Deborah Swift's Blog, page 16

The Marquise of Darkness by Phil Syphe #France #poison #blog

Having just finished a book abut an Italian poisoner, I’m fascinated to have Phil Syphe here today to talk about another woman involved in poisoning.

Over to Phil to tell us more.

Set in seventeenth-century France, The Marquise of Darkness is based on the real-life exploits and crimes of poisoner Marie-Madeleine d’Aubray, Marquise de Brinvilliers. Because ‘Marie-Madeleine’ is a bit of a mouthful, I opt for ‘Madeleine’ in the novel, which I feel suits her better than just ‘Marie’.
I’m aware some readers will be familiar with Madeleine’s history, but for the benefit of those who aren’t, I’ve avoided revealing any spoilers below.

The Story
The story opens in Madeleine’s Parisian home during 1659 and spans the next two decades.

Madeleine is married to luckless gambler Antoine who, in 1660, receives a marquisate. While Madeleine is happy to receive the title of Marquise de Brinvilliers, she despairs as her husband wastes their fortune. Rankled by his adulterous affairs, she takes lovers of her own, the foremost being the dashing Chevalier Godin de Sainte-Croix. Sainte-Croix is the ultimate charmer, yet his handsome face masks the darkness within him. Sainte-Croix persuades Madeleine to help fund his secret business of dealing untraceable poisons to anyone wanting rid of an enemy or to kill a rich relative to gain an inheritance. It’s an inheritance that Madeleine needs, thanks to her husband’s continual losses at the card table. For the plan to succeed, Madeleine must poison a family member with her own hands.

Madeleine and Sainte-Croix commit numerous atrocities for financial gain, or to settle scores. They stop at nothing to get what they want, be it via seduction, strangulation, shooting, poisoning, or arson. Sainte-Croix employs six mercenary servants, with the most formidable being La Chaussée, who will perform any vicious act for money. This dangerous man is the perfect killing tool. Combined, La Chaussée, Sainte-Croix, and Madeleine are a triumvirate of evil.

In the background of all the poisonings, sex, and violence are Madeleine’s five children. She loves her eldest son and daughter, but three illegitimate children are less favoured.

Louis, one of two boys fathered by Sainte-Croix, idolises his mother. Although Madeleine isn’t cruel to him, Louis yearns for the love she gives to his eldest siblings.

Marie, sired by Madeleine’s cousin, is shy and ugly. This she could live with, if her mother would spare her a little kindness.

The older Marie grows, the deeper Madeleine’s resentment towards her becomes. Can Marie find a way to earn her mother’s love, or will she become victim to Madeleine’s dark nature?

Background

Having been fascinated by Madeleine and her story for several years, I decided in 2019 to write a novel about her. During my research, biographies about her proved to be contradictory, while many online sources get several facts wrong, or omit important details. Whilst modern books bring certain taboo facts to light, which were unsuitable for publication centuries ago, the best and most thorough resource I found was a 1912 publication called Madame de Brinvilliers and Her Times, 1630–1676, by Hugh Stokes.

Although Stokes’s biography is old, his work reproduces detailed accounts and official records that helped me structure parts of my novel. The most reliable source, which he quotes extensively from, is a memoir written by someone who met Madeleine near the end of her life, namely Abbé Edmé Pirot. Pirot clears up much of the misinformation given in certain modern biographies and on websites.

Below is a quote from Stokes citing Pirot regarding the latter’s impressions of Madeleine:

‘She was very clever in finding a way out of a difficulty, and she made up her mind with rapidity. On the other hand, she was frivolous, and had no power of application. She did not like to talk too much about the same subject. She refused to be bored. But she had a complete command over herself, and seldom lost her self-composure. If her features were naturally sweet, when sudden anger seized her, a frightful grimace masked her face.’

As for the other two members of the ‘triumvirate of evil’, Sainte-Croix was, according to Stokes, ‘a handsome young officer with a fascinating manner’ who was mixed up in more deadly affairs than those dramatized in The Marquise of Darkness, most of which are vague and would’ve over-complicated my plot.

Regarding La Chaussée, he was, to quote Stokes:

‘a bold, impudent wretch, who swaggered through the streets, fearing no man. He had an amount of clever cunning. Sainte-Croix and the Marquise de Brinvilliers could not possibly have found a more zealous and devoted assistant in their crimes.’

Most characters in The Marquise of Darkness were real people, including many secondary and incidental characters. I elaborate further on this, and more on what’s truth or fiction, in my author’s note.

I’ve used my imagination to fill in any gaps in Madeleine’s history. All scenes featuring her five children are invented, as little is known about them, including the names of the four youngest. With a killer for a mother, and a weak-minded father, their lives must’ve been unstable.

An image of Madeleine’s portrait appears on my novel’s front cover. Pirot’s described her eyes as blue, though they look darker in this image, while her chestnut hair is powdered.

The Marquise of Darkness is available from Amazon: BUY HERE US    BUY HERE UK 

Note to Readers: True to the history, the novel contains graphic scenes of torture and violence, plus scenes of a sexual nature.

Facebook: Phil Syphe, Author

Twitter: @PhilSypheAuthor

The post The Marquise of Darkness by Phil Syphe #France #poison #blog first appeared on Deborah Swift.

