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From tree to book and back again With an ever increasing supply of paper books in need of a good home jaffareadstoo is delighted to support the idea of book cycle, and are even more delighted to find a flourishing branch of book cycle two miles away from our home. Book Cycle is a UK based volunteer run charity.  Who seek to empower communities both here and in developing countries through the provision of free books and educational resources. We also encourage the reforestation of rural England by offering free trees and information on self-sustainability. All of this is achieved through your kind donations at our 'free' bookshops and shelves located in community spaces. Book-Cycle also works to benefit the local community; establishing projects to encourage self-reliance through home food growing, engaging in global issues and promoting wildlife through the planting of trees. We also provide free internet access, seed banks, independent film screenings, 'Bring Your Own Art' exhibitions and a variety of workshops too!
I spent a very enjoyable half hour browsing the well stocked and perfectly arranged book shelves yesterday and despite donating a bag full of books, I still managed to come away with three more for myself
well .....it would have been rude not too, wouldn't it ?
They were:
The Stranger's Child by Alan Hollinghurst
The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht
The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M Auel
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Saturday, 9 March 2013
Book Cycle...
Friday, 8 March 2013
Friday Recommends...
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| 27 December 2012 Weidenfeld & Nicolson |
The Orchardist
by
Amanda Coplin
Set in the early part of the twentieth century in the
American North West, and hidden amongst a remote community, Talmadge is the
taciturn orchardist whose bone deep grief sets him apart, and whose attachment
to his beloved apples and apricots are his salvation. When two pregnant girls
creep onto his land, he is unprepared for the effect that their presence will
have, not just on him, but also on the landscape.
The slow, and almost mesmerizing quality of The Orchardist is so finely done, that even
before you reach the end of the first chapter, you realise that you are reading
something very special. There is an oblique gentleness to the story, and
sometimes it seems that not much is happening, but therein lies its strength,
as this book has moments which are far from gentle, and which shock their way
into your subconscious with a real jolt. However, there is such a beautiful
feeling to the story that even with its burden of tortured feelings and hidden
emotions, there is always the hope that the fragility of life will triumph.
To say any more about the story would be unfair, as this book deserves to be read without any preconceptions. I would
hope that most reading groups have this somewhere on their reading agenda as it
worth talking about in great detail.
On a personal level, I am sure that I have found one of my favourite
books of 2013.
My thanks to Newbooks for a review copy of this book.
Thursday, 7 March 2013
Happy World Book Day 2013....
World Book Day is an annual event organised on the first Thursday in March and every school child in the United Kingdom and Ireland is given a one pound book token to spend on a book.
Here are the 2013 one pound books
Alfie's Shop by Shirley Hughes
Giraffes Can't Dance: Colouring and Puzzle Fun by Giles Andreae and Guy Parker-Rees
Horrid Henry's Guide to Perfect Parents by Francesca Simon, illustrated by Tony Ross
Tony Robinson's Weird World of Wonders: Funny Inventions by Tony Robinson
The Diamond Brothers in… Two of Diamonds by Anthony Horowitz
Hang In There Bozo: The Ruby Redfort Emergency Survival Guide For Some Tricky Predicaments by Lauren Child
Tom Gates: Best Book Day Ever! (So Far) by Liz Pichon
The Chocolate Box Girls: Bittersweet by Cathy Cassidy
Have a great day !!
Wednesday, 6 March 2013
Wishlist Wednesday...
I am delighted to be part of wishlist Wednesday which is hosted by Dani at pen to paper
The idea is to post about one book each week that has been on your wishlist for some time, or maybe just added.
So what do you need to do to join in?
Follow Pen to Paper as host of the meme.
Pick a book from your wishlist that you are dying to get to put on your shelves.
Do a post telling your readers about the book and why it's on your wishlist.
Add your blog to the linky at the bottom of her post.
Put a link back to pen to paper (http://vogue-pentopaper.blogspot.com) somewhere in your post.
My Wishlist Wednesday book
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| Bantam Press (28 Feb 2013) |
I read Victoria Lamb's first book ~ The Queen's Secret and enjoyed the blend of historical fiction and cleverly crafted espionage . I'm looking forward to reading more about Lucy Morgan, in this second book in the series.
