📖 Blog Tour ~ The Three Witches by Elena Collins

Boldwood
2 March 2026

Thanks to the publisher for my copy of this book
and to Rachel’s Random Resources for the invitation to the blog tour

Now: When Ruthie gets the part of one of Macbeth’s famous three witches she can’t wait to get started. Inspired by the beauty of the film’s Scottish locations and the camaraderie of the cast and crew, she can leave behind the expectations of her family and her lacklustre love life, at least for now. But as echoes from the past begin whispering in Ruthie’s ear and a restless spirit draws her further into its centuries-old secrets, it soon becomes clear that only she can uncover the truth of a terrible injustice.

1050 Scotland: Isobel and her two sisters have learnt about healing from their loving mother Sidheag, and she in turn has kept them safe. But without the protection of their late father, Sidheag knows that her daughters must find husbands or their futures are at risk.

Isobel believes in love over duty and when she catches sight of King Macbeth’s stepson Lulach she can picture a happiness she had hardly dare imagine. But as heir to a Scottish throne that is drenched in blood, Lulach’s destiny is to be a warrior. When Isobel’s actions leave her and her sisters vulnerable to accusations of witchcraft there may be nothing that can keep the three women safe, not even the great Macbeth himself.

As the calls from the past grow ever louder, Ruthie has no choice. Macbeth’s witches have a story that needs to be told and the truth can no longer stay hidden…

📖 My Review..

Inspired by the Scottish Play, this fascinating dual time / time slip novel takes us right back to the time of Macbeth’s three witches and gives us the tragic story of Isobel Druimeinach and her sisters, Ysenda and Merraid who lived in eleventh century Scotland and whose destiny was forged and immortalised in Shakespeare’s ill-fated play. Running alongside is the present day interpretation of a documentary being filmed in the beautiful Scottish landscape and of the actors who were charged with bringing history, and the witches, to life.

The story is so beautifully atmospheric that as I read about Isobel and her sisters, so the jealousy and superstition of the people started to swirl around me and I found that I was whisked back to a dark and dangerous time in Scottish history. Time became suspended and I was back in 11th century Moray watching as Isobel made her potions and danced with her sisters. Likewise the modern day story is equally fascinating and Ruthie’s involvement, as one of the witches, becomes all the more powerful as she becomes ever closer to discovering the truth about Isobel.

I’ve absolutely loved reading The Three Witches and flew through the story in a couple of days. Each of the time narratives is compelling, and with neither one trying to outshine the other, I was soon as comfortable in 1050 with Isobel as I was with Ruthie in the present day, both are strong female characters who deserve to have their stories heard. With each successive story this author seems to go from strength to strength with The Three Witches being the best yet.

🥣Best read with…freshly made brose and soft white bannocks

About the Author

Elena Collins is the pseudonym for Judy Leigh, the million-selling author of Five French Hens , The Old Girls' Network and The Silver Haired Sisterhood. Judy writes uplifting novels in the 'second chances' and ‘it’s never too late’ genre of women’s fiction. Elena Collins' novels are historical/ dual timelines. In 2025, her novel The Wicked Lady received the RNA award in this category. Judy has lived all over the UK from Liverpool to Cornwall, but currently resides in Somerset.

​Follow Elena Collins

Facebook: @judyleighuk

Twitter: @JudyLeighWriter

Instagram: @judyrleigh

Newsletter Sign Up: https://bit.ly/ElenaCollinsnewsletter

Bookbub profile: @elenacollins

📖 Blog Tour ~ The Strawberry House by Rachel Burton

Boldwood
4 March 2026

Thanks to the publisher for my copy of this book
and Rachel’s Random Resources for the invitation to the blog tour 

1938: For Camilla Kerrigan, life at her family's Oxford manor is a delicate balancing act – between duty to her family and a yearning for something more. When her brother Anthony returns for the summer, bringing with him a new friend, Camilla recognises a kindred spirit. Like her, Henry is thoughtful, restless and uncertain of his future.

But the arrival of four strangers – among them a gifted artist determined to paint Camilla’s sister Mabel – soon shatters the fragile peace of the manor. In the shimmering heat, desires are stirred and one impulsive act will set in motion a tragedy that echoes for decades.

1952: Haunted by war and the memory of that long-ago summer, the last thing Henry wants is to return to Montagu Manor. But when a photograph arrives, showing the painting he thought destroyed – the portrait that ruined so many lives – he is drawn back into the past.

Now, Henry and Camilla must face the secrets that shaped them, and the love that refuses to fade.