Below Stairs by Charlotte Betts #Servants #History #Edwardian

I’m thrilled to welcome Charlotte Betts to my blog today to tell us about the history that features in her new novel, The Fading of The Light. I’ve read it, so can really recommend it as an exciting summer read.

Charlotte is a winner of the Romantic Novelists Association Award for Historical Fiction, and this trilogy of books about the artists community in Cornwall is full of fascinating characters and lush settings.

Charlotte lives on the Hampshire/Berkshire borders in a C17th cottage in the woods. A daydreamer and a bookworm, she enjoyed careers in fashion, interior design and property before discovering her passion for writing historical novels.

Below Stairs by Charlotte Betts

In 1901, the census shows that over 40% of the adult female population worked in service and this didn’t include the large number of girls, some barely ten years old. Working conditions were unregulated and a maid would often work a seventeen hour day with only one afternoon off a week and time for church on Sunday mornings. There was no legislation that protected a servant in old age or in times of sickness until the National Insurance Act of 1911 was passed.

There was a stark contrast between the family’s opulent rooms and the meagre servants’ quarters. This was deliberate so that a servant didn’t get ‘ideas above his, or her, station.’ Despite low wages and, often poor conditions such as lack of sanitary arrangements, competition for places was fierce. Working as a servant was sometimes the only alternative to near starvation, providing regular meals and a roof over their head. In large country houses and London townhouses, male and female servants were separated to prevent them fraternising.

Maids were crammed into attic bedrooms, while the men were usually housed in the basement or rooms near the kitchen. If a pretty maid, however, attracted her master’s eye she had little say in the matter and would immediately be sent packing without a reference if she became pregnant.

In the great houses, aristocratic employers had an army of mostly hidden servants to attend to their every need. The Duke of Devonshire once stated that a staff of two hundred were required to manage a house party of fifty guests. The number of servants employed by a family indicated their wealth and social status

There was a strict hierarchy for the staff of a prosperous family. The butler oversaw the entire household. Beneath him were several footmen, a gentleman’s valet, a lady’s maid and gardeners. A housekeeper, reporting to the butler, would have beneath her in the hierarchy a cook, kitchen maid, scullery maid, parlour maids, chamber maids, a nanny and a nursery maid for the children.

Even middle class families would have several servants, at least a cook-housekeeper, a maid or two and perhaps a gardener. A charwoman might come once a week to do ‘the rough’ and laundry might be sent out to a washerwoman. The cook would attend the mistress of the house in the mornings to decide upon the menus.

Parlour maid

Servants adhered to a strict routine, often beginning their work at five-thirty am. There were few labour saving devices and plenty of elbow grease was required in the constant battle against dirt and dust from the coal fires. Carpets were brushed twice a week and rooms dusted and beds stripped daily. Endless buckets of water were carried upstairs and then the slops and night soil had to be carried downstairs. Maids must have been delighted when bathrooms were installed in their employer’s houses. After cooking and serving the family’s sumptuous meals in the dining room, the servants ate the leftovers in the kitchen. Their evening meal would be served at about 9pm, after the family had eaten, but work wasn’t finished until the family had gone to bed, the butler had locked up and the junior housemaid had taken hot water bottles upstairs, She was then free to return to her unheated attic to fall, exhausted, into bed.

After the 1870s, education became more available to the masses and literacy increased, bringing with it changing social attitudes and expectations. Young girls became reluctant to enter the endless drudgery of service if there was work available in shops, factories and even offices. During the Great War, many women left service to fill the jobs left vacant by men, even though their pay for the same job was far less than a man’s salary.

Of course, once the war was over, the surviving men wanted their jobs back, forcing many women back into service as their only option. Nevertheless, women had grasped the opportunity to show what they were capable of and this ultimately led to them being allowed to vote, though it wasn’t until after 1928 that all female servants were granted this privilege. Meanwhile there were still floors to be scrubbed and grates to be cleaned and the master’s boot laces to be ironed.

Buy Here: https://www.yourswithlove.co.uk/titles/charlotte-betts/the-fading-of-the-light/9780349423012/

To be the first to hear about Charlotte’s new releases and her writing life, please do visit her at www.charlottebetts.co.uk

Twitter: @CharlotteBetts1

Facebook: Charlotte Betts – Author

Instagram: charlottebetts.author

 

Finished reading? You might like this post – Servants in Historical Fiction

The post Below Stairs by Charlotte Betts #Servants #History #Edwardian first appeared on Deborah Swift.

Sisters At War – & the secret bunker in Liverpool – by Clare Flynn #WW2

Today I’m delighted to welcome back Clare Flynn, a writer whose books I have really enjoyed. Here’s a lovely post about her new WWII book, Sisters At War.

From Clare:

Thanks so much for inviting me onto your blog, Deborah. I visited once before to talk about a significant object – then it was a powder compact, inscribed in German. Today it’s a collection of strange pins, a long-handled rake-like instrument and a giant step ladder. The date is 1941 and the place where you’ll find them is a secret bunker under the streets of Liverpool.

