The Writing Desk

Special Guest Interview with Nancy Bilyeau, Author of The Heiress of Northanger Abbey

2026-08-17T07:01:24.372+00:00

Available for pre-order

from Amazon UK and Amazon US

Gloucestershire, 1820: Twenty-two years after the close of Northanger Abbey, Catherine Tilney seems to be living a happily ever after. But her busy life as a clergyman’s wife is shattered by a letter that resurrects her darkest fears. Her daughter Phoebe has fallen under the influence of the unscrupulous Thorpe family—the very figures who once nearly destroyed Catherine’s happiness.

The Heiress of Northanger Abbey, publishing in ebook, paperback, and hardcover on September 1st, Is Nancy Bilyeau’s ninth historical novel. She took the time to answer some questions on her vision for the novel and why Gothic fiction is so important to this story.

Is The Heiress of Northanger Abbey a prequel, a sequel, or a retelling of Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey?

My novel is a sequel to Northanger Abbey. The story takes place from May and August in 1820. The main character is Catherine Tilney—she was Catherine Morland in the original novel, and at the end of the novel she married Henry Tilney—and the novel is written in the first person.

What kind of novel is The Heiress of Northanger Abbey—does it have a plot revolving around a young woman in the marriage market like what Jane Austen focused on? Or is it a murder mystery in which one of the characters is a sleuth?

My novel is not a murder mystery, but the plot is a suspenseful one. And the suspense does come from that Jane Austen preoccupation of marriage motives when it comes to heiresses. Whether it’s Georgiana Darcy in Pride and Prejudice or Miss Grey in Sense and Sensibility, women are targeted by fortune hunters. In Northanger Abbey, a crucial plot point is General Tilney’s mistaken belief that Catherine Morland is an heiress—and what happens when he realizes she is not.

In my novel, Catherine understands these mercenary hidden motives can cause pain in a young woman’s life, and so when she believes her own daughter, Phoeber, is being targeted, she leaps into action to protect her. Henry, Eleanor, and Frederick Tilney return and so do Isabella and John Thorpe. I also created some new characters, principally Phoebe but also the children of Isabella Thorpe and her mysterious neighbor, Lord Pomeroy, in Dartmoor.

Why did you pick the year 1820 for The Heiress of Northanger Abbey?

Most people believe that the “action” of the original novel took place in 1798. I wanted my story to go forward twenty-two years to a juncture in Catherine’s life when she is about to turn forty and Phoebe is seventeen, the same age Catherine was during Northanger Abbey.

Jane Austen famously wrote during the Regency. Is your book still in the Regency period?

If you want to be technical about it, 1820 was the last year of the Regency, because that was the year George III died and his son became king in his own right instead of ruling the country as a regent. But some people think that the “Regency period,” its culture, fashion, literature, and architecture, lasted until Victoria became queen in 1837.

I found that 1820 was a fascinating year in European history. Countries were recovering from the Napoleonic wars, and the political temperature was quite conservative. It was like a form of reaction going on against the French revolution. In France, Louis XVI’s brother had become king, and Napoleon’s allies were being persecuted.

Germany and Italy were swinging to the right. In England, the Tory Party had a landslide election. Also, George IV has off to a very bad start. There were hunger and poverty, and yet all he cared about was seeing that his wife, Caroline of Brunswick, didn’t become queen. In my novel, the scandal of the royal marriage is a backdrop running through the plot.

Where does your novel take place? Is Northanger Abbey a real place?

Jane Austen invented Northanger Abbey, the family seat of the Tilney family in Gloucestershire. But , just as with Pemberly in Pride and Prejudice and Mansfield Park, there were real country estates that Jane may have based the places on. She wrote about the physical building of Northanger Abbey in detail, and it was exciting—if a little intimidating—to take that fictional but well rendered place for my novel.

2007 British television film adaptation with Felicity Jones and JJ Feild

I took the story to Bath for several important chapters, just as what happens in Northanger Abbey. And the second half of my novel is set in Dartmoor at the fictional home of the husband of Isabella Thorpe. That was one of the most enjoyable things for me—writing the Dartmoor chapters. I tried to make full use of the moors, the mist, the tors, the isolation, and some of the most fascinating local legends.

What about the Gothic satire part of Northanger Abbey?

Well, that’s why I took the story to Dartmoor! I leaned into the Gothic vibe. Jane Austen was no fan of Gothic fiction, and she created a heroine in Catherine Morland who loved that popular genre and longed to find herself in a Gothic novel like Ann Radcliffe’s Mysteries of Udolpho. Repeatedly Jane Austen made fun of Catherine’s imaginings. And yet…and yet…there are aspects of the plot, like Catherine being put out of Northanger Abbey to fend for herself, that have a Gothic drama flavor to them.

In The Heiress of Northanger Abbey, I have a lot of fun with Gothic atmosphere and the Gothic fiction that was popular in 1820, from Anne Radcliffe’s bestsellers to Matthew Lewis’s The Monk to Dr John Polidori’s The Vampyre.

Is this your first Jane Austen adjacent novel and have you written other sequels or retellings of other writers’ novels?

This is my only foray into the Jane Austen adjacent world, a fascinating place! In my other novels, novellas, and short stories, I create my own characters and worlds. This began as an interesting challenge. Kris Waldherr of Muse Publications asked me if I wanted to be one of the group of authors participating in Once Upon a Gothic. For this special limited collection, each author took a Gothic classic and wrote a retelling from a different point of view or a sequel. For example, Paulette Kennedy wrote The Last Bride, a Dracula adjacent story.

I thought about it for a long time and decided to write about Northanger Abbey. I’ve been a huge admirer of Jane Austen my whole adult life and her Gothic playfulness in that novel is very interesting. It’s also one of her funniest books. And some scholars say there are strong autobiographical elements in the novel’s treatment of Bath and depiction of Catherine Morland’s family background.

The Heiress of Northanger Abbey was published with the others on Kickstarter in 2025, emphasizing the tactile possibilities of the physical books, producing in tête-bêche format. I received the rights back after the Kickstarter funded and commissioned a new cover. I decided to add a whole new chapter and revise some other parts, and I wrote an “Author’s Note.” I’ve made the novel available for the first time on Amazon, Bookshop.org, Apple, Kobo, and Barnes & Noble, and it can be ordered in ebook, paperback, and hardback.

So far the response pre-publication has been so exciting! Real Simple magazine put it on a list of books “perfect for fall” and BlueInk gave it a star and said, “Bilyeau, an American journalist and editor who has made a career of novels of historically accurate fiction, brings emotional depth and character development to this absorbing narrative.”

Will you continue in the 19th century with your next historical novel?

I may return to it because I enjoyed this process so much, but the novel I am writing right now is Champagne at Midnight, set in 1926 New York City. I wrote the historical mysteries Dreamland and The Orchid Hour as tributes to early 20th century NYC and I continue that direction with the new one, which should be published in 2027.

Nancy Bilyeau

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About the Author

Nancy Bilyeau is the author of the Joanna Stafford trilogy: The Crown, The Chalice, and The Tapestry. The series was published in the UK, North America, Germany, Spain, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Russia, and Denmark. Orion Publishing is re-issuing The Crown and The Chalice in the UK with new covers for the paperback. In North America, the Joanna Stafford trilogy is available in ebook, paperback, hardback and audio formats here. Nancy lives with her family in the Hudson Valley in New York. Find out more at Nancy's website, NancyBilyeau.com and find her on Facebook, Twitter @Tudorscribe and Bluesky @nancycb.bsky.social

Special Guest Post By E.L. Ravenheart, Author of The Shadow keeper: Gothic Haunting Tales from Somerset

2026-08-16T07:12:24.320+00:00

Available from Amazon UK and Amazon US

In the deep woods of the Great Lakes, skeletal spirits hunt the arrogant. Shapeshifters guard what remains of the wild. Hunger transforms the soul with a single choice. Across the Atlantic, on mist-shrouded moorland where leylines pulse through peat, a barefoot girl walks for two centuries, keeping a covenant her family refused. At standing stones, trickster ravens teach threshold lessons. In dark pools, witnesses become bridges between worlds.

The Inspiration and Research behind the Shadow Keeper

When I moved to North Somerset, I moved into the Old Quarry Master’s house that sits directly across from the old town quarry in Weston-Super-Mare, I remembered standing in the kitchen on that first night, listening to the house settling around me, and thinking that I had never lived somewhere with quite so much silence – and quite so much history pressing in from every direction. I did not know it yet, but that house, and the grounds beneath it, would become the beating heart of The Shadow Keeper.