One unforgettable summer. One devastating secret. A love that time could not erase.

📖 My Review..

When a set of artists arrive at Montagu Manor in 1938 their presence not only disturbs the equilibrium of the house but they also become involved in a huge scandal which will reverberate down through the years. At the centre of the story is Camilla Kerrigan who lives, with her family, at Montagu Manor and whose history is entwined with the fabric of the house and its connection to the artist, William Morris. 

Beautifully written, with a compelling dual time narrative, the story starts just as the country is on the cusp of war which not only brings a time of great change but there are also some big decisions which have to be made. This is portrayed well in the indecisive nature of some of the central characters particularly in light of what happens once their all too brief sojourn at Montagu Manor is over. Divided into two distinct time frames, I found that I was equally at home in the 1930’s getting to know the characters as I was in 1952 when we are drawn back to Montagu Manor to discover more of its secrets.

As the history of The Strawberry House is gradually revealed so a story of family drama, long buried secrets and the hope of second chances is finally revealed.

🫖Best read with.. large pot of tea and slices of cake

About the Author

Rachel Burton is the bestselling author of historical timeslip novels and romantic comedies. Rachel was born in Cambridge and studied Classics and English Literature before starting a career in law. She lives in Yorkshire with her husband, a variety of cats and far too many books.

​Follow Rachel Burton

Facebook: @RachelBurton74

Twitter: @RachelBWriter

Instagram: @RachelBWriter

Newsletter Sign Up: https://bit.ly/RachelBurtonNews

Bookbub profile: @RachelBurton

📖 Publication Day Book Review ~ One Armed Jack : Uncovering The Real Jack the Ripper by Sarah Bax Horton

 

Michael O'Mara Books
31 August 2023

My thanks to the publisher and Alison Menzies for my copy of this book

This highly revelatory book, based on original research and completely new analysis, presents a compelling new suspect as the most notorious serial killer of all time. Using a different analytical approach, for the first time, Sarah Bax Horton identifies a named perpetrator as Jack the Ripper by linking eye-witness accounts of the killer’s distinctive physical characteristics to his official medical records. It argues that his broken left arm, which left him unable to work in early 1888, was one of his triggers to kill as part of a serious physical and mental decline caused by severe epilepsy.

This new perpetrator fits the profile as stated by the police of the day: a local man of low class of whom they became aware after the final murder, when they launched an unsuccessful surveillance operation against him. As has never been done before, the author – an experienced former government researcher with specific expertise in research and analysis – formulates a complete analysis of the killer and his methodology, including how he accosted his victims, where he took them to their deaths, his unique modus operandi of a blitz-style attack, and how he escaped from each crime scene without detection.

Each of the six murders – from Martha Tabram to Marie Kelly – is discussed and reconstructed as perpetrated by this man, with his escalating violence clearly demonstrated.

📖 My Review..

Profiling 'Jack the Ripper' is as fascinating today as it was during that fateful period in the East End of London when the horrific murders were taking place. This account looks in considerable detail not only into the character of 'One Armed Jack' who very much fits the description given by some witnesses but it also brings into sharp focus each of the murders and the subsequent inquests which took place. In using considerable research a profile emerges of a man who could very much be responsible and the author does a convincing job in putting forward her findings so that a realistic picture of a violent, and unstable, criminal emerges in precise detail.

I found the book fascinating and very quickly became immersed in what it was like to live in the squalid conditions around Whitechapel in the 1880s. The women who plied their trade as sex workers eking out a meagre existence for a few pennies and a tot of gin never stood a chance against a man who was hellbent on murder. It was interesting to have the Victorian policing methods brought to life and to read witness statements gathered at the time and presented at each of the the inquests of the murder victims. Whilst the police methods were as good as they could be at the time, I did wonder just what those Victorian police officers would make of our modern day forensic science teams.

The author writes well and puts forward her analysis with great attention to detail so that by the end of the book I was convinced by her argument that this man could be responsible. Over one hundred and thirty-five years later we still have a morbid fascination for the events which took place in Victorian London and the names of the unfortunate victims of Jack the Ripper will never be forgotten.

About the Author

Sarah Bax Horton is a former civil servant who worked for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office for over twenty years. She has an MA honours degree in English and Foreign Languages from Somerville College Oxford. Her interest in genealogy and a family member related to the Jack the Ripper case inspired her to research the lives of the personalities involved.

