Hist Fic Saturday - Review and Giveaway ~ Beneath a Frosty Moon by Rita Bradshaw

On Hist Fic Saturday

I am delighted to go back to ...1940

Pan
15 November 2018

In Rita Bradshaw's Beneath a Frosty Moon, it’s 1940 and Britain is at war with Germany. For Cora Stubbs and her younger siblings this means being evacuated to the safety of the English countryside. But, little does Cora know that Hitler’s bombs are nothing compared to the danger she will face in her new home, and she is forced to grow-up fast. However, Cora is a fighter and she strives to carve a new life for herself and her siblings. Time passes, and in the midst of grief and loss she falls in love, but what other tragedies lie around the corner? As womanhood beckons, can Cora ever escape her troubled past and the lost love who continues to haunt her dreams and cast shadows over her days?

My thoughts about it..

When Cora Stubbs and her younger siblings are evacuated to the country they believe they are going to a safer place but what they find when they arrive at Stone Farm is a place filled with dark shadows and a very real sense of danger. Making the best of her situation, Cora strives to protect the younger ones, using her wits and considerable strength of spirit to settle into her new life. However, there are troubles aplenty in store for Cora and she is forced to grow up very quickly indeed.

What then follows is a coming of age story which focuses on the darker aspects of life during the war years. To be separated from loved ones was particularly difficult especially when parents had to send their children into the unknown albeit under the guise of safety. And for those children who left everything behind to live with strangers, it was often a time of great unhappiness.Beneath A Frosty Moon is quite  a dark story in many ways and yet, it also shows the strength and resilience of what people endured during the war, especially for the evacuees but also for those who were abroad fighting in some of the harshest conditions.

The author writes this genre really well and gives her characters a realistic sense of purpose, so that they soon become people you start to care about. I liked Cora from the beginning, she is a feisty character and her protection of the little ones is admirable. However, some of the other characters aren't so likeable but collectively they add the necessary light and shade which make this into a compelling historical saga.

I've now read several of this author's historical novels and I've enjoyed them all, but I think Beneath A Frosty Moon is is my favourite to date.

Thanks to the publisher, I have  a copy of Beneath A Frosty Moon to give away to one UK winner of this giveaway.

About the Author

Rita Bradshaw was born in Northamptonshire, where she lives today. At the age of sixteen she met her husband –whom she considers her soulmate – and they have two daughters and a son, and several grandchildren. To her delight, Rita’s first novel was accepted for publication and she has gone on to write many more successful novels since, including the number one bestseller Dancing in the Moonlight.

✨ Giveaway ✨

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Hist Fic Saturday ~ A Winter Love Song by Rita Bradshaw

On Hist Fic Saturday

Let's go back to ....1928

Pan Macmillan
November 2017

My thanks to the publishers and edpr for my copy of this book

When the story opens in 1928, Bonnie Lindsay is ten years old and living with her father as part of a travelling-fair community in the north-east of England. Life is really tough for Bonnie, and when things start to go badly wrong for her, she relies on her wits and her ability to sing to see her through the worst of what life throws at her. When Bonnie is fifteen she is forced to flee the travelling community in order to make her own way in life. However, this is not an easy decision and Bonnie soon finds that if she is to put aside the memories of her past she must make some tough choices.

The shifting time frames and locations are written with fine attention to detail and throughout the novel there is a real sense of time and place. I especially enjoyed watching how Bonnie progressed during the years of the Second World War when the story takes her to Burma and her life there as an musical entertainer.

At times the story is quite an emotional read as it covers some heart rending topics, particularly in Bonnie's early years when she lives with her maternal grandmother. However, ultimately the story is about the power of redemption and how, even in the most desperate of circumstances, the human spirit rises above adversity.


A Winter Love Song is a heartwarming family saga which just perfect for this time of year.

About the Author

Rita Bradshaw was born in Northamptonshire, where she lives today. At the age of sixteen she met her husband - whom she considers her soul mate - and they have two daughters and a son, and six grandchildren. Much to her delight, Rita's first novel was accepted for publication and she has gone on to write many more successful novels since, including the number one bestseller Dancing in the Moonlight.

