Signora da Vinci by Robin Maxwell

Stirring Portrait of Renascence Italy

Historical records tell us very little about Leonardo Da Vinci's mother, Caterina. All that is really know is that she had Leonardo out of wedlock and that he was taken from her by his father's family and raise by them

.

Robin Maxwell tries to fill in the blanks and the remarkable work of historical fiction. Caterenia grew up in a small village with her father, Ernesto, an apothecary. Her mother died when Caterina was very young. Ernesto was a true believer in education and educated Caterina even though it was almost unheard of for a woman to have an education. He also taught her how to be an apothecary.

One day Caterenia was gathering plants for the apothecary when she happened to meet Piero, the son of the richest family in the village. After that they met regularly until he finally propose marriage. With the promise of marriage, they consummated their love for each other.

Piero went home to tell his family about his future wife and he was forbidden to see her again, let alone marry her. A couple months after that, Caterina realized she was pregnant. After she gives birth, is when the story really spices up!

Caterina was an intelligent, kind, caring mother who would do anything for her son, even at great personal risk to herself and her identity.

Robin Maxwell writes a very colourful story of Caterina and her relationship with her son. She captures the essence of the Italian Renascence with vivid prose and includes details of real people such as Leonardo da Vinci and Lorenzo de’Medici.

Maxwell did make one mistake, when Leonardo was almost 16 years old, Caterina was 21. She was 15 when she had him. The math does not add up at all. LOL!  Despite that, Maxwell wrote a stirring portrait of Renascence Italy and Leonardo da Vinci's mother. Highly recommended!

4/5

HT News

As part of the ongoing blog tour by Sandra Gulland (click here to see all the tour stops), Dar from Peeking Through the Pages is giving away a copy of Mistress of the Sun, and the giveaway is open to everyone.

If you like to read about the American Civil War, then you might be interested in the current giveaway at Raging Bibliomania. You can win a copy of Bedlam South by Mark Grisham and David Donaldson.

If you haven't been lucky enough to get hold of The Traitor's Wife by Susan Higginbotham, then there is another chance to win a copy at Diary of an Eccentric.

Over at Reading the Past, there is an interview with a new to me author, Ann Weisbarger, about her debut novel The Personal History of Rachel DuPree. It is set in the late 1910s which is quite an unusual setting.

Finally for today, Rosina Lippi has advised that The Endless Forest, the final book in the excellent Into the Wilderness series that she writes under the name Sara Donati, now has a release date on Amazon at least. She will confirm once she knows for sure, but I for one will be looking forward to buying the book as soon as it comes out on 29 December.

HT News

Michelle Moran has interviewed author Kamran Pasha about his new book, Mother of Believers. He also talks about the next book he is working on and it sounds really good!

Amy from Passages to the Past has a guest post from David S Brody, author of Cabal of the Westford Knight.

Alisa Libby's book, The King's Rose is book of the month over at Raucous Royals. I would really like to read this one. Maybe I shouldn't have told you all about it so that I have a better chance of winning? Oh well. Too late now!

HT News

It's been a bit quiet here on the HT News front, not because there haven't been things to post, but just because I have been struggling to find the time to update! So, here's a few bits and pieces of news from around the HF blogs!

Arleigh is giving away a hardcover copy of The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society. This was one of my absolutely favourite books of last year, so if you haven't read it I would highly encourage you to join the contest. Full details on how to enter here.

Amy from Passages to the Past is also holding a giveaway. This time she is giving away a copy of the about to be released paperback version of CW Gortner's excellent novel, The Last Queen.

Bart from Bart's Bookshelves has interviewed author Danielle Thorne, whose new release The Privateer is set in the Carribean in 1729. There is a also a guest post here
.
Hot on the heels of the UK cover for Michelle Moran's next book, Cleopatra's Daughter, we now have the US cover:

Why I Love… Historical Fiction Set In India

My love affair with India started rather early when I first watched the animated series "80 Days Around the World With Willy Fogg” (Portuguese and Spanish children might remember this quite well) based on the Jules Verne novel "80 days Around the World". The young widow, Princess Romy, who was saved from suttee by Rigodon and Fogg, seemed so exotic and mysterious to my 8 years old eyes (she still does!). At that age, my interest was mostly focused in her strange clothes and the fact that she was about to be burned with her dead husband. It intrigued me for weeks and my poor father had to find (and quickly!) some children's books about India to satisfy my curiosity. The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling was read many times until it fell apart.

In my late teens a friend of my mother gave me a copy of one of her favorite books - The Far Pavilions - and I was completely entranced. Such richness all through those pages! I just had to have more of that drug. ;-)

Today, my relationship with India continues, stronger than ever. For me it is still a place of adventure with a deeply fascinating culture, a land where everything seems possible, even under the worst situations that often make world news.

