Debra Brown's Blog, page 7
July 18, 2013
Victoria's Coronation Banquets
Because my novels are set in the earliest Victorian years, I am often researching the goings-on of that day. This gave me the opportunity to look into the feasting that accompanied the coronation of Queen Victoria.
There was far more feasting than what the royals and peers enjoyed. Queen Victoria Online states: "There was feasting at workhouses and hospitals and charity schools, and in Hyde Park there was a Fancy Fair which lasted four days."
Therealcambridge blog brings out that the good and gracious of Cambridge decided to have a dinner for the poor at Parker’s Piece on Thursday 28th June 1838. 12,000 respectable and deserving "suitable" adults and 2,700 Sunday School children were invited, but of course, not workhouse residents, though workhouse children were given meat that day. Seventy tables accommodated the diners. Upper class residents were invited to purchase tickets to watch the event. Were were these "betters" to sit?
A report in the Independent News stated, "A spacious and lofty wooden orchestra was raised in the centre of The Piece, capable of holding 100 musicians. An extensive framework, with seats on all sides, encompassed the orchestra from whence the more respectable inhabitants could have a commanding view of the dinner. Surrounding this was a green area, forming a Promenade for the accommodation of the humbler classes."
The 2 PM meal included1608 plum puddings,1029 joints of meat, 72 lbs. of mustard,140 lbs. of salt,125 gallons of pickles, 4500 loaves of bread, 99 barrels of best ale, 100 lbs. of tobacco and 6 lbs. snuff.
According to the blog Food History Jottings, similar events took place in Lewes and Wisbech. Such events, the blog states, led to today's street parties.
The book Queen Victoria: a biographical companion by Helen Rappaport states that the unusually low coronation budget (perhaps there was no money left since George IV's coronation?) was spent on a state procession for the benefit of the public rather than the usual banquet for a chosen few at the Palace of Westminster, and that across the country parishes had coronation dinners. The queen is said at to have bathed her dog that afternoon, after the coronation, as usual. Other sources state that her Coronation banquet was attended by one hundred persons. Here is a picture of her Coronation banquet dinnerware. Thank you for reading my blog! I am always eager to hear back from you.
Debbie Brown
Author of The Companion of Lady Holmeshire
There was far more feasting than what the royals and peers enjoyed. Queen Victoria Online states: "There was feasting at workhouses and hospitals and charity schools, and in Hyde Park there was a Fancy Fair which lasted four days."
Therealcambridge blog brings out that the good and gracious of Cambridge decided to have a dinner for the poor at Parker’s Piece on Thursday 28th June 1838. 12,000 respectable and deserving "suitable" adults and 2,700 Sunday School children were invited, but of course, not workhouse residents, though workhouse children were given meat that day. Seventy tables accommodated the diners. Upper class residents were invited to purchase tickets to watch the event. Were were these "betters" to sit?
A report in the Independent News stated, "A spacious and lofty wooden orchestra was raised in the centre of The Piece, capable of holding 100 musicians. An extensive framework, with seats on all sides, encompassed the orchestra from whence the more respectable inhabitants could have a commanding view of the dinner. Surrounding this was a green area, forming a Promenade for the accommodation of the humbler classes."
The 2 PM meal included1608 plum puddings,1029 joints of meat, 72 lbs. of mustard,140 lbs. of salt,125 gallons of pickles, 4500 loaves of bread, 99 barrels of best ale, 100 lbs. of tobacco and 6 lbs. snuff.
According to the blog Food History Jottings, similar events took place in Lewes and Wisbech. Such events, the blog states, led to today's street parties.
The book Queen Victoria: a biographical companion by Helen Rappaport states that the unusually low coronation budget (perhaps there was no money left since George IV's coronation?) was spent on a state procession for the benefit of the public rather than the usual banquet for a chosen few at the Palace of Westminster, and that across the country parishes had coronation dinners. The queen is said at to have bathed her dog that afternoon, after the coronation, as usual. Other sources state that her Coronation banquet was attended by one hundred persons. Here is a picture of her Coronation banquet dinnerware. Thank you for reading my blog! I am always eager to hear back from you.
Debbie Brown
Author of The Companion of Lady Holmeshire
July 17, 2013
Historical Fiction Enticements 7/17
Under a False Flag
A historical drama based on declassified CIA files.
Tom Gething
October, 1972. Freshly minted CIA officer Will Porter joins the secret war being waged against Chile’s Marxist government of President Salvador Allende. Working under cover as expatriate businessman Richard Allen in Santiago, Will’s job is to funnel the dirty money to Allende’s opposition.
From the get-go, Will faces challenges on his first assignment. Just getting into the country with a bunch of cash he shouldn’t be carrying poses unanticipated problems. And then there’s his new boss—a hard-nosed veteran named Ed Lipton who has no time or patience for rookies.
Nationwide strikes and paramilitary terrorism are Lipton’s preferred methods to achieve his goal. He sees a coup as the only way to stop Allende. And the sooner the better. At home, the Nixon Administration is under siege for Watergate, and the CIA’s covert directives face increased scrutiny from media and congressmen alike.
Will learns the ropes of his new trade: bribing, blackmailing and gathering useful information to help destabilize the country. But he soon discovers that the rules of espionage governing his life—question everything while preserving the lie—conflict with personal interests. On his first trip outside Santiago, he meets Ernesto Manning, a rebellious university student, and his beautiful sister, Gabriela, a journalist who aspires to have both career and family in a macho society that remains traditional despite its swerve toward socialism.
Will’s friendship with Ernesto and his romantic pursuit of Gabriela soon collide with his secret life. As Chile lurches toward civil war and Lipton ratchets up the pressure, Will must decide if he will be a good soldier or follow his heart. Or is there a way to do both?
Amazon US
Amazon UK
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Where Eagles Never Flew
Helena Schrader
This is the novel RAF fighter ace Bob Doe called "the best book" he ever read about the Battle of Britain. According to Doe, Schrader "got it smack on the way it was for us fighter pilots."
No. 606 (Hurricane) Squadron has not recovered from the losses over Dunkirk when it is thrown into the Battle of Britain. As the losses mount, morale plunges. New pilots joining the squadron find a cold reception from the clique of old pilots, who resent them taking the place of their dead friends -- and then the Squadron Leader is shot down. Air Vice Marshal Park has to make a critical decision: pull the squadron out of the front line and risk even higher losses in an untested squadron, or risk appointing a man with a dubious reputation CO.
Robin, formerly and RAF aerobatics pilot and "Debs' Delight" has incurred the displeasure of the Air Ministry by a dangerous breach of the King's Regulations. He is cooling his heels in training command -- and falling in love with a girl from the Salvation Army. But Park decides he might just be what 606 Squadron needs.
Meanwhile, across the channel Klaudia von Richthofen, a naïve recruit to the Luftwaffe Women's Auxilliary, allows herself to be seduced by a dashing Stuka Group Commander -- and then falls under the spell of the irreverent and carefree Baron von Feldburg. But it is his wingman, Leutnant Ernst Geuke, who has fallen desperately in love with her.
This is a story of the Battle of Britain: seen from both sides of the channel and through the eyes of ground crew, controllers, women auxiliaries and fighter pilots. This is the Battle of Britain as it was experienced by men and women in the summer of 1940.
Amazon US
Amazon UK
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Skin of Water
G.S. Johnston
At a Hungarian lakeside resort in the summer of 1943, seventeen year old Zeno Czubula looks through the lens of his beloved Cine Kodak Eight Model 20 and glimpses his future. A woman, Catherine Steiner, unaware she’s observed and recorded, appears disorientated and runs away. Intrigued and concerned, he follows only to find her clothes abandoned and no sign of her in the lake. As the seconds pass, he strips to the waist and dives in.
And so the lovers begin...
Although Zeno believes his lens brings him clarity, Catherine’s beauty and sophistication as the wife of a rich industrialist fog and distort his view beyond his youthful understanding. When the German army rolls in to occupy Budapest, alliances shift with a ferocity and pace that leaves him bewildered.
Years later, when time and experience have cleared the lens, Zeno must make a final choice about Catherine Steiner.
Amazon US
Amazon UK
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jenny's Dream
Linda Weaver Clarke
Dreams are a part of life and they come straight from the heart. If you work hard enough, you can accomplish anything you put your mind to. This was Jenny's philosophy. Follow your dream!
Jenny Roberts has many dreams, but will she be able to fulfill them all? Jenny is home from college and feels restless. She wants to spread her wings and fly away. When her kindred friend, Will, asks her what her outlook on life is, she answers, "Dreams are an important part of life, and without them, life would be dull. If we can envision it, then I believe it can be accomplished." Jenny's dreams include falling in love with the "prince of her dreams."
As the summer passes, Jenny begins to recognize her true feelings for Will. When she realizes that he means more to her than a kindred friend, she must now choose between a career and matters of the heart. The only thing standing in her way is an unpleasant memory from her past, which has haunted her since childhood. She must learn to forgive before she can choose which dream to follow. This book is about the miracle of forgiveness.
While Jenny is trying to realize her dreams, her father is concerned about the safety of his family. A ten-foot grizzly bear is seen in the area and its boldness has frightened the community. There is one man with the courage and determination to protect his family and neighbors: Gilbert Roberts! He attempts to defy this great beast but Melinda will not have her husband be part of it. Gilbert has other ideas. Old Half Paw must be stopped.
"Jenny's Dream" is the story of a young girl's desire to become a writer and how she finds love and forgiveness, with the legend of Old Ephraim as the subplot.
"Linda Weaver Clarke has captured the essence of reaching for your dreams, no matter what happens to throw you off the path of getting there," wrote Allison King, Rebecca's Reads. "Jenny's Dream is a book for all ages that can wrap you up and make you feel all warm inside with the love and hope that dreams can come true if you believe hard enough."
Purchase Book Link Thank you for reading my blog! I am always eager to hear back from you.
Debbie Brown
Author of The Companion of Lady Holmeshire
A historical drama based on declassified CIA files.
Tom Gething
October, 1972. Freshly minted CIA officer Will Porter joins the secret war being waged against Chile’s Marxist government of President Salvador Allende. Working under cover as expatriate businessman Richard Allen in Santiago, Will’s job is to funnel the dirty money to Allende’s opposition.
From the get-go, Will faces challenges on his first assignment. Just getting into the country with a bunch of cash he shouldn’t be carrying poses unanticipated problems. And then there’s his new boss—a hard-nosed veteran named Ed Lipton who has no time or patience for rookies.
Nationwide strikes and paramilitary terrorism are Lipton’s preferred methods to achieve his goal. He sees a coup as the only way to stop Allende. And the sooner the better. At home, the Nixon Administration is under siege for Watergate, and the CIA’s covert directives face increased scrutiny from media and congressmen alike.
Will learns the ropes of his new trade: bribing, blackmailing and gathering useful information to help destabilize the country. But he soon discovers that the rules of espionage governing his life—question everything while preserving the lie—conflict with personal interests. On his first trip outside Santiago, he meets Ernesto Manning, a rebellious university student, and his beautiful sister, Gabriela, a journalist who aspires to have both career and family in a macho society that remains traditional despite its swerve toward socialism.
Will’s friendship with Ernesto and his romantic pursuit of Gabriela soon collide with his secret life. As Chile lurches toward civil war and Lipton ratchets up the pressure, Will must decide if he will be a good soldier or follow his heart. Or is there a way to do both?
Amazon US
Amazon UK
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Where Eagles Never Flew
Helena Schrader
This is the novel RAF fighter ace Bob Doe called "the best book" he ever read about the Battle of Britain. According to Doe, Schrader "got it smack on the way it was for us fighter pilots."No. 606 (Hurricane) Squadron has not recovered from the losses over Dunkirk when it is thrown into the Battle of Britain. As the losses mount, morale plunges. New pilots joining the squadron find a cold reception from the clique of old pilots, who resent them taking the place of their dead friends -- and then the Squadron Leader is shot down. Air Vice Marshal Park has to make a critical decision: pull the squadron out of the front line and risk even higher losses in an untested squadron, or risk appointing a man with a dubious reputation CO.
Robin, formerly and RAF aerobatics pilot and "Debs' Delight" has incurred the displeasure of the Air Ministry by a dangerous breach of the King's Regulations. He is cooling his heels in training command -- and falling in love with a girl from the Salvation Army. But Park decides he might just be what 606 Squadron needs.
Meanwhile, across the channel Klaudia von Richthofen, a naïve recruit to the Luftwaffe Women's Auxilliary, allows herself to be seduced by a dashing Stuka Group Commander -- and then falls under the spell of the irreverent and carefree Baron von Feldburg. But it is his wingman, Leutnant Ernst Geuke, who has fallen desperately in love with her.
This is a story of the Battle of Britain: seen from both sides of the channel and through the eyes of ground crew, controllers, women auxiliaries and fighter pilots. This is the Battle of Britain as it was experienced by men and women in the summer of 1940.
Amazon US
Amazon UK
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Skin of Water
G.S. Johnston
At a Hungarian lakeside resort in the summer of 1943, seventeen year old Zeno Czubula looks through the lens of his beloved Cine Kodak Eight Model 20 and glimpses his future. A woman, Catherine Steiner, unaware she’s observed and recorded, appears disorientated and runs away. Intrigued and concerned, he follows only to find her clothes abandoned and no sign of her in the lake. As the seconds pass, he strips to the waist and dives in. And so the lovers begin...