Inspiration

My mother passed away not long before I began writing this novel, and in the months afterwards, I found myself remembering the stories she used to tell me when I was young. She always seemed to know I was spiritually inclined, and she shared her stories accordingly. My favourties were always the ones about the Bear Walkers – figures she described in a way similar to a grim reaper, shapeshifting presences that moved between worlds. I held onto those stories long after I stopped believing I have ever used them.

Then I had a dream. It was about spirits and generational curses, about the way trauma and legacy can pass silently from one generation to the next, waiting to be acknowledged. When I woke, I knew I wanted to write about the inheritance – and I knew the Bear Walkers needed to be a part of it. But I did not want to simply retell my mothers stories. I wanted to reimagine them, so I decided to give the Bear Walkers a new purpose in The Shadow Keeper. As figures tied to animals and the natural world, rising to honour her stories while making something entirely my own – something inspired by my heritage, rather than a claim to speak for it.

Research and Somerset Discoveries

Once the idea took root, I need to understand the land itself. I spent months visiting museums, haunted tours and libraries, speaking to residents who were generous enough to share their own memories and family lore. That is how I learned that the underground cavern just outside my kitchen was once said to connect to the tunnels leading into the quarry itself- a detail that unsettled and trilled me in equal measures, and once I could not resist weaving into a collection book.

I walked through Weston Woods at dusk more than once, and there’s a particular smell there- iron and damp earth- that I now associate entirely with the mood of this book. I travelled out to Brean Island and Salt bay where the cliffs drop away so steeply that the whole landscape feels like it is holding its breath. I stood on Cheddar Gorge and look toward Glastonbury Tor in the distance, and later returned to watch the sunrise from that same vantage point, the Tor rising through the mist like something out of memory rather than geography.

I visited St. Johns the Baptist church from Frome, wandered through Norton St Philips, and stood at Burrow Mump, thinking about the layers of history resting quietly beneath the grass. I became fascinated with the yew trees found in so many churchyards, with ley lines, with the Moors and marshes that seem to hold their own kind of memory. I went on haunted-history tours, dug through museum archives, and slowly, the land began to feel less like a backdrop and more like a character in its own right.

Turning Research into Fiction

The greatest challenge wan not gathering the history- it was a learning how to let it breathe within the story rather than simply reciting it. St Catherine House in Bath became the model for the fictional house at the centre of the story The Circle of Witham Grange inside the book The Shadow Keeper, I could picture its rooms shifting into something darker, older, and more and more haunted.

My fictional villages, too, are shaped by real historical periods and unrest, including the later turmoil that followed the execution of King Charles I, a period whose ripple effects are still across Somerset’s landscape and stories. I want to be honest that I am still checking some of the finer historical details before this goes any further, but the emotional truth of the unrest- the sense of a land marked by upheaval- is very much present in the book.

Perhaps the hardest part of writing this novel was bringing together folklore drawn from my own heritage with the folklore and history of England, respectfully and without flattening either. I never wanted to suggest that the Bear Walkers I have written represent all Anishinaabe or Chippewa storytelling- only that they are inspired by the stories passed down to me, reshaped through my own imagination and grief.

An invitation

The Shadow Keeper began as a way to honour my mother, and became something larger: a story about land, memory, and what refuses to stay buried. I hope readers find themselves walking through Somerset’s woods and marshes right along the characters, feeling the same mixture of unease and wonder I felt while researching every page.

Thank you for joining me on this journey.

E.L. Ravenheart

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About the Author

E.L. Ravenheart is a gothic fiction author with roots in the Indigenous Chippewa Nation (USA). Since relocating to the United Kingdom in 2012, Ravenheart has been writing from Weston-Super-Mare, where Somerset haunted landscapes and layered histories intertwine with Indigenous storytelling traditions. Her work blends psychological depth, atmospheric tension, and the supernatural, drawing on cultural inheritance rich in symbolism and reverence for the unseen. The Shadow Keeper is among her interconnected works exploring liminal spaces where memory, myths, and the past press insistently against the present. Find out more at https://elravenheart.co.uk/ and find the author on Instagram and Bluesky elravenheart.bsky.social

Book Review: The Orphan from Verona, by Siobhan Daiko

2026-08-14T06:26:41.685+00:00

Available from

Amazon UK and Amazon US

Verona, 1944. When an air raid strikes Elisa's home, she is left with nothing but the clothes on her back, the teddy bear clutched in her arms and her beloved older brother. Traumatised into silence, six-year-old Elisa can no longer speak and relies on Robi to guide her through this war-torn world.

Siobhan Daiko’s The Orphan from Verona balances human drama with an atmospheric sense of a city steeped in history. Set against the lingering shadows of the past, the novel offers an immersive exploration of identity and family secrets.

At the heart of the novel is a cast of compelling, related characters, and their journey through grief and personal awakening. Their relationships are portrayed with sensitivity, capturing the tension between desire and duty.

I particularly liked the details of life in occupied Verona, the counterpoint of past and present storylines and interwoven character arcs. The gradual revelation of secrets keeps readers guessing, as the plot unfolds at an engaging pace, weaving together intimate, character-driven moments with elements of mystery.

The Orphan from Verona is a well-paced, memorable novel with a sophisticated narrative that explores the complexities of human resilience. Highly recommended.

Tony Riches

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About the Author

Siobhan Daiko is a British historical fiction author. A lover of all things Italian, she lives in the Veneto region of northern Italy with her husband, a Havanese dog and a Siberian cat. Siobhan was born of English parents in Hong Kong, attended boarding school in Australia, and then moved to the UK — where she taught modern foreign languages in a Welsh high school. She now spends her time writing page-turners and living the dolce vita sweet life near Venice. Her novels are compelling, poignant, and deeply moving, with strong characters and evocative settings, but always with romance at their heart. You can find more about her books on her website www.siobhandaiko.org and follow her on Facebook and Twitter @siobhandaiko

Book Review: Queen Elizabeth I's Governess: The Real Kat Ashley by Rosemary Griggs

2026-08-13T05:15:44.110+00:00

Available for pre-order from

Amazon UK and Amazon US

Some of the most intriguing people in Tudor history are those who stood outside the spotlight. Katherine 'Kat' or Kate Ashley is one of these. Best known as the governess and confidante of Queen Elizabeth I, she played a pivotal role in the future queen's life, yet is overshadowed by more famous figures around her.

In Queen Elizabeth I's Governess: The Real Kat Ashley, Rosemary Griggs sets out to change that with a thoroughly researched and engaging biography.

I particularly liked the extracts from letters and contemporary accounts, as researching someone like Kat Ashley is a real challenge. Much of her life has to be inferred from the correspondence of others. It takes persistence and an historian's instinct to piece together fragments into a convincing narrative.

The structure of the book reflects those challenges. The first part sets the scene, exploring on the Tudor world and the Ashley family, providing some context for a woman whose early life remains largely undocumented. Part two picks up the pace as Kate enters Princess Elizabeth's household.

Rosemary Griggs paints a convincing and nuanced portrait of a woman who was more than a governess. Kate Ashley was a teacher, mentor, protector and trusted companion, remaining loyal through some of the most dangerous years of Elizabeth's life. The chapters covering the Thomas Seymour affair are well handled, presenting the available evidence with balance.

The last part of the book shifts gear again as Elizabeth becomes queen. Kate Ashley appears less frequently in the surviving records, but Rosemary Griggs demonstrates how her influence remained significant.

This biography serves as a reminder of how people behind the scenes often shaped events in ways that are easily overlooked. Rosemary Griggs deserves credit for the painstaking research that underpins this book, as well as for producing a narrative that remains accessible throughout.

Queen Elizabeth I's Governess: The Real Kat Ashley is recommended for anyone interested in Tudor history. More importantly, it allows Kate Ashley the recognition she deserves, transforming her from a familiar name in the footnotes into a remarkable woman whose influence on England's greatest queen must not be underestimated.

Tony Riches

I would like to thank the publishers, Pen and Sword History, for providing a review copy of this book.

