historical fiction – Page 36

I’m delighted to welcome Marcia Clayton and her new book, Millie’s Escape, to the blog. She’s sharing a snippet from the story. #HistoricalFiction #FamilySaga #Victorian #BlogTour #CoffeePotBookClub

I’m delighted to welcome Marcia Clayton and her new book, Millie’s Escape, to the blog. She’s sharing a snippet from the story.

“Granny, Granny, guess what. I’ve been serving customers all on my own, and I even took the money because I can count the pennies now.”

Betsey studied her grandson fondly. At four years old, he was the spitting image of his father, William, and a constant reminder of the son she had lost, but she loved him dearly, and though she would never admit it to anyone, even herself, he was something of a favourite. She pulled him towards her and sat him on her knee, pushing his mop of curly red hair out of his eyes.

“Aren’t you a clever young man, then? Whom did you serve?”

“Mum said I could serve all the children with a square of sugary pastry and charge them a ha’penny each.”

“That’s very smart of you. What did you do if a customer gave you a penny?”

“Oh, that’s easy; I gave them a ha’penny change. I know there are two ha’pennies in one penny.”

“That’s right. You’ll be running the place before we know it.”

“Do you know, though, Granny, there were three who didn’t have any money, and Mum told me to give them a pastry square each anyway.”

Bentley seemed puzzled by this.

“I see. Did you want to give them some food?”

“Yes; they were thin and dirty and looked cold and hungry, so I think they needed something to eat.”

“You did the right thing then, and I hope you’ll always be kind to folk less fortunate than yourself. Do you know, when I was a little girl, I was like those three children because I never had enough to eat, and I was always cold? But for the kindness of some folk, I probably wouldn’t be here at all.”

Bentley was astounded at the thought of his granny being cold and hungry.

“Oh, I’m so glad someone was nice to you, Granny. I’ll always remember that.”

Here’s the blurb

1885 North Devon, England

It is winter in the small Devon village of Brampford Speke, and a typhoid epidemic has claimed many victims. Millie, aged fifteen, is doing her best to nurse her mother and grandmother as well as look after Jonathan, her five-year-old brother. One morning, Millie is horrified to find that her mother, Rosemary, has passed away during the night and is terrified the same fate may befall her granny, Emily.

When Emily’s neighbours inform her that Sir Edgar Grantley has also perished from the deadly disease, the old woman is distraught, for the kindly gentleman has been their benefactor for many years, much to the disgust of his wife, Lilliana. Emily is well aware that Sir Edgar’s generosity has long been a bone of contention between him and his spouse, and she is certain Lady Grantley will evict them from their cottage at the first opportunity.

As she racks her brain for a solution, Emily remembers her father came from Hartford, a seaside village in North Devon and had relatives there. Desperate and too weak to travel, she insists Millie and Jonathan leave home and make their way to Hartford before the embittered woman can cause trouble for them. There, she tells them, they must throw themselves on the mercy of their family and hope they will offer them a home.

With Emily promising to follow as soon as possible, the two youngsters reluctantly set off on their fifty-mile journey on foot and in the harshest of weather conditions. Emily warns them to be cautious, for she suspects Lady Grantley may well pursue them to seek revenge for a situation that has existed between the two families for many years.

Buy Links:

This title is available to read with #KindleUnlimited.

Universal Buy Link

Barnes and Noble Millie’s Escape by Marcia Clayton

All the books in The Hartford Manor Series can be ordered from any bookshop.

Meet the author

Marcia Clayton is the author of five books in The Hartford Manor Series, a heart-warming family saga stretching from the Regency period to Victorian times. A sixth book is to be released in 2024.

Marcia was born in North Devon, a rural and picturesque area in the far South West of England. When she left school, Marcia worked in a bank for several years until she married her husband, Bryan, and then stayed at home for a few years to care for her three sons, Stuart, Paul and David. As the children grew older, Marcia worked as a Marie Curie nurse caring for the terminally ill and later for the local authority managing school transport.

Now a grandmother, Marcia enjoys spending time with her family and friends. She’s a keen researcher of family history, and this hobby inspired some of the characters in her books. A keen gardener, Marcia grows many of her own vegetables. She is also an avid reader and enjoys historical fiction, romance, and crime books.

Connect with the author

Website: Bluesky: Book Bub: Allauthor:

Follow the Millie’s Escape blog tour with The Coffee Pot Book Club

I’m reviewing Turning the World to Stone by Kelly Evans on the blog. #HistoricalFiction #Renaissance #histfic

Here’s the blurb

Vilified by history, Caterina Sforza learned early that her life was not her own. Married at age ten, she was a pawn in the ever-changing political environment of Renaissance Italy.

Resigned to her life as a fifteenth-century wife, Caterina adapted to the role she was expected to play: raising and educating her children, helping the poor in her new home, and turning a blind eye to her husband’s increasingly shameful behaviour. But Fate had other plans for her, and soon Caterina’s path would be plagued by murder, betrayal, and heartbreak.

“Could I write all, the world would turn to stone.”

Buy Links:

This title is available to read on #KindleUnlimited.

