📖 Publication Day ~ The Jerusalem Files by Corjan Mol and Christopher Morford

 

Watkins Publishing
13 February 2024

Thanks to the publishers for my copy of this book

A non-fiction Da Vinci Code for the 21st century, this thrilling treasure hunt traces the voyage of the legendary Jewish Menorah from the Jerusalem of the Knights Templar through France, Portugal and North America, providing mind-blowing history and mystery for fans of The Curse of Oak Island.

The Jewish Menorah is one of the world’s most sacred artefacts, a man-size lampstand with seven arms, made from a single block of gold, that is an iconic symbol for the Jewish people. King Solomon placed it in the inner sanctum of the Temple of Jerusalem, but by the 5th century AD, all trace of it had disappeared from the official record, and it was assumed lost.

Two historical researchers, Corjan Mol and Christopher Morford, now reveal the astounding secret of what happened to the Menorah. Through their meticulous research as well as a jaw-dropping stroke of luck, Mol and Morford discovered that the Menorah was dug up from the Temple Mount in Jerusalem in the time of the Crusades by the Knights Templar and smuggled to France with the help of the French King Louis IX. From there it was taken to Portugal, to end up in North America after interventions by Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and George Washington. The secret was hidden in plain sight in both France and North America, on a scale so big that it took 800 years for it to be discovered.

I am delighted to share an extract from The Jerusalem Files 

on its publication day 

CHAPTER ONE

An end and a beginning

In a dimly lit chapel at the western edge of Paris, the answer to a great mystery unraveled.

We stood on French soil in a sacred space, in a chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Our feet straddled an invisible line—an imaginary arch stretching out before and behind us, connecting distant points, both east and west, spanning half the globe.

We were at the end of a long road, yet had arrived at a new beginning. In this holy place we found ourselves surrounded by architecture adorned with fragments of now all too familiar symbolism, the significance of which we now fully understood.

After many months of searching, the meaning of these symbols fell into place, and we were finally able to decipher and reveal the story they told.

The building we were standing in was almost Romanesque in style and possessed an austere atmosphere. A spire ascended over our heads, unique and unusual in form. From the top of it rose a curious miniature tower that appeared to have been secretly whisked away from a medieval castle and erected right here. In turn, this tiny tower was topped by a five-pointed star: a pentagram, which is the ancient symbol of Jerusalem and of Mary, as she is the Star of the Sea. These two—the tower and the pentagram—were clues that we had been following for some time. They were tell- tale signs laid out before us that crossed a span of centuries, cropping up time and time again during the course of our investigation.

Whenever we caught sight of one of these clues, it would spur us on, indicating to us that the footprints we were following were not imaginary. We knew of no such spire that existed anywhere else in the world, and had not come across anything even remotely similar on any other church or chapel.

We strode purposefully to the center of the chapel, crossing a flat, oval paving stone that we knew was the capstone of a solitary pillar in the crypt below, standing guard in the middle of a circular chamber, sealed long ago. As above, so below. It seemed as though every statue whispered that phrase.

On our way, we passed a large rectangular slab that sealed the entrance to the subterranean vault. It was situated directly in front of the altar, and we had smiled at the inscription on it: “Mementote Praepositorum Vestorum.” This was a quote from the Bible, Hebrews 13.7 (niv): “Remember your leaders.” It was a curious phrase, yet here, in this sanctified space, one of those very leaders was present.

The last rays of light from the setting sun illuminated the altar, shimmering down through the translucent body of a silent figure in the exquisite stained glass overhead. This was someone instantly recognizable to us: St Louis, King Louis IX of France, the legendary medieval sovereign who had impelled us to begin a journey that had us criss-crossing half the world, following the breadcrumbs which led, ultimately, to this precise location.

My thanks to Laura at Watkins Publishing for her kind permission to share this book extract

About the Authors

Corjan Mol is a Dutch entrepreneur and historical researcher, who has featured in several TV documentaries, including BBCs Forbidden series. He is a researcher, theorist and recurring cast member of the #1 American rated cable reality TV show The Curse of Oak Island.