Although Zeno believes his lens brings him clarity, Catherine’s beauty and sophistication as the wife of a rich industrialist fog and distort his view beyond his youthful understanding. When the German army rolls in to occupy Budapest, alliances shift with a ferocity and pace that leaves him bewildered.
Years later, when time and experience have cleared the lens, Zeno must make a final choice about Catherine Steiner.
Amazon US
Amazon UK
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jenny's Dream
Linda Weaver Clarke
Dreams are a part of life and they come straight from the heart. If you work hard enough, you can accomplish anything you put your mind to. This was Jenny's philosophy. Follow your dream!Jenny Roberts has many dreams, but will she be able to fulfill them all? Jenny is home from college and feels restless. She wants to spread her wings and fly away. When her kindred friend, Will, asks her what her outlook on life is, she answers, "Dreams are an important part of life, and without them, life would be dull. If we can envision it, then I believe it can be accomplished." Jenny's dreams include falling in love with the "prince of her dreams."
As the summer passes, Jenny begins to recognize her true feelings for Will. When she realizes that he means more to her than a kindred friend, she must now choose between a career and matters of the heart. The only thing standing in her way is an unpleasant memory from her past, which has haunted her since childhood. She must learn to forgive before she can choose which dream to follow. This book is about the miracle of forgiveness.
While Jenny is trying to realize her dreams, her father is concerned about the safety of his family. A ten-foot grizzly bear is seen in the area and its boldness has frightened the community. There is one man with the courage and determination to protect his family and neighbors: Gilbert Roberts! He attempts to defy this great beast but Melinda will not have her husband be part of it. Gilbert has other ideas. Old Half Paw must be stopped.
"Jenny's Dream" is the story of a young girl's desire to become a writer and how she finds love and forgiveness, with the legend of Old Ephraim as the subplot.
"Linda Weaver Clarke has captured the essence of reaching for your dreams, no matter what happens to throw you off the path of getting there," wrote Allison King, Rebecca's Reads. "Jenny's Dream is a book for all ages that can wrap you up and make you feel all warm inside with the love and hope that dreams can come true if you believe hard enough."
Purchase Book Link Thank you for reading my blog! I am always eager to hear back from you.
Debbie Brown
Author of The Companion of Lady Holmeshire
July 9, 2013
Historical Fiction Enticements 7/10
Welcome to our Wednesday feature where you can read the synopses of five historical fiction novels. Heaven only knows how the formatting will come out this week, as Blogger seems to be playing with the Preview feature.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Prodigal Son
Anna Belfrage
Safely returned from an involuntary stay on a tobacco plantation in Virginia, Matthew Graham finds the Scottish Lowlands torn asunder by religious strife. The government of His Restored Majesty, Charles II, requires all his subjects to swear fealty to him and the Church of England, riding roughshod over any opposition.
Safely returned from an involuntary stay on a tobacco plantation in Virginia, Matthew Graham finds the Scottish Lowlands torn asunder by religious strife. The government of His Restored Majesty, Charles II, requires all his subjects to swear fealty to him and the Church of England, riding roughshod over any opposition.
In Ayrshire, the people close ranks around their evicted ministers, stubbornly clinging to their Presbyterian faith. But disobedience comes at a price – a very steep price - and as neighbours and friends are driven from hearth and home, Alex becomes increasingly more nervous as to what her Matthew is risking by his continued support of the clandestine ministers – foremost amongst them the charismatic Sandy Peden.
Privately, Alex considers Sandy an enervating fanatic and all this religious fervour is totally incomprehensible to her. So when Matthew repeatedly sets his faith and minister before his own safety and therefore per extension her safety and the safety of their children, he puts their marriage under severe strain.
The situation is further complicated by the presence of Ian, the son Matthew was cruelly duped into disowning several years ago. Now Matthew wants Ian back and Alex isn’t entirely sure this is a good thing, watching from a distance as her husband dances round his lost boy.
Things are brought to a head when Matthew yet again places all their lives in the balance to save his dear friend and preacher from the dragoons that chase him over the moor.
How much is Matthew willing to risk? How much will he ultimately lose?
The Prodigal Son is the third in Anna Belfrage’s time slip series featuring time traveller Alexandra Lind and her seventeenth century husband, Matthew Graham.
Amazon US
Amazon UK
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Conspiracies of Dreams
Sandra Biber Didner
Jews, Christians, Moslems, and Canaanites all share an ancient dream of possessing the land that lies between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea which they hold sacred.
In 1956 an Egyptian spy, Ishmael al Mohammed, is determined to gain information which will reclaim the infant state of Israel for the displaced Palestinian Arabs. While on an espionage mission posing as an Israeli, he falls passionately in love with a beautiful Jewish actress, Rebecca Silverman. He must decide if he will betray the only person he will ever care for or be true to Islam, Egypt, and his family. A Christian, Danny O’Halloran, dreams of walking the Stations of the Cross and saying Mass in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher while the pagan donkey goddess Palés dreams of being worshipped again by the original natives of Canaan. Israeli politicians dream of making Israel a nuclear power while Britain and France conspire to regain the Suez Canal, which the President of Egypt nationalized.
Against the backdrop of circumstances leading to the 1956 Suez War between Israel and Egypt a love story which encompasses the forbidden romance of Romeo and Juliet, Delilah’s betrayal of Samson, and the treachery of Britain’s MI6 double agents unfolds as Ishmael and Rebecca’s story spans three millennia of history.
Amazon US
Amazon UK
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hitler's Demons
Helena Schrader
Hitler's demons were those Germans who opposed his diabolical regime on moral grounds. They sought to defend human dignity and restore the rule of law. This novel is a tribute to the brave men and women of Germany's resistance and tells the true story of the Valkyrie Plot to assassinate Hitler.
1938: All Germany seems captivated by the pied piper from Austria: Adolf Hitler. Philip Baron von Feldburg, a German officer deeply distressed by the policies of the Nazi government, feels like an irrelevant anachronism. His younger brother is thrilled to be flying the Luftwaffe’s fastest fighter, his sister has married a self-made man with good Nazi connections and is rapidly rising in the world. Soon one Nazi victory follows another. Philip feels increasingly isolated – until he meets Alexandra von Mollwitz. Alexandra is an attractive secretary working at General Staff Headquarters for a certain General Friedrich Olbricht. In Alexandra, Philip finds love and a kindred spirit. Through her he meets a group of senior officers working to overthrow the Nazi regime.
Unknown to Philip, one of the tenants in his apartment building is a young medical student Marianne Moldenauer. Marianne has seen the Warsaw ghetto, and she knows the Nazis are brutal and barbaric. Reacting out of naked humanitarianism, she finds herself drawn into an underworld of illegal activity directed at saving the victims of the racist dictatorship. But the young man she has fallen in love with is an idealistic commissar of the Gestapo. With each day the risk of her two lives coming in conflict grows.
A work of historical fiction, Hitler’s Demons personalizes a major event in world history. The story shows how the Nazi regime invaded the personal lives and warped moral perspective of even ordinary people. Hitler’s Demons helps us to understand what it was like to live in Nazi Germany – or in any immoral dictatorship.
Amazon US
Amazon UK
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Earl of my Heart
Victoria Oliveri
Dane Redford Lambourne, now the fourth Earl of Huntsbridge, never thought to live a responsible, noble existence. Spending his nights as a privileged gentleman, carousing and enjoying the company of friends was the only life he ever aspired to until the sudden death of his brother thrust him into a world he never wanted and was not prepared to face.
Lady Nichola Crawford could care less if the fabric of her new evening dress matched her shoes or if any of the men at the upcoming balls even looked in her direction. She would sooner stay in the country and scour her father's library than place herself on the marriage block to be picked at and prodded by the scant handful of ill-deserving men in London.
Could the Rake of Huntsbridge prevail over his past discretions to be deemed worthy of such a pure beauty? Lady Nicola’s family is sure he cannot and is determined to keep them apart at all cost, even if it means risking her life and putting her into the hands of another man who is more dangerous than they could have ever imagined.
A chance meeting at a local confectioner shop may be all it takes to set off sparks between the man who vowed no woman would ever get under his skin and the woman who would do anything to deny the love she felt for the Earl of her heart.
Lulu
Purchase on Website
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Rebels of Cordovia
by Linda Weaver Clarke
The Stories of Robin Hood ~ Inspiration for Historical/Romance
With bits of adventure, humor, mystery, and a tender love story, this tale will entertain anyone who enjoys a sweet romance. The stories of Robin Hood have enchanted readers for years. In our youth, we enjoyed hearing the escapades of Robin Hood and were spellbound by each story and how he cared for the people. How awesome would it be to live during that time period just because of Robin Hood! In The Rebels of Cordovia, a similar story is created but centuries after the legend of Robin Hood. But this time, there are two major groups of rebels fighting for the rights of the people. Daniel, a good-looking rogue, would be the leader of the Freemen. Robin Marie, a young woman, would be the leader of Robin’s Rebels. Each leader is an expert archer and swordsman. With bits of adventure and delectable kisses, this tale will entertain anyone who enjoys a sweet romance.
In The Rebels of Cordovia the time period is set in the 1700s. Centuries after the legendary Robin Hood, a group of men and women find themselves fighting for the same cause: for their rights, for freedom of speech, and equality. Robin’s Rebels realize they must fight against the tyranny of a wicked king and help the people survive this oppression. In the small country of Cordovia, groups of rebels begin springing up, but its Robin’s Rebels who get the attention of the king.
In this battle for freedom, a tender love story begins to blossom. Daniel, a rogue and a leader of the Freemen, doesn’t realize that the sweet feminine woman he has met and is falling for happens to be the leader of Robin’s Rebels. Realizing the importance of uniting all the rebel groups, Daniel tries to recruit Robin’s Rebels but they refuse. Now he has to find a way to convince them. When he finds out the leader is actually a woman, what will his reaction be?
Read a sample chapter HERE.
PurchaseThank you for reading my blog! I am always eager to hear back from you.
Debbie Brown
Author of The Companion of Lady Holmeshire
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Prodigal Son
Anna Belfrage
Safely returned from an involuntary stay on a tobacco plantation in Virginia, Matthew Graham finds the Scottish Lowlands torn asunder by religious strife. The government of His Restored Majesty, Charles II, requires all his subjects to swear fealty to him and the Church of England, riding roughshod over any opposition.
Safely returned from an involuntary stay on a tobacco plantation in Virginia, Matthew Graham finds the Scottish Lowlands torn asunder by religious strife. The government of His Restored Majesty, Charles II, requires all his subjects to swear fealty to him and the Church of England, riding roughshod over any opposition.
In Ayrshire, the people close ranks around their evicted ministers, stubbornly clinging to their Presbyterian faith. But disobedience comes at a price – a very steep price - and as neighbours and friends are driven from hearth and home, Alex becomes increasingly more nervous as to what her Matthew is risking by his continued support of the clandestine ministers – foremost amongst them the charismatic Sandy Peden.
Privately, Alex considers Sandy an enervating fanatic and all this religious fervour is totally incomprehensible to her. So when Matthew repeatedly sets his faith and minister before his own safety and therefore per extension her safety and the safety of their children, he puts their marriage under severe strain.
The situation is further complicated by the presence of Ian, the son Matthew was cruelly duped into disowning several years ago. Now Matthew wants Ian back and Alex isn’t entirely sure this is a good thing, watching from a distance as her husband dances round his lost boy.
Things are brought to a head when Matthew yet again places all their lives in the balance to save his dear friend and preacher from the dragoons that chase him over the moor.
How much is Matthew willing to risk? How much will he ultimately lose?
The Prodigal Son is the third in Anna Belfrage’s time slip series featuring time traveller Alexandra Lind and her seventeenth century husband, Matthew Graham.
Amazon US
Amazon UK
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Conspiracies of Dreams
Sandra Biber Didner
Jews, Christians, Moslems, and Canaanites all share an ancient dream of possessing the land that lies between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea which they hold sacred.In 1956 an Egyptian spy, Ishmael al Mohammed, is determined to gain information which will reclaim the infant state of Israel for the displaced Palestinian Arabs. While on an espionage mission posing as an Israeli, he falls passionately in love with a beautiful Jewish actress, Rebecca Silverman. He must decide if he will betray the only person he will ever care for or be true to Islam, Egypt, and his family. A Christian, Danny O’Halloran, dreams of walking the Stations of the Cross and saying Mass in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher while the pagan donkey goddess Palés dreams of being worshipped again by the original natives of Canaan. Israeli politicians dream of making Israel a nuclear power while Britain and France conspire to regain the Suez Canal, which the President of Egypt nationalized.
Against the backdrop of circumstances leading to the 1956 Suez War between Israel and Egypt a love story which encompasses the forbidden romance of Romeo and Juliet, Delilah’s betrayal of Samson, and the treachery of Britain’s MI6 double agents unfolds as Ishmael and Rebecca’s story spans three millennia of history.
Amazon US
Amazon UK
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hitler's Demons
Helena Schrader
Hitler's demons were those Germans who opposed his diabolical regime on moral grounds. They sought to defend human dignity and restore the rule of law. This novel is a tribute to the brave men and women of Germany's resistance and tells the true story of the Valkyrie Plot to assassinate Hitler.1938: All Germany seems captivated by the pied piper from Austria: Adolf Hitler. Philip Baron von Feldburg, a German officer deeply distressed by the policies of the Nazi government, feels like an irrelevant anachronism. His younger brother is thrilled to be flying the Luftwaffe’s fastest fighter, his sister has married a self-made man with good Nazi connections and is rapidly rising in the world. Soon one Nazi victory follows another. Philip feels increasingly isolated – until he meets Alexandra von Mollwitz. Alexandra is an attractive secretary working at General Staff Headquarters for a certain General Friedrich Olbricht. In Alexandra, Philip finds love and a kindred spirit. Through her he meets a group of senior officers working to overthrow the Nazi regime.
