Upcoming Releases - April 2010

This is a compilation of titles we have found in several places on the web, feel free to add your suggestions if we missed them.

April 1

Prisoner of the Inquisition - Theresa Breslin
 Within the Hollow Crown - Margaret Campbell Barnes. ( Reissue)
 A Murderous Procession - Ariana Franklin
The Fallen Kings - Cynthia Harrod-Eagles
Duplicate Death - Georgette Heyer (rerelease)
The Hostage Queen - Freda Lightfoot
The Mistaken Wife - Rose Melikan
She Walks in Beauty - Siri Mitchell
The Lost Summer of Louise May Alcott - Kelly O'Connor McNees
The Sheen on the Silk - Anne Perry
The Spider King - Lawrence Schoonover
The Queen’s Necklace - Antal Szerb
Black Hills  - Dan Simmons
Captive Queen - Elizabeth Weir (UK release)

April 6
Claude & Camille: A Novel of Monet - Stephanie Cowell
No Will But His: A Novel of Kathryn Howard  - Sarah A. Hoyt
A Golden Webb - Barbara Quick
Mistress of Rome - Kate Quinn
River in the Sky - Elizabeth Peters

April 7
Daughters of the Witching Hill - Mary Sharratt

April 13
Sacred Hearts - Sarah Dunant (US)
All The Queen's Players - Jane Feather
The Heretic's Wife - Brenda Rickman Vantrease

April 27
Secrets of The Tudor Court - D L Bogdan
The Mysterium - Paul Doherty

April 29
Revenger - Rory Clements (UK)
Tiger Hills - Sarita Mandanna

April 30
The Smart - Sarah Blakewell
Child of the Morning - Pauline Gedge

Susan Higginbotham on Why I love the Woodvilles

While Richard III lost the Battle of Bosworth, he has arguably won the battle of historical fiction. It’s rare to find a recent historical novel where he’s not depicted sympathetically, and it’s equally rare to find a novel where Elizabeth Woodville is depicted sympathetically. Even in the novels where she’s the heroine, she’s cold, calculating, and unscrupulous, and if the author can toss in a dash (or more) of sorcery, so much the better. 

But with The Stolen Crown, I came out of the closet, so to speak: I am a Woodvillian. Not only do I love Elizabeth Woodville, I love her large family.

Now, a Woodvillian doesn’t get that way overnight. Having first gained an interest in the Wars of the Roses through Shakespeare, I naturally gravitated toward novels set during that conflict when I became a voracious reader of historical fiction. As I read novel after novel depicting the Woodvilles in a negative light, I began asking myself, were they really that bad? My curiosity soon led me to the history shelves of the local university library and to my answer: No. 

We “know,” for instance, that Elizabeth Woodville procured the Earl of Desmond’s execution because he spoke slightingly about her marriage to Edward IV. But do we? No contemporary source links Elizabeth to his death, and none of her enemies made such an accusation against her, despite the great advantage to which such charges could have been put to use as anti-Woodville propaganda. We “know” that the greedy Woodvilles accused the unfortunate Thomas Cook of treason just so they could despoil him of his goods. But the Lancastrian plot that Cook was convicted of concealing was very real; some of the actual plotters paid with their lives, whereas Cook got off with a large fine and remained a wealthy man nonetheless. We “know” that Elizabeth Woodville and her mother, Jacquetta, were practicing witches—but the accusations against them, made by their enemies, were never proven.

What, by contrast, do we know about the Woodvilles that can be substantiated? We know that Jacquetta, Duchess of Bedford, married a handsome young man far beneath her social station without royal license, risking the king’s disfavor, and that this shocking match produced twelve children who lived to adulthood (including Kate, the heroine of The Stolen Crown). We know that Anthony Woodville, Earl Rivers, was an expert jouster, that he was one of the earliest patrons of the printer William Caxton, and that he spent the night before his execution writing poetry. We know that Edward Woodville charmed Ferdinand and Isabella and died gallantly fighting for a lost cause. We know that Edward IV, King of England, could have had a wealthy, well-connected foreign princess as a bride, but instead risked the anger of his advisors and married Elizabeth Woodville, a widowed commoner with little property and two young sons.

 
An interesting lot—and, I think, a lovable one.  My hope is that when you read The Stolen Crown, you’ll come to love them too—or at the very least, to realize that far from being cardboard villains, the Woodvilles were a lot like most of us, neither wholly good nor wholly bad, but somewhere along that vast spectrum that lies in between.

Book of Fires by Jane Borodale

It's the year 1752 and poor Agnes Trussel, a teenager living in the rural country side of Sussex, in in trouble. She is pregnant. What is she to do? Now that the boy has had his way with her all he does is laugh and make jokes at her expense. If she tells her parents, they will force the two teenagers to marry. She can't bear the thought of that.

Agnes comes up with a plan when she happens to find a neighbor dead whith come coins spead out in front of her. The coins are no use to a dead woman, so Agnes takes them and plans her escape to London.

Agnes has never been in London before and finds it a dirty and scarry place but she knows that she must find a way to survive. She happens upon a house that has a sign for help wanted. She knocks on the door and the man tells her that he already found somebody. However, he gives her a second look and thinks that perhaps he could use her after all. Mr. Blacklock makes fireworks and takes on Agnes as his apprentice.

As the weeks pass Agnes settles into her new life and is happy. However, she knows that she cannot conceal her pregnancy forever. Little does she know, but Mr. Blacklock has some secrets of his own.

It took me awhile to get into this book and to care for Agnes or the other characters. They just didn't have much depth to them. The story itself wasn't very beleavable. For instance, in her last triemester she tries to con a man in to marrying her and pass off the baby as his. At 7 months pregnant, I don't think so. It was very funny to me but it wasn't written to be funny.

