HT News

Author of the recently released novel Sunflowers, Sheramy Brundrick, is going to be appearing on Book Club Girl on Air on Monday 2 November. Full details can be found here.

Do you have your copy of Cleopatra's Daughter by Michelle Moran. There are still some chances to win a copy around the blogosphere. The latest one I have noticed is over at Diary of an Eccentric

Upcoming Releases - November 2009

November 1

Devil's Cub by Georgette Heyer (rerelease)

Ross Poldark: A Novel of Cornwall by Winston Graham

November 2

What Remains of Heaven: A Sebastian St Cyr Mystery by C S Harris

November 3

No Less Than Victory: A Novel of World War II by Jeff Shaara


November 5


Armistice by Nick Stafford

November 10

New York: The Novel by Edward Rutherford

Broken Jewel: A Novel by David L Robbins

November 12

The Templar Magician by Paul Doherty

November 24

Delilah by India Edghill
Lord of the Far Island by Victoria Holt (rerelease)
The Red Velvet Turnshoe by Cassandra Clark


November 30

Nobilitas: A Novel of Ancient Rome by Neil Himsworth

HT News

Sandra Gulland had lots of news to share. Not only a new cover for the French version of Mistress of the Sun, but also news of being close to signing a mini-series deal for the Josephine B trilogy and a film deal for Mistress of the Sun! Very exciting!

Sheramy Brundrick is guest posting over at Scandalous Women, and there is a giveaway as well!

Virginie from Virginie says is giving away a copy of The Harlot's Progress: Yorkshire Molly by Peter Mottley.

Michelle Moran has revealed the UK cover of her next book, Madame Tussaud. The book is not due to be released until late next year, so it is very early to be tasing us with a new cover! What do you think of it?

Helen Hollick on Why I Love Arthur and Gwenhwyfar

We are very pleased to welcome Helen Hollick today as part of the blog tour to promote her book, Pendragon's Banner, the second book in the Pendragon's Banner trilogy.

Four reasons why I love the two main characters of my Pendragon’s Banner Trilogy –
Arthur and Gwenhwyfar by Helen Hollick

1. Arthur, my King Arthur, hero of my Pendragon’s Banner Trilogy, is not a Medieval knight in armour. He is not a chivalric king who puts his religious whims before duty to his Kingdom and people. Nor is he the sort of man who would say and do nothing if he caught his wife in bed with another man. I’m sorry to say, the familiar tales of that King Arthur do not interest me. Those stories may be romantic, conjuring idylls of courtly life and love and a duty to God above duty to duty… But that sort of tale, and that sort of man is not for me!

My Arthur is rough, tough and capable of being an utter b*****d! To be a warlord in the Dark Ages of British history, to fight hard to gain a kingdom and fight even harder to keep it, he would have to be. He puts the men of his elite cavalry above all else – why? Because without their loyalty he would be nothing. A good general always puts his men first.
Next in line is the love of his life, Gwenhwyfar.


2. I started writing what eventually became The Kingmaking after getting cross with Marion Zimmer Bradley’s portrayal of Gwenhwyfar (Guinevere). She was such a useless, whining bore! At one stage I threw the book across the room, shouting; “Oh pull yourself together woman!” The real Gwenhwyfar would never have been like that – at least I could not picture her as a timid, useless little mouse, squeaking because a boat was rocking about a bit. I saw her as brave, courageous and capable. She would carry a sword – and would know how to use it!
I saw her as feisty, as having a mind of her own – of knowing what she wanted and stopping at nothing until she got it.

Ms Bradley’s novel did me a favour though. I was so irritated I finally made up my mind to stop scribbling the reams of rubbish that were getting me nowhere as a writer, and started writing my novel.

And this time, I was going to finish it!

3. I deliberately set out to write something entirely different from the usual Arthurian tales. The Medieval stories are entirely made up, indeed it is not even certain that Arthur himself actually existed. Lancelot, Galahad, Gawain, the round table, Holy Grail – Camelot, and yes, even Merlin, are all made up characters invented to fit snugly in with the chivalric life of the 12th-13th Century Norman/Plantagenet Medieval Court. The quest for the Grail reflects the call to arms for the Crusades – early media manipulation.

The early stories of Arthur are nothing like this. There are a few familiar characters – Cei (Sir Kay) Bedwyr (Sir Bedevere) Morgause/Morgaine, Ectha (Sir Ector) and Uthr – Uther Pendragon, and Gwenhwyfar of course. There is also Ambrosius Aurelianus, Vortigern, Hengest, Horsa and an epic cast of other such characters from the distant pages of Post Roman British history.

The early Welsh stories of the 6th/7th century consist of battle lists, of battles fought and won against encroaching enemies - the Saxons. This Arthur is not chivalrous, in fact he was probably not even Christian. We hear of the Arthur who kicked a woman in the belly, who stole cattle from a monastery. Of his children, the sons of “Arthur the Soldier”; Llacheu, Gwydre and Amr. And Medraut who fell with Arthur at the last Battle of Camlann. Medraut is Mordred, but there is nothing in the early legends to suggest he was a traitor. All we know is that he died in the same battle as Arthur, so he could easily have been fighting on the same side.

My novels were to reflect the early legends. The tales that were told around hearth-fires on a long winters’ night, when old soldiers sat and remembered when they had fought alongside a man they had respected and loved.

It is the tales they told that I wanted to tell.

4. The relationship I portrayed between Arthur and Gwenhwyfar had to be very different from the Medieval stories. I could not – and would not - portray my Gwen as an adulteress who preferred the vain and arrogant man that is Lancelot (sorry, that is how I have always seen him.) over the man who was her hero, Lord and King - over Arthur.

I needed their relationship to be solid, one that would never, ever, be broken – yet one that lurched between the storms and hurricanes of arguments and fights. I had no intention of writing a romance, although their relationship was to be filled with romantic episodes; of a deep, unyielding love between the two of them. Their relationship was to be passionate. And deeply passionate people have huge swings of emotion. They love fiercely and fight as fierce.
Arthur is not physically loyal to Gwenhwyfar, he is a man who faces death nearly every day, who rides to battle knowing he may never come back. Sex is a need, a cathartic way of releasing the tension of bitter survival. To Arthur, sexual encounters mean nothing. It is Gwenhwyfar, and only Gwenhwyfar, he will ever love.

I have created my characters, Arthur and Gwenhwyfar, as real people. Things go wrong for them, there is soaring happiness and desperate tragedy in their lives. They misunderstand each other, sometimes intentionally, sometimes without realising it. But they would fight to the death for each other if necessary.