**You can read an extract from His Dark lady over with my friend Lindsey at The Little Reader Library
Tuesday, 5 March 2013
Review ~ A Passionate Love Affair with a Total Stranger by Lucy Robinson
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| Penguin (31 Jan 2013) |
A Passionate Love Affair with a Total Stranger
by
Charley Lambert seems to have the
perfect life. She has a job she loves, and finally, the boss she has the hots
for, seems to be showing her some interest, at last – and then following a freak
accident she goes and breaks her leg. Charley is a complete workaholic, and as
she recuperates at home, and with little to occupy her time she starts an
online dating agency, where she helps hapless lovers get together by writing
their emails for them. What then follows is a warm and witty look at, not just
the dating game, but also at life in general. Full of deliciously captivating
mishaps, Charley blunders along with the help of her friend, Sam who is
‘resting’ between acting assignments.
I really enjoyed this story; it’s
well written, warm and comical. The heroine Charley can be a bit capricious at
times as she comes across as both vulnerable and fearsomely bossy, but there is
undeniable warmth about her which is strangely endearing. Some of my favourite
parts of the book are the family moments, Charley’s dad is a delight, as is
Grandma Helen but it is in Charley’s email interaction between her clients
where the book really shines though.
If you like well written romantic
comedies, than you can do no better than to give this one a try.
My thanks to Real Readers for a review copy of this book
Monday, 4 March 2013
Thank you ~ Random Things Through My Letterbox
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| Pan Macmillan August 2012 |
Jaffa and I were delighted to be asked to review Home Front by Kristin Hannah for Random Things Through My letterbox.
Anne Cater is the blogger extraordinaire in charge of this excellent blog and is a great friend of Jaffareadstoo.
You can find our full review here
Guest Author ~ Anne O'Brien
I am delighted to welcome back to Jaffareadstoo
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| Published 1 March 2013 MIRA |
To celebrate the publication of her latest book The Forbidden Queen, Anne has very kindly provided a valuable insight into two of her main characters - Katherine de Valois and Owen Tudor.
1415. The Battle of Agincourt is over, and the young princess Katherine de Valois is the prize to be offered to Henry V of England. The innocent Katherine is smitten with Henry, but soon understands that her sole purpose is to produce an heir to unite England and France. When Henry leaves her a widow at the age of 21, Katherine is forced to resign herself to a quiet life as the Dowager Queen; her duty is to raise her son, the young King of England, and little more.
But Katherine is still young and passionate. Many desire her, and her hand in marriage is worth a kingdom. Setting aside those driven by ambition, Katherine falls in love with her servant Owen Tudor, and glimpses the happiness that love can bring. But their enemies are circling, all battling for power and determined to prevent their marriage. Katherine will have to fight to control her own destiny…
A
Renowned Historical Misalliance ...
How
did Katherine de Valois and Owen Tudor fall in love?
This, the first flowering of the relationship between Queen Katherine,
Queen Dowager of England, and Owen Tudor, is a subject that has fired my
imagination over the past year when writing THE FORBIDDEN QUEEN. It presents one of those fascinating
minefields for a writer of historical fiction.
We know enough about Katherine to place her firmly in a historical
context, but the origins of Owen Tudor are obscure in the extreme and the
manner in which the two lovers met and fell in love has been described as ‘a
pot pourri of myth, romanticism, tradition and anti-Tudor propaganda.’ It is certainly a gift to writers of
historical fiction - although it brings its own problems.
To start with, who was Owen ap Maredudd ap Tudor? A genealogy chart exists for Owen, which I
certainly made use of and without regret, but it smacks of a good pinch of
pro-Tudor propaganda, and I suspect that there is really no solid evidence for
his Welsh nobility.
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| Owen Tudor |
Owen’s early history is also open to debate and much romantic
speculation from those who would wish to give him an ‘interesting’
background. Owen, it is said, fought at
Agincourt in 1415. Owen went on a
crusade to Greece. Both again
unlikely. Perhaps with more realism it
is said that in 1421 he, in the name of ‘Owen Meredith’, travelled to France in
the retinue of Sir Walter Hungerford, Henry V’s steward, and this gave him his
first experience of life at court. He
saw action in France and from there he progressed to some position in the royal
household. It
certainly seems a more realistic proposition.
 |
| Windsor Castle |
And this, of course is Windsor Castle where the love affair with the Queen Dowager is most likely to have blossomed.