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About the Author

Author and speaker Rosemary Griggs has been researching Devon's sixteenth-century history for years. She has discovered a cast of fascinating characters and an intriguing network of families whose influence stretched far beyond the West Country. She loves telling the stories of the forgotten women of history — the women beyond the royal court; wives, sisters, daughters and mothers who played their part during those tumultuous Tudor years: the Daughters of Devon. Her novel A Woman of Noble Wit tells the story of Katherine Champernowne, Sir Walter Raleigh’s mother, and features many of the county’s well-loved places. The Dartington Bride, published March 2024, is the extraordinary tale of Lady Gabrielle Roberda Montgomery who travelled from France to Elizabethan England to marry into the prominent and well-connected Champernowne family. Rosemary creates and wears sixteenth-century clothing, a passion which complements her love for bringing the past to life through a unique blend of theatre, history and re-enactment. Her appearances and talks for museums and community groups all over the West Country draw on her extensive research into sixteenth-century Devon, Tudor life and Tudor dress, particularly Elizabethan. Out of costume, Rosemary leads heritage tours of the gardens at Dartington Hall, a fourteenth-century manor house and now a a historic visitor destination, events venue and thriving community of businesses, colleges and more. You can find out more on Rosemary’s website: https://rosemarygriggs.co.uk/ and follow her on Bluesky and Twitter @RAGriggsauthor

Blog Tour Interview with Karen Essex, Author of Renaissance Rivals: A novel of Isabella d’Este & Lucrezia Borgia

2026-08-12T05:29:02.524+00:00

Available from Amazon UK and Amazon US

The story of the brutal rivalry between two of history’s most fascinating power women: Isabella d’Este, Marchesa of Mantua, celebrated in her own lifetime as “The First Lady of the World,” and Lucrezia Borgia, Duchess of Ferrara, daughter of the infamous Pope Alexander VI and one of the most maligned women in history.

I'm pleased to welcome author Karen Essex to The Writing Desk:

Tell us about your latest book.

Renaissance Rivals is a novel about Isabella d’Este and Lucrezia Borgia, two of the most formidable women of the Italian Renaissance. Isabella was celebrated as the First Lady of the World in her own time, while Lucrezia was vilified as a poisoner, seductress, and dangerous daughter of a corrupt pope. When Lucrezia married Isabella’s brother, Alfonso d’Este, the two women became sisters-in-law and rivals for influence within one of Europe’s most powerful families.

Their struggle unfolds through art, fashion, jewels, letters, political alliances, marriage, motherhood, and the affections of powerful men. Beneath the rivalry lies a deeper story about two women determined to shape their own lives in a world that expected them to serve dynastic ambitions.

The novel is also a standalone sequel to Leonardo’s Swans, which introduces Isabella as a young woman and explores her relationship—and rivalry—with her sister, Beatrice d’Este, Duchess of Milan.

What is your preferred writing routine?

I do not write like a normal human being. When I feel I have truly found a story, I tend to work obsessively until I have completed at least a first draft.

A young writer once asked whether I wrote on weekends. I told her that when I am deeply immersed in a project, I take the work with me everywhere, including the bathroom. That answer was only partly a joke.

I have often wished I could develop a calmer and more orderly method. After publishing steadily and also writing extensively for film and television, I have come to accept that intense periods of concentration are part of my process. Sustaining a long career requires discipline. Obsession occasionally proves useful too.

What advice do you have for aspiring writers?

Write something undeniable and make sure it offers something beyond your own experience. Personal material can be powerful, though it still needs shape, insight, conflict, and relevance for the reader.

Be honest about what you are writing and whom you hope to reach. Studying the conventions of your genre is not selling out. It is part of learning the craft, even when you are writing literary fiction.

Revise rigorously. Seek opinions from trusted readers who understand what you are trying to accomplish. Give the work the time it needs. There is no advantage in rushing toward publication before a manuscript is polished and ready to withstand professional scrutiny.

The publishing world receives an enormous amount of material. A strong first impression matters. It is rare for a rejected manuscript to receive a second chance after a rewrite. It can happen, but do not count on it.

What have you found to be the best way to raise awareness of your books?

Writers have to be willing to use every reasonable avenue available to them. That may include speaking engagements, interviews, podcasts, newsletters, social media, book clubs, festivals, direct outreach, partnerships, and personal appearances.

Millions of books are competing for attention. Publishing a book and hoping readers simply discover it is rarely enough.

Authors should decide what success means to them and then act accordingly. A writer who wants a wide audience must be prepared to participate actively in building that audience. Promotion can feel uncomfortable, especially for those of us who would rather be writing, though I have learned to regard it as presenting work I believe in and allowing readers to decide whether it is for them.

Finally, invest in yourself. If you do not take your own work seriously, others are unlikely to do so. When you commit time, effort, and resources to your growth, people are far more inclined to support you.

Tell us something unexpected you discovered during your research.

I began the project firmly on Team Isabella. I had researched and written about her for Leonardo’s Swans, admired her brilliance, and remained fascinated by her long after finishing that novel.

What surprised me was the depth of compassion I developed for Lucrezia Borgia. The woman behind the legend endured an extraordinary series of political marriages, family betrayals, public humiliations, and personal losses. She was repeatedly used as an instrument of her father’s and brother’s ambitions, yet she survived and eventually established herself as a respected duchess, administrator, patron, and mother.

The more I learned, the less interested I became in choosing a simple heroine and villain. Both women were intelligent, ambitious, vulnerable, and capable of hurting one another. That complexity became far more compelling than the legends surrounding them.

What was the hardest scene you remember writing?

The scenes involving difficult childbirth and the loss of children were the hardest for me to write. Women of that era faced pregnancy and childbirth with a level of danger that is difficult for modern readers to imagine. A dynastic marriage placed enormous pressure on a woman to produce heirs, yet every pregnancy carried the possibility of death for both mother and child.

As a mother, I found those scenes emotionally devastating. Writing them required me to remain close to the historical reality without exploiting the suffering. They tore me to shreds, which may be why they carry so much emotional weight in the novel.

What are you planning to write next?

My next major project is The Silk Rebellion, a six-book epic dystopian romantasy series set in an alternate world where Kleopatra and Marcus Antonius won at Actium and created an empire that survived for two thousand years.

In that world, fashion is power, beauty is law, and a vast information network called The Loom controls public life. The series follows Elissa Valeria, a celebrated designer to the empress, who gradually discovers that the magnificent society she helps sustain is built upon control, surveillance, and fear.

The first book, The Empress’s Cape, begins with Elissa at the height of her influence. She has millions of followers, dresses the most powerful woman in the empire, and believes she understands the system she serves. Then the system turns upon the people she loves. The series combines political intrigue, romance, rebellion, fashion, family conflict, and the question that drives much of my work: how does a woman claim power in a world determined to define her role? It debuts January 10, 2027, and I am eager to get it into readers’ hands.

Karen Essex

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About the Author

Karen Essex is the bestselling author of RUN, DARLING, KLEOPATRA, PHARAOH, LEONARDO'S SWANS, STEALING ATHENA, DRACULA IN LOVE, AND BETTIE PAGE: LIFE OF A PINUP LEGEND. All feature iconic women—powerful women that seduced the world and ruled it. She is also an active screenwriter and speaker, and an award-winning journalist. She divides her time between Los Angeles, New Orleans, and Europe. Her novels are published in twenty-nine languages. Find pout more at Karen's website: www.karenessex.com and find her on Facebook and Twitter / X: @KarenEssex

Exploring the Life of Sir Francis Drake - Tudor Corsair

2026-08-09T08:40:57.612+00:00

Available from Amazon UK, Amazon US

Amazon CA and Amazon AU

1564: Devon sailor Francis Drake sets out on a journey of adventure. He learns of routes used to transport Spanish silver and gold, and risks his life in an audacious plan to steal a fortune.

I’d been planning an Elizabethan series for some time, as my aim was to tell the stories of the Tudors from Owen Tudor’s first meeting with Queen Catherine of Valois through to the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. I decided to show the fascinating world of the Elizabethan court through the eyes of the queen’s favourite courtiers, starting with Francis Drake. I soon discovered much I thought I knew about Drake was wrong, and have enjoyed tracking down primary sources to uncover his true story. Here are some of the less well know facts of his life:

“Winter’s Bark” – An Early Scurvy Cure

When Drake’s fleet entered the Pacific in 1578, scurvy threatened his crew. Amazingly, they found a cure far from home. While overwintering in Patagonia, Drake’s sailing master William Winter noticed local people eating the bark of an evergreen tree (later named Drimys winteri, “Winter’s bark”). Winter traded for some bark and distributed it as a drink to the men.

Remarkably, almost no one fell ill, and deaths from scurvy were negligible during the entire three-year circumnavigation. This discovery predated James Lind’s famed lemon juice cure by 160 years. Drake’s voyage provided one of the first well-documented European accounts of a working antidote, often overlooked in popular accounts of his voyages.

Loot from the São Filipe Fouhding the East India Company

In the 1587 raid on Cádiz, Drake captured a Portuguese carrack named São Filipe. Besides gold and silks, this ship carried documents detailing the lucrative Asian spice trade. These seized papers, describing Portuguese routes and trade in the East Indies, proved invaluable to English interests.

The First Fleet of the East India Company departing from Woolwich in 1601.