Christopher Morford is a 32nd degree Freemason, Gnostic bishop and occult historian and restaurateur from South Carolina who is a featured theorist and consulting researcher on The Curse of Oak Island TV reality show.

Twitter / X @watkinswisdom 

#TheJerusalemFiles

Discover more about The Jerusalem Files

📖 Publication Day Book Review ~ The Boleyns: From the Tudors to the Windsors by Amanda Harvey Purse

 

Amberley Publishing 
15 October 2022

My thanks to the publisher for my copy of this book

Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII, was executed on May 19, 1536. Her sister Mary, rumored mistress to the monarch, lived on and survived the king’s wrath. But this is not the end of the tale of the Boleyns and the British Royal family – their stories have remained entwined for almost 500 years, through countless wars, crises and triumphs.

In this book, Amanda Harvey Purse delves into the archives to tell the remarkable story of a number of individuals who form part of the Boleyn bloodline, spanning the worlds of the military, art and politics. Among those featured are Robert Devereux, executed for treason after leading an army against the government in the early seventeenth century; Lettice Knollys, banished from the court of Elizabeth I after marrying the wrong man; and Cecilia Nina Bowes Lyon, the godmother to Elizabeth II who scandalised society when marrying Claude Bowes Lyon and played a significant role in the convalescence of soldiers during the First World War.

📖 My Review

Any mention of King Henry VIII and before too long the name Boleyn crops up and not just because of Anne Boleyn’s ill-fated marriage to the irascible monarch but also because of her family’s deep involvement in Tudor court life. In this comprehensive look at the Boleyn bloodline the author has put together, in fascinating detail, how this family shaped their own destiny.

For the continuation of the Boleyn bloodline after Anne’s untimely death we need look to her sister, Mary Boleyn, herself a prominent player in Tudor life albeit more on the sidelines after her family’s dramatic fall from grace. Through Mary’s children, the Boleyn bloodline continues with Lettice Knollys, Countess of Essex and Leicester who courted Elizabeth I’s anger when she married the Queen’s  favourite, Robert Dudley, in a secret marriage service, and then onwards throughout the generations until the familial link falls upon the Bowles-Lyon family from whom Queen Elizabeth II is descended.

The book takes us on a very readable journey through some of the momentous years of the last 500 years of British history and gives a credible account of those historical figures who played such prominent roles. The early section of the book, with its focus on the Boleyn family, is particularly interesting and even though I thought I knew quite a lot about the family, and Anne Boleyn in particular, I found that I discovered snippets about the family I hadn’t previously known.

To connect a family through half a millennium takes an extraordinary amount of research and the author has done a great job in presenting the factual details without ever getting too complicated with facts and figures and whilst there are a lot of dates to take in it really does give a comprehensive account of a dynamic family who survived through the generations and against all the odds managed to succeed.

About the Author

Amanda Harvey Purse is an author and historical researcher for London-based museums. She has spent the last twenty-five years studying the Victoria period and is a member of The Royal Historical Society. She has studied the Tudors at the University of Roehampton and is the founder of Tudor Secrets and Myths.

Foreword by Dr Owen Emerson is curator at Hever castle, the seat of the Boleyn Family.

Twitter @amberleybooks

Blog Tour ~ Code Name : Lise by Larry Loftis

Jaffareadstoo is delighted to host today's Blog Tour stop

Mirror Books
20 February 2020

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

The year is 1942, and World War II is in full swing. Odette Sansom decides to follow in her war hero father’s footsteps by becoming an SOE agent to aid Britain and her beloved homeland, France. Five failed attempts and one plane crash later, she finally lands in occupied France to begin her mission. It is here that she meets her commanding officer Captain Peter Churchill. 

As they successfully complete mission after mission, Peter and Odette fall in love. All the while, they are being hunted by the cunning German secret police sergeant, Hugo Bleicher, who finally succeeds in capturing them. 

