Deborah Swift's Blog, page 18
March 17, 2021
Paul Walker’s ‘A State of Treason’ Elizabethan Spy Thriller #audiobook #CoffeePotBookClub
I’m delighted to highlight the new Elizabethan spy mystery ‘State of Treason’ today by Paul Walker.
Audiobook listeners will be delighted that it is already available in audio – Listen Here
London, 1578
William Constable is a scholar of mathematics, astrology and practices as a physician. He receives an unexpected summons to the Queen’s spymaster, Sir Francis Walsingham in the middle of the night. He fears for his life when he spies the tortured body of an old friend in the palace precincts. His meeting with Walsingham takes an unexpected turn when he is charged to assist a renowned Puritan, John Foxe, in uncovering the secrets of a mysterious cabinet containing an astrological chart and coded message. Together, these claim Elizabeth has a hidden, illegitimate child (an “unknowing maid”) who will be declared to the masses and serve as the focus for an invasion. Constable is swept up in the chase to uncover the identity of the plotters, unaware that he is also under suspicion. He schemes to gain the confidence of the adventurer John Hawkins and a rich merchant. Pressured into taking a role as court physician to pick up unguarded comments from nobles and others, he has become a reluctant intelligencer for Walsingham.
Do the stars and cipher speak true, or is there some other malign intent in the complex web of scheming? Constable must race to unravel the threads of political manoeuvring for power before a new-found love and his own life are forfeit.
Buy the book : Amazon
Listen on Audio : Amazon UK • Amazon US
About Paul Walker
Paul is married and lives in a village 30 miles north of London. Having worked in universities and run his own business, he is now a full-time writer of fiction and part-time director of an education trust. His writing in a garden shed is regularly disrupted by children and a growing number of grandchildren and dogs.
Paul writes historical fiction. He inherited his love of British history and historical fiction from his mother, who was an avid member of Richard III Society. The William Constable series of historical thrillers is based around real characters and events in the late sixteenth century. The first three books in the series are State of Treason; A Necessary Killing; and The Queen’s Devil. He promises more will follow.
Connect with Paul:
March 9, 2021
The Lengthening Shadow by Liz Harris #Review #CoffeePotBookClub
Review of The Lengthening Shadow
I’ve read all three of the Linford Saga books now and thoroughly enjoyed them all. Liz Harris has a flowing easy-to-read writing style that pulls the reader along. This is the third part of a series but can definitely be read as a stand-alone novel. In it we get to meet the other side of the Linford family, who we have briefly encountered in the other books. This one is set mostly in the 1930’s as war threatens, and centres around Dorothy who we have heard of but never met in the other books. Dorothy has done the unforgiveable – met and married a German, and is now in Germany. There is an excellent sense of period atmosphere, especially in the way the author has conjured the life of a small German village, as Nazism becomes the only acceptable ideology, and Dorothy’s husband Franz is pressured to join the National Socialists. When Dorothy discovers her son Dieter as one of the Jungvolk has been set to spy on the family, the news is the last straw that threatens to tear the family apart.
The characters are interesting, and it is the domestic lives of the characters that make the hub of the book, rather than big historical events. The Linfords are solid middle class types whose main interests are property development, the new English craze for motoring and travel, and keeping the status quo. In this stultifying atmosphere I especially enjoyed Luisa’s journey from wayward and spoilt young woman to becoming a more responsible person after a terrible car accident changes her life. Dorothy’s sister Nellie provides the link between the two strands of story as she continues to write to Dorothy and provides the address so that Louisa can contact the estranged part of her family.
This is a book that saga lovers and anyone who enjoys 20th Century historicals will enjoy, but I recommend starting with Book 1, The Dark Horizon. Liz Harris writes family feuds really well, with just the right mixture of familiarity and tension, against settings rich with well-researched historical detail. Very warmly recommended.