Arthur is driven by his need to rule a kingdom, Gwenhwyfar is driven by the need to be at her husband’s – her lover’s – side. The force that drives them, however – Life - is not always a kind mistress.

This is what a new reader recently sent me:

“Helen, you have written a book that has life in every page and so much texture that it takes you on a journey with each chapter. It is as if you are right there in the same room, tent, forest or dirt road as the characters. If you close your eyes for a second you can even smell the same smoke-filled air that they breath as they pass from one courtyard to another. The only way I can describe this to anyone who needs to know what to expect when they open this book is this:
‘the book is simply breathing in your hands.’”

To me, Arthur and Gwenhwyfar are not merely fictitious characters in a historical novel. They are real. They laugh and cry, they sing and shout. They bleed, they hurt, they are alive – they breathe life into my humble interpretation of the Arthurian legend.

And that is why I love them so much.



Main Website: http://www.helenhollick.com/
Blog profiles: http://acorne.blogspot.com/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/helen.hollick
Monthly Journal: www.helenhollick.net/journal.html
Follow Publicist Paul Samuelson @psamuelson01

http://www.helenhollick.net/culpa41.html
my own hints and tips for aspiring writers.

You may like to check out other stops on the Pendragon's Banner tour:

The Tome Travellers Weblog  (10/12)

A Reader’s Respite (10/12)

Carla Nayland’s Historical Fiction (10/13)

Enchanted by Josephine (10/14)

Fumbling with Fiction (10/14)

Found Not Lost (10/15)

Nan Hawthorne’s Booking the Middle Ages (10/15)

Jenny Loves to Read (10/16)

The Review From Here (10/17)

The Courtier’s Book (10/18)

Chick Loves Lit (10/19)

Love Romance Passion (10/20)

He Followed Me Home… Can I Keep Him? (10/20)

The Impasse Strikes Back (10/21)

S. Krishna’s Books (10/22)

Books Like Breathing (10/23)

Passages to the Past (10/24)

Virginie Says (10/25)

Readaholic (10/25)

Reading with Monie (10/26)

Rundpinne (10/26)

Books & Needlepoint (10/27)

Capricious Reader (10/27)

Books are my Only Friends (10/27)

A Sea of Books (10/28)

Bloody Bad (10/28)

Revenge of the Book Nerds! (10/28)

Booksie’s Blog (10/28)

Devourer of Books (10/29)

Peeking Between the Pages (10/29)

Starting Fresh (10/29)

Historical Tapestry (10/30)

Medieval Bookworm (10/30)

Book Soulmates (10/30)

Susan’s Art & Words (10/30)

Steven Till (10/31)

Café of Dreams (10/31)

Guest Post: Starting With Setting by Cathy Marie Buchanan

When I set out to write my debut novel, The Day the Falls Stood Still, setting is where I started. I expect it is more usual for a writer to have the backbone of a plot in mind or maybe the rough framework of a character, but such was not the case for me. And I do think the unusual choice of starting with setting was the result of me coming from a place with such a storied past. Born and bred in Niagara Falls, I grew up awash in the endless local lore─the Maid of the Mist and her canoe, Sir Isaac Brock and the War of 1812, Blondin and his tightrope, Annie Taylor and her barrel, William “Red” Hill and his daring rescues, Sir Adam Beck and hydroelectricity… The list goes on and on. Add into the mix, the staggering beauty of the falls themselves, and I don’t think starting with other than the setting of Niagara Falls was ever a possibility.

Credit: Niagara Falls (Ontario) Public Library

Credit: George Barker, Library and Archives Canada, PA-181218

Credit: Niagara Falls Pubic Library, Niagara Falls, NY

To begin, I turned to books surveying Niagara’s history. What I was seeking, as I read, was the time period and narrative that best showcased Niagara’s wondrous and quirky past. The story of William “Red” Hill, Niagara’s most famous riverman, came up time and again. I’d grown up seeing the rusted-out hull of the old scow that’s still lodged above the falls and knew he rescued the men marooned there in 1918. I’d heard about the tragedy that had taken place during the winter of 1912 when loads of tourists were out blithely crossing the river and the ice suddenly broke up, and knew from childhood that the incident would have been a whole lot worse had Red Hill not intervened. As I read, those bits of lore ignited, and I became more certain my main male character would be a riverman loosely based on Red Hill.

The character I came up with was Tom Cole. Like Tom Cole, Red Hill was extraordinarily courageous and had an uncanny ability to predict the often erratic behavior of the Niagara River and Falls. It’s been said that Red Hill could predict the weather simply by listening to the roar of the falls, also that he would wake in the night knowing he would find a body tossing in the river the following day. In his lifetime (1888-1942) he hauled 177 bodies from the river, rescued 29 people, and assisted a handful of stunters. He was the only man alive to have been awarded four lifesaving medals ─ the first, at the age of seven, for saving his aunt from a flame-engulfed house; another for rescuing the whistling swans that were swept over the falls each winter onto the ice below; and two more for the ice bridge and scow rescues, both of which are retold in The Day the Falls Stood Still.

At one point in the story, Tom Cole describes Niagara Falls as “something that would cause a man walking by to stop, and maybe fill with wonder for a bit and be lifted up from the drudgery of his day.” It is something I have experienced, something that I hope to have captured by choosing to set The Day the Falls Stood Still in Niagara Falls.

Cathy Marie Buchanan is the author of The Day the Falls Stood Still. To learn more about her and her book, you can check out her website.

HT News

CW Gortner has introduced a new feature at his blog, where he will spotlight a new book trailer each week. Now, I can only think of one book trailer that has made me want to read a book right now, but I do like watching trailers for books I have already read. The first trailer featured is for Jeri Westerson's Crispin Guest series.

Speaking of new features, we here at HT will have details of a new feature that we will be introducing shortly! We hope it will be something that lots of you will be interested in participating in too.

You can win a copy of Hugh and Bess by Susan Higginbotham over at A Reader's Respite. Susan has generously agreed to provide the winner with a copy of The Traitor's Wife. She is also giving away a copy of the same book at her own blog.

Deanna Raybourn is going to be on Blogtalkradio (or has been - I can never figure out time zones). You can check out the link here.

Another interview that you can listen to, this time with Hilary Mantel, about her novel Wolf Hall.

Giveaway winner

We didn't hear from one of the winners of the Lady Vernon giveaway, so we have had to choose a new winner.