So what was his position, and most particular, how did his path cross
that of Dowager Queen Katherine?
Tradition
gives us a number of possibilities, allowing him various ranks but all in the
role of servitude:
The Queen’s tailor
Master of the Queen’s Household
Master of the Queen’s Wardrobe
A personal servant (unspecified) in the Queen’s chamber
Whatever the truth of this, we know that he was a disenfranchised
Welshman, living under the restrictions placed on all Welsh by the English
after the rebellion of Owain Glyn Dwr, and we must suppose that if he was a
member of Katherine’s household, then she must have known him for some years
before she fell in love with him around 1429 after the debacle of her
flirtation with Edmund Beaufort.
It was, without doubt, an extraordinary liaison, for the Dowager Queen
of England, a Valois princess, to wed a man from her household. Not even the date of their marriage is on
record but it is thought to be around 1430, before the birth of their eldest
son Edmund in 1431. The occasion of
their falling in love is again a mix of myth and romantic legend, and
deliciously scandalous, most likely occurring at Windsor where Katherine was by
law made to live in the household of her son, the young king.
One strong tradition, written in a poem in 1361 at the time of Owen’s
death, was that he first caught Katharine’s attention when he over-balanced and
fell into her lap at a Court ball. Too
much alcohol? Or clumsy dancing? Impossible to tell.
A mid 16th century chronicler tells a quite different
story. Katharine saw Owen and his
friends swimming in the river on a summer’s day.
Perhaps in this very spot.
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| Windsor castle and River |
Overcome by his sheer masculinity, Katharine changed garments with her
maid and arranged to meet Owen in disguise.
He was too ardent, mistaking her status, she struggled and, escaping his
embrace, received a wound to her cheek. Serving her at supper that night, Owen
saw the bruise and realised who the ‘maidservant’ had been. Ashamed, he begged her forgiveness. Katharine forgave him readily, they professed
their love and were duly married.
Sadly, there is no historical proof for either version. But what vivid scenes these sources paint for
us. The difficulty for a novelist is of
course producing something half-way realistic.
If Owen was Katherine’s personal servant, how could he not recognise her
face, her voice, even in disguise?
Unless she was mute and they met in a dark cupboard, it would seem
impossible. As for the drunken
debauchery ... It makes writing a
credible version highly entertaining.
But whatever the circumstances, fall in love they did, and risked the
weight of the law to marry. As a
novelist I chose the aspects that seemed to fit my characters, and since there
is no evidence to prove me right or wrong, I am free to make use of the
traditions.
Whatever the truth of their meeting, their love was strong enough to
encourage the unlikely pair to flout the law of the land. Katharine was forbidden to marry without the
permission of the King who was not yet ten years old. Any man foolish enough to wed her without
permission would find all his lands and possessions declared forfeit.
Most of their short married life was lived at Katherine’s dower
properties of Hertford and Leeds Castle.
They lived quietly, out of the public eye.
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| Hertford Castle |
This, the gatehouse, is all that remains of the Castle at Hertford which was probably Katherine's favourite property.
Whatever the truth or falsehood of their meeting, there was never any doubt that the marriage of Katherine and Owen was legal and their children legitimate. Even those who might have found it of an advantage to prove that the Tudor line came from illegitimate stock never did so. Whatever the opposition to Henry VII, it was not voiced that his father, Edmund Tudor, was illegitimate or born outside wedlock.
Sadly it was of short duration, Katherine dying in January of 1437.
 |
| Leeds Castle |
So finally, to return to my original question, should I have stuck to the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
In all honesty, without the use of the romantic legends surrounding Katherine and Owen, there would be very little to write about. Who is to know what is truth and what is myth?
And without evidence, I feel justified in making use of what is long-held tradition.
All Photographs reproduced by kind permission
of the author.
Thank you so much Anne for taking the time to give such a fascinating view into the relationship between Katherine and Owen.
Jaffa and I wish you continued success with The Forbidden Queen
Thank you so much Anne for taking the time to give such a fascinating view into the relationship between Katherine and Owen.
Jaffa and I wish you continued success with The Forbidden Queen
Win a copy of The Forbidden Queen
UK only
UK only
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