That said, Borodale does a good job capturing 18th century life in the city and country side. I also found the pyrotechnics aspect interesting. Fireworks didn't have all of the variety of colors that they have today. They were just silver and white. Borodale certainly did her reaserch on time and place. This is Jane Borodale's first novel and she shows a lot of promise.

3/5

Winner of Pieces of Sky

Congratulations to


Silent Raven

who won a copy of Pieces of Sky by Kaki Warner.

Thanks everyone for participating!

HT Recommends - HF set in the Victorian Period

Valerie said:

I would be very pleased to receive your list of recommendations. I am most interested in the Victorian era.

Since the Victorian period is a favourite for some of the HT bloggers we were quite happy to come up with a list:


Tasha Alexander -  Emily Ashton series
Libba Bray - A Great and Terrible Beauty (YA with a touch of paranormal but definitely Victorian)
Tracey Chevalier - Falling Angels (opens at the very end of the Victorian era)
Jennifer Donnelly - The Tea Rose and The Winter Rose
Julia Gregson - The Water Horse (deals with the Crimean war)
Jane Harris - The Observations
Elizabeth Peters - Amelia Peabody series
Anne Perry - the Monk and the Pitts series
Deanna Raybourn - Julia Grey series
Rebecca Ryman - Olivia & Jai
Dan Simmons - Drood
Kate Summerscale - The Suspicions of Mr Whicher (NF about a murder)
Sarah Waters - Fingersmith and Affinity

And then there's always fiction written during that period as Gaskell's North and South, Mary Barton, Cranford; Wilkie Collins's The Woman in White

And finally there are some books we would like to read which are also set in that period: The Mysteries of  Glass by Sue Gee, The Sealed Letter by Emma Donoghue, Kept by D J Taylor, The Glass of Time by Michael Cox, The Crimson Petal and the White by Michael Faber, The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott by Kelly O'Connor McNees.

Would anyone like to suggest more titles to add to Valerie's TBR pile?

HT News

Current Giveaways:

Legacy by Susan Kay (used copy) from Passages to the Past
The Mapping of Love and Death by  Jacqueline Winspear (3 copies) at A Work in Progress
An Involuntary King by Nan Hawthorne at Carla Nayland Historical Fiction
William Marshal: The Flower of Chivalry by Georges Duby at Historical-Fiction.com 
Madonnnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean at A Reader's Respite 
The Stolen Crown by Susan Higginbotham (includes an interview) at Peeking Between the Pages

Silent on the Moor by Deanna Raybourn

This is a wickedly witty Lady Julia Grey mystery. 'There are things that walk abroad on the moor that should not. But the dead do not always lie quietly, do they, lady?' It is England, 1888. Grimsgrave Manor is an unhappy house, isolated on the Yorkshire moors, silent and secretive. But secrets cannot be long kept in the face of Lady Julia Grey's incurable curiosity. In the teeth of protests from her conventional, stuffy brother, Lady Julia decides to pay a visit to the enigmatic detective, Nicholas Brisbane to bring a woman's touch to his new estate. Grimsgrave is haunted by the ghosts of its past, and its owner seems to be falling into ruin along with the house. Confronted with gypsy warnings and Brisbane's elusive behaviour, Lady Julia scents a mystery. It's not long before her desire for answers leads her into danger unlike any other that she has experienced - and from which, this time, there may be no escape.

Silent on The Moor, the third Julia Grey mystery is a gothic and, it seemed to me, an homage to Wuthering Heights and the Brontës (they are mentioned…). There’s a big house partly in ruins, family secrets and a villain working in shadows.

This third installment of the series starts with Lady Julia Grey determined to follow Brisbane and force him to acknowledge his feelings for her. To do so she decides to accompany her sister Portia when she leaves for Brisbane’s new estate in Yorkshire, after being invited to help him organize the house.

On arrival they discover that the former owner’s mother and sisters are also living in the house and that Brisbane seems more remote than ever. Julia does get him to acknowledge some feelings for her but on the next day he lives on business leaving them alone in the house with its inhabitants. There’s an oppressive atmosphere in the house – Grimsgrave – and Julia’s curious nature soon leads her to try to find out more about the former owners - the Allenbys. They seem an odd family, too proud of their once royal blood that they preserved by marrying within the family. The last Allenby men were totally careless of their duty to protect and provide for their tenants. As for women, Lady Allenby is very devout and full of dignity, her daughter Ailith is a beautiful mysterious woman who shows Julia around and Hilda, the youngest daughter, is a bit of a wild child who only gets along with Julia’s brother Valerius.

Then Brisbane returns and an attempt is made on his life. Who tried to murder him and why? Was it really the person who confesses to the poisoning? There are a lot of secrets to uncover before they find the true culprit…

I really liked the atmosphere of the story, suspenseful and intriguing and I also liked that we got to know a lot more of Brisbane’s past. He has seemed a bit illusive in the previous books and now we know where he is coming from and what happened to his mother. I also liked Julia, she was sensible (most of the time) and determined to have him and proceeded accordingly not even letting the occasional jabs of the Misses Allenby get in the way of what she wanted. What I didn’t like was that in the end it felt that the only reason Brisbane was staying away from Julia was the money. And that that problem was too easily solved. I wished for a different solution, maybe his acceptance of their different status and fortunes.

I won’t say I liked this one as much as book 2, which was a really engaging murder mystery with a very fast pace but, I also enjoyed reading it with all those secrets from the past that kept affecting and tormenting everyone involved…

I can say that I'm looking forward to the next book but by now it is as much because of Julia's siblings as it is because of her and Brisbane. I quite liked them!

Grade: 4/5

HT News

The latest Historical Fiction Blogger's Round Table event has been launched, and the latest author to feature is one of our favourites here at Historical Tapestry. Check out all the details for the March event, featuring Elizabeth Chadwick and her latest US release, The Scarlet Lion, including a giveaway of both The Greatest Knight and The Scarlet Lion.