Neas Nuttiness, please contact us with your address details, and then we will be able to get all the prize winner's details off to the publisher and the books on the way to the lucky winners!

Guest Post - What the Fashionable Dark Age Warrior Wears by Kathleen Cunningham Guler

Remember the movie “Excalibur,” the 1981 Arthurian fantasy film? Near the beginning is a scene in which a king is in hot pursuit of a beautiful woman. Trouble is, she’s the wife of his military commander. Nevertheless, the king ravishes her—to put it mildly. She’s stripped naked. He’s wearing a full suit of shiny plate armor. Ever so romantic, huh? But besides the obvious inconvenience, what’s wrong with this picture?

The liaison’s result, of course, is the conception of King Arthur. But if this scenario was meant to represent the fifth/sixth century period of the alleged historical Arthur, it missed the mark. No such fancy armor, not even for a king. That type came after the Norman invasion, hundreds of years later.

Picture this: a fighting man in Arthur’s time would have dressed in the everyday style of his Romano-Celtic forebears. He’d wear a simple woven wool tunic with long or short sleeves, a round neck and the bottom hem reaching his knees; breeches (braccae) that tied at the waist and ankles; and a cloak. Several tunics could be combined for warmth and a man of means might also wear a shirt-like garment (camisia) of linen. From his belt hung a small leather pouch—a pre-runner of the Scottish sporran—as well as a small sheathed dagger. Leather strips served as cross-gartering, a crisscrossing from knee to ankle that held the cloth neatly to the leg. Our fellow’s shoes were each made of a single piece of rawhide and gathered over the tops of his feet with thongs.

Clothing was often dyed in bright colors. His cloak, a wide rectangular or circular garment, wrapped around him like a cape and was held in place with a metal brooch. If made of wool, it had two layers, the outer one oiled with lanolin for waterproofing. For winter, skin caps and cloaks lined with fur replaced wool. And no outfit was complete without the long flowing hair and moustache—a man’s pride!

Now, add on the warrior’s gear: leggings and another tunic, both of thick leather, were worn over his regular clothes; a chain mail hauberk (if he could afford it) went over that along with another belt; plus thick-soled leather boots rising above his ankles. Helmets were rare, apparently unpopular except for cavalry. Spears, axes, slings, a shield, and a long-bladed sword and scabbard buckled to a baldric completed the ensemble. Originally it was thought swords were only carried at the hip, but evidence suggests the weapon may have been held across the back “Braveheart” style.

Why the disparity between movie and reality? Films perpetuate misconceptions created by Arthurian stories written all the way back in the Middle Ages. Though that vast body of literature may have fired the imagination, historical accuracy was non-existent. Medieval storytellers slathered on layers of customs from their own time—their styles of clothing and armor, not those of the Dark Ages. Thank goodness for archaeology that at least gives us a glimpse of the truth!

About the Author

Novelist Kathleen Cunningham Guler is the author of the multi-award winning Macsen’s Treasure Series. Drawing on a long background in literature and history as well as her Welsh and Scottish heritage, she has published numerous articles, essays, reviews, short stories and poetry. The author is a member of the Historical Novel Society, the International Arthurian Society and participates in various writing organizations.

You can visit her website at KathleenGuler.com

HT News

You can win a copy of Robin Maxwell's Signora da Vinci over at My Friend Amy's blog.

Speaking about Robin Maxwell, there are some exciting events coming up. Stay tuned for full details.

Allie from Histfic Chick has been the first to reveal the cover for C W Gortner's next book, The Confessions of Catherine Medici. Have a look and see what you think. It isn't necessarily accurate in terms of how she looked or the dress, but it is eye catching and I like it.

Over at Scandalous Women, you can win a copy of The Wayward Muse by Elizabeth Hickey, about Jane Burden, William Morris and Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

CW Gortner's The Last Queen is being highlighted over at Historically Obsessed. There is an interview, a guest post, and an excerpt so far, so please, be sure to check it out.

Winston's War by Michael Dobbs

Winston's War is a masterful blending of imagination and compelling fact that places the reader at the right hand of the most momentous events in our history.

Saturday 1 October 1938. Two men meet. One is elderly, the other in his twenties. One will become the most revered man of his time, and the other known as the greatest of traitors.

Winston Churchill met Guy Burgess at a moment when the world was about to explode. Now in his astonishing new novel, Michael Dobbs throws brilliant fresh light upon Churchill's relationship with the Soviet spy and the twenty months of conspiracy, chance and outright treachery that were to propel Churchill from outcast to messiah and change the course of history.

Winston's War opens in October 1938. Winston Churchill is a man on the outer with his political companions, Hitler has just annexed part of Czechoslovakia and Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain has just returned home from talks with the Fuhrer declaring that he has obtained 'peace with honour, peace for our times'.

We are given several different view points throughout the novel, starting with Churchill and Chamberlain and their political allies as well as the barber who goes about the business of cutting and shaving whilst the very important men go about their business almost oblivious to the barber.

Another is from Guy Burgess, a man who worked as a journalist for the BBC, and whose paths crossed with those of Churchill on several occasions. I don't want to give too much away about Burgess, but he lived a very notorious life, and as a reader you are never quite sure where his loyalties lie, other than to himself. He is a degenerate character but completely key to this fictionalisation of the events in the twenty month period covered by the novel.

One of the other perspectives is from a post mistress in Bournemouth. I must confess that as I read the novel I wasn't sure about this final storyline as I couldn't see how it connected to the main plot, but in the end the author I didn't need to be worried due to a couple of different events. Whilst many of the interconnections between the various characters are obvious others are more subtle, but in the end the connections are there.

As much as this is a novel about the momentum towards and the beginning of WWII, including leaving the people of Poland and Czechoslovakia to defend themselves despite promised assistance, it is also a novel about the political machinations of the British parliament. There are shady deals, immoral behaviour, spies, betrayal, blackmail and misdirection to the British people through the newspapers of the day. The constant battle to maintain power and to keep political enemies out of positions of power dominates, even when those enemies might be parliamentary colleagues from your own party! One of the more interesting examples is around a Scottish MP, Duchess of Atholl, Katharine Stewart-Murray, who vehemently opposed Chamberlain's policy of appeasement and who found herself forced out of Parliament.

One of the most striking things about this novel for me was the reminder of how much there is that is not necessarily commonly known even when we are only a couple of generations away from the events, particularly for those of us who do not profess to be scholars of a particular period. For example, some of the most enduring images of WWII are the bombed out homes in London from the Blitz, or say the evacuation from Dunkirk, the damage done in France, Belgium and Holland. It is easy to forget that from the time that war was declared against Germany, there were many months where there was very little actual fighting, although there was plenty of political infighting going on.