Book Blurb
When Dorothy Linford marries former German internee, Franz Hartmann, at the end of WWI, she’s cast out by her father, Joseph, patriarch of the successful Linford family. Dorothy and Franz go to live in a village in south-west Germany, where they have a daughter and son. Throughout the early years of the marriage, which are happy ones, Dorothy is secretly in contact with her sister, Nellie, in England
Back in England, Louisa Linford, Dorothy’s cousin, is growing into an insolent teenager, forever at odds with her parents, Charles and Sarah, and with her wider family, until she faces a dramatic moment of truth.
Life in Germany in the early 1930s darkens, and to Dorothy’s concern, what had initially seemed harmless, gradually assumes a threatening undertone.
Brought together by love, but endangered by acts beyond their control, Dorothy and Franz struggle to get through the changing times without being torn apart.
Buy Links : Amazon UK • Amazon US
Connect with Liz Harris: Website • Twitter • Instagram • Facebook
March 6, 2021
Editing Historical Fiction: Fix your childhood tics with glee
The Miami Glee Club 1907
When I am writing, I am aware that my own childhood reading history can creep into my writing, dragging it back to an era less sophisticated than where I am now. Often we forget that these shorthand phrases still exist in our sub-conscious somewhere, and they are mostly from our early reading. Usually they come from children’s fiction where they are more at home. They often pop out to describe actions in a way that is unrealistic, and it serves to make our story less real. In fact they anchor it to a time when we read stories as children, and bear little relationship to actual real events.
Here are some examples that I commonly find in my own and other people’s fiction.
‘He buried his face in his hands.’
‘She flung her arms around his neck.’
‘He was grinning from ear to ear.’
‘They clapped in delight.’
‘She jumped up and down with glee.’ *
These are actions very few adults really make (unless they are acting in a comedy sit-com), but they are a shorthand to describe an action conveying some sort of emotion. Too many of these in a book can mean your novel is lacking in depth and reality, and signal that the book is ‘story’. They are especially anachronistic in historical eras when people were restrained by their social status or by their class. In first drafts I often find a few similar shorthand phrases, written quickly as I race along trying to get it all down. But they are phrases I try to replace in the editing with something more realistic, individual and meaningful to the period.
Because I have edited these out of my own fiction, these sort of phrases often jump me out of a story if I read them in another book. What phrases jump you out of a story?
*Historical note – the Glee ClubGlee is a word we rarely use these days. The picture is of the Miami Glee Club of 1907. In the US a ‘glee club’ is a kind of choir that traditionally specializes in the singing of short songs, called ‘glees’ . It comes from the word Glee in England, from 1603, which refers to a particular specific form of English part song which was popular up until the end of the 19th Century. The first actual named Glee Club held its initial meeting in the Newcastle Coffee House in London in 1787. (see picture below) Glee clubs were very popular in Britain but were gradually superseded by larger choral societies. Proper glee clubs are now very rare.
Read about the Gentleman’s Glee Club in Manchester here on Tall Tales from the Trees Blog.
Writers – you might also like:
The Joy of Writing Ordinary Commoners
Introverts and Extroverts in Historical Fiction
Trade Card for Newcastle Coffee House London
The post Editing Historical Fiction: Fix your childhood tics with glee first appeared on Deborah Swift.February 17, 2021
My new website, simplicity out of complexity
I’m delighted to say my website is now fully functional, and I can relax! Having an author website that actually performs well for me and that I can update easily was a priority. I have limited time, so I didn’t want to spend ages designing it myself, as I’d much rather be writing books.
Don’t use your designer friendOver the years I’ve tried various ways of having a website made. The first was via a friend, and the design did look beautiful but it was hard to update, and very techie with sliders and all sorts of complexities, and the designer was hopeless at answering emails or getting back to me if I had a query. As they lived in London, and I live in The North, (flat cap on, and ferret up trousers) knocking on their door wasn’t an option. I didn’t want to fall out with a friend over business so after another month or two of unanswered emails, I thought I’d look for someone else…
The ad on a telegraph pole is not a good ideaBy strange coincidence I spotted a notice on a telegraph pole in our village offering website design. Ah, I thought, someone local. They won’t be able to escape if I need something updating. The designer was great, very reasonably priced, produced a sensible website on a wordpress theme, but after a few years it looked a bit tired, so I emailed him to ask him to update it. No reply. I tried ringing and leaving messages – I left countless messages on his unanswered phone. He had disappeared completely off the face of the earth. Where did he go? Still no idea.