(Wikimedia Commons

Years after Drake’s raid, these documents would be used as the basis for the founding of the East India Company. Intelligence won by his 'privateering' helped launch England’s empire in India and beyond. This connection between Drake’s spoil and the East India Company is rarely mentioned but appears in both English and Spanish sources.

Chinese Pilots: Navigators of the Pacific

During the same 1578–80 circumnavigation, Drake’s men entered the Pacific and plundered coastal Mexico (New Spain). In March 1579, one of his smaller boats captured a Spanish vessel. That prize proved extraordinary, as the English found nautical charts and two Chinese pilots on board who knew the Pacific waters. These charts and men offered Drake hard intelligence on Spanish trade with Asia.

Drake Crowned King of New Albion

On 17 June 1579, Drake made landfall on the Pacific coast of present-day Northern California. He called the territory “Nova Albion” (“New Britain”) and laid claim to it for England. What few know is the astonishing moment of formal submission: according to Drake’s own chaplain Francis Fletcher, a large assembly of local Coast Miwok people brought gifts and regalia to Drake.

They placed a white feathered crown on his head and a sceptre in his hand as if he were being proclaimed king. Drake then anchored an engraved plate in the soil, and took possession “for Her Majesty the Queen” (in Latin) of this new land.

Francis Drake was a self-made man, who took great risks to make his fortune. He was looked down on by the nobility as a commoner, even after he was knighted, yet his story is one of the great adventures of Tudor history.

Tony Riches

Special Guest post by Anna Belfrage, Author of Like Chaff in the Wind (The Graham Saga Book Two)

2026-08-05T04:59:47.965+00:00

Available from Amazon UK and Amazon US

Matthew Graham committed the mistake of his life when he cut off his brother’s nose. In revenge, Luke Graham has Matthew abducted and transported to the Colony of Virginia, there to be sold as indentured labour – a death sentence more or less.

Indentured servants – the backbone of the colonies

The first few English attempts to set up a successful colony in the New World failed dismally. In general, people who went to the colonies in search of a better life ended up dead, and for some odd reason this made it difficult to recruit new colonists.

Without people to work the land and expand the English dominion, the Colony of Virginia was pretty much doomed, so I suspect the directors of the Virginia Company perked up substantially when someone came up with the bright idea to use indentured servants to populate their land.

The practise of indenture had been around for centuries. In essence it was a contract whereby one person voluntarily entered the service of another person for a stipulated period of time. In general, any payments for the service were paid out in arrears, which meant an indentured servant who absconded could not claim on his back pay.

1738 indentured servitude contract between Henry Mayer a

nd Abraham Hestant.The contract bound Mayer to work

for three years in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, to repay

Hestant for his passage from Rotterdam.

The system set up in Virginia was somewhat different. Someone had to assume the cost of transporting the servant across the sea, and so rules were set in place whereby landowners in the colony could bring over servants at their own expense and receive up to 50 acres in compensation for their efforts.

The indentured servant was compelled by contract to work off his debt for transportation and would at the end of his period of service receive some further compensation – plus some land. The problem with this little set up was that the need for indentured labour exceeded the demand – most people were reluctant to cross the sea to an unknown wilderness from which they might never return.

If people didn’t queue up for the fantastic opportunity of expanding their horizons at no cost but their hard toil, maybe some light coercion would help, and what better way to achieve this than by snatching people off the street and have them set their cross to a document they didn’t understand? Quite a number of people were carried overseas against their will, and once on the other side there was very little they could do but submit to the inevitable and work off their years.

Whether forced or voluntary, the life of an indentured servant was no walk in the park. For a woman, there was the constant risk of being raped – these were societies with a chronic shortage of women – and should she become pregnant her term of service would be extended. The men ended up in the fields, disposable beasts of burden that were often worked until they dropped.

A disobedient (or “wilful”) servant was punished – in some cases so severely as to permanently maim the servant. Trying to run away was a serious offence that could lead to beating so brutal the person in question died, and on top of this the reluctant immigrants had to cope with food shortages and unknown ailments. On average, four out of ten indentured servants died in Virginia during the seventeenth century. No wonder the colony had problems recruiting them!

In the second instalment of The Graham Saga, Like Chaff in the Wind, my protagonist Matthew Graham is one of the unfortunates who is snatched and sold as an indentured servant to Virginia. The experience, unsurprisingly, leaves him scarred for life.

Below is an excerpt, giving some insight into Matthew’s experiences in Virginia. Not exactly light reading, but I hope it will make you interested in more!

Five unbearable days, and on the afternoon of the sixth day he was so tired that he accidentally upended the sled, tipping the load of tobacco plants into the dirt. Jones flew at him.

“Fool! Look at what you’ve done!”

Matthew got to his feet, an effort involving far too many protesting muscles. His shoulders were permanently on fire, the harness had left broad, bleeding sores on his skin, and no matter how he tried to use his worn shirt as padding, the sores deepened and widened, a constant, flaming pain.

“I’ll just load them back.” He bent to pick up an armful. His arms were clumsy with weariness, and it took far too long to reload the sled, with Jones an irate, vociferous spectator. Matthew leaned forward into the straps, bunching his thighs. Dear Lord! He couldn’t budge the load, the leather cutting even deeper into his lacerated skin. He tried again, and still the sled wouldn’t move. Matthew looked back across his shoulder to find Jones sitting on the sled.

“Go on,” Jones sneered, “get a move on.”

“You’re too heavy,” Matthew said, “you can walk.”

Jones raised a brow. “Of course I can. But now I want you to pull.”

Matthew felt his pulse begin to thud. Wafting curtains of red clouded his vision.

“I’m a man, aye? I’ll work as you tell me to, but you can move of your own accord, fat though you may be. I won’t be your yoked beast, I’m a man.” There was absolute silence around him, his companions staring at him with a mixture of admiration and exasperation.

Jones stood up and moved towards him. “That’s where you’re wrong, Graham. You’re no man, not here, not now. You’re a slave, a beast to be worked until you’re no use.” He looked at Matthew expectantly, his hand tightening on the handle of his crop.

Matthew knew he should back down, grovel and mumble, but inside of him the fire grew, red hot rage at the man in front of him, at his traitorous brother, and the injustice of it all.

“I told you. I’ve never done anything wrong. I’m a free man.”

Jones laughed. “Free? Then why are you still here? Why aren’t you on a ship back home?”

“You know why! I have no money.”

“And we own you, until you can pay yourself free, we own you.”

“Nay, no one owns me. I’m a free man.”

“And I tell you you’re but a slave,” Jones hissed.

Matthew punched him straight into the face, having the distinct pleasure of hearing the cartilage in Jones’ nose crack. That was really the last thing he observed clearly, then it was all hands and feet, and the sting of the leather crop. He heard Jones call men to him and Matthew had the shirt torn from his back, he was thrown face down onto the ground and then there was the snap of leather that came down time and time again on his bared skin. One of his arms was twisted up behind his back, and in his ear he heard Jones’ heavy breathing.

“So, what are you?”

“A free man,” Matthew gasped. The pressure on his arm was tearing at his tendons.

“What are you?”

Bend! Alex shrieked in his head, for God’s sake Matthew, bend. But he didn’t want to, he had to salvage some pride, and the pain in his shoulder increased to the point where he knew it would soon be dislocated.

“What are you?” Jones hissed again, throwing his considerable weight against Matthew’s trapped arm. Matthew groaned. Please! Alex cried, please, Matthew, for me. Don’t let him maim you for life, my love, please! In his fuddled state Matthew wasn’t sure if she was here for real, or if it was a hallucination, but the despair in her voice rang through his head.

“I’m a slave,” Matthew mumbled, closing his eyes so that he might still see Alex, not the red earth an inch from his nose.

“What? I didn’t hear you.”

“I’m a slave,” Matthew mumbled again.