I should say that this book was not an easy read. At times it was dense with the political machinations and plotting, more political thriller than my more standard historical fiction maybe, but it was definitely worth taking the time to read.

As anyone who has read my blog for any length of time will probably be aware, I really, really do not like to read a series out of order. It may be something of a surprise then to find that this is the third book in the Winston Churchill series by Michael Dobbs that I have read, despite the fact that it is the first book in the series. I have now read books 1, 2 and 4. The reason this happened is that I was originally given review copies of both Never Surrender and Churchill's Triumph from Sourcebooks a couple of years ago. I always intended to go back and read the other books in the series, but every time I borrowed this book from the library I had to take it back unread. I was determined that this time, I was going to read it, and now I have. I should confess though it is overdue by more than a week at the library so that I could finally read it! The third book is on request and I hope to read it soon.

The Day the Falls Stood Still by Cathy Marie Buchanan

Steeped in the intriguing history of Niagara Falls, this is an epic love story as rich, spellbinding and majestic as the falls themselves.

1915. The dawn of the hydroelectric power era in Niagara Falls. Seventeen-year-old
Bess Heath has led a sheltered existence as the youngest daughter of the director of the Niagara Power Company. After graduation day at her boarding school, she is impatient to return to her picturesque family home near the falls. But when she arrives, nothing is as she left it. Her father has lost his job at the power company, her mother is reduced to taking in sewing from the society ladies she once entertained, and Isabel, Bess’s vivacious older sister, is a shadow of her former self. She has shut herself in her bedroom, barely eating and harboring a secret.

The night of her return, Bess meets Tom Cole by chance on a trolley platform, she finds herself inexplicably drawn to him against her family’s strong objections. He is not from their world. Rough-hewn and fearless, he lives off what the river provides and has an uncanny ability to predict the whims of the falls. His daring river rescues render him a local hero and cast him as a threat to the power companies that seek to harness the falls for themselves. As the couple’s lives become more fully entwined, Bess is forced to make a painful choice between what she wants and what is best for
her family and her future.

Set against the tumultuous backdrop of Niagara Falls, at a time when daredevils shot the river rapids in barrels and great industrial fortunes were made and lost as quickly as lives disappeared, The Day the Falls Stood Still is an intoxicating debut novel.

From Harper Collins.ca

After finishing The Outlander by Gil Adamson, I thought I had found my favourite Canadian history read of the year. I loved it because it was about an aspect of Canadian history that does not normally include women and because it was written in such a fantastic manner. I honestly did not think anything would come close to matching it. Then, I read the debut novel by Cathy Marie Buchanan and I was blown away all over again! I wouldn't say I like this book better than The Outlander, but I would say that it is a tie. I suppose that means you can expect another glowing review!

This book was just involved in a blog tour, so I know that it is probably getting a bit overdone, but I do have to say a few things about it. One of the things that I loved about it was the fact that I have been to Niagara Falls, so I knew the places that were being talked about. That's something I do enjoy about the books I read from time to time. Sometimes it is nice to step out of your normal comfort zone, but other times it is nice to be able to really see where the book is being set. I also went through a period where I was obsessed with the history of Niagara Falls. Buchanan is pretty accurate in my humble opinion with her facts. When she changes them, though, there is a note at the back to explain that she did and why she did it.
I also loved the characters. I really felt for them. They were living during the Depression and then World War II. It was not a happy time and lots of other things happened to them on top of the global ones. It was a difficult period in their lives, but I think that Buchanan carried it out really well. You could almost think too much bad stuff happened and it was a bit unbelievable, but that isn't how I felt at all! The best thing of all is that this topic is essentially an issue that we are only now getting bent out of shape about. The abuse of the environment for our own gain. It's terrible the things that we have done to nature in order to benefit ourselves. I found learning what the power plants do to the falls fascinating!
There are so many wonderful things I could say about this book, but I hate being one of a bunch of reviews of the same book. People get bored! I couldn't not review it at all, though, because I loved it and I think lots and lots of people still need to read it. Buchanan captured everything so well, it is really a wonderfully written novel that deserves all the praise in the world. If you haven't read it yet, you should!
By the way, isn't that just about the most wonderful cover ever? See, that is what a cover should be like. Not those annoying headless women!
My thanks to Harper Collins Canada for sending me this book!

Browse Inside this book Get this for your site

HT News

Over at Historical-fiction.com you can win a copy of Shauna Roberts book, Like Mayflies in the Stream, which is a retelling inspired by the Epic of Gilgamesh. There is a guest post as well where you can learn more about this book! You can also win a copy of Virgin and the Crab by Robert Parry (as long as you don't live in Australia or New Zealand, but I am trying hard not to take that personally!). The book is about Elizabeth I and John Dee, which sounds fascinating! Arleigh also has a copy of In the Company of the Courtesan by Sarah Dunant to give away to a lucky winner.

Lisa from Bookblab has two contests going at the moment. The first is a signed copy of Outlander and the other is from Susan Higginbotham's Hugh and Bess.

Marie from The Burton Review has an interview with Diane Haeger about her new book, The Queen's Mistake. There is also a giveaway so be sure to check it out. There is also a chance to win a copy of this book at Teddy's blog!

The Outlander by Gil Adamson

In 1903 a mysterious, desperate young woman flees alone across the west, one quick step ahead of the law. She has just become a widow by her own hand.
Gil Adamson's extraordinary novel opens in heart-pounding mid-flight and propels the reader through a gripping road trip with a twist -- the steely outlaw in this story is a grief-struck nineteen-year-old woman. As the young widow encounters characters of all stripes -- unsavoury, wheedling, greedy, lascivious, self-reliant, and occasionally generous and trustworthy -- Adamson weds her brilliant literary style to the gripping, moving, picaresque tale of one woman's deliberate journey into the wild.
When Gil Adamson published her first two books, a volume of poetry (Primitive; 1991) and a collection of stories (Help Me, Jacques Cousteau; 1995), readers immediately recognized a unique and unusually compelling voice, one that partnered the random and the surreal with a finely tuned technical brilliance. The Outlander more than fulfills the promise of that voice.

