📖 Hist Fic Saturday ~ The Night She Met the Duke by Sarah Mallory

On Hist Fic Saturday

Let's go back to ... Regency England,

Harlequin Historical
27 April 2023

My thanks to the author for my copy of this book

 

Her mysterious midnight visitor?

The duke!

Hearing herself described as "a lady as dull as her name" is the final straw in Prudence Clifford’s disastrous season, so she decides to stay with her aunt in Bath. But Pru’s new life is anything but dull when one night she finds an uninvited, devastatingly handsome duke at her kitchen table! Pru will never forget the emotional connection they shared. But it’s their unexpected reunion three months later that will prove truly unforgettable..

📖 My review..

Prudence Clifford has no pretensions of marriage and lives a very comfortable life in Bath as a companion to her elderly aunt Minerva. Prudence fills her days with charitable works and is entirely comfortable with her own company until, late one night, she discovers a very handsome man sitting at her kitchen table. This unorthodox meeting with the Duke of Hartland leads Prudence into a very different sort of life which, once tasted, is very difficult to give up.

I loved this Regency romance from start to finish, the story is beautifully written and feels wonderfully authentic whether it be taking tea in the grand salons of London's upper classes or dancing an intimate waltz at one of the many evening soirees. There is so much to enjoy and with both Prudence and the Duke being such fascinating characters there is never a dull moment between them. There are enough twists and turns to keep you guessing along with a frisson of delicious romance which runs like a silken thread throughout the whole of the story.

I do love reading a good Regency romance and this author is certainly one of my favourite writers of this increasingly fashionable genre. Pure escapism from start to finish,  I loved it.

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

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Amazon UK

📖 His Fic Saturday ~ The Coming of the Wolf by Elizabeth Chadwick

 

On Hist Fic Saturday

Let's go back to ...1069

Sphere
6 August 2020

The Welsh Borders, 1069

When Ashdyke Manor is attacked, Lady Christen is forced to witness her husband's murder and the pillaging of her lands at the hands of brutal Norman invaders.

It seems the pain is finally over when Miles Le Gallois, Lord of Milnham-on-Wye, calls off the attack. But he has Christen's brother under armed guard and a deal to offer: her brother's freedom for her hand in marriage. Christen finds herself hastily married into the enemy side, with her brother swearing his vengeance on her new husband.

Miles and Christen's precarious union invites enemies from all sides and when Miles is summoned for a lengthy campaign by the King, Christen is left to watch his lands. In the midst of war, two enemies must somehow learn to trust one another if they are to survive 

📖 My Thoughts..

The Coming of the Wolf  begins in the mid-eleventh century in the early years of the reign of William the Conqueror when the border lands were particularly troublesome with Norman marauders searching for easy prey. When Ashdyke Manor on the Welsh Borders is attacked and Lady Christen's elderly husband is savagely murdered she has no-one to to come to her aid except a Norman knight, Miles le Gallois, Lord of Milnham-on-Wye, who calls off the attack and sends the culprits fleeing into the night. 

With her home, and personal circumstances in ruins, and with her life in danger, Lady Christen has no choice but to accept the protection of this enigmatic Norman knight even if it means entering into a marriage of convenience which alienates her from everything she has known. However, Christen finds to her cost, that the hand of fate is fickle and her sheltered life once so precious is now over and times are about to get far more dangerous.

It's been nearly thirty years since I read The Wild Hunt trilogy of historical adventures and this prequel makes an interesting addition to the series. I have enjoyed starting back at the beginning and getting to know the characters who have only ever existed as a shadowy mention in the later novels. There's no need to have read any of The Wild Hunt novels in order to enjoy this story, in fact I think you are probably at an advantage if you are entirely new to the stories as this book will blend beautifully into The Wild Hunt which opens in 1098.

The Coming of the Wolf  is a beautifully written historical adventure which has at its heart, a dash of danger, a smattering of intrigue and an exciting love story.

 

About the Author

Much of Elizabeth Chadwick’s research is carried out as a member of Regia Anglorum, an early mediaeval re-enactment society with emphasis on accurately re-creating the past. She also tutors in the skill of writing historial and romantic fiction. She won a Betty Trask Award for The Wild Hunt and has been shortlisted for the RNA Awards four times ( Publisher)

Website

Twitter@chadwickauthor

Amazon UK

Featured Book Review ~ The Honey and the Sting by E C Fremantle

Today on the blog I'm combining 

Hist Fic Saturday with my Featured Book of the Month

Lets go back to ...1628

Michael Joseph
6 August 2020

My thanks to the publishers for my copy of this book

Three sisters.