Unknown to Philip, one of the tenants in his apartment building is a young medical student Marianne Moldenauer. Marianne has seen the Warsaw ghetto, and she knows the Nazis are brutal and barbaric. Reacting out of naked humanitarianism, she finds herself drawn into an underworld of illegal activity directed at saving the victims of the racist dictatorship. But the young man she has fallen in love with is an idealistic commissar of the Gestapo. With each day the risk of her two lives coming in conflict grows.
A work of historical fiction, Hitler’s Demons personalizes a major event in world history. The story shows how the Nazi regime invaded the personal lives and warped moral perspective of even ordinary people. Hitler’s Demons helps us to understand what it was like to live in Nazi Germany – or in any immoral dictatorship.
Amazon US
Amazon UK
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Earl of my Heart
Victoria Oliveri
Dane Redford Lambourne, now the fourth Earl of Huntsbridge, never thought to live a responsible, noble existence. Spending his nights as a privileged gentleman, carousing and enjoying the company of friends was the only life he ever aspired to until the sudden death of his brother thrust him into a world he never wanted and was not prepared to face.Lady Nichola Crawford could care less if the fabric of her new evening dress matched her shoes or if any of the men at the upcoming balls even looked in her direction. She would sooner stay in the country and scour her father's library than place herself on the marriage block to be picked at and prodded by the scant handful of ill-deserving men in London.
Could the Rake of Huntsbridge prevail over his past discretions to be deemed worthy of such a pure beauty? Lady Nicola’s family is sure he cannot and is determined to keep them apart at all cost, even if it means risking her life and putting her into the hands of another man who is more dangerous than they could have ever imagined.
A chance meeting at a local confectioner shop may be all it takes to set off sparks between the man who vowed no woman would ever get under his skin and the woman who would do anything to deny the love she felt for the Earl of her heart.
Lulu
Purchase on Website
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Rebels of Cordovia
by Linda Weaver Clarke
The Stories of Robin Hood ~ Inspiration for Historical/RomanceWith bits of adventure, humor, mystery, and a tender love story, this tale will entertain anyone who enjoys a sweet romance. The stories of Robin Hood have enchanted readers for years. In our youth, we enjoyed hearing the escapades of Robin Hood and were spellbound by each story and how he cared for the people. How awesome would it be to live during that time period just because of Robin Hood! In The Rebels of Cordovia, a similar story is created but centuries after the legend of Robin Hood. But this time, there are two major groups of rebels fighting for the rights of the people. Daniel, a good-looking rogue, would be the leader of the Freemen. Robin Marie, a young woman, would be the leader of Robin’s Rebels. Each leader is an expert archer and swordsman. With bits of adventure and delectable kisses, this tale will entertain anyone who enjoys a sweet romance.
In The Rebels of Cordovia the time period is set in the 1700s. Centuries after the legendary Robin Hood, a group of men and women find themselves fighting for the same cause: for their rights, for freedom of speech, and equality. Robin’s Rebels realize they must fight against the tyranny of a wicked king and help the people survive this oppression. In the small country of Cordovia, groups of rebels begin springing up, but its Robin’s Rebels who get the attention of the king.
In this battle for freedom, a tender love story begins to blossom. Daniel, a rogue and a leader of the Freemen, doesn’t realize that the sweet feminine woman he has met and is falling for happens to be the leader of Robin’s Rebels. Realizing the importance of uniting all the rebel groups, Daniel tries to recruit Robin’s Rebels but they refuse. Now he has to find a way to convince them. When he finds out the leader is actually a woman, what will his reaction be?
Read a sample chapter HERE.
PurchaseThank you for reading my blog! I am always eager to hear back from you.
Debbie Brown
Author of The Companion of Lady Holmeshire
June 19, 2013
Historical Fiction Enticements 6/19
I am taking a break from the Wednesday feature this week due to sickness, but a book that I mentioned previously is now available for purchase:
Emeralds of the Alhambra
John D. Cressler
In Emeralds of the Alhambra, Christians, Muslims and Jews live together in peace, sharing languages, customs, and a level of tolerance and mutual respect unheard of today.
Working together, they spawn one of the world’s greatest intellectual and cultural flowerings in medieval Spain.
William Chandon is a wounded Christian knight brought to the Sultan’s court in Granada. and the strong-willed Layla al-Khatib is on a quest to become the first female Sufi Muslim mystic in a male-dominated society.
As Chandon’s influence at court grows, he becomes trapped among his forbidden love for Layla, his Christian heritage, the demands of chivalry, and political expediency.
Chandon must make a choice between love and honor, war and peace, life and death--a choice which ultimately will seal Granada’s fate as the last surviving stronghold of Muslim Spain.
Set amidst the resplendent Alhambra Palace in Granada during the Castilian Civil War (1367-1369), Muslims take up their swords to fight alongside Christians.
Emeralds of the Alhambra is the first book in the Anthems of al-Andalus trilogy.
Purchase
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thank you for reading my blog! I am always eager to hear back from you.
Debbie Brown
Author of The Companion of Lady Holmeshire
Emeralds of the Alhambra
John D. Cressler
In Emeralds of the Alhambra, Christians, Muslims and Jews live together in peace, sharing languages, customs, and a level of tolerance and mutual respect unheard of today.
Working together, they spawn one of the world’s greatest intellectual and cultural flowerings in medieval Spain.
William Chandon is a wounded Christian knight brought to the Sultan’s court in Granada. and the strong-willed Layla al-Khatib is on a quest to become the first female Sufi Muslim mystic in a male-dominated society.
As Chandon’s influence at court grows, he becomes trapped among his forbidden love for Layla, his Christian heritage, the demands of chivalry, and political expediency.
Chandon must make a choice between love and honor, war and peace, life and death--a choice which ultimately will seal Granada’s fate as the last surviving stronghold of Muslim Spain.
Set amidst the resplendent Alhambra Palace in Granada during the Castilian Civil War (1367-1369), Muslims take up their swords to fight alongside Christians.
Emeralds of the Alhambra is the first book in the Anthems of al-Andalus trilogy.
Purchase
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thank you for reading my blog! I am always eager to hear back from you.
Debbie Brown
Author of The Companion of Lady Holmeshire
June 14, 2013
Giveaway: Sons of the Wolf by Paula Lofting
The story starts in 1054, the years leading up to the great defining battle of 1066. King Edward is a pious and ineffective king, spending his days hunting, sleeping and praying, leaving the security and administration of his kingdom to his much more capable brother-in-law Harold Godwinson, the powerful Earl of Wessex. Against this backdrop we meet Wulfhere, a Sussex thegn who, as the sun sets over the wild forest of Andredesweald, is returning home victoriously from a great battle in the north. Holding his lands directly from the King, his position demands loyalty to Edward himself, but Wulfhere is duty-bound to also serve Harold, a bond forged within Wulfhere’s family heritage and borne of the ancient Teutonic ideology of honour and loyalty.
Wulfhere is a man with the strength and courage of a bear, a warrior whose loyalty to his lord and king is unquestionable. He is also a man who holds his family dear and would do anything to protect them. So when Harold demands that he wed his daughter to the son of Helghi, his sworn enemy, Wulfhere has to find a way to save his daughter from a life of certain misery as the daughter-in-law of the cruel and resentful Helghi, without comprising his honour and loyalty to his lord, Harold.
Now meet the children of Wulfhere who have come to tell their stories to you
Freyda
"I am the daughter of Wulfhere and I was fourteen when his story started. My father was the thegn of our village and I loved him dearly and he loved me as his favourite. I had always known I was his favourite child. He could deny me nothing. But it all went wrong for me and him when he came back from warring in the Northern lands where he had fought a terrible battle against the Scots. You see, I had fallen in love with the son of our neighbour, Helghi of Gorde. All that summer whilst Father was away, I sneaked away to meet him in the forest. I knew it was forbidden for any of us to talk to any of the people from Gorde, but I had no idea why. I had no idea of the depth of animosity that ran between our fathers. Edgar was a handsome lad, but he had a crippled leg. His father blamed my father for it, something to do with a horse that my father had sold his father, although he had warned Helghi that the horse was not suitable for a boy; Edgar had only been a child at the time and the horse had thrown him and broken his leg. Neither Edgar nor I could see that this was a problem. But soon we were to find out that we were two young lovers stuck in the middle of a blood feud that we knew nothing about. We were soon to learn that the rivers of hatred ran deeper than any of us could ever have known. A hatred that would tear us apart and never die until one of our fathers was dead.”
Winflaed
“I was only 8 years old when our saga began; and two years younger than my brother Tovi, my closest companion in my short childhood. Life was wonderful for us until the day my father was sent a package from the Lady of Waldron. That day was the day that would change our lives forever. Tovi and I used to spend our summer days running through the forest, playing amongst the woods and the stream and the pond where we used to swim. Once we caught our sister Freyda, swimming with her paramour, Edgar Helghison. We knew it was forbidden for any of us to speak to the Helghisons, but we didn’t really know why. Of course seeing our big sister with Edgar was a great source of amusement and we used it to our advantage. Freyda was not very happy that she had to pay for our silence by handing over the brooch and copper plated mirror I was very fond of. But soon all was blown and Freyda and Edgar were found out and I had to return the items very reluctantly and much to my displeasure.
"The day that father received the package, Tovi and I had been hunting with some of the village children. We were running like foxes through the woodland path when we met the man from Waldron, scaring his horse into throwing him off. Unfortunately he was hurt and his horse had run away, so he was unable to continue on to Horstede to finish his mission which was to give my father this little mysterious package from the Lady Alfgyva who lived in Waldron. With the innocence of children, we offered to take it to my father. If only we had not. For some reason, Tovi and I would always blame ourselves for that mysterious package contained something that would drive a wedge between our mother and father forever. If I could turn back the time, from that day, I would, for life was to change dramatically for us all.”
Tovi
“My father, Wulfhere, thegn of Horstede was bred for war. He learned from a young age to fight with a spear first and then sword and axe. And it was also from a young age that he taught me and my twin brothers Wulfwin and Wulfric to fight too. I loved my father, but one day I was to catch him out and that was the day that my life changed. I began to see my father for the flawed human he truly was. But he always tried to be good to me and to my brothers and sisters and for that I would always respect him. Life was not always good for me in our household. My older brothers hated me, I never knew why. I think it was just their way. They loved to torment me and once they hung me from a tree to stop me from going hunting with the Earl. I was so excited that Father had said I could go and they stopped it from happening. Then another time they hung me down a well and almost drowned me because I stopped them from using my younger sister Winflaed as target practice. Luckily Father caught them and pulled me out. They were punished, but I never found out how. But you could be sure that they were not beaten. Father was not one for punishing us in that way.
"One happy thing in my life was my little sister Winflaed. She and I were allies against the tormenting twins. I wasn’t always very nice to her, but she always took my side, no matter what. But the worst thing in our lives was yet to come in the shape of a blood feud. No one could ever know what it was like to have your life blighted by one until you have experienced it yourself.
"My Father was to fight on many a bloody field, but sometimes the enemy was closer to home, far more sinister and deadly than any battle.”
“Sons of the Wolf is a snap shot of medieval life and politics as the events that lead to the downfall of Anglo-Saxon England play out, immersing the reader in the tapestry of life as it was before the Domesday Book. With depictions of everyday life experienced through the minds of the people of the times; of feasts in the Great Halls to battles fought in the countryside, it cannot help but enlighten, educate and entertain.” – Lorraine Hunt Lynn, author of The Bartlemas Anthologies.
Paula will give away an ecopy of Sons of the Wolf to one winner. Please comment below to enter the drawing, and be sure to leave contact information.
Find out more about Paula Lofting and her novel Sons of the Wolf on her websites:
http://www.paulaloftingauthor.com
http://www.paulalofting-sonsofthewolf.blogspot.co.uk
http://www.threadstothepast.blogspot.co.uk – a blog that studies the Bayeux Tapestry.
Amazon UK
Amazon US
Also available on Waterstones, The Book Depository and all other good online bookstores, on Kindle and other E-readers.
This is an IndieB.R.A.G. Blog Tour
Thank you for reading my blog! I am always eager to hear back from you.Debbie Brown
Author of The Companion of Lady Holmeshire
June 11, 2013
Historical Fiction Enticements 6/12
Enjoy our five Historical Fiction synopses. Historical Fiction Enticements is a regular Wednesday feature on this blog.
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Like Chaff in the Wind
Anna Belfrage
Matthew Graham committed the mistake of his life when he cut off his brother’s nose – however much he deserved it. In revenge, Luke Graham has Matthew abducted and transported to the Colony of Virginia, there to be sold as indentured labour – a death sentence more or less.
Matthew arrives in Virginia in May of 1661, and any hope he had of finding someone willing to listen to his tale of unlawful abduction is quickly extinguished. If anything Matthew’s insistence that he is an innocent man leads to him being singled out for the heaviest tasks.
Insufficient food, grueling days and the humid heat combine to wear Matthew down. With a sinking feeling he realises no one has ever survived the seven years of service – not on the plantation Suffolk Rose, not under the tender care of the overseer Dominic Jones.
Fortunately for Matthew, he has a remarkable wife, a woman who has no intention of letting her husband suffer and die, and so Alex Graham sets off on a perilous journey to bring her husband home.