Here are some of my favorites reads:

The Far Pavilions by M. M. Kaye

Shadow of the Moon by M. M. Kaye

The White Mughals by William Dalrymple

Shalimar by Rebecca Ryman

Olivia and Jai by Rebecca Ryman

Zemindar by Valerie Fitzgerald






The Raj Quarted (The Jewel in the Crown, The Day of the Scorpion, The Towers of Silence, A Division of the Spoils) by Paul Scott

A Passage to India by E.M. Forster

Taj: A Story of Mughal India by Timeri Murari



For those interested, here are some other books I still didn’t read but who were warmly recommended by friends:

Beneath a Marble Sky by John Shors

The Twentieth Wife by Indu Sundaresan

East of the Sun by Julia Gregson

The Last Kashmiri Rose by Barbara Cleverly



I know this is all about books, nonetheless if you like historical fiction set in India and are also a movie buff, you simply have to watch Jodhaa Akbar. It might not be the most accurate historical movie in Indian cinema but what a fest for the eyes!

And finally, I wanted to thank the ladies of HT for inviting me and letting me share one of my passions. Thank you Ana T., Marg, Kailana and Teddy, it was a pleasure to be here with you! ;-)

Alex

** ** ** **

Alex is, besides a big historical fiction fan, the friend who is responsible for Historical Tapestry's image. She made the template, the buttons we use on our Why I Love and HT News series and even the bookmarks we occasionally send out. She blogs at Le Canapé and she always has interesting things up on her blog.

Thanks, Alex!

HT News

C W Gortner has another interesting author interview. This time he has interviewed Kamran Pasha, author of Mother of the Believers, which is about Aisha, one of the more influential figures in Islam. Aisha was also one of the main characters in last year's controversial book Jewel of Medina by Sherry Jones.

Michelle Moran also has a new author interview on her website. This time she has been talking to Jack Woodville London who is writing a trilogy set in WWII. I have to say that I am going out to look for Mr London's book now!

Speaking of author interviews, Sharon Kaye Penman has been interviewed over at A 'n' E Vibe

Sad news with the passing of French historical fiction author Maurice Druon, author of The Accursed Kings series, plus a former politician. Druon led a very interesting life. French president Nicolas Sarkozy paid tribute saying Mr Druon was "a great writer, a great Resistance fighter, a great politician and a great soul."

A Dangerous Mourning by Anne Perry

No breath of scandal has ever touched the aristocratic Moidore family--until Sir Basil's beautiful widowed daughter is stabbed to death in her own bed, a shocking, incomprehensible tragedy. Inspector William Monk is ordered to find her killer without delay--and in a manner that will give the least possible pain to the influential family. But Monk, brilliant and ambitious, is handicapped, both by lingering traces of amnesia and by the craven ineptitude of his supervisor, who would like nothing better than to see Monk fail. With the intelligent help of Hester Latterly, a progressive young woman who served with Florence Nightingale in the Crimea, Monk gropes warily through the silence and shadows that obscure the case, knowing that with each step he comes closer to the appalling truth....

There is something to be said about a character that starts a story not remembering who he is and without and family and close friends to help him. That is exactly what Anne Perry did in the first book of this series and that is what really attracted my attention to the books. In this second book the Inspector Monk is still unable to remember his past but has he moves through London he finds glimpses of familiar things and an image of him that seems very different from who he is now. (Would a kind soul me know if he ever remember and in which book?)

In this story Monk is called to investigate the murder of a young lady, Octavia Haslett, the daughter of Sir Basil Moidore has been stabbed to death in her own bedroom during the night. From the beginning, it is clear that Sir Basil and most of his family is mostly concerned with hushing the scandal and finding a guilty party as soon as possible. Even after it seems it is one of them who must have done it, the family still believing it must be one of the servants.

When Monk finds himself unable to find evidence pointing to someone he asks for the help of Hester Latterly, one of Miss Nightingale's nurses who was also a character in the previous book. I really like Heather! She is dedicated to her job, honest and has a hard time controlling her temper when she perceives an injustice. Despite her efforts while nursing Lady Beatrice, Octavia's mother, Heather is unable to find the culprit and when a bloody knife is found in one of the footmen's room the case seems closed to all but Monk and Heather. Refusing to arrest the footman leads to Monk being fired from the police force but Heather doesn't give up and manages to interest Oliver Rathbone, a lawyer and a very interesting character that I hope to see in future books, in the case.