Description from Amazon.ca

My Thoughts:

I finished this book on Saturday. As I am writing this review up, it is Sunday. If only I could do this all the time I would probably have more readers and better reviews! Unfortunately, it takes me forever to get around to review writing this year. I am still writing reviews from months ago and I doubt I will review everything that I read this year. I have to review some books, though, and this is one of the priorities. I try to read a fair amount of Canadian literature. Some I love, while some is just okay. This book falls in the love category! It's crazy popular at my library right now because it was shortlisted for the Canada Reads, but it was so worth the wait! Gil Adamson is going on to my Canadian Authors That I Love List, that's for sure!

When the novel begins we have a 19-year-old girl on the run. We are not told why or what, but we understand that something horrible has happened. She is dressed in her widows black and is so frightened that she does not even plan ahead to bring any money with her. It is only as the novel progresses that we learn anything about her. Then, you have to figure out what the lies are and what the truth is as she begins to tell her tale to the people that she meets along the way. You soon know, though, that a life on the run in Canada's wilderness is not the life she was raised for. She was raised in a good home with at least a couple servants that did all the domestic work for her and she never was taught how to survive in the wilderness on her own. You learn and adapt, though, and it is amazing how much she grows during the course of the novel.

For those that need a reminder, life in Canada's west is not ideal. During 1903 it would have been largely uninhabited and barren. When she decides to run out into the wilds, she runs the risk of dying of exposure and never running into another human being. Even now, there are large sections of the country that are not suitable for large-scale civilization, so it wouldn't be impossible for this story to be taking place now instead of a little over a hundred years before. What I am leading up to saying is that this is not a happy novel. It has happy moments, but life is hard and Adamson make sure you know it. There are moments where you honestly think nothing else horrible could happen to the main character, but it is never unbelievable. Coupled with some great secondary characters, Adamson has herself a winner here.

I strongly recommend this book! It's hard to review it, though, because you are supposed to discover the story as you go along. Even telling you her name, I think, is a spoiler! So, I am going to leave it at this and hope that you will be curious enough to discover what happened for yourself.

A Fatal Waltz by Tasha Alexander

At her friend Ivy's behest, Emily reluctantly agrees to attend a party at the sprawling English country estate of Lord Fortescue, a man she finds as odious as he is powerful. But if Emily is expecting Lord Fortescue to be the greatest of her problems, she is wrong. Her host has also invited Kristiana von Lange, an Austrian countess who was once linked romantically with Emily's fiancé, the debonair Colin Hargreaves. What Emily believes will be a tedious evening turns deadly when Fortescue is found murdered, and his protégé, Robert Brandon—Ivy's husband—is arrested for the crime.

Determined to right this terrible wrong and clear Robert's name, Emily begins to dig for answers, a quest that will lead her from London's glittering ballrooms to Vienna's sordid backstreets. Not until she engages a notorious anarchist in a game of wits does the shocking truth begin to emerge: the price of exonerating Robert can be paid only by placing Colin in deadly peril. To save her fiancé, Emily must do the unthinkable: bargain with her nemesis, the Countess von Lange.

Some times there are books that are just a perfect fit for a reader. Both this series, and Deanna Raybourn's Lady Julia Grey series are that for me.

If I was to create a list of things that I love in a book, not specifically a mystery, but just any book, then at the top of the list would be historical setting, drool worthy hero, unusual locations, and a imaginative storyline. Throw in a mystery, a house party and

Set in Victorian times, Lady Emily Ashton has grown since the events of the first book in the series. She has found she has a nose for investigation, something that is not necessarily always appreciated by the people around her, especially her friend Ivy's politician husband, Robert. Robert is eager to rise through the political ranks, and as such has allied himself with Lord Fortescue.

When Ivy invites Emily to join them for a house party, she joins them, not realising that amongst the guests there will be one of her fiance Colin Hargreaves' former loves and some times partner in his role as an agent for the British Crown, Countess. With Colin called away on business for the Crown, Emily is left to fend for herself in a hostile environment, with the Countess Kristiana von Lange taking every opportunity she can to undermine the relationship between Colin and Emily.

Worse still, when the host of the house party is found dead, Robert is presumed to be the murderer, and a distraught Ivy calls on Emily to assist with the investigation. Emily is drawn into a complex web of plots and intrigues, and finds herself in Vienna, dealing with royalty, anarchists, old murders and jealous ex lovers. It certainly doesn't help that it appears that Colin may be hiding something from her.

As with so many of these types of novels where the heroine is to be a strong, independent woman, as much as the author tries to maintain the historical integrity of the characters, it is not always possible to completely keep modern attitudes and actions from creeping in, but it is usually minimal. Some of the plotting did seem a little overly contrived, but I guess when you want to cover such a broad range of themes and relationships, plus provide a resolution to a couple of mysteries that will happen.

The one thing that the author did do is to provide a delicious morsel in the very end of the novel. As soon as I closed the book I was ready for the next book in the series. Fortunately, after waiting for a few months, I shouldn't have to wait too much longer to actually read it. Tears of Pearl was released at the beginning of last month and is currently sitting on my library book shelf calling my name.

You can read my review of the previous two books in this series here and can find out more about Tasha Alexander's books, including information on the locations used in her novels at her website.

Rating 4/5

Winners of Lady Vernon and her Daughter

You could be forgiven for wondering if we had forgotten about drawing the names of the ten winners of Lady Vernon and her Daughters by Jane Rubino and Caitlin Rubino-Bradway, and you might not be too far from the truth! It did temporarily slip my mind, so here are the names of the ten lucky winners.

Please contact us at historical.tapestry@gmail.com with your contact details and we will pass them onto the publisher to send your books to you. If we haven't heard from you within five days we will redraw the name of another winner.

Congratulations to:

Emily from Fantasy Fairytales Retold
Janicu from Janicu's Book Blog
Marie from ZQuilts
Ellie
Lois
Paula
Sandra
Anita from Park Avenue Princess
Jessica (with a Yahoo address)
Barb from Meditative Reading

We are hoping to have a guest post from the authors of this book shortly, so expect to hear more from us about this book!

HT News

Normally we keep to items of interest about historical fiction that we come across, but today I wanted to say something about a historical fiction blogger. A huge congratulations to Meghan from Medieval Bookworm who gets married today. We wish them both every happiness.

Hot on the heels of winning the Booker Prize for fiction, Hilary Mantel has a piece in the Guardian newspaper talking about historical fiction.

Elizabeth Chadwick has posted an excerpt of her current work in progress over at her excerpts blog.

Giveaway details:


You can win a copy of Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel at Historically Obsessed.

At Enchanted by Josephine you can win a copy of Helen Hollick's Pendragon's Banner. You can also win this book at Passages to the Past.

