2018 – an even stranger year, but Quest for New England has begun
This time last year I wrote how 2017 was a strange year. Well, 2018 has proved to be even stranger and not in a good way. Here in the UK, our own government is threatening us with circumstances which would usually only occur in the face of some terrible natural disaster or war. Yet neither of these things are happening. We are simply inflicting this catastrophe on ourselves and every day I have to shake myself and ask, why? The wilful ignorance and attitude of our politicians too has been outstanding. One suddenly realising the importance of the Dover-Calais connection and another threatening the Irish with starvation were particular low points.
Personally, the year has been less strange and mostly good. I have joined an orchestra known gloriously as the Aubergines along with three generations of my family, while the summer saw one of our best family holidays, as we headed to France.
[image error]Credit: Alex Chant-Stevens
Heading up mountains, boating in a gorge and swimming in the Med dominated. We also found time to visit the stunning medieval town of Le Puy en Velay, [image error]as well as fulfilling a personal ambition and visiting another beautiful medieval town – Senlis, which I described in Senlis and the romance of Judith of Flanders. We also visited Park Asterix which is probably rather closer to my children’s idea of historical fiction!
As I stated last year my eldest son’s GCSE exams did dominate a big chunk of the year. But, and indulge me in a proud mum moment, the hard work paid off with an excellent set of results.
[image error]This last year also saw two new books. Dawn of the Franks became the latest in the Women of the Dark Ages series. It stepped back to the beginning of the era, to Basina of Thuringia. This was a lot of fun to write and was born out of the times when the heartbreak of God’s Maidservant got a bit too much for me. It’s a tale inspired by legend as much as history with some supernatural elements, which at times edged it into historical fantasy and is peopled by a delightfully naughty set of characters!
The second book saw a new beginning with a new series entitled Quest for New England.[image error] Based on a true story, this series follows a group of Anglo-Saxons as they struggle in the aftermath of the Norman Conquest. Book one Rising from the Ruins was published in November.
In September I was delighted to be awarded a 5-Star recommended read from J B Richards and the IHI Book Review Project for Kenneth’s Queen. A big thank you for this review and to all the others, people have taken the time to write. I do appreciate every single one of them![image error]
Also in the autumn I revamped the blog and welcomed my first guest author, Nancy Jardine, something I hope to do more of in 2019.
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So, what else will 2019 bring? Book two of Quest for New England, provisionally titled Peril and Plunder, is well underway. It is currently a complete first draft, covered in notes to myself telling me that most of it needs to be rewritten! Hopefully this will be released in the late spring/early summer with book three following towards the end of the year. I suppose by this time next year I will be thinking of where to go next. I have several ideas already and hopefully one of them will take off in my mind.
For the world, who knows what next year will bring? I have no idea whether I should be feeling hopeful right now or more fearful than ever? I often wonder how much current events influence my writing. Certainly Kenneth’s Queen, with its themes of unity and coming together, was influenced by the 2016 referendum campaign and very much reflected the beliefs I had than and still hold, that many of the world’s problems, such as climate change and religious and political extremism, need to be tackled in unity with our friends and neighbours.
There is then, a poignancy to the title of my latest series which several people have picked up on, as I suppose I too am on a Quest for New England (New Britain/ New UK? – it’s hard to know what it will be once the dust settles). Brexit has exposed some frightening attitudes in our society. Perhaps they were always there, but now seem more prevalent and accepted. Rising from the Ruins was dedicated to the memory of victims of war, an issue which is as relevant if not more so today as it was in the 11th century. Peril and Plunder will be dedicated to refugees and exiles – those desperate people who escape from a dangerous existence only to find themselves viewed with suspicion and who frequently end up as the undervalued outsiders. Can it be that one day, we will all have forged a new country, where such attitudes of prejudice and hate have been consigned to history?
A new year stretches ahead of us, a year when anything could happen. And if everyone tries to make it a good one, it probably will be! But for now, it only remains to wish you all, whether you are a reader, a fellow author or simply passing by, a very Happy New Year and every happiness for 2019!
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