I just love Perry's view of the Victorian world and there was lots of information about it in the book. In this particular story, I very much enjoyed her portrayal of the higher and lower classes. The differences in behaviours, beliefs and social status. Much of the book is set in the Moidores house and the atmosphere is oppressing, intriguing and full of suspense. I couldn't wait to get to the end of the story and find out who had done it and I must say that the final twist surprised me. I loved how they followed all the clues to reach the right conclusion about what really had happened and who was responsible. And now I can’t wait for the next book.

Grade: 5/5

HT News - UK Covers

The UK cover for Michelle Moran's next book, Cleopatra's Daughter, has been revealed on Amazon UK! It will be interesting to see how different the US cover is when that comes out.



Another UK cover, this time for the September 2009 release by Philippa Gregory, The White Queen


Thanks to Tanzanite for mentioning these covers over at HistoricalFictionOnline.com.

Winners!

First of all, we have been very lucky to be awarded the Premio Dardas award by Annie from Reading, Writing and Ranting!



Annie said:

These lovely bloggers run a fantastic historical fiction review blog and work hard to keep it updated. Their reviews are in-depth and fascinating. If you love HF, you have to check it out!

Thanks so much for those lovely words Annie!

Anyway, I know that there are a whole bunch of people who are waiting to hear whether they have won the giveaway of Susan Higginbotham's The Traitor's Wife. Originally we thought that we had two copies of the book to give away, but Susan has generously agreed to give away 4 copies of the book to our lucky winners!

Our question was what eras do you like to read about in historical fiction. Here are our winners, and their answers:

• Okibi-Insanity (Sue) - I love historical books. The Tudor dynasty is of course one of my favorites. I mean who cannot love all those political roller coaster. I also love reading about the medieval times and the times of cleopatra.
• LadyDoc - I can't think of an era I don't like reading about, although the medieval Plantagenets are not my favorites. Maybe a little William & Mary?
• Anne Gilbert - Well, I am currently in the middle of Sharon Penman's The Devil's Brood, which I never thought I'd be reading! It's a fascinating story, and Ms.Penman characterizes all of the participants very, very well. My favorite historical period is medieval, but I'll read about almost any historical period, as long as it's well-written and engaging, and doesn't "mess" too much with what is known(or what I know about it).
• AndreaZ - I am really interested in this era as there are does not seem to be as many books about this era in British history in comparison with the Tudor era. Looking forward to reading this book and thanks for the opportunity to win it!

Winners were chosen using the random number generator from random.org. Winners have five days to send their full postal address through to us. Our email address is historical.tapestry@gmail.com. If anyone has not sent their details to us within the five days we will redraw.

HT News

Do you like reading Jean Plaidy novels? Over at Royal Intrigue, Arleigh and Lucy have started a monthly reading group to read through Plaidy's novels. This month's novel is The King's Confidante, which was previously published under the title St Thomas' Eve.

Susan Higginbotham has interviewed David Jones, author of Two Brothers: One North and One South.

The Word Wenches are offering up something extra to their readers. This month it is a couple of bookmarks, one of which is for Lady Macbeth by Susan Fraser King. All the instructions on how to get yours can be found here.

If you live in the UK, you may go into the prize draw to win a copy of Decision Most Deadly by Mark Turnbull. The book is set in the 17th century, during the time of the English Civil War. In order to win you need to read the sample chapter and leave feedback. Contest closes on 27 April.

HF News

Arleigh from Historical-fiction.com is giving away a copy of Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks.

Kate Morton, author of The Shifting Fog (also known as The House at Riverton) and The Forgotten Garden has been interviewed at Omnivoracious, which is an Amazon blog.

You can win a copy of Christine Blevin's The Tory Widow plus a little something extra over at Devourer of Books. To find out how to enter, click here.

A Poisoned Season - Tasha Alexander

London's social season is in full swing, and the Victorian aristocracy can't stop whispering about a certain gentleman who claims to be the direct descendant of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. But he's not the only topic of wagging tongues. Drawing rooms, boudoirs, and ballrooms are abuzz with the latest news of an audacious cat burglar who has been making off with precious items that once belonged to the ill-fated queen.

Light gossip turns serious when the owner of one of the pilfered treasures is found murdered, and the mysterious thief develops a twisted obsession with Emily. But the strong-minded and fiercely independent Emily will not be shaken. It will take all of her considerable wit and perseverance to unmask her stalker and ferret out the murderer, even as a brewing scandal threatens both her reputation and her romance with her late husband's best friend, the dashing Colin Hargreaves.

A Poisoned Season is a delicious blend of sparkling romance, heart-pounding suspense, and rich historical detail that only Tasha Alexander could create.

