Deborah Swift's Blog, page 9
September 5, 2023
Spotlight on The Butterfly Cage by Trish McEnulty – Delafield & Malloy Series
Excerpt from The Butterfly Cage
Note: Although this is the fourth book in the series to appear, chronologically the events take place in the fall of 1913, a few months after the events in the first book The Whispering Women.
Chapter 1
Louisa
Louisa Delafield ripped the page from her typewriter and handed it to a copy boy.
“This has to make the next edition,” she told him, donning her hat and grabbing her purse from the lower drawer in her desk.
“Where are you off to now?” Ellen asked.
“Penelope Gaines is having a small reception for the former president while he’s in town. She insisted I come early, which means I must dash home first and change into something presentable,” Louisa said. “Hold the fort, please.”
She hurried out of the building and found a cab.
The summer of 1913 had been idyllic if somewhat hectic. Panama hats bedecked with ribbons and bows were all the rage, knee-length bathing costumes gave women new-found freedom to enjoy the surf, and socialites dashed from horse races to tennis matches to costume parties as if their lives depended on being seen in every possible venue. Louisa had documented it all for her New York readers in The Ledger as well as in her nationally syndicated column.
Now a slight autumnal melancholy tinged the early September evenings, and the white shoes were put away for next year. September and October would provide a lull as one by one, the yachts returned to their berths, families streamed back to their Fifth Avenue houses and Central Park apartments, and the women who ruled the upper class began plotting the next season’s events.
The unexpected death of New York City’s mayor had temporarily thrown the schedule into disarray, but it had given her something important to write about. The taxi dropped her off in front of the Dakota on the Upper Westside. This area had become more fashionable as of late, and she wasn’t surprised that Penelope Gaines had chosen to live here. As wealthy as she was, she was not a member of Caroline Astor’s crowd. Not to mention, she was divorced. However, if Vanderbilts could get divorced then so could everybody else. Penelope Gaines had made her own name in society by regularly hosting a number of charitable soirées and tea dances. She also had gained a reputation of being the life of the party.
Louisa took a private elevator to the third floor. A butler opened the door and showed her into the reception area of the luxurious apartment. While she waited, Louisa glanced around and took mental notes. She’d never been in the Dakota before, but she’d heard the apartments had all been custom designed. She glanced up at the high ceiling and then down at the parquet floor, inlaid with mahogany and cherry wood. It was as nice as any town home.
“Louisa Delafield, I’m so glad you could come a few minutes early. I have some news you may want for your column,” Penelope said, holding a highball glass in one hand. Tall and blond, she wore a flattering rose chiffon dress with a fashionable raglan waist and a high-neck collar. She had been the daughter of a successful banker when she married Charles “spend-a- million” Gaines, a boisterous barbed-wire mogul, who never fit in with the staid society of New York. The marriage had not worked out, and they’d been separated ten years ago. Recently they made it official with a divorce.
“I hope it’s happy news and not another funeral,” Louisa said, “although I will say that was a spectacular event.”
“No, no, this is happy news,” Penelope said, leading Louisa into the drawing room. In front of a huge fireplace stood Dominic Gallo. Louisa was not terribly surprised to see him there as he had been seen out and about with Penelope since sometime in the spring. A dashing man with black hair, dark eyes and a dazzling smile, he smiled now as Penelope took her place at his side.
“The news I have for you is that Dominic and I recently got married.” Penelope grinned.
“Married?” Louisa asked. She had not expected this. “Why didn’t you tell me beforehand so I could have announced it in my column?”
“It was rather spur-of-the-moment. I wanted to get married before Caroline’s coming out season so that Dominic could be at my side for the balls. Of course, now with the mayor’s death we’ll also be busy with other plans.”
“Such as?”
“Dominic’s political career,” Penelope said, slipping her hand into the crook of her husband’s elbow.
So that’s what this reception was about. Penelope was grooming her new husband for political office, and they were hoping to get Taft’s blessing.
The doorbell rang, and Penelope gulped down her drink before hurrying off to greet her guests.
“Miss Delafield,” Dominic said, turning his full attention to her. “I read your columns religiously. Thank you for promoting the women’s right to vote, a cause near and dear to my heart.”
This was even more surprising than the news of their nuptials, Louisa thought. First, that he was reading her column and secondly that he cared about women’s suffrage. Then again, if he were hoping for a political career, he was certainly the sort who could win the women’s vote if they had one. He was not only handsome, he was so charismatic it was almost uncomfortable being alone with him.
“Thank you,” she said. “I didn’t know you were interested in politics, Mr. Gallo.”
“Please call me Dominic,” he said. “When I came to New York ten years ago, I fell in love with this city. I was born in Italy, but moved to San Francisco as a boy. With a small inheritance I bought some land. Land was cheap in California then. But I always wanted to come back to the city that I had seen as young boy. And so I sold the land and came here and bought an import/export business. New York welcomed me with open arms. Look at me, Miss Delafield, a
poor boy from Italy and now I am married to a beautiful woman and I am surrounded by luxury. I want to give back to this city which has given me so much.”
He smiled and she felt herself melt a little. No wonder Penelope was so smitten.
Then she noticed a quiet, severe-looking woman in black, sitting in a chair in the corner of the room, reading a book. Louisa wasn’t alone with him, after all. But who, she wondered, was this woman? A distant relative? She certainly was not a member of society or she would never have simply ignored Louisa, but she was no servant either.