Twitter #onearmedjack

@OMaraBooks

Blog Tour ~ Born Survivors by Wendy Holden

Honoured to be part of this commemorative edition

Blog Tour

Little Brown Books
Re-issued in 2020

On the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Mauthausen concentration camp

My thanks to the publishers for my ecopy of this book
and the invitation to be part of this blog tour

New York Times and Sunday Times bestseller. Finalist in Goodreads 2015 Book of the Year, and the Elle Grand Prix de Lectrices in France. Nominated for the US National Jewish Book Award. Published in 22 countries and translated into 16 languages.

Among the millions of Holocaust victims sent to Auschwitz II-Birkenau in 1944, Priska, Rachel and Anka each pass through the concentration camp’s infamous gates with a secret. Separated from their husbands, strangers to one another, they are newly pregnant, alone, and terrified. With so many loved ones already lost to the Nazis, these three young women are privately determined to hold onto all they have left – their lives and those of their unborn babies. 

Born Survivors follows the mothers’ incredible journey – first to Auschwitz, where they come under the eagle-eyed scrutiny of Dr. Josef Mengele, the ‘Angel of Death’ who asks each of them, “Are you pregnant, pretty woman?” then to a slave labour camp where they are half-starved and virtually worked to death. Struggling to hide their condition as the Allies close in, they are finally sent on a hellish 17-day train journey with thousands of other prisoners to the Mauthausen death camp in Austria

That the gas chambers ran out of Zyklon B just after the three babies were born within days of each other and in unspeakable circumstances, is just one of several miracles that allowed all three mothers and their sickly 3lb infants to survive. Against all the odds, the women brought home their babies and managed to rebuild their lives after World War II, in spite of continuing prejudice and anti-Semitism that led them to flee variously to the United Kingdom, United States and Israel. These once educated, articulate and intelligent women all raised in happy, wealthy families had married for love, but lost their husbands and most of their families to the Nazis. 

Their miracle children - two girls and a boy named Hana, Eva, and Mark - went on to have children of their own, all of whom continue to live their lives in defiance of Hitler’s plan to erase them from history. Sixty-five years after the Americans freed them, they met the others for first time at Mauthausen on the emotional anniversary of their liberation. All only children, they have become ‘siblings of the heart.’

What did I think about it..

It's difficult to know where to start with this account of the ordeal that these three brave women went through and of the sheer determination and bravery shown in the most horrific of circumstances. Any words of mine will fail to do justice to this powerful account of survival against all odds.

I have read several books throughout the years about the Holocaust and the horrors inflicted on the Jewish population during WW2, and they have all left a lasting impression but none more so than Born Survivors which, I must admit, gave me sleepless nights, and a profound horror at man's inhumanity to man, or, in this case, to its fertile women.

Three women, Priska, Rachel and Anka each with a detailed story which tells of hardship, deprivation, cruelty and horror on a scale we, 75 years later, can never begin to imagine. Torn from their families, and husbands, in the latter years of the war and taken first to Auschwitz, they come under the scrutiny of a vicious regime which offered neither hope, charity nor any sort of human kindness, and where their initial contact with the notorious 'Angel of Death', Dr. Josef Mengele, opened with the same question, "Are you pregnant, pretty woman?". A question which made my blood run cold.

"We came to hell and we didn't know why." Anka said. We were disembarking but we didn't know where...We were frightened but we didn't know what of..."

I have to say that I read most of this book with a huge lump in my throat and cried so many tears I was in danger of running out of tissues. As a mother, and a grandmother, I can only try to imagine what each of these mothers' went through in order to carry a baby, and nurture it for 9 months, when they themselves were starving and ill used, and then to give birth in horrific circumstances, not knowing if they and their tiny little babies, weighing less than 3lbs, would be sent to their deaths.

The author brings Priska, Rachel and Anka alive in the imagination. She gives them back a voice that was so sadly taken away from them and shows how the power of fortitude, and the sheer strength of the human spirit to survive, can never be diminished, or under-estimated.

The story of these survivors, how the three babies went on to share a common bond as‘siblings of the heart’ is a heartbreaking account of what it means to them to be Born Survivors and it is a timely reminder to us that we should never take what we have for granted.

About the Author

WENDY HOLDEN is a former journalist and war correspondent who has written more than thirty non-fiction titles, most of which feature inspirational women and many of them international bestsellers. They include Tomorrow to Be Brave about the only woman in the French Foreign Legion (soon to be a film); Behind Enemy Lines about a French Jewish spy in WWII (now an award winning documentary), and Till the Sun Grows Cold the story of a British woman caught up in the Sudanese war. She lives in Suffolk with her husband and two dogs.