Alex is plagued by nightmares in which her Matthew is reduced to a wheezing wreck by his tormentors. She sits in the prow of the ship and prays for a miracle to carry her swiftly to his side, to let her hold him and heal him before it’s too late. Fate, however, has other ideas, and what should have been a two month crossing becomes a yearlong adventure from one side of the Atlantic to the other.
Will she find him in time? And if she does, will she be capable of paying the price required to buy him free?
Like Chaff in the Wind is the second in Anna Belfrage’s time slip series featuring time traveller Alexandra Lind and her seventeenth century husband, Matthew Graham.
Amazon US
Amazon UK
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Melinda and the Wild West
Linda Weaver Clarke
"Melinda and the Wild West: A Family Saga in Bear Lake, Idaho," is an award-winning novel for Reader Views "Reviewers Choice Award." Debra Gaynor from Reader Views wrote: "From the first page I was captivated by this book. I had to continue reading, rushing to turn the page, I had to see what next adventure would catch up with Melinda. The plot is interesting: mixing history with fiction, adventure with romance. It is a great honor to highly recommend this book to readers of historical fictions and romance. Ms Clarke, this is a piece to be proud of, well done!"
In 1896 Melinda Gamble wants to make a difference in the world. Without hesitation, she accepts a job as a schoolteacher in the small town of Paris, Idaho. She has many challenges such as trying to help a rebellious student, coming face-to-face with a notorious bank robber, a vicious grizzly bear, and finding herself in a terrible blizzard that leaves her clinging to her life. But it's a rugged rancher who challenges Melinda with the one thing for which she was least prepared-love.
Socrates Book Review wrote: "Linda Weaver Clarke has created a beautiful story of love, strength and endurance in this first book of her Bear Lake series. Melinda is a character readers will admire and cheer for. Each character will touch the reader's heart and hold onto it until the very last page and beyond. I loved every minute of this book. Any book that has such memorable characters deserves my Socrates Great Book Alert!"
When a rugged rancher and a determined schoolteacher meet, they tend to butt heads and clash with each encounter, but at the same time there seems to be an underlying interest in one another. In this story, Melinda is trying to help a rebellious student through acceptance and love, and at the same time she is trying to understand her own heart.
Page One Literary Book Review wrote: "Linda Weaver Clarke displays an easy and excellent style of writing, blending adventure/romance/history/humor and courage. Melinda and the Wild West is an instant classic and should put this author on the literary map all over the world."
Purchase
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tempest in the Tea Room:
An Ezra Melamed Mystery
Libi Astaire
Jane Austen meets Sherlock Holmes when a crime wave sweeps through 19th-century London's Jewish community and the adventures of wealthy-widower-turned-sleuth Ezra Melamed are recorded for posterity by Miss Rebecca Lyon, a young lady not quite at the marriageable age.
The third volume of the series begins when Mr. Gabriel Taylor, a medical doctor recently arrived from the Continent, rents rooms on Bury Street, London. No one is more delighted than Mrs. Miriam Baer, the London Jewish community’s busiest matchmaker. Not only is Dr. Taylor an eligible young bachelor, but he also has a charming unmarried sister, Miss Elisheva Taylor.
However, not long after the brother and sister have arrived, tragedy strikes. First, Miss Harriet Franks—a young lady from a respected family in the community—comes down with a serious stomach ailment. Next, children living at the community’s orphanage, where Dr. Taylor has been appointed the resident doctor, are stricken. Then one of Dr. Taylor’s fashionable patients, Lady Marblehead, becomes deathly ill—and a wild rumor begins to circulate: Dr. Taylor is poisoning his patients!
That rumor is fueled by the disappearance of a priceless pearl bracelet from Lady Marblehead’s jewelry box, as well as the astonishing discovery that the brother and sister receive mysterious late-night visits from a Jewish Old Clothes Man whose secretive ways suggest that he just might have a second and even less respectable profession, that of a grave robber.
Is Mr. Taylor truly an unscrupulous physician who is engaging in illicit medical research? Or is he an innocent man who has unknowingly stumbled into some dark, nefarious plot?
An increasingly hysterical community turns to Mr. Ezra Melamed to investigate the case. But will it be too late for the littlest victim, a frail orphan boy who is already more than half-way to death’s door?
Amazon US
Amazon UK
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Cross and the Dragon
Kim Rendfeld
A tale of love amid the wars and blood feuds of Charlemagne’s reign.
Francia, 773: When Alda first beheld Count Ganelon, she thought he was the handsomest man in the realm. And then he opened his mouth. His insults, his ill treatment of his servants, have rendered any desire she had for him to ashes. Instead, Alda yearns for Hruodland, King Charles’s nephew and Ganelon’s rival, a warrior who protects her when Ganelon threatens to strike her, a man who values a woman’s intelligence.
Yet as a member of the royal family, Hruodland seems out of reach, and her brother, Count Alfihar, wants her to marry Ganelon for his land and wealth. Knowing she will receive a good dowry, Alda is desperate to get out the arrangement and even considers taking the veil on the strict cloister on Nonnenwerth, a Rhine island near her home.
Fortunately for Alda, time is on her side, and her brother starts to become annoyed with her suitor, always asking about Drachenhaus, Alda and Alfihar’s birthplace, as if it were his inheritance. When Alfihar’s good friend Hruodland expresses an interest in Alda, her family likes what he has to offer better, and he and Alda are betrothed, much to Alda’s joy. Furious, Ganelon promises revenge.
778: Alda and Hruodland are happily married but frustrated by their lack of children. Alda worries Hruodland will set her aside, and she has never forgotten Ganelon’s vow of vengeance. Yet the jilted suitor’s malice is nothing compared to Alda’s premonition of disaster for her beloved, battle-scarred husband.
Although the army invading Hispania is the largest ever and King Charles has never lost a war, Alda cannot shake her anxiety. Determined to keep Hruodland from harm, even if it exposes her to danger, Alda gives him her charmed dragon amulet.
Is its magic enough to keep Alda’s worst fears from coming true - and protect her from Ganelon?
Inspired by legend and painstakingly researched, The Cross and the Dragon is a story of tenderness, sacrifice, lies, and revenge.
“…a pleasure to dive in to…” - Publishers Weekly (manuscript review, 2011 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award competition quarterfinalist)
Links to Buy from Various Vendors
Amazon US Amazon UK
Barnes & Noble
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lily of the Nile
Stephanie Dray
Heiress of one empire and prisoner of another, it is up to the daughter of Cleopatra to save her brothers and reclaim what is rightfully hers.
To Isis worshippers, Princess Selene and her twin brother Helios embody the divine celestial pair who will bring about a Golden Age. But when Selene's parents are vanquished by Rome, her auspicious birth becomes a curse.
Trapped in an empire that reviles her heritage and suspects her faith, the young messianic princess struggles for survival in a Roman court of intrigue. She can't hide the hieroglyphics that carve themselves into her hands, nor can she stop the emperor from using her powers for his own ends. But faced with a new and ruthless Caesar who is obsessed with having a Cleopatra of his very own, Selene is determined to resurrect her mother's dreams.
Can she succeed where her mother failed? And what will it cost her in a political game where the only rule is win-or die?
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Barnes & Noble
Book Depository
Please return next week and find your next favorite book! Thank you for reading my blog! I am always eager to hear back from you.
Debbie Brown
Author of The Companion of Lady Holmeshire
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Like Chaff in the Wind
Anna Belfrage
Matthew Graham committed the mistake of his life when he cut off his brother’s nose – however much he deserved it. In revenge, Luke Graham has Matthew abducted and transported to the Colony of Virginia, there to be sold as indentured labour – a death sentence more or less.
Matthew arrives in Virginia in May of 1661, and any hope he had of finding someone willing to listen to his tale of unlawful abduction is quickly extinguished. If anything Matthew’s insistence that he is an innocent man leads to him being singled out for the heaviest tasks.
Insufficient food, grueling days and the humid heat combine to wear Matthew down. With a sinking feeling he realises no one has ever survived the seven years of service – not on the plantation Suffolk Rose, not under the tender care of the overseer Dominic Jones.
Fortunately for Matthew, he has a remarkable wife, a woman who has no intention of letting her husband suffer and die, and so Alex Graham sets off on a perilous journey to bring her husband home.
Alex is plagued by nightmares in which her Matthew is reduced to a wheezing wreck by his tormentors. She sits in the prow of the ship and prays for a miracle to carry her swiftly to his side, to let her hold him and heal him before it’s too late. Fate, however, has other ideas, and what should have been a two month crossing becomes a yearlong adventure from one side of the Atlantic to the other.
Will she find him in time? And if she does, will she be capable of paying the price required to buy him free?
Like Chaff in the Wind is the second in Anna Belfrage’s time slip series featuring time traveller Alexandra Lind and her seventeenth century husband, Matthew Graham.
Amazon US
Amazon UK
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Melinda and the Wild West
Linda Weaver Clarke
"Melinda and the Wild West: A Family Saga in Bear Lake, Idaho," is an award-winning novel for Reader Views "Reviewers Choice Award." Debra Gaynor from Reader Views wrote: "From the first page I was captivated by this book. I had to continue reading, rushing to turn the page, I had to see what next adventure would catch up with Melinda. The plot is interesting: mixing history with fiction, adventure with romance. It is a great honor to highly recommend this book to readers of historical fictions and romance. Ms Clarke, this is a piece to be proud of, well done!"
In 1896 Melinda Gamble wants to make a difference in the world. Without hesitation, she accepts a job as a schoolteacher in the small town of Paris, Idaho. She has many challenges such as trying to help a rebellious student, coming face-to-face with a notorious bank robber, a vicious grizzly bear, and finding herself in a terrible blizzard that leaves her clinging to her life. But it's a rugged rancher who challenges Melinda with the one thing for which she was least prepared-love.
Socrates Book Review wrote: "Linda Weaver Clarke has created a beautiful story of love, strength and endurance in this first book of her Bear Lake series. Melinda is a character readers will admire and cheer for. Each character will touch the reader's heart and hold onto it until the very last page and beyond. I loved every minute of this book. Any book that has such memorable characters deserves my Socrates Great Book Alert!"
When a rugged rancher and a determined schoolteacher meet, they tend to butt heads and clash with each encounter, but at the same time there seems to be an underlying interest in one another. In this story, Melinda is trying to help a rebellious student through acceptance and love, and at the same time she is trying to understand her own heart.
Page One Literary Book Review wrote: "Linda Weaver Clarke displays an easy and excellent style of writing, blending adventure/romance/history/humor and courage. Melinda and the Wild West is an instant classic and should put this author on the literary map all over the world."
Purchase
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tempest in the Tea Room:
An Ezra Melamed Mystery
Libi Astaire
Jane Austen meets Sherlock Holmes when a crime wave sweeps through 19th-century London's Jewish community and the adventures of wealthy-widower-turned-sleuth Ezra Melamed are recorded for posterity by Miss Rebecca Lyon, a young lady not quite at the marriageable age.
The third volume of the series begins when Mr. Gabriel Taylor, a medical doctor recently arrived from the Continent, rents rooms on Bury Street, London. No one is more delighted than Mrs. Miriam Baer, the London Jewish community’s busiest matchmaker. Not only is Dr. Taylor an eligible young bachelor, but he also has a charming unmarried sister, Miss Elisheva Taylor.
However, not long after the brother and sister have arrived, tragedy strikes. First, Miss Harriet Franks—a young lady from a respected family in the community—comes down with a serious stomach ailment. Next, children living at the community’s orphanage, where Dr. Taylor has been appointed the resident doctor, are stricken. Then one of Dr. Taylor’s fashionable patients, Lady Marblehead, becomes deathly ill—and a wild rumor begins to circulate: Dr. Taylor is poisoning his patients!
That rumor is fueled by the disappearance of a priceless pearl bracelet from Lady Marblehead’s jewelry box, as well as the astonishing discovery that the brother and sister receive mysterious late-night visits from a Jewish Old Clothes Man whose secretive ways suggest that he just might have a second and even less respectable profession, that of a grave robber.
Is Mr. Taylor truly an unscrupulous physician who is engaging in illicit medical research? Or is he an innocent man who has unknowingly stumbled into some dark, nefarious plot?
An increasingly hysterical community turns to Mr. Ezra Melamed to investigate the case. But will it be too late for the littlest victim, a frail orphan boy who is already more than half-way to death’s door?
Amazon US
Amazon UK
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Cross and the Dragon
Kim Rendfeld
A tale of love amid the wars and blood feuds of Charlemagne’s reign.
Francia, 773: When Alda first beheld Count Ganelon, she thought he was the handsomest man in the realm. And then he opened his mouth. His insults, his ill treatment of his servants, have rendered any desire she had for him to ashes. Instead, Alda yearns for Hruodland, King Charles’s nephew and Ganelon’s rival, a warrior who protects her when Ganelon threatens to strike her, a man who values a woman’s intelligence.
Yet as a member of the royal family, Hruodland seems out of reach, and her brother, Count Alfihar, wants her to marry Ganelon for his land and wealth. Knowing she will receive a good dowry, Alda is desperate to get out the arrangement and even considers taking the veil on the strict cloister on Nonnenwerth, a Rhine island near her home.
Fortunately for Alda, time is on her side, and her brother starts to become annoyed with her suitor, always asking about Drachenhaus, Alda and Alfihar’s birthplace, as if it were his inheritance. When Alfihar’s good friend Hruodland expresses an interest in Alda, her family likes what he has to offer better, and he and Alda are betrothed, much to Alda’s joy. Furious, Ganelon promises revenge.