Universal Link:

Amazon UK: Amazon US: Amazon CA: Amazon AU:

My Review

Turning the World to Stone follows the life of young Caterina Sforza through her marriage to the nephew of the current pope. It is a story of the city-states of Italy, told through the eyes of one girl as she becomes a young woman in a world where family names are important.

Her husband, chosen for her by her father, is not at all a dashing figure of early Renaissance Italy but rather a bit of a fool who thinks more of himself than he should, relying on his relationship with the pope until the pope’s death plunges him, and his ever-growing family into strife, which his wife, Caterina, is unprepared to accept.

This is a story of its time when women were ruled by their fathers and then their husbands, expected to do little more than breed and look pretty. Still, Caterina has other plans and, while saddled with a useless and politically inept husband, can make much of her birth family to ensure the survival of her and her children.

It is an engaging tale, sure to delight fans of stories concerning the forgotten women of history and those interested in Italian history.

Meet the author

Born in Canada of Scottish extraction, Kelly Evans graduated in History and English then moved to England where she worked in the financial sector. While in London Kelly continued her studies in history, concentrating on Medieval History, and travelled extensively through Eastern and Western Europe.

Kelly is now back in Canada with her husband Max and a rescue cat. She writes full-time, focussing on illuminating little-known women in history with fascinating stories. When not working on her novels, Kelly writes Described Video scripts for visually impaired individuals, plays oboe, and enjoys old sci-fi movies.

Connect with Kelly

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I’m sharing a post about the family of Ealdorman Leofwine, Saxon England and the position of ealdormen/earls #nonfiction #fiction #histfic

I’m sharing a post about the family of Ealdorman Leofwine, Saxon England and the position of ealdormen/earls #non-fiction #fiction #histfic

Who was Ealdorman Leofwine?

Ealdorman Leofwine , was the ealdorman of the Hwicce (c.994-1023), one of the ancient tribal regions in Mercia, which was a part of England, at the time the story begins. It is possible he may have been related to Ælfwine, who is named, and dies at the Battle of Maldon (more below).

Ealdorman Leofwine and his descendants, who would hold positions of power until the Norman Conquest of 1066, are a unique family in this tumultuous period. No other family, apart from the ruling family of Wessex (and even then there was a minor hiccup caused by those pesky Danish kings) held a position of such power and influence and for such a long period of time, as far as is currently known. The position of ealdorman was not hereditary. It was a position in the gift of the king, and Saxon kings ruled with a varying number of ealdormen. To understand Leofwine’s significance, it’s important to understand this. Unlike an earl – a term we are all perhaps far more familiar with – but specifically a medieval earl in this regard – that position was both more often than not hereditary AND meant that the person involved ‘owned’ significant properties in the area they were earls over. This is not how the ealdormanic system worked in Saxon England, as it’s currently understood.

It is difficult to track many of the ealdormanic families of this period, and the previous century, but there are a few notable individuals, all who bucked the usual trend, which no doubt accounts for why we know who they are.

Perhaps most well-known is Ealdorman Athelstan Half-King, who was the ealdorman of East Anglia from about 934 to 955/6 when he fell from favour at court during the reign of King Eadwig and retired to Glastonbury Abbey. Before he did so, he ensured that his son, Æthelwald, was elevated to the position of ealdorman in his place. This was most unusual, but then, he came from a powerful family, fiercely loyal to the ruling House of Wessex, if not actually a member of them. Athelstan Half-King is believed to have been the son of Ealdorman Æthelfrith, a Mercian ealdorman when Lady Æthelflæd was the Lady of Mercia. Athelstan was one of four brothers. His older brother seems to have either briefly retained the ealdordom after their father’s death in Mercia, or been accorded it a few years later, but when he died, Athelstan Half-King didn’t become ealdorman of Mercia in his place. No, he remained in East Anglia while his two brothers, Eahric and Æthelwald, held ealdordoms in Wessex (Eahric) and Kent (Æthelwald). They didn’t become the ealdorman of Mercia either. The ealdordom passed to a different individual.

When Ealdorman Æthelwald of the East Angles died a few short years later (Athelstan Half-King’s son), his place was taken by Ealdorman Æthelwine, the youngest of Athelstan Half-King’s children. But, the family failed to hold on to the position, despite Ealdorman Æthelwine being married three times, and fathering three sons, one of whom died at the battle of Assandun in 1016. The next to hold the ealdordom of the East Angles after the death of Æthelwine was Leofsige, who was the ealdorman until he fell foul of the king in 1002. In the early 1000s Ulfcytel emerges and may have been married to one of the king’s daughters, but is never officially accorded the title of ealdorman. You can read about Ealdorman Athelstan Half-King in The Brunanburh Series.

Another famous ealdorman was Byrhtnoth of Essex, who died at the Battle of Maldon in 991. But Byrhtnoth was not the son of the previous ealdorman, and indeed, he married the daughter of a very wealthy man and in turn was raised to an ealdordom in Essex at exactly the same time that Ealdorman Athelstan Half-King was being forced to retire from his position in East Anglia. (Byrhtnoth’s wife’s sister had briefly been married to King Edmund (939-946, before his murder). While there are some arguments that Byrhtnoth was from a well regarded family, his appointment was not because of an hereditary claim. It’s known that he was father to a daughter, but not to a son. As such his family did not retain the ealdordom on his death. Indeed, it seems as though Essex and the East Anglian earlordoms were united for a time under Leofsige.

