Deborah Swift's Blog, page 18

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 friend

Over 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 idea

By 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 better

A 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.

The post My new website, simplicity out of complexity first appeared on Deborah Swift.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Unto This Last by Rebecca Lipkin #Review

Unto This Last in certainly a great big brick of a book, but trust me every word of it is solid gold. I’ve been a fan of Ruskin and the Pre-Raphaelites since my teens and have many other books about their works and lives. Unto This Last is different – it’s a painstakingly constructed fictional account of Ruskin’s life, researched from his correspondence and archive material. It centres on his infatuation with the child Rose La Touche, who starts the book as one of his pupils, and the novel tracks this relationship through the following years until she is an adult.

Uncomfortable reading? Given that Ruskin is thirty years older than Rose you might think so, but one of the strengths of the book is its examination of love in all its forms. It is not afraid to question, to analyse, and allow such things as cross-generational love to exist without censure.

The novel shows Ruskin as a flawed individual, obsessed with the idea of nature’s superiority over industry, with his own struggles to find a place for craft to still exist in this new factory-driven world in which he finds himself. His search for beauty gives the places he visits great texture and beauty in this book, as we experience them through his eyes on his Grand Tour. Rebecca Lipkin does a superb job of weaving impressions from his existing artworks and writings into a descriptive narrative we can understand.

The novel has many well-known characters of the era coming and going in its pages – Mr and Mrs Carlyle (the latter who dies during the book), Burne-Jones, Holman Hunt, the young painter Millais, and of course Effie Gray, to whom Ruskin is married. Lipkin does not flinch from the pain Ruskin caused her during their marriage. When in Venice, Ruskin, rapt with the vision of the past, calls it the ‘paradise of cities’ , whereas Effie, whom he does not understand and is virtually ignoring,  takes ‘warped delight’ in throwing cold water on all his enthusiasms. The marriage is of course eventually annulled, to great scandal.

Rose La Touche takes centre stage again in Part Four. She must cope with a mother who was obsessed with Ruskin herself, and a father who is a religious pedant. Of course Maria La Touche objects strongly to the idea that Rose might marry Ruskin, for reasons all sensible mothers might – he is old, and made his first wife desperately unhappy. Rose too is suffering, both from a kind of mystical religious feeling, and from her fragile mental health.

I will not mention how the novel concludes, but urge anyone with an interest in the period or the history of art to read this. The amount of research in itself is astounding, but more than that, it is a tour de force, written with sensitivity, depth and insight. I’d be happy if this was what I was leaving to posterity. Very highly recommended.

Buy the Book UK 

Buy the Book US

About Rebecca Lipkin https://rebeccalipkin.com/

Follow Rebecca on Twitter: @rebecca_lipkin

The post Unto This Last by Rebecca Lipkin #Review first appeared on Deborah Swift.

Today’s the Day! Launch of The Lifeline #WW2 #Fiction

Confession. I have never been to Norway. I have never been to Shetland. Normally I would have done both. When writing and researching a book I like to do as much ‘on the ground’ research as possible. But this year it just wasn’t possible, because of the virus.

This book takes place in Nazi-occupied Norway, and though I could have visited Norway, my experience of it wouldn’t have been the same as those who lived through the occupation by the Nazis in WW2. In one sense, the past can never be revisited, and every historical fiction author must supercharge their imagination to conjure the past into being. In this instance, I relied on archive material, books, websites, memoirs and facebook interest groups, as well as a native Norwegian to guide me through the research.

Shetland was a lot closer to home, but visitors from the mainland UK, especially virus-ridden Lancashire, were still not exactly welcome. So, I was indoors much of the time finishing my research from my desk, and watching videos of men fishing in the Northern waters, or Shetlanders farming the windswept Shetland hills. In depth research is as much to do with the quality of attention that you pay to it, and how you use it, as to do with what you actually see.

One of the pleasures of writing historical fiction is that you learn so much about the events of the past that might have been forgotten or overlooked, and you can bring these back to life for other people to marvel at and enjoy.

So The Lifeline is out today, published by Sapere Books. I hope it will give people an insight into what life was like for ordinary teachers caught up in the Nazi indoctrination machine, and how they risked their lives to rebel against it.

And I hope more people will get to know about the brave Norwegian men who risked their lives in bringing arms and intelligence to the Resistance across icy waters and under enemy fire.

BUY THE BOOK

The post Today's the Day! Launch of The Lifeline #WW2 #Fiction first appeared on Deborah Swift.

A Painter in Penang by Clare Flynn #Review

I have read another couple of books by Clare Flynn and always enjoyed them so I looked forward to the chance to read and review this new release. Sixteen year old Jasmine is unhappy with her adopted parents in Kenya, and longs to return to her childhood home of Penang. By coincidence her old teacher needs help with her new baby, so Jasmine returns to Penang, unaware of all the changes that have happened whilst she was away. Jasmine is soon out of her depth, with confusing love interests, a country that has underlying tensions she doesn’t understand, and her own insecurities about her family.

The novel is framed as a romance, with a couple of love interests along the way – handsome Howard Baxter, an ex-pat employee in the rubber plantations, and Bintang, an enigmatic Malayan who has suffered atrocities at the hands of the Japanese and is deeply suspicious of the Brits and their motives for ‘helping’ Malaya.

The novel is more than just a romance though, with attention paid to the historical background and the unfolding difficulties of a colonising force attempting to solve another country’s problems, along with all the uncertainties and dilemmas that brings. Penang at this time is home to a seething melting pot of conflicting interests, including the British who want their rubber and natural resources, and the Chinese, including the Triads, who want to wrestle away that control. All this is well-detailed by Clare Flynn, who does a great job of giving us all the background without overwhelming the reader.

The book starts slowly but builds into a gripping climax once the fuse of rebellion is lit and the Chinese shoot the ‘tuans’ or masters of the plantations in a co-ordinated attack. This novel has a bit of everything – a coming-of-age romance, adventure, immersion in another culture, and you don’t need to have read the other books in the series to enjoy it. If you like well-researched historical sagas with depth, you will enjoy this.

Heartily recommended.

BUY THE BOOK

ABOUT CLARE FLYNN

Clare Flynn is the author of twelve 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 traveller, 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, Novelists Inc (NINC), ALLi, the Historical Novel Society and the Romantic Novelists Association, where she serves on the committee as the Member Services Officer. When not writing, she loves to read, quilt, paint and play the piano. She continues to travel as widely and as far as possible all over the world.

Connect with Clare:

Website • Blog • Facebook • Instagram • Twitter

The post A Painter in Penang by Clare Flynn #Review first appeared on Deborah Swift.