Three secrets.

Three ways to fall . . .

England, 1628.

Forcibly seduced by the powerful George Villiers, doctor's daughter Hester is cast aside to raise her son alone and in secret. She hopes never to see Villiers again.

Melis's visions cause disquiet and talk. She sees what other's can't - and what has yet to be. She'd be denounced as a witch if Hester wasn't so carefully protective.

Young Hope's beauty marks her out, drawing unwelcome attention to the family. Yet she cannot always resist others' advances. And her sisters cannot always be on their guard.

When Villiers decides to claim his son against Hester's wishes, the sisters find themselves almost friendless and at his mercy. But the women hold a grave secret. The question is, will what they know be their undoing or their salvation?

What did I think about it..

The Honey and the Sting takes us back to a time when to be an independent woman was treated with suspicion and to have three single women living together without the protection of a man was nothing short of scandalous. For sisters, Hester, Melis and Hope, surviving against the odds is what keeps them going, that and protecting Hester's illegitimate son, Rafe, from the clutches of his scheming father. Forced to flee their family home, and the small circle of  friends who support them, the sisters have no choice but to take Rafe far way from his father. A father who is powerful and who has  both the guile and the means to track the family down. What then follows is a fascinating historical drama which has danger, intrigue and the shadowy darkness which comes from living a life in fear of being discovered. When Rafe's father sends a formidable adversary to find the women the story takes on an altogether more sinister atmosphere.

I've really enjoyed spending time with the sisters, they're an interesting bunch to be sure. Hester is the family matriarch who wants to keep them all safe, Melis is the ethereal one, given over to visions of the future and, if this was discovered, she would be denounced as witch. The youngest of the three is Hope,  the beautiful one with an allure which attracts her to the wrong type of men. 

The Honey and the Sting is an interesting historical mystery and I have enjoyed placing myself in the early part of the seventeenth century. I liked being back in the time of James I, and more particularly discovering more about George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, who I always had in mind as the quintessential villain. I wasn't disappointed in the way he is portrayed in this story.

The Honey and the Sting is a well written historical adventure. The author captures the mood of the time very well and intertwining this drama with what is known about Villiers gives the story a dangerous edginess. I've now read several of this talented author's historical novels and I am always impressed by the way she brings history alive in the imagination.

The Honey and the Sting will be published on the 6th August by Michael Joseph.

About the Author

Elizabeth Fremantle is the critically acclaimed author of Tudor and Elizabethan set novels: Queen's Gambit, Sisters of Treason, Watch the Lady and Times Books of the Year: The Girl in the Glass Tower and The Poison Bed, a historical thriller written under the name EC Fremantle described as 'a Jacobean Gone Girl.' Her latest novel is The Honey and the Sting, published August 6th 2020 as EC Fremantle

Twitter @LizFremantle #TheHoneyAndTheSting

@MichaelJBooks

Website

Featured Book ~ The Foundling by Stacey Halls

Featured book is all about a book be published that I'm really excited about, so without further ado, here's the latest from from talented author, Stacey Halls

It's published by Bonnier and is out on the 6th February 2020

Zaffre Books
6 February 2020

My thanks to the author for my ecopy of this book

Six years after leaving her illegitimate daughter Clara at London's Foundling Hospital, Bess Bright returns to reclaim the child she has never known. Dreading the worst - that Clara has died in care - the last thing she expects to hear is that her daughter has already been reclaimed - by her. Her life is turned upside down as she tries to find out who has taken her little girl - and why. Less than a mile from Bess' lodgings in the city, in a quiet, gloomy townhouse on the edge of London, a young widow has not left the house in a decade. When her close friend - an ambitious young doctor at the Foundling Hospital - persuades her to hire a nursemaid for her daughter, she is hesitant to welcome someone new into her home and her life. But her past is threatening to catch up with her and tear her carefully constructed world apart.

What did I think about it..

With its central theme of motherhood, The Foundling looks at the whole business of nature over nurture, blending together the lives of two very different women, and their idea of what it means to be a mother.

