Challenge Wrap-up: The Alphabet in Historical Fiction

It's time to take a look at our -Z- entries for The Alphabet in Historical Fiction:

1. Heather (Z is for Zuana)

2. Cat (Z is for Zettel)

3. Sarah (Z is for Zana)

4. Teddy (Z is for Zora)

5. Carrie (Z is for Zimler)
 
 
We finally arrived at the end of this challenge which started 1 December 2009.

You can read all the wonderful entries we had these past 15 months:

- A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M - N - O - P - Q - R - S - T - U - V - W - X - Y - Z -

 
Thank you to everyone who participated!

Winner of The Irish Princess by Karen Harper

We are very pleased to annouce the winner of The Irish Princess giveaway!


Congratulations to S.L. (Samantha) Stevens

We will be contacting you to get your mailing details shortly. If we do not receive a response within a few days we will draw a new winner.

Thank you to everyone who entered the contest.

The Arrow Chest by Robert Parry

In London, 1876, the bones of three females were discovered under the chapel in the Tower of London.  They were said to be the remains of two of Henry VIII's wives, Anne Boleyn and Katherine Howard and those of Lady Jane Grey.  The painter, Amos Roselli was summoned there to do sketches of the remains.

Amos didn't want to be left in the tower alone and asked for someone to be there with him.  In a short while, a yeoman warder, came in and they had a friendly chat.  When Amos finished the sketches, the warder was gone and the man who gave him the commission showed up with his wife.  He knew nothing about the yeoman warder.  When Amos made inquiries about the warder he was told the man had been dead for many year.  This started the strange sightings and creepy feeling which plagued Amos throughout the novel.

Amos recently hired a new maid, Beth for his humble home.  He didn't pay her much as he was a struggling artist.  However, Beth took to her work and master and did the best she could. 

Things were looking starting to look up for Amos.  Amos's inspiration/muse and childhood  friend, Daphne had married a very wealthy man, Oliver Ramsey, one year ago and Amos had just been commissioned to do a portrait of Oliver.  Amos knew that if Ramsey liked the portrait he would most likely gain more commissions.

Amos was happy that he was finally going to see Daphne again and once he arrived, their friendship continued like it was never interrupted.  Daphne confides in Amos that her marriage wasn't what she expected and the Oliver was very disappointed that she hadn't produced an heir yet.  Poor Daphne was stuck in a loveless marriage and it soon became apparent that Ramsey had his sights on another woman.  He wanted to get rid of Daphne one way or another.

During his visit with the Ramseys' many strange things happened.  He keeps seeing a woman from a distance that appears to be Daphne but couldn't be.  Later, Beth said that Daphne had dropped off some flowers while he was gone however, Daphne had been with him that entire day.  To add fuel to this strangeness, Daphne like to hold séances with her guests after dinner and there were some cryptic messages from the dead.

Robert parry's poetic prose painted a haunting portrait of Victorian England and his characters.  He deftly weaved the story in with the story of Anne Boleyn .  It felt very authentic.  The characters were so well developed that I felt as if I was transported to Victorian England every time I picked up the book.  I felt like I was one of the characters.  There were a couple slow places in the book but those were minimal and then the book picked up again.   I loved The Arrow Chest and did not want it to end. 

4.5/5

 

Note: there are giveaways happening by the following blogs:

Peeking Between the Pages, ends March 4th

So Many Precious Books, So Little Time, ends March 4th

Let Them Read Books, ends March 5th

Why I Love the Pre-Raphaelites Robert Parry

There is a perception in England, not by any means unique to this country, that if a work of art is foreign or old - or, even better, if it is a combination of both of these, then it must be superior to anything we can ever produce ourselves. This was certainly the case in the middle of the 19th century when the British art establishment was frozen in time, ruled by the rather staid and predictable rigours of classical painting –works which arose either from the European continent or else from the many imitators closer to home. Then suddenly there emerged a group of young men with the glint of revolution in their eyes and who resolved to light a fire beneath it all. The thaw began, and the admiration for remote classical paintings that had really not altered much since the Renaissance was eventually replaced in England by an exciting new style and a radically new subject matter that we know today as the Pre-Raphaelite movement.