Ana's review:

I had some expectations regarding book 2 of Lady Emily Ashton’s mysteries and I am happy to say that they were fulfilled.

After her love story with her husband in the first book, Lady Emily is now a widow whose main interest is to pursue her Greek studies, to help the British Museum to enlarge their collection of works of art, to spend some time with her chosen friends and to continue her relationship with Colin Hargreaves. I liked this Emily even more than the one in the first book. She is more self-assured, less influenced by others opinions but not naïve to think that she can do as she pleases without following the rules of polite society and understanding the power, and danger, of gossip.

I thought it interesting that the main plot was about a pretender to the throne of France. I could just imagine everyone trying to gain his good graces just in case the monarchy is restored and the Bourbons reclaim their birthright. While society is busy throwing balls in the honor of the supposed French heir, objects known to have belonged to the late Marie Antoinette are being stolen from their rightful owners. When one of the victims of those thefts is found murdered Lady Emily can’t resist starting to investigate. Soon she finds herself studying Marie Antoinette’s letters with as much interest as her Greek and she seems to have acquired a new admirer who keeps invading her house and leaving her little notes.

At the same time, one of Lady Emily’s friends is being forced to marry the supposed French heir, another wants her help with a make believe courtship so her parents will leave her alone, still another is having trouble in her marriage and Lady Emily’s mother is quite decided that she must marry again. All these entanglements lead to some vicious gossip that threatens to harm her place in society.

Besides enjoying Emily as a character, I also really enjoyed her relationship with Colin. He is not always present, in fact, one could say that he is always there when she needs him but he never overwhelms her or her investigations. He respects her intelligence and her resourcefulness and he is determined to woo her and marry her when she feels ready, not before.

I also like how Alexander manages to convey us to the Victorian world. Besides society’s behavior and moral codes, she introduces references like the Baedeker’s Guide, the Rosetta stone, and Thomas Cook & Sons that I found interesting and clever. Not to mention that she actually has Queen Victoria as a secondary character, there is nothing like tea with the queen to restore Lady Emily’s reputation!

The action does progress slowly but I thought that fitted the story very well, a more rushed story could not have such subtle or intellectual references or they would be lost. This was the right pace to appreciate all the details involved.

The mystery part was interesting and surprising but I think the book is mostly about Emily. How can we not enjoy a heroine who spends much of her time in libraries and who reads as much classical literature (Homer) and popular fiction (Mary Elizabeth Braddon) ?

Grade: 4.5/5





Marg's review:

Normally I try to say a little bit about the novel before I start talking about my reactions to it, but I am going to do the opposite this time, and start with saying what a great premise this novel has!

Marie Antoinette may have died during the French Revolution roughly a hundred years on, but her influence lives on. There have been a spate of robberies in London, targeting only those items that were previously owned by the late French queen - whether they be letters, jewels or other items. Surely it can be no coincidence that society is also buzzing about the arrival in their midst of Mr Charles Berry, who claims to be a direct descendant of the Dauphin, and therefore legitimately entitled to be the King of France. With the French republic a little shaky, Mr Berry is garnering as much support as he can from the highest echelons of British society, including to find a suitable bride before returning to France to claim his rightful place on the throne.

Lady Emily Ashton becomes involved in the case when her house guest has her earrings stolen, and yet nothing else of value in her home was taken during the robbery. When another robbery victim is encouraged to go the police, and then not long after is found dead, Lady Ashton can't bear to think that she may have hurried his death along by involving him. It turns out that the dead man has secrets that are waiting to be told after his death, and Emily is the one to try and uncover those secrets.

Along the way, some letters that were written by Marie Antoinette come into her possession, and she must try to decipher the code to find out exactly what did happen a hundred years before, and how that is affecting the current case that she is working on.

What I did love in this story was the relationship between Emily and Colin. There is no condescension towards Emily on Colin's part. He has belief in her abilities, and encourages her to be self sufficient, and yet is available if she needs him...and she does!

If you are looking for a hot and heavy romance between the two of these characters, then you will be disappointed, as the book is filled only with glances, the briefest of touches, and kisses on gloved hands. Colin Hargreaves wishes for Emily to marry him but he understands that Emily is an independent woman now, and that he therefore wishes for her to want to marry him on her own, not just because society dictates that she must marry again and soon. When even the Queen gets involved in her romantic affairs, that is a lot of pressure! The fact that Colin is determined to have a very proper courtship with Emily and therefore there are only the briefest moments between them is paramount in building up a palpable emotional tension within the novel.