Anna Belfrage

# # #

About the Author

Had Anna been allowed to choose, she’d have become a time-traveller. As this was impossible, she became a financial professional with two absorbing interests: history and writing. Anna has authored the acclaimed time travelling series The Graham Saga, set in 17th century Scotland and Maryland, as well as the equally acclaimed medieval series The King’s Greatest Enemy which is set in 14th century England. Her Castilian Heart is the third in her “Castilian” series, a stand-alone sequel to her September 2020 release, His Castilian Hawk. Set against the complications of Edward I’s invasion of Wales, His Castilian Hawk is a story of loyalty, integrity—and love. In the second instalment, The Castilian Pomegranate, we travel with the protagonists to the complex political world of medieval Spain. This latest release finds our protagonists back in England—not necessarily any safer than the wilds of Spain! Anna has also authored The Whirlpools of Time in which she returns to the world of time travel. Join Duncan and the somewhat reluctant time-traveller Erin on their adventures through the Scottish Highlands just as the first Jacobite rebellion is about to explode! All of Anna’s books have been awarded the IndieBRAG Medallion, she has several Historical Novel Society Editor’s Choices, and one of her books won the HNS Indie Award in 2015. She is also the proud recipient of various Reader’s Favorite medals as well as having won various Gold, Silver and Bronze Coffee Pot Book Club awards. Find out more about Anna, her books and enjoy her eclectic historical blog on her website, www.annabelfrage.com and find her on Facebook, Twitter @abelfrageauthor and Bluesky @abelfrageauthor.bsky.social

Book Launch Guest Post by Alistair Tosh, Author of The Sons of Carthage: Hannibal ignites a war to humble Rome... (The Lion and the Eagle Roman Thrillers Book 1)

2026-08-04T05:51:17.878+00:00

Available for pre-order from

Amazon UK and Amazon US

Two empires rise, but only one can survive…

Hasdrubal Barca: The Forgotten General

In 219 BC, Hannibal Barca, the renowned Carthaginian general, attacked Seguntum, a city allied with Rome on the eastern coast of Iberia, just north of modern-day Valencia. The siege triggered the Second Punic War, one of the greatest conflicts of the ancient world.

Hannibal's story has become legendary. His campaigns are still studied in military academies across the world, from his epic march across the Pyrenees and the mighty Alpine passes to his stunning victories over the Roman legions at Ticinus, Trebia, Lake Trasimene and, perhaps greatest of all, Cannae. There, Rome suffered one of the worst defeats in its history, with around 50,000 soldiers lying dead on the battlefield from an army of approximately 80,000.

Yet while Hannibal was devastating the Roman Republic in Italy, another theatre of the war was proving just as crucial. Iberia—modern-day Spain and Portugal—was Carthage's most valuable possession. It was rich in silver and gold, fertile agricultural land, and provided a vital source of recruits for its armies.

For most of the twelve years that the war raged across the peninsula, its defence rested in the hands of Hannibal's younger brother, Hasdrubal. The central figure in my new series, The Lion and the Eagle, Hasdrubal was a capable commander in his own right. Not only did he have to contend with the Roman legions, but he also faced near-constant rebellions from the many fierce Iberian tribes.

At one point, despite the threat of the legions, he was recalled to North Africa by the Carthaginian Senate to suppress the revolt of the Numidian king Syphax, before returning to Iberia a year later. There he, once more, faced the Roman Consuls, Publius and Gnaeus Scipio, defeating them in separate engagements and restoring Carthaginian control.

Although he has never enjoyed the reputation of his elder brother as a battlefield genius, Hasdrubal was a resourceful and resilient general. Even in defeat, and there were several setbacks during his long command, he repeatedly managed to extricate himself and preserve the core of his army, allowing Carthage to continue the struggle.

His final campaign in Iberia culminated at Baecula, Santo Tomé in the Guadalquivir valley of modern-day Andalusia. There he faced the young Publius Cornelius Scipio, the future Scipio Africanus, who would later defeat Hannibal at Zama.

Recognising the quality of the Roman army opposing him, Hasdrubal established a strong defensive position on high ground overlooking the valley, where there was only one practical avenue of attack. When Scipio launched a surprise assault that overwhelmed his forward positions, Hasdrubal conducted a disciplined fighting withdrawal, escaping with the majority of his army intact.

The following year, he led that same army across the Alps into Italy, recruiting warriors from the Gallic tribes along the way in a bold attempt to reinforce Hannibal and alter the course of the war.

Overshadowed by his famous brother, Hasdrubal Barca remains one of history's forgotten generals. Through The Lion and the Eagle series, I hope to bring this remarkable commander, and his extraordinary campaigns, to a wider audience.

Alistair Tosh

# # #

About the author

Best selling author of historical adventures, Alistair Tosh was born in Dumfriesshire, a place filled with ancient place names such as Torthorwald and Caerlaverock. But it was his visits, as a boy, to nearby Burnswark Iron Age hillfort and its Roman siegeworks that first fired his interest in ancient history. On leaving school he began a 35 year communications career, firstly with the Royal Navy, that included covert riverine and seaborne operations during the height of ‘The Troubles’ in Northern Ireland, before moving into the corporate telecommunications world. Military life is unique, and Alistair aims to reflect an authentic view of that experience and its language in his stories. Follow Alistair on Facebook and Twitter/X @alistair_tosh

Blog Tour: The Fern Flower, by Kathleen Shoop

2026-08-04T05:21:36.629+00:00

Available from Amazon UK and Amazon US

Russia 1908-1917: Born into privilege as the daughter of the Tsar’s favored vodka maker, Mila appears to have everything: wealth, status, and a household devoted to her happiness. But behind the gilded doors of her family estate, she is trapped by the cruelty of a stepmother whose greatest wish is to give birth to her own child.

Each summer on Ivan Kupala Eve, Russia turns its gaze to river bends and forest floors in search of the legendary Fern Flower—a mythical bloom said to grant fortune, power, and the deepest desires of the heart. Only one person had ever found it.

Until Mila.

Years later, in the fading grandeur of Petrograd, Mila and her friends slip into the fabled Stray Dog Café, once the sanctuary of Russia’s most daring artists and dreamers. Inspired by its ghosts, murals, and memories, Mila's group resurrects the work she'd first imagined as a child. The Fern Flower is a breathtaking ballet drawn from folklore, magic, and the secrets of Mila’s past.

But in the fiercely competitive ranks of the Imperial Ballet School, talent is never enough. Though Mila wrote the ballet and her gifted musician friend composed its score, rivals question whether Mila is worthy of claiming the coveted lead role.

As World War I intensifies and revolution ignites, the Russia Mila knows begins to collapse. Family secrets surface, loyalties are tested, and the people she loves begin to disappear. When her parents flee and her young brother’s life hangs in the balance, Mila is faced with an impossible choice: remain with the found family who helped her chase her dreams or risk everything to save the person who needs her most.

With Russian folklore, imperial grandeur, and the fierce beauty of ballet, The Fern Flower is a sweeping tale of ambition, friendship, sacrifice, and the magic that survives even when the world is falling apart.

# # #

About the Author

Bestselling author, Kathleen Shoop, PhD’s novels have won awards in the Independent Publisher Book Awards (IPPY), Eric Hoffer Book Awards, the Next Generation Indie Book Awards, Readers’ Favorite, and more. Kathleen has more than 20 years of experience in the classroom and has been featured in USA Today and the Writer’s Guide. She co-coordinates Mindful Writers Retreats and co-coordinated the 2023 Pennwriters Conference. She frequently teaches and is a regular presenter at conferences for writers. Find out more at Kathleen's website: http://kshoop.com and find her on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter / X @kathieshoop and Bluesky @kathleenshoop.bsky.social

Special Guest Post by Steven Veerapen, Author of Overlord: The Life and Reign of Henry VIII

2026-08-02T05:42:11.068+00:00

Available from Amazon UK and Amazon US

The true story behind the infamous life of Henry VIII, one of history’s best-known characters and England’s most famous monarch. He is simultaneously the virtuous Renaissance prince gone wrong, the psychopathic, paranoid tyrant and the much-married glutton.

Oh, Henry. Has there ever been an English king – or a British king – so recognisable, so equally reviled and written-about, that he is, as the great Tudor historian Sir Geoffrey Elton once claimed, recognisable by his silhouette alone? The answer is ‘no.’

Portrait of King Henry VIII, painted by Joos van Cleve around 1535.

Even those unfamiliar with the history of reformation, or parliament, or constitutional law can recognise Henry as, at least, the bloody tyrant who had six wives. Whether one’s image of him is as the buffoonish Charles Laughton, the tyrannical Keith Michell, the leering Sid James, the youthful Jonathan Rhys Meyers, or the volatile Damian Lewis, the point is this: everyone certainly has an image of him.

This was one of the more daunting things I faced when deciding to write about Henry VIII, as was the knowledge that I was hardly the first to consider a book on him – indeed, it was the work of historians such as Alison Weir, Lucy Wooding, Eric Ives, Suzannah Lipscomb, Tracy Borman, Robert Hutchinson, Jasper Ridley, and Antonia Fraser who helped kindle my fascination with Henry and his reign.

What, I wondered, was there left to say?

To my surprise, there was quite a lot. For one thing, the totemic biography of Henry himself – the political biography nonpareil, which focuses on the man and his policies rather than on his court culture, bloody marital history, or association with significant statesmen (which are all interesting in their own right) – remains J. J. Scarisbrick’s 1968 biography.