When I was a child, I adored watching old black and white war films on TV – the perfect antidote to rainy Sunday afternoons. My favourite scenes were those that took place in secret military command centres where Wrens and WAAFs pushed model planes and boats around giant maps with long pointy sticks like croupiers’ rakes. It was my fantasy job – without the need for a war of course. I was born in Liverpool but had absolutely no idea that one of the most important intelligence nerve centres still lay hidden below the streets of the city.

EXTERIOR OF DERBY HOUSE

Attribution Nicholas Mutton / World War II Combined Headquarters Western Approaches, via Wikimedia Commons

Western Approaches Command was a secret bunker buried under seven feet of concrete, beneath Derby House in the centre of Liverpool, just a few minutes’ walk from the waterfront. Opened in February 1940, it was like catacombs with about a hundred rooms, from sleeping quarters and offices to the nerve centre, The Map Room. The place had around 300 staff – some RAF and Royal Navy officers and a much larger number of women from the WAAFs and Wrens. This was the where the critical Battle of the Atlantic was plotted out. Men and women worked here day and night, from early 1941 until the end of the war, tracking and tracing submarines, enemy aircraft and Allied merchant convoys on the dangerous approaches to Britain from the US and Canada. The craft and the weather systems were attached as little pin symbols to the giant map. Nowadays, when we can track every ship on the planet through an app on our mobile phones, it is hard to imagine that this was done manually during the war without the benefit of satellites or sophisticated communications.

The Map Room today Image credits: Mark Carline Website

The Derby House bunker was connected to the code breakers at Station X – Bletchley Park –with intelligence passing to and fro, as vital life and death information was pieced together. Keeping Allied shipping safe as it crossed the Atlantic, which was riddled with U-boats, was a hugely challenging task – indeed a near impossible one until cracking the Enigma codes changed things.

The port of Liverpool dealt with most sea cargo coming into the UK and the war effort hung on the ability of those ships to make it across the Atlantic safely. Many didn’t. Proportionately more men lost their lives on merchant ships carrying vital food supplies and raw materials, than died in any of the British armed forces. Churchill, who made frequent visits to Western Approaches, said in his post-war memoirs. ‘The only thing that ever really frightened me during the war was the U-boat peril.’

Operations at Western Approaches continued throughout the Liverpool Blitz, when the city took a pounding, particularly during the month of May 1941. Service people working at Derby House often emerged from its depths at the end of their shifts to scenes of absolute devastation. Here is a panoramic image of the centre of Liverpool taken during the Blitz.

BLITZ PANORAMA

Attribution Ministry of Information Photo Division official photographer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

When the war ended, the Western Approaches command centre was locked up and left to the spiders. It remained forgotten until someone suggested opening it to the public. Larger than London’s Cabinet War Rooms, there are radio rooms, telephone exchange, canteen and bunk rooms, the Admiral’s office and a recreated wartime street complete with shops containing typical products. But it’s the Map Room that holds the greatest fascination – with its giant wall map of the Atlantic, its enormous sliding step ladder (perilous while wearing uniform skirts I imagine!)

IMAGE OF THE MAP ROOM IN OPERATION DURING WW2

 

Parnall, C H (Lt), Royal Navy official photographer, Imperial War Museum, Public Domain

The perils of the Atlantic and the U-boats are all too present for my characters in Sisters at War and the activities of Derby House play a role in the story. Next time I venture up to my birthplace, I will definitely be stopping off to visit the subterranean museum. Meanwhile you can visit it virtually via the museum’s website – and of course in my novel.

About Sisters At War

1940 Liverpool.

The pressures of war threaten to tear apart two sisters traumatised by their father’s murder of their mother.

With her new husband, Will, a merchant seaman, deployed on dangerous Atlantic convoy missions, Hannah needs her younger sister Judith more than ever. But when Mussolini declares war on Britain, Judith’s Italian sweetheart, Paolo is imprisoned as an enemy alien, and Judith’s loyalties are divided.

Each sister wants only to be with the man she loves but, as the war progresses, tensions between them boil over, and they face an impossible decision.

A heart-wrenching page-turner about the everyday bravery of ordinary people during wartime. From heavily blitzed Liverpool to the terrors of the North Atlantic and the scorched plains of Australia, Sisters at War will bring tears to your eyes and joy to your heart.

BUY THE BOOK 

About Clare:

Clare Flynn is the author of thirteen 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 traveler, 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, ALLi, and the Romantic Novelists Association. When not writing, she loves to read, quilt, paint and play the piano.

Find Clare on her website, on Twitter or on Facebook

The post Sisters At War – & the secret bunker in Liverpool – by Clare Flynn #WW2 first appeared on Deborah Swift.

A Poisonous Trade – Join Cathie Dunn as she lurks in The Shadows of Versailles

Cathie Dunn and I have both been working on books about poisoners, so it’s fab to have Cathie as a guest to give us an insight into one of the important objects in her new book, The Shadows of Versailles.

Over to Cathie:

Thank you so much, Deborah, for inviting me to your lovely blog today. I’m so thrilled to be here.

My guest post has an intriguing theme. I shall tell you about an object that’s of quite some importance in The Shadows of Versailles, even though it only features once or twice. What could it possibly be?

Here’s a hint…

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Let me tell you a little about the story first.