You can win a copy of Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler and Beside a Burning Sea by John Shors at Books and Movies

Another giveaway currently running is Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith at Wonder and Marvels. You can listen to an interview with Seth Grahame-Smith at Eye on Books.

Michele from A Reader's Respite is clearing her bookshelves, and the first book that she has to giveaway is Jewel of Medina by Sherry Jones, a book that was quite controversial when it came out a couple of years ago.

Back in January, each of us here at Historical Tapestry chose a book that we were looking forward to the most in the upcoming year. Ana's choice was Catherine Delors July release, For the King. Today Catherine Delors unveiled the book trailer for the book and because it is one of the books that we are Eagerly Anticipating, I am now sharing it with you all! 

Why I Love the Fourteenth Century by Rosanne E. Lortz

Choosing a century out of the timeline and crowning it king is a bit like choosing your favorite child. It seems unfair to pick just one. Out of all the centuries to pick, I have chosen the fourteenth. Many people may be surprised by my choice. The fourteenth century was a grim time; one of the greatest disasters imaginable overtook the Western world, with nearly half the European population perishing in the Black Plague. The fourteenth century was a bloody time; France and England became locked in the interminable struggle known as the Hundred Years’ War, with the Scots, the Spaniards, and the Germans joining in intermittently.

But despite these harsh realities, the fourteenth century was also a seminal time, a time of change, courage, and determination. Strong men and women saw the world that they had, took it in their hands, and began to mold it into something new. In religion, literature, societal structure, and warfare, mankind made monumental strides, preparing the way for the more earth-shattering changes that the Renaissance and Reformation would bring.

“It is absolutely necessary for salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman Pontiff.” Pope Boniface wrote these words at the dawn of the fourteenth century, increasing papal power as his predecessors had done for nearly a millennium. Anyone who disagreed with the pope was summarily excommunicated and condemned to hell. Since the pope was the picture of Christ on earth, Christ Himself was perceived as an iron taskmaster. The common people trembled in fear of God’s wrath, making lengthy pilgrimages and elaborate penance to avoid the pangs of Purgatory or damnation.

As the fourteenth century wore on, however, many movements arose in reaction to this stern picture of God. Julian of Norwich, an English mystic who claimed she had conversations with God, saw Christ as a caring mother, not a frowning judge. She taught that our sin produced suffering, suffering gave us knowledge, and knowledge brought us closer to a kind and merciful Father. John Wyclif, also a native of England, challenged the tyrannical claims of the pope, arguing that he did not truly represent Christ. Translating the Bible into the common tongue, Wyclif ensured that the priests would not have a monopoly on God’s Word. Fourteenth century religious thinkers like Julian and John Wyclif sent fissures through the foundation of the Roman church that would split her wide open in the centuries to come.

The world of literature paralleled and aided these developments in the world of religion. Dante and Chaucer used poetry to provide social criticism. Instead of confining themselves to the scholarly language of Latin, both men chose to write verse in the common tongue of their people. Dante’s Divine Comedy provided a literary corrective to the Roman church, showing Pope Boniface in hell and lyrically illustrating the goodness of God, the “Love that moves the sun and the other stars.” Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales satirized the greed and hypocrisy of the monks, nuns, pardoners, and friars that filled the Church, commending the charity of the simple parish priest as a model for the rest.

This new spirit of questioning, independence, and change manifested itself in all classes of society. By the beginning of the fourteenth century, the system of feudalism had already begun to creak and totter. The Black Plague nearly pushed it over. When half the labor force of Europe disappeared over night, noblemen found their manors and estates shorthanded and short tempered. France erupted with riotous serfs determined to avenge centuries of iniquitous treatment from their masters. England’s unhappy taxpayers had their own Peasants’ Revolt, wringing concessions from a frightened aristocracy.

Yet despite these domestic disturbances, France and England still found time to fight each other. England’s Edward III claimed the throne of France, by right of inheritance through his French mother, and set sail in force to make good his claim. This began an epic conflict, known as the Hundred Years’ War, which spanned five generations. The pitched battles of Crecy, Poitiers, and Agincourt showed that the old way of warfare was dying out. Mounted knights, the premier fighting unit of the earlier Middle Ages, fled in fear from armies of infantry and longbowmen. The first rumbles of cannon filled the air at Crecy, ushering in a new age of gunpowder.

Though the age of chivalry was passing away, its spirit still lingered on in the heroes of the fourteenth century battlefield. Edward, the Black Prince, became the pride of England, inspiring a strong national identity as his countrymen reveled in his victories. Sir Geoffroi de Charny, the finest knight in France, penned the Book of Chivalry, striving to instill in the new generation a respect for the evaporating institution of knighthood.

The fourteenth century was a hard time and it was a tumultuous time. It was a threshold, a lynchpin, a crucible. But in the words of one of my old teachers, “It’s only when something is hard that you have the chance to truly shine.” Men and women of faith, honor, and courage took the opportunity to think, to object, to write, to lead, to change—and that is why I love the fourteenth century.

You can find more about Rosanne E. Lortz and her novel at I Serve

I Serve, A Novel of The Black Prince by Rosanne E. Lortz

I had no idea, when I was offered this book for review of what was in store for me. After reading the blurb, I knew I couldn't resist it for a couple of reasons: it was a medieval, my favourite period, and one of the main characters was the Black Prince, about whom I've had a long lasting curiosity. It really was inevitable that I should start reading this book as soon as it arrived.

The story opens with Sir John Potenhale on a quest to find a woman, the widow of a man he fought in battle, with which he shared adventures and long conversations. At her request, he starts telling his story and how his life crossed with her dead husband.

Potenhale was a young squire following the English army during the Hundred Year war. His actions bring him to the attention of the Prince of Wales, the Black Prince, and he becomes part of his household. As they follow the path of war Potenhale grows in experience and in wisdom both in the battlefield and out of it.