As the term suggests, the Pre-Raphaelites sought to re-connect with a form of painting that pre-dated the classical formality of Raphael – so returning to the simplicity and innocence, as they saw it, of the Medieval world. They did not wish to adhere any longer to the formal rules and strictures laid down by the art schools. They embraced, instead, a new freedom of style, and they seized upon the rich heritage of English art, English poetry and literature as sources for their inspiration - including the newly interpreted vision of antiquity described by the poet Alfred Tennyson, a contemporary of many of the young painters themselves. The result was a fabulous, extravagant and sensual genre of painting that features Arthurian knights and beautiful, elegant heroines; sirens and nymphs, and handsome Homeric heroes or noble seekers of the grail. There are also Shakespearian characters such as the tragic Ophelia or Lady Macbeth. And there is also the mysterious Lady of Shalott – drawn from Tennyson’s iconic poem and which was illustrated over and over again by the Pre-Raphaelites and others. This was a new style of painting rich in symbolism and allegory but with a natural realism and attention to detail not seen for centuries - nourishment for the brain as well as a feast for the eyes.

What has any of this got to do with my novel ‘The Arrow Chest?’ Well, the hero of the story is almost – but not quite – one of those very same fiery young revolutionaries mentioned above. He is in all but name a Pre-Raphaelite. He has enormous admiration for the history of old England and is compelled to become involved with the past in a very direct sense as the story unfolds. The title, by the way, ‘The Arrow Chest’ comes from the object in which the body (and head) of Anne Boleyn was buried after her execution in 1536 - a long time before the Pre-Raphaelite movement in 19th century England. How this strange alchemy of events from two different centuries happen to sit together side by side in the story is something that can only be revealed within the pages of the book itself. Most writers ultimately write either about what they love or what they hate. I love the Pre-Raphaelites. I love the Tudors and Elizabethans, as well. These were pioneers and revolutionaries who proudly celebrated the golden ages of English culture in which they lived. Why not take a look inside the Arrow Chest sometime - and see if you agree? It’s rather exciting, too, in parts – and nowhere near as dark and scary as it sounds.

About the Author: Robert Parry is an independent UK writer of historical fiction with special interests in Tudor and Elizabethan history, Victorian Gothic and Pre-Raphaelite art.

His debut novel, 'VIRGIN AND THE CRAB' first appeared in 2009, and his 2nd novel 'THE ARROW CHEST' was published in January 2011. Both are available in Paperback and on Kindle.

A Vision of Light by Judith Merkle Riley

Margaret of Ashbury wants to write her life story. However, like most women in fourteenth-century England, she is illiterate. Three clerics contemptuously decline to be Margaret’s scribe, and only the threat of starvation persuades Brother Gregory, a Carthusian friar with a mysterious past, to take on the task. As she narrates her life, we discover a woman of startling resourcefulness. Married off at the age of fourteen to a merchant reputed to be the Devil himself, Margaret was left for dead during the Black Plague. Incredibly, she survived, was apprenticed to an herbalist, and became a midwife. But most astonishing of all, Margaret has experienced a Mystic Union—a Vision of Light that endows her with the miraculous gift of healing. Because of this ability, Margaret has become suddenly different—to her tradition-bound parents, to the bishop’s court that tries her for heresy, and ultimately to the man who falls in love with her.

Although I've found some pretty strong women in the medieval stories I read this is the first time where one convinces a man to use his time and skills to tell a woman's story. Just that premise alone intrigued me and kept me glued to the pages.

The story we are told is Margaret of Ashbury's tale. She is married to a wealthy London merchant and a voice as told her to write her story. Since she can't write she has to find someone who will and her husband indulges her every desire.

She finds a destitute monk, Brother Gregory, who is willing to do it for coin and so starts the narration of her life story since she was a little girl. I did love the detail put in describing a woman's everyday life and the daily worries and thoughts that sometimes were so different from men's.