778: Alda and Hruodland are happily married but frustrated by their lack of children. Alda worries Hruodland will set her aside, and she has never forgotten Ganelon’s vow of vengeance. Yet the jilted suitor’s malice is nothing compared to Alda’s premonition of disaster for her beloved, battle-scarred husband.
Although the army invading Hispania is the largest ever and King Charles has never lost a war, Alda cannot shake her anxiety. Determined to keep Hruodland from harm, even if it exposes her to danger, Alda gives him her charmed dragon amulet.
Is its magic enough to keep Alda’s worst fears from coming true - and protect her from Ganelon?
Inspired by legend and painstakingly researched, The Cross and the Dragon is a story of tenderness, sacrifice, lies, and revenge.
“…a pleasure to dive in to…” - Publishers Weekly (manuscript review, 2011 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award competition quarterfinalist)
Links to Buy from Various Vendors
Amazon US Amazon UK
Barnes & Noble
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lily of the Nile
Stephanie Dray
Heiress of one empire and prisoner of another, it is up to the daughter of Cleopatra to save her brothers and reclaim what is rightfully hers.
To Isis worshippers, Princess Selene and her twin brother Helios embody the divine celestial pair who will bring about a Golden Age. But when Selene's parents are vanquished by Rome, her auspicious birth becomes a curse.
Trapped in an empire that reviles her heritage and suspects her faith, the young messianic princess struggles for survival in a Roman court of intrigue. She can't hide the hieroglyphics that carve themselves into her hands, nor can she stop the emperor from using her powers for his own ends. But faced with a new and ruthless Caesar who is obsessed with having a Cleopatra of his very own, Selene is determined to resurrect her mother's dreams.
Can she succeed where her mother failed? And what will it cost her in a political game where the only rule is win-or die?
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Barnes & Noble
Book Depository
Please return next week and find your next favorite book! Thank you for reading my blog! I am always eager to hear back from you.
Debbie Brown
Author of The Companion of Lady Holmeshire
June 5, 2013
Historical Fiction Enticements 6/5
Marquess of Cake (The Redcakes #1)
Heather Hiestand
London: 1886
Alys Redcake’s family has come a long way from the days when she and her twin brother worked side by side in their father’s baking factory. Now happy in her position as wedding cake designer in her father’s London tea shop and emporium, she’s not ready for the changes coming to her lifestyle when Queen Victoria knights her successful industrialist father.
Michael Shield, Marquess of Hatbrook, adores Redcake’s Tea Shop and Emporium. He visits frequently as he works to rebuild his family’s finances, and not just for the pastry either.
Alys unaware that with each morsel—and flash of ankle—she is seducing the handsome marquess frequenting her father’s tea shop. Unmarried at twenty-six, Alys’s first love is the family business. But thoughts of the gentleman’s touch are driving her to distraction… even as her father is insisting she marry someone, anyone, so that her younger sisters, who were raised more gently, can enter fashionable society’s marriage mart.
With his weakness for sugar, the Marquess of Hatbrook can imagine no more desirable woman than one scented with cake and spice. Mistaking Alys for a mere waitress, he has no doubt she would make a most delicious mistress. When tragedy strikes his family and he finds himself in need of an heir, he plans to make her his convenient bride. Yet as they satisfy their craving for one another, business and pleasure suddenly collide. Will Hatbrook’s passion for sweets—and for Alys—be his heart and body’s undoing? Can Alys find happiness away from her beloved cakes? Nothing will ever be the same again.
Purchase
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Emeralds of the Alhambra
John D. Cressler
In Emeralds of the Alhambra, Christians, Muslims and Jews live together in peace, sharing languages, customs, and a level of tolerance and mutual respect unheard of today.
Working together, they spawn one of the world’s greatest intellectual and cultural flowerings in medieval Spain.
William Chandon is a wounded Christian knight brought to the Sultan’s court in Granada. and the strong-willed Layla al-Khatib is on a quest to become the first female Sufi Muslim mystic in a male-dominated society.
As Chandon’s influence at court grows, he becomes trapped among his forbidden love for Layla, his Christian heritage, the demands of chivalry, and political expediency.
Chandon must make a choice between love and honor, war and peace, life and death--a choice which ultimately will seal Granada’s fate as the last surviving stronghold of Muslim Spain.
Set amidst the resplendent Alhambra Palace in Granada during the Castilian Civil War (1367-1369), Muslims take up their swords to fight alongside Christians.
Emeralds of the Alhambra is the first book in the Anthems of al-Andalus trilogy.
Purchase Releases June 15th.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Afflicted Girls
Suzy Witten
As a funeral is held in a church meetinghouse for a boy infant, a hired coach carrying Maine orphans Mercy Lewis, 19, and Abigail Williams, 15, crashes in a forested wilderness. Two 20 year-old friends, Joseph Putnam and Ben Nurse, who are out hunting, come to the girls’ aid and escort them to their destination, Salem Village. A powerful, otherworldly, but morose, attraction begins between Mercy and Joseph. Abigail grows jealous observing it. At the same time, she is rebuffed by Ben.
The dead baby’s father is Joseph’s impoverished, older half-brother, Thomas Putnam, a Pro-Parris farmer, who is suing to regain a stolen inheritance. Divided politically, half in the village want to fire the minister, while the other half vehemently support him, like Thomas.
Abigail's uncle is Samuel Parris, the self-righteous minister at the center of the village strife. Begrudgingly, he accepts the arrival of an unknown niece, and also hires out Mercy as an indentured servant to Thomas. Ann Putnam, Thomas’ wife, is succumbing to grief, and their three daughters have long suffered a mad mother’s neglect. Mercy’s kindness comforts.
Reverend Parris has one daughter, nine-year old Betty, who is more loved by the parsonage slave Tituba than by her own stern mother. Kidnapped as a child from a Carib jungle tribe, Tituba has been Samuel Parris’ property since his profligate youth. She is married to the parsonage manslave, John Indian. Abigail’s cunning intelligence works quickly to supplant her younger cousin in her uncle’s affection. She also suspects, rightly, that Tituba has powers.
Ignored by their drunken fathers on Sundays after church, a pro-Parris group of friends sneaks to scandalous Bridget Bishop’s high road tavern to play shovelboard. After encountering Joseph there, Mercy returns after midnight seeking a love charm from Bridget. She also confesses a sordid history of abuse. Bridget, outraged and in spiritual kinship, swears on her life to protect and teach this gifted girl.
A snoop always, Abigail follows Tituba into the parsonage woods one night and watches the slave pick a thorny plant, eat seeds, and do an erotic dance. From her window, she also sees Mercy plant thecharm in Joseph’s father’s grave in the parsonage graveyard. She threatens to expose her unless she teaches her and her friends conjuring games.
When Mercy meets Joseph Putnam on the road accidentally, she is easily coaxed to a hidden bower, where they make love. His detached, rough-handed manner is unsettling, but she attributes it to the sinister side of charms. He asks her to spy for him on his brother.
On their Sunday picnic, Abigail distributes auguring cakes based on Tituba’s recipe. Mercy’s charge, frail twelve-year-old Lucy Putnam, experiences a dazzling vision of Jesus in Heaven, which Abigail denounces as blasphemy. In God’s name, she and Putnam cousin, Susanna Walcott, cry out on villagers they think are witches. When a sudden thunderstorm sends her friends runing home, Abigail seduces the boy, who was with them.
Betty Parris, desperate for news of the picnic, eats a cake then gazes at her thumbnail. After demonic visions, she falls into a deathly fit. Abigail succumbs, as well. As the fits spread, Reverend Parris declares a Devil’s assault on the innocents. Examinations by magistrates are held. Witchcraft trials end with convictions and a hanging. A murder mystery is strangely solved.
After losing his lawsuit and nearly his farm, Thomas discovers Mercy’s betrayal with his brother. Enraged, he beats and rapes her. She tries to run away, but is caught. Forced to be an accuser by her master, in church she denounces Reverend Parris for the corruption. Abigail, touched by God, accuses her.
Imprisoned, pregnant by either brother, in despair, someone comes to help Mercy flee the witch hunt and begin a new life in distant, freer lands.
THE AFFLICTED GIRLS by Suzy Witten (Winner of the 2010 IPPY Silver Medal for Historical Fiction)
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Barnes and Noble
iTunes
Google Books
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Chalice
Nancy Bilyeau
The Chalice, by Nancy Bilyeau The Chalice is the second novel in my series set in Tudor England, with a main character who is a young Dominican novice from an aristocratic family. The first book, The Crown, was praised by Oprah: “The real draw of this suspenseful novel is its juicy blend of lust, murder, conspiracy, and betrayal.”
In the second book, Sister Joanna Stafford plunges into an even more dangerous conspiracy as she comes up against some of the most powerful men of her era. Booklist said, "Bilyeau paints a moving portrait of Catholicism during the Reformation and of reclusive, spiritual people adjusting to the world outside the cloister. This intriguing and suspenseful historical novel pairs well with C. J. Sansom’s Dissolution (2003) and has the insightful feminine perspective of Brenda Rickman Vantrease’s The Heretic’s Wife (2010)."
In 1538, England is in the midst of bloody power struggles between crown and cross that threaten to tear the country apart. Joanna Stafford has seen what lies inside the king’s torture rooms and risks imprisonment again, when she is caught up in a shadowy international plot targeting the King.
As the power plays turn vicious, Joanna understands she may have to assume her role in a prophecy foretold by three different seers, each more omniscient than the last. Joanna realizes the life of Henry VIII as well as the future of Christendom are in her hands—hands that must someday hold the chalice that lays at the center of these deadly prophecies.
Amazon US
Amazon UK
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Rip in the Veil
Anna Belfrage
On a muggy August day in 2002 Alex Lind disappears without a trace. On an equally stifling August day in 1658, Matthew Graham finds her on an empty Scottish moor. Life will never be the same for Alex – or for Matthew.
Due to a series of rare occurrences, Alexandra Lind is thrown three centuries backwards in time. She lands at the feet of Matthew Graham – an escaped convict making his way home to Scotland in this the year of our Lord, 1658.
Matthew doesn’t quite know what to make of this concussed and injured woman who has seemingly fallen from the skies- what is she, a witch?
Alex gawks at this tall, gaunt man with hazel eyes, dressed in what to her mostly looks like rags. At first she thinks he might be some sort of hermit, an oddball, but she quickly realises the odd one out is she, not he.
Catapulted from a life of modern comfort, Alex grapples with this new existence, further complicated by the dawning realization that someone from her time has followed her here – and not exactly to extend a helping hand.
Potential compensation for this brutal shift in fate comes in the shape of Matthew – a man she should never have met, not when she was born three centuries after him. But for all that Matthew quickly proves himself a willing and most capable protector he comes with baggage of his own, and on occasion it seems his past will see him killed. At times Alex finds it all excessively exciting, longing for the structured life she used to have.
How will she ever get back? And more importantly, does she want to?
A Rip in the Veil is the first in Anna Belfrage’s time slip series featuring time traveller Alexandra Lind and her seventeenth century husband, Matthew Graham.
Amazon US
Amazon UK
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Come back next Wednesday for five more synopsis. You may find your new favorite book!
Authors of historical fiction from any location may contact me to submit a synopsis using the contact form on this site. No steamy romance novels, please.
Thank you for reading my blog! I am always eager to hear back from you.
Debbie Brown
Author of The Companion of Lady Holmeshire
Heather Hiestand
London: 1886
Alys Redcake’s family has come a long way from the days when she and her twin brother worked side by side in their father’s baking factory. Now happy in her position as wedding cake designer in her father’s London tea shop and emporium, she’s not ready for the changes coming to her lifestyle when Queen Victoria knights her successful industrialist father.
Michael Shield, Marquess of Hatbrook, adores Redcake’s Tea Shop and Emporium. He visits frequently as he works to rebuild his family’s finances, and not just for the pastry either.
Alys unaware that with each morsel—and flash of ankle—she is seducing the handsome marquess frequenting her father’s tea shop. Unmarried at twenty-six, Alys’s first love is the family business. But thoughts of the gentleman’s touch are driving her to distraction… even as her father is insisting she marry someone, anyone, so that her younger sisters, who were raised more gently, can enter fashionable society’s marriage mart.
With his weakness for sugar, the Marquess of Hatbrook can imagine no more desirable woman than one scented with cake and spice. Mistaking Alys for a mere waitress, he has no doubt she would make a most delicious mistress. When tragedy strikes his family and he finds himself in need of an heir, he plans to make her his convenient bride. Yet as they satisfy their craving for one another, business and pleasure suddenly collide. Will Hatbrook’s passion for sweets—and for Alys—be his heart and body’s undoing? Can Alys find happiness away from her beloved cakes? Nothing will ever be the same again.
Purchase
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Emeralds of the Alhambra
John D. Cressler
In Emeralds of the Alhambra, Christians, Muslims and Jews live together in peace, sharing languages, customs, and a level of tolerance and mutual respect unheard of today.
Working together, they spawn one of the world’s greatest intellectual and cultural flowerings in medieval Spain.
William Chandon is a wounded Christian knight brought to the Sultan’s court in Granada. and the strong-willed Layla al-Khatib is on a quest to become the first female Sufi Muslim mystic in a male-dominated society.
As Chandon’s influence at court grows, he becomes trapped among his forbidden love for Layla, his Christian heritage, the demands of chivalry, and political expediency.
