Tracey Warr's Blog, page 7

Christmas Books Sale

I am at the Laguepie Christmas Salon du Livre on Sunday 3 December, selling a selection of my English language medieval novels and my French language future fiction novella for the ridiculous price of 5 euros.

If you have a book lover (maybe you!) on your Christmas gift list, look no further. The Salon du Livre coincides with the Christmas market.

If you can’t get to Laguepie 82250 in southwest France, I am also running a sale on my website https://meandabooks.com

Books of the Year

Check out this link for my three favourite books this year, along with the three favourite reads of my 7-year-old and 2-year-old grandsons. They have just been posted today on the Shepherd site. Shepherd is creating new ways for readers to find amazing books.

Our top three, between us, are Donna Leon, I Need a New Bum and Room on the Broom. Big thank you to my grandsons for their help with this feature. We all love books!

Christmas Book Sale

Thanks to friends Bob and Joyce for this photo of my Conquest trilogy on sale in the Carew Castle bookshop in Wales. The heroine of the novels, Nest ferch Rhys, lived at Carew Castle. I have presented a couple of talking walks around Carew telling her story in the spaces where she lived.

1st edition copies of the book (as pictured) can be ordered from my website at the Christmas sale price including postage and packing (UK addresses) of £5.00 each or £10 for the set of three.

The books have been garnering some fabulous 5 star reviews:

‘Packed with tension and intrigue. I read a lot of historical fiction, and this is about events and an era I have almost zero knowledge of so this appealed to me as well. The book is narrated by Nest. I felt connected to her, and you really get to know her across the course of the book as she tries to make the best with the circumstances she is forced into. She reminds me a lot of Sansa Stark and what she has to endure in Game of Thrones when her father is killed, and she’s forced to stay with Cersei Lannister. She’s a great character, feisty and brave but she knows her place and how not to aggravate the hand that feeds her. The book is rich and vivid in detail. I was engrossed.’ Pamela on Amazon.

‘This is a very well-written and researched story. Tracey Warr realistically conveys the simmering tension between Welsh rebels and their Norman overlords, as well as the continued fighting between King Henry and his French counterpart Louis over lands in Normandy. I also like the way that lesser characters such as Amelina, Nest’s maid, are conveyed and given their own storylines… I have thoroughly enjoyed this series about a remarkable and courageous woman. Tracey Warr skilfully depicts the central relationships between Nest and the various men in her life, and there is palpable tension as events unfold. This is a fascinating period in history. So often we read of powerful men and forget the powerful women behind them. Thanks to Tracey Warr, we now know a lot more about Nest ferch Rhys.’ Alison on Amazon

‘Beautiful and emotional at the same time. Really enjoying this trilogy. I feel for Lady Nest. Really glad Cardigan Castle was mentioned. Can’t wait for the next book.’ Deity World on Goodreads

The Female Troubadours

Ladies and gentlemen, imagine yourselves back in time, nearly 900 years, to the middle of the 12th century. Imagine that you are in the Great Hall at the court of Raimbaut d’Aurenga in the castle of Courthézon, three days’ ride east of here, on a good horse, a little north of Avignon …

Last week, in the sultry atmosphere of the Salles des Fetes in Laguépie, France, on the hottest evening of the year so far, I launched the new editions of my five historical novels and spoke on the medieval female troubadours as part of the Occitan University festival. 

My final novel of the five, Almodis: The Peaceweaver, was published last week and is based on the life of the 11th-century Occitan female lord, Almodis de La Marche, countess of Toulouse and Barcelona.

Subscribe (for free) to my new Substack to read the full text of my talk and listen to a recording of Amandine Rey singing Castelloza’s ‘Amics,s’ie.us trobes avienen’ / Friend, if I had found you kind’.

https://traceywarr.substack.com/subscribe?

There are 38 female troubadours with surviving poems or named in other manuscripts. In the 11th–13thcenturies, 10–12% of lords in southern France and Catalonia were women, holding power in their own right. Not the picture of medieval women you were expecting? Read my talk on Substack (as a free subscriber) to find out more.

