Tag: German History

I’m delighted to welcome Luv Lubker and her new book, Under The Sword, from The Rival Courts series, to the blog, with an excerpt.
 
Louischen sat on the broken branch of a tree which leaned over a little stream, gazing down into the water at the round face and big eyes of the little girl who seemed to look back up at her. Her face, too, was streaked with tears.
 
“Oh, Charlotta, I’m so glad I found you here,” she whispered. “You are Charlotta, but I must call you Charlotta the second, as Charlotta – the first – is gone forever. Papa – Papa killed her. I never thought he would do such a thing, but I saw her shatter into pieces with such a look of anguish! Oh, I can tell you everything, Charlotta.” She looked away and sighed. “Only, I can’t see you indoors. I can only see you here. Charlotta – the first – was with me so often. She was in the little glass over my bed. And – oh, Charlotta, I was so afraid. I couldn’t move, because there were bits of glass all over my bed, and I was afraid. But he can’t smash you. The wind can blow you away, into little bits, but you will still be there,” she whispered, as the wind blew and the face in the water rippled away for a moment.
 
Her little yellow voice seemed to float around Charlotta’s face, instead of hers. At first there had been waves of blue around the sides, but now, shimmering stars of deep, piney green fell over it. She sighed happily.
 
“I feel so peaceful here. But I wouldn’t dare to go to sleep here – the wind might blow me down and I wouldn’t want to sleep in your bed. No – I would rather sleep in the orchard, if I slept outside – in, or under, the cherry trees. It would be so nice to be buried in their petals, I think. But you will never know that, unless –” Louischen took a cherry pit out of her pocket, and looked at it. “Unless I planted one here, but the gardener says it would take years before it could rain down its pretty petals. But perhaps…” Louischen slipped carefully down from the branch, dug a little spot in the ground, next to the water, and covered it over. She bent down and kissed the spot. “Make a blanket for Charlotta, please,” she whispered.
 
She turned round and threw her arms around the pine tree, kissing it. “I have something for you, too,” she whispered. She took a bunch of pressed cherry blossoms from her pocket, and tucked it under the pine needles. “You belong together,” she whispered, turning her head on its side to look at the flowers peeking up, and smiled at them.
 
“Goodbye,” she whispered, and ran across the little island, carefully stepping across the fallen tree.
 

Here’s the blurb

From acclaimed Victorian historical author, Luv Lubker, the author of “Under His Spell” comes the continuing romance of the Princess Royal Victoria and Frederick III of Prussia.

Join Queen Victoria’s eldest daughter and her husband, future German Emperor Frederick III in this third installment of The Rival Courts family saga, as they climb the treacherous path to their dream of German unification in the Franco-Prussian war of 1870.

In the calm after the storm, Vicky and Fritz have it all: a devoted marriage, a growing family, and the promise of a bright future. But Fritz’s Uncle Karl lies in wait behind the scenes, hatching his newest plot. A shocking outcome of Vicky’s Royal duties will bring fresh doubts to Fritz’s heart, and his fatherhood.

As personal tragedy strikes and shakes them to their core, Fritz is forced to lead the largest battle history has ever seen. One which could change the face of Europe forever.

Vicky’s best friend struggles to shield her daughters from the sinister force that seeks to control them. The youngest shares her grandfather’s uncanny ability to know the truth behind others’ motives. But can she see the truth in him? In such a dangerous world, what heroic role will this small child play?

Can they escape the danger and betrayal that lurks in every corner as they travel to the icy expanse of Russia, the peaceful Mediterranean shores, and the vast Eastern deserts?

Will Vicky and Fritz’s love and marriage survive a mysterious illness, or will Uncle Karl’s conspiracies tear them apart for good?

Fans of Clare McHugh’s A Most English Princess, Mary Hart Perry’s The Shadow Princess, and Daisy Goodwin’s Victoria will be swept away by this gripping tale of love, war, and intrigue. With rich historical detail and deeply human struggles, Under the Sword, the third installment of The Rival Courts saga, brings to life the triumphs and tragedies in a fight against a nefarious trade which flourished in the shadows of the Royal court. A must-read for lovers of Victorian-era royal fiction.

Trigger Warnings: All non-graphic:

Sex trafficking/prostitution encouraged by villain (but anti-trafficking is a strong theme); Rape, drugged gang-rape (off-the-page); Implied (off-the-page) child abuse (physical, sexual); Childhood pregnancy; Trauma processing/PTSD in historical setting; Death of child, grief; Occasional racist remark (strongly DISapproved by main character); Coerced marriage; War/battle scenes; ED/sexual disfunction (Discreet/non-explicit discussion and frustration of spouse); Implied death of pet cat; Historical views expressed by characters about homosexuality

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Meet the Author

Luv Lubker began life in the Animal World, researching creatures great and small since before she can remember, and earning her degree in chicken psychology by age twelve. Not long after, she immigrated to the Victorian era, where she has lived half her life in close company with the Brontë sisters and made friends with Queen Victoria’s extended family, whom she now knows quite as well as her own kin.