In this book, which remains standard reading on the sovereign, the author creates an image which has coloured every subsequent study: a Henry VIII who dreamed, however chimerically, of conquering France in England’s name, and who had no coherent or consistent British policy (Scarisbrick not only indicates this but states it outright). To my surprise, as a long-time student of Scottish history who frequently encountered the king well away from the continent, this simply was not the Henry I’d met in the various and surprisingly voluminous Scottish sources. Still less was it the figure I then found lingering in the pages of various Irish and Welsh documents.

Could there be another Henry VIII?

This question propelled the writing of “Overlord” and made it a joy. Here was a new version of the king I thought I knew – and backed up by a variety of sources untouched in any existing biography. This made working on the book not a workmanlike experience but – to rely on a hoary cliché – a genuine journey of discovery.

Readers, I hope, will feel the same way as they meet a familiar figure – swathed in his furs and surmounted by his bejewelled, feathered cap – in new surroundings and with all-new motives. “Overlord”, I hope, presents the would-be Emperor Henry VIII: a magnificent, awe-inspiring, frequently ghastly leader who saw himself bestriding the British Isles as a legally-justified, universally-respected colossus.

I can’t promise readers will like him any more than they do already (which is generally not at all), but I do hope they’ll be as spellbound by him – and his arrogance, bravado, and sheer self-belief – as I was.

Steven Veerapen

# # #

About the Author

Steven Veerapen is a writer of fiction and nonfiction and a lecturer at the University of Strathclyde who specialises in sixteenth-century literature. His first novel was The Queen’s Consort, which focused on Mary Queen of Scots’ infamous husband, Lord Darnley. Steven’s other books include the Simon Danforth trilogy, the Queen’s Spies trilogy, and three non-fiction works: Blood Feud, Elizabeth and Essex, and Slander and Sedition in Elizabethan Law, Speech, and Writing. Find out more at https://www.stevenveerapen.com/ and you can follow Steven on Instagram @steven.veerapen.3 and on Goodreads, Twitter @stevenveerapen and Bluesky @stevenveerapen.bsky.social

Witchland: A Tale of Witch Hunting and War in Seventeenth-Century Britain, by Marion Gibson

2026-07-31T05:14:49.488+00:00

Available from Amazon UK and Amazon US

If the witchfinders came to your town, who would you have believed

– and what would you have done?

In the 1640s, Britain was swept up in a brutal witch hunt. The economic uncertainty and religious extremism fuelled by the English Civil War created a climate of fear. Neighbours turned on each other. Women and the poor were especially vulnerable, scapegoated by the powerful looking for someone to blame. In the resulting hysteria – which would, just a few decades later, provide a handbook for the Salem trials – hundreds of innocent people were killed.

Moving from village to village in Scotland and England, Professor Marion Gibson reveals how accusations grew out of everyday tensions – poverty, grief, and resentment – and how entire communities took part in persecuting the vulnerable. Drawing on newly uncovered historical records, this gripping account restores the voices of those accused of witchcraft. Vivid and intimate, Witchland shows that these were ordinary people with extraordinary stories, largely forgotten by history, caught up in suspicion and moral panic.

Witchland is a captivating story of fanaticism, inequality and the violence that surfaces during times of political upheaval.

# # #

About the Author

Marion Gibson became interested in stories of magic and witchcraft when she read news accounts of witch trials in Elizabethan England. She says, 'I realised that whilst I didn't believe the accused people had been doing actual magic, I had no good explanation of why they would confess. What was going on here? What stories were they telling us about their lives? From this came my lifelong interest in storytelling about witches.' Find out more at https://mariongibson.co.uk/ and find Marion on Instagram and X @witchesetc

Historical Fiction Spotlight: A Hunt for Justice: A historical mystery of murder, superstition and hidden family crimes (The Justice Belstrang Mysteries Book 2) by John Pilkington

2026-07-29T05:50:00.047+00:00

Available from Amazon UK and Amazon US

England, 1617. Susanna Cobbett, teenage daughter of a powerful Worcester landowner, is found dead in a gloomy woodland pond which has an evil reputation as the Witching Pool.

The girl is said to have drowned herself, driven to madness by local widow Agnes Mason, who is arrested on a charge of witchcraft. If found guilty, she will hang at the next Assizes.

But Justice Belstrang, shrewd ex-magistrate and sceptic, does not believe a word of it. And when Agnes's family beg him to help, he finds himself caught up in an ever-darkening mystery.

With the help of his friend and fellow sceptic Doctor Boyd, Belstrang unravels the terrible crimes that have lain hidden behind the doors of the great manor of Ebbfield.

Belstrang must confront and apprehend his suspect - and risk his own life in the attempt.

# # #

About the Author

A writer for over forty years, John Pilkington has written plays for radio and theatre, television scripts for the BBC and numerous historical novels set in the Tudor and Stuart eras. They include the popular Thomas the Falconer series, now being reissued by Boldwood Books, the Martin Marbeck Mysteries featuring a government spy or 'intelligencer' (described by Booklist as 'a seventeenth century James Bond') and the Justice Belstrang Mysteries, also to be republished by Boldwood. Born in the north-west of England, he now lives in a Devon village with his partner, and has a son who is a psychologist and musician. Learn more by visiting his website at www.johnpilkington.co.uk or find him on Twitter @_JohnPilkington and Bluesky @johnpilkington.bsky.social‬

Blog Tour Spotlight: One More Hour of Daylight, by C.M. Gray

2026-07-27T05:01:06.261+00:00

Available from Amazon UK and Amazon US

On the first day of World War II, a young man makes a promise—one that will shape every choice he makes for the next four years.

Essex. September 1939: A wounded German pilot drops from a clear autumn sky into a quiet English field. Seventeen-year-old Derrick finds him—broken and feverish. Not an enemy. Just a young man asking for one small mercy before everything ends.

One more hour of daylight. That is all I ask. A chance to breathe free air before whatever comes next. Derrick gives him until morning. When the stretcher comes, the pilot’s last words strike Derrick like a blow he will never stop feeling.

Scotland. France. Germany. 1941–1943: In the mountains of Scotland, they teach him how to kill, how to lie, and how to endure things that break most men. Then they give him a new name, put him on a plane, and drop him into the dark.

As an SOE operative deep inside occupied Europe, Derrick Sedgley lives on false papers, borrowed names, and nerves worn to nothing by years in the shadows. He moves agents to safety, builds escape routes, and stays one breath ahead of the Gestapo.

Then a mission collapses—and everything changes. Forced to run, Derrick finds himself moving through the most dangerous corners of occupied Europe alongside someone whose connection to his past he cannot yet see. As safe houses fall, loyalties fracture, and the frozen passes of the Pyrenees rise ahead like the edge of the world, Derrick begins to understand something.

The choice he made in an Essex field on the first day of the war has been leading him here all along. Some debts cannot be paid. Some can only be carried. And some—if you are brave enough, and fortunate enough—can finally be laid to rest.

From the quiet fields of Essex to the mountains of Scotland, from the dangerous streets of Lyon to the shadows of wartime Hamburg and the high passes of the Pyrenees, One More Hour of Daylight is an unforgettable story of courage, guilt and redemption—of ordinary people forced to make impossible choices in extraordinary times.

Some promises can survive a war. Some people can too.

Praise for One More Hour of Daylight:

"A beautifully written book with a perfect pace that kept me reading
from start to finish." ~ Bookcollector, Amazon 5* Review

"A confident, carefully crafted novel that handles its subject matter with restraint, earning the weight it carries." ~ Indie Library, Goodreads 5* Review

# # #

About the Author

C.M. Gray's first book, The Flight of the Griffin, was longlisted in the 2015 Times Chicken House Writing Competition. Shadowland, the first book in the Pendragon Saga, has so far received over 900 five-star reviews on Amazon. These things still genuinely astonish him, and he is deeply grateful for every one of them. Most of his previous work has been fantasy: either pure fantasy or historical fantasy, the kind of writing where druids turn up uninvited and one of your main characters develops an unsettling affinity with wolves before you have quite decided what sort of book you are writing. Shadowland began with every intention of staying grounded in historical reality, the story of Uther Pendragon. It did not. It has turned out to be a popular book, so he does not complain. C.M. Gray is now happily settled just outside Barcelona with his wife and partner in life, Adriana.

Historical Fiction Spotlight: Da Vinci’s Masterstroke, by Lorraine Amrani

2026-07-26T05:47:49.448+00:00

Available from Amazon UK and Amazon US

When the guns fell silent in 1945, one man uncovered a secret the world was never meant to see.