Website

Twitter @wendholden #BornSurvivors

@LittleBrownUK

Amazon UK


The special commemorative edition of Born Survivors by Wendy Holden, which includes new material, is published by Sphere (r.r.p. £8.99)

Blog Tour ~ Anne Boleyn : 500 Years of Lies by Hayley Nolan

I'm delighted to host today's stop on this blog tour

Little A
1 December 2019

My thanks to the publisher and Midas PR for my copy of this book
and the invitation to be part of the blog tour

Beheaded by her husband. Silenced by history. Now Anne Boleyn has a voice at last.

Anne Boleyn has been sold to us as a dark figure, a scheming seductress who bewitched Henry VIII into divorcing his queen and his church in an unprecedented display of passion. Quite the tragic love story, right? Wrong.

This electrifying expose of Anne Boleyn’s life and relationship with Henry VIII is based for the first time on the full, uncensored evidence, revealing the shocking suppression of a powerful woman in history’s true story.

In removing Anne from the line up of the ‘Six Wives Gimmick’, Hayley Nolan shuts down modern accusations of sexual blackmail at the hands of an ‘ambitious temptress,’ and instead provides proof that Anne Boleyn was a politician, activist and humanitarian working in government on schemes to relieve the poverty epidemic; campaigning for the amnesty of refugees in Europe, and fighting for the freedom of religious expression. Yet Anne’s work has repeatedly been censored and ‘male-washed’ over the years, and more so recent decades. But if ever there was a time for this sexist misinterpretation to be called out and ‘herstory’ to be heard – that time is now.

This bold new analysis is the culmination of over three years of intensive research by Britain’s exciting new historian, fusing historical evidence with a gripping psychological analysis that diagnoses Henry VIII with the mental illness of sociopathy. A prognosis that will change the way we view Henry and Anne’s ‘love story’ forever.

So, leave all notions of outdated and romanticised folklore at the door and forget what you think you know about one of the Tudors’ most notorious queens. She may have been silenced for centuries, but this urgent book ensures Anne Boleyn’s voice is being heard now. #TheTruthWillOut

What did I think about it...

So much has been written about this most enigmatic of Tudor Queens that it is quite difficult to know what is fact and what is fabrication, after all, history was written by those who had, perhaps, more to gain from her downfall, rather than her successes.

In this comprehensive look at Anne Boleyn’s life, the author seeks to restore the balance by giving a detailed look at some of the supposed fabrications which surround Anne’s life, and seeks to offer her own views on the facts and falsifications which seem to surround Anne’s short, but eventful, life.

Everyone knows that Anne’s tragic life didn’t end well and her tempestuous relationship with Henry VIII has been the subject of hundreds of fictional novels and a staggering amount of non fiction books which each offer a myriad reasons as to why Anne and Henry’s relationship could have ended so tragically. In Anne Boleyn : 500 Years of Lies, the author offers an explanation  into Henry's volatile nature and the suggestion that he was a sociopath, with a borderline personality disorder, is a plausible, if, perhaps, controversial one. However, wherever his mercurial moods took him, it is always without doubt that he was a very dangerous person to be around.

The author offers a comprehensive look at Anne's life, from her early start at the court of Margaret of Austria, to her return to England in 1521, her ill fated courtship with Henry Percy and her ongoing feud with Cardinal Wolsey, and yet, the book is about so much more than Anne's romantic dalliances, it offers an insight into her moralistic views and her enthusiasm for religious reform. I have to be honest and say that I didn't really discover anything in this interpretation that I hadn't read before, but I think of you are new to Tudor history and wish to learn more about Anne Boleyn in  a book which has a distinctly modern feel in the way it is written, then this makes an interesting start.

The order of Anne's life has been expertly explored by so many eminent historians who are all keen to offer their own academic interpretation of Anne's rise to short lived glory and whether she was martyr or sinner remains to be seen, but what can be gleaned from all of these historical biographies is that the enigma of Anne Boleyn's short and tragic life remains, even after 500 years, a fascinating conundrum.

About the Author

Historian and Anne Boleyn expert, Hayley Nolan is the presenter and researcher of the hit digital vlog series The History Review and its spin off iTunes podcast. A graduate of London’s prestigious Royal Court Young Writer’s Programme, Hayley further trained in screenwriting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). She has worked with Historic Royal Palaces, Anne Boleyn’s childhood homes of Hever Castle and the Chateau Royal de Blois, France, as well as the National Archives of the UK government. She lives in London.