What I wasn't so keen on was the number of other suitors that are drawn to Emily. We have a gentleman with an improper offer and a secret admirer who may or may not be dangerous to her and whose motives are somewhat twisted throughout the novel. In addition, society is all aghast that not only does Emily seem to have Colin Hargreaves courting her, she also seems to be having an affair with one of her childhood friends who is supposed to have an attachment to Emily's friend Margaret.

It is Emily's somewhat unusual intellectual habits as well as her romantic entanglements that see her on the very edge of ruination in the eyes of society. Between trying to stop her reputation from being irrevocably damaged, convincing several members of the gentry to hand over some invaluable ancient treasures to the British Museum, discover who the perpetrator(s) of several crimes were and to determine who her secret admirer really is, Emily is a very busy lady!

This was another very enjoyable novel by this author. The next novel, A Fatal Waltz comes out in June and I will definitely be trying to get hold of it as close to release date as possible. The first book in this series was And Only to Deceive, which was reviewed here.

HT News

Amy from Passages to the Past is giving away a copy of The Tory Widow by Christine Blevins, plus a little gift! Giveaway details are here.

Leanda de Lisle, author of The Sisters Who Would be Queen; the tragedy of Mary, Katherine & Lady Jane Grey, is available to answer questions you may have about her book, or the Grey sisters over at Lady Jane Grey Reference Guide blog. Head on over if you have ever been curious.


Susan Higginbotham has been interviewed over at Historical.info about the characters and locations of The Traitor's Wife. Don't forget our giveaway of this book is still open for entries here.

Sandra Gulland - Why I Love Unhappy Endings

Why I love unhappy endings
by Sandra Gulland (www.sandragulland.com)

I like a good cry — when it's for a good reason, and forming an attachment to a fictional character that's so strong that it reduces me to sobbing tears is indeed a good reason to weep. It's also quite rare; weeping indicates that I've made an emotional bond with a character that I will never, ever forget.

My favorite historical novel is A Walk with Love and Death by Hans Koning. It's a slim novel that shimmers with elegant beauty, an enchanting love story that ends with the ultimate sacrifice: as the enemy approaches, the hero kills his beloved and then himself — to spare her.

I like literary historical fiction, and literary fiction, as a general rule, tends to end unhappily. Why is that? I'm not sure, but I think it has something to do with what one looks for in a novel: comfort . . . or reality. One is not superior to the other, just different.

I'm not adverse to a happy ending. I find Austen's worlds, where everything works out as it should, deeply satisfying. But when it comes to my own work, I seem to like to make my readers weep. Cruel, I know — but at least I'm weeping with them as I write.

Writing the ending of my Josephine B. Trilogy reduced me to a puddle of tears: I could hardly see the computer screen as I wrote. My editor's husband was alarmed to find her sobbing at the kitchen table after reading the draft of The Last Great Dance on Earth. "Josephine!" was all she could say, in anguish. Later, at a meeting with my editor and agent, we joked about packaging this last novel with a package of tissue. At readings, I sometimes warn people not to finish that novel in public, and invariably stories emerge: of a young woman who wept so hard on an airplane flight the man sitting next to her asked if she was okay; of woman who alarmed her young children with the violence of her grief.

I'm trying to get over it, frankly, this apparent attraction to misery. My last novel, Mistress of the Sun, does not, in romantic terms, end happily — but the ending is a lot happier than what I had first intended, a brutal, gut-wrenching scene in which the heroine shoots her beloved horse Diablo. (To spare him, interestingly enough: is this not a theme?) An editor I work with argued against this: "I'm only trying to save Diablo's life!" he exclaimed at one point, with considerable emotion. I had written two endings, and ultimately, I had to choose. Days before I sent the final draft to my publisher I opted in favor of life . . . and I'm really glad I did. The ending is sad, still — quite, for me! — but at the same time, there is something glorious about it now, I think. (I won't say more: no spoilers allowed!) But, of course: sad-sweet tears, as well.

Right now I'm working on my next novel. The forty-page "rough" plot has gone through eleven drafts. It was only with this last round that I realized how dismally the story ended. The poor heroine never got what she wanted! And so, I've worked in a little softener, a sweet-hearted man to temper a harsh reality. There will be smiles in that last scene, I think ... as well as tears. At least I hope so.

Other stops on Sandra Gulland's April blog tour are:

April 7 -- Historical Tapestry: http://historicaltapestry.blogspot.com/ Guest blog: "Why I love unhappy endings."

April 10th -- Reading Group Guides: http://www.readinggroupguides.com/content/index.asp Guest blog: "How a bookclub changed me as a writer."

April 15 -- Reading the Past: http://readingthepast.blogspot.com/ Guest blog: "What to leave in . . . and what to leave out: crafting a story from history."