Margaret has a colourful life. She was married young to a beastly man who treated her badly, was abandoned on the side of the road after catching the black plague, learns a trade, joins a band of actors and moves to London where she leads a successful life as a midwife, is eventually accused of witchcraft but ends up being saved and marries her current husband.

While she tells all this to Brother Gregory they get to know each other and develop a relationship of sorts. She knows how cranky and easily provoked he can be and he eventually starts respecting her. The story deals with some serious aspects of the time but the author manages to include some humourous tidbits which make it a lighter reading than it otherwise would be.

I guess my only complaint is the supernatural aspects of the story. I can't help but being sceptic of such events and while they didn't bother me too much here on principle I would prefer not to have Margaret talking to God and having healing powers.

Grade: 4.5/5

The Silver Pigs by Lindsey Davis

Rome. AD 70. Private eye Marcus Didius Falco knows his way around the eternal city. He can handle the muggers, the police and most of the girls. But one fresh sixteen-year-old, Sosia Camillina, finds him a case no Roman should be getting his nose into. Some friends, Romans and countrymen are doing a highly profitable, if highly illegal, trade in silver ingots or pigs. For Falco it's the start of a murderous trail that leads far beyond the seven hills.

Although I do read a lot of historical mysteries the Roman period is not one I often find in the stories I read. That is one of the reasons I was curious about this one but, I think, also one of the reasons why it took me so long to get into the story.

The plot revolves around silver ingots (the silver pigs the title refers too) and who has been trading them illegally. However I have to say I was much more interested in Didius Falco and the characters he meets and that surround him than the mystery itself of who was trading them.

In the beginning of the story Falco meets a young girl, Sosia Camilina. When she is killed he vows to find who did it and discovers that her death is related with the ingots. Sosia belonged to a noble and powerful family and Falco ends up being hired by her uncle to discover what is going on. That will take him to Britain where he meets Sosia Camilina's cousin, Helena Justina, and unfortunately for him to work as a slave in the mines.

Falco and Helena hate each other at first sight but that will eventually evolve to another king of relationship. I did like both of them immensely but especially Helena, she was tough, sharp-tongued and fun. She and Falco will eventually work together and will find out who did kill Sosia Camilina but also who is behind a plot against Emperor Vespasian.

Falco moves easily between the lower ranks of society and the more powerful families thus giving us interesting observations of the roman society. He also has an interesting family and his mom and niece are added as colourful secondary characters.

An interesting, and sometimes funny read that is worth the time spent with it.

Grade: 4/5

The Sherlockian by Graham Moore

The Sherlockian by Graham Moore

Completion Date: January 26, 2011

Reason for Reading: Counts for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge.

In December 1893, Sherlock Holmes-adoring Londoners eagerly opened their Strand magazines, anticipating the detective's next adventure, only to find the unthinkable: his creator, Arthur Conan Doyle, had killed their hero off. London spiraled into mourning — crowds sported black armbands in grief — and railed against Conan Doyle as his assassin.

Then in 1901, just as abruptly as Conan Doyle had "murdered" Holmes in "The Final Problem," he resurrected him. Though the writer kept detailed diaries of his days and work, Conan Doyle never explained this sudden change of heart. After his death, one of his journals from the interim period was discovered to be missing, and in the decades since, has never been found.
Or has it?

When literary researcher Harold White is inducted into the preeminent Sherlock Holmes enthusiast society, The Baker Street Irregulars, he never imagines he's about to be thrust onto the hunt for the holy grail of Holmes-ophiles: the missing diary. But when the world's leading Doylean scholar is found murdered in his hotel room, it is Harold - using wisdom and methods gleaned from countless detective stories - who takes up the search, both for the diary and for the killer.

During the month of January I finally started the Sherlock Holmes series by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I have read one of the books in Laurie King's series, but knew I really had to settle down with the originals before getting carried off to the spin-offs. That being said, I heard good things about this book and my library had it in ebook format, so I decided to give it a try. While I did like it, though, I found myself really wanting to read more in the original series. It also reminded me that I really need to read Agatha Christie one of these days.