Instagram @The HayleyNolan

Twitter @TheHayleyNolan

Facebook

Review ~ A Torch in his Heart by Anna Belfrage

 😻 A Perfect Halloween Read 😻

Wanderer #1
Timelight Press
August 2018
My thanks to the author for my copy of this book

In the long lost ancient past, two men fought over the girl with eyes like the Bosporus under a summer sky. It ended badly. She died. They died. 

Since then, they have all tumbled through time, reborn over and over again. Now they are all here, in the same place, the same time and what began so long ago must finally come to an end. 

Ask Helle Madsen what she thinks about reincarnation and she’ll laugh in your face. Besides, Helle has other stuff to handle, what with her new, exciting job in London and her drop-dead but seriously sinister boss, Sam Woolf. And then one day Jason Morris walks into her life and despite never having clapped eyes on him before, she recognises him immediately. Very weird. Even more weird is the fact that Sam and Jason clearly hate each other’s guts. Helle’s life is about to become extremely complicated and far too exciting.

My thoughts about it..

This is such a real change of direction for one of my favourite historical fiction authors, that I have been quite taken by surprise, not by her writing skill, as that's always on top form, but by her ability to place me very firmly in the present with a compelling, contemporary story, which also has a dark and deeply troubled past. 

Helle Madsen is dominated by Sam Woolf, her manipulative, and it must be said, quite evil boss who, it seems, will stop at nothing to get what he wants. That he wants Helle, with a passion bordering on obsession, is obvious from the start of the novel. However, there is also someone else who wants Helle with an equal passion. Business man, Jason Morris has loved Helle forever, and as their past lives start to explode and combine, so a story of desire, longing and the settling of old hostilities starts to come to life. Ensnared in a never-ending cycle of love, lust and hatred, the three main characters, who dominate the story, have had more than their fair share of anguish to contend with as they hurtle through time. 

Written with this skilful author's trademark fine attention to detail, A Torch in his Heart fairly sizzles with passion. Never one to shy away from intimacy in her novels, this dark and moody paranormal story goes to a whole new level of scorching sexuality. The author’s ability to create passionate romance is unequalled and she certainly doesn’t shy away from eroticism bringing together two of her characters with a sexual explicitness which may not be to everyone’s taste. 

Cleverly combining a modern day story of high octane business wheeling and dealing, alongside that of a darkly oppressive ancient world is, for me, a winning formula, and if the ending is anything to go by, I’m sure Book two in the Wanderer series will be every bit as compelling. Can’t wait..😉

About the Author

Had Anna been allowed to choose, she’d have become a time-traveller. As this was impossible, she became a financial professional with three absorbing interests: history, romance and writing. Anna has authored the acclaimed time travelling series The Graham Saga, set in 17th century Scotland and Maryland, as well as the equally acclaimed medieval series The King’s Greatest Enemy which is set in 14th century England. She has recently released the first in a new series, The Wanderer. This time, she steps out of her normal historical context and A Torch in His Heart is with a fast-paced contemporary romantic suspense with paranormal and time-slip ingredients. She has loved writing it – she hopes her readers will like reading it just as much.

Read a guest post by Anna by clicking here

Website

Facebook

Twitter @abelfrageauthor

Blog Tour ~ Cold Fire by James Hartley (GIVEAWAY)

Jaffareadstoo is delighted to be part of the Cold Fire Blog Tour

Lodestone Books
31 August 2018

My thanks to the author and to Rachel's Random Resources for my invitation to the blog tour and for my copy of the book

What's it all about..

Set in the magical boarding school of St Francis', Cold Fire centres around a group of teenagers who become involved in the tale of Romeo and Juliet in this contemporary re-telling of the classic story. Meanwhile, four hundred years earlier, a young teacher from Stratford Upon Avon arrives at the school. His name is Will... From the author of The Invisible Hand comes the second book in the spellbinding Shakespeare´s Moon series.

What did I think about it..

Romeo and Juliet, that iconic Shakespearean tale of tragic young lovers, has been given a contemporary feel in Cold Fire which I am sure will appeal to young adult readers in a very relevant way. The story is set in St Francis’ which is a Scottish boarding school and even though it’s an enchanted sort of place, the pupils there are filled with the same sort of angst that teenagers the world over have experienced at one time or another. Young love, unrequited love, warring parents, peer rivalry, it’s all there in abundance, but what’s also fascinating is the way that the author has directed the story along the lines of Romeo and Juliet, a play we know so well, and yet, he has given it a slightly edgier feel, which I think works really well. Add into the mix the story of Will from Stratford who arrives at the school some 400 years earlier to look for work, and you have the excitement of the bard himself adding his own distinct personality to the pages.