Bigger is not necessarily betterA big firm, I thought. That’s what I need. One that can’t disappear and is going to be there for the foreseeable future. I duly signed up to the biggest UK firm I could see on Google for a redesign. Only afterwards did I discover that the actual designing and building was done in India. Now that in itself wasn’t a problem, except for the weird time differences, but what was a problem was that it was never the same person twice, and I’d ask for one thing to be done, and the next person would undo it. For about three months we went round in circles, and I counted eight different people. Finally it was done, almost to my satisfaction, (except I’d lost most of my hair by pulling it out in tufts) and it went live. When I went to upload my first post I found there was all sorts of strange stuff behind the scenes trying to sell me things, two different SEO plug ins, – you name it. I was baffled. There was an instruction manual written in bad English, which was like someone had never actually seen the site I was faced with. Then it started to crash. Two or three times a day. Aargh!
The Cavalry!Help! The kind folks at Headline (who publish my Pepys Books) recommended Simon at Bookswarm, and immediately I was having a sensible conversation with someone who was used to making websites for authors. He tidied up the muddle that the other company had left behind, streamlined the design, and made it all functional so that a non-techie person like me could update it with the minimum of fuss. And all for a reasonable cost.
Phew. I hope you like the design, and I will no longer have to keep apologising because my website is down, or crashed, or the contact form leads them to Mumbai.
February 16, 2021
COVER REVEAL! New covers for the Women of Pepys’ Diary Trilogy
I’m delighted to be able to show you the three new covers for the Women of Pepys’ Diary Trilogy , published by Headline Accent. First, Deb Willet, self-possessed maidservant to Mrs Pepys, and a woman of wit, intelligence and courage. In Pleasing Mr Pepys, she is head-hunted by Abigail Williams, a spy for the Dutch. Can she keep her activities of copying out Pepys’ Diary a secret from the Pepys household? And if she fails to deliver, will she be found drowned in the Thames like so many other spies? A story of espionage, and the power of the written word.
Second, Bess Bagwell, ambitious wife of ship’s carpenter Will. She has her sights set on going up in the world, and she fears the more cautious Will is stopping her. She hopes the favours of Mr Pepys will lead to riches and respectability. A fine house is the first step, taken on loan whilst their luck holds. But when the Plague comes calling, their fortunes fall, and for every favour, one is demanded in return. Soon Bess is in deeper than she could ever have imagined. A Plague on Mr Pepys is a rich saga of family life in the Restoration London.
And last of all Bird Knepp, proud owner of a beautiful voice. But will it ever be heard where she is languishing in the stews of Smithfield? In Entertaining Mr Pepys she meets theatre afficionado Mr Pepys, and unwittingly becomes his friend, and so begins her journey into the heart of the new Kings Players, alongside Nell Gwyn. But fellow player, Stefan, hates the idea of the new actresses and and is determined to keep them away from the stage. She battles jealousy and misogyny to finally set foot on the boards. But just as she is about to make her debut, a coal falls in a bakery in Pudding Lane and a fire begins to spread, one that will change everything …
I do hope you’ll take a look at the books and admire their new covers. You can find the Pepys Trilogy HERE
‘Laced with emotional intensity and drama, Pleasing Mr Pepys…(has) an intricate plot that features red herrings, unexpected twists, and surprises that will take readers on a very delightful ride’ Readers’ Favorite
‘Deb Willet, Elizabeth Pepys’s maid and the object of Samuel Pepys’s attentions, is finally given centre-stage after 350 years, and her tale was worth waiting for. This is exceptional story-telling’ L. C. Tyler
‘A remarkably beguiling read. It transported me to the glitter and filth of seventeenth century London’ Martine Bailey, author of The Almanack
The post COVER REVEAL! New covers for the Women of Pepys’ Diary Trilogy first appeared on Deborah Swift.Historical Fiction Recommendations – ‘THE PROPHET’ and ‘ALVAR THE KINGMAKER’
Science, religion and superstition clash in this intelligent murder mystery
I read the first book in the Tabitha Hart series, The Almanack, and was really keen to read the second. And I’m pleased to say I loved this intricate murder mystery, with its potent dose of superstition, folklore and religion.