Bess Bright has no other option but to give up her day old baby daughter into the care of The Foundling Hospital, a charitable institution which cares for infants at risk of abandonment. My heart bled for Bess when she gave up her baby, realising that the only connection she has with the baby's father has now gone forever. However, all is not hopeless as The Foundling offers the chance, if circumstances allow, for mothers to buy back their babies, and it has always been this hopeful thought which has kept Bess going throughout the intervening years. Interweaving the story of Bess Bright with that of Alexandra Callard, a wealthy young widow with a deadly secret, is particularly inspired as it allows a glimpse into the sheltered and genteel world of the upper classes describing so beautifully all of the moral constrictions which society placed on woman in the eighteenth century.

Bringing Georgian London to life in a beautiful and thought provoking way the author has once again transported us back to a time and place that is not our own and yet with each successive turn of the page I felt as if I was fully immersed in a city teeming with life and brimming with people. From the pungent aroma of Billingsgate market, to the delicious decadence of Russell's coffee house, the author leads us by the hand through all the sights, sounds and smells of a world that was only wonderful if you were born to privilege rather than poverty.

There's no doubt that this talented author has another historical hit on her hands with The Foundling. I absorbed every word with all the passionate zeal of a time traveller eager to learn more of the connection between two very different women, whilst at the same time absorbing the beauty and intricate detail of this author's wonderful storytelling.

The Foundling Hospital

About the Author

Stacey Halls grew up in Rossendale, Lancashire, as the daughter of market traders. She has always been fascinated by the Pendle witches. She studied journalism at the University of Central Lancashire and moved to London aged 21. She was media editor at The Bookseller and books editor at Stylist.co.uk, and has also written for Psychologies, the Independent and Fabulous magazine, where she now works as Deputy Chief Sub Editor. 

Website

Instagram @staceyhallsauthor 

Twitter @stacey_halls #TheFoundling

@BonnierZaffre

Hist Fic Saturday ~ The Secret of Summerhayes by Merryn Allingham

I am delighted to introduce a new regular feature

His Fic Saturday will focus on all the lovely historical fiction which comes my way. 

There will be novels which are newly published, others which have been published in the last twelve months, and some which have lingered on my book shelves for far too long.

 A real mixed bag ranging from historical sagas, romances, and adventure through to the pageant of  medieval worlds with kings and queens. From the Battle of Hastings ...to WW2.


Let's go back in time....

HQ
27 July 2017

What's it all about..

Summer 1944: Bombed out by the blitz, Bethany Merston takes up a post as companion to elderly Alice Summer, last remaining inhabitant of the dilapidated and crumbling Summerhayes estate. Now a shadow of its former glory; most of the rooms have been shut up, the garden is overgrown and the whole place feels as unwelcoming as the family themselves.

Struggling with the realities of war, Alice is plagued by anonymous letters and haunting visions of her old household. At first, Beth tries to convince her it’s all in her mind but soon starts to unravel the mysteries surrounding the aristocratic family’s past.

What did I think about it...

When Canadian soldier, Jos Kerrigan arrives at Summerhayes in April 1944, he and his fellow officers are preparing for a secret invasion of France. Living in basic conditions at this beautiful old country house estate in Sussex and walking in its overgrown gardens offers Jos an antidote to the terror of what is happening just across the English Channel in Northern France.  When Jos meets Bethany Merston, a spark of attraction is lit between them but in these dark and gloomy war time days, romance is far from either of their minds.

What then follows is a continuation of the story which began in The Buttonmaker's Daughter and reintroduces us, several years on, to some of the characters who we first met in that novel. It was interesting to see how time had left it's mark on Summerhayes and for those who haven't read The Buttonmaker's Daughter, the author fills the gaps really nicely so that the two stories continue to develop quite seamlessly.

The Secret of Summerhayes is  a lovely story written by an author who is able to carry her readers into a forgotten age with comparable ease. There is much to like about how about the story develops, with interesting descriptions of the soldiers preparing for the invasion of France on D-Day and of the shadow of  uncertainty that everyone lived in during these momentous late days of WW2. Within the story there are some quite dark moments but these are combined with lovely romantic interludes which help to give the story its light and shade.

There is certainly scope for this series to continue as I would love to be able to meet up with the characters in peacetime to see how Summerhayes survives in post war Britain.

A lovely summer read, perfect for an afternoon in the garden.


You will find my review of The Buttonmaker's Daughter by clicking here

More about the author can be found on her website 

Twitter @MerrynWrites

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My thanks to Phoebe at Midas pr for my review copy of The Secret of Summerhayes

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