This book takes place in two time periods. Half is told in 2010 about a Sherlock Holmes enthusiast who is trying to solve the mystery of the missing diary of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It had claimed to have been all ready found, but then the person who found it was found murdered and the diary was no where to be found. Harold White thinks that because he reads lots of mystery novels he is the best person for the job, so he launches an investigation with the help of one of Conan Doyle's descendants and a struggling reporter.

The other half of the book is told from the perspective of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. This is the real reason that I read the book. I was curious about the author behind the successful series and thought it would be fun to see a fictional take on him attempting to solve his own mystery. During this time he has gotten tired of Holmes and is attempting to move away from that period of his life, but people are determined that he continue on. They are constantly sending him letters about their own mysteries, but he ignores them. Then, he receives a bomb that destroys his office and suddenly he thinks he is Sherlock Holmes. Only, he isn't, and he quickly learns that things are not quite as easy as Holmes makes them out to be.

In the modern period, people are very curious about why Conan Doyle first kills off Holmes and then drastically changes his mind and brings him back again. While the reader is let in on what happened during that period, the journal that would reveal it to Sherlock Holmes enthusiasts is the one that is missing from his collection. It adds to the allure wondering what did happen during that period. On the one hand, they want to find the diary, but on the other hand it would be like something was lost if it was found.

I have discovered that I quite love Sherlock Holmes as a literary character, but I have to admit that I was rather surprised by how people reacted back then when Conan Doyle killed him off. That should happen more often in the world today. People caring that much about books to go into mourning when favourite characters die. It just goes to show you how much has changed in 100 years. Moore wrote Conan Doyle as rather humourous and I enjoyed that many of his scenes included Bram Stoker. They played off each other rather well.

Overall, I liked this book, but I still like the originals better and am looking forward to reading on in the series!

Books of a Lifetime by Chris Bradford

Laugh, Cry and Scream! (Books of A Lifetime)
By Chris Bradford, author of the Young Samurai series

Books are the emotion of life. They help you understand your feelings, share them and experience them. An author that gets under your skin, writes to the heart and makes you laugh, cry or scream is a very talented writer indeed.

Three books that have done just that are Catch 22 by Joseph Heller, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck and It by Stephen King.

LAUGH!
Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
From the opening lines…It was love at first sight. The first time Yossarian saw the chaplain he fell madly in love with him. Yossarian was in the hospital with a pain in his liver that fell just short of being jaundice.

…Joseph Heller’s satirical novel about the absurdity and pointlessness of war had me laughing out loud (a feat very few books manage to achieve). Considered to be one of the great literary works of the twentieth century, it is also perhaps the funniest and most poignant. In an age when war is an absurd media battle as much as a tragic fact of life, it is important that people remember to laugh. Sometimes that is the greatest weapon.

CRY!
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
With language pared to simplicity itself, like a body stripped to the bone, all that Steinberg leaves is the story – and the emotion the reader brings with them to the book. This is a heart rendering tale of George and Lennie, two displaced migrant ranch workers during the Great Depression in California, that made me weep upon reading its tragic end. Bear in mind that I was a teenage boy when I first read this, and boys aren’t supposed to cry!

SCREAM!
It by Stephen King
This is the one story of his that still haunts me to this day. The book deals with childhood fears that enter the adult world. A clown, who is often the source of laughter, becomes the focus of fear. I read th

is tome in the middle of Africa and I still had nightmares thinking that a clown was about to jump out at me from behind a bush…when I should have been far more worried about the real-life danger of a lion!

As an author myself, I now experience the whole gamut of emotions as I write my stories. I can only hope that my readers also feel they are living the adventure I’ve created. And whether they laugh, cry or scream, I don’t mind. Just as long as they are feeling something… experiencing the emotion of life.

Best,
Chris

p.s. Thanks for the opportunity to write this Books of A Lifetime blog! An honour!

Read The Way of the Dragon and follow the adventure of a lifetime!

