Hist Fic Saturday ~ The Royal Station Master's Daughters by Ellee Seymour

On Hist Fic Saturday

Let's go back to... 1915

Bonnier Books
Zaffre
 2021

My thanks to the publisher for my copy of this book

A heartwarming World War I saga of family, secrets and royalty.

It's 1915 and Ada, Jessie and Beatrice Saward live in a small Norfolk village with their parents. Their father, Harry, is the station master at Wolferton, the local stop for the Sandringham Estate. With members of the royal family and their guests passing through the train station on their way to Sandringham, the Saward family have a unique position within their small community.

But despite the privileged position the village and the family is in, and the excitement a visit from the royals always brings, it's World War I and the community is suffering. The men are away fighting, rationing is hard and they all need to work together to get through the tough times.

When the Saward sisters' destitute cousin Maria arrives in Wolferton, everything is turned on its head. Young Maria Saward and her siblings have never enjoyed the comforts of family life. As products of Willie Saward's second marriage to a much younger woman, they were shunned by their extended family, and left in poverty after Willie's death. Will the Saward family be able to help Maria and her siblings and what could this do to the balance of their happy family life?

My Review.. 

In this first book of a proposed historical trilogy we meet the Saward family who live in the Station Master's house at Wolferton railway station. This is no ordinary place to live and the station master's daughters, Ada, Jessie and Beatrice are well used to seeing members of the royal family alight at the tiny station on their way to their country home at Sandringham.

The girls live something of a genteel life, their place in the village is comfortable, and their mother and father are well respected. However, in the summer of 1915, their lives are about to be changed when an unwelcome guest arrives to disturb this settled way of life. Add into the mix the continuation of the First World War and the catastrophic effect this will have on the local community and you have all the right ingredients for an interesting historical saga. I enjoyed getting to know the villagers who make the hamlet of Wolferton their home, some are more likeable than others, which adds an interesting dynamic.

The Royal Station Master's Daughters is a lovely start to the trilogy and brings both time and place alive so that anyone who enjoys this genre of historical fiction will have great pleasure in learning about the way of life in Wolferton in 1915. Parts of the story are based on the real life Saward family who lived in the Station Master's house and although the events in this story are fictional by using the details of those who actually lived during this time in history helps to create a good sense of authenticity.

Best read with...One of Betty Fitch's Rock Buns and a nice cup of Rosie Lee

About the Author

Ellee Seymour is a journalist and PR professional living near Cambridge. The Royal Station Master's Daughters is her debut novel. Ellee was inspired to write it after meeting Brian Heath, the great grandson of Harry Saward, who was the royal station master at Wolferton for forty years from 1884 to 1924 and who the novel is based on.

The second book in the series The Station Master's Daughters at War will be published later in 2022.

Twitter @elleeseymour

@ZaffreBooks

📖 Blog Tour ~ The Witch's Tree by Elena Collins

On Hist Fic Saturday

Let's go back to ...1682

Boldwood Books
17 May 2022

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

A tale as old as time. A spirit that has never rested.

Present day

As a love affair comes to an end, and with it her dreams for her future, artist Selena needs a retreat. The picture-postcard Sloe Cottage in the Somerset village of Ashcombe promises to be the perfect place to forget her problems, and Selena settles into her new home as spring arrives. But it isn’t long before Selena hears the past whispering to her. Sloe Cottage is keeping secrets which refuse to stay hidden.

​1682

Grace Cotter longs for nothing more than a husband and family of her own. Content enough with her work on the farm, looking after her father, and learning the secrets of her grandmother Bett’s healing hands, nevertheless Grace still hopes for love. But these are dangerous times for dreamers, and rumours and gossip can be deadly. One mis-move and Grace’s fate looks set…

Separated by three hundred years, two women are drawn together by a home bathed in blood and magic. Grace Cotter’s spirit needs to rest, and only Selena can help her now.

📖 My Review..