They are sent to Paris’s Fresnes prison, and from there to concentration camps in Germany where they are starved,beaten, and tortured. But in the face of despair, they never give up hope, their love for each other, or the whereabouts of their colleagues. 

This is a portrait of true courage, patriotism and love amidst unimaginable horrors and degradation.

What did I think about it..

In 1942 Odette Sansom is a thirty year old mother of three young girls when she decides that she has a moral obligation to do whatever she can to help save her native France. This decision, not easily made, sees Odette’s transformation from an ordinary housewife in rural Somerset, into, Code name : Lise, a fully operational SOE agent working undercover in the most dangerous areas of occupied France. Her connection with her commanding officer, Captain Peter Churchill, will be momentous for both of them.

I’m ashamed to say that prior to reading this excellent biography I knew nothing of Odette Sansom and so it was with an air of incredulity that I read of her remarkable exploits and of her absolute commitment to her role as special agent. She was a remarkable woman, brave, intrepid, fearless beyond measure, and doing her utmost to survive in a tormented world, however, it is her personal relationship with Peter Churchill which reveals both her passion and absolute strength of character.

The author fully immerses the reader in all of Odette’s ordeals, capturing the essence of her strong personality in some graphic and brutal situations which were, at times, extremely difficult to Read. However, reading of such horrors, particularly of her incarceration in Ravensbruck concentration camp, only serves to reiterate just how much Odette’s bravery, courage and tenacity contributed to her ultimate survival.

Beautifully written, and as fast paced as any WW2 fiction, this fascinating biography is a remarkable tribute to this very brave and inspirational young woman who became WW2’s most highly decorated spy.

About the Author

Larry Loftis is the international bestselling author of the nonfiction spy thrillers CODE NAME: LISE – The True Story of the Woman Who Became WWII’s Most Highly Decorated Spy and Into the Lion’s Mouth: The True Story of Dusko Popov – World War II Spy, Patriot, and the Real Life Inspiration for James Bond.

Website

Twitter @LarryLoftis #CodeNameLise

@TheMirrorBooks

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

Review ~ To Catch A King by Charles Spencer

William Collins
5 October 2017

I remember in history lessons at school trying to dissect and remember all those interminable facts about the English Civil War and, in the midst of all the turmoil, and disaster, being excited to learn that following the disastrous Battle of Worcester, in September 1651, the future King Charles II escaped capture by his enemies by hiding in an oak tree. This momentous event is still, and probably forgotten by most of the population, commemorated by each 'Royal Oak' public house. That this is the stuff of legend gives this most charming of English monarchs, for me anyway, huge appeal.

In To Catch A King, the author has captured the excitement of the subterfuge which was needed, over a period of six weeks, to ensure the young King's safety. In using authenticated archive material the author brings together a fascinating look at the huge risks that Charles faced in a time when the whole of the country was in complete disarray. The book reads like a boys own adventure, full of daring-do and high excitement, however, what is never forgotten, is the inherent danger that Charles faced, after all, the country had executed his beloved father just two years previously. I was particularly pleased to see mention of an event that happened in my home town. In August 1651, the Battle of Wigan Lane, led by the Earl of Derby's men, was a disaster for the Royalists and marked a decided turning point in Charles's fortunes. Had this attack been a success the outcome for both king and country may well have been very different.

There's sometimes a danger in non-fiction history books that the substance becomes just a regurgitation of facts and figures but, not so with To Catch A King. It's a very readable account of Charles's escape, and with the substance of history never compromised, the book gives a thrilling account of how events unfolded. Beautifully illustrated, To Catch A King follows on from this author's previous book, The Killers of the King. As you would expect there are comprehensive notes and a detailed bibliography section with a wide-ranging index for ease of use, which is particularly helpful if, like me, you like to dip in and out of history books, at whim.

To Catch A King is a confident and meticulously researched account of a man who was in grave danger and yet, it's also about the love and loyalty of those supporters who jeopardised their own lives in order to ensure Charles's safety. It is heartening to learn, in one of the later sections of the book, that these acts of kindness, however large or small, were never forgotten by the King and that, once he was restored to his throne, his friends and followers were rewarded handsomely for their support.