For competitions, samurai school and more, visit www.youngsamurai.com

Chris Bradford is the author of the award-winning Young Samurai series, a tale of adventure, friendship and heroism that follows an English boy as he strives to become the first foreign samurai. (www.youngsamurai.com)

Chris is a black belt in martial arts and lives in a village in West Sussex, England, with his wife. He is currently training in ninjutsu.
Books in series: The Way of the Warrior, The Way of the Sword and The Way of the Dragon.


The Way of the Dragon Synopsis

June 1613.
Japan is threatened with war and Jack Fletcher is facing his greatest battle yet.

Samurai are taking sides and, as the blood begins to flow, Jack’s warrior training is put to the ultimate test. His survival – and that of his friends – depends upon him mastering the Two Heavens, the secret sword technique of the legendary samurai Masamoto Takeshi.

But first Jack must recover his father’s prize possession from the deadly ninja Dragon Eye. Can Jack defeat his ruthless enemy? Or will the ninja complete his mission to kill the young samurai...

We are happy to offer up a giveaway for Chris' new book! Contest is only open to Canada and the United States. If you are interested just leave a comment on this post. Contest closes February 23, 2011.

Challenge: The Alphabet in Historical Fiction

It's time for a new (and last!) letter in The Alphabet in Historical Fiction but first let's take a look at our entries for the letter Y:

1. Teddy (Y is for Yellow Wall Paper)

2. Sarah (Y is for Yellowstone)

3. Carrie C. (Y is for Young)

4. Cat (Y is for Yeldham)

5. Heather (Y is for Ysabel)

And now it's time to remember the rules and introduce our last 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'll have until February 27th to complete your mission, and it is the letter Z (the challenge wrap-up will be published on February 28th) :

Historical Fiction Reading Swap

The five of us have decided to do a bit of a reading swap. We essentially drew names, but really used random.org, and the person that we drew we have to choose a book for. This post is to share what was chosen. The challenge will run until December 31, then in January we will decide if we want to make it an annual thing.

How it Works:

Teddy chooses for Alex

Kelly chooses for Marg

Marg chooses for Ana

Ana chooses for Teddy

Alex chooses for Kelly

The Book Choices:

Kelly's Choice for Marg:

In Victorian England, an orphan girl is sent to a country estate to work for-and ultimately woo-its young heiress, on behalf of a mysterious benefactor known as Gentleman.

Teddy's Choice for Alex:

In 1806 William Thornhill, an illiterate English bargeman and a man of quick temper but deep compassion, steals a load of wood and, as a part of his lenient sentence, is deported, along with his beloved wife, Sal, to the New South Wales colony in what would become Australia. The Secret River is the tale of William and Sal’s deep love for their small, exotic corner of the new world, and William’s gradual realization that if he wants to make a home for his family, he must forcibly take the land from the people who came before him. Acclaimed around the world, The Secret River is a magnificent, transporting work of historical fiction.

Marg's Choice for Ana:

History has all but forgotten...

In the spring of 1708, an invading Jacobite fleet of French and Scottish soldiers nearly succeeded in landing the exiled James Stewart in Scotland to reclaim his crown.

Now, Carrie McClelland hopes to turn that story into her next bestselling novel. Settling herself in the shadow of Slains Castle, she creates a heroine named for one of her own ancestors and starts to write.

But when she discovers her novel is more fact than fiction, Carrie wonders if she might be dealing with ancestral memory, making her the only living person who knows the truth-the ultimate betrayal-that happened all those years ago, and that knowledge comes very close to destroying her...

Alex's Choice for Kelly:

This classic romance novel tells the true story of the love affair that changed history—that of Katherine Swynford and John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, the ancestors of most of the British royal family. Set in the vibrant 14th century of Chaucer and the Black Death, the story features knights fighting in battle, serfs struggling in poverty, and the magnificent Plantagenets—Edward III, the Black Prince, and Richard II—who ruled despotically over a court rotten with intrigue. Within this era of danger and romance, John of Gaunt, the king’s son, falls passionately in love with the already married Katherine. Their well-documented affair and love persist through decades of war, adultery, murder, loneliness, and redemption. This epic novel of conflict, cruelty, and untamable love has become a classic since its first publication in 1954.