Chandon must make a choice between love and honor, war and peace, life and death--a choice which ultimately will seal Granada’s fate as the last surviving stronghold of Muslim Spain.
Set amidst the resplendent Alhambra Palace in Granada during the Castilian Civil War (1367-1369), Muslims take up their swords to fight alongside Christians.
Emeralds of the Alhambra is the first book in the Anthems of al-Andalus trilogy.
Purchase Releases June 15th.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Afflicted Girls
Suzy Witten
As a funeral is held in a church meetinghouse for a boy infant, a hired coach carrying Maine orphans Mercy Lewis, 19, and Abigail Williams, 15, crashes in a forested wilderness. Two 20 year-old friends, Joseph Putnam and Ben Nurse, who are out hunting, come to the girls’ aid and escort them to their destination, Salem Village. A powerful, otherworldly, but morose, attraction begins between Mercy and Joseph. Abigail grows jealous observing it. At the same time, she is rebuffed by Ben.
The dead baby’s father is Joseph’s impoverished, older half-brother, Thomas Putnam, a Pro-Parris farmer, who is suing to regain a stolen inheritance. Divided politically, half in the village want to fire the minister, while the other half vehemently support him, like Thomas.
Abigail's uncle is Samuel Parris, the self-righteous minister at the center of the village strife. Begrudgingly, he accepts the arrival of an unknown niece, and also hires out Mercy as an indentured servant to Thomas. Ann Putnam, Thomas’ wife, is succumbing to grief, and their three daughters have long suffered a mad mother’s neglect. Mercy’s kindness comforts.
Reverend Parris has one daughter, nine-year old Betty, who is more loved by the parsonage slave Tituba than by her own stern mother. Kidnapped as a child from a Carib jungle tribe, Tituba has been Samuel Parris’ property since his profligate youth. She is married to the parsonage manslave, John Indian. Abigail’s cunning intelligence works quickly to supplant her younger cousin in her uncle’s affection. She also suspects, rightly, that Tituba has powers.
Ignored by their drunken fathers on Sundays after church, a pro-Parris group of friends sneaks to scandalous Bridget Bishop’s high road tavern to play shovelboard. After encountering Joseph there, Mercy returns after midnight seeking a love charm from Bridget. She also confesses a sordid history of abuse. Bridget, outraged and in spiritual kinship, swears on her life to protect and teach this gifted girl.
A snoop always, Abigail follows Tituba into the parsonage woods one night and watches the slave pick a thorny plant, eat seeds, and do an erotic dance. From her window, she also sees Mercy plant thecharm in Joseph’s father’s grave in the parsonage graveyard. She threatens to expose her unless she teaches her and her friends conjuring games.
When Mercy meets Joseph Putnam on the road accidentally, she is easily coaxed to a hidden bower, where they make love. His detached, rough-handed manner is unsettling, but she attributes it to the sinister side of charms. He asks her to spy for him on his brother.
On their Sunday picnic, Abigail distributes auguring cakes based on Tituba’s recipe. Mercy’s charge, frail twelve-year-old Lucy Putnam, experiences a dazzling vision of Jesus in Heaven, which Abigail denounces as blasphemy. In God’s name, she and Putnam cousin, Susanna Walcott, cry out on villagers they think are witches. When a sudden thunderstorm sends her friends runing home, Abigail seduces the boy, who was with them.
Betty Parris, desperate for news of the picnic, eats a cake then gazes at her thumbnail. After demonic visions, she falls into a deathly fit. Abigail succumbs, as well. As the fits spread, Reverend Parris declares a Devil’s assault on the innocents. Examinations by magistrates are held. Witchcraft trials end with convictions and a hanging. A murder mystery is strangely solved.
After losing his lawsuit and nearly his farm, Thomas discovers Mercy’s betrayal with his brother. Enraged, he beats and rapes her. She tries to run away, but is caught. Forced to be an accuser by her master, in church she denounces Reverend Parris for the corruption. Abigail, touched by God, accuses her.
Imprisoned, pregnant by either brother, in despair, someone comes to help Mercy flee the witch hunt and begin a new life in distant, freer lands.
THE AFFLICTED GIRLS by Suzy Witten (Winner of the 2010 IPPY Silver Medal for Historical Fiction)
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Barnes and Noble
iTunes
Google Books
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Chalice
Nancy Bilyeau
The Chalice, by Nancy Bilyeau The Chalice is the second novel in my series set in Tudor England, with a main character who is a young Dominican novice from an aristocratic family. The first book, The Crown, was praised by Oprah: “The real draw of this suspenseful novel is its juicy blend of lust, murder, conspiracy, and betrayal.”
In the second book, Sister Joanna Stafford plunges into an even more dangerous conspiracy as she comes up against some of the most powerful men of her era. Booklist said, "Bilyeau paints a moving portrait of Catholicism during the Reformation and of reclusive, spiritual people adjusting to the world outside the cloister. This intriguing and suspenseful historical novel pairs well with C. J. Sansom’s Dissolution (2003) and has the insightful feminine perspective of Brenda Rickman Vantrease’s The Heretic’s Wife (2010)."
In 1538, England is in the midst of bloody power struggles between crown and cross that threaten to tear the country apart. Joanna Stafford has seen what lies inside the king’s torture rooms and risks imprisonment again, when she is caught up in a shadowy international plot targeting the King.
As the power plays turn vicious, Joanna understands she may have to assume her role in a prophecy foretold by three different seers, each more omniscient than the last. Joanna realizes the life of Henry VIII as well as the future of Christendom are in her hands—hands that must someday hold the chalice that lays at the center of these deadly prophecies.
Amazon US
Amazon UK
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Rip in the Veil
Anna Belfrage
On a muggy August day in 2002 Alex Lind disappears without a trace. On an equally stifling August day in 1658, Matthew Graham finds her on an empty Scottish moor. Life will never be the same for Alex – or for Matthew.
Due to a series of rare occurrences, Alexandra Lind is thrown three centuries backwards in time. She lands at the feet of Matthew Graham – an escaped convict making his way home to Scotland in this the year of our Lord, 1658.
Matthew doesn’t quite know what to make of this concussed and injured woman who has seemingly fallen from the skies- what is she, a witch?
Alex gawks at this tall, gaunt man with hazel eyes, dressed in what to her mostly looks like rags. At first she thinks he might be some sort of hermit, an oddball, but she quickly realises the odd one out is she, not he.
Catapulted from a life of modern comfort, Alex grapples with this new existence, further complicated by the dawning realization that someone from her time has followed her here – and not exactly to extend a helping hand.
Potential compensation for this brutal shift in fate comes in the shape of Matthew – a man she should never have met, not when she was born three centuries after him. But for all that Matthew quickly proves himself a willing and most capable protector he comes with baggage of his own, and on occasion it seems his past will see him killed. At times Alex finds it all excessively exciting, longing for the structured life she used to have.
How will she ever get back? And more importantly, does she want to?
A Rip in the Veil is the first in Anna Belfrage’s time slip series featuring time traveller Alexandra Lind and her seventeenth century husband, Matthew Graham.
Amazon US
Amazon UK
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Come back next Wednesday for five more synopsis. You may find your new favorite book!
Authors of historical fiction from any location may contact me to submit a synopsis using the contact form on this site. No steamy romance novels, please.
Thank you for reading my blog! I am always eager to hear back from you.
Debbie Brown
Author of The Companion of Lady Holmeshire
June 2, 2013
Summer Banquet Hop with Diane Scott Lewis
A Georgian Repast
In the eighteenth century what food was available depended on the season. In finer homes, several courses would be served, with the tablecloth removed between courses. Dinner had its own ritual. Ladies and gentlemen dressed in fine clothes to impress. The host would proceed to the dining room with the most senior lady on his arm. The host sat at the foot of the table, the hostess at the head. After the senior lady sat, the other guests would choose their seats. Chairs near the hostess were considered places of honor and reserved for the most important guests.
One course could consist of between five to twenty-five dishes: soups or creams, main dishes, side dishes and pastries. Meat dishes were placed in the center of the table; vegetable, fish and custard dishes were never placed in the center. The dinner began when the host served soup to his guests. Each guest took a glass of wine, toasting everyone’s health.
Meals would last for hours, ending with the women departing for a drawing room or parlor, to drink coffee or sweet wine, and the men remaining at the table to discuss serious matters over their port.
Households often made their own libations, including wine.
Receipt for raspberry wine: (raspberries available starting in June, but usually in July)
Take some fine raspberries; bruise them with the back of a spoon; strain through a flannel bag into a stone jar. To each quart of juice, put a pound of double-refined sugar. Stir well, and cover with a cloth. Let it stand for three days, then pour it off clear. To a quart of juice, put two quarts of white wine, bottle it off. It will be fit to drink in a week.
A favorite dessert in this era was the syllabub.
Receipt for Whipt Syllabub: Take a quart of thick cream and a half pint of sack. The juice of oranges or lemons (oranges available most months, probably due to being cultivated in an Orangery). Grate the peel of two lemons; add half a pound of double-refined sugar; pour into a broad earthen pan, and whisk well. Sweeten some red wine or sack, and fill glasses; when the froth from the mixture rises, take it off with a spoon and lay it on a sieve to drain. Then fill your glasses with the whipped froth.
Receipts from The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy, by Mrs. Glasse, 1796.
Diane Scott Lewis
Website
I'll give away a paperback copy of my historical novel, The False Light, set in England during the French Revolution. Please comment below this post to enter the drawing. Be sure to leave your contact information!
Hop Participants Random Bits of Fascination (Maria Grace) Pillings Writing Corner (David Pilling) Anna Belfrage Debra Brown Lauren Gilbert Gillian Bagwell Julie K. Rose Donna Russo Morin Regina Jeffers Shauna Roberts Tinney S. Heath Grace Elliot Diane Scott Lewis Ginger Myrick Helen Hollick Heather Domin Margaret Skea Yves Fey JL Oakley Shannon Winslow Evangeline Holland Cora Lee Laura Purcell P. O. Dixon E.M. Powell Sharon Lathan Sally Smith O'Rourke Allison Bruning Violet Bedford Sue Millard Kim Rendfeld Thank you for reading my blog! I am always eager to hear back from you.
Debbie Brown
Author of The Companion of Lady Holmeshire
In the eighteenth century what food was available depended on the season. In finer homes, several courses would be served, with the tablecloth removed between courses. Dinner had its own ritual. Ladies and gentlemen dressed in fine clothes to impress. The host would proceed to the dining room with the most senior lady on his arm. The host sat at the foot of the table, the hostess at the head. After the senior lady sat, the other guests would choose their seats. Chairs near the hostess were considered places of honor and reserved for the most important guests.
One course could consist of between five to twenty-five dishes: soups or creams, main dishes, side dishes and pastries. Meat dishes were placed in the center of the table; vegetable, fish and custard dishes were never placed in the center. The dinner began when the host served soup to his guests. Each guest took a glass of wine, toasting everyone’s health.
Meals would last for hours, ending with the women departing for a drawing room or parlor, to drink coffee or sweet wine, and the men remaining at the table to discuss serious matters over their port.
Households often made their own libations, including wine.
Receipt for raspberry wine: (raspberries available starting in June, but usually in July)
Take some fine raspberries; bruise them with the back of a spoon; strain through a flannel bag into a stone jar. To each quart of juice, put a pound of double-refined sugar. Stir well, and cover with a cloth. Let it stand for three days, then pour it off clear. To a quart of juice, put two quarts of white wine, bottle it off. It will be fit to drink in a week.
A favorite dessert in this era was the syllabub.
Receipt for Whipt Syllabub: Take a quart of thick cream and a half pint of sack. The juice of oranges or lemons (oranges available most months, probably due to being cultivated in an Orangery). Grate the peel of two lemons; add half a pound of double-refined sugar; pour into a broad earthen pan, and whisk well. Sweeten some red wine or sack, and fill glasses; when the froth from the mixture rises, take it off with a spoon and lay it on a sieve to drain. Then fill your glasses with the whipped froth.
Receipts from The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy, by Mrs. Glasse, 1796.
Diane Scott Lewis
Website
I'll give away a paperback copy of my historical novel, The False Light, set in England during the French Revolution. Please comment below this post to enter the drawing. Be sure to leave your contact information!
Hop Participants Random Bits of Fascination (Maria Grace) Pillings Writing Corner (David Pilling) Anna Belfrage Debra Brown Lauren Gilbert Gillian Bagwell Julie K. Rose Donna Russo Morin Regina Jeffers Shauna Roberts Tinney S. Heath Grace Elliot Diane Scott Lewis Ginger Myrick Helen Hollick Heather Domin Margaret Skea Yves Fey JL Oakley Shannon Winslow Evangeline Holland Cora Lee Laura Purcell P. O. Dixon E.M. Powell Sharon Lathan Sally Smith O'Rourke Allison Bruning Violet Bedford Sue Millard Kim Rendfeld Thank you for reading my blog! I am always eager to hear back from you.
Debbie Brown
Author of The Companion of Lady Holmeshire
May 29, 2013
Historical Fiction Enticements 5/29
Of Carrion Feathers
Katherine Pym
Of Carrion Feathers takes place in London 1662 during the worst of the nonconformist uprisings, and plots are rampant against the king.
Oliver Prior is a man jaded and alone. While still a lad, his parents abandon him after his sister is killed, and this loss haunts him into adulthood. With nothing to live for, Oliver Prior enters the Crown’s burgeoning spy network.
Beatrice Short’s goal is to go on stage, but she must work as a servant. While cleaning, she finds ciphers and invisible script. After the king’s undersecretary finds her snooping, he recognizes her brilliance in breaking code and blackmails her into going undercover as a spy.