Selina finds that taking refuge at Sloe Cottage in the heart of Somerset is just the place she needs to get over a disastrous love affair. The glorious countryside around the cottage proves to be the perfect inspiration for Selina's paintings which capture the eerie nature of both the cottage and the surrounding landscape. That there is a ghostly presence in the cottage is obvious from the start and as the story blends and weaves between past and present we get the story of Grace Cotter, a troubled young woman who, living in the seventeenth century, has unfinished business with Sloe Cottage and the village of Ashcombe.

The time-slip elements of the story work really well with neither one outshining the other. I felt equally at home with Selina at Sloe Cottage in the present day as I did at Slaugh Cottage with Grace in 1682 during a time when the country was gripped by witch fever and to be a woman alone was to invite scurrilous gossip and sly innuendo. The story is really rather special and so beautifully reminiscent of both time elements that I quite forgot the passage of time. I loved learning more about Selina's life at the cottage and could visualise her beautifully imaginative paintings as she brings time and place into wonderful context.

Beautifully written, with lovely historical detail, The Witch's Tree is a wonderful time-slip novel which shows that the passage of time doesn't always heal a troubled soul but by blending the shared experiences of two rather sad young women the author has created a wonderful bridge between the despair of past and hope for the present. 

 

🍷Best Read with...a glass of Joely's mint lemonade and a slice of Mrs Harper's angel cake

About the Author

Elena Collins is the pen name of Judy Leigh. Judy Leigh is the bestselling author of Five French Hens, A Grand Old Time and The Age of Misadventure and the doyenne of the ‘it’s never too late’ genre of women’s fiction. She has lived all over the UK from Liverpool to Cornwall, but currently resides in Somerset.

Twitter @JudyLeighWrite #TheWitchsTree

@BoldwoodBooks #BoldwoodBloggers @bookandtonic

@rararesources

Purchase Link

📖 Hist Fic Saturday ~ The People's Princess by Flora Harding

 

On Hist Fic Saturday

Lets go back to...1981

One More Chapter
31 March 2022

Thanks to the publishers for my copy of this book

Buckingham Palace, 1981

Her engagement to Prince Charles is a dream come true for Lady Diana Spencer but marrying the heir to the throne is not all that it seems. Alone and bored in the palace, she resents the stuffy courtiers who are intent on instructing her about her new role as Princess of Wales…

But when she discovers a diary written in the 1800s by Princess Charlotte of Wales, a young woman born into a gilded cage so like herself, Diana is drawn into the story of Charlotte’s reckless love affairs and fraught relationship with her father, the Prince Regent.

As she reads the diary, Diana can see many parallels with her own life and future as Princess of Wales.

The story allows a behind-the-scenes glimpse of life in the palace, the tensions in Diana’s relationship with the royal family during the engagement, and the wedding itself.

📖 My Review...

It still takes me by surprise to realise that the era of the Princess of Wales is now being written about in historical fiction but then the fascination we have for Diana will never go away. You only have to look at the popular TV dramas, and movies, which continue to speculate about Diana, Princess of Wales.

The People's Princess brings Diana Spencer to life in 1981, just after her engagement to Prince Charles, when she is a lost and lonely figure rattling around the great empty space of Buckingham Palace. Desperate to alleviate her boredom, Diana is intrigued by a portrait she sees on a corridor in Buckingham Palace and wants to know more about Princess Charlotte of Wales, another tragic princess who died at a young age. Intertwining Diana's story as she awaits her wedding with that of Princess Charlotte adds a nice dual time element to the story.

I enjoyed the story, it's a light and easy read, with well researched historical detail to keep alive the authenticity of the story. The author captures well the mood of both historical periods and brings these two tragic, and charismatic, young women to life.

🍜Best Read with...a bowl of cornflakes..