April 16 -- Marta's Meanderings: http://martasmeanderings.blogspot.com

April 17 -- Travels of the Bookworm: Hosting a giveaway right now! http://travelsofthebookworm.blogspot.com/

April 20 -- Historical Novels: http://historicalnovels.info

April 23 and 24: Peeking Between the Pages:http://peekingbetweenthepages.blogspot.com

April 24 -- Epicrat: http://epicrat.blogspot.com

April 29 -- Planet Books: http://planetbooks.wordpress.com/

April 29 -- Booking Mama: http://bookingmama.blogspot.com/

May 1 -- The Tome Traveler: http://thetometraveler.blogspot.com/

May 1 -- Racous Royals: http://blog.racousroyals.com

May 4 -- Shhh! I'm Reading: http://shhhimreading.blogspot.com/

May 5 -- My Friend Amy: http://www.myfriendamysblog.com/

May 7 -- Enchanted by Josephine: http://enchantedbyjosephine.blogspot.com

May 8 -- Skrisha's Books: http://www.skrishnasbooks.com

May 14 -- Linus' Blanket: review and give-away http://linussblanket.com

May 15 -- Kris Waldherr http://kriswaldherr.com/blog

Yet to be scheduled -- Scandalous Woman: http://scandalouswoman.blogspot.com/

HT News

Book of the week over at Historical Novel Reviews is Lady Macbeth by Susan Fraser King. There will also be a giveaway during the week, so keep checking the site for full details.

As I mentioned in a previous HT News, Erika Mailman has been interviewed by Literate Housewife, and the post is now up. Don't forget that you still have a chance to win one of two copies of Erika's book, The Witches Trinity.

A favourite of a couple of us here at HT, Elizabeth Chadwick has unveiled the cover that The Greatest Knight will have when it is released in the US by Sourcebooks in September. I think it is great that the cover hasn't been changed from the UK version as it suits the book really well! Teddy and Kailana, you really need to read Elizabeth Chadwick! LOL!

In sad news, Michael Cox, author of The Meaning of Night and The Glass of Time died on 31 March aged 60. Click here to read his obituary as published by Times Online.

Giveaway: The Traitor's Wife by Susan Higginbotham

Thanks to the very generous Susan Higginbotham, we have two copies of The Traitor's Wife to giveaway.

When Susan guest posted for us last week, she offered up another alternative watching The Tudors, by suggesting that the Plantagenets would be interesting reads. In order to enter the giveaway, we would like you to tell us what other eras/families etc you like to read about, and yes, you can say the Tudors if you like!

Unfortunately, due to high postage costs, this giveaway is restricted to US/Canada addresses. The winner will be chosen randomly from all entries received by Monday 13 April.

Also, stay tuned as we will have another exciting giveaway this week as well.

Whilst we are not officially part of the blog tour that Susan is participating in to celebrate the Sourcebooks release of The Traitor's Wife, we will definitely be reading along as Susan stops by at the following blogs:

6 April Carla Nayland's Blog
7 April A Reader's Respite
7 April Passages to the Past
7 April Reading Extravaganza
7 April S. Krishna's Books
8 April Historical Novels
10 April The Tome Traveller's Weblog
13 April Jennifer's Random Musings
13 April Medieval Bookworm
13 April Steven Till.com
14 April Peeking Between the Pages
14 April A Girl Walks Into a Bookstore
15 and 16 April Savvy Verse & Wit
16 April Sam's Book Blog
17 and 20 April Diary of An Eccentric
17 April My Friend Amy

King's Fool: A Notorious King, His Six Wives, and the One Man Who Knew Their Secrets by Margaret Campbell Barnes

He's No Fool

Will Somers starts out with a dull life in the country on the family farm. Even his family admits that he doesn't make a good farmer. That doesn't leave him with any real options, until an option lands in his lap.

Will is one of the few lucky country children that had an education. He is given to a merchant, Richard Fermer , to work for. He has a good head for numbers and he must do the books and take inventory. He is good at what he does, but it bores him. The one shining light in his new life is Joanna, Master Fermer's daughter. He knows that it would not be possible to marry her, yet he dreams of a life with her.

One day Master Fermer told Will that he would be going to Court with him to conduct business. He meets King Henry and while the king and other royalty bowl, Will cracks a joke. With that, Henry scoops up Will to be his royal fool.

Will witnesses everything at court. The six wives, Henry's mood swings, everything. He become King Henry's companion and confidante and stand by him through it all. However, he still pines for Joanna through the years.

I could go on and on about this wonderful book but I wouldn't want to give you any spoilers. This book was first published in 1959. It is now being re-published by Source Books and is coming out this month. Though it was out in 1959, I didn't find it dated by today's standards.