Spotlight on The London Forgery by Heidi Eljarbo @HeidiEljarbo #CoffeePotBookClub
JUST OUT!
Publication Date: August 29th, 2023Genre: Historical Mystery / Dual-Timeline Historical Fiction1973. Art historian Fabiola Bennett sees herself as a prudently observant deer who becomes a daring and even mischievous lioness if the situation calls for it. And that’s exactly what’s required when greedy criminals steal, forge, and tamper with treasured artwork. When the crooks add murder to their list of crimes, the chaos is complete.
A mysterious note is delivered anonymously at the door of the National Gallery in London, and the director immediately calls Fabiola’s office in Oslo and pleads with her to come without delay. The message is confusing, but it seems one of her favorite eighteenth-century portraits is in trouble.
Fabiola hops on the first plane and meets up with her vibrant side-kick Pippa Yates and the ever-loyal Detective Inspector Cary Green from New Scotland Yard. But she is not naïve enough to think untangling the purpose and meaning of the mysterious note will be as simple as a walk in Hyde Park. These things never are.
1750. Newly married Robert and Frances Andrews, members of the landed gentry of Suffolk, England, hire young and talented Thomas Gainsborough to paint their wedding portrait. Their desire is a lovely conversation piece showing their wealth and class, an artwork to remember them by for generations to come.
Little do they know the gifted artist portrays their personalities exactly how he perceives them, and the artistic symbolism is not as flattering as they’d hoped for. Even the looming clouds in the distance promise a troublesome future.
This is the first book in a new dual timeline series by Heidi Eljarbo—an intriguing spin-off from the much-loved Soli Hansen Mysteries.
Fans of Lucinda Riley, Rhys Bowen, Kathleen McGurl, Kate Morton, and Katherine Neville will love this cozy historical art mystery, which takes the readers back to the nostalgia of the groovy seventies and the classical Georgian era of the eighteenth century.
Buy Links – #KindleUnlimited.
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The post Spotlight on The London Forgery by Heidi Eljarbo @HeidiEljarbo #CoffeePotBookClub first appeared on Deborah Swift.August 29, 2023
The Traitor Beside Her by Mary Anna Evans #WW2 #Coding #USA #CoffeePotBookClub
Codes: When You Need to Send a Message, but You Also Need to Keep a Secret
A post by Mary Anna Evans
My new novel The Traitor Beside Her is set among American code breakers during World War II. The British code breakers at Bletchley Park have become famous in recent years, but they had counterparts in the United States. In The Traitor Beside Her, my protagonist Justine Byrne has been sent to work undercover among American cryptanalysts working feverishly to decrypt messages sent by Axis forces. The situation is critical. Many lives and the fate of the war are on the line, but the enemy has infiltrated an operation at Arlington Hall, a real-life site of American code breaking work. Justine’s job is to identify the spy, so that code breaking activities critical to winning the Battle of the Bulge can resume before it’s too late.
Arlington Hall, a former women’s college, was taken over by the federal government shortly after the US entered WWII for use by the Signal Intelligence Service, which conducted cryptanalysis–encoding and decoding messages. This photo shows an aerial view of the campus of Arlington Hall. The two large white buildings with many wings were added during the war to those already on the college campus to provide office space for the many employees needed to do cryptanalysis, most of it done by hand in those days when computers were just being invented
Credit: Library of Congress
In my book, many of the code breakers are women, and this is based on fact. By 1944, the time when The Traitor Beside Her is set, many men are overseas fighting the war and women were placed in jobs where their presence would have been unthinkable before. According to the National Park Service, by the time the war was over, more than 7,000 of the the Signal Intelligence Service’s 10,500 staff members were women.
In 1940, one of the female American code breakers, Genevieve Grotjan, discovered a critical correlation between intercepted Japanese messages that enabled the Navy to build a machine to decrypt messages in a Japanese code that the Americans called “Purple.” Her discovery has been called “the greatest feat of cryptanalysis the world had ever known.”
Another woman working on cryptanalysis at the time, Ann Caracristi, worked to reconstruct enemy code books during the war. She and her colleagues were among the first to know of Japan’s plans to surrender. Caracristi devoted her life to intelligence work, going on to become the first woman to serve the National Security Agency (NSA) as Chief of Research and Operations and the first woman to serve as NSA Deputy Director.
I modeled the women with whom Justine and her friend Georgette Broussard worked on real-life women like Genevieve Grotjan, Ann Caracristi, and the nameless women in the photo below. I did my best to give them the kind of intelligence, drive, and integrity it took to achieve truly monumental tasks while under the life-and-death pressure of a world at war.
Credit: NSA
Sources: National Park Service
The Traitor Beside Her is an intricately plotted WWII espionage novel weaving together mystery, action, friendship, and a hint of romance perfect for fans of The Rose Code and Code Name Helene.
Justine Byrne can’t trust the people working beside her. Arlington Hall, a former women’s college in Virginia has been taken over by the United States Army where hundreds of men and women work to decode countless pieces of communication coming from the Axis powers.
Justine works among them, handling the most sensitive secrets of World War II—but she isn’t there to decipher German codes—she’s there to find a traitor.
Justine keeps her guard up and her ears open, confiding only in her best friend, Georgette, a fluent speaker of Choctaw who is training to work as a code talker. Justine tries to befriend each suspect, believing that the key to finding the spy lies not in cryptography but in understanding how code breakers tick. When young women begin to go missing at Arlington Hall, her deadline for unraveling the web of secrets becomes urgent and one thing remains clear: a single secret in enemy hands could end thousands of lives.