The argument has been put forth that the position of ealdorman may have come with properties that were the king’s to gift to the individual to enable them to carry out their duties in a particular area. The Saxons had a number of types of land tenure, bookland, was land of which the ‘owners’ held the ‘book’ or ‘the title deed.’ (There are some wonderful charters where landed people had to ask for the king to reissue a charter as theirs was lost, often in a fire. There is a wonderful example where King Edgar has to reissue a charter for his grandmother, as he’d lost it while it was in his care). Other land tenure was ‘loan land,’ that is land that could be loaned out, often for a set number of ‘lives.’ Ealdormen might then have held bookland that was hereditary, and not in the area they were ealdorman of, and loan land that was in the king’s to gift to them within the area that they were the appointed ealdorman.

Many will be familiar with the family of Earl Godwine and his sons (thanks to the influence of the Danes, the term ealdorman was replaced by earl, which was the anglicised version of jarl). Much work has been done on the land that the Godwine family held when the great Domesday survey was undertaken during the reign of William the Conqueror. It will quickly become apparent that while they had areas where they held a great deal of land, these were not necessarily the areas over which first Godwin and then his sons Tostig, Harold, Gyrth, Leofwine and Sweyn held the position of earl. Most notably, Tostig was earl of Northumbria from 1055-1065, and yet the family had almost no landed possessions there.

And this is where we return to Ealdorman Leofwine and his family. While everyone knows about Earl Godwine and his sons, they didn’t hold their position for as long as Ealdorman Leofwine and his family. Earl Godwine is first named as an earl in charter S951 dated to 1018. By that period, Leofwine of the Twice had already held a position of importance since 994. The families of both men would converge as the events of 1066 drew nearer, and indeed, Godwine’s son, Harold, was married to Ealdorman Leofwine’s great-granddaughter when he was briefly king of England.

When Ealdorman Leofwine died, his son, Leofric, didn’t become ealdorman in his place. Leofric was a sheriff during the period between his father’s death and his own appointment. And indeed, Leofric’s son, Ælfgar was elevated to an earldom before his father’s death, and so was not initially the earl of Mercia. However, on this occasion, and because of a political situation that was rife with intrigue, Ælfgar did become the earl of Mercia after his father’s death, and after Ælfgar’s death, his young son also took the earldom of Mercia. The family survived the events of 1066, but they didn’t retain their hold on the earldom. The House of Leofwine were a family to not only rival that of Earl Godwine’s, as far as it’s known, but they were also the ONLY family to retain a position as an ealdorman/earl for over seventy years. And yet, very few know about them, and indeed, in many non-fiction books, they’re not even mentioned. And that was the perfect opportunity for me to write about the fabulous family, largely inspired by a non-fiction book, The Earls of Mercia: Lordship and Power in Late Anglo-Saxon England by Stephen Baxter.

https://amzn.to/459MnGs

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The History Quill Virtual Convention is back for 2024

The History Quill Convention has been running for a few years now, and in February 2024 it’s back, as a weekend-long convention (so shorter than others), focusing on two main themes, The Craft of Historical Fiction (3rd Feb) and The Business of Historical Fiction (4th Feb)- two topics that are very relevant to today’s author. I’ll be talking on day 2 with fellow authors, about different pathways in publishing, popping on my ‘indie’ head and my ‘traditionally published’ head.

If this sounds like your sort of thing, then check out the Convention webpage using this (affiliate) link, and do it before the Early Bird Discount runs out. Tickets are for each day so if only one topic interests you, you only attend that one day,

I really enjoy The History Quill Conventions – it’s always good to learn ‘new’ things, and sometimes, just to hear that what you’re doing is ‘right.’

Hope to ‘see’ you there.

Who was Edmund, the man Cnut had to overwhelm to claim England’s kingship in the eleventh century?

Who was Edmund Ironside, son of Æthelred II?

It’s often forgotten, in the great swirl of events throughout the eleventh century, that England wasn’t conquered once, but instead three times, by King Swein in 1013, by his son in 1016, and then by William the Conqueror in 1066.

England only reclaimed its English king with the death of King Swein shortly after he claimed the kingship, when Æthelred II, the much-maligned, king of England was restored, it’s said, by his nobility, provided he did ‘a better job’ of it (I paraphrase). At this time, Cnut, Swein’s son, wasn’t deemed as suitable to replace his father, while Æthelred II had many sons who could succeed him. Æthelred was deemed ‘an old man’ by now (born probably in about 966-8), but he had surviving sons from his marriage to his first wife, named as Ælfgifu, and also from the better known Lady Emma. The oldest of these sons,Athelstan, died in 1014, having made a name for himself as an honourable man. His will survives. His next youngest brother had also perished a decade ago, meaning Edmund was the oldest surviving son. In the great swirl of events, people forget Edmund was proclaimed king on his father’s death in April 1016, and that he ruled for a good sixth months, before his own death in November.