Special Officer Max Page-Hamilton – art historian, British officer, and one of the famed Monuments Men – stumbled upon Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring’s looted treasure trove in the final days of the war. Hidden behind the stolen Mona Lisa lay a sealed envelope bearing Göring’s personal wax seal… and inside it, a revelation capable of shaking the foundations of art history. Papers penned by Leonardo da Vinci himself, words so explosive that Max locked them away, swearing never to unleash their consequences on a fragile postwar world.

Decades later, his granddaughter inherits not only his legacy, but the burden of truth he dared not reveal.

Now, as global tensions simmer and the art world stands at a precipice, she steps into the spotlight he avoided. What Leonardo wrote in the 16th century was no ordinary treatise – It was a masterstroke of genius, a confession, and a key. A secret capable of re-drawing the line between myth and history, power and obsession, beauty and deceit.

From the salons of occupied Paris to the shadowy corridors of the contemporary art market, Da Vinci’s Masterstroke weaves together wartime intrigue, artistic passion, and a mystery that transcends centuries. Rich with historical detail, driven by emotion, and brimming with suspense, Lorraine Amrani crafts a thriller for art lovers and truth seekers alike, a story where every masterpiece hides a motive, and every revelation comes at a price.

What if the world’s most celebrated painting was never the real story? Open the envelope. Follow the clues. Discover the secret that could turn the art world upside down.

# # #

About the Author

Lorraine Amrani was born and raised in the Royal Borough of Greenwich, and Queens, and was fortunate to have had many opportunities to develop and extend her range of interests, inspired by her historical surroundings. Lorraine spent time working in the Palace of Westminster for a prominent cabinet minister. Following this, Lorraine trained as a nutritionist but her growing passion with art and creativity led to three years studying the History of Art in Greenwich, whilst actively pursuing her career as an artist, first with drawings, but quickly embracing Oil Painting as her preferred medium. Since then, her artwork has been featured in many exhibitions, publications and prominent offices, and in 1995 was honoured to receive a commission to paint the portrait of Wilhelm Roentgen, the inventor of x-ray to celebrate its hundredth-year anniversary. Lorraine continued to broaden her creative passions. She found herself in the London studio of candle-maker to the king, to learn the age-old artisan craft of traditional candle-making, and soon came to understand that producing candles were not for the faint-hearted, due to the unpredictable nature of the molecules when trying to create a distinctive perfume. But finally, a successful brand emerged. More recently, Lorraine has taken advantage of Britain’s world class museums, galleries and exhibitions to indulge her imagination as she examined in forensic detail the lives of the world’s most celebrated artists. It was this, that sparked a creative ambition that persisted until finally sitting down to write her first work of fiction, an art thriller. Da Vinci's Masterstroke was the result. When Lorraine is not working on new creative ventures, she has started to research and collect artefacts from the ancient world. Find out more at https://lorraineamrani.com/ and follow Lorraine on Instagram and X at @Amraniframe

Book Launch Spotlight: The Women Who Clothed the Stuart Queens: Gender and Work in the Royal Wardrobe and the Fashion Marketplace by Sarah A. Bendall

2026-07-25T06:52:40.960+00:00

Available from Amazon UK and Amazon US

This study explores for the first time the changing professions and roles of the women who worked to clothe six Stuart queens between 1603 and 1714: Anna of Denmark, Henrietta Maria, Catherine of Braganza, Mary of Modena, Queen Mary II and Queen Anne.

Queen Anne of Great Britain by Michael Dahl, typically dated to around 1702

Beautifully illustrated in full colour throughout, and using a wide range of written, visual and material sources, this book explores how changing patterns of work and consumption saw women become key producers, retailers and consumers of fashion during the 17th century, and illuminates the strong connections between the royal courts and London's fashion marketplace.

From royal wardrobes, workrooms and laundries to workshops and retail premises in London's bustling streets, Sarah A. Bendall highlights the integral role that women of multiple backgrounds played in the creation and maintenance of elite dress. The royal accounts show that this work was facilitated by migration, global trade, familial networks and changing guild structures, and that the patronage of queens and elite women was integral to supporting and promoting women's rise in the fashion trades as celebrated silkwomen, tirewoman, milliners and mantua makers.

The Women Who Clothed the Stuart Queens challenges understandings of women's work in the court, the household and the fashion marketplace, and shows how clothing played a key role in women's economic participation in 17th and 18th-century England more broadly. It offers fascinating insights for all those interested in the history of women and gender, fashion, material culture and consumption, and, of course, to all those interested in Stuart history.

# # #

About the Author

Sarah A. Bendall FRHistS is an historian of fashion, material culture and women. Her work focuses on the production, trade and consumption of global commodities and fashionable consumer goods, particularly during the long 17th century. She also has expertise in historical dress recreation methodologies. She is a Senior Lecturer at ACU and was appointed as a fellow of the Royal Historical Society in 2023. Her work has been profiled in several media outlets including the Australian Financial Review, The Conversation and Daily Mail Online. She regularly appears as an historical fashion expert on Australian radio. Find out more at https://sarahabendall.com/ and find Sarah on Instagram, Twitter/X and Bluesly @sarahabendall.bsky.social

Historical Fiction Spotlight: Outlaw Knight (III): Romanslayer by David Pilling

2026-07-24T06:04:16.445+00:00

Available from Amazon UK and Amazon US

The Roman Empire is shattered. Constantinople has fallen, and the armies of the Fourth Crusade march unchecked. Nothing seems able to halt their advance.

AD 1205. Philip of Cognac—bastard son of Richard the Lionheart—stands in the path of disaster. The Roman armies are scattered and broken. From the crumbling refuge of Nicaea, Philip and Theodore Laskaris struggle to rebuild an empire on the brink.

Sent on a perilous mission, Philip sails west to seek alliance with Bulgaria. Its ruler, Tsar Kaloyan—feared as the Romanslayer—is a ruthless warlord who despises the Romans. To save the empire, Philip must persuade him to set aside old hatreds before the crusaders strike the final blow.

Together, the fallen kingdoms may stand. Divided,

they will be destroyed.

# # #

About the Author

David Pilling is a writer and researcher, addicted to history for as long as he can remember. The medieval era has always held a fascination for him, perhaps because he spent much of his childhood exploring the misted ruins of castles in Wales. David also has a keen interest in the Byzantine Empire, the post-Roman period in Britain and the British & Irish Civil Wars. Follow David on Facebook, Twitter @RobeH2 and on Bluesky @robeh1979.bsky.social

New Book Launch: Jane Seymour: Patronage, Material Culture and Image Crafting (Lives of Royal Women) by Elizabeth Norton

2026-07-23T05:10:19.224+00:00

Available on Amazon UK and Amazon US

Jane Seymour, the third wife of Henry VIII, was queen of England for only seventeen months, something which has accounted for the little interest shown in her by historians. In her lifetime, however, she was a significant political figure, while her legacy and memorialization extended beyond her early death following childbirth in October 1537.

Jane Seymour: Patronage, Material Culture and Image Crafting is the first full length academic study of Jane’s life and queenship. Using extensive archival research, it pulls together all of the surviving information to provide both a biographical and a thematic account.

Chapters include a consideration of Jane’s queenship and political role, her material cultural environment, her household, her financial position and her religion, before also considering her afterlife and attempts to commemorate her both officially and unofficially. In doing so, the book banishes many myths that have grown up around the queen, most notably ideas of her passivity and powerlessness and also often repeated (but unsubstantiated) claims of her conservative religious outlook. This book presents a picture of Jane as an active and highly political queen consort.

The book is a valuable resource for students and established scholars since it adds considerably to knowledge of the queen and re-inserts her into the heart of the dynasty, while also drawing pertinent conclusions on sixteenth-century queenship.

# # #

About the Author

Dr Elizabeth Norton lives in Kingston upon Thames, near Hampton Court Palace, with her husband and two sons. As well as her books she is carrying out academic research at King's College, London into the Blount family of Shropshire, contributing journal articles and giving papers at academic conferences and has appeared as an expert on television, including programmes for Sky Arts and the National Geographic channel. Find out more as her website http://elizabethnorton.co.uk/ and find her on Twitter @ENortonHistory and Bluesky ‪@enortonhistory.bsky.social‬

Special Guest Post by Pam Lecky, Author of The Wild Atlantic Murders (2 book series)

2026-07-22T05:55:25.978+00:00

Available from Amazon UK and Amazon US

From Book 1: Welcome to Westport, where the wild beauty of Ireland’s western coast

hides deadly secrets…

Inspiration for The Wild Atlantic Murders Series

Talk about the past catching up with you! In a way, it has. Don’t get me wrong; I love historical fiction and will continue to write in that genre. However, when I recently contemplated ‘what’s next’, I couldn’t resist thinking about my roots, not only my family ones, but my reading habits as well.

