keep a titled family in considerable magnificence – the family might not even be in residence much of the time (Maria Edgeworth’s novel Castle Rackrent, 1800, has this as a theme). These Ascendancy families were effectively cut off from interaction with the local population (excepting the servants) by a demesne wall enclosing often elegant parkland. Land reform, rising costs, the difficulty of getting domestic staff post WWI, and finally independence led to the decline of these landed estates. Around 275 of these houses were burned by the IRA, selected often according to how bad the family had been as a landlord.
I was familiar with the remnants of this landed class from a young age. My father worked for the Public Record Office in Belfast and he would regularly take me with him when he went to meet the owners of these houses to organise the transfer of their archives to Belfast. So, I would be left with a book in some magnificent but sometimes shabby room in a vast, almost uninhabited mansion, while Dad worked. I went back to one of these houses in the mid-1980s, as an adult. I remember a vast oak staircase you could have ridden a horse up, a glass-less, rusting Victorian greenhouse with trees growing through it, and the elderly owner and her middle-aged daughter living in two rooms with a bar fire. The daughter showed me the ballroom, with its wall of rare chinoiserie wallpaper. She said she thought it was looking a bit scruffy so she’d been cutting out photographs of birds from the Sunday magazines and glueing them onto it (I was a museum curator at the time and just about had a fit).
The Ballad of Mary Kearney is set in the heyday of these grand houses. What would happen, if the heir to one of them cast eyes on a maidservant sent in from one of the farms beyond his demesne wall? What would happen to a love which not only breached class barriers, but was also expressly forbidden by law in Ireland at that time, because the two were of different religions? And if the aims of the United Irishmen appealed to this principled young man, what would be the consequences to him and the wife he had chosen against all the odds?
Image Castle Ward: Castle Ward, Co Down. I was taken to this house as a small child, when the owner was still in residence. Castle Ward is now in the care of the National Trust.
Image: Irishdeltaforce. Wikimedia Commons
Image Castletown House: Castletown House, Co Kildare. At one time, the needs of one family were taken care of by eighty-six servants. Castletown is now in the care of the Office of Public Works, Ireland Image: Lori Strang, Wikimedia Commons
Image Castleboro House: The ruins of Castleboro House, Co Wexford, burned by the IRA in 1923. Source: Mike Searle CC BY-SA 2.0 – Geograph Project
Twitter: @cathiedunn
Instagram & Threads: @thecoffeepotbookclub
Bluesky: @cathiedunn.bsky.social
April 14, 2025
Book Spotlight Oscar’s Tale Chris Bishop #HistoricalFiction #AngloSaxon #Vikings #BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub @CBishop_author @cathiedunn
I‘m delighted to host the book spotlight for Oscar’s Tale by Chris Bishop in The Coffee Pot Book Club Blog Tour being held today on April 15th, 2025. Oscar’s Tale is a Historical Fiction published by Historical Fiction Company on February 25th, 2025 (166 pages)
Below are highlights of Oscar’s Tale and Chris Bishop’s author bio.
Tour Schedule Page: https://thecoffeepotbookclub.blogspot.com/2025/02/blog-tour-oscars-tale-by-chris-bishop.html
HIGHLIGHTS: OSCAR’S TALE
Oscar’s Tale
By Chris Bishop
Blurb:
Oscar’s Tale is that of a Saxon boy who sets out to find and rescue his father who has been taken by Viking slavers.
The story begins in 877, just prior to the Viking attack on Chippenham in which King Alfred was routed. Against this backdrop, Oscar is obliged to set out on his all but impossible quest and quickly becomes embroiled in all that’s going on in Wessex at this turbulent time, culminating in him playing a small but important part in the battle at Edington.
But this is not just a story about blood thirsty battles and fearsome warriors, it’s about a boy struggling to live up to his father’s reputation as a warrior and trying to find his place in a dangerous and uncertain world. For that, he is forced to confront many dangers and earn the respect of others who are far above his station. Along the way he also finds love – albeit at a cost far higher than most would have been willing to pay.
‘For is it not the wish of every man that his son will achieve more in life than he did?’
Buy Link:
Universal Buy Link: https://books2read.com/u/bwQQ99
AUTHOR BIO: CHRIS BISHOP
Chris Bishop was born in London in 1951. After a successful career as a Chartered Surveyor, he retired to concentrate on writing, combining this with his lifelong interest in Anglo Saxon history.
His first novel, Blood and Destiny, was published in 2017 and his second, The Warrior with the Pierced Heart, in 2018 followed by The Final Reckoning in 2019 and Bloodlines in 2020. Together they form a series entitled The Shadow of the Raven, the fifth and final part of which – The Prodigal Son – was published in 2023.
Chris has published numerous blogs about various aspects of Anglo Saxon history and is a member of the Historical Writers’ Association.
Author Links:
Website: www.chrisbishopauthor.com
Twitter: https://x.com/CBishop_author
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/207271.Chris_Bishop
Twitter: @cathiedunn
Instagram & Threads: @thecoffeepotbookclub
Bluesky: @cathiedunn.bsky.social