My new series of novels set in Paris and Versailles is set against the backdrop of the infamous Affair of the Poisons, an event that rocked the court of King Louis XIV. The Shadows of Versailles is the first in the series, and I’m currently working on the second, The Alchemist’s Daughter

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Set in the mid-1670s, The Shadows of Versailles tells the tale of a young woman, Fleur, who visits the imposing new palace of Versailles with her mother for the first time. Soon, she is dazzled by the glitter: the courtiers in their finery, the sensational entertainment, the sumptuous furnishings in the glamorous new rooms, and the beautiful grounds that reach beyond where the eye can see.

But when she falls pregnant after being seduced in the gardens of Versailles by handsome courtier Philippe, who promised her marriage, her life as she knew it comes to an end. After giving birth, her baby is whisked away by a priest with a dark reputation. She soon realizes that her son might have fallen victim to a sordid trade.

And whilst she herself is saved by Jacques, a spy for the chief of police, torn by her loss, she begins to plot her revenge on those who have wronged her

At that time, Paris was in the grip of the Affair of the Poisons. Following the execution of the Marquise de Brinvilliers, who was found guilty of murdering her father and brothers, on 17th July 1676, other cases of poisoning came to light.

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Across Paris, a robust network of fortune-tellers, midwives, alchemists, apothecaries and lawyers operated pretty much like modern-day organized crime. Supply and demand determined their actions. And demand was rising. Demand for poison!

No longer content with the harmless potions dished out by savvy fortune-tellers over decades, people now sought different ways to get what they wanted. Why would they wish to suffer a sick relative if they could easily dispose of them? Why stay in an unhappy marriage if you could sprinkle a little poison into your spouse’s food to be free to wed your lover (after a suitable – if brief – period of mourning, of course)? You could buy a small phial of the right stuff and send your competitors straight to hell.

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Paris under Louis XIV was a poor place. The king hated the city. Her inhabitants suffered from starvation, a lack of work, and a large number of war-wounded went around begging for scraps. Pickpockets weaved between the ‘better folk’ visiting markets, and nightly robberies were the norm. In short, it was a dangerous place to live.

Such was the situation in Paris that people talked almost openly about poisons. They were easy to obtain, though at a price, whether you were a courtier or an ordinary citizen.

Substances in liquid form or as crushed powders were sold in small glass phials, like those in an apothecary shop, from which the substance could be easily dispensed into food or drink or sprinkled over flowers or into clothing. A drop here, a dab of powder there, and your victim would never know until it was too late. Small enough to be hidden in the pockets or the folds of skirts. Small enough to be passed between persons without anyone noticing.

And talking of courtiers – a surprising number of them was deeply involved in this affair. Some had merely bought potions, harmless to life. But others were more interested in the darker side, in poisons, to rid themselves of the competition. For some, though, even that did not go far enough.

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In this atmosphere of plots and intrigues, Fleur is introduced to the Duchess de Bouillon (who really existed), a lady at court with links to the poisoners (as had her sister, the Countess de Soissons, who is featured in the second book). The crafty duchess promises to help Fleur get her revenge, and introduces her to La Voisin, already famous for her ‘work’.

Yes, the object Fleur takes with her from La Voisin is a phial of poison!

Now, Fleur must decide whether to use it or not. She is racked by grief and desperation, an easy victim to fall into the traps of the plotting poisoners. A mere pawn in their game. The objects of her passionate hatred are Philippe, naturally, and her mother, who had agreed to have her son taken away.

Will Fleur follow her conscience and listen to sensible Jacques, and her true friends at Madame Claudette’s, or will she succumb to the seduction of revenge?

Find out in The Shadows of Versailles!

Thank you so much for hosting me today, Deborah. A phial of poison is an item so crucial in my story, whether Fleur decides to use its contents or not!

About Cathie:

Cathie Dunn is an award-winning author of historical fiction, mystery, dual-timeline, and romance set in Scotland, England, and France. She has been praised for her authentic depiction of the past.

The Shadows of Versailles is her fifth published novel, and she is currently working on the sequel, The Alchemist’s Daughter, and a dual-timeline story set in 9th Century Normandy. After many years in Scotland, Cathie now lives in the south of France. She loves to hear from her readers.

Buy links:

Amazon international buy link: mybook.to/ShadowsVersailles

Follow Cathie on her podcast: https://anchor.fm/cathie-dunn

Website: www.cathiedunn.com

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/cathiedunn

The post A Poisonous Trade – Join Cathie Dunn as she lurks in The Shadows of Versailles first appeared on Deborah Swift.

A Matter of Conscience by Judith Arnopp #Review #CoffeePotBookClub #Tudor

This was a bold move by Judith Arnopp to get inside the head of Henry VIII and tell the story of his reign from his point of view. And the Henry that she has created for us is utterly believable as we chart his journey from carefree younger brother to king. The relationships in this novel are strongly drawn, I particularly enjoyed Henry’s relationship with his sisters and how their childhood affection was strained by the effects of power. This Henry is a man who likes to sport and play ands finds the affairs of state tedious. He’d rather be playing tennis or out with his hawks. Yet his feeling that he wanted to be a good King, and his love for England the nation, are never diminished. He is handsome, vibrant, wins at everything effortlessly. Yet even though his brother is dead, Henry lives always under his shadow, always afraid he will never quite be good enough.