Ana's Choice for Teddy:

"I wonder how the book got to Guernsey? Perhaps there is some sort of secret homing instinct in books that brings them to their perfect readers." January 1946: London is emerging from the shadow of the Second World War, and writer Juliet Ashton is looking for her next book subject. Who could imagine that she would find it in a letter from a man she's never met, a native of the island of Guernsey, who has come across her name written inside a book by Charles Lamb....

As Juliet and her new correspondent exchange letters, Juliet is drawn into the world of this man and his friends--and what a wonderfully eccentric world it is. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society--born as a spur-of-the-moment alibi when its members were discovered breaking curfew by the Germans occupying their island--boasts a charming, funny, deeply human cast of characters, from pig farmers to phrenologists, literature lovers all.

Juliet begins a remarkable correspondence with the society's...

The Complaint of The Dove by Hannah March

Georgian London, 1760. A world of high fashion and even higher spirits—but also of squalid back alleys, violent quarrels, and shadowy intrigues.

It is private tutor Robert Fairfax’s mission to see that troublesome Matthew Hemsley matures into a fine, young gentleman and that he comes to no harm during his first season in London. But Matthew is soon smitten with Miss Lucy Dove, the toast of Covent Garden’s stage. And, after saving her from a crazed attacker, he receives an invitation to Lucy’s private apartments. In the morning, she is found strangled—and Matthew is found on her doorstep in a drunken blackout.

Now, Fairfax must save his young pupil—and his own livelihood and reputation. For one thing, if Lucy already had a lover of great wealth and standing, why did she summon Matthew? For another—unless the real murderer is caught—Matthew will surely hang.

Hannah March is another pen name of author Jude Morgan. I had read and enjoyed a book by Morgan and I decided to give this one a god when I found out the author was the same.

The story has a bit of a slow start, in fact we have time to meet all the characters and their situations in life well before the murder happens. As soon as we meet Lucy I was waiting for her to die but the authors takes his time before letting that happen.

Robert Fairfax is an intriguing character, there's a mystery in his past but we also have to perservere with the reading before finding out what it is. When the book starts he is working as the tutor of a young man, Mathew Hemsley. Mathew is bright, honest and a gentleman. A bit too impulsive at times in face of injustice and a bit too naive in terms of love and romance which leads him to fall heads over heels in love with Lucy when he meets her.

When Lucy is found dead and he is found on her doorstep without a clear memory of what happened inside he is the most obvious suspect and Fairfarx will have to do all he can to get him out of jail. To do that he must launch an investigation of his own, folowing leads and suspicious people to find who Lucy Dove really was and who had most to gain with her death. I did like all the twists and turns the action took although sometimes I wish it had gone a bit faster. Another thing I really enjoy enjoyed was the atmospheric setting, not only the city of Lodon but also the descriptions of Newgate and other unsavory places was so well done that it seemed we were there.

Grade: 4/5

Books of a Lifetime by Lauren Willig

The book that set me on the road to perdition—I mean, on the road to writing historical fiction—was a flimsy paperback with a smug lady and a worried knight on the cover. It was E.L. Koenigsburg’s inventive reconstruction of the life of Eleanor of Aquitaine, A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver, recounted by that formidable lady’s friends and associates as they sit around on a cloud, waiting to see if Henry II has finally collected enough lawyers to argue his way up into heaven. It was a zany, lively look at history, packed with historical in-jokes. By the time I finished it, I felt like they were all old friends: Eleanor, Henry, William the Marshall, Abbot Suger. I wanted more. I wanted to go on living in Eleanor’s world, this bright world of crusades and jousts, of love and treachery and struggles for the throne—and, as I learned the hard way, there was only so many times I could re-read A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver. The cover fell off. I stapled it back on and went to nag the adults in my life for more historical fiction, Eleanor appearances a plus. I was six years old. My fate was set.