Tabitha and Nat’s world is turned upside down with the arrival of Baptist Gunn, a cultish leader of a new religion. Tabitha is still attached to the local charms for helping women in childbirth, and to her perception of the natural world and the signs it tells her about her life. On the other hand, her husband Nat, a member of the scientific Cestrian Natural Philosophy Society, is determined to test the prophecies of Baptist Gunn against his evidential criteria to increase his standing as a man of science.
When a young woman is murdered under the old oak, close to where Baptist Gunn has his camp, some think the preacher has something to do with it, others that he is entirely innocent. What is the truth? Tabitha is determined to find out. But little does she know, her husband is hiding something from her and all her enquiries lead her closer to his uncomfortable secret. At the same time Baptist Gunn is determined to draw Tabitha and her unborn child closer into his claustrophobic cult.
This is a satisfyingly deep read with questions to ask on multiple levels about how we make sense of the world. It also has a few surprising twists at the end which the reader might not see coming, and this adds extra enjoyment to what is already a great read. A fabulous brew of sin and science, predictions and superstitions, with a murder mystery at its heart. You won’t be able to put it down. Buy the book
A beautifully-written saga of betrayal and allegiance in 10th Century England.
Annie Whitehead has a fantastic way with words that enables you to get right inside the era, and you are immediately immersed in the world of early Christianity and the battle to preserve kingship from page one. I appreciated the fact that names had been subtly changed to enable the narrative to flow more easily, and that there was a glossary to explain this at the outset. The novel is so well-researched that you believe in it without question.
Alvar must defend a weak King, who seems to care nothing for his country, against the powerful forces that want to overturn his kingship, and later his line. Alvar is a strong character and has hard decisions to make both in his political position and personally. He has romantic associations with two different women; Alfreda the English Queen and Kata the Danish wife of Helmstan, Alvar’s chief supporter and ally. Neither love interest is going to be an easy journey. I won’t spoil it by telling more!
On this journey we are taken into the firelight of mead halls, the fury of welsh battlefields, chilly stone cathedrals and the opulence of the king’s chambers. All the time we are reminded how close death lurks in these early times, whether from disease, fire, battle, or backstabbing.
Alvar himself comes across as a real person. Annie Whithead has revived him from the dusty history books and made him live. I actually thought I was there, travelling with him, and the ending will move you to tears. Very highly recommended. Buy the book
The post Historical Fiction Recommendations – ‘THE PROPHET’ and ‘ALVAR THE KINGMAKER’ first appeared on Deborah Swift.February 15, 2021
Cover Reveal! New covers for the Women of Pepys’ Diary Trilogy.
I’m delighted to be able to show you the three new covers for the Women of Pepys’ Diary Trilogy , published by Headline Accent. First, Deb Willet, self-possessed maidservant to Mrs Pepys, and a woman of wit, intelligence and courage. In Pleasing Mr Pepys, she is head-hunted by Abigail Williams, a spy for the Dutch. Can she keep her activities of copying out Pepys’ Diary a secret from the Pepys household? And if she fails to deliver, will she be found drowned in the Thames like so many other spies? A story of espionage, and the power of the written word. 
Second, Bess Bagwell, ambitious wife of ship’s carpenter Will. She has her sights set on going up in the world, and she fears the more cautious Will is stopping her. She hopes the favours of Mr Pepys will lead to riches and respectability. A fine house is the first step, taken on loan whilst their luck holds. But when the Plague comes calling, their fortunes fall, and for every favour, one is demanded in return. Soon Bess is in deeper than she could ever have imagined. A Plague on Mr Pepys is a rich saga of family life in the Restoration London.