I often read accounts of Charles's time as King, usually  these focus on his love of excess, his philandering nature, and his inability to take things seriously. It is particularly heartening to read a comprehensive and inspiring non-fiction account of the early life of this most charismatic of English monarchs, of the events which shaped his personality, and of the strength of his character that was formed during his dark days of exile.

About the Author

Charles Spencer was educated at Eton College and obtained his degree in Modern History at Magdalen College, Oxford. He was a reporter on NBC’s Today show from 1986 until 1995, and is the author of four books, including the Sunday Times bestseller Blenheim: Battle for Europe (shortlisted for History Book of the Year, National Book Awards) , Prince Rupert: The Last Cavalier and Killers of the King.

My thanks to Margot, marketing assistant to Earl Spencer, and also to Helen at Harper Collins for my review copy of To Catch A King.

~***~

Review ~ Warriors and Kings by Martin Wall

Amberley Publishing

What's it all about..

For centuries, the Celtic peoples of Britain stood fast against invasion, oppression and war. Theirs is a fascinating and exciting story which birthed some of the most tenacious and heroic leaders in history: from Caractacus and Boudicca, to William Wallace, Owain Glyndwr and the legendary King Arthur. What was it that gave first the Britons, and then the Welsh, this fanatical will to hold out against overwhelming odds, over so many centuries? Martin Wall explores the mythology and psychology of this unyielding and insular people: their devotion to charismatic leaders they believed to be sent from God, and their stubborn determination "ne’er to yield" to oppression and injustice, whether Roman, Saxon, Norman or Viking, or the ravages of soulless industrialism.

My thoughts about it..

I don't claim to speak with any authority on the Celts. As an avid reader of historical fiction, I merely have a non-academic interest in finding out more about the people who shaped the early world. So for me, to have an easy to read introduction to the Warriors and Kings of Celtic Britain is both fascinating and informative.

I tend to read non-fiction history books in non-sequential order, much preferring to read snippets from chapters here and there which seems to appeal more to my sense of purpose. In Warriors and Kings, the author has given a thoughtful introduction into the Celtic world and over the course of the next sixteen chapter spans almost fifteen hundred years. A might ambitious, maybe, but no less interesting.

The book covers a huge area of history starting with the 'war mad' Celts of the pre-Roman era and extending to the Arthurian legend surrounding the once and future King and the search for the elusive Holy Grail, all is done with a fine eye for historical detail and a distinct enthusiasm for the subject matter. The author writes with authority and gives the reader enough information without getting too bogged down in interminable facts and figures which can so often spoil the enjoyment of reading a non-fiction history book. There is also an extensive bibliography and a useful index which is particularly valuable if , like me,  you want to reference something quickly.

On a personal level, and because I have just read an enjoyable fictional book set in Wales during the time of Owain Glyndwr, I was especially interested to read about the Welsh bard Iolo Morganwg in the chapter entitled, The Son of Prophecy.

I found much to enjoy and lots to learn in this book. I am sure that I shall use it as an aide memoir when I need some clarification on a period of history I enjoy learning more about.

Jaffa was especially thrilled to find reference to this poem written in the 9th century by an Irish Monk to his cat Pangur Ban...

I and Pangur Ban my cat,
'Tis a like task we are at:
Hunting mice is his delight,
Hunting words I sit all night.

Better far than praise of men
'Tis to sit with book and pen;
Pangur bears me no ill-will,
He too plies his simple skill.

'Tis a merry task to see
At our tasks how glad are we,
When at home we sit and find
Entertainment to our mind.

About the Author

Martin Wall inherited his passionate interest in local history and folklore from his father and has been writing about these subjects for ten years. He lectures historical groups on a variety of subjects and acts as a gallery interpreter in his spare time.

My thanks to Philip at Amberley Publishing for introducing me to this author and also for kindly supplying the review copy of Warriors and Kings

~***~