The idea of making Shakespeare more accessible to younger readers is a great idea and the author does a great job of making the story both relevant and interesting to a younger audience. The story is written with great enthusiasm and the intertwining of the past with the present, whilst at the same time keeping the integrity of the original story, is to the author’s credit and works really well. 

I have read The Invisible Hand, the author’s first novel in the Shakespeare’s Moon series, which is also set at St Francis but which focuses on the story of Macbeth, and I think that Cold Fire is a fine continuation of the theme.

About the Author

James was born on the Wirral, England, in 1973 on a rainy Thursday. He shares his birthday with Bono, Sid Vicious and two even nastier pieces of work, John Wilkes Booth and Mark David Chapman. His mother was a hairdresser with her own business and his father worked in a local refinery which pours filth into the sky over the Mersey to this day. They married young and James was their first child. He has two younger brothers and a still-expanding family in the area. As an Everton fan he suffered years of Liverpool success throughout the seventies and was thrilled when his father took a job in Singapore and the family moved lock, stock and two smoking barrels to Asia. He spent five fine years growing up in the city state before returning to the rain, storms, comprehensive schools and desolate beauty of the Scottish east coast. Later years took he and his family to baking hot Muscat, in Oman, and a Syria that has since been bombed off the surface of the planet. James lives in Madrid, Spain, with his wife and two children.

Website

Twitter @jameshartleybks

@rararesources

Facebook

Goodreads

Amazon UK

Giveaway – Win 5 x Signed copies of Cold Fire with a special tactile pen

 (Open Internationally) 

*Terms and Conditions –Worldwide entries welcome. Please enter using the Rafflecopter box below. The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then I reserve the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over. Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time I will delete the data. I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.

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Blog Tour ~ Beautiful Star & Other Stories by Andrew Swanston

Jaffareadstoo is delighted to host today's stop on the 

Beautiful Star Blog Tour

I'm thrilled to be able to share this fascinating guest post by the author of  Beautiful Star & Other stories,

Andrew Swanston

In Beautiful Star, the title story of this collection, the narrator, Julia Paterson, tells her boat-loving, countryside-avoiding friend Willy Miller that flowers are not wild or tame, but just flowers. If I could borrow from Julia, I prefer to think that stories are not long or short, they are just stories, with beginnings, middles and ends. 

And characters. Unusual, interesting characters. Julia is one of three narrators in these seven stories, and the only one who really existed. In A Witch and a Bitch, Jane Wenham’s granddaughter is fictional, as is Daniel Jones in HMS Association. They are both there to facilitate the telling of the story. The stories of the other five protagonists (there are two in The Button Seller and The Drummer Boy) are told in the third person. They just seemed to work better that way.

Here are two questions for you: in what year did the first recorded, manned flight take place? (No fables or magic allowed). And in what year was the last woman condemned to death for witchcraft in an English court? I ask because the questions illustrate the point that historical fiction should inform as well as entertain. Until I came across the stories of Eilmer, The Flying Monk and Jane Wenham, The Witch of Walkern (A Witch and a Bitch) I for one had no idea. 

Nor could I have told you much about the magnificently named Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell, although his fate led directly to the solving of the problem of Longitude by the brilliant clockmaker, John Harrison. Or, indeed, about the gallant Lady Mary Bankes, mother of twelve, who led the defence of her home, Corfe Castle, during the War of the Three Kingdoms. If not the origin of the word ‘turncoat’ the story of The Castle certainly offers an early example of its use.

I prefer to work within the framework of historical events because it imposes a discipline that some other forms do not. This is relatively easy when the story is a footnote to a well-recorded major event (Waterloo, The War of the Three Kingdoms,), less so when the history is more distant or less clear (Eilmer, Jane Wenham). 

There are two particular perks to being an historical novelist. First, one meets and talks with all sorts of experts, academics, librarians and local historians who are, without exception, unfailingly helpful and generous with their time and knowledge. And, second, from them and from written records, one is forever learning new and unexpected facts, such as that both sightings of what we call Halley’s Comet in 991 and 1066 presaged invasion, first by the Danes, later by the Normans. Eilmer saw it on both occasions.

Finally, I should mention The Tree, which is the shortest and most fanciful of the collection, despite being based on possibly the best-known event. Most of us know that King Charles II hid in the Boscobel oak after his defeat at the Battle of Worcester, but who was there with him?

It is the storyteller who has the chance to ask such questions and to suggest answers.