“A fascinating and intelligent WWII home front story.”
~ Rhys Bowen, New York Times bestselling author for The Physicists’ Daughter
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The post The Traitor Beside Her by Mary Anna Evans #WW2 #Coding #USA #CoffeePotBookClub first appeared on Deborah Swift.August 20, 2023
A Meadow Murder by Helen Hollick #1970s #mystery #New
ABOUT A MEADOW MURDER
Make hay while the sun shines?
Summer 1972. Young library assistant Jan Christopher and her fiancé, DS Lawrence Walker, are on holiday in North Devon. There are country walks and a day at the races to enjoy, along with Sunday lunch at the village pub, and the hay to help bring in for the neighbouring farmer.
But when a body is found the holiday plans are to change into an investigation of murder, hampered by a resting actor, a woman convinced she’s met a leprechaun and a scarecrow on walkabout…
A Meadow Murder is the fourth tale in the Jan Christopher cosy murder mystery series, the first three being A Mirror Murder, A Mystery of Murder and A Mistake of Murder… see what I’ve done there? Yes, I’ve created a proper puzzle for myself because now every tale in the series will have to follow the same title pattern of ‘A M-something- of Murder’ (Suggestions welcome!)
Based on working as a library assistant during the 1970s, the mysteries alternate between the location of Chingford, north-east London, where the real library I worked in used to be, (the building is still there, but is, alas, now offices,) and my own North Devon village, but ‘Chappletawton’ is a fictional version, larger than my rural community and has far more quirky characters.
The main characters in the series, however, remain the same: Jan Christopher is the niece, and ward, of Detective Chief Inspector Toby Christopher and his wife, her Aunt Madge. In A Mirror Murder, Jan (short for January, a name she hates) meets her uncle’s new driver, Detective Constable Lawrence Walker. Naturally, it is love at first sight… but will an investigation into a murder affect their budding romance?
We find out as the series continues: Episode Two takes the young couple to spend Christmas at Laurie’s parents’ old farmhouse in Devon, while Episode Three sees us back at work at Chingford library. We again travel to Devon for the summer of 1972 in Episode Four – A Meadow Murder. And no spoilers, but the title is a little bit of a giveaway!
“As delicious as a Devon Cream Tea!
”
author Elizabeth St John
“Every sentence pulls you back into the early 1970s… The Darling Buds of May, only not Kent, but Devon. The countryside itself is a character and Hollick imbues it with plenty of emotion” author Alison Morton
PERFICK WEATHER FOR A PERFICK DAY…
(discounting finding a body, that is)
By Helen Hollick
‘Perfick’ as Pop Larkin would say in The Darling Buds of May. This year, back in June, the weather was ‘perfick’ for haymaking – we really did ‘make hay while the sun shone’. We, being my husband, daughter, the neighbours and our local farmer, Andrew. I sat and supervised (OK, watched), alas the arthritis in my knee and hip means I can no longer walk up and down steep meadows heaving bales of hay around, so I sat and talked to the couple of bees from the hives along the hedgerow who came to see who I was. (They weren’t very impressed that the flowers on my skirt were not real, so buzzed off to find something more interesting.)
I had the idea for the plot of A Meadow Murder during the previous summer of 2022, while the grass in our top meadow was being cut for hay. The cover photograph on the book is my field – a real Devonshire hay meadow, and the scenes in the story are based on my everyday life… even down to the red Massey Ferguson tractor.
The field slopes, so from the gate at the top corner you can’t see what is down the bottom. ‘What if,’ I mused, ‘there’s a body down there?’
The plot grew from that one thought.
What I wanted to do, when I set out to write the Jan Christopher mysteries, was to create a series that totally fitted the ‘cosy (cozy – US spelling) genre by being light-hearted and easy and quick to read – ideal for a beach read, or an afternoon curled in front of the fire, glass of wine and box of chocs to hand. Or maybe a quick chapter at bedtime, or to while away a tiresome commute or journey. So I deliberately chose the ‘novella’ format of less than 50,000 words, or about 120 pages in a paperback. The same main characters will appear: Jan and Laurie, Uncle Toby and Aunt Madge, with a few other familiar faces popping up every-so-often – Jan’s library colleagues or Laurie’s mum and dad, or some Devon villagers. Add in a murder to solve, with some liberally sprinkled red herrings, plus Jan and Laurie’s blossoming romance all make for a good tale. (Will their relationship always be smooth plain sailing I wonder?)
Bits of the plot verge on autobiographical, anecdotes from my years of working in a public library, for instance, and drawing on my life here in glorious Devon. As with haymaking and a walk through the woods. This excerpt scene is based (loosely) on my own strip of woodland, especially the small waterfall. I say small – as Laurie remarks, it isn’t exactly Niagara Falls, but it is taller than me, and I really did climb up it several years ago!
For this year, I’m glad that we cut and brought in our 480 bales of hay back in June when the sun was shining. It has, more-or-less, rained every day since then. However, I am relieved to say that the murder element is purely fictitious!
READ AN EXCERPT:
The stream was running merrily along several feet below the path, then suddenly it disappeared, plunging over rocks to cascade down about eight feet into a large pool. I laughed and slithered down a low part of the bank. I couldn’t resist the temptation: off came my shoes and socks, I rolled up my jeans as best I could, set down my shoulder bag and, skirting round the edge of the rippling pool, started to climb up the waterfall, to the side of the ribbon of white, frothing water.