Through the Prince's interest in the Fair Maid of Kent, Potenhale becomes acquainted with Margery, one of her ladies. While the interest seems mutual the young lady previous marriage to Lord Thomas Holland puts a hold in both the Prince's and Potenhale's aspirations.

For the next years, they will fight for England in French soil; they will learn strategy, when to make alliances and when to punish traitors. They will attend happy tourneys and they will face the merciless Black Death. In one of the battles Potenhale makes a prisoner of the French leader, Geoffroi de Charni. He returns to England with them until his ransom is paid and it is immediately obvious that he is the man whose widow he is telling the story to.

What could have been a dry read becomes a tale of an age of honour and chivalry, of being steadfast in the face of adversity and of pondering matters of life and death, when faced with your perceived destiny.

Charny, who wrote a book on the Art of Chivalry is a very interesting character and, in the end, become the one I was most fascinated with. It is a gift from the author that she writes her tale so well that when he was telling Potenhale and the Prince the story of the Templars I felt I was right beside them listening.

With Potenhale we witness one man's growth, a life's journey, gaining physical and intellectual maturity and through him we can see the fourteenth century way of life and way of thinking. This is a story about following a code of honour, the code of chivalry, about being virtuous, being true to God and to their Lady. Rosanne E. Lortz wrote an intelligent and engaging tale based in real characters and events that made this reading journey one of the most exhilarating of this year. Historical fiction doesn't get much better than this.

Grade: 5/5

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Come back March 23rd for Rosanne E. Lortz guest post on why she loves the fourteenth century.

HT News

Do you like your historical novels with a touch of mystery? If so, you may be interested in joining in The Historical Mystery Challenge which is being hosted by Mysteries and My Musings.

Author Catherine Delors has given her blog a gorgeous makeover! Speaking of makeover's have you visiting Historical Tapestry lately? We've had a bit of a spruce up too!

Have you seen our giveaway of Pieces of Sky by Kaki Warner? If you would like another chance to win this book, then there is another giveaway at Reading the Past, along with a guest post from the author.

Are you participating in the Year of the Historical Reading Challenge? If so, please note that there is a new site for the challenge.

Were you a fan of the Dear America books? Rebecca from Rebecca's Book Blog certainly was, and she is very excited that the series is being resumed, with a new book due out later this year.

Other giveaways:

Twilight of Avalon by Anna Elliott at Literate Housewife
Venetia Kelly's Travelling Show by Frank Delaney at Literate Housewife and also at Tales of a Capricious Reader
Shadow of the King by Helen Hollick at Peeking Between the Pages (includes an interview)
Impatient with Desire by Gabrielle Burton at Historical-Fiction.com (includes a guest post)
The Divine Sacrifice by Tony Hays at Passages to the Past (2 copies)
The Stolen Crown by Susan Higginbotham at Jenny Loves to Read

Oh la la! Why I Love the 17th Century

Our week in the 17th century with the Hoydens and Firebrands comes to a close with our final guest post, this time from Sandra Gulland.

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The 17th century was a period of vast change, bridging the Middle Ages and the Englightenment. Everything was happening, everything changing— and that makes for great stories.

I adore the 17th century, especially the later half, in France. The French experienced this exciting period of time in quite a different way from people in England. The 17th century in England was torn by revolution, witch-hunts, the Black Plague, and the Great Fire. Although France also suffered witch-hunts and Plague, it was not nearly to the same degree. In France, the 17th century was a period of great cultural flowering. In France, it was a party.

During this period, for example, the French discovered comfort (eyed with puritanical suspicion across the Channel), fresh vegetables (and all that we think of when we think of French cuisine), and privacy (and the romance that came with it).

Before the concept of privacy was born, people were always in company. A bathtub would be set up in the warmest room — usually the kitchen. With the concept of privacy, however, things changed: the lay-out of rooms, how one slept, bathed, relieved oneself.

The comfort revolution began with French gowns (enough of that rigid corset!), and from there came such innovations as the chest of drawers (instead of trunks) and padded armchairs (instead of wooden stools). The armchair led to the invention of the sofa  . . .  and, with that, of course, came the complete unraveling of all moral standards.

Oh la la!

(Illustration: Jean François de Troy’s  painting, "Reading Molière," illustrates the relaxed clothing, furniture and social interactions that came into vogue in France during the later part of the 17th century.)



Sandra Gulland is author of the Josephine B. Trilogy and Mistress of the Sun, which is set in the 17th century court of Louis XIV, the Sun King. She is currently writing another novel set in the same period.

Website: http://www.sandragulland.com/
Blog: http://sandragulland.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/3xzbgv
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Sandra_Gulland

Why I Love Writing About the 17th Century - Anita Davison

Our special theme week with the authors from Hoydens and Firebrands continues, this time featuring Anita Davison

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I've never asked myself this question, and had to think hard about my response. I think it goes back to those school trips to London landmarks. We lived within ten miles of the centre so it wasn't too much of an effort for the teachers to gather us into a coach and head for the Tower of London, St Pauls Cathedral, Hatfield House, Hampton Court, and all those vast tracts of parkland over which the Saxon kings used to hunt deer and still exist on a smaller scale.

That first view of St Pauls at the end of Ludgate Hill is an abiding memory I can conjur whenever I wish. I find it easy to visualise sedan chairs and men in petticoat breeches and longcoats with curly wigs strutting across the cobbles of Paternoster Row, where once rosary beads were sold. The river too holds it own magic, and I can imagine when in 1661, King Charles II raced his brother the Duke of York to a yacht race from Greenwich to Gravesend and back. The king won.

Even where modern architecture and paving slabs have replaced the old city, you can still turn a corner and find a section of ancient wall, or a picturesque Medieval church in a tiny graveyard where worn and pitted headstones lean drunkenly, their names long worn away by the rain and snow of centuries. Like St Olave's in Hart Street where Pepys is buried.