Beatrice does not want to be a spy. Since the king returned from exile, he had brought the French way of the theatre, which put women on stage. Beatrice wants to be an actress, but as a servant, she doesn't have the coin to take music and dance lessons. After getting caught by the Undersecretary, he strikes a bargain with her. If she spies, and breaks code, the Crown will pay for her lessons.
Beatrice reluctantly agrees. She is paired with Oliver Prior, and they go undercover to a bakeshop. For most of their mission, neither knows the other works for the Undersecretary--a wily, controlling fellow. Beatrice figures it out much sooner that Prior, since she's so smart, but when Oliver finds out, he is furious.
While Oliver and Beatrice bond to discover the backbone of insidious schemes to kill the king, they learn who runs the plots. He is a man steeped in hate, and he must be put down.
Amazon US
Amazon UK
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What the Silk Mercer’s Daughter Saw
A Theo Bryght, Runner Mystery
Jolie Beaumont
A dead racehorse in provincial, mercantile Chester is definitely not Theo Bryght’s cup of claret.
But when the Bow Street Runner learns that the owner of the racehorse, Mr. William Halsey, is a lovesick young man whose matrimonial hopes may have been slain along with his poisoned horse, Bryght agrees to take on the case.
To Chester he therefore goes, and in Chester the Runner is quickly confronted with the news of another death—the untimely demise of Mr. Thomas Steele, a wealthy silk mercer who happens to be the father of Emily Steele, the young woman that William Halsey loves.
Is there a connection between the two incidents, as the whispers wending their way through Chester’s mysterious, medieval Rows seem to suggest? Or can at least one of the deaths, the poisoning of Thomas Steele, be laid at the door of a new arrival in town, Alexander Steele, the estranged heir to the Steele fortune? And what about Halsey and Emily Steele—will love conquer all, or will these two crimes drive them apart forever?
To complicate matters even further for Theo Bryght, who is no stranger to dashed hopes and disappointed dreams himself, his investigations take an unexpected and personal turn when he discovers that in Chester he has a second chance to win the love of his life, Lady Charlotte Ashe.
Amazon US
Amazon UK
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Running with Crows - The Life and Death of a Black and Tan
DJ Kelly
It is 1921. In Ireland a war of bloody reprisals wages between Republican volunteers and Royal Irish Constabulary. The Constabulary, their ranks augmented by Great War veterans – dubbed The Black and Tans – face daily ambushes and sieges. Outrages are perpetrated by both sides in this struggle for an independent Ireland. Meanwhile, in Dublin’s Mountjoy Gaol, 33 year old Constable William ‘Mitch’ Mitchell awaits execution for the murder, in a quiet Wicklow town, of respected magistrate Robert Dixon. Fearing he will never again see his lovely young wife Alice or get to hold his newborn daughter Kitty before he goes to the scaffold, former soldier Mitch reflects upon his life and the people and circumstances which have led him to his fate.
A little-known fact is that at least a quarter of the notorious Black and Tans were Irish. Mitch too is an Irishman; raised in Dublin’s Monto slum district, where his first love affair ends most cruelly; introduced to petty crime as an adolescent in Bermondsey’s foul tannery district; defending King and Empire from India to the trenches of the Western Front until badly wounded at The Somme. DJ Kelly’s fact-based novel tells the true and hitherto untold story of the only member of the British Crown Forces to be hanged for murder during the Irish War of Independence, and asks: did he actually kill the magistrate or was this perhaps an awful miscarriage of justice.
'A fascinating book ... impressive research ... What Kelly has done is to put a face and a real story to one of the most notorious paramilitary groups ever ... an absolutely fascinating read ... a thoroughly researched book.’ David Lawlor, Associate Editor, Irish Evening Herald
‘An excellently written novel, fast-paced and with a compelling storyline ... utterly believable and not easily forgotten ... I heartily recommend this book.’ Dr Chris Lawlor, West Wicklow Historical Society
Amazon US
Amazon UK
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Notable Occupation
Patricia O'Sullivan
"Every day more British war ships appeared in Narragansett Bay, blockading Newport's harbor. Trade was cut off, and just about everyone in our little Synagogue community began to leave for safer havens inland. But it was not just the Jews who were fleeing Newport. Hundreds of Christians were leaving as well. Shops and houses were boarded up, ships no longer crowded the port, and church bells fell silent. Only the fog remained unmoved by the British threat. The fog and Herr Marck."
Rachel Meares is unhappily married to a German smuggler, in love with a British physician, and forced to spy for the American rebels by her African slaves, who know too many of her secrets, including how her brother and father are running guns to the Americans from a Dutch island in the Caribbean. There seems to be no escape for Rachel from her marriage or from Newport when the rebel spy blackmailing Rachel decides to take matters into his own hands.
Set against the British occupation of Newport in Narragansett Bay and of St. Eustatius in the Caribbean Sea during the American War for Independence, A Notable Occupation is a story about a young Jewish woman trying to find love in a time of war.
Amazon US
Amazon UK
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A House Near Luccoli
D.M. Denton
A Novel of Musical Intimacy and Intrigue in 17th Century Genoa
Published by All Things That Matter Press
High expectations, magnificent music, reckless choices, and the paradox of genius defined the life of one of the most legendary and undervalued figures of Italian Baroque music.
In 1678 the charismatic composer, violinist and singer Alessandro Stradella sought refuge in the palaces and twisted alleys of Genoa, royally welcomed despite the alleged scandals and even crimes that forced him to flee from Rome, Venice and Turin. Three years later, having lost a prime position at the city’s la Teatro Falcone and residence on the city’s street of palaces, la Strada Nuova, his professional and personal life have begun to unravel again. Yet Stradella is offered—by the very man he is rumored to have wronged—a respectable if slightly shabby apartment in a house near la via Luccoli, and another chance to redeem his character and career.
He moves in with a flourish met with curiosity and consternation by the caretakers who are also tenants, three women whose reputations are only of concern to themselves.
One of those women, Donatella, unmarried in her mid-thirties, cares more for her bedridden grandmother and cats than overbearing aunt, keeping house and tending to a small terraced garden, painting flowers and writing in her journal. Like the city she lives in there are hidden longings in her, propriety the rule not cure for what ails her.
At first she is in awe of Stradella and certain she will have little to do with him. Slowly his ego, playfulness, need of a copyist and camouflage involve her in an inspired and insidious world, exciting and heartbreaking as she is enlarged by his magnanimity and reduced by his missteps, forging a friendship that challenges how far she will go.
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Barnes and Noble
Thank you for reading my blog! I am always eager to hear back from you.
Debbie Brown
Author of The Companion of Lady Holmeshire
Katherine Pym
Of Carrion Feathers takes place in London 1662 during the worst of the nonconformist uprisings, and plots are rampant against the king.
Oliver Prior is a man jaded and alone. While still a lad, his parents abandon him after his sister is killed, and this loss haunts him into adulthood. With nothing to live for, Oliver Prior enters the Crown’s burgeoning spy network.
Beatrice Short’s goal is to go on stage, but she must work as a servant. While cleaning, she finds ciphers and invisible script. After the king’s undersecretary finds her snooping, he recognizes her brilliance in breaking code and blackmails her into going undercover as a spy.
Beatrice does not want to be a spy. Since the king returned from exile, he had brought the French way of the theatre, which put women on stage. Beatrice wants to be an actress, but as a servant, she doesn't have the coin to take music and dance lessons. After getting caught by the Undersecretary, he strikes a bargain with her. If she spies, and breaks code, the Crown will pay for her lessons.
Beatrice reluctantly agrees. She is paired with Oliver Prior, and they go undercover to a bakeshop. For most of their mission, neither knows the other works for the Undersecretary--a wily, controlling fellow. Beatrice figures it out much sooner that Prior, since she's so smart, but when Oliver finds out, he is furious.
While Oliver and Beatrice bond to discover the backbone of insidious schemes to kill the king, they learn who runs the plots. He is a man steeped in hate, and he must be put down.
Amazon US
Amazon UK
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What the Silk Mercer’s Daughter Saw
A Theo Bryght, Runner Mystery
Jolie Beaumont
A dead racehorse in provincial, mercantile Chester is definitely not Theo Bryght’s cup of claret.
But when the Bow Street Runner learns that the owner of the racehorse, Mr. William Halsey, is a lovesick young man whose matrimonial hopes may have been slain along with his poisoned horse, Bryght agrees to take on the case.
To Chester he therefore goes, and in Chester the Runner is quickly confronted with the news of another death—the untimely demise of Mr. Thomas Steele, a wealthy silk mercer who happens to be the father of Emily Steele, the young woman that William Halsey loves.
Is there a connection between the two incidents, as the whispers wending their way through Chester’s mysterious, medieval Rows seem to suggest? Or can at least one of the deaths, the poisoning of Thomas Steele, be laid at the door of a new arrival in town, Alexander Steele, the estranged heir to the Steele fortune? And what about Halsey and Emily Steele—will love conquer all, or will these two crimes drive them apart forever?
To complicate matters even further for Theo Bryght, who is no stranger to dashed hopes and disappointed dreams himself, his investigations take an unexpected and personal turn when he discovers that in Chester he has a second chance to win the love of his life, Lady Charlotte Ashe.
Amazon US
Amazon UK
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Running with Crows - The Life and Death of a Black and Tan
DJ Kelly
It is 1921. In Ireland a war of bloody reprisals wages between Republican volunteers and Royal Irish Constabulary. The Constabulary, their ranks augmented by Great War veterans – dubbed The Black and Tans – face daily ambushes and sieges. Outrages are perpetrated by both sides in this struggle for an independent Ireland. Meanwhile, in Dublin’s Mountjoy Gaol, 33 year old Constable William ‘Mitch’ Mitchell awaits execution for the murder, in a quiet Wicklow town, of respected magistrate Robert Dixon. Fearing he will never again see his lovely young wife Alice or get to hold his newborn daughter Kitty before he goes to the scaffold, former soldier Mitch reflects upon his life and the people and circumstances which have led him to his fate.
A little-known fact is that at least a quarter of the notorious Black and Tans were Irish. Mitch too is an Irishman; raised in Dublin’s Monto slum district, where his first love affair ends most cruelly; introduced to petty crime as an adolescent in Bermondsey’s foul tannery district; defending King and Empire from India to the trenches of the Western Front until badly wounded at The Somme. DJ Kelly’s fact-based novel tells the true and hitherto untold story of the only member of the British Crown Forces to be hanged for murder during the Irish War of Independence, and asks: did he actually kill the magistrate or was this perhaps an awful miscarriage of justice.
'A fascinating book ... impressive research ... What Kelly has done is to put a face and a real story to one of the most notorious paramilitary groups ever ... an absolutely fascinating read ... a thoroughly researched book.’ David Lawlor, Associate Editor, Irish Evening Herald
‘An excellently written novel, fast-paced and with a compelling storyline ... utterly believable and not easily forgotten ... I heartily recommend this book.’ Dr Chris Lawlor, West Wicklow Historical Society
Amazon US
Amazon UK
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Notable Occupation
Patricia O'Sullivan
"Every day more British war ships appeared in Narragansett Bay, blockading Newport's harbor. Trade was cut off, and just about everyone in our little Synagogue community began to leave for safer havens inland. But it was not just the Jews who were fleeing Newport. Hundreds of Christians were leaving as well. Shops and houses were boarded up, ships no longer crowded the port, and church bells fell silent. Only the fog remained unmoved by the British threat. The fog and Herr Marck."
Rachel Meares is unhappily married to a German smuggler, in love with a British physician, and forced to spy for the American rebels by her African slaves, who know too many of her secrets, including how her brother and father are running guns to the Americans from a Dutch island in the Caribbean. There seems to be no escape for Rachel from her marriage or from Newport when the rebel spy blackmailing Rachel decides to take matters into his own hands.
Set against the British occupation of Newport in Narragansett Bay and of St. Eustatius in the Caribbean Sea during the American War for Independence, A Notable Occupation is a story about a young Jewish woman trying to find love in a time of war.
Amazon US
Amazon UK
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A House Near Luccoli
D.M. Denton
A Novel of Musical Intimacy and Intrigue in 17th Century Genoa
Published by All Things That Matter Press
High expectations, magnificent music, reckless choices, and the paradox of genius defined the life of one of the most legendary and undervalued figures of Italian Baroque music.
In 1678 the charismatic composer, violinist and singer Alessandro Stradella sought refuge in the palaces and twisted alleys of Genoa, royally welcomed despite the alleged scandals and even crimes that forced him to flee from Rome, Venice and Turin. Three years later, having lost a prime position at the city’s la Teatro Falcone and residence on the city’s street of palaces, la Strada Nuova, his professional and personal life have begun to unravel again. Yet Stradella is offered—by the very man he is rumored to have wronged—a respectable if slightly shabby apartment in a house near la via Luccoli, and another chance to redeem his character and career.
He moves in with a flourish met with curiosity and consternation by the caretakers who are also tenants, three women whose reputations are only of concern to themselves.
One of those women, Donatella, unmarried in her mid-thirties, cares more for her bedridden grandmother and cats than overbearing aunt, keeping house and tending to a small terraced garden, painting flowers and writing in her journal. Like the city she lives in there are hidden longings in her, propriety the rule not cure for what ails her.
At first she is in awe of Stradella and certain she will have little to do with him. Slowly his ego, playfulness, need of a copyist and camouflage involve her in an inspired and insidious world, exciting and heartbreaking as she is enlarged by his magnanimity and reduced by his missteps, forging a friendship that challenges how far she will go.