Michele from A Reader's Respite is giving away a copy of Sharon Kay Penman's Falls the Shadow. Check out her giveaway announcement here, delivered as only Michele can!

Steven Till has a copy of Ice Land by Betsy Tobin up for grabs.

Why I Love Vincent Van Gogh by Sheramy Bundrick

Everybody loves Vincent van Gogh. Or at least it seems that way: he attracts millions of people to museums and exhibitions; he sells thousands of posters, not to mention the barrage of van Gogh shower curtains, coffeecups, and even action figures. Most people recognize his most famous pictures. He’s even been the butt of sitcom jokes.

Why do I love Vincent van Gogh? Partly for the same reasons everyone else does. His paintings knock my socks off, for starters. The first time I visited the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam in 2007, I was so dizzied by the colors, textures, and brushstrokes confronting me at every turn that I had to sit down, take a deep breath. Long before that, as a little girl I remember staring at “Starry Night” in a hand-me-down 1960s encyclopedia and being drawn into its swishes and swirls. Van Gogh’s art speaks to me the way it speaks to a lot of people.

But the Vincent I’ve grown to love in the past few years is not the Vincent cliché and popular culture speak about. He’s more complicated than that. The severed ear? Only part of the story. The solitary mad genius slapping paint on canvas in a lonely garret? Mostly mythology. What about “Starry Night”? Honestly, he didn’t like that painting very much. It barely gets a mention in the letters to his brother Theo.

So who is the “real” Vincent? Uncovering him, as with any historical figure, presents certain challenges, but it is still possible to delve beyond cliché. His letters are a wonderful place to start: hundreds of them survive, pages and pages of his thoughts on art and life. From them we learn van Gogh was extraordinarily well-read; that he was fluent in multiple languages; that he possessed a photographic memory and could vividly recall a Rembrandt he’d seen a decade earlier. Contrary to the image of the crazy painter wielding a frenzied brush, his artistic choices were deliberate and carefully thought out. A former art dealer, he was knowledgable about the contemporary market. He made important connections with fellow artists, and while he didn’t sell many works for money, he frequently exchanged his paintings with others to increase his exposure. And he wanted love. Almost more than anything, he wanted a family of his own. One of the deepest regrets of his life was that he never had a wife and children, or a real home.

This is the Vincent I wanted to write about in Sunflowers. The Vincent who could be stubborn and even selfish, but who also possessed tenderness and compassion. I didn’t want to dwell on the darkness and the illness, although I could not ignore those things. I wanted to show that there was optimism and light in his life too — big ideas and big dreams. As his own brother Theo said, a big heart. With each letter I read and each painting I studied, I think like my character Rachel I fell a little more in love with this Vincent – the real Vincent van Gogh.


You can find out more about this book at Sheramy's website and at her blog, Van Gogh's Chair. The book was released on 13 October.

Sasmira: L'Appel by Vicomte

Until more or less 10 years ago, I wasn't a comics fan. One day at my local library I decided to pick up some less known titles during one of those “I have to try new things” kind of phase. The book was called Sasmira, a mysterious time travel who caught me right away under its spell.

The story starts in modern Paris. While walking in the street, Stan, a known musician, hears someone calling his name. He sees then a very old woman who gives him an strange ancient ring and asks him to return to her. Moments later she dies in his arms. Trying to know her identity, he finds in her pocket an old photograph dating from the beginning of the 20th century. To his astonishment, he feels powerfully attracted to one of the women portrayed. His curiosity awaken, he tries to find out more about the house he sees in the picture and asks for the help of his girlfriend, Bertille.

After some inquires, Stan finally finds the location of the house and sneaks out trying to get there alone. Furious with him, Bertille immediately follows. Arriving to the house, they find a secret cave and suddenly they feel irresistibly drawn to each other and have sex. When they awake, they are suddenly in another era...

This is, until today, one of my favorite historical comics. Not only the drawings are beautiful, but the story is compelling mixing mystery, adventure, history and even romance very well. The characters are endearing, especially the young woman, Bertille. She is sharp, intelligent and very outspoken. In the other hand we have the quiet and secretive Stanislas. We feel they have a recent relationship and when Stan disappears for weeks without any explanation, disturbed by his encounter with the old woman, Bertille immediately imagines he was having an affair. She is exasperated by his behavior but her attraction for him is too strong. Even if she helps Stan in any way she can, she never forgets to tell him what she thinks of him, now and then, in a very humorous way.

The beautiful drawings, the precision and detail of the costumes and surroundings, especially at the mansion, are one of the strong points of this book. It's really a wonderful work! I confess that it was one of the reasons why I was attracted to the book in the first place and I was happy to see the story matched the drawings perfectly. The underwear, the jewels are perfectly captured. The among of research done is obvious in each single page.

(image Coinbd.com)

This first volume called: “The Calling” (L'Appel), shows us the beginning of an unpredictable story that I really cannot wait to continue reading. Until today only the first book was publish but the second is announced to be release very soon. I've been waiting for the sequel for more than 10 years, so I can only say that I'm excited!

HT News

Julianne Douglas from Writing the Renaissance has interviewed Sheramy Brundrick about her new book Sunflowers. There is also a giveaway.

Over at Random Jottings of a Book and Opera Lover it is Georgette Heyer week!

Giveaway updates:

It's the Literate Housewife's birthday, and she is giving her readers gifts! There are a number of HF reads amongst the prizes, so check out all the details here. And don't forget to say Happy Birthday!

Elizabeth from Scandalous Women is giving away a copy of the Booker Prize winning novel Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel.

Over at Historically Obsessed you can win a copy of Pendragon's Dragon by Helen Hollick.

Aarti from Booklust is giving away a copy of White as Bone, Red as Blood. To find out more about this title, please click here to read the book description.

Douglas Jacobson on Why I Love War Stories

We are very pleased today to welcome Douglas W Jacobson, author of Night of Flames. This is his entry in our ongoing Why I Love series of posts. You can read my review of Douglas' book here.


I must correct myself straight off. I don’t really love war stories as much as I do stories about the people caught up in them. War is as much a part of the human experience as breathing. Throughout history there have always been conflicts among people and there always will be. It is part of our nature as fallible human beings.

War is an extension of conflict taken to the extreme. And the ultimate tragedy of war is that the people who suffer the most are the common people swept up in it, those who had nothing to do with starting it and whose only desire is for the strength and good fortune to live through it.