Follow on Twitter #AWinterLoveSong @ed_pr @panmacmillan

Christmas Blog Tour ~ A Winter Love Song by Rita Bradshaw

Jaffareadstoo is delighted to host today's stop on A Winter Love Song Blog Tour

My thanks to the publishers for the opportunity to be part of this blog tour
and to the publicists at edpr for my copy of A Winter Love Song and the permission to share this book extract.

It's with real pleasure that I share this lovely extract from 

A WINTER LOVE SONG

It was shortly before Christmas when she confided to Betty that she wanted to become a singer and it had been her main reason for coming to London. Betty was all agog, and immediately wanted to hear her. It was their day off and they were sitting in a little square of park eating a meat pie before they went to see Fred Astaire at the cinema. Bonnie looked around her, shaking her head.

‘I couldn’t, not here.’

‘Course you can, there’s no one about, and if you want to do that sort of thing you can’t be shy,’ said the ever practical Betty. ‘Go on, Bonnie, sing us a song. I can’t believe you haven’t told me about this before.’ Bonnie shrugged. ‘I tried for ages when I first came to London and got nowhere. I didn’t even get one audition. Perhaps I’m no good.’

‘How can you say that if no one even heard you?’ 

That was true. Bonnie knew she’d gone red. ‘What shall I sing?’ she asked uncomfortably, wishing she hadn’t said anything.

‘Don’t mind. I know, “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes”. I love that one. Do you know the words?’

It had been one of the hits of the year and Bonnie nodded. ‘I only have to hear a song once and I remember the words and the tune. My da was the same. He had a lovely voice.’ She had told Betty the same story she’d told everyone else since coming to the capital; that her mother had died when she was a baby and her father had brought her up, and it was his death that was the catalyst for making the move to London. Which was partly true.

‘Go on then,’ Betty said again. ‘Look, I’ll introduce you.’ She jumped up from the bench and lifted her arm in an extravagant gesture much as Dennis did. And in an imitation of his ringing tones, she announced, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, for your pleasure for one night only, the amazing, the beautiful, Miss Bernice Cunningham will sing “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes”.’

Grinning, she pulled Bonnie to her feet and then sat down expectantly, her face bright.

Bonnie stood for a moment and then shut her eyes. 

Outside the small square London went about its business; the noise of traffic and people only slightly dampened by the trees and bushes surrounding the perimeter of the tiny oasis. When she had been living with the fair community after her father’s disappearance she had sung most nights – her grandma had seen to that – but even during the day when she’d been doing other things she would sing for the sheer enjoyment of it. Since coming to London there had been little opportunity to practise, though, and for a second or two she was suddenly frightened she might be too rusty. She had never had any difficulty in deciding how to sing a song and bring out the emotion in the words – it was part of the feeling she experienced that she was the song, that was the only way she could describe it to herself. Now, after the first line or two, that familiar

feeling took over and she sang as she had always sung, with her soul laid bare.

She didn’t open her eyes until she had finished the last word, and when she did it was to see Betty sitting with her hand to her mouth while the tears rolled down her cheeks.

A Winter Love Song
is out now and published by Pan Macmillan

A Winter Love Song is a heartwarming and moving story of survival and love from bestselling author Rita Bradshaw.

Bonnie Lindsay is born into a travelling fair community in the north-east in 1918, and when her mother dies just months later, Bonnie’s beloved father becomes everything to her. Then at the tender age of ten years old, disaster strikes. Heartbroken, Bonnie’s left at the mercy of her embittered grandmother and her lecherous step-grandfather.

Five years later, the events of one terrible night cause Bonnie to flee to London where she starts to earn her living as a singer. She changes her name and cuts all links with the past.

Time passes. Bonnie falls in love, but just when she dares to hope for a rosy future, WW2 is declared. She does her bit for the war effort, singing for the troops and travelling to Burma to boost morale, but heartache and pain are just around the corner, and she begins to ask herself if she will ever find happiness again?

About the Author

Rita Bradshaw was born in Northamptonshire, where she lives today. At the age of sixteen she met her husband - whom she considers her soul mate - and they have two daughters and a son, and six grandchildren. Much to her delight, Rita's first novel was accepted for publication and she has gone on to write many more successful novels since, including the number one bestseller Dancing in the Moonlight.

Follow the blog tour on Twitter

#AWinterLoveSong @ed_pr @panmacmillan