And last of all Bird Knepp, proud owner of a beautiful voice. But will it ever be heard where she is languishing in the stews of Smithfield? In Entertaining Mr Pepys she meets theatre afficionado Mr Pepys, and unwittingly becomes his friend, and so begins her journey into the heart of the new Kings Players, alongside Nell Gwyn. But fellow player, Stefan, hates the idea of the new actresses and and is determined to keep them away from the stage. She battles jealousy and misogyny to finally set foot on the boards. But just as she is about to make her debut, a coal falls in a bakery in Pudding Lane and a fire begins to spread, one that will change everything …
I do hope you’ll take a look at the books and admire their new covers. You can find the Pepys Trilogy HERE
‘Laced with emotional intensity and drama, Pleasing Mr Pepys…(has) an intricate plot that features red herrings, unexpected twists, and surprises that will take readers on a very delightful ride’ Readers’ Favorite
‘Deb Willet, Elizabeth Pepys’s maid and the object of Samuel Pepys’s attentions, is finally given centre-stage after 350 years, and her tale was worth waiting for. This is exceptional story-telling’ L. C. Tyler
‘A remarkably beguiling read. It transported me to the glitter and filth of seventeenth century London’ Martine Bailey, author of The Almanack
The post Cover Reveal! New covers for the Women of Pepys' Diary Trilogy. first appeared on Deborah Swift.
Historical Fiction Recommendations – The Prophet and Alvar the Kingmaker
Science, religion and superstition clash in this intelligent murder mystery
I read the first book in the Tabitha Hart series, The Almanack, and was really keen to read the second. And I’m pleased to say I loved this intricate murder mystery, with its potent dose of superstition, folklore and religion.
Tabitha and Nat’s world is turned upside down with the arrival of Baptist Gunn, a cultish leader of a new religion. Tabitha is still attached to the local charms for helping women in childbirth, and to her perception of the natural world and the signs it tells her about her life. On the other hand, her husband Nat, a member of the scientific Cestrian Natural Philosophy Society, is determined to test the prophecies of Baptist Gunn against his evidential criteria to increase his standing as a man of science.
When a young woman is murdered under the old oak, close to where Baptist Gunn has his camp, some think the preacher has something to do with it, others that he is entirely innocent. What is the truth? Tabitha is determined to find out. But little does she know, her husband is hiding something from her and all her enquiries lead her closer to his uncomfortable secret. At the same time Baptist Gunn is determined to draw Tabitha and her unborn child closer into his claustrophobic cult.
This is a satisfyingly deep read with questions to ask on multiple levels about how we make sense of the world. It also has a few surprising twists at the end which the reader might not see coming, and this adds extra enjoyment to what is already a great read. A fabulous brew of sin and science, predictions and superstitions, with a murder mystery at its heart. You won’t be able to put it down. Buy the book
A beautifully-written saga of betrayal and allegiance in 10th Century England.
Annie Whitehead has a fantastic way with words that enables you to get right inside the era, and you are immediately immersed in the world of early Christianity and the battle to preserve kingship from page one. I appreciated the fact that names had been subtly changed to enable the narrative to flow more easily, and that there was a glossary to explain this at the outset. The novel is so well-researched that you believe in it without question.
Alvar must defend a weak King, who seems to care nothing for his country, against the powerful forces that want to overturn his kingship, and later his line. Alvar is a strong character and has hard decisions to make both in his political position and personally. He has romantic associations with two different women; Alfreda the English Queen and Kata the Danish wife of Helmstan, Alvar’s chief supporter and ally. Neither love interest is going to be an easy journey. I won’t spoil it by telling more!
On this journey we are taken into the firelight of mead halls, the fury of welsh battlefields, chilly stone cathedrals and the opulence of the king’s chambers. All the time we are reminded how close death lurks in these early times, whether from disease, fire, battle, or backstabbing.