About the Author

Flora Harding began writing over 30 years ago to fund a PhD on the disposal of waste in Elizabethan York, and has juggled fact and fiction ever since. Under various pseudonyms she has written more than 75 novels, histories and other forms of non-fiction and continues to be fascinated by the relationship between the past and the present, whatever she happens to be writing. Flora still lives in York with the city walls and the Minster at the end of her street, and is a freelance project editor as well as an author. Much as she loves the historic city, she yearns too for open horizons, and is a keen walker, preferably in wild, open spaces.

Twitter @AuthorFlora

@OneMoreChapter_

@HarperCollins

📖 The Surplus Girls by Polly Heron

 

On Hist Fic Saturday

Lets go back to ....Manchester, 1922

Corvus
2020

My thanks to the author for the copy of this book

After the loss of war, can there be hope for the future?

Manchester, 1922.

Belinda Layton is a surplus girl. One of the many women whose dreams of marriage perished in the Great War, with the death of her beloved fiancé, Ben. After four years of mourning, she's ready to face the future, even though Ben's family is not happy to see her move on, and her own only cares about getting hold of her meagre factory wages.

Then, Belinda joins a secretarial class and a whole new world opens up to her as she quickly finds herself drawn to beguiling bookshop owner Richard Carson. But after all the loss and devastation she has experienced, can she really trust him with her heart.

📖 My Thoughts...

In the aftermath of the Great War when a generation of young men lost their lives there was a huge number of surplus girls who would never have the chance to marry, either because they had lost husbands, fiancés and boyfriends in the war, or quite simply that there just weren't enough eligible men to go around.

Belinda Layton is mourning the loss of her fiancé, Ben, who died in France in 1918. Whilst living with Ben's mother, and grandmother, helps to keep Ben's memory very much alive, Belinda is still only a young woman who feels that there is more to life than wearing mourning clothes forever. Belinda's home background is one of constant hardship and struggle, and so she becomes determined to make life better for herself, and in doing so she hopes to pull her own family out of poverty. In the hope of improving her employment prospects, Belinda makes the controversial decision to enrol in a newly established secretarial college, however, this decision doesn't sit happily with either Ben's family, or her own hapless relatives who rely on Belinda wages from her job in the mill.

The Surplus Girls is set in the 1920s, when there was so much social and economic change, and I think that this story reminds us just how far women have come in the last hundred years, when in 1922, even for a woman to enroll in a secretarial college to learn typing, shorthand and book keeping was viewed with distaste by some parts of society.  Rich in historical detail, The Surplus Girls brings to vibrant life the strength of those people who made the suburbs of Manchester their home. The harsh background of mills and poverty, the snippets of northern humour, and the sheer grit and determination which is so characteristic of this area all help to make this into such an engaging historical saga. 

Beautifully written by an author who knows how to bring northern history alive in the imagination, The Surplus Girls is the first in a series of historical sagas about this forgotten generation of young women.

 

About the Author

Polly Heron is a historical saga writer living on the North Wales coast. She is originally from Manchester, which is where her books are set.

 

Twitter @Polly_Heron #TheSurplusGirls

Website

@CorvusBooks

📖 Hist Fic Saturday ~ Bobby's War by Shirley Mann

 

On Hist Fic Saturday

Let's go back to ...1942

Zaffre
18 March 2021

My thanks to the publishers for my copy of this book

Romantic Novel of the Year (RoNa's) Award for Romantic Saga Award (2021)

It's 1942 and Bobby Hollis has joined the Air Transport Auxiliary in a team known as the 'glamour girls' - amazing women who pilot aircraft all around the country.

Bobby always wanted to escape life on the family farm and the ATA seemed like the perfect opportunity for her. But there's always something standing in her way. Like a demanding father, who wants to marry her off to a rich man. And the family secrets that threaten to engulf everything.

As Bobby navigates her way through life, and love, she has to learn that controlling a huge, four-engined bomber might just be easier than controlling her own life..

📖 My Thoughts..

Roberta 'Bobby' Hollis is one of an elite band of young women trained to deliver aircraft all around the country, from the unwieldy Wellingtons, to the nifty Spitfires, the girls of the Air Transport Auxiliary are more than a match for their male counterparts, and face just as much pressure to act swiftly, and competently, often in the face of great personal danger. 