Crime fiction has always fascinated me, but strangely enough, it wasn’t Agatha Christie’s books that caught my attention; it was PD James. I was a teenager when I read the first one, probably Cover Her Face. I was hooked straight away and continued to devour her books. Then I discovered Elizabeth George and Inspector Lynley.

And when my father introduced me to Dorothy L Sayers and Lord Peter Wimsey, my addiction to crime fiction was complete. To this day, I love a good crime story or thriller. Interweaving characters, plots, and settings isn’t easy, but those authors whose work I fell in love with all those years ago had one thing in common: they did it effortlessly. Much as I love writing my Lucy Lawrence Mysteries, I wanted a new challenge, and so attempting contemporary crime fiction felt like the right direction to go in.

My original idea was a female PI series based in Dublin, with my main character visiting locations all over Ireland as she pursued cases. After much discussion with my editor, however, we agreed that my protagonist would be an amateur sleuth instead and would be based in a small rural community. And that is how Ali Brennan (landscape designer with a surprising talent for solving crime) and the village of Glenfinn came into being. In the first book,

Ali moves to Mayo to set up a branch of the family business, but also to escape a disastrous relationship break-up with DI Aidan Cahill. She is soon joined by her nephew, Gavan, who has just dropped out of college.

Why a landscape designer, you ask? I wanted my protagonist to be a professional, running her own business, and as I studied horticulture and design with the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), and had even built a show garden at the Bloom Festival in the Pheonix’s Park in Dublin, it is a world I am familiar with. It also offers a host of interesting scenarios that I fully intend to exploit (for murderous intent, of course!).

But when it came to location, I didn’t have to think twice. My mother hailed from a small village in Co. Mayo, in the west of Ireland. As a child, I loved to go there and have always felt it was my spiritual home. Over the years, I have explored and come to love the wild and rugged coast of The Wild Atlantic Way, of which Co. Mayo is only a small part. But again, links to family meant that the area around Westport and Clew Bay drew me in the most.

There are many lovely villages and towns on the shore of the bay in which I could have landed my characters, but none had all the ingredients I was looking for. Glenfinn, although completely fictional, is a small coastal village located close to Ireland’s holy mountain, Croagh Patrick, and is inspired by many of those wonderful real places. It is now home (at least in my head!) to a whole host of interesting characters, some of whom may not live for very long… sadly!

Like most crime writers, for me the puzzle is everything. I wanted to create a locked-room type scenario, which is why the victim in The Clew Bay Detectives dies alone on a small island in the middle of Clew Bay whilst seal watching. On the surface, it looks like an unfortunate accident. John Clifford-Murphy was a diabetic and died because of it. But was that really what happened?

When Ali is approached by the man’s wife, who can’t accept the Gardaí’s assertion that her husband’s death was a tragedy and nothing more, Ali’s innate curiosity gets the better of her, and she starts to ask questions. The ripples from the murder continue to affect the close local community, and once hidden secrets emerge, the danger to Ali and Gavan escalates. Then just when Ali thinks they have the answers, she is forced to confront a past she thought she had left behind, with near-tragic results.

The second book in the series, Murder in County Mayo, will be published in November, and pre-order is now available. When Grace Clark vanishes from an isolated farmhouse on the windswept County Mayo coast one bitter January morning, the Gardaí have their suspect within days: her partner, Cormac. But Ali Brennan is certain he's been framed. When a second body is discovered, she has only days to untangle a decades-old grudge before she becomes the killer's next victim...

The Body at Kincora Estate, the third book in the series, will be published in June 2027.

I hope readers will come to love this part of Ireland as much as I do, and over the course of the series I will explore the area too. Although this series is essentially cozy crime, it is at the harder end of the scale and reflects modern Ireland and its issues.

Pam Lecky

# # #

About the Author

Pam is an Irish author of historical and contemporary crime and mystery, published by Storm Publishing and Avon Books UK (Harper Collins). Pam's bestselling Victorian murder mystery series features Lucy Lawrence, along with her trusty maid, Mary, and the enigmatic investigator, Phineas Stone. Lucy solves some nasty crimes along the way and although she is often a magnet for trouble, she invariably comes good in the end. The books are set in the UK and Europe during the late Victorian period.

The Sarah Gillespie espionage series (trilogy) features an Irish woman working for MI5 during WW2. Pam has also written a standalone WW2 murder mystery, Under A Lightning Sky, set during the Blitz.

The Bowes Inheritance, Pam’s debut novel, was awarded the B.R.A.G. Medallion; was shortlisted for the Carousel Aware Prize 2016; made 'Editor's Choice' by the Historical Novel Society; long-listed for the Historical Novel Society 2016 Indie Award; and chosen as a Discovered Diamond in 2017.

Pam’s current project is The Wild Atlantic Murders series, a contemporary Irish crime series (cozy crime with a bit of an edge!). The first book, The Clew Bay Detectives, was published in June 2026 and is set in Co. Mayo and features a landscape designer, Ali Brennan, who discovers she has a surprising talent for solving crime. Murder in County Mayo is slated for release in November 2026 and the third book, A Body at Kincora Estate, will be published in June 2027. Pam is represented by Thérèse Coen at Susanna Lea Associates Literary Agency, London. Pam is a member of the Historical Novel Society, The Crime Writers' Association and the Society of Authors. Find out more at https://pamlecky.com and find Pam on Facebook, Instagram and Bluesky @pamlecky.bsky.social

Special Guest Post by Alison Morton, Author of HEROICA: Three women, three centuries, three reckonings (Roma Nova Thriller Series Book 12)

2026-07-21T13:41:17.375+00:00

Available from Amazon UK and Amazon US

Even the strongest state is vulnerable to its past: Three stories of the women of the Mitela family, descendants of the founders of Roma Nova, bound by blood and courage.

“What inspires you?” is a question I’m frequently asked in many guest posts, in podcast interviews, or at conferences. Perhaps the people asking are writers themselves, or wish to make a connection on an artistic and creative level or want to know the answer to life, the universe and everything. That last one’s easy: 42. (Apologies to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.)

Let’s be serious. Well, for a moment. I dread this question, not because I don’t want to reveal the secret identity of my silken-gowned muse, nor divulge her equally secret pearls of wisdom. Am I frightened she might run away, never to be seen again? No, I don’t want to let readers down with my answer.

I confess – I don’t know.

An inspiring thought or emotion can be anything and come from anywhere. For me, it’s like being ambushed. I often don’t have a clue until it drops into my head. When it does, it’s something shallow and mundane like being held on the phone in a queue, spotting a bargain or scoffing at a mistranslation at a tourist site.

The long burn

The Roma Nova books originated from a decades’ long fascination with Ancient Rome and women’s roles in the modern world but given it took more than thirty years to get the first words onto the computer screen (bypassing the typewriter), it can hardly be called a *moment* of inspiration. It was a slow-growing, but persistent, climbing plant.

Fortuna, Capitoline Museum, Rome (Author photo)

Like all authors, whether they admit it or not, I drew on events, people and experiences from my life up to that moment to write that first book, INCEPTIO. We are all shaped by these experiences and by our background and values.

Alison in the military

There will always be a little bit of the author in her book however much any author claims to deny it. And if we don’t show that in our main character, we switch it into another prominent secondary character. We all live in our own little world at the centre of which is our own delightful/dreadful ego, so any self-expression like writing is bound to reflect it.

Readers and bets

After nine Roma Nova thrillers featuring tough and lively heroines, my readers demanded I write the foundation story of Roma Nova. Thus inspired, that spilled out into two books – JULIA PRIMA and EXSILIUM – set in the fourth century.

In between, I wrote three modern thrillers based on Mel/Mélisende, a dual national Franco-British special forces heroine working for a European security service. Writing them was triggered (inspired?) by a bet from fellow author Conn Iggulden who had given me a fabulous front of cover endorsement for the fifth Roma Nova thriller, INSURRECTIO.

So…HEROICA, out today(!)

This new book of three stories was a case of inspiration via curiosity. I wanted to write a story featuring my original heroine, Carina, in one of her investigations. Her professional life wasn’t spent entirely on saving her country, but like most law enforcers had its fair number of routine cases. Of course, being Carina, the case turned out to be anything but routine.

Why isn’t Revolution? a full-length novel? Because the story ended when it did. We can’t always insist on dragging a story out to 100,000 words when it doesn’t naturally end at 24,000. But what to do with it? It’s too long to be a short story and compared to my two novellas – CARINA (38,000 words) and NEXUS (39,000 words) – not enough for a novella. So I thought about adding a couple