I spoke in English and Amandine kindly translated into French for our audience of English and French listeners.

I showed slides of the portraits of the female troubadours, female musicians in medieval manuscripts, and images of the Occitan female lords. 

les-trobairitz-the-poemsDownloadles-trobairitz-the-slidesDownload

Images show the trobairitz Castelloza; female musician from the Peterborough Psalter; seal of Ermessende of Carcassonne, Countess of Barcelona (her name in Latin and Arabic); fresco of Lucia de La Marca, Countess of Pallars Sobira in the Pyrenees.

Cover Photo: Lou Viel Castle, Saint Martin Laguépie

Occitan Female Lord – publication day!

Today is the publication day for Almodis: The Peaceweaver, my novel based on Almodis de La Marche, the 11th century countess of Toulouse and Barcelona. Almodis was a scandal, excommunicated, and one of the most powerful of a number of female lords in southern France and Catalonia in the early Middle Ages. She and her husband Ramon Berenguer, Count of Barcelona, founded Barcelona Cathedral and their caskets hang on the wall there.

A study of charters in this area found that 10-12% of lords and vassals, acting in their own right, were women. At this time, southern France – Occitania – differed from northern France, in that its laws and inheritance practices were based on Visigothic rather than Roman traditions. As a consequence, noblewomen had more status in this place and this time. Other examples of female lords were Ermessende of Carcassonne, who ruled Barcelona for at least 16 years; Ermengarde of Narbonne; Marie of Montpellier; and Almodis’ sister, Lucia de la Marca, regent in Pallars Sobira in the Pyrenees.

I will be launching the book and talking about Occitan female lords and female troubadours (the trobairitz) in the Occitan University festival in Laguepie 82250, France, tomorrow – 11 July 2023. 9pm in the Salle des Fetes.

Here is a female troubadour song for you (the only one that has survived with its music):

Almodis: The Peaceweaver is available in hardback, paperback and ebook.

Ebooks Summer Sale

My historical fiction ebooks are at 50% discount throughout July in the Smashwords Summer Sale

The Viking Hostage – Publication Day

Very excited to announce the publication today of the new edition of The Viking Hostage.

The novel is based on the true story of a French viscountess who was kidnapped by Vikings from a monastery on the French coast in the late 10th century. She was held for ransom for three years.

Vikings are endlessly fascinating, of course, but I aimed to reach beyond the stereotypes and imagine what really might have happened to this kidnapped noblewoman and what it might have been like to be sold in a slave market.

The book has been out of print for a couple of years and I am delighted to welcome it back!

Once I had the story of the kidnap and ransom, many other elements contributed to my imagining of the plot and characters. A Viking Red Maiden was sighted among the raiding crews along the coast of south-west Wales. A Viking long-sword was found in the sea between Wales and Dublin. The Welsh islands of Caldey and Skomer were occupied by Vikings … and by puffins and Manx shearwaters. I researched the story of Olaf Tryggvason and his friend Thorgils Thorolfsson. And I was inspired by museum artefacts. This print (made by me, I’m proud to say) is from a serpent brooch in the British Museum.

And there is a fair lashing of medieval French history in the novel too, with those parts of the story centring around Limoges and Charroux. The book is available in hardback, paperback and ebook.

Celebrating Independent Bookshops

Today is the start of Independent Bookshop Week in the UK and Ireland. Browsing for books in a shop is a whole different experience to searching online. Browsing can reveal unexpected and wildly treasured finds. One of the things I love about Independent Bookshops is that they are run by people who are as crazed about books as the writers and readers who frequent them.

What is your favourite independent bookshop?

I’m a fan of so many but you can find a few mentioned in my post on Idiosyncratic Bookshops on the Shepherd website.