Judith Arnopp strikes exactly the right balance between story and history in this novel. There is plenty of real detail here; the manoeuvring of his advisors, the nation’s urgent need for a living heir, the tragedy of the death of his son. Henry himself has experienced at first hand what can happen if the eldest son dies. The fact that he has one disappointment after another soon sours his relationship with Catalina (Kate), the Aragon bride, the woman he was initially smitten with and coveted so much. As Henry begins to turn to arrogance we cannot help but feel for her, trapped in this marriage where she only has one function.

All in all, this is an excellent novel, pyschologically astute and well-researched, and I can’t wait to read the next in the series.

BUY THE BOOK: Amazon UK  Amazon US

‘A king must have sons: strong, healthy sons to rule after him.’

 On the unexpected death of Arthur Tudor, Prince of Wales, his brother, Henry, becomes heir to the throne of England. The intensive education that follows offers Henry a model for future excellence; a model that he is doomed to fail.

On his accession, he chooses his brother’s widow, Catalina of Aragon, to be his queen. Together they plan to reinstate the glory of days of old and fill the royal nursery with boys.

But when their first-born son dies at just a few months old, and subsequent babies are born dead or perish in the womb, the king’s golden dreams are tarnished.

Christendom mocks the virile prince. Catalina’s fertile years are ending yet all he has is one useless living daughter, and a baseborn son.

He needs a solution but stubborn to the end, Catalina refuses to step aside.

As their relationship founders, his eye is caught by a woman newly arrived from the French court. Her name is Anne Boleyn.

Judith’s Social Media Links: Website • Blog • Twitter • Instagram • Amazon

The post A Matter of Conscience by Judith Arnopp #Review #CoffeePotBookClub #Tudor first appeared on Deborah Swift.

Launch Day for The Poison Keeper, cover reveal for The Silkworm Keeper #HistoricalFiction

I’m thrilled to see The Poison Keeper finally available for sale on paperback and ebook and in the KindleUnlimited Subscription Library.

This is a novel written entirely during this Covid year without any travel. I had a first draft but was going to Naples to finish my research. Like many with similar stories, those plans were cancelled, so all my research has been from my desk with the aid of maps, scholarly articles and books. Launching a book is a very special occasion for the author who has probably worked on it for  countless hours. I now have more than a million words in print, and my books take up nearly a whole shelf on our home bookshelf. Time for a celebration!

I’m also really pleased to be able to reveal the cover to its companion book, The Silkworm Keeper, which is now also available for pre-order at a bargain price. Both books can be read as stand-alone books, but it makes sense to read The Poison Keeper first.

THE POISON KEEPER

Naples 1633

Aqua Tofana – One drop to heal. Three drops to kill.

Giulia Tofana longs for more responsibility in her mother’s apothecary business, but Mamma has always been secretive and refuses to tell her the hidden keys to her success. But the day Mamma is arrested for the poisoning of the powerful Duke de Verdi, Giulia is shocked to uncover the darker side of her trade.

Based on the legendary life of Giulia Tofana, this is a story of hidden family secrets, and how even the darkest desires can be overcome by courage and love. Click HERE to buy.

THE SILKWORM KEEPER
Rome 1638

Old sins have long shadows. ~ Italian Proverb

Giulia Tofana never wanted to be a nun, but she is determined to atone for her sinful past by making her new monastery a success.

When an unexpected disaster closes the convent, Giulia is forced to turn to her old friend Fabio Pasello for help. Giulia still has intense feelings for Fabio and Fabio’s passion for her has never diminished. But they are not the same people they were before. Giulia has taken her vows, and Fabio is apprenticed to Gianlorenzo Bernini the famous sculptor, and has become one of Bernini’s rakish libertines. They could not be further apart.

To add to their problems, Giulia cannot escape her reputation as a poisoner, and is soon embroiled in a plot against Fabio’s patron, Pope Urban VIII. Faced with the idea of murder, will Giulia renounce her vows or embrace them?

Inspired by true stories, The Silkworm Keeper is a novel of nuns and courtesans, artists and priests, in the shadow and splendour of the Eternal City.

Pre-order The Silkworm Keeper HERE

Cheers everyone! If you want to know more about my writing or my future books , do subscribe to my Newsletter, The Astonishing Past, in the link at the top of the website or on the home page!

 

 

The post Launch Day for The Poison Keeper, cover reveal for The Silkworm Keeper #HistoricalFiction first appeared on Deborah Swift.

Under the Light of the Italian Moon by Jennifer Anton – Review #HistoricalFiction #CoffeePotBookClub

Under the Light of the Italian Moon by Jennifer Anton

This book was not at all what I was expecting, but I really enjoyed it all the same. It is a love story and family drama set within a real Italian village, Fonzaso, and although set during the rise of fascism in 20th Century Italy, and WWII, this is not a thriller or an adventure. The novel takes time to get going, with many names to remember, and not much action, but that’s fine by me, I have lots of patience and I’m prepared to give a novel time to warm up if I feel I’m in the hands of a trustworthy author. And this book is so well-written there is little doubt of that. My patience was repaid by a truly moving story of love and loss, and a wonderful testament to the power of women to keep going through thick and thin.