Dome Press
11 January 2018

About the book

History is brought alive by the people it affects, rather than those who created it. In Beautiful Star, we meet Eilmer, a monk in 1010 with Icarus-like dreams; Charles I, hiding in 1651, and befriended by a small boy; the trial of Jane Wenham, witch of Walkern, seen through the eyes of her granddaughter. 

This is a moving and affecting journey through time, bringing a new perspective to the defence of Corfe Castle, the battle of Waterloo, the siege of Toulon and, in the title story, the devastating dangers of the life of the sea in 1875.

About the author

Andrew read a little law and a lot of sport at Cambridge University, and held various positions in the book trade, including being a director of Waterstone & Co, and Chairman of Methven’s plc, before turning to writing. Inspired by a lifelong interest in early modern history, his Thomas Hill novels are set during the English Civil Wars, and the early period of the Restoration. 

Andrew’s novel, Incendium, was published in February 2017 and is the first of two thrillers featuring Dr. Christopher Radcliff, an intelligencer for the Earl of Leicester, and is set in 1572 at the time of the massacre of the Huguenots in France. 

The Dome Press publish Beautiful Star, a collection of short stories documenting a journey through time, bringing a new perspective to the defense of Corfe Castle, the battle of Waterloo, the siege of Toulon and, in the title story, the devastating dangers of the life of the sea in 1875.

Website

Twitter #BeautifiuStar

The Dome Press

Amazon UK

Beautiful Star & Other Stories is published by The Dome Press on the 11th January 2018

Today my Guest Author...... is Anne Allen

I am delighted to welcome back to the blog

Anne Allen

Anne ~ welcome back to Jaffareadstoo...

Jo has suggested I write about what is so special about Guernsey that I've already written four books based on the island. Here goes…

It's a beautiful island only a few miles from the French coast although it's British. Not very big – seven miles by five – and can be driven around in about an hour and a half, Guernsey has a certain mystique, a feeling of separateness that epitomises islands. Its fascinating history has been traced back to Neolithic times, with old burial mounds and menhirs dotted around the island. As someone who studied history for my degree, it was wonderful to spend time in a place embodying centuries of British history. Initially Guernsey and the other Channel Islands were Norman French, belonging at one time to William the Conqueror; hence the strong French influence found to this day. The islands passed into British hands some few hundred years later but the local dialect, or patois, is Guernsey-French and I never did manage to understand it!

I arrived, with my three children in tow, in 1988, to set up a residential natural health centre, which promptly fell through weeks later. At the time I was a psychotherapist and set up my own practice to keep a roof over our heads. A year earlier I had fallen in love with both the island and the people and was determined to live there, whatever the cost. Guernsey has such beautiful sandy beaches, cliff walks, winding lanes and a pretty 'capital' in St Peter Port that it proved irresistible. The thousands of tourists who visit each year, from all over Europe, are testament to its many attractions.

St Peter Port is a must for visitors, having something for everyone. There are narrow cobbled streets – some a little steep, I admit! – full of great shops, cafés and restaurants, with gorgeous views over the harbour and neighbouring islands of Herm and Sark. I'm sure you've all heard of Les Miserables? Well, Victor Hugo finished the book and wrote others while in exile from France, living in St Peter Port. His house is exactly as it was back in the nineteenth century. All the beaches are lovely but my favourites are Vazon and L'Ancresse. And if you do go over, don't miss Herm☺ It's a tiny island, only one mile by a mile and a half, and takes about 15 minutes by ferry from St Peter Port and has an atmosphere all of its own. Readers of my books may notice how much I love it! There are no cars or bikes and everyone walks around at their own pace. A place to unwind and, for some reason, always seems to enjoy better weather than Guernsey. I was over in June and spent a super day there, even managing to fit in a book-signing as I sat in the sun☺

Although I left Guernsey some years ago, returning reluctantly to England, I go back at least once a year and this last time I found it extra hard to leave. My older son still lives there and I have some lovely friends to catch up with, making my visits fly by. And, of course, I need to fit in research for my novels. In June, when I launched my latest book, The Family Divided, I went around the island to decide where to site the action for my next, Echoes of Time. Not having a car, I hopped on a bus which took me around the complete coast in an hour and a half and it cost me £1! An absolute bargain…

Anne's latest book

The Family Divided is out now 

Amazon UK 
Amazon.com

My review is here

Sarnia Books
 June 2015

Find Anne on her website

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Huge thanks to Anne for sharing her love of Guernsey and for bringing the place and its people so gloriously alive in The Guernsey Novels.


Visit Guernsey



~***~

It's 1392 ....Happy New Year..