Some of the narrow, crooked streets are still there, many cobbled and linked by alleyways only wide enough for two people walking side by side, with evocative names like Seething Lane, Pudding Lane, where the fire of 1666 began Lime Street where the making and selling of lime went on. Lincolns Inn, Holborn where the palace of Henry de Lacy one stood. Marylebone, derived from St. Mary-on-the-Bourne, bourne being the Saxon name for a river. Moorfields, where in Charles II's time, the area were recreation grounds for wrestling-matches, foot-races, football, boxing and archery.

Every street carries it's own history, and although there is still a Regency, Georgian, and Victorian flavour to the city too, what I see is those square wooden carriages with leather flaps for windows, the coffee houses rammed with men in wigs and rouged cheeks smoking long clay pipes and discussing the latest shipping news. Ladies in vizards being handed into sedan chairs, the lids shut and curtains drawn to protect their privacy as they travel to, or from a lover. Housemaids in pattens stepping gingerly across slick cobbles strewn with refuse and dung, baskets on their arms with the day's produce from the street market.

Superimposed on the red buses and black taxis on tarmac and people chattering on mobiles is a parallel universe in my head that is still set firmly in the 1600's. Why do I love writing about the 17th Century? Because it still exists for me, and I love to revisit those old places in my writing and recapture the look, smell and feel of what life was once like.


Anita DavisonWebsite: http://www.anitadavison.com
Blog: http://thedisorganisedauthor.blogspot.com

Why I Love 17th Century Virginia by Kim Murphy

Our series of guest posts about the 17th Century by the lovely authors from Hoydens and Firebrands continues. This time our post is from Kim Murphy.

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Thank you for inviting us. I'm the odd one on Hoydens and Firebrands, as I'm the only Hoyden who writes about colonial America. Because I live in Virginia, I have also used the setting for my American Civil War novels. I find writing about where I live much easier to research by being able to visit the places where the history took place.


Why did I switch to the 17th century? I'm not really sure how it happened. I truly thought when I wrote about another time period that it would be during the American Revolution. In the early 1990s, I visited Jamestown and thought what a wonderful period to write about. One of the historical sites has replicas of the sailing ships that made the journey from England to Jamestown. I had a romantic notion of the colonists sailing to a new world and what sort of adventures must have awaited them. When I discovered there were no women on the first journey, I let my idea of writing about the period drop as I always like to include a strong woman in my stories.


After finishing my Civil War timeslip novel in 2007, I had a dilemma. I needed a new era to excite me and had a couple of ideas floating around in my head. One was that of a 17th-century witch. After a bit of research, I discovered Virginia did indeed have witch trials. Almost everyone in America associates Salem with witch trials, but Virginia has the dubious honor of being the first on the North American continent to hold such a trial. I was off and running.


The first group of English women arrived in Jamestown in 1609, which unfortunately coincided with the winter called the "Starving Time". I had expected my journey to be a colonial story. As it turns out, I was drawn to the plight of the Indians, commonly referred to as the Powhatan. In the historical records, I found where "many" colonists had run off to join the Powhatan. The act became punishable by death, leading me to believe it was far more common than many historians cared to admit.


Due to the lack of popularity for 17th-century stories, I again wrote a timeslip. Not only is my cunning woman (healer) trapped in modern times, she tells the tale of being caught between cultures, English and Powhatan. Current release date for The Dreaming: Walks Through Mist is January 2011.


Kim Murphy
www.KimMurphy.Net

Mary Sharratt: British Folk Magic and Familiar Spirits

In popular imagination, the figure of a witch is accompanied by her familiar, a black cat. Is there any historical authenticity behind this cliché? 

Our ancestors in the 16^th and 17^th centuries believed that magic was real. Not only the poor and ignorant believed in witchcraft and the spirit world—rich and educated people believed in spellcraft just as strongly. Cunning folk were men and women who used charms and herbal cures to heal, foretell the future, and find the location of stolen property. What they did was illegal—sorcery was a hanging offence—but few were arrested. The need for the services they provided was too great. Doctors were so expensive that only the very rich could afford them and the “physick” of this era involved bleeding patients with lancets and using dangerous medicines such as mercury—your local village healer with her herbal charms was far less likely to kill you.

Those who used their magic for good were called cunning folk or charmers or blessers or wisemen and wisewomen. Those who were perceived by others as using their magic to curse and harm were called witches. But here it gets complicated. A cunning woman who performs a spell to discover the location of stolen goods would say that she is working for good. However, the person who claims to have been falsely accused of harbouring those stolen goods could turn around and accuse her of sorcery and slander. Ultimately the difference between cunning folk and witches lay in the eye of the beholder.  

While witch-hunters were obsessed with extracting “evidence” of a pact between the accused witch and the devil, there’s little if any substantive proof of diabolical worship in Britain in this period. It seemed the black mass was a Continental European concept first popularised in Britain by King James I’ polemic, Daemonologie, a witch-hunter’s handbook and required reading for his magistrates. 

In traditional British folk magic, it was not the devil, but the familiar spirit who took centre stage. The familiar was the cunning person’s otherworldly spirit helper who could shapeshift between human and animal form. Elizabeth Southerns, aka Old Demdike, was a cunning woman of long standing repute, arrested on witchcraft charges in the 1612 Pendle witch hunt in Lancashire, England. When interrogated by her magistrate, she made no attempt to conceal her craft. In fact she described in rich detail how her familiar spirit, Tibb, first appeared to her when she was walking past a quarry at twilight. Assuming the guise of a beautiful, golden-haired young man, his coat half black, half brown, he promised to teach her all she needed to know about the ways of magic. When not in human form, he could appear to her as a brown dog or a hare. Her partnership with Tibb would span decades.


Mother Demdike was so forthcoming about her familiar because without one, she, as a cunning woman, would be a fraud. In traditional English folk magic, it seemed that no cunning man or cunning woman could work magic without the aid of their familiar spirit—they needed this otherworldly ally to make things happen.