The commitment of Nina to her mother who has already lost her children to war or emigration is admirable, and really showed the strength of the bond between mother and daughter as well as its frustrations. When a tragedy strikes Nina, her mother, Adelasia, is there with advice and a strategy to see her through. The second half of the novel had me completely gripped and I was reluctant to tear myself away. The novel is based on a true family history and it shows in the loving attention to detail, and the inside knowledge of Italian life. I appreciated all the small details such as the description of Padua, the meals and customs and the Italian Catholic lifestyle. I also enjoyed being educated along with Nina as a 20th Century midwife, and marvelled at how much of a mystery women’s lives were then, even to women themselves. The roles of men and women at this time, and how they reacted differently to tragedy and war, is a major theme and this would make a great discussion topic for a book group.

All in all, this is a fantastic book well worth reading, and I warmly recommend it,.

Buy Links:
Amazon:
Barnes & Noble

Find Jennifer Anton on her Website

Chat To Jennifer on Twitter

The post Under the Light of the Italian Moon by Jennifer Anton – Review #HistoricalFiction #CoffeePotBookClub first appeared on Deborah Swift.

An Excerpt from The Queen’s Rival by Anne O’Brien #HistoricalFiction

The Queen’s Rival by Anne O’ Brien

I’m delighted to feature this brilliant excerpt from Anne O’Brien’s new novel, The Queen’s Rival.

More about best-selling author Anne O’Brien can be found on her website, or chat to her on Twitter

BACK COVER COPY:

England, 1459.

One family united by blood. Torn apart by war…

The Wars of the Roses storm through the country, and Cecily Neville, Duchess of York, plots to topple the weak-minded King Henry VI from the throne.

But when the Yorkists are defeated at the battle of Ludford Bridge, Cecily’s family flee and abandon her to face a marauding Lancastrian army on her own.

Stripped of her lands and imprisoned in Tonbridge Castle, the Duchess begins to spin a web of deceit. One that will eventually lead to treason, to the fall of King Henry VI, and to her eldest son being crowned King Edward IV.

EXTRACT

Duchess Cecily’s intercession to the Blessed Virgin Mary

Hail Mary, full of Grace, Our Lord is with thee.

My faith is compromised. I kneel at your feet with the petition of any mother. Once again I fear for my son’s life, this time on some blood-drenched battlefield of the north.

Forgive the sad repetition of my prayers. You know the cruelty of men when they sent your son to his death. Protect Edward. Grant him victory. I am sleepless with despair.

Once again I watched my closest family ride out from London, bright with banners and confidence in their cause, whilst I was forced to accept that I might never see them again.

I cannot weep. My tears are frozen in fear.

Forgive my untruths, if such they were, in keeping the flame of Richard’s courage and leadership alive for his young son. I am certain it was the Neville betrayal that brought him to his death. That is what Diccon must believe. My lord Richard’s honour must be upheld for his sons, and I will do it.

Amen

England’s Chronicle, March 1461

It is said that York and Lancaster will face each other once again on a battlefield.

Is there no end to it?

Have we not suffered enough? It is said that the conflict will be at Towton, a village outside York that no one has ever heard of. If it occurs on Palm Sunday, when Christ rode into Jerusalem, what a terrible day that will be for both sides. The weather is not fit for battle. The Queen and her son, and Henry of Lancaster whom we may no longer call King, have taken refuge in York to await news. Here at Baynard’s Castle our Duchess Cecily will, hourly, be demanding couriers with news from her son Edward, the new but as yet uncrowned King.

Were you aware? Edward of York, soon to be crowned King if he returns with a victory in his hands, has instructed the illustrious Mayor and Aldermen of the City of London that in his absence it is his Lady Mother who is named by him as his representative? It is the Duchess who presides over our new king’s household. We swear she will do it with superb efficiency.

Such power for the lady who never wore the crown.

When will battle be? Who will come away with victory? White rose or red?

We wager it will be white. But who’s to know? We have been wrong before.

The Bishop of Elphin to Bishop Francesco Coppini of Terni, one-time Papal Legate

Written from Baynard’s Castle, Easter Monday 1461

Your Grace,

An event of some moment that may be to your advantage.

We had just heard Vespers. The Duchess has been fraught all day, and our spirits were low with lack of news from the north, although the Duchess’s demeanour was as always exemplary. She has marvellous self-control, even when racked with fear. Except when she dropped her Missal during the raising of the Host.

And then, after Vespers, her control deserted her completely.

The Lord Treasurer, waiting for us in the Great Hall, carried a letter to our blessed Duchess of York. She read the letter. Her face paled. Her hand trembled as she passed the misused Missal to me, her other hand clenched like a claw around the document. It had taken her naught but a moment to read the news, fair or foul. Her face was as white as the snow falling outside the window. Or as colourless as a death-mask. I might have thought there were tears on her cheeks, if I did not know her better.

I feared the worst and took her arm, offering my assistance in what I considered to be her overwhelming grief. She clung, fingers digging into my sleeve, but only for a fraction of time, before she turned on her heel, climbed the staircase to re-enter her chapel, beckoning for me and her two chaplains to follow. There she fell to her knees before the image of the Blessed Virgin and buried her face in her hands.