See page for author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/69/Edmund_Ironside_-_MS_Royal_14_B_VI.jpg

The relationship between Edmund and his father is difficult to unpick. It doesn’t seem to have been congenial. Æthelred II is most often accused of having overmighty subjects (somewhat ironic when they invited him back to England after Swein’s death), and there was a particular thorny problem of Eadric Streona, married, it’s said, to one of Æthelred’s daughters, and a tricky character. Eadric is associated with Mercia. To counter his reach, Edmund, married into a Mercian family in 1015, the story being that he rescued the woman from captivity and then married her. As romantic as that might sound, this was sound political expediency. In the tenth century, King Athelstan was strongly associated with Mercia, being declared king of Mercia before becoming king of Wessex. Edgar, in the 950s, seems to have done something similar, being declared king of Mercia while his brother, Eadwig, was king of England, or perhaps only Wessex – there is much uncertainty about this. Eadwig would die young, allowing Edgar to build on his Mercian powerbase and claim England for himself.

As such, Edmund was following known precedent when he looked to Mercia for support when he must have feared that the eyes of the witan would favour his younger half-brother, Edward, for the kingship. No doubt, Edmund actually gained support because while England was at war with Cnut throughout 1016, he was a man grown and could fight for the English. Edward, much younger, would have been unable to do so.

And so to 1016. On the death of his father, Edmund was declared king, but Cnut also took the same title. Many battles later, Cnut and Edmund reached an accord, it’s said, after the English defeat at the unallocated battle of Assandun. England was ‘split,’ Edmund became king of Wessex, Cnut held the remainder and it could have possibly remained split if not for Edmund’s untimely death, perhaps from wounds taken in battle fighting against Cnut and his warriors, and in which, Eadric Streona had played his new king false, defecting to King Cnut’s side.

Edmund II, known as Ironside, left two children, perhaps twins, and these children were raised in exile, away from England and the reach of the Danish conquering force. They did still have a part to play in the future of England, and Edmund’s granddaughter became queen of Scotland in 1070, while his grandson was briefly declared king of England in the tumultuous events of 1066.

You can read the story of Cnut and Edmund in The Earls of Mercia series side story, Cnut: The Conqueror.

Here’s the blurb:

To gain what he wanted, what he felt he was owed, he would do anything, even if it meant breaking oaths to a woman he loved and the mother of his son.

Swein, King of Denmark, and briefly England, lies dead, his son ousted from England as King Æthelred returns from his exile in Normandy at the behest of his witan and the bishops. Æthelred might have relinquished his kingdom to Swein, the Danish conqueror, but with Swein dead, the men have no interest in supporting an untried youth whose name resounds with the murder of one of England’s greatest bishops. A youth known only for his savagery and joy of battle. A true Norseman who utilizes his weapons without thought.

But Cnut wants a kingdom and will do anything to gain one. As England’s ravaged by a civil war between the sons of two former kings, Edmund, son of King Æthelred, and Cnut, son of Swein, the men must make personal decisions in the heat of battle as they strive to reclaim their birthrights whilst doing all they can to stay alive.

books2read.com/Cnut

Cnut is a side story in the Earls of Mercia series, retelling the story of the last century of Saxon England through the eyes of the powerful Earls of Mercia, the only noble family, apart from the House of Wessex, to hold their position for nearly a century.

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Today I’m delighted to be taking part in the blog tour for new historical mystery, Arsenic at Ascot by Kelly Oliver #blogtour #BoldwoodBooks

Here’s the blurb:

Saddle up for this first class historical mystery, perfect for fans of Helena Dixon and Verity Bright.

London, 1918

Fiona Figg finds herself back in Old Blighty saddled with shuffling papers for the war office. Then a mysterious card arrives, inviting her to a fancy house party at Mentmore Castle. This year’s Ascot-themed do will play host to a stable of animal defense advocates, and Fiona is tasked with infiltrating the activists and uncovering possible anti-war activity.

Disguised as the Lady Tabitha Kenworthy, Fiona is more than ready for the “mane” event, but the odds are against her when both her arch nemesis, dark-horse Fredrick Fredricks, and would-be fiancé Lieutenant Archie Somersby arrive unexpectedly and “stirrup” her plans. And when a horse doctor thuds to the floor in the next guest room, Fiona finds herself investigating a mysterious poisoning with some very hairy clues.

Can Fiona overcome the hurdles and solve both cases, or will she be pipped to the post and put out to pasture by the killer?

Purchase Link

https://mybook.to/arsenicascotsocial

My Review

This is the fourth book in the Fiona Figg and Kitty Lane Mystery Books I’ve read. I confess, what I really enjoyed about book 3, Mayhem in the Mountains, was Fiona’s lack of dressing up in costume and, therefore, no mention of her favourite fake moustache. So I was somewhat alarmed when, only a few chapters in, Fiona was once more masquerading in one of her many costumes. However, I needn’t have feared. Kitty has not forgotten about her costumes, and she certainly puts them to good use in Arsenic at Ascot, but much of the time, Fiona is either herself or Lady Tabitha. Not that I object to her masquerading, but I’d much rather hear about her favourite wig than her suitcase full of fake moustaches and beards.