“Jan! Mind! Those rocks are slippy!” Laurie warned, watching from the bank.
“I’ve never climbed a waterfall before,” I called back. “This is wonderful!”
He laughed. “Well, it’s not exactly Niagara Falls, is it?”
Triumphant, I stood at the top, grasping an overhanging branch to steady myself. The white-spumed, gushing waterfall looked a long way down from up here and somehow, I had to descend it again – the banks to either side were too steep to climb up, and anyway, were overgrown with ferns, nettles and brambles. Going down the waterfall itself, backwards and feeling for footholds with my toes, would not be quite as easy as the going up had been – as I soon discovered. I got a little wet, but Laurie gallantly rolled up his trousers and stood, shoe and sock-less, ankle-deep in the pool to steady me down the last few feet. (He claimed that his assistance had nothing whatsoever to do with his hands firmly placed on my hips, either side of my bottom.)
We dried our feet with our socks, then put our shoes back on. The socks were damp, but without them, even though we were not far from home, we would both have quickly got blisters.
We walked on. Laurie stopped to inspect a section of broken fence. “Deer have brought it down, I expect,” he said wiggling a loose fence post. I wandered on to what looked to me like a huge mass of rhododendron bushes. I later discovered that’s exactly what they were: years and years ago, well before the Great War, there had been a small shepherd’s cottage in this part of the woods, and the bushes had been planted in the back garden.
Laurie pointed out another, larger badgers’ sett, which looked very much in use. Rounding the mass of rhododendron bushes, I caught my breath and realising that I was alone, shouted in alarm. “Laurie! Come quick!
READ ON IN A Meadow Murder, and immerse yourself in country life during the summer of 1972 … and maybe solve a murder along the way?
Buy Links – Paperback or e-book, including Kindle Unlimited
Amazon Universal Link: this link should take you direct to your own local Amazon online store https://mybook.to/AMeadowMurder
Also available worldwide, or order from any reliable bookstore
All Helen’s books are available on Amazon: https://viewauthor.at/HelenHollick
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: HELEN HOLLICK
First accepted for traditional publication in 1993, Helen became a USA Today Bestseller with her historical novel, The Forever Queen (titled A Hollow Crown in the UK) with the sequel, Harold the King (US: I Am The Chosen King) being novels that explore the events that led to the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Her Pendragon’s Banner Trilogy is a fifth-century version of the Arthurian legend, and she writes a nautical adventure/supernatural series, The Sea Witch Voyages. She has also branched out into the quick read novella, ‘Cosy Mystery’ genre with her Jan Christopher Murder Mysteries, set in the 1970s, with the first in the series, A Mirror Murder incorporating her, often hilarious, memories of working as a library assistant.
Her non-fiction books are Pirates: Truth and Tales and Life of A Smuggler.
She lives with her husband and daughter in an eighteenth-century farmhouse in North Devon, enjoys hosting author guests on her own blog ‘Let Us Talk Of Many Things’ and occasionally gets time to write…
Website: https://helenhollick.net
Subscribe to her Newsletter: https://tinyletter.com/HelenHollick
Main Blog: https://ofhistoryandkings.blogspot.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/helen.hollick
Twitter: @HelenHollick https://twitter.com/HelenHollick
The post A Meadow Murder by Helen Hollick #1970s #mystery #New first appeared on Deborah Swift.July 31, 2023
The Lady of the Tower by Elizabeth StJohn #Audiobook #CoffeePotBookClub
God, who holds my fate in Thy hands, give me strength, I implore, for today I enter a prison like no other on this earth, and perhaps one that even Hell does not equal in its fiery despair. Give me fortitude to walk through those gates where so many traitors have gone before and never left. Give me compassion to hear the cries of forgotten men and not turn my head away. Give me, above all, Heavenly Father, courage to bear myself with dignity and Your grace when I am inwardly trembling with fear at the horrors that lie behind those walls.
Lucy
23rd March 1617
Silver drizzle veiled the stone walls rising from the moat’s stagnant water. To the north, the White Tower glistened but bade no welcome for all its shining. Gabled roofs with ornate chimneys pierced the mist and hid again, hinting a house within the fortress. I was not comforted, for it reminded me that the kept must have their keepers.
Thunder resounded through the fog from water swirling around the center arches of the bridge, just upriver from our tethered barge. The first time I was rowed in a shuddering boat through the narrow span of columns was terrifying. “Shooting the bridge” the locals called it, the currents created by the arches manifesting river water into whirlpools. Recollections of impaled traitors’ heads grinning from the pikes appeared before my closed eyes. What hell’s gate was I approaching?
“Ho! Tie here!”
A clash of metal resounded as the pikemen stood to attention on the wharf. I pulled my mind back to the present.
“Aye, make way for the lady.”
Roughened hands guided me from the rocking boat, and I carefully picked my way up the water steps. My heart beat faster as I gazed up at the sheer ramparts. They loomed over my head, broken only by a low arch with an iron portcullis. Blackened bars jutted forth, a reminder I entered a prison.
I shivered from the damp air, and not a little from apprehension, and stood still on the wharf. Behind me, the Thames ebbed now, and the ferrymen urgently called patrons to catch the running tide. In front, the moat lay impenetrably black and still. The cold seeped through the soles of my shoes, for in my anxiety I had forgotten my pattens. Out of the gloom, a man appeared beside me.
“Princess Elizabeth paused here,” The Keeper spoke quietly, his words brushed by the lilt of an Irish accent. “She declared she was no traitor and refused to enter through that arch, for those who arrive through Traitors’ Gate do not leave again.”