In his book, World Crisis, Winston Churchill wrote, “Thus when all the trumpets sounded, every class and rank had something to give . . . but none gave more, or gave more readily than the common man or woman.” In those eloquent words lie the essence of the story I endeavored to tell in writing Night of Flames. Through the characters in the story—Anna Kopernik, a university professor in Krakow, Poland and her husband, Jan, a cavalry officer—I have attempted to pay tribute to the countless acts of nobility and courage performed by common people caught up in the catastrophe of humanity’s darkest hour. What Anna and Jan endured during the long night of Nazi occupation is exactly what hundreds of thousands of real life people endured during this greatest and most damaging of all wars. I have tried, through this work of fiction, to honor their bravery and their memory so that future generations may know the real tragedy of war.

In closing I would repeat the quotation from the legendary general of the 1st World War, Ferdinand Foch, which has served as an inspiration in my writing; “The most powerful weapon on earth is the human soul of fire.”

Douglas W. Jacobson is an engineer, business owner and World War Two history enthusiast. Doug has traveled extensively in Europe researching stories of the courage of common people caught up in extraordinary circumstances. His debut novel, Night of Flames: A Novel of World War Two was published in 2007 by McBooks Press, and was released in paperback in 2008. Night of Flames won the 2007 OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT AWARD from the Wisconsin Library Association. Doug has also published articles on Belgium’s WW2 escape organization, the Comete Line; Poland’s 1st Armored Division; and the liberation of Antwerp. Doug has just completed his second novel set in Europe at the end of WW2. You can visit his blog at www.douglaswjacobson.blogspot.com.

HT Recommends: In search of Henrys!

Brenna recently contacted us asking the following question:

Ever since reading Sharon Kay Penman's trilogy on Henry II, I have made it my mission to read about England starting with William the Conqueror to Richard III. However, after finishing "Within the Fetterlock", I am now stuck. I need some recommenations on books dealing with Henry IV, Henry V, and Henry VI please! I prefer historical fiction, but right now I'd settle for just about anything. I have spent the last two days looking on amazon.con and all I came up with was The Star of Lancaste by Jean Plaidy and Crown In Candlelight by Rosemary Jarmon. Please oh please help!

Have to say Brenna, there's not a lot of HF out there on these three Henrys! Here's some that I did manage to locate:

Henry IV

A Bloody Field by Shrewsbury by Edith Pargeter

Henry IV Part 1 and Part 2 by William Shakespeare

Men of Iron by Howard Pyle


Henry V

Good King Harry by Denise Giardina

Harry of Monmouth by A M Maughan

Fortune Made His Sword by Martha Rofheart (also titled Cry "God for Harry")

Henry V by William Shakespeare

Royal Sword at Agincourt by Pamela Bennetts

The Whyte Hart by PC Doherty

Walk with Peril by Dorothy VS Jackson

Seven for St Crispins Day by Maureen Peters

Henry VI

Here Comes Harry by Hilda Lewis

The Coveted Crown by Freda M Long


Special thanks to Historicalnovels.info, and to the extremely knowledgeable folk at Historicalfictiononline.com who I turned to when I couldn't find much in the way of books on these three kings!

Does anyone have any other recommendations for Brenna?

Image of Henry IV from Wikipedia.

HT News

Welcome to a supersized version of HT News! I have been busy out and about and so I am woefully behind on blogging and on seeing what good things are going on in the Historical Fiction blogiverse!

Have you entered our giveaway for Lady Vernon and her Daughter, A novel of Jane Austen's Lady Susan by Jane Rubino and Caitlin Rubino-Bradway? We are giving away 10 copies so there is a good chance to win! See all the giveaway details in this post. There is another chance to win Lady Vernon and her Daughter at Historical-fiction.com.

Ana and Alex both participate in another blog called Lights, Camera...History which focuses on period dramas. The blog has been in existence for two years, and so to celebrate, they are having a giveaway of a period drama DVD. The winner gets to choose from a selection of titles. Head over to Lights, Camera...History! to check out all the details.

Sarah from Passages to the Past has posted Part 2 of the Visual Preview of the Spring season. Lots of fabulous historical fiction books to hear about! I always add lots of books to my TBR list when Sarah does these posts.

Philippa Gregory has been interviewed by the LA Times about the Tudor smear campaign against the previous reigning family!

Michelle Moran is still working the blogosphere. This time you can read an interview with her at Dolleygurl's blog, The Maiden's Court.

There's a new(ish) book challenge that historical fiction lovers might be interested in! Heidenkind's Art History Challenge started at the beginning of September, but I hadn't heard of it until now!

Elizabeth Chadwick has shared news of book deals to publish some of her books in Hungary and Turkey. I can't imagine how cool it must be to be able to see your work being published in other languages!

Coming up later this week we have a guest post from Sheramy Brundrick who's book Sunflowers is released soon. You can read more about Sheramy and her book in an interview with Catherine Delors at her blog, Versailles and More

More giveaway details:

Do you like your historical fiction to have a gothic feel to it? If so you might be interested in the current giveaway over at Obsessed with Books. You have a chance to win a copy of Perfume by Patrick Suskind, The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova or Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon.

Over at The Burton Review, there is a chance to win a copy of The Other Mr Darcy by Monica Fairview.

Amy from Passages to the Past has a lot of giveaways on at the moment, and she has just announced another one, this time for Diane Haeger's The Queen's Mistake.

Blog Tour: Night of Flames by Douglas Jacobson

Today we are pleased to be participating in the blog tour for Douglas Jacobson's WWII novel, Night of Flames.

In 1939 the Germans invade Poland, setting off a rising storm of violence and destruction. For Anna and Jan Kopernik the loss is unimaginable. She is an assistance professor at a universitry in Krakow; he, an officer in the Polish cavalry. Separated by the war, they must find their own way in a world where everything they ever knew is gone.

Anna's father, a prominent Polish intellectual, is deported to a death camp, and Anna must flee to Belgium where she joins the Resistance. Meanwhile, Jan escapes with the battered remnants of the Polish army to Britain. When British intelligence asks him to return to Poland in an undercover mission to contact the Resistance, he seizes the chance to search for his missing wife.

Though the long night of Nazi occupation, Anna, Jan, and ordinary people across Europe fight a covert war of sabotage and resistance against the overwhelming might of the German war machine. The struggle seems hopeless but they are determined to take back what is theirs.