By the time I was ten, I had gotten over my Eleanor of Aquitaine fixation (there may have been a little Nancy Drew obsession along the way, followed by a Three Musketeers phase, in which I wrote that wimpy Mme Bonacieux out of the story and wrote myself in instead) and found a new historical period to obsess about. My local television station had aired one of those wonderfully cheesy 80’s mini-series about Napoleon and Josephine, playing up the romance and playing down the more negative bits. My ex-historian father gave me Theo Aronson’s The Golden Bees. My school librarian gave me Desiree, by Anne-Marie Selinko. Told in diary form, Desiree is the story of Napoleon’s first love, whom he jilted for Josephine, and who went on to marry another revolutionary general who became, in an odd twist of fate, King of Sweden. This was history brought to life in the best of all possible of ways. In addition to being a fascinating example of the ways in which historical narrative can be twisted to make a better story, Desiree inspired me to research and write novel about Hortense de Beauharnais, Josephine’s daughter, while I was still in high school. That novel is still unpublished—for good reason!—but it deeply influenced the choice of setting of my Pink Carnation books, several of which intersect with the Bonapartes and their colorful, tangled lives.

I was fortunate to have parents who were both avid readers and who set no bans on the books I read (they did make faces when I clamored for Sweet Valley High, but they bought it for me anyway). I browsed freely among their shelves. I found Kathleen E. Woodiwiss’ A Rose in Winter that way, Jean Auel’s Clan of the Cave Bear, Joan Wolf’s Road to Avalon, and Karleen Koen’s Through A Glass Darkly, but my biggest find, one sunny summer day when I was hiding in the shade of the house, was M.M. Kaye’s Shadow of the Moon. It boasted one of those covers with a woman in a large hooped skirt, swooning back against a man who seemed to have lost half his uniform and his shirt buttons. Excellent! I was going through a Victorian phase (thank you, Victoria Holt), and the heavier on the hoops and the swooning, the better. Shadow of the Moon introduced me to the whole fascinating world of colonial India—which proved a huge help when I found myself unexpectedly TA-ing a class on the topic in grad school!

There’s far too little space to talk about all the books that have made my eternal keeper shelf (Judith Merkle Riley, Robin McKinley, and Diana Gabaldon, I’m looking at you), but I do want to give a shout out to just one more: The Blue Castle, by L.M. Montgomery (and The Ladies of Missalonghi, by Colleen McCullough, which is a lot like it). No one tells a Cinderella story like L.M. Montgomery, with pith and heart and all those other good things. It’s not historical fiction per se, except in the sense that it’s historical to us, but, boy, does it pack a punch.

_____________________________________________

 

Lauren Willig's new Pink Carnation book, The Orchid Affair was released January 20. You can read an excerpt of this exciting new adventure and learn all about Lauren at her website http://www.laurenwillig.com/

The Historical Fiction Challenge-February Reviews

In January, we collectively read 84 books!


There is still time to join the challenge, go to Historical Fiction Reading Challenge to sign up and then come back to leave your links each month.  There is a new post for your links each month.


Please leave your links for your February reviews in Mr. Linky, below or, if you don't have a blog, in the comments below.


Please leave a comment after linking... Thank you!

My Search and Research for The Irish Princess by Karen Harper *giveaway*

Karen Harper’s historical novel, THE IRISH PRINCESS, tells the true story of a woman who belonged to the Fitzgerald family of old Ireland, a family known as “The Uncrowned Kings of Ireland.” Gera Fitzgerald’s story of loss, love, rebellion and reconciliation, set in Ireland and Tudor England, is out in time for St. Patrick’s Day—Erin Go Bragh! And, the author says, the real-life hero is in the tradition of the swashbuckling heroes like Errol Flynn, Russell Crowe and Johnny Depp—and certain Liam Neeson.

My Search and Research for The Irish Princess

It’s a special challenge to research and bring to life a woman who actually lived, especially if most of the clues to her character must be found in her relationship with better known figures. I’m getting to be veteran at such hide-and-seek research. My novels THE LAST BOLEYN (Mary Boleyn), THE FIRST PRINCESS OF WALES (Joan of Kent), SHAKESPEARE’S MISTRESS (Anne Whateley) and THE QUEEN’S GOVERNESS (Katherine Ashley) were all novels I call faction, a blending of fiction and well-researched fact. Travel to historic sites, interviews with experts, and good old library (now on-line too) research may take years, but I love to look for that little revealing nugget of gold.