Audiobook: Narrator: Bridget Thomas
ABOUT THE BOOK
“Elizabeth St John has brought the Stuart Court vividly to life. She weaves together the known facts of Lucy’s life with colourful scenes of fictional imagination, drawing on innocent romance and bleak deception to create a believable heroine and an intriguing plot.” Historical Novel Society Book Review
“The Lady of the Tower is a beautifully produced novel with a well-crafted story that will keep you both engaged and entertained. A joy to read. Thank you for sharing your world with us.” Writers Digest 24th Annual Book Awards
London, 1609. When Lucy St.John, a beautiful highborn orphan at the court of King James, is seduced by the Earl of Suffolk, she never imagines the powerful enemy she creates in his beloved sister, the Countess of Rochester. Or that her own sister Barbara would betray her and force Lucy to leave the court in disgrace. Spirited, educated, and skilled in medicine and precious remedies, Lucy fights her way back into society, and through an unexpected love match, becomes mistress of the Tower of London.
Living inside the walls of the infamous prison, she defies plague, political intrigues and tragic executions to tend to aristocratic prisoners and criminals alike. Now married into the immensely powerful Villiers family, Barbara unites with the king’s favorite, the Duke of Buckingham, to raise the fortunes of Lucy and her family to dizzying heights. But with great wealth comes treachery, leaving Lucy to fight for her survival—and her honor—in a world of deceit and debauchery.
Elizabeth St.John’s critically acclaimed debut novel tells the true story of her ancestress Lucy through her family’s surviving diaries, letters, and court papers. Lucy’s personal friendships with historical figures such as Sir Walter Raleigh and the Stuart kings brings a unique perspective to the history of seventeenth century England.
BUY THE BOOK or read on Kindle Unlimited. https://geni.us/MyBookLOTT
Audiobook Buy Links:
Available on BookBub Chirp for only $3.99 during August: https://www.chirpbooks.com/audiobooks/the-lady-of-the-tower-by-elizabeth-st-john
On all other platforms from $7.99 or FREE with an Audible subscription: https://geni.us/XZlpl45
Connect with Elizabeth:
Website: http://www.elizabethjstjohn.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ElizStJohn
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ElizabethJStJohn
The post The Lady of the Tower by Elizabeth StJohn #Audiobook #CoffeePotBookClub first appeared on Deborah Swift.July 12, 2023
The Diplomat’s Wife Series and the O-5 Group by Chrystyna Lucyk-Berger #WW2 #Resistance #HistoricalFiction
My guest today is Chrystyna Lucyk-Berger, to tell us about her WW2 series and the O-5 Resistance Group.
The Anschluss in Austria sparked one of the most brutal and violent anti-Semitic pogroms in all of the Third Reich. Vienna was bubbling over with anti-Semitism before Hitler’s Wehrmacht marched in and annexed Austria. The Nazi party had been growing steadily, rising like bread dough on a warm oven even though the party had been banned years earlier. The moment came, however, in March 1938, for them to come out of the woodwork and begin their reign of terror.
Throughout history, we celebrate the heroes who took up their stones and threw them at Goliaths. However, heroes are not created overnight. They do not wake up thinking, “This is my day.” Heroes are created out of terrified humans, who wrestle with high-stake moral dilemmas and decide that, if they do not take action, they will not be able to live with themselves. My stories shed light on the humanity behind the hero; the personal struggle of putting one’s life in the way of great risk and quite possibly ending in an awful death.
The O5 group in Vienna was a discovery for me. I knew I wanted to write about an Austrian resistance. I just didn’t know what resistance efforts existed. I knew there had to have been someone who had organized something, and I set out to learn about it. Fritz Molden, Hans Beck and Alfred Stilfried came together shortly after the Anschluss and began one of the first efforts to resist the Viennese regime. Molden was a German soldier and Catholic. Beck was an artist. Stilfried was an Austrian military officer. Together, they took the Ö from Österreich (Austria in German) and created the code name O-5. The Ö, when spelled out is E is the fifth letter in the alphabet.
With carefully curated assets, they began helping Jewish residents, forged documents, produced and distributed anti-Nazi fliers and leaflets, and forged a clandestine movement. Their headquarters were remarkably only some two blocks away from Hotel Metropole, the Gestapo’s new headquarters. By cover of darkness, they met in the basement of St. Ruprecht’s church. Soon enough, all around Vienna, chalk marks began appearing in places and infrastructures they had sabotaged. That O5 sign was a call and proof that resistance was possible. Those marks reminded people that, if they pulled together, they could—if they wanted to—bring the Nazis to their knees.
By 1944, however, the Gestapo had mercilessly cracked open and infiltrated a number ofresistance groups throughout Austria, including an attempt to bomb the Hotel Metropole/Gestapo headquarters. Molden’s group was in great danger of being wiped out of history all together. Their work, however, inspired another man at another church. In the 18 th district of Vienna, the Gersthof’s parish priest, Heinrich Maier and a very well-known industrialist by the name of Franz Josef Messner founded the cornerstones of the Cassia spy ring. In the spring of 1943, over couriers and contacts, Messner managed to deliver information to the American OSS chief, Allen Dulles, who was located in Bern, Switzerland.