Bobby has escaped her rather stifled life on the family farm, a place which is filled with sadness and discontent but as part of the ATA Bobby not only joins a group of strong and determined women, but in leaving her problems behind, Bobby discovers more about herself in the process. Moving between the airfields of England the story captures both the glamour, and sometimes the mundanity, of being in  the ATA, whilst at the same time offers a glimpse into what is happening both on the home front, and in the dangerous corners of occupied France.

Beautifully written, with interesting characters, and a strong story line, Bobby's War describes the vital importance of the ATA's contribution to the war effort and highlights the work of these brave young women in a fascinating story about loyalty, friendship and love.

About the Author

Shirley Mann is a Derbyshire based journalist who spent most of her career at the BBC. her first novel, Lily's War, was inspired by Shirley's mother who was a WAAF, and her father who was in the Eighth Army. Bobby's War is her second novel. 

Twitter @ shirleymann07 #BobbysWar

@ZaffreBooks

Amazon UK

📖 Hist Fic Saturday ~ The Wrecking Storm by Michael Ward

On Hist Fic Saturday

Let's go back to....London, 1641

Sharpe Books
April 2021
Thomas Tallant #2

My thanks to the author for my copy of this book

1641.

London.

The poisonous dispute pushing King Charles and Parliament towards Civil War is reaching the point of no return.

Law and order in the city are collapsing as Puritan radicals demand more concessions from the King. Bishops and lords are attacked in the streets as the Apprentice Boys run amok. Criminal gangs use the disorder to mask their activities while the people of London lock their doors and pray for deliverance.

No one is immune from the contagion. Two Jesuit priests are discovered in hiding and brutally executed - and soon the family of spice merchant Thomas Tallant is drawn into the spiral of violence. Tallant's home is ransacked, his warehouse raided and his sister seized by kidnappers

Thomas struggles to discover who is responsible, aided by the enigmatic Elizabeth Seymour, a devotee of science, maths and tobacco in equal measure. Together they enter a murky world of court politics, street violence, secret codes and poisoned letters, and confront a vicious gang leader who will stop at nothing to satisfy his greed.

Can Elizabeth use her skills to unpick the mass of contradictory evidence before the Tallants are ruined – both as a business and a family?

And as the fight for London between King and Parliament hurtles to its dramatic conclusion, can the Tallants survive the personal and political maelstrom?

📖 My thoughts..

In The Wrecking Storm we meet again with Thomas Tallant, and his companion, Elizabeth Seymour, as they try to make sense of the political dissent, and civil unrest, which is affecting London, and which will go on to have such devastating consequences for the country as a whole.

The year is 1641, law and order are a thing of the past, and as dangerous riots break out throughout the city the Tallant family are fighting their own particular battle. With their spice warehouse, and family home, the target for marauders, and trouble makers, the Tallants must do everything they can to protect themselves but finding out who is responsible for the attacks leaves them vulnerable to further danger.The mystery at the heart of the story adds extra excitement and keeps the momentum cranked up to high. 

The author writes well and certainly does a great deal of research in order to bring the seventeenth century world alive in the imagination. With fine attention to historical detail, The Wrecking Storm is every bit as good as the first book in the series and is quite possibly rather darker with more of a hint of danger. There is the chance to get to know some of the characters better, Thomas seems much stronger and more of his own man, and I especially enjoy reading of pipe smoking, Elizabeth Seymour, who could fill a book all on her own.

There is much to discover about the political turmoil in this momentous year before the outbreak of the English Civil War and the author does a great job of keeping the mystery of the plot concerning the Tallants running alongside what was going on during the Long Parliament. The only bit which I remember from history lessons at school was that on discovering that five key parliamentarians had fled the Commons was that King Charles I said "I see the birds have flown" so I was please to see this little gem tucked away in the narrative.