Black cats were not the most popular guise for a familiar to take. In fact, familiars were more likely to appear as dogs. In the Salem witch trials of 1692, two canines were put to death as suspected witch familiars.
But the familiar was just as likely to assume human form, generally the opposite gender of their human partner—cunning men usually had female spirits while cunning women usually had male spirits.

Was there a connection between the familiar spirits and the Fairy Faith, the lingering belief in fey folk and elves? Popular belief in fairies in the Early Modern period is well documented. In his 1677 book, The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft, Lancashire author John Webster mentions a local cunning man who claimed that his familiar spirit was none other than the Queen of Elfhame herself. In 1576, Scottish cunning woman Bessie Dunlop, executed for witchcraft and sorcery at the Edinburgh Assizes, stated that her familiar spirit had been sent to her by the Queen of Elfhame. For more background on this subject, I highly recommend Emma Wilby’s scholarly study, Cunning Folk and Familiar Spirits, and Keith Thomas’s social history, Religion and the Decline of Magic.

Mary Sharratt’s new novel, DAUGHTERS OF THE WITCHING HILL (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, April 7), draws on the true story of Pendle cunning woman Mother Demdike. Visit her website: www.marysharratt.com and join her on tour: http://booktour.com/author/mary_sharratt#new-event

Giveaway: Pieces of Sky by Kaki Warner

To celebrate Kaki Warner blog tour, and because I loved Pieces of Sky so much, we are giving away my copy of her book. To enter just follow the rules:

- one entry per person
- leave a valid email adress
- open Worldwide
- giveaway closes the 24th March by midnight GMT

Good luck!

HT News

Congratulations to Rebecca Cantrell whose book A Trace of Smoke was awarded the The Bruce Alexander Memorial Historical Mystery Award at the recent Left Coast Crime event.

Also congratulations to the historical fiction authors who were announced as nominees for the long list of the Orange Prize for Fiction. Given that 12 of the 20 nominees have a historical setting (or at least partial historical setting), you have to say things look good for all historical fiction fans! (All links go to the Orange Prize website).

The Very Thought of You by Rosie Allison (set on the eve of WWII)
Savage Lands by Clare Clark (set in 1700s Louisiana)
The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver (set during the Mexican Revolution)
The Long Song by Andrea Levy (slavery)
The Wilding by Maria McCann (post English Civil War)
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel  (Tudor)
Black Mamba Boy by Nadifa Mohamed (1930s Africa)
The White Woman on a Green Bicycle by Monique Roffey (post Colonial Trinidad)
The Still Point by Amy Sackville (partially set at the end of 19th century)
The Help by Kathryn Stockett (1960s American South)
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters (post WWII UK)

Hilary Mantel was also recently awarded the National Book Critic's Circle award for fiction for Wolf Hall, so you would think that she would be a favourite to make it onto the Orange Prize shortlist.

On Twitter today, Deanna Raybourn unveiled the new cover concept for her next Lady Julia Grey book, Dark Road to Darjeeling. It is interesting, given that it is different from the more traditional half-headed woman on the cover, but it also has a nod to the 'Twilight' style cover.

I am possibly the last person to discover Laura's Reviews, but now I have found her, I will be returning! At the moment she is giving away The Stolen Crown by Susan Higginbotham (and there is a feature interview with Susan as well), a complete set of the Pendragon's Banner trilogy (and there is a guest post from Helen Hollick as well) and two copies of The Scarlet Lion by Elizabeth Chadwick (with an interview). There are also details of how to win a Quirks Classics prize pack.

There are also two giveaways at Scandalous Women. The first is for The Creation of Eve by Lynn Cullen and the second is for An Invitation to Dance by Marion Urch

Why I Love the English Civil War by Alison Stuart

Firstly thank you for inviting the Hoydens and Firebrands to participate in your blog. It is very exciting to be here!

My love affair with the Roundheads and Cavaliers began when I was probably no more than about 8 or 9. My darling father would read to us every Sunday afternoon (no TV in Kenya in those days!). He had a wonderful reading voice and if his choice of subject matter tended to rather reflect his taste than ours, neither my brother nor myself complained.

One such book he chose was Daphne Du Maurier’s THE KING’S GENERAL, the story of the ill fated love affair between Sir Richard Grenville and his crippled mistress HONOUR . Du Maurier remains one of my all time favourite authors and the struggle between King and Parliament, laced with romance and skeletons in secret tunnels had me in a thrall. I was lost!  The very idea of a Civil War threw up so many possibilities for an over active imagination: father against son, brother against brother, friends destined to become foes!

A few years later the movie CROMWELL was released with Richard Harris as Cromwell and the wonderful Alec Guiness as Charles I (and of course who can ever forget a young Timothy Dalton as Prince Rupert*!). ignoring the historical inaccuracies, it still gave form and substance to my growing passion for the period and I immersed myself wholeheartedly in it.  I kept scrapbooks of articles cut from magazines, I read every single book (fiction and non-fiction) I could find in the local library and lived and breathed English Civil War from the moment I woke up until sleep claimed me.

My best friend at school was a budding writer like myself and we set out on our first venture to write a novel at the grand age of thirteen. Mine was, of course, set in the English Civil War and titled “The Locket of Grace” (note to self:  not a bad title – I should find an appropriate use for it!). Hers was science fiction and titled “The Intermittent Brain”. We did wonderful illustrations but I don’t think either of us ever finished our ‘oeuvres’. Over my school years I filled shorthand notebooks with stories, all of which closely resembled the last book I read!

Of course nothing is more guaranteed to kill a grand passion more than studying it at university and in first year of my Arts degree I made the mistake of taking “Sixteenth and Seventeenth History”.  All my wonderful imaginings and colourful characters were rendered dull and lifeless and I have to confess it was many years before I started writing again, but when I did (following a fortuitous skiing accident) I went straight back to my roots and the book that was to become my Eppie Award Winner, BY THE SWORD, was born.