I did not know whether I should begin a Requiem Mass or start to sing a Te Deum, so silently distressed was the Duchess.

You will know the answer by now, I expect.

I imagine that you are praying hard for a Yorkist victory. The family is close to your heart and you will have your eye on the papal legate’s promotion again. You should also pray that your enemies (Queen Marguerite and France) do not speak out against you.

Elphin

England’s Chronicle, April 1461

The Battle of Towton was fought on Easter Eve.

The longest and bloodiest battle on English soil, the conflict bitter and vicious, repaying old scores.

Fought through a snow-storm, impossible to see friend from foe. The snow and Cock Brook ran red with blood.

How many lost? Hundreds. Nay, thousands. Enough to need mass graves where all were tumbled.

Who claimed the victory?

The House of York.

 

Anne, Dowager Duchess of Buckingham, to Katherine, Dowager Duchess of Norfolk

Written from the Palace of Westminster

My dear sister,

Do I mourn or do I rejoice?

I fear that Cecily will become unbearable in her pride for the achievements of her son. As if in imitation of the brave and noble heroes of old who fill my books, Ned has asserted his hold on England’s crown on the battlefield of Towton.

Cecily already acts the role of Dowager Queen. She has set about making preparations for the coronation. I wish you would come and give me strength to support it.

A Queen does not need to be crowned in order to rule, Cecily says if I dare to take her to task for her peremptory commands throughout her household.

I am pleased for her, of course, but I cannot help but remember my husband and son, dead on battlefields or in the aftermath. Nor can Cecily be cold to the onslaught of death on both sides. We have lost nephews in the terrible carnage at Towton. Lord John Neville and Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, add to the number of our family dead.

I feel wrung out with mourning.

Perhaps the outward jollity of a coronation will do us all some good!

Anne

 

Cecily, Dowager Duchess of York, to Edward, Duke of York, King in Waiting

Written from Baynard’s Castle

To my well-beloved son,

This is why I write to you.

I would commission you with a task before you leave the north.

Have the heads, those terrible mementoes of Wakefield, removed from Micklegate Bar. Have them carried to Pontefract to be reunited with those we love. It would be a double humili­ation to leave them longer for public view and despoliation from time and weather.

You will be feted in York, of that I am certain. It is your task to tighten the bonds of friendship with this important northern base.

I will ensure that all is prepared for your return to London.

Your affectionate mother,

Cecily, Dowager Duchess of York

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The post An Excerpt from The Queen’s Rival by Anne O’Brien #HistoricalFiction first appeared on Deborah Swift.

White Space in Historical Fiction

The reader’s reaction happens in the gaps.

I’ve just been reading a book about time. In it, we were encouraged to take a  pause for a few seconds to allow a breathing space. Later that night I was reading a historical novel as my bedtime reading, and noticed that it had hardly any white space on my kindle. Also, the description butted right up to the speaker with no white space between. This novel was wearing to read, and the insertion of a little more white space in terms of paragraphing would have made it so much easier to digest. White space can convey what isn’t said in a scene. It is the subtle pause where something more can be read into the doaligue or the body language of your character.

The white spaces are the gaps where your reader ponders what will happen next. If there are no gaps, there are no spaces for the reader, and the effect is like force feeding. Allow the reader some time to digest and process by making enough white space. I sometimes use one sentence as a paragraph, if it’s important and needs space around it for the reader to think of the effects of the narrative on plot and character.

White can be black

I noticed too that white space can make a convenient ‘black-out’, to use a theatre term. The white space cuts us from one scene to the next. This is particularly useful in historical fiction when you don’t want to describe decades in which nothing new actually happens, but its necessary to show the passing of time. Transitions are often hard to achieve, but the white space does it effortlessly. It signals that we have switched to another time, location or point of view.

Sometimes when I’m drafting, if I don’t want to spend a long time researching the mode of transport (type of ship for passengers in 1630’s Italy for example, or what sort of carriage took you from London to Norwich in 1700) I’ll just type the words ‘Get them there’. Then I continue with the next pertinent scene. More often than not, the ‘Get them there’ can later be replaced with a white space – either a chapter ending or a page break.

This keeps the narrative moving forward and prevents endless journeys by carriage or horse, where nothing of any importance happens.

The shape of a page

Historical novels often need large amounts of world-building and these descriptions can seem impenetrable unless punctuated by white space. Think of your novel not just as words to be read, but as a visual picture that must be uncluttered and easy to digest. Balancing description with dialogue will supply you with some white space. If you send your book to your kindle or ereader and there are many pages with no white space or paragraph breaks on each page this is a sign that your book may be indigestible.

The post White Space in Historical Fiction first appeared on Deborah Swift.

An interview with Keith Stuart – Pied Piper a #WW2 novel set in 1939

I’m delighted to welcome Keith Stuart to my blog today to tell me about his new book, Pied Piper.

Here’s the blurb:

In September 1939 the British Government launched Operation Pied Piper. To protect them from the perils of German bombing raids, in three days millions of city children were evacuated – separated from their parents.

This story tells of two families: one whose children leave London and the other which takes them in. We share the ups and downs of their lives, their dramas and tragedies, their stoicism and their optimism. But. unlike many other stories and images about this time, this one unfolds mainly through the eyes of Tom, the father whose children set off, to who knew where, with just a small case and gas mask to see them on their way.