Whilst it is possible to read this second book as a standalone, I do think it would be helpful to read Rags of Time first as it introduces the main characters who feature so strongly in this continuation.  I am sure that we shall meet again with the Tallants as the country forges ahead with a war which will separate fathers from sons, and brothers from brothers, in the English Civil War.

About the Author

Writing has been central to Mike Ward’s professional life. On graduating from university he became a journalist, working in newspapers and for the BBC. He then went into journalism education, teaching and researching journalism practice before becoming head of the UK’s prestigious Journalism School at UCLan. For the last eight years he has run his own content creation company.

Twitter @mikewardmedia #TheWreckingStorm

📖 Blog Tour ~ The Shipyard Girls on the Home Front by Nancy Revell

 

On Hist Fic Saturday I am delighted to host a stop on this blog tour 

Let’s go back to ...WW2 

Arrow 
18 March 2021

Shipyard Girls#10

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

December, 1943.

As the war effort gathers steam in Europe, it's all hands on deck on the home front.

Gloria is over the moon to be reunited with her sweetheart Jack. But her sons Bobby and Gordon are away with the Navy and still know nothing of their mother's divorce and new half-sister.

Rosie's squad of welders must work gruelling hours in the yard as they prepare for the Allied invasion of Normandy. All the while Rosie herself waits anxiously for news of her husband Peter, who is carrying out dangerous work as an undercover operative in France.

Meanwhile welder Dorothy has a feeling that her beau Toby is planning to pop the question when he's next on leave. But it seems that her head is being turned by someone closer to home...

📖 My thoughts...

I never tire of this series and returning to the Sunderland shipyards in the company of the shipyard girls is like being reacquainted with old friends, and as we have come to expect there is never a dull moment for any of this stalwart group of women, who have bonded so well, and whose lives intertwine in an intimate, and supportive, way.

The story gets off to a dramatic start with the arrival of characters who have been out of the story for a while and whose very presence upsets the equilibrium of the lives of a couple of the women, especially Gloria and Dorothy. Running through this home front story are several threads which bring both happiness and heartbreak to some of the characters and there are a few unexpected twists and turns which help to add an interesting dimension to the way the story eventually plays out.

Whilst this tenth book is very much about what is happening in the North East in 1943/44, over in France preparations are underway for the D-Day landings, and in order to meet wartime demand extra pressure is being placed upon the shipyard workers to get vessels out in super quick time and everyone is working really hard. However, despite the pressure of work, the shipyard girls still make time for each other, helping out families, and friends, with their usual brand of no nonsense common sense. The author creates such a believable world that it’s easy to think you are sitting down in the canteen and sharing a pot of tea with the girls as they mull over the news of the day, and worry about their menfolk who are caught up in the war.

This enjoyable, and authentically researched, WW2 series is now firmly established, and with each successive story it just gets stronger and stronger. If you haven’t read any of The Shipyard Girls series, then my advice would be to start at the beginning, that way the characters, and their fascinating wartime experiences, will burrow their way into your heart.

About the Author

Nancy Revell is the pen name of writer and journalist Amanda Revell Walton, who has worked for the national press for the past 25 years, providing them with hard-hitting news stories and in-depth features. She has also worked for just about every woman’s magazine, writing amazing and inspirational true life stories.

Nancy Revell is spearheading a campaign to honour the real women of the Sunderland shipyards in her home town with a new public statue that will be displayed within the historic Sunderland Shipyards. Nancy has worked closely with the Sunderland City Council and the Sunderland Soroptimists, a worldwide volunteer service organization for women, and after putting out a call on her own social media channels, Nancy was approached by local artist Rosanne Robertson who has been commissioned to create the statue that will be unveiled later this year.