The OSS, the Office of Strategic Services, was the foundation of today’s CIA. Messner’s information pinpointed production facilities in Peenemünde, where the Germans were producing the V1 and V2 rockets. In August 1943, the RAF bombed the facilities, and soon after, Messner got Dulles’ full-fledged support. Code-named Cassia, Messner signed an agreement with the OSS as the spokesperson and he and the Cassia spy ring continued providing intelligence.
In the meantime, Molden also made his way to Dulles, and convinced Dulles that over 75,000 members existed in the O5. In truth, only a few hundred stray members remained. However, Dulles took the bait and the O5 received the resources and the support they would need to regroup and continue their clandestine work, including sabotage. Suddenly, the chalk letters began reappearing on the streets of Vienna once more.
I have been following the war in Ukraine every day since Feb. 24, 2022. As I wrote The Diplomat’s Wife series, I was becoming depressed about how I write about an era where the world promised “never again” but here we are… at it again. Say what you will, the fact is, the Ukrainians are facing genocide but the very definition of what genocide means. I wasn’t surprised when suddenly, in Crimea—which was illegally annexed in 2014 by Russia—the call letter ï – a unique Ukrainian letter – began appearing as graffiti, photos of which appeared in Twitter posts. I wasn’t surprised, but I was buoyed.
The Ukrainian letter became a sign of resistance. This was soon followed by a string of crossed-out Zs (the Russian symbol) which turned into sharp-edged hourglasses, and were then colored in blue and yellow (the colors of the Ukrainian national flag) like the sands of time; the time that is ticking away for Russia, it says. Then yellow ribbons appeared, hanging all over the place. In tree branches, on posts, on buildings, on signs.
I was no longer researching the resistance groups of the past, but witnessing the establishment of partisan, underground groups of today. Live. They are letting the world know: We are here. We are fighting for you. Join us.
Stand up. Pick up a rock. And destroy the enemy.
The faces and names of these people will likely never be known to the average person. We will never know the debates they had to have with themselves before they stepped up and resisted. Nobody wakes up deciding to be a hero. Yet, I believe every single one of us has the potential to be one. Perhaps we just haven’t met that in ourselves, yet.
As the daughter of a U.S. Senator, who shoots, plays cards, and is very adept at extracting information from people, Kitty Larsson is tested again and again in her beliefs about not only the man she loves—an Austrian diplomat—but about the countries she calls home when the Nazis come to roost. If you love the kind of books that make you sit up and say, “I did NOT know that”, you will love this series!
FIND Chrystyna on www.inktreks.com
BUY THE BOOKSBOOK 1 An American Wife https://geni.us/B0BSH828Y9coverBOOK 2 An American Wife in Paris https://geni.us/B0C24D8VLXcoverThe post The Diplomat’s Wife Series and the O-5 Group by Chrystyna Lucyk-Berger #WW2 #Resistance #HistoricalFiction first appeared on Deborah Swift.Spotlight on The Irish Fortune Series by Juliane Weber
Spotlight today for historical romance fans, and readers with an interest in the Victorian period or Irish History.
The Irish Fortune Series
Under the Emerald Sky Book #1 and Beneath the Darkening Clouds Book #2
About the Books
“Under the Emerald Sky reaches another level in storytelling, the kind where the characters remain with you long after you have closed the book.”
– The Historical Fiction Company
It’s 1843 and the Englishman Quinton Williams has come to Ireland to oversee the running of his father’s ailing estate and escape his painful past. There he meets the Irishwoman Alannah O’Neill, whose family is one of few to have retained ownership of their land, the rest having been supplanted by the English over the course of the country’s bloody history. Seeing the injustices of Victorian Ireland, Alannah’s brother Kieran has learned to hate the English and imperialism. Aware of Kieran’s hostility towards the English, Alannah keeps her growing relationship with Quin a secret – but it’s a secret that can’t be kept for long from those plotting to end England’s oppression of the Irish people. As Quin and Alannah seek happiness in the face of hate and revenge, an action-packed romance ensues.
But all the while, disaster looms – the Great Famine that would forever change the course of Ireland’s history. With repeated failure of the potato harvest upon which most Irish families depend, thousands will go hungry, with sickness and starvation sweeping through Irish farms, decimating poor populations for years to come.
Can Quin and Alannah find happiness in a land teetering on the brink of disaster?
Read on #KindleUnlimited. Under the Emerald Sky – Universal LinkAmazon UK • Amazon US • Amazon CA • Amazon AU
About the AuthorJuliane Weber is a scientist turned historical fiction writer, and author of the Irish Fortune Series. Her stories take readers on action-packed romantic adventures amid the captivating scenery and folklore of 19th century Ireland. Under the Emerald Sky, the first book in the Irish Fortune Series, was awarded bronze medals in The Historical Fiction Company 2021 Book of the Year Contest and The Coffee Pot Book Club 2022 Book of the Year Contest. The second book in the series, Beneath the Darkening Clouds, was awarded a bronze medal in The Historical Fiction Company 2022 Book the Year Contest.Juliane spent most of her life in South Africa, but now lives with her husband and two sons in Hamelin, Germany, the town made famous by the story of the Pied Piper.Juliane’s Social Media Links:Website • Twitter • Facebook • LinkedIn BookBub • InstagramThe post Spotlight on The Irish Fortune Series by Juliane Weber first appeared on Deborah Swift.
The Godmother’s Secret by Elizabeth StJohn #Audiobook #CoffeePotBookClub
Official Tantor Media Audio Link: https://tinyurl.com/2lrbp2tv
Spring 1483 | Bolton CastleToday, the wide windswept skies arc over our peaceful lands. Sun-bright clouds chase shadows from the forested valleys to the purple hills, and sweet birdsong replaces the clashing of iron being forged in the castle armoury. The only movement in the apothecary garden below my window is the gardener pulling weeds from the lavender beds.