Fiona has been grounded in Arsenic at Ascot. Somewhat depressed and out of sorts at finding herself once more a ‘mere’ file clerk, all is doom and gloom and complaints about washing up after the codebreakers when she’s summoned by none other than her boss and told to don one of her many costumes. What ensues is a, at times, somewhat uncomfortable look at the world of vivisectionists and antivivisectionists and the use animals were put to during the war. As Fiona has no clear idea about what she thinks about either side of the argument, the exploration into what we now think of as animal cruelty is somewhat distressing, although it’s never laboured. And readers will be quite astounded at some of the experiments, which, according to the end notes, are based on natural experiments of the time.

While all this is happening, Fiona is once more caught in the love triangle between Archie and Frederick Fredericks and has a hole to climb out of with Archie, thanks to Kitty Lane. It will not stop her from solving who killed the latest body she’s found at a country estate.

As with the Fiona Figg and Kitty Lane books, the mysteries and conspiracies are well thought out, and the conclusion is satisfying. I also enjoy knowing this is not the last of the series, as book 5 gets a great set-up in the final chapters.

If you enjoy historical mysteries with a dash of humour and a little frisson of romance, then the Fiona Figg and Kitty Lane books are sure to appeal to you, with their knowledge of the ‘of their time’ investigative techniques, all combined with the intrigue of our spies, Archie and Fredericks and dotted with either real historical characters or creations based on them—a delightful mystery.

Check out my review for books 1, 2 and 3 in the Fiona Figg and Kitty Lane Mystery books Chaos at Carnegie Hall, Covert in Cairo and Mayhem in the Mountains.

Meet the Author

Kelly Oliver is the award-winning, bestselling author of three mysteries series: The Jessica James Mysteries, The Pet Detective Mysteries, and the historical cozies The Fiona Figg Mysteries, set in WW1. She is also the Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University and lives in Nashville, Tennessee.

Connect with Kelly

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kellyoliverauthor

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kellyoliverbook

Bookbub profile: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/kelly-oliver

Newsletter Sign Up: https://bit.ly/KellyOlivernews

I’m sharing a post about Britain in the Seventh Century, the setting for #PaganWarrior, the first book in the #GodsAndKings trilogy #histfic #PendaThePagan

Here’s the blurb

Britain. AD632.

Penda, a warrior of immense renown, has much to prove if he is to rule the Mercian kingdom of his dead father and prevent the neighbouring king of Northumbria from claiming it.

Unexpectedly allying with the British kings, Penda races to battle the alliance of the Northumbrian king, unsure if his brother stands with him or against him as they seek battle glory for themselves, and the right to rule gained through bloody conquest.

There will be a victor and a bloody loser, and a king will rise from the ashes of the great and terrible battle of Hædfeld.

books2read.com/PaganWarrior

Britain in the Seventh Century – a patchwork of kingdoms

One of the hardest processes when writing about this very early period of Britain is to get an idea of what the kingdoms might have looked like and to explain this to the reader. The seventh century is often seen as the period when the Heptarchy, the seven very well-known kingdoms of the Saxon period, emerged and formed, ultimately derived from potentially very many much smaller kingdoms, the names of which are only rarely still known.

The Heptarchy consisted of the kingdoms of Northumbria (itself derived from the uniting of Deira and Bernicia), Mercia, the kingdom of the East Angles, Wessex, Sussex, Kent, and Essex. In later centuries, these kingdoms would merge until only four main kingdoms remained, and then, from the early middle of the tenth century, England emerged. But the battle of Hædfeld with which Pagan Warrior concludes was a British-wide battle set as this process was formalising in the seventh century, and there are yet more kingdoms that must be mentioned which didn’t form part of Saxon England.

Scotland didn’t yet exist, but Dal Riata, Pictland and Alt Clut (sometimes called Strathclyde) did. Wales didn’t exist, although the kingdoms of Gwynedd, Deheubarth, Ceredigion and Powys did, The kingdom of Dumnonia (modern-day Cornwall), was also in existence and very much not part of Saxon England. Indeed, these kingdoms are often termed British, as opposed to Saxon. As someone woeful at geography – I purposefully don’t adopt the names of places from this period because it confuses me – I’m only too well aware of how much I’m asking from my reader as it is without adding weird place names to already strange sounding personal names, and yet it was necessary to add a whole host of strange names, which often, have no relation to the current names of counties, let alone kingdoms.

All of these different kingdoms, we’re told, were involved in some way in the battle of Hædfeld. Some of the kingdoms joined the alliance, spear-headed by Cadwallon of Gwynedd, Edwin’s foster-brother. Others joined that of Edwin of Northumbria. Almost all of them took one side or another in the mighty battle of Hædfeld fought in 632 or 633 (there is some confusion about the exact date) between the two sides. To ensure my readers have some idea of who’s who, I’ve termed all of the character’s as being ‘of’ their kingdom, although I’m unsure if that’s actually how they might have been named.