Sunderland boasted the largest shipyard in Europe during WWII, and produced a quarter of Britain's merchant shipping at the time. When the men went away to war, the courageous Shipyard Girls took up the back breaking work building ships for the British Navy. Due to its size, the Sunderland Shipyards were a key target of Hitler’s Blitzkreig, making the work not only backbreaking but incredibly dangerous. Historians have estimated that without the courageous women working in Sunderlands’ shipyards during the war, WWII could very likely have been lost due to lack of ability to transport troops, provisions and ammunition.

Follow the blog tour

Twitter @arevellwalton #ShipyardGirls

@arrowpublishing

📖 Hist Fic Saturday ~ A Net for Small Fishes by Lucy Jago

 

On Hist Fic Saturday

Let's go back to ....early seventeenth Century, London 

Bloomsbury Publishing
4 February 2021

My thanks to the publishers for my copy of this book

Frances Howard has beauty and a powerful family – and is the most unhappy creature in the world. 

Anne Turner has wit and talent – but no stage on which to display them. Little stands between her and the abyss of destitution. 

When these two very different women meet in the strangest of circumstances, a powerful friendship is sparked. Frankie sweeps Anne into a world of splendour that exceeds all she imagined: a Court whose foreign king is a stranger to his own subjects; where ancient families fight for power, and where the sovereign’s favourite may rise and rise – so long as he remains in favour. 

With the marriage of their talents, Anne and Frankie enter this extravagant, savage hunting ground, seeking a little happiness for themselves. But as they gain notice, they also gain enemies; what began as a search for love and safety leads to desperate acts that could cost them everything.

My thoughts..

The powerful friendship between Mrs Anne Turner and Lady Frances Howard has been the subject of much historical interest especially as it resulted in a deeply controversial murder trial in 1615. Their seven year association which begins because of the vagaries of circumstance is very much based on a true story.

During the early part of the seventeenth century the Jacobean court of James I was a hot bed of political and personal rivalries and for Frances Howard and Anne Turner life is about to get very complicated. When Anne and Frances Howard first meet at court, Frances is unhappily married to Robert Deveraux, 3rd Earl of Essex.  That the Earl and Countess loathe each other is evident in the despicable way that Deveraux misuses and abuses his young wife. Anne Turner, wife of an eminent court doctor, becomes something of a confidante, and companion, to the young Countess of Essex, and is privy to her whims and darkest desires.

The story gets off to something of a slow start as we get to know the subtle nuances of the plot which the author brings to life with a strong sense of historical authenticity and a fine eye for all those little details which bring the teeming city of Jacobean London to life in all its tempestuous glory. Intrigue, gossip, and scandal are all deeply ingrained in court life and it’s soon obvious that the court of James I is not a comfortable place to dwell and as the plot thickens, so the overall pace of the story starts to pick up and gains momentum.

Well researched, with the strong authentic voices of Frances Howard and Anne Turner firmly in place, A Net for Small Fishes brings to vivid life the details of the ‘Overbury Scandal’ which highlighted all that was rotten in the first Jacobean court.

A Net for Small Fishes is published on the 4th February in ebook and hardback and is available from all good book retailers.

About the Author

Twitter @BloomsburyBooks #ANetForSmallFishes

🎄 Hist Fic Saturday ~ Forbidden to the Highland Laird by Sarah Mallory

On Hist Fic Saturday

Let's go back to...Scotland, 1720

Harlequin Historical
1 December 2020

Lairds of Ardvarrick #1

My thanks to the author for my e-copy of this book

A Scottish beauty

Lures the Laird to sin!

Exchanging elegant society balls for clan wars, Logan Rathmore has returned to Scotland as the new Laird of Ardvarrick. Peace is within grasp when he meets musician Ailsa McInnis from a rival clan. Her stubborn pride and innocence fascinate him—but with her now under his protection, he must do nothing to abuse her trust. The fragile peace is dependent on his being able to resist the forbidden temptation she presents…

My thoughts..

It's no secret that I have a weakness for Scottish highland romances so to have a proposed new series written by one of my favourite historical fiction writers has been a real treat. Setting the story in eighteenth century Scotland is a bit of a departure for Sarah Mallory whose usual Regency romances tend to take place in the salons and high society of Georgian London.