At the beginning of the year Anna and Serena announced the War Through the Generations reading challenge, focusing on WWII. Very early on in the challenge, they featured posts from Douglas Jacobson, author of Night of Flames, where he talked about some members of the resistance in Belgium. I think I had heard of Night of Flames before that, but it was definitely those guest posts which convinced me that I needed to read the book. I am certainly glad that I did so.

The main characters in Night of Flames are Anna Kopernik, daughter of a university academic and her husband, Jan who is a Polish cavalry officer. With the inevitable onset of war with Germany, Anna and Jan have been separated for quite some time when the novel opens. Anna is in Krakow when the city is bombed. She barely escapes with her life, and it is the start of the first of many close shaves for her as she tries to survive along with her Jewish friend Irene and Irene's son Justyn, starting with a nightmarish drive back to her home in Warsaw.

When she returns home she finds that her father has been arrested, and that due to some tenuous links with resistance groups she too is a target of the German authorities, Anna must use those links to find a way out of Poland quickly.

Meanwhile, Jan is fighting battles against the German enemies, often mismatched. There is one scene where the Polish cavalry is on horseback riding through a forest when the German airplanes start firing on them. My heart was racing as I read through that scene.

As the separation lengthens, both Jan and Anna find themselves outside of their homeland, involved in organisations devoted to fighting against the Germans in different countries. The story begins to encompass the actions of the resistance in Belgium, and for Jan, details of how a Polish officer becomes involved in work behind enemy lines as orchestrated by the British armed forces.

When, as part of his undercover work, Jan finds himself in Poland, he begins the search to find out what has happened to his wife. The question is can he do what he has been ordered to, survive and find his wife. And will she survive her own trials for long enough to be found.

For all that I enjoyed this book, there were some flaws. The most obvious was the introduction of several different points of view. For example, early on, there are just a few pages which are told from the point of view of a German soldier. Whilst I got what the author was trying to achieve with these brief interludes, some times they were a distraction. To be fair, at the moment I am reading another book with a WWII setting at the moment, and the author uses the same multiple view points, some of which are stronger than others.

I also found some of the events, particularly in relation to Anna in the later stages of the book to be a bit cliched, but by that time was emotionally invested enough in the characters, particularly Anna, so that I just wanted to know what happened next.

Overall this was a good read with vivid scenes, some relatively unknown history and a fascinating look at life inside the Resistance organisations, particularly in Belgium. So often, WWII literature use France as their location, so it was a change to read about Poland and Belgium.

I enjoyed it very much and I hope to read more from this author. If you are looking for an interesting read about WWII, or a book to read for the War Through the Generations reading challenge, then this book would be worth taking a look at!

HT News

The big news today has to be the announcement of the Man Booker prize - Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall, set during the time of Henry VIII. Congrats to Hilary, and win for all lovers of historical fiction!



In other news...

Recently at Love Romance Passion there was a post titled 10 Reasons Why I Can't Read Georgette Heyer. Now, there is the opposing view - 10 Reasons To Love Georgette Heyer, and now there is a chance to vote on either perspective!

Giveaway news!

Booklogged is giving away a copy of Cleopatra's Daughter by Michelle Moran.

Would you like to read Margaret Campbell Barnes The Tudor Rose? There are several chances to win this book around that I am aware of including at Passages to the Past, Medieval Bookworm, and at our own Teddy Rose's So Many Precious Books, So Little Time.

I have mentioned a couple of places where you can win copies of Lady Vernon and her Daughters, including our very own huge giveaway. There is also a chance to win one of five copies at Enchanted by Josephine.

The Saint and The Fasting Girl by Anna Richenda

SISTER GEORGIA LIVES AT THE CENTER of a bustling Yorkshire nunnery at the eve of the English Reformation. Yet she is no ordinary nun. Georgia and her sisters follow the ways of the legendary Saint Isela, recording her signs and miracles and preparing for her return.

But the archbishop of London, Philip SeVerde, a man rising in Henry VIII’s royal court, cannot bear this ‘wild’ nunnery of the north. Driven by greed and a lust for power, SeVerde demands that the nuns submit to his control and strict monastic rule. Georgia is persecuted and tortured, yet she refuses to back down.

Drawing strength and visions from an ancient relic, Georgia must ensure that her mystical group of nuns survive the meddling of the corrupt archbishop. She must undergo an epic journey and endure, lifetime after lifetime, until the promise of Saint Isela can be fulfilled. It is the story of The Saint and the Fasting Girl.

The Saint and the Fasting Girl is a story divided in two parts. In the first Georgia is the Abbess in a Yorkshire Abbey that follows the ways of St Isela. The Saint has died and promised to return so Georgia lives to see that moment. When the story opens, the abbey and the nearest village are under attack; Georgia has a vision and knows she must save the baby girl whose birth is eminent as she will be an important part of St Isela's return.

Georgia manages to keep the Abbey safe but Phillip SeVerde, the archbishop of London, wants to control the land. They'll both fight for it, with SeVerde sending troops and Georgia trying to evade them while raising Lo, the baby who she believes will grow to be awakened to St Isela's story and eventually lead to St Isela’s return. However, in a period of religious instability that is the Kingdom of Henry VIII, the abbey ends up destroyed and Georgia is killed.

On the second part of the book a young girl, Jane, realises that she is Georgia. She must devote herself to prepare the way for St Isela’s return and the first thing is to look for the sisters who lost their home when the abbey was destroyed and to look for St Isela's treasure that she had hidden in the abbey.

While Jane is still a girl, she behaves very much like Georgia, set in her beliefs and determined to restore Isela's ways. She only behaves as a teenager when she grows fond of a young servant and we see them bickering their way to love. But her main concern is to save Lo, now a grown woman, from the man who has brutalised her and to find St Isela's treasure.

I think what I enjoyed the most about the book was how the author can really make us understand how religion was an integral part of the medieval mind. Everything was ruled by religion and social class. Not only we see in the story a lot of violence towards the lower orders but that behaviour seems to be expected and accepted by everyone.

I did like the first half of the book better because I had some trouble warming up to Jane. I was surprised by how she enters the story and in the beginning she is not very likeable. I must say that one of the interesting things of the story is that there are several twists that keep you guessing. In fact, given all that happens, the ending is also quite surprising. I only wish the "fasting girl" aspect had been more explored, both Georgia and Jane don't eat when they are worried and upset but they didn't seem to fast on purpose and I was very curious about that angle of the story after having read something about it on Anna Richenda's website.

I found this a very interesting and original story with its focus on monastic life and would definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading about that period.

One final word to thank the author Anna Richenda for having sent me a copy.

Grade: 4/5