In Gera’s case, my search for her started with a trip I took to Ireland when I didn’t even know about her. But I fell in love with the Kildare County countryside, the charm of Dublin and the people. And I wondered how long the Irish love/hate relationship with the English went back.



Elizabeth I coronation



Then, in researching Queen Elizabeth I for another novel, I found that for many years she had an Irish woman in her court, a beautiful redhead, who apparently was a good friend. Yet I learned that they frequently argued; the queen once even sent this woman, Elizabeth Fitzgerald, nicknamed Gera, “to the Tower for plain speaking to the queen.” However, Gera was soon released and back in Elizabeth’s good graces. And Gera was married to the Lord High Admiral of England.



How unusual! Elizabeth had a lot of trouble with the Irish. Besides, beautiful women made her nervous when she wanted to be the most lovely woman at court. Of course, the Virgin Queen had many songs and poems praising her, but Gera Fitzgerald had been honored at a young age by the poet Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, in a poem dedicated to “The Fair Geraldine.” (Geraldine she’s named…Her beauty of kind; her virtues from above; happy is he that can attain her love!”) Such adulation cannot have gone over well with the queen. And to take someone back who has argued with her? What gave here?



Edward Clinton



As I delved deeper into Gera’s life (mostly through books about her father and half brother, both Earls of Kildare), I found she had a long love/hate relationship with a sea captain, Edward Clinton, who later became Lord High Admiral of the English navy. Before she wed him, they evidently had a long and turbulent relationship. Ah, the perfect swashbuckling hero. So then I searched for information about him, even read his will. I studied the part of England he came from and found information on the ruins of his homes.

I corresponded with the caretakers of Maynooth Castle in Ireland where Gera grew up. As I studied her family in Irish history books, the necessary trials and tribulations for a plot found me: most of the Fitzgerald men, including her brother and uncles, were executed (yes, beheaded!) by King Henry VIII, Queen Elizabeth’s father. The plot thickens because of Gera’s marriage to Edward Clinton, this dashing figure who worked for Gera’s enemies. I located two paintings of Clinton and two of her. What must be the motives and power of this woman who stares defiantly out from these two still extant portraits (and later, from the cover of my book?)

Another example of digging out details: After many turbulent, but happy years of marriage with her English admiral (Gera once even took his place as ship’s captain and arrested a pirate!) her husband’s handwritten will shows how much he loved and trusted her, so much so that her stepson was really upset at the power and decisions the Irish spitfire was entrusted with. And so, from little telling details are characters born, plots laid and novels written.



Elizabeth Fitzgerald, "the Irish Princess"







Another painting of Elizabeth



I hope Gera and Edward Clinton, Queen Elizabeth and the villain King Henry leap right off the page for readers, because that was what they did for me when I researched and wrote of their lives. I have studied Henry Tudor for years, but never concentrated so completely on his final years and the mysteries surrounding his death. A secret back room was his death chamber? His royal will was never signed? In his final hours he swung between lucidity and the belief he was talking to Jane Seymour? Thank you, Gera Fitzgerald for being a treasure of a heroine whom it was worth the effort and time to dig out of the past.

So this St. Patrick’s Day, I will dance a jig for Gera just as she loved to do with Elizabeth Tudor, who could have been her enemy but became her lifelong friend.

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NYTimes and USA TODAY bestselling author Karen Harper also writes romantic suspense for Mira Books, most recently a trilogy set in Amish country, DARK ROAD HOME, DARK HARVEST and DARK ANGEL. You can learn all about Karen and her impressive backlist at her website.

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GIVEAWAY:

Thanks to Karen's generosity, we have two copies of The Irish Princess to give away to two of our readers. To participate just follow the rules:

- the contest is open to the US & Canada only
- leave a comment and don't forget to include your email address
- one entry per household
- closes February 15 at Midnight GMT

Good luck to everyone!