Alvar himself comes across as a real person. Annie Whithead has revived him from the dusty history books and made him live. I actually thought I was there, travelling with him, and the ending will move you to tears. Very highly recommended. Buy the book
The post Historical Fiction Recommendations - The Prophet and Alvar the Kingmaker first appeared on Deborah Swift.
February 4, 2021
Rebecca’s Choice – An #Interview with debut novelist Heidi Gallacher #historicalfiction #Romance
Its always a pleasure to interview someone who is launching their first novel, so I’m thrilled to welcome Welsh author Heidi Gallacher to my blog today to tell me about her historical romance, Rebecca’s Choice, as part of her Coffee Pot Book Club Tour.
Tell me about why you chose to write a romance and why the Victorian era made it an ideal setting for this particular story.
I was on a research module on a writing course and we were told to access newspaper articles from the Victorian era. We could choose anything we liked. My grandfather had lived in a very old house in Cardiff where I remembered playing as a child. So I decided to type in the name of the old house, which was ‘Tredelerch’.
Many interesting articles were retrieved by the search engine. I discovered that Tredelerch had housed one of the first outdoor weather stations in South Wales and that the family who lived there in the 1890s had hosted lavish balls in the summer in the garden. On the writing course we were told to write a short story using the fruits of our research, and this is where it all started. I think it was the story of the outdoor balls, with marquees, dancing and Hungarian bands playing, that inspired me to write a romance. I fell in love with the era as I wrote. The setting of Tredelerch was so beautiful back then, nestling at the bottom of a hill next to a river.
The original short story was 12,000 words and called ‘The Weather Station’. When I was finishing the short story I knew I had a lot more to say, in fact I knew I had enough for a novel! It did not change its name to ‘Rebecca’s Choice’ until a few months before publication.
What fact or feature about the Victorian era did you find the most surprising or interesting?
There were so many! I loved the way that my research of the era influenced my writing of the novel. For example, while researching Cardiff in the Victorian era I discovered there had been an area of Cardiff called Temperance Town, that was established in the 1850s. The sale of alcohol was not allowed there – hence the name.
It seemed such an interesting area that I decided to include it in the novel. Reece, one of the main characters in Rebecca’s Choice, hails from Temperance Town. It was sadly demolished in the 1930s to make way for Cardiff Bus Station. 
So here’s the finished book with its lovely cover! But what gave you the impetus to write your first novel?
Up to 2017, I had written five or six short stories. I hadn’t considered writing a novel; at that stage I wasn’t sure if I was able. A novel is a huge commitment. However, as I mentioned earlier, when I wrote my short story ‘The Weather Station’ the characters revealed themselves and I saw that there was enough there for me to expand the story into a novel.
In the process of writing, what mattered to you the most as a novelist?
In writing historical fiction, one thing that mattered to me was that I got things right; that the setting was realistic, just as it had been back then. I researched how my characters would have spoken, what they would have eaten. I spent days researching Temperance Town and the methods of transport in Cardiff at the time. I looked at old maps to see how a character would have journeyed from one part of Cardiff to another. An interesting piece of research was studying the Victorian railway system in Wales including the old Mumbles railway, which appears in a couple of chapters. It all had to be right.
Another important part of the writing process was getting feedback on the story as I wrote, about characters, about the plot. Feedback about all aspects of the novel to see what was working and what wasn’t. I was lucky to have a group of trusted readers.
How important is it to you that the book is set in Wales?
I grew up in South Wales and am Welsh and so I know the area very well. This helped give me confidence in writing the novel – I know the setting. Two of my favourite parts of Cardiff are Wentlooge and Roath Park, both places where I spent a lot of time as a child. I was determined to include scenes from these places in the novel. It was a thrill when I discovered the opening ceremony for Roath Park was in June 1894 – it fitted so perfectly into the novel! Loving the places helped with the descriptive element too. What is lovely is that several of my readers (one from Germany!) have said they are planning to visit the area – to discover these lovely parts of Wales for themselves.
What have you learned writing this novel that will help you writing the next?
The importance of the support of family and friends is one thing. I am lucky to have a supportive partner who encourages me and reads what I have written, offering very useful feedback. There are great support groups online too, on Facebook and Twitter, that I found very helpful.