Logan Rathmore is newly arrived in Scotland to take up his role as the new Laird of Ardvarrick, however, his arrival in the highlands causes something of a stir especially with the clan at Contullach, who are not only his nearest neighbours but also his deadly enemies. Logan is determined to heal any rift between them but when he catches the eye of the beautiful harpist of Contullach, resentment flares and deadly jealousies start to fester.

Throughout the story there's a real sense of history, and the author has done a skilful job of recreating eighteenth century Scotland. The dangers which are so often associated with clan rivalry are well explored and yet at its heart is a beautiful love story which the author brings to life with all the passion and lively dalliance which we have come to expect from her fine writing.

The natural beauty of the Scottish highlands is allowed its moment in the spotlight and compliments the burgeoning romance between the handsome young Laird and the talented harpist. However, the story is not all hearts and heather, there are some pretty dark moments ahead for this young couple and the hint of danger definitely adds a deeper dimension to the plot.

I've thoroughly enjoyed this first visit to the Lairds of Ardvarrick and hope to see the story progress in future visits to the beautiful Scottish highlands.

About the Author

Sarah Mallory was born in the West Country and grew up with a love of books and history. She has had over 40 historical novels published and won the Rona Rose Award from the Romantic Novelists Association in 2012 and 2013.

Website

Twitter @SarahMRomance

Facebook  

Amazon UK

His Fic Saturday Blog Tour ~ People of Abandoned Character by Clare Whitfield

 

On Hist Fic Saturday I am pleased to host today's final stop on this Blog Tour

Let's go back to...1888

Head of Zeus
1 October 2020

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

He is my husband.

To honour and obey.

Until murder do us part.

London, 1888: Susannah rushes into marriage to a young and wealthy surgeon. After a passionate honeymoon, she returns home with her new husband wrapped around her little finger. But then everything changes. His behaviour becomes increasingly volatile and violent. He stays out all night, returning home bloodied and full of secrets.

Lonely and frustrated, Susannah starts following the gruesome reports of a spate of murders in Whitechapel. But as the killings continue, her mind takes her down the darkest path imaginable. Every time her husband stays out late, another victim is found dead.

Is it coincidence? Or is he the man they call Jack the Ripper?

What did I think about it..

'Oh, what a tangled web we weave' springs to mind in this engrossing novel which opens up the dark and rather moody streets of Victorian London in a story which had me, quite literally, on the edge of my seat.

Susannah Chapman is a respected nurse at the London Hospital but seeking an escape she accepts a proposal of marriage from, Thomas Lancaster, a handsome surgeon, five years her junior. At first, the marriage is passionate but on their return from honeymoon, the relationship takes on a very sinister edge, and Susannah finds, to her cost, that the charismatic young doctor she married, is a very different character in his home surroundings.

Beautifully written with a genuine sense of being at one with the characters, I couldn't help but follow in Susannah's footsteps as she tried to discover what type of life her husband was leading and just what caused him to return home in the early hours of the morning covered in blood that, most certainly, wasn't always his own.

So many fictional stories have been based round the nightmare time of Jack the Ripper, when the Whitechapel district of Victorian London lived in terror, and this novel certainly depicts the fear and shadowy darkness which shrouded the area like a malevolent fog. Susannah's fears that her husband lives in a shadowy twilight world is expertly explored, as is the downward spiral into madness which is so beautifully descried that the airs stood up on the back of my neck, filled with trepidation of what was going to happen next.

People of Abandoned Character is an exciting debut novel that you simply can't put down. I wanted to read it at every opportunity even though I was apprehensive of what the plot would throw up next. I enjoyed piecing together all the pieces of the puzzle, never quite knowing where the story would go next or what secrets would be revealed in both Susannah and Doctor Lancaster's eventful life together.