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Barnes and Noble
Thank you for reading my blog! I am always eager to hear back from you.
Debbie Brown
Author of The Companion of Lady Holmeshire
May 22, 2013
Historical Fiction Enticements 5/22
Enjoy our five Historical Fiction synopses. Historical Fiction Enticements is a regular Wednesday feature on this blog.
Fair Weather
Barbara Gaskell Denvil
His voice haunts her quiet hours and like the rustle of dead leaves it whispers, threatening and insistent.
All her life Molly has been haunted. The place of her visions is dark and its people are troubled by hunger and poverty. This is the distant past – England at the turn of the 13th Century; medieval shadows during the reign of King John. The past and the present exist at the same time.
Her personality splits and as the past encroaches further, Molly inhabits the life and thoughts of Tilda, a young orphaned waif whose friends and companions are a group of children, taught to steal to avoid starvation in a period of famine. They are looked after by an ambiguous figure whose motives seem confusing and dangerous. At best, he appears more aware of the alchemy inherent in the time switch than should be expected. Molly is not frightened at first, she is bewitched and excited. She loves Tilda and wants to protect her. Gradually she learns to relish her experiences in medieval London, and regrets all spontaneous returns to her modern platitudes.
But it is murder within her own modern time which suddenly changes everything. Molly is drawn into the police investigation, and now pulled between past and present, each as disturbing as the other, she becomes confused. Then an identical murder in the haunted past of her dreams joins the two worlds in equal danger. Molly passes between. She travels time while followed by a horror which kills and mutilates at will. She has opened the way to evil and the man, his words ever echoing, is always there.
It is the ancient battle between good and evil, yet Molly discovers far more than fear and misery. In both this world and that there are astonishing surprises, and some involve her more personally than she could even have dreamed. She discovers a whole new life, and a love she could never have imagined. She no longer wishes to lose the deep happiness of the past – but she is given no choice. Choice seems to be the last thing she can be allowed.
This is a historical thriller set in England of 800 years ago compared to modern values. The plot is founded on strong individual characterisation with a deep magical content, several important twists, and considerable inherent romance.
Amazon US
Amazon UK
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Thing Done
Tinney Sue Heath
Florence, 1216: The noble families of Florence hold great power, but they do not share it easily. Tensions simmer just below the surface. When Corrado the Jester's prank-for-hire at a banquet goes wrong, a brawl erupts between two knightly factions. Blood is spilled, and Florence reels on the brink of civil war. One side makes the traditional offer of a marriage to restore peace, but that fragile peace crumbles under the pressure of a woman's interference, an unforgivable insult, and an outraged cry for revenge. It's the thirteenth century, and the great families do not forgive – they even the score, for lost honor must be regained.
Corrado is pressed into unwilling service as messenger by both sides, watching in horror as the headstrong knight Buondelmonte violates every standard of chivalry to possess the woman he wants, while his betrothed, spurned and furious, schemes to destroy him. Corrado is sworn to silence, but he already knows too much. The need for secrecy is destroying all trust between the Jester and his housemate Neri, the musician who is like a brother to him. The Jester can neither stop the inexorable tide of events nor step outside of it to safety.
Will Buondelmonte's reckless act set off a full-scale vendetta? If it does, will even the Jester's famous wit and ingenuity be enough to keep himself alive and protect those dear to him? And what of his beloved city, torn apart by the knights' bitter feud?
Corrado's story is also the story of three fiercely determined women in a society that allows them little initiative. Selvaggia may have been humiliated, but as Corrado will learn, she is not a woman to cross. Gualdrada is the proudly partisan noblewoman who tempts Buondelmonte with her daughter's extraordinary beauty. She manipulates him adroitly, alternately goading and flattering him. Ghisola, Corrado's great-hearted friend and Neri's lover, agonizes over the rift between Corrado and Neri. From behind the scenes each will do whatever she must to achieve her goal—to avenge, to prevail, to survive.
Amazon US
Amazon UK
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Last King of LydiaTim Leach
In the ancient world, myth is more important than history, martial strength is the only guarantor of peace, and the power of the fickle Gods is feared by all. It is in this world that Croesus, a king of legendary wealth and ruler of a great empire, finds himself haunted all his life by a single question – what does it mean to be happy?
When an old Greek philosopher gives him a troubling answer – that no man can be called happy until he is dead – Croesus dismisses it as nonsense. Surrounded by a loving family and benevolent ruler of a peaceful kingdom, his happiness seems assured. But a new power rising in the east threatens to shatter his idyllic life of wealth, power and love. As his world begins to collapse around him, he will find everything that he holds dear under threat, everything that he thought about himself newly questioned.
Following in the tradition of writers like Robert Graves, Mary Renault and Gore Vidal, this is a story about the corruption of power, the birth of wealth and empire, and the search for redemption when all hope seems lost.
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Waterstones UK
~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Fall of the Empire
Zoe Saadia
"One empire is about to fall, another is about to rise - the Empire is dead, long live the Empire.
A successful trader, a slave girl, an ambitious warlord of the invading forces, thrown together in a triangle neither of the three anticipated, in the face of the war that is destined to change the history of the Mexican Valley, bringing the Aztecs to power.
Having just been advanced into the ranks of the first-class traders, Etl thought his life could not get any better. He was a trader of the Tepanec Empire, living in the Great Capital itself. Yes, there had been a war, an outright revolt by the united tributaries and other subdued nations of his beloved city-state, but those would be squashed easily. The Tepanecs were always victorious.
The only thing that made him worry was the decision of Tlalli, the girl from the marketplace he liked, to sell herself into the Palace’s services. He didn't want her to do that, having intended to take care of her himself, but the stubborn, pretty thing went on and did it all the same. Why?
Apparently, Tlalli was not just a simple market girl, but a young woman with a very unusual agenda. She had her own grudge to settle, and with no lesser person than the Emperor himself.
But then the enemies struck…"
Amazon US
Amazon UK
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Syncopation: A Memoir of Adèle Hugo
Elizabeth Caulfield Felt
Poet.
Composer.
Seductress.
Liar.
Adèle Hugo.
Balzac called her the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, like a statue from antiquity. She was a talented poet and musician but her father, the famous Victor Hugo, prohibited her from publishing and performing. She had marriage proposals and lovers but never wed.
Syncopation, by Elizabeth Caulfield Felt, breathes life into the unconventional thoughts of this controversial female figure. An elderly Adèle recounts her desperate attempts to gain personal freedom. Her memoir blurs the fine line between truth and madness, in a narrative that is of off-kilter,
skewed,
. . . syncopated.
For humans there is only memory, and memory is unreliable.
Cornerstone Press
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Come back next Wednesday for five more synopsis. You may find your new favorite book!
Authors of historical fiction from any location may contact me to submit a synopsis using the contact form on this site. No steamy romance novels, please.Thank you for reading my blog! I am always eager to hear back from you.
Debbie Brown
Author of The Companion of Lady Holmeshire
Fair Weather
Barbara Gaskell Denvil
His voice haunts her quiet hours and like the rustle of dead leaves it whispers, threatening and insistent.
All her life Molly has been haunted. The place of her visions is dark and its people are troubled by hunger and poverty. This is the distant past – England at the turn of the 13th Century; medieval shadows during the reign of King John. The past and the present exist at the same time.
Her personality splits and as the past encroaches further, Molly inhabits the life and thoughts of Tilda, a young orphaned waif whose friends and companions are a group of children, taught to steal to avoid starvation in a period of famine. They are looked after by an ambiguous figure whose motives seem confusing and dangerous. At best, he appears more aware of the alchemy inherent in the time switch than should be expected. Molly is not frightened at first, she is bewitched and excited. She loves Tilda and wants to protect her. Gradually she learns to relish her experiences in medieval London, and regrets all spontaneous returns to her modern platitudes.
But it is murder within her own modern time which suddenly changes everything. Molly is drawn into the police investigation, and now pulled between past and present, each as disturbing as the other, she becomes confused. Then an identical murder in the haunted past of her dreams joins the two worlds in equal danger. Molly passes between. She travels time while followed by a horror which kills and mutilates at will. She has opened the way to evil and the man, his words ever echoing, is always there.
It is the ancient battle between good and evil, yet Molly discovers far more than fear and misery. In both this world and that there are astonishing surprises, and some involve her more personally than she could even have dreamed. She discovers a whole new life, and a love she could never have imagined. She no longer wishes to lose the deep happiness of the past – but she is given no choice. Choice seems to be the last thing she can be allowed.
This is a historical thriller set in England of 800 years ago compared to modern values. The plot is founded on strong individual characterisation with a deep magical content, several important twists, and considerable inherent romance.
Amazon US
Amazon UK
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Thing Done
Tinney Sue Heath
Florence, 1216: The noble families of Florence hold great power, but they do not share it easily. Tensions simmer just below the surface. When Corrado the Jester's prank-for-hire at a banquet goes wrong, a brawl erupts between two knightly factions. Blood is spilled, and Florence reels on the brink of civil war. One side makes the traditional offer of a marriage to restore peace, but that fragile peace crumbles under the pressure of a woman's interference, an unforgivable insult, and an outraged cry for revenge. It's the thirteenth century, and the great families do not forgive – they even the score, for lost honor must be regained.
Corrado is pressed into unwilling service as messenger by both sides, watching in horror as the headstrong knight Buondelmonte violates every standard of chivalry to possess the woman he wants, while his betrothed, spurned and furious, schemes to destroy him. Corrado is sworn to silence, but he already knows too much. The need for secrecy is destroying all trust between the Jester and his housemate Neri, the musician who is like a brother to him. The Jester can neither stop the inexorable tide of events nor step outside of it to safety.
Will Buondelmonte's reckless act set off a full-scale vendetta? If it does, will even the Jester's famous wit and ingenuity be enough to keep himself alive and protect those dear to him? And what of his beloved city, torn apart by the knights' bitter feud?
Corrado's story is also the story of three fiercely determined women in a society that allows them little initiative. Selvaggia may have been humiliated, but as Corrado will learn, she is not a woman to cross. Gualdrada is the proudly partisan noblewoman who tempts Buondelmonte with her daughter's extraordinary beauty. She manipulates him adroitly, alternately goading and flattering him. Ghisola, Corrado's great-hearted friend and Neri's lover, agonizes over the rift between Corrado and Neri. From behind the scenes each will do whatever she must to achieve her goal—to avenge, to prevail, to survive.
Amazon US
Amazon UK
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Last King of LydiaTim Leach
In the ancient world, myth is more important than history, martial strength is the only guarantor of peace, and the power of the fickle Gods is feared by all. It is in this world that Croesus, a king of legendary wealth and ruler of a great empire, finds himself haunted all his life by a single question – what does it mean to be happy?
When an old Greek philosopher gives him a troubling answer – that no man can be called happy until he is dead – Croesus dismisses it as nonsense. Surrounded by a loving family and benevolent ruler of a peaceful kingdom, his happiness seems assured. But a new power rising in the east threatens to shatter his idyllic life of wealth, power and love. As his world begins to collapse around him, he will find everything that he holds dear under threat, everything that he thought about himself newly questioned.
Following in the tradition of writers like Robert Graves, Mary Renault and Gore Vidal, this is a story about the corruption of power, the birth of wealth and empire, and the search for redemption when all hope seems lost.
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Waterstones UK
~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Fall of the Empire
Zoe Saadia
"One empire is about to fall, another is about to rise - the Empire is dead, long live the Empire.
A successful trader, a slave girl, an ambitious warlord of the invading forces, thrown together in a triangle neither of the three anticipated, in the face of the war that is destined to change the history of the Mexican Valley, bringing the Aztecs to power.
Having just been advanced into the ranks of the first-class traders, Etl thought his life could not get any better. He was a trader of the Tepanec Empire, living in the Great Capital itself. Yes, there had been a war, an outright revolt by the united tributaries and other subdued nations of his beloved city-state, but those would be squashed easily. The Tepanecs were always victorious.
The only thing that made him worry was the decision of Tlalli, the girl from the marketplace he liked, to sell herself into the Palace’s services. He didn't want her to do that, having intended to take care of her himself, but the stubborn, pretty thing went on and did it all the same. Why?
Apparently, Tlalli was not just a simple market girl, but a young woman with a very unusual agenda. She had her own grudge to settle, and with no lesser person than the Emperor himself.
But then the enemies struck…"
Amazon US
Amazon UK
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Syncopation: A Memoir of Adèle Hugo
Elizabeth Caulfield Felt
Poet.
Composer.
Seductress.
Liar.
Adèle Hugo.
Balzac called her the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, like a statue from antiquity. She was a talented poet and musician but her father, the famous Victor Hugo, prohibited her from publishing and performing. She had marriage proposals and lovers but never wed.
Syncopation, by Elizabeth Caulfield Felt, breathes life into the unconventional thoughts of this controversial female figure. An elderly Adèle recounts her desperate attempts to gain personal freedom. Her memoir blurs the fine line between truth and madness, in a narrative that is of off-kilter,
skewed,
. . . syncopated.
For humans there is only memory, and memory is unreliable.
Cornerstone Press
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Come back next Wednesday for five more synopsis. You may find your new favorite book!
Authors of historical fiction from any location may contact me to submit a synopsis using the contact form on this site. No steamy romance novels, please.Thank you for reading my blog! I am always eager to hear back from you.
Debbie Brown
Author of The Companion of Lady Holmeshire