I was surprised by how many individuals could be named from the seventh century, particularly for the build-up to the battle of Hædfeld. The cast is not Game of Thrones huge, but it was larger than I expected. Not just Penda of the Hwicce, only later could he be termed of Mercia, and Cadwallon of Gwynedd in the British ‘alliance’, but also Cloten of Deheubarth, Clydog of Ceredigion, Eiludd of Powys, Clemen of Dumnonia, Domnall Brecc of Dal Riata, Beli of Alt Clut and Eanfrith of Bernicia. While on the Northumbrian led alliance were Edwin of Northumbria, alongside his children, Osfrith and Eadfrith, as well as Eowa of the Hwicce, Osric of Deira – Edwin’s cousin, Cynegils of Wessex, Sigeberht of the East Angles and Oswald of Bernicia – Edwin’s nephew. At least, that’s how I stack the two sides as the battle is about to commence. In later periods, it is sometimes a struggle to find who was king of where and when that might have been, so to find so many characters, even if it can seem a little overwhelming, was fantastic and ensured that the British-wide battle of Hædfeld could be retold in Pagan Warrior with a nod to each of these kings, and the part they might, or might not, have played in the events that played out on that fateful day in October 632 or 633.

Map of Britain in the 600s, User:Hel-hama, CC BY-SA 3.0 <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/>, via Wikimedia Commons

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Today, I’m welcoming Ann Bennett and her new book, The Fortune Teller of Kathmandu to the blog #HistoricalFiction #HistoricalRomance #WomensAdventure #BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub

I’m welcoming Ann Bennett and her new book, The Fortune Teller of Kathmandu to the blog, and she’s sharing a fabulous post about the historical research she undertook for the book.

Historical Research for The Fortune Teller of Kathmandu

There are several different strands to my latest historical novel, The Fortune Teller of Kathmandu, all of which needed to be researched. But I ended up using a variety of sources for each and approaching the research in many different ways.

The story is about Lena, a young Eurasian (or Anglo-Indian) woman working as a teacher in a boarding school in Darjeeling in the early 1940s. It is the same school that she grew up in having been sent there at the age of three. All the girls at the school are the product of liaisons between British officers or civil servants and Indian women and whose presence the British in India would have preferred to forget. This was inspired by an article I read some years ago by a British journalist who had discovered a previously unknown relative who had been a Eurasian and brought up in such an establishment. That story really struck a chord with me, although I’ve been unable to track the article down again. However, I did find some really useful sources of research about the way Eurasians in India were seen as a problem by the British. For example, a thesis entitled The Eurasian Problem in Nineteenth Century India by Valerie Anderson of the School of African and Oriental Studies, London University which is available online.

I visited Darjeeling in 2019 as part of my research (I have set another novel there too as I found it an atmospheric place in an incredible setting. That book is The Lake Pavilion). I found the old villas and hotels that remain from British India, as well as the austere Victorian boarding schools there a fascinating glimpse into the past). I also studied old Youtube footage of old Darjeeling and photographs from the period. I found an interesting article by blogger Vikram Karve called Institutions of the British Raj, which outlines how Darjeeling developed as a place to send British children to school. Eurasian, or Anglo-Indian children were not welcome at the same establishments and separate establishments were developed for them. This underlines the discrimination Eurasians encountered in British India, which is one of the themes of the novel.

Secondly, I wanted to find out about the Nepalese Gurkhas and how soldiers were recruited from Nepal during the second world war by the British Army. I read as much as I could about this online, but my main source of information was a visit to the Gurkha museum in Pokhara. There I read details of how British recruitment officers would go into the hills and recruit young men from the villages. That museum also contains many first-hand stories of incredible bravery and loyalty of the Gurkha soldiers.

As part of that research, I trekked into the hills of the Annapurna range to experience the landscape and communities there first hand. The village life is timeless and I suspect has changed little since the era the novel was set. However, there are probably more people living in the mountains now because of the increase in foreign visitors and wealth. When my characters Lena and George visited in the early 1940s, I suspect those hill villages such as Ghorepani were sparsely populated.

Thirdly, I needed to research the Burma campaign during the second world war, in which the Allies attempted to retake Burma from the Japanese and to prevent them from invading India, “the Jewel in the Crown”. I read about the incredible Chindit regiments commanded by Colonel Orde Wingate, who flew in gliders behind enemy lines to set up strongholds there to disrupt enemy operations. I’d researched the Burma Campaign for a previous book , The Lake Palace about a young English woman who volunteers to follow General Slim’s 14^th Army as an auxiliary nurse to run a field hospital. For both books, I read extensively about the Burma Campaign, in which men on both sides fought courageously in the toughest of jungle conditions. It is often overlooked, so much so that the 14^th Army is sometimes called The Forgotten Army.

The books I found very helpful and informative were the following: Burma ’44: The Battle That Turned Britain’s War in the East by James Holland, The Road Past Mandalay (W&N Military) by John Masters, Burma Victory: Imphal and Kohima, March 1944 to May 1945 (The Crucible of Leadership Book 2), by David Rooney, The Burma Campaign: Disaster into Triumph 1942-45 by Frank McLynn and Road of Bones: the epic siege of kohima: The Epic Siege of Kohima 1944 by Feargal Keane.

Lastly, I researched the Wasbies – The Women’s Auxiliary Service (Burma) whose story is also little known. Lena, my main character volunteers to join the service in 1943. I stumbled across the Wasbies’ story when I was researching The Lake Palace. I came across a photograph of a group of women, operating a mobile canteen out of an old, converted Chevrolet lorry near the battle lines during the Burma campaign.