About the Author

Clare Whitfield is a UK-based writer living in a suburb where the main cultural landmark is a home store/Starbucks combo. Clare nurtures an obsession with female characters that are as much villain as hero, and enjoys lurking in the blurry landscape between perception and reality. She is the wife of a tattoo artist, mother of a small benign dictator and relies on her dog for emotional stability. Previously Clare has been a dancer, copywriter, amateur fire breather, buyer and a mediocre weightlifter. People of Abandoned Character is her first novel. 

Twitter (@whitfield_riley)

Instagram (@clarerileywhitfield

@midaspr

@HeadofZeus

Hist Fic Saturday ~ Before the Crown by Flora Harding

 

On Hist Fic Saturday


Let's go back to ... 1943

One More Chapter
17 September 2020

My thanks to the publishers for my copy of this book

Before the crown there was a love story…

Windsor Castle, 1943

As war rages across the world, Princess Elizabeth comes face to face with the dashing naval officer she first met in London nine years before.

One of the youngest first lieutenants in the Royal Navy, Philip represents everything she has always been taught to avoid. Instability. Audacity. Adventure.

But when the king learns of their relationship, the suitability of the foreign prince is questioned by all at court.

He is the risk she has never been allowed to take. The risk not even the shadow of the crown will stop her from taking…

Step through the palace gates and discover a captivating historical novel of royal secrets and forbidden love exploring the tempestuous courtship between Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip in the wake of WWII.

What did I think about it..

We've all seen grainy black and white images and newsreel pictures of Princess Elizabeth, arm in arm, with her handsome fiancé, Prince Philip of Greece. This fascinating love story of the twentieth century seems to have taken place such a long time ago now but the interest in this devoted royal couple certainly doesn't dim with the passage of time. Before the Crown breathes new life into an old story with a fictional look at the romance and courtship of this beautiful, but shy, princess and her handsome, and charismatic, prince.

The story opens as seventeen year old Princess Elizabeth is eager to meet up again with twenty-three year old Philip, who she first met as a rather rather gauche thirteen year old. This introduction made such a lasting impression on her that she pursues a relationship with Philip despite her parents disapproval. However, both she and Philip realise that a match between them would be advantageous, especially for Philip, whose home circumstances are complicated as he is not without financial and personal difficulty.

The author really captures this time in history very well and brings all the necessary elements of Elizabeth and Philip's courtship to life in a very readable way. The natural concern of the King and Queen and their understandable reluctance about their precious daughter committing herself to a penniless naval officer is captured well, as is Elizabeth's dogged determination to get her own way and marry the man she truly loves despite her parent's misgivings.

I raced through the book, happy to spend time at Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle with the Princess and the royal family. I was also just as comfortable to be with Philip as he carefully considers his future, both in terms of his personal happiness, and also his, quite valid, fears about the constraints that this relationship would, undoubtedly, have on his life and independence.

We all know the outcome of this courtship but it was interesting to see how the author carefully crafted the story to bring them together in a delightfully romantic way. I enjoyed the 'will they, won't they' aspect of their relationship, and of course, the sweet build up to the engagement and royal wedding. 

I'm not a huge watcher of the TV series The Crown having only watched the first series with any great interest but I am sure that fans of the programme would enjoy this fictional account of how Elizabeth and Philip's relationship began from the beginning, and readers of royal romances will, I am sure, find much to enjoy simply because it's a rather sweet love story with two delightful main characters .

Before the Crown is published on the 17th September and is available to pre-order now at the low price of just 99p. 

About the Author

Flora Harding began writing over 30 years ago to fund a PhD on the disposal of waste in Elizabethan York, and has juggled fact and fiction ever since. Under various pseudonyms she has written more than 75 novels, histories and other forms of non-fiction and continues to be fascinated by the relationship between the past and the present, whatever she happens to be writing. Flora still lives in York with the city walls and the Minster at the end of her street, and is a freelance project editor as well as an author. Much as she loves the historic city, she yearns too for open horizons, and is a keen walker, preferably in wild, open spaces.

Twitter @AuthorFlora

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