Tell me about why you chose to write about WW2 and why this particular history?

I was born in 1952, just six years after the end of a second world war, three years after the end of war-time rationing and eleven years before conscription ended. !945 saw the end of a period of almost thirty years of conflict (albeit with a few years break), which had seen millions killed and atrocities on a scale the like which one can hardly comprehend. But it began a lifetime, for my generation, of relative peace and a period of change perhaps faster and more significant than many periods before or since.

This is a period of history which fascinates me.

The kernel for this first novel came from nothing more than a five minute ‘warm-up’ exercise one Monday morning at my writing class. We were asked to take ourselves, as it were, in a time machine, backwards or forwards. Without needing to think I went back to 1939 and the evacuation, to a story I feel has most often been told from the point of view of the mothers or the children themselves. What must it have been like for the fathers? Though many men had volunteered, conscription didn’t start until October 1940 – a year after the evacuation – and yet images of the times don’t show many men waving their children goodbye. I felt there was a story there, one which fitted with an interest I have in mental health and the changing definition of masculinity. An historical setting, the moving story of hundreds of thousands of children leaving their parents, and some fascinating, contemporary issues started to come together. And so, this first novel evolved.

What fact or feature about the evacuation did you find the most surprising or interesting?

When I researched to find exactly what parents were told, I found the words of the leaflets that were posted through letterboxes. It simply said that parents should deliver their children to the station from where they would set off to ‘somewhere’. It explained that parents would be told at some point where their children were, once they were settled. I struggle to comprehend what that must have felt like, to pack little children off with a case and a gas mask, with no knowledge of where they were going or who they were going to live with. For mothers it must have been heartbreaking but neither then nor now would anyone feel uncomfortable at the sight of a weeping, distraught mother. But how were fathers supposed to react at a time when men kept their emotions very much to themselves?

Interestingly, and I had not been aware of this previously, many of the children returned to the cities before the bombing raids began. Operation Pied Piper took place in September 1939 but the first bomb did not land on London until almost a year later.

What gave you the impetus to write your first novel?

In truth the impetus came from a few things aligning. I had always thought I had a novel in me – but who doesn’t – and retirement afforded me the time seriously to consider writing one. I had found it less easy to adjust to retirement than I had anticipated and joining a writing class filled some time. It gave me opportunities to write for the sake of it rather than as I had mainly done before, because I was required to for some purpose or another, and some positive feedback made me feel that perhaps I could string a sentence together. In fact, I knew I could do that, but it was encouraging to hear that some of those sentences touched others. I had no excuse and I came to realise I really wanted to write that novel.

In the process of writing this book, what craft aspects mattered to you the most as a novelist?

I was keen to capture the deep feelings of a man. I wanted to draw an ordinary man, dealing with extraordinary circumstances and get right inside him. I decided to write alternate chapters in the first and the third person. The chapters which featured the main character are written in the first person: the world, the events and their impact are seen from his viewpoint. It allowed me to get inside his head and take the reader there. I wanted the reader to empathise and sympathise with him, to share his love, anxiety, grief and determination.

The ‘other’ chapters written in the third person allowed me to sweep across several characters and create a contrast between the closeness I wanted with Tom and the slightly more distant relationship with the rest of the cast. Because the technique is consistent I didn’t need chapter headings to remind the reader of who they were getting the story from: early on in every chapter, just in case the reader hadn’t got the rhythm either ‘I’ or a name would act as a reminder.

What have you learned writing this novel that will help you writing the next?

I’ve learned that I enjoyed allowing the story to unfold and develop organically but that working like that is inherently risky. I wrote myself into a quite long-lasting cul de sac: I had to abandon ship or work it out and, I hope fortunately, I worked it out with a bit of research and some encouragement that what I had already had was worth concluding.

I learned that, no matter how many times you go over and over what you’ve written you might make the same mistakes you spot in other writers. It irritates me intensely when writers have their characters ‘ball their fists’ or ‘gun the engine’ over and over again. Hey ho, I found mine after it had gone to print but I’m not going to tell you what it is!

Have you another project (writing or non-writing related) that you are working on that you can share with us?

I am toying with the idea of taking my characters, as they are at the end of Pied Piper and casting them forward about ten years, to the end of the war, maybe to when I was born. It might be interesting to explore how the was has affected them all and how their lives shape up as they enter the post-war recovery and the social, musical, political explosions of 50s.

About Keith:

Keith Stuart (Wadsworth) taught English for 36 years in Hertfordshire schools, the county in which he was born and has lived most of his life. Married with two sons, sport, music and, especially when he retired after sixteen years as a headteacher, travel, have been his passions. Apart from his own reading, reading and guiding students in their writing; composing assemblies; writing reports, discussion and analysis papers, left him with a declared intention to write a book. Pied Piper is ‘it’.  Starting life as a warm-up exercise at the Creative Writing Class he joined in Letchworth, it grew into this debut novel.

Chat with Keith on Twitter or Instagram  @bykeithstuart @len_maynard

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The post An interview with Keith Stuart – Pied Piper a #WW2 novel set in 1939 first appeared on Deborah Swift.