I’m not sure if I have really answered the question. When something grips you as a passion, it is very hard to put a logical rationale to it. I just love the English Civil War- I love bucket top boots, lace collars, wide brimmed beaver hats, buff leather coats and lobster pot helmets! Above all I love the opportunity, through my stories, to share this wonderful period with readers. Sadly, because it is not well taught at schools (despite being such an important foundation stone of our modern democracies and judicial systems), or lacks the “glamour” of the French and American Revolutions, it is often overlooked as a rich source of fabulous stories and interesting characters. I have lost track of the number of publishers who have told me they love my books but sorry, “we can’t market the period”.

So, if you are bored with regencies, medieval and blokes in kilts, do come and visit us at Hoydens and Firebrands for something a little bit different!

(For the scene in Cromwell where Charles banishes Rupert – go to Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuKrzaycK2k and you may get an inkling of why I love the English Civil War!)

************

To learn more about Alison and her books, check out her website at AlisonStuart.com

Challenge: The Alphabet in Historical Fiction

It's time for a new letter in The Alphabet in Historical Fiction but first let's take a look at our entries for the letter G :

1. Stephanie (Stark Raving Bibliophile) - The Last Queen by C.W. Gortner
2. Sarah (Reading the Past) - Grange House by Sarah Blake
3. Enchanted Josephine - Beauvallet by Georgette Heyer
4. Ana T. (Aneca's World) - Silent on The Moor by Deanna Raybourn
5. Heather (Epoch Tales) - The Given Day by Dennis Lehane
6. Marg (Reading Adventures) - Mistress of the Sun by Sandra Gulland
7. Carrie C. (Opalescent Essence)- The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway
8. Cat (Tell me a Story) - Green Dolphin Country by Elizabeth Goudge
9. Rowenna (Hyaline Prosaic) - George Rogers Clark10. Leya (Wandeca Reads) - The Adventures of Miles and Isabel by Tom Gilling
11. Alex (Le Canapé) - Roselynde by Roberta Gellis
12. Teddy (So Many Precious Books)-Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
13. Miss Moppet (The Misadventures of Moppet) - Philippa Gregory

And now it's time to remember the rules and introduce the new letter!

Each fortnight you have to write a blog post about an historical fiction book of your choice (it might even be something you already read before), but it MUST be related to the letter of the fortnight.

You have several possibilities:

- the first letter of the title
- the first letter of the author's first name or surname
- the first letter of a character's first name or surname
- the first letter of a place where an historical event took place

You just have to choose one of them and participate.

Please check our blog each 1st and 15th of the month to find out our new letter, and then link your post (not your blog) back to our page through Mr Linky (see below). Then come and check to see who else has posted and visit their blog to find out all the details of the book they were reading.

You have until March 31st to complete your mission, the next letter will be published on April 1st and it is the letter H:

HT News

First off in this edition, we have some Historical Tapestry news! This coming week on Historical Tapestry, we have a special event. We are travelling back in time to the 17th century with the bloggers from Hoydens and Firebrands so join us as they share with us what it is that fascinates them about this historical era.

Secondly, we are looking for anyone who loves to read the books of Anya Seton, and who would be interested in doing a short guest post for us. Or do you know if there is an author who has mentioned that they have been inspired by Anya Seton. If so, leave us a comment or contact us by email to historical.tapestry@gmail.com. We promise that we don't often bite.

Onto other news!

One of our guest bloggers this week will be Mary Sharratt (as she is one of the bloggers at Hoydens and Firebrands). You can listen to Mary read from her soon to be released novel Daughters of the Witching Hill. If you are interested listen in to Authors at the Gallery on Monday 14 March at 7pm Eastern.

Lucy from Enchanted by Josephine is the featured blogger at Maria Grazia's blog Fly High! To celebrate, there is a giveaway of two Jane Austen novels.

And now for the other giveaways:

The Scarlet Lion by Elizabeth Chadwick  at Jenny Loves to Read
The Intrigue at Highbury by Carrie Bebris at Fly High!

HT News

Sandra Gulland is creating a Google LitTrip for The Many Lives and Secret Sorrows of Josephine B, the first book in her trilogy about Josephine Bonaparte. Check out her blog to links to participate, or even to find out what a Google LitTrip is!

Have you heard about the Risky Regencies Risky Read Along of Venetia by Georgette Heyer?

One of the books that took the world by storm last year was The Help by Kathryn Stockett. And now, they are working on a movie adaptation!

I love books set again a war setting, and so I am really looking forward to reading Fireworks Over Toccoa. If you would like a chance to win a prize in the huge sweepstakes (there are 300 chances to win a copy of the book, then head over to the Fireworks Over Toccoa website.

Author Y S Lee is celebrating the release of her Victorian mystery The Agency, with a prize pack giveaway. Head on over to her website to find out more.


More giveaways:

Pieces of Sky by Kaki Warner at Hist-Fic Chick (includes guest post)
The Boleyn Wife by Brandy Purdy at Historically Obsessed (book bloggers only)

Pieces of Sky by Kaki Warner

Pregnant and burdened with a terrible secret, Jessica has left England for the American West in search of a new life. Brady, a hard-bitten rancher haunted by the violence of his past, is desperate to protect his land and family from a blood feud that has already claimed one brother. She’s fancy hats and pamphlets on deportment. He’s rough manners and twenty years of blood on his hands. An improbable pair. But after their stagecoach crashes and Jessica is stranded at his high mountain ranch until she gives birth, antipathy slowly becomes attraction. He teaches her to trust and laugh again — she helps him find the joy he’d lost. Faced with hard choices and unspeakable loss, they draw strength from each other to overcome the horrors of their pasts, and in the process find redemption, forgiveness, and ultimately love.

For weeks I saw Pieces of Sky recommended by several blogs I use to follow. The story but specially the setting immediately aroused my curiosity.