New Year 

Gift Giving in the House of Lancaster 
1392


**

Jewels all the Way

by

Anne O'Brien

What value do we put on a man who is more than happy to buy gifts for the members of his family? 

 A man who is generous with the amount he spends?

John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, and his son Henry Bolingbroke, Earl of Derby (later to become Henry IV after the deposition of Richard II), were both supremely generous gift givers, and how fortunate we are to have some details of the presents given by Henry in 1392.

My interest in this family developed through my novel of Katherine Swynford, The Scandalous Duchess, and my more recent writing about Elizabeth of Lancaster, Henry's sister, in The King's Sister. It was a very close knit family, always meeting to celebrate at the end of the year where the giving of gifts played a major role along with the festive dressing up, tournaments and mumming. I expect the tradition was particularly established by Edward III, father of John of Gaunt, who loved flamboyant games and costumes. In 1337, for games at Christmas, Edward ordered an artificial forest with gold and silver leaves, together with a hundred masks, some in the form of baboons' heads, to entertain the court

So back to the sparkling gifts ...

In the late fourteenth century, for this royal family the time for exchanging gifts was New Year's Day rather than Christmas, and the giving of gifts by an important man was more than simply a way to mark the day. One purpose of it was of course to bind the lucky recipient into an unbreakable bond of loyalty with the giver. Another was to exhibit the power of the giver in the value and ostentation of the gift. But some gifts were simply to give pleasure and show affection to a loved one.

And how open-handed Henry Bolingbroke was on New Year's Day in 1392 when a large number of the Lancaster family had met to celebrate Christmas at Hertford Castle, Duke John bringing his own minstrels with him. Henry might only be 25 years old, but he had obviously learned the value of largesse from his father.

These are Henry's gifts on record:

To the King (Richard II and cousin to Henry) - who was not present at Hertford - a gold brooch in the style of a panther with sapphires and pearls.

To his father the Duke of Lancaster, a gold swan with a ruby and pearls.

To Mary, his young wife, a golden hind covered in white enamel with a gold collar.

To Dame Katherine de Swynford (not yet married to the Duke but who clearly had a very close association with the whole family and was present at Hertford) a gold ring set with a diamonds.

To Joan Beaufort, illegitimate daughter of Dame Katherine and the Duke of Lancaster, a pair of paternosters - rosary beads - of coral and gold.

Jewels were also given to Constanza, the Duchess of Lancaster, who was not one of the party.

Also to Eleanor, the Duchess of Gloucester, Mary's sister.

And to Elizabeth, Countess of Huntingdon, Henry's sister.

I wish that we knew what these last gifts were.

Of all these gifts, the white enamelled hind is the most interesting. The use of white enamel was rare in jewellers' art, requiring great skill, and although there is no trace of Mary's golden hind, we have the famous and absolutely exquisite Dunstable Swan Jewel, which is breath-taking. It is a livery badge of the highest quality, made from opaque white enamel fused over gold with a gold chain and coronet. And this astonishing workmanship is tiny, only 3 cms high. It can be seen in the British Museum who bought it in 1966 when it was discovered in an excavation of a friary at Dunstable.

Dunstable Swan

Did the Dunstable Swan belong to Henry?  In the same account of these New Year's Gifts is a reference to Henry paying Ludwing the Goldsmith for the mending and enamelling of a gold swan of his own, which he had broken.  Was this the Dunstable Swan Jewel?  Or something very like it?  The swan was one of the heraldic symbols of the Bohuns, Mary's family.  It may be that the Dunstable Swan too belonged to Henry.

Henry continued to give extravagantly.  In future years - such as 1393 - when he ordered the making of two suits of armour which were then sent on to Hertford for himself and Thomas Beaufort, the youngest son of Katherine and Duke John.  Tournaments were part and parcel of the celebrations for this family and the new armour was to be displayed in the jousts.

In that same year, Henry's wife Mary and Dame Katherine were each presented with four lengths of white damask silk for gowns for the celebrations.

What a pleasure it is to see these personal touches, when much of history is taken up with politics and, battles, treachery and thwarted ambitions.  How fortunate that the men of the Lancaster household kept personal accounts of where their money was spent.

And how splendid that the Dunstable Swan was discovered by chance in an archaeological dig.

Huge thanks to Anne for starting off  2015 with such a stunning glimpse of the past.

Anne's latest book 

The King's Sister is available to buy from Amazon and all good book stores

Mira
2014

You can find Anne on her website http://www.anneobrienbooks.com/
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