Spurs jangle on the spiral steps, and Isabel looks up from her embroidery; her head bobs like the narcissus in the grasses lapping Bolton’s keep. An envoy strides across the solar. His murrey-and-blue livery proclaims the household of Richard Plantagenet, Duke of Gloucester.
Best to tell him his journey is wasted. “My husband is not here. Lord Scrope rides out to our farthest boundaries. He will not return for several weeks.”
“The message is to both you and Lord Scrope.” The rider thrusts a packet at me, crumpled and bulky, begging exploration. “The duke ordered I remain for further instruction.”
How peculiar Gloucester addresses us both. I ponder whether to read it now or wait for Jack’s return. The missive weighs heavy in my hands. While he is gone, he insists that although the steward governs in name, decisions about the castle are my responsibility.
But this is official business, from outside my domain, from Gloucester himself.
I run my fingernail under the edge of the seal, cracking the red wax slightly.
It is, after all, addressed to both of us.
The right to make my own decision. “Then I shall see what is so urgent from the king’s brother.”
Isabel joins me at the window, leans against my arm in her curiosity to see what I have received. “Should you not wait for Jack? Or ask Oliver his advice? He can ride from our home in just an hour.”
“My husband trusts me, and this is not addressed to my brother.”
I break open the seal with a click, and a pearl-and-ruby crucifix tumbles forth. I catch the cross just before it drops to the floor. No scribe has touched this note, for the writing is hasty, perhaps scrawled in Gloucester’s own hand. His words are abrupt, a series of directions, as if he is issuing instructions for a military campaign.
I command you both to Middleham on a matter of great urgency. Jack, you must attend us immediately and bring a troop of your most trustworthy men. Elysabeth, I send the king’s jewel as a reminder of your holy vow. Prince Edward is in danger. Do not delay, for each hour could cost us dearly. Prepare to travel with me to London.
The ill-fitting window shutter bangs open. A sudden cold eastern gust barges through the latch, whisking me back to the steps of the cathedral at Westminster. A November twelve years past and yet clear as day. The day I swore my sacred oath as godmother to the heir of England’s throne, to protect Ned against the wrong in the world.
A second note, just a scrap, flutters from the folds. Meg’s curved writing jumps from the parchment.
Come, Belle-maman, I am at Middleham with Will. You and Jack must come. Please. We are depending on you.
Blessed Virgin Mother. My vow is called.
PRAISE
“An extremely well-written book with depth and complexity to the main characters. The author says she wanted to write a book about family love and tolerance, and a woman’s loyalty and courage. She has done so. This is the best book I’ve read in ages!”
The Ricardian Bulletin, Richard III Society
“The authenticity and historical research displayed within this story is immense and exquisite. Ms. St. John is sure to be a newfound favorite for fans of not only this fractious time in English history, but of all historical fans who adore rich, immersive prose.”
Historical Fiction Company 2022 Book of the Year
“A very enjoyable read. The historical veracity is impeccable, and Elysabeth is a likeable, admirable character who faces interesting dilemmas with love and courage.”
Historical Novel Society
ABOUT THE BOOK
If you knew the fate of the Princes in the Tower, would you tell? Or forever keep the secret?
May 1483: The Tower of London. When King Edward IV dies and Lady Elysabeth Scrope delivers her young godson, Edward V, into the Tower of London to prepare for his coronation, she is engulfed in political turmoil. Within months, the prince and his brother have disappeared, Richard III is declared king, and Elysabeth’s sister Margaret Beaufort conspires with her son Henry Tudor to invade England and claim the throne.
Desperate to protect her godson, Elysabeth battles the intrigue, betrayal, and power of the last medieval court, defying her Yorkist husband and her Lancastrian sister under her godmother’s sacred oath to keep Prince Edward safe. Bound by blood and rent by honour, Elysabeth is torn between King Richard and Margaret Beaufort, knowing that if her loyalty is questioned, she is in peril of losing everything—including her life.
Were the princes murdered by their uncle, Richard III? Did Margaret Beaufort mastermind their disappearance to usher in the Tudor dynasty? Or did the young boys vanish for their own safety? Of anyone at the royal court, Elysabeth has the most to lose–and the most to gain–by keeping secret the fate of the Princes in the Tower.
Inspired by England’s most enduring historical mystery, Elizabeth St.John blends her family history with known facts and centuries of speculation to create an intriguing story about what happened to the Princes in the Tower .
LISTEN HERE: Audiobook Buy Link: https://geni.us/TGSAudible
The ebook is available to read on Kindle Unlimited.
BUY THE BOOK: https://geni.us/GodmothersSecret
About Elizabeth:
Elizabeth St.John’s critically acclaimed historical fiction novels tell the stories of her ancestors: extraordinary women whose intriguing kinship with England’s kings and queens brings an intimately unique perspective to Medieval, Tudor, and Stuart times.
Inspired by family archives and residences from Lydiard Park to the Tower of London, Elizabeth spends much of her time exploring ancestral portraits, diaries, and lost gardens. And encountering the occasional ghost. But that’s another story.
Living between California, England, and the past, Elizabeth is the International Ambassador for The Friends of Lydiard Park, an English charity dedicated to conserving and enhancing this beautiful centuries-old country house and park. As a curator for The Lydiard Archives, she is constantly looking for an undiscovered treasure to inspire her next novel.