My main source of information about the Wasbies was a fabulous book, Front Line and Fortitude, by EJ Lockhart-Mure. It is the diary of a real-life Wasbie, Maria Pilbrow, and really brings home hardships those brave women went through. I read Chinthe Women – Women’s Auxiliary Service Burma 1942-1946 – Char and Wads on the frontline. The Chinthe is a mythical Burmese lion, which became the symbol of the Wasbies. This book contains a wealth of information and was written by Sally and Lucy Jaffe, granddaughters of Major Ninian Taylor, the leader of the Wasbies.

So my research for The Fortune Teller of Kathmandu involved reading history books, researching online sources and travelling to the region and experiencing the places I was writing about first hand.

Thank you so much for sharing your research with my readers. Such a fascinating story.

Here’s the blurb

A sweeping wartime tale of secrets and love, mystery and redemption, moving from the snow-capped Himalayas to the steamy heat of battle in the Burmese jungle.

Perfect for fans of Dinah Jeffries, Victoria Hislop and Rosie Thomas.

Hampshire, UK, 2015. When Chloe Harper’s beloved grandmother, Lena dies, a stranger hands her Lena’s wartime diary. Chloe sets out to uncover deep family secrets that Lena guarded to her grave.

Darjeeling, India, 1943, Lena Chatterjee leaves the confines of a strict boarding school to work as assistant to Lieutenant George Harper, an officer in the British Indian Army. She accompanies him to Nepal and deep into the Himalayas to recruit Gurkhas for the failing Burma Campaign. There, she discovers that Lieutenant Harper has a secret, which she vows never to reveal.

In Kathmandu, the prophesy of a mysterious fortune teller sets Lena on a dangerous course. She joins the Women’s Auxiliary Service Burma (the Wasbies), risking her life to follow the man she loves to the front line. What happens there changes the course of her life.

On her quest to uncover her grandmother’s hidden past, Chloe herself encounters mystery and romance. Helped by young Nepalese tour guide, Kiran Rai, she finds history repeating itself when she is swept up in events that spiral out of control…

“A great read” Advance Reader.

” Thank you so much for allowing me to read the advance copy. I could barely put it down!” Advance Reader,

“What a wonderful book… I loved it. The dual time lines were delineated to perfection… the settings were perfectly rendered..” Advance Reader.

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Meet the author

Ann Bennett is a British author of historical fiction. She was born in Pury End, a small village in Northamptonshire, UK and now lives in Surrey. Her first book, Bamboo Heart: A Daughter’s Quest, was inspired by researching her father’s experience as a prisoner of war on the Thai-Burma Railway. Bamboo Island: The Planter’s Wife, A Daughter’s Promise and Bamboo Road:The Homecoming, The Tea Panter’s Club and The Amulet are also about the war in South East Asia, which together with The Fortune Teller of Kathmandu make up the Echoes of Empire Collection.

Ann is also author of The Runaway Sisters, bestselling The Orphan House, The Forgotten Children and The Child Without a Home, published by Bookouture.

The Lake Pavilion, The Lake Palace, both set in British India in the 1930s and WW2, and The Lake Pagoda and The Lake Villa, set in French Indochina during WW2, make up The Oriental Lake Collection.

Ann is married with three grown up sons and a granddaughter and works as a lawyer. For more details please visit www.annbennettauthor.com.

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I’m delighted to welcome The Bastard Prince of Versailles by Will Bashor to the blog. Check out the snippet below. #HistoricalFiction #Versailles #LGBTBooks #BlogTour #CoffeePotBookClub

I’m delighted to welcome The Bastard Prince of Versailles by Will Bashor to the blog. Check out the snippet below.

On the way to his new chambers, Elizabeth introduced Louis to several courtiers in the galleries. Gentlemen bowed and ladies curtseyed, all the while eyeing his charming smile. Many commented that he had his mother’s dainty features. When Elizabeth and Louis happened upon a clutter of mignons in one of the galleries, Elizabeth took hold of Louis’ hand.

“Junger Louis, these are the Italian chevaliers,” she said in a tense tone. “Ignore them.”

The young men stopped conversing upon seeing the newcomer. Elizabeth whispered, “And you’ll soon learn why they are called Italian.”

Louis had never seen young men dressed so frivolously. The sleeves of their shiny, short satin jackets were open from the shoulder to the laced cuffs at the wrist, showing the billowy sleeves of their silk shirts. Their short breeches were elaborately tied with bands of ribbon above the knee, and their red-heeled boots were topped with ruffles or lace garters.

When Elizabeth caught the minions gawking at Louis, she barked, “Pathetic dolts!” and the mignons vanished from the salon.

As she escorted Louis down the long corridors, she passed an enormous wind. He looked up at her in disbelief.

“This is not Versailles, mein lieber Louis,” she bellowed.

They both chuckled, and Louis knew they were off to a great start. For the next few days, Elizabeth kept him busy settling in, meeting her husband’s bizarre followers, and learning the few rules of court etiquette. It wasn’t Sceaux. And it certainly wasn’t Versailles.

Here’s the blurb:

A historical novel inspired by real events, The Bastard Prince of Versailles,narrates the escapades of a misborn “prince” during the reign of Louis XIV in seventeenth-century France. Louis de Bourbon wasn’t a real prince-even though his father was King Louis XIV.