My only small complaint is that I would have liked it a bit longer. Some of King Henry's six wives are barely touched upon.

Margaret Campbell Barnes envelopes the reader into the pages of her book. It is a compelling read and captures the period and Will Somers well. This book is hard to put down! Highly recommended!

4.5/5

Thanks to Danielle L. Jackson for a ARC of this wonderful book.

HT News - An Echo in the Bone

We've seen the cover for the upcoming book in the Outlander series (An Echo in the Bone), we know the release date (September 22), and now we have the back cover blurb! I for one can not wait to get my hands on it!

Jamie Fraser, erstwhile Jacobite and reluctant rebel, knows three things about the American rebellion: The Americans will win, unlikely as that seems in 1777; being on the winning side is no guarantee of survival; and he’d rather die than face his illegitimate son—a young lieutenant in the British army—across the barrel of a gun.

His time-traveling wife, Claire, knows that the Americans will win, but not what the ultimate price may be. That price won’t include Jamie’s life or happiness, though—not if she has anything to say about it.

And in the relative safety of the 20th century, their daughter Brianna and her husband, Roger, watch the unfolding of her parents story in the past—a past that may be sneaking up behind their own family.

HT News

David S Brody, author of Cabal of the Westford Knight, has a fascinating guest post up at CW Gortner's blog, Historical Boys. There is also a giveaway.

Another guest post, this time from David H Jones, author of Two Brothers: One North, One South, over at Michelle Moran's History Buff. Check out the details here.

Arleigh from historical-fiction.com has a giveaway of Karen Harper's new book, Mistress Shakespeare. You can get all the entry details by clicking here.

Erika Mailman has announced that she is holding a giveaway of her book The Witches Trinity in conjunction with Jennifer from Literate Housewife. In a few days there will be an interview with Erika as well. Full details here.

Michele from A Reader's Respite is giving away a copy of The King's Fool by Margaret Campbell Barnes, which has just been rereleased by Sourcebooks.


Do you like reading about Irish history? Frank Delaney has been interviewed at Eye on Books about his latest book, Shannon. There is this handy dandy embedded player to enable you to listen even from our blog, although I haven't tried to do this before, so we will see how it goes shall we!

Snobbery With Violence - Marion Chesney

When a marriage proposal appears imminent for the beautiful - if rebellious - Lady Rose Summer, her father wants to know if her suitor's intentions are honorable. He calls on Captain Harry Cathcart, the impoverished younger son of a baron, to do some intelligence work on the would-be fiance, Sir Geoffrey Blandon.After his success in uncovering Geoffrey's dishonorable motives, Harry fashions a career out of "fixing" things for wealthy aristocrats. So when the Marquess of Hedley finds one of his guests dead at a lavish house party, he knows just the man to call.But when Harry is caught between his client's desire
for discretion and his suspicion that murder may indeed have been committed, he enlists the help of Superintendent Kerridge of the Scotland Yard and Lady Rose, also a guest at Lord Hedley's.

I really do enjoy cosy mysteries and I prefer historical to contemporary so it was with great expectation that I started this Snobbery with Violence, an Edwardian murder mystery.

I must say that I enjoyed it very much and I almost laughed aloud at times. Lady Rose Summer was almost unbelievable at times, as she was much focused in the women's rights movement and the equality of rights between the lower and upper classes but at the same time, she seemed unaware of the proper behaviour to live in polite society and without proper knowledge of what being of the lower classes might entail.

The story starts with Lady Rose being pursued by a gentleman who is taking its time with the marriage proposal, Lady Rose's father hires Captain Cathcart to discover which are the man's intentions and unfortunately those were less than honourable. I understand Rose's anger at him and wanting to shame him publicly but it seemed odd that she did not know the double standard would actually make her an outcast while his sins would be quickly forgotten.

Rose and Captain Harry meet again when he is hired once more by her father to stop a visit from the king to their estate. It has come to the Earl's attention that the king wants to try his luck with Rose now that she is a fallen woman. Harry comes up with the idea of blowing up a bridge on the estate and blaming it on the bolshevists, which effectively scares the royal guest to be.

Due to her reputation, Rose is then invited to a house party on a strange fake castle where Lord Hedley has decided to gather those girls whose season was a failure and helping them find husbands. Not that Rose wants a husband of course. And here is where the mystery really starts. One the guest is found dead of what seems to be arsenic poisoning and the police are called to investigate but progresses little as the influences of the upper classes manage to call off the inquest. Rose immediately decides she must investigate and since Harry had been invited by Lord Hedley to try to solve the investigation discreetly there is nothing more obvious than bringing those two together.