Elizabeth’s books include her trilogy, The Lydiard Chronicles, set in 17th Century England during the Civil War, and her newest release, The Godmother’s Secret, which explores the medieval mystery of the missing Princes in the Tower of London.
Contact Elizabeth:
Website: http://www.elizabethjstjohn.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ElizStJohn
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ElizabethJStJohn
The post The Godmother’s Secret by Elizabeth StJohn #Audiobook #CoffeePotBookClub first appeared on Deborah Swift.
July 4, 2023
Turning the World to Stone by Kelly Evans @chaucerbabe #Renaissance #Italy
Turning the World to Stone – The Life of Caterina Sforza Part One 1472 to 1488
About the book:
Vilified by history, Caterina Sforza learned early that her life was not her own. Married at age ten, she was a pawn in the ever-changing political environment of Renaissance Italy.
Resigned to her life as a fifteenth-century wife, Caterina adapted to the role she was expected to play: raising and educating her children, helping the poor in her new home, and turning a blind eye to her husband’s increasingly shameful behaviour. But Fate had other plans for her, and soon Caterina’s path would be plagued by murder, betrayal, and heartbreak.
“Could I write all, the world would turn to stone.”
Read this lovely mini- extract to get a flavour!
They stood in awkward silence. The man hadn’t yet introduced himself, and she knew it would be rude to ask. “What are you doing here?”
“Excuse, my lady, I’m being impolite. I am Sandro Botticelli. I am working on a commission for His Holiness.”
“Ahh, the Holy Father won’t tell me what he has planned for his great chapel, no matter how much I pester him.”
Sandro leaned in conspiratorially. “I will tell you if you promise not to share with anyone.” He stood back and eyed her critically. “Are you interested in art, Madonna? You would make a wonderful model.”
“I am, yes. My father was a patron of many artists and musicians.”
“I’m glad to hear it. Now, let me describe to you what this chapel will look like, close your eyes if it helps.”
Caterina looked back at Luisa, who was still standing nearby, listening, before focussing on the artist’s words. Closing her eyes, she let his description fill her mind.
“Picture this, Madonna. Along the walls will be vast frescoes depicting the life of the Saviour and the life of Moses. Other artists and I have been selected to create these works. These focal pieces will be offset by portraits of past Popes above the frescoes and drapery done in the trompe-l’oeil style beneath.”
Caterina could see the large chapel taking shape in her mind. “And the ceiling?”
“Blue with gold stars spaced evenly.”
She nodded. “If it’s anything like I’m imagining it will be magnificent.”
A noise at one end of the room interrupted them. Caterina opened her eyes and saw another man enter. Another painter, she guessed. “I must go.”
But Sandro was off in his own world.
Smiling, she joined Luisa and left him as they had found him, staring at a wall.
Now buy the book or read on KindleUnlimited
Universal Link: https://mybook.to/Caterina
About the author:
Born in Canada of Scottish extraction, Kelly Evans graduated in History and English then moved to England where she worked in the financial sector. While in London Kelly continued her studies in history, concentrating on Medieval History, and travelled extensively through Eastern and Western Europe.
Kelly is now back in Canada with her husband Max and a rescue cat. She writes full-time, focussing on illuminating little-known women in history with fascinating stories. When not working on her novels, Kelly writes Described Video scripts for visually impaired individuals, plays oboe, and enjoys old sci-fi movies.
Social Media Links:
Website: https://www.kellyaevans.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ChaucerBabe
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Kelly-Evans/author/B0187JGTOQ
The post Turning the World to Stone by Kelly Evans @chaucerbabe #Renaissance #Italy first appeared on Deborah Swift.June 13, 2023
New Release! Penelope: Tudor Baroness by @tonyriches #Elizabethan #Tudor
Penelope – Tudor Baroness by Tony Riches
(Book Four of The Elizabethan Series)
Lady Penelope is one of the most beautiful and sought-after women in Elizabethan England. The daughter of the queen’s nemesis, Lady Lettice Knollys, Countess of Essex, she becomes the stepdaughter of Robert Dudley when he marries her mother in secret.
Penelope’s life is full of love and scandal. The inspiration for Sir Philip Sidney’s sonnet Astrophel and Stella, she is inevitably caught up in her brother Robert’s fateful rebellion. A complex and fascina4ng woman, her life is a story of love, betrayal, and tragedy. Discover how Penelope charms her way out of serious charges of treason, adultery, and forgery, and becomes one of the last truly great ladies of the Tudor court.
A maid of honour to Queen Elizabeth, Penelope outlives the end of the Tudors with the death of the old queen and the arrival of King James, becoming a favourite lady-in-waiting to the new queen, Anne of Denmark.
“This is the story of a woman who lived life on her own terms, and one that will stay with you long after you finish reading it.”
BUY THE BOOK
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C78KDRK3
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0C78KDRK3
Amazon CA: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0C78KDRK3
Amazon AU: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0C78KDRK3
About Tony
Tony Riches is a full-time UK author of Tudor historical fiction. He lives with his wife in Pembrokeshire, West Wales and is a specialist in the lives of the early Tudors. As well as his new Elizabethan series,Tony’s historical fiction novels include the best-selling Tudor trilogy and his Brandon trilogy, (about Charles Brandon and his wives). For more information about Tony’s books please visit his website
www.tonyriches.com and his blog, The Writing Desk and find him on Facebook and Twitter @tonyriches