The illegitimate son of the King and his mistress, Louise de La Vallière, young Louis has been kept far from the court’s eyes until summoned to bid adieu to his mother. To atone for her adultery, she joins a convent, abandoning Louis to an uncertain future.

When Louis is humiliated by his father for his role in a secret gay society, he struggles to redeem himself through heroism and self-sacrifice in the king’s army on the battlefield.

Praise for The Bastard Prince of Versailles:

“Will Bashor effortlessly weaves together the threads of fact and fiction, transporting us back to the opulence and intrigue of 17th century France. The author’s research and attention to detail are evident and well applied, never seeming like a dry history lesson but always a hook keeping you turning the pages.

Louis is brought to life with such authenticity that you can’t help but empathize with his journey. As he navigates the treacherous waters of courtly politics and yearns for his father’s approval, you’ll feel a gripping connection to his struggles and triumphs. The rest of the characters are well-crafted as well, each contributing to the rich tapestry of the story.

If you are looking for a unique historical novel that will transport you to another time and leave a lasting impression, this book is an absolute must-read.”

–International Review of Books

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Meet the author

From Columbus, Ohio, Will earned his Ph.D. from the American Graduate School of Paris. In his spare time, he reads memoirs and researches the lives of royals and their courtiers. He hopes to share his fascination with the Bourbon dynasty and its quirky inhabitants and, at the same time, weave the historical record with creative fiction. He has written articles for the Huffington Post, Age of Revolutions, BBC History Magazine, and Carine Roitfeld’s CR Fashion Book.

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Who were the family of Lady Estrid? #HistFic #non-fiction

Lady Estrid was born into a large and illustrious family with far-reaching influence over Denmark, Sweden, Norway and England.

I’ve put together some genealogical tables of the main families to make easier to work out how everyone connected. (You can click on the images to make them bigger).

The family of Lady Estrid Sweinsdottir, as mentioned in Lady Estrid.

Due to a lack of information, I have made little mention of the rest of Estrid’s half-sisters, of which she had three or four. I feel it perhaps also helped the story a little – it was complicated enough as it was without giving them the capacity to meddle in affairs in Denmark.

To break it down into more palatable chunks, Lady Estrid’s mother was married twice, once to King Swein of Denmark (second) and also to King Erik of the Svear (first). King Swein was also married twice (in my story at least – as it is debated), to Lady Gytha (who I take to be his first wife) and then to Lady Sigrid (who I take to be his second wife.) Swein was king of Denmark, Erik, king of the Svear (which would become Sweden), and so Sigrid was twice a queen, and she would have expected her children to rule as well, and her grandchildren after her. Sigrid was truly the matriarch of a vast dynasty.

She would have grandchildren who lived their lives in the kingdom of the Rus, in Norway, in England, and Denmark.

And Sigrid wasn’t the only ‘double queen.’ Lady Emma, twice queen of England, was first married to King Æthelred and then to King Cnut, Estrid’s brother.

Lady Emma, twice queen of England and her children

Not that it’s possible to speak of Lady Emma’s children from her two marriages, without considering the children of her first husband’s first marriage. King Æthelred had many children with his first wife, perhaps as many as nine (again, a matter for debate), the below only shows the children mentioned in Lady Estrid. Readers of The Earls of Mercia series, and the Lady Elfrida books, will have encountered the many daughters, as well as sons.

One of the other family’s that had the most impact on Lady Estrid, was that of her third husband, and father of her two sons, Jarl Ulfr.

Ulfr had a brother and a sister, and while little is known about the brother, it is his sister who birthed an extremely illustrious family, through her marriage to Earl Godwine of Wessex. (The family tree doesn’t include all of her children.)

Four such powerful families, all intermarried, make for a heady mix.

For the modern reader, not only are the family dynamics complicated to understand, but so too is the geography. Sweden was not Sweden as it is today, and the reason I’ve insisted on calling it the Land of the Svear. But equally, Denmark was larger than it’s current geographical extent, covering Skåne, (in modern day Sweden) as well. The map below attempts to make it a little clearer. Norway is perhaps the most recognisable to a modern reader, but even there, there are important difference. King Swein claimed rulership over parts of Norway during his rule, and so too did King Cnut. But, Denmark isn’t the only aggressor, there were rulers in all three kingdoms who wished to increase the land they could control, King Cnut of Denmark, England, Skåne and part of Norway, is merely the most well-known (to an English-speaking historian.)

Map of the region in the eleventh century

Lady Estrid is available now

Lady Estrid is a standalone novel, but it does incorporate characters and events from The Earls of Mercia series. So, if you’ve not yet read The King’s Brother, it might contain some spoilers, and vice versa.

I have also written about Lady Estrid’s brother, Cnut, and her father, Swein. I classify the books as side stories to the main Earls of Mercia series, but they can all be read as standalones, or as a trilogy about the powerful family.

Interested in the unknown women of the tenth and the eleventh century? I’ve written about quite a few of them now. Check out The Tenth Century Series, featuring Lady Ælfwynn, Lady Eadgifu and the daughters of Edward the Elder, and the stories of Lady Elfrida as well as The Royal Women Who Made England.