This is a light and fun read and I think Chesney strong point is the characters she creates. Becket, who is Harry's man, and Daisy, a former chorus girl who becomes Rose's lady's maid are interesting characters and so is Inspector Kerridge. The police detective who keeps trying to solve the murders and mysteries he comes across only to see his actions stopped by the upper classes. The book is full of information about the distinctions between classes and about women’s role in society. I did like Harry and Rose although Rose did sometimes sound a bit TSTL and too socially awkward to truly be real. They are attracted to each other but spend most of the book in denial or misunderstanding each other's intentions.

The mystery ends up being solved by both of them after investigating everyone’s history and possible motives and Rose cannot resist a final confrontation with danger. A nice and entertaining read!

Grade: 4/5

HT News

Over at Historical Novel Review, there is a new interview with Gabrielle de Montserrat, heroine of Catherine Delors excellent book, Mistress of the Revolution. There will also be an excerpt and a giveaway. Ana and I both really liked this book, and so are pleased to see it getting some well deserved attention.

Kate Furnivall has posted just a small snippet about her next book. Once again, she will be spending time in Russia, but this time set during the reign of Tsar Nicholas II. I will be reading it for sure!

Congrats to CW Gortner. His book, The Last Queen has been nominated the inaugural Heathrow Travel Product Awards in the Travel Read: Fiction category. To quote the awards website, "the awards are your chance to recognise and vote for the products that help make your journey better, and you could win the award winners in our exclusive prize draw." The winners are decided by a public vote at the above website.

Guest Post by Susan Higginbotham

1st April is release date for a new edition of The Traitor's Wife by Susan Higginbotham, and to help celebrate we have a guest post from Susan, and also will be hosting a giveaway! Details of the giveaway will be posted on Monday of next week. Thanks Susan, for guest posting for us.


Over here in the United States, another season of “The Tudors” will soon be starting. If the past two seasons are any indication, we’ll see lots of sex, a few beheadings, treachery, and betrayal. Its myriad inaccuracies aside, “The Tudors” is a vastly entertaining show, and I’ll be planted in my wing chair faithfully each week, Boswell the cairn terrier sitting on my lap, watching it.


But in a few weeks, “The Tudors” will have run its course for the year, and you’ll need another source to get your share of human beings at their worst and even at their best. You could always pick up a novel about the Tudors—I suppose you might be able to find one or two if you look hard enough—but might I suggest the Plantagenets? Even more specifically, might I suggest the reign of Edward II? Though he had five fewer wives than Henry—one did quite enough damage—his reign was eventful enough to suit any Tudor fan.


Edward II was very much unlike his mighty, warlike father, Edward I. He wasn’t a coward, a weakling, or a fop—to the contrary, he fought sturdily at Bannockburn and in his father’s wars, and he was an outdoorsman who enjoyed vigorous physical activity such as rowing, swimming, and digging ditches. But he lacked his father’s gift for commanding the respect of his nobles, and one of his most attractive qualities—his unswerving loyalty to those he loved—proved to be his undoing.


There were two great favorites in Edward II’s life: Piers Gaveston and Hugh le Despenser the younger. The men are usually portrayed as being Edward II’s lovers, but at this juncture, we can’t know this for sure. What we do know for certain is that Edward cared for them deeply and showered them with favors, to the immense annoyance of the rest of the nobility—and of Edward’s queen, Isabella.


Thanks to Christopher Marlowe’s famous play Edward the Second, Gaveston has become by far the better known of Edward II’s favorites. Yet it was the lesser known Hugh who in many ways is the more colorful of the two men. It was Hugh—who had a brief and quite successful career as a pirate—whose greed for land and power, fueled by an accommodating king, would bring the reign to its final, tragic crisis.


Hugh also had a wife, Edward II’s favorite niece, Eleanor de Clare. She doesn’t even appear in Marlowe’s play, yet her life was a dramatic one. A lady-in-waiting to Queen Isabella, she was also a sister-in-law of Piers Gaveston. She was twice imprisoned in the Tower of London. She was accused of stealing from the crown. One of the richest women in England, for a time she was penniless, stripped of all of her great estates. In the last few years of her life, two men waged a legal battle in the papal courts as to which one was her husband. She was also an eyewitness to her uncle’s tragic reign and to its aftermath—and it is mostly through her eyes that I chose to tell its story in The Traitor’s Wife. I believe you’ll find it an interesting one.


And you’ll never have to worry about Jonathan Rhys-Meyers showing up in a fat suit.



***Release details***

The Traitor's Wife is being released by Sourcebooks on 1 April. For more details, including details of the follow up to this book, Hugh and Bess, which is being released in August, visit Susan's website.