I have also learned that it so important to read back to myself what I have written – to check the ‘flow’ of the words and whether the dialogue sounds natural, for example.
I have learned that, although it is difficult, sometimes a much-loved few paragraphs or even a chapter has to be taken out, if it does not help to move the story forwards.
The main thing I have learned is that I love the writing process. Two more novels are underway – a thriller and another, unrelated historical fiction novel. After that I will begin the sequel to ‘Rebecca’s Choice’!
Thank you so much for stopping by and I wish you much success, and further adventures in writing!
PRAISE FOR REBECCA’S CHOICE
‘This is a story that is utterly beguiling from the opening sentence to the very last full stop.’ – Author Mary Anne Yarde
‘The historical details are so skilfully woven in that the reader steps with ease into the late 19th century.’ – Author Liz Harris
Learn more about the book: Amazon UK • Amazon US
Find Heidi on Twitter • Instagram • Facebook • Goodreads
The post Rebecca's Choice - An #Interview with debut novelist Heidi Gallacher #historicalfiction #Romance first appeared on Deborah Swift.
January 28, 2021
Falling Pomegranate Seeds (All Manner of Things 2) by Wendy J Dunn #Tudor #CoffeePotBookClub
I’m delighted to introduce my readers and historical fiction fans to today’s Book Blast, and author Wendy J Dunn. Her new Tudor book is out now!
Winter, 1539
María de Salinas is dying. Too ill to travel, she writes a letter to her daughter Katherine, the young duchess of Suffolk. A letter telling of her life: a life intertwined with her friend and cousin Catalina of Aragon, the youngest child of Isabel of Castile. It is a letter to help her daughter understand the choices she has made in her life, beginning from the time she keeps her vow to Catalina to share her life of exile in England. Friendship, betrayal, hatred, forgiveness – All Manner of Things tells a story of how love wins out in the end.
Available in ebook & print – print length: 449 Pages
Praise for All Manner of Things.
“A timeless story of friendship and love, which will stay with the reader long after the last page is turned, All Manner of Things is Wendy J. Dunn’s best novel yet…”
Lauren Chater, author of The Lace Weavers and Gulliver’s Wife.
“A sensitive and inspiring portrait of faith and friendship, framed around the devotion inspired by a remarkable queen. Wendy J. Dunn has written another gem of a novel for Tudor enthusiasts!”
Gareth Russell, author of Young and Damned and Fair: The Life of Catherine Howard
“This is a story ripe with passion and rich in historical detail. All Manner of Things draws the reader deep into the heart of Henry’s Tudor court, with its machinations, betrayals and very human stories of love and loss…”
Rachel Nightingale, author of The Tales of Tarya.
Watch the Trailer Buy Links: Amazon UK • Amazon US
About Wendy J. Dunn
Wendy J. Dunn is an Australian author, playwright and poet who has been obsessed by Anne Boleyn and Tudor History since she was ten-years-old. She is the author of three Tudor novels: Dear Heart, How Like You This?, the winner of the 2003 Glyph Fiction Award and 2004 runner up in the Eric Hoffer Award for Commercial Fiction, The Light in the Labyrinth, her first young adult novel, and Falling Pomegranate Seeds: The Duty of Daughters. While she continues to have a very close and spooky relationship with Sir Thomas Wyatt, the elder, serendipity of life now leaves her no longer wondering if she has been channeling
Anne Boleyn and Sir Tom for years in her writing, but considering the possibility of ancestral memory. Her own family tree reveals the intriguing fact that her ancestors – possibly over three generations – had purchased land from both the Boleyn and Wyatt families to build up their own holdings. It seems very likely Wendy’s ancestors knew the Wyatts and Boleyns personally.
Connect with Wendy via her website : www.wendyjdunn.com
Twitter: @WendyJDunn
The post Falling Pomegranate Seeds (All Manner of Things 2) by Wendy J Dunn #Tudor #CoffeePotBookClub first appeared on Deborah Swift.