Jessica Thornton left in a hurry her beloved home in England to join her brother in New Mexico. Traveling by stagecoach, she looks completely out of place and this doesn't escape the notice of the other passengers. If she seems all fashionable and delicate, this young woman is a spitfire heroine. Jessica seems to have lead a somehow sheltered life until the attack of her brother-in-law but she doesn't hesitate to leave everything behind to start a new life in a completely different country where everything seems wild and confusing to her. When she starts to think that her decision might be a mistake, she meets Brady Wilkins a local rancher who clearly doesn't understand what a woman like her is doing in the West.

After so many years involved in a family feud, fighting, killing and suffering, Brady Wilkins steeled himself against any feeling except revenge. A man marked by tragedy whose only worry is his brothers' safety. He carries a very heavy burden with him, one he knows he will never be able to share with anyone. Brady doesn't seek happiness or tries to build a life for himself until he meets the pregnant and quick-witted Jessica.
These two learn how to heal themselves slowly and together. It was heartwarming to see them to get to know each other and how a simple smile or just a look can do wonderful things to a damaged soul. The scenes after the birth were filled with angst and sorrow and I confess that I fell in love with Brady watching him bring Jessica alive again.

If the book is mostly about Brady and Jessica, everyone has its place in it. The characters are strong and yet very real. It's easy to identify ourselves with them and I could perfectly see myself among the Wilkins family and friends sharing a dinner laughing and teasing. But they also make mistakes and try to make the best out of it, even when all hope seems lost. The interaction between the brothers are some of my favorite scenes and I can't wait to read more about Hank and Jack.

One of my favorite parts of this book is how vividly Ms Warner describes the life in the West without romanticizing it. It was tough, sometimes dangerous but also held the promise of an opportunity to start all over again.

Kaki Warner's storytelling talent is obvious from the first pages. She gently invites you to take part of an incredible and quite unexpected ride filled with beautiful and striking scenes that will remain in your memory longtime after you read the last words of Pieces of Sky. It's going to be hard to wait until June...

Grade: 4.5/5

Why do I love to write about the West? by Kaki Warner

Because it’s born into me and is as elemental as taking the next breath, and because it will always be the best of my past.

I spent my early childhood in a small Texas town, playing to the drone of cicadas in the mesquite trees on lazy summer days, and sleeping to the tick-tick-tick-whrrr of the big hayfield sprinklers. I ate persimmons off the tree, and dodged tarantulas and sticker burrs, and rode a fat pony on army maneuvers and Indian war party raids. I caught lightning bugs and ran barefoot in warm rain and lived among people who loved the land because it was forever and it would never let them down.

Then I moved to the city.

The yodel of coyotes changed to the distant wail of sirens and honking horns, and the sweet smell of fresh cut alfalfa became the sharp scent of cool raindrops on hot asphalt. The sky shrank. Stars dimmed to pale pinholes in a sooty sky that never seemed to grow dark, and the heat-shimmered horizon ended at the brick wall of the building next door. I remember pushing my bed up against the window and putting my pillow on the sill so I could feel the breeze on my face and see a patch of moon as I drifted to sleep. And I dreamed of going back. But I never did.

So when I sat down to write Pieces of Sky, and all those sights and sounds and smells from my childhood returned in a flood of memories—hawks silhouetted against lint ball clouds, cattle dotting rolling grasslands, people struggling stoically to hold on to a way of life and a patch of ground so they would have something to leave behind for the generations to come—I knew I had to write about a place like that, and people who never gave up, and a sky so vast it made your soul soar.

And then there’s that whole myth of the West thing that Zane Grey described in his 1934 novel, The Code of The West. How can your heart not resonate with ideals like integrity, self-reliance, accountability? How can you not respect those stoic settlers to whom loyalty, hospitality, fair play and respect for the land was a way of life? Romanticized in music, books and film, the cowboy era still and forever remains an enduring symbol of American culture.

Never shoot a woman, no matter what.
Always remove your guns before sitting at the table.
Never try out another man’s horse, hat or wife.
Don’t inquire into a person’s past—measure people by what they are today.

Words to live by. Still.

As a sub-genre, western historical romance has had its ups and downs. Since the release of Pieces of Sky, I’ve heard from many readers who are coming back to it after an absence of many years. Why? What’s pulling you back? And to those die-hard western romance readers who never left, I’d love to hear your thoughts on what you like best about the genre? And what turns you off?

________________________________

Kaki Warner is the award-winning author of the Blood Rose Trilogy (Berkley Trade, Pieces of Sky, January 2010, Open Country,June 2010, Chasing the Wind, 2011), a historical series about the unpredictable West and the men and women who brought it to life against all odds. Although Kaki now lives on the eastern slopes of the Cascade Mountains in Washington State, she actually grew up in the Southwest. Her years spent riding horses and enjoying the expansive views of Texas became the inspiration for the backdrop of her novels – the wide open spaces of historic New Mexico Territory. Kaki spends her time gardening, hiking, reading, writing, and soaking in the view from the deck of her hilltop cabin with her husband and floppy-eared hound dog.

For more information, please visit Kaki's website at http://www.kakiwarner.com/.

HT News

Giveaways galore:

The Wives of Henry Oades by Johanna Moran at Literate Housewife and at Peeking Between the Pages.

Fairest Portion of the Globe by Frances Hunter at Musings of a Bookish Kitty (includes a guest post)

All Other Nights by Dara Horn at Passages to the Past (3 copies)

Black Hills by Dan Simmons (audiobook) at Jo-Jo Loves to Read 

The Secret Diary of a Princess by Melanie Clegg at Enchanted by Josephine 

The Queen's Governess by Karen Harper at Wonders and Marvels 

The Stolen Crown by Susan Higginbotham at Psychotic State (2 copies includes a guest post)

Pieces of Sky by Kaki Warner at Queen of Happy Endings