And here are a few others I’d like to mention:

Ullapool Bookshop in the Scottish Highlands

The delightfully friendly and hospitable Victoria Bookshop in Haverfordwest in south-west Wales

The fabulous Bookwyrm in Durham

The tiny but well-stocked (yes, my novels are in there) bookshop at Carew Castle in south-west Wales

and Dartington Bookshop in Totnes, Devon

And not in the UK or Ireland, but my local bookshop in south-west France where I spend most of my time these days, is also a favourite haunt:

The English Bookshop in Saint-Antonin-de-Noble-Val

And in case you want to stock or buy one of my historical novels, here are their sales links, or see further information and advance information sheets on my website Meanda Books:

Daughter of the Last King

The Drowned Court

The Anarchy

The Viking Hostage – published next week

Almodis: The Peaceweaver – published 10 July

Gwenllian – Welsh Warrior Queen

A guest post on my novel, The Anarchy, and the story of Gwenllian, the 12th-century Welsh woman who led an army against the Normans at Kidwelly Castle is posted today on

Tony Riches’ The Writing Desk.

Gwenllian was the daughter of the king of the northern kingdom of Wales, Gwynedd. She married the disinherited king of Deheubarth (southwest Wales), Gruffudd ap Rhys, who was the brother of my heroine, Nest ferch Rhys, in The Anarchy. Gwenllian’s name was the cry of the Gruffudd ap Rhys and the Welsh warriors at the battle of Crug Mawr, near Cardigan, in 1136, where the Welsh routed the Normans. She is the only documented medieval Welsh woman to have fought in battle.

Kidwelly Castle and the memorial to Gwenllian ferch Gruffudd ap Cynan

Quicksand

The spectacular Romanesque abbey on Mont-Saint-Michel island off the coast of Normandy is marking its 1,000-year birthday this year, with President Emmanuel Macron among those visiting for the celebrations. Nine hundred years ago, Henry de Normandy (a major character in my Conquest trilogy of novels) played a significant role in Mont-Saint-Michel’s history.

Mont-Saint-Michel Abbey was established in the eighth century, after the bishop of Avranches had a vision of the archangel Michael instructing him to build a church on the island. The tidal island was virtually impregnable. Scenes on the Bayeux Tapestry (below) depict Mont-Saint-Michel and Harold Godwinson rescuing two Norman knights from quicksand during a conflict with the Duke of Brittany.

Henry de Normandy was the youngest son of William the Conqueror. After his father’s death in 1087, Henry had a fraught relationship with his older brothers, Robert (Curthose or Short Stockings), who became duke of Normandy and William (Rufus), who became king of England. Henry’s father had left him a large sum of money but no land. Henry used this inheritance to buy the county of Contentin in western Normandy from Robert. The county included Mont-Saint-Michel.

In 1091, however, Rufus and Curthose signed a treaty agreeing to disinherit Henry entirely. They besieged him at Mont-Saint-Michel. Since the island had no fresh water supply, Henry was forced to negotiate a surrender and lost his county. He spent a year wandering in landless poverty. When King William II (Rufus) was killed in a hunting accident in 1100, Henry seized the English throne. In 1106 he defeated Robert in battle and took his dukedom of Normandy too. Henry kept Robert a prisoner for twenty-eight years, until Robert died at Cardiff Castle in 1134.

You can read more of Henry’s story in my novels: Daughter of the Last King, The Drowned Court, and The Anarchy.

To celebrate Mont-Saint-Michel’s anniversary, I’m giving away a signed set of the first edition of the trilogy to the first person to mail me at info@meandabooks.com and tell me which castle Henry ended up in to regroup after he lost Mont-Saint-Michel.

Photo credits:

Drone photo of Mont-Saint-Michel by Amaustan, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0&gt;, via Wikimedia Commons

Bayeux Tapestry Scenes 16 and 17: William and Harold at Mont-Saint-Michel (at top centre); Harold rescuing knights from quicksand. By Soerfm – Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31051585

Low tide in 2005 By Fabos~commonswiki – Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=604843