Born in a cattle trough in the Appalachian Mountains, Luv currently resides in Texas’ Great Plains when visiting the modern world. When she isn’t writing or reading, she delights in preparing and savoring gourmet raw food with her family and exploring nature on long bike rides. Her special abilities include researching in seven languages and riding a unicycle since age seven.

Luv’s research delves into the unwritten stories that history left behind. Through unpublished letters, altered manuscripts, and deeply buried secrets, she reveals emotional truths concealed beneath the era’s refined exterior. Her novels give voice to the silenced, reveal what Victorians were taught to suppress and what their biographers chose to omit, tracing invisible scars that shaped lives, choices, and history itself.

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I’m delighted to welcome Luv Lubker and her new book, Under A Cloud, from The Rival Courts series, to the blog, with an excerpt.

Excerpt 1

On the 24^th they had arrived in Palermo. Fritz had been emotionally excited to show them this place, where he had been the year before his and Vicky’s engagement. They had visited the place where he had stayed at the time, and also an old monastery, leaving with bits of beautiful mosaic in their pockets.

Most of the buildings here were of very Eastern architecture. The orange groves, aloes, cactuses, fig trees, heliotropes, date palms, all the vegetation was such as Vicky had never seen before outside of a hot house. They often stopped to breathe in the sweet, almost overpowering scent of the brightly colored flowers, and to watch the swarms of butterflies and bees. The gaudily painted donkey and mule carts, embellished with red dyed feathers and harnesses covered with glittering, jingling bells were also very striking. In the towns, they often met these carts, driven by boys or young men who were dressed for the heat – or rather so nearly undressed Vicky felt shy of looking at them.

She had begun to take sketches of the views which were most striking to her eye.

“You are sure you do not need more time?” Fritz had asked her. She had only been sitting a few minutes when she put her sketchbook away.

“Oh, no, that is plenty. I can finish them later,” she had assured him. “You remember my pictures from Balmoral. Most of those were done this way.”

“How do you remember the details? Every color is perfect, and the shadows, the drops of water. How do you do it?”

Vicky smiled up at him, meeting his gaze. He stood looking down at her, his eyes expressing his admiration, just as they had when she first showed him her artwork at Balmoral, a few days before he proposed. She shrugged and shook her head.

“It is so easy. I don’t know what the fuss is.” She laughed. “Bertie, I didn’t think you knew so much about art as you do. You knew every artist at the galleries we saw.”

Bertie shrugged, turning his face away. He had always professed ignorance and boredom when Papa and Mama had attempted to speak with him about such things. “I know. I – I don’t usually find it so interesting, though I do know it quite well. But you make it so interesting,” he said to Fritz.

“No, it is she who makes it interesting,” Fritz said, smiling at Vicky. “I know so little myself, my company could not possibly make it interesting.”

“No, that is not true,” Vicky and Bertie both said. Vicky took their hands, smiling up at them. “You have both learned so much about art, I am proud of you.”

Here’s the blurb

Vicky’s father, Albert, the Prince Consort, has just died, leaving her and her family under a heavy cloud of grief, without their dearest friend and advisor, at a most critical time: The political horizon grows dark with storm clouds at the entry of Bismarck to Germany’s political stage in 1862.

Will Fritz’s courage stand the test as he confronts the spider in its web? Is Prussia really fighting for the rights of the Schleswig people, or is so much blood being shed for the sake of Prussia’s aggrandizement?

Join Vicky and Fritz on their journeys under the blue cloudless skies of the Mediterranean to the peaceful heather-clad hills of the Highlands of Scotland; to the burning heat of the North African desert to the raging blizzards of a winter war in Denmark.

When Vicky’s closest friend disappears, will she be able to keep the secret? Will old enemies prove to be friends, and old friends prove to be enemies?

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Meet the Author

Luv Lubker has lived in the Victorian era half her life, making friends with the Brontë sisters and the extended family of Queen Victoria. Now she knows them quite as well as her own family.

Born in a cattle trough in the Appalachian mountains, Luv lives in Texas – when she comes to the modern world.

When she isn’t living in the Victorian era, she enjoys being with her family; making and eating delicious raw food, riding her bike (which she only learned to ride at 25, though she has ridden a unicycle since she was 7), and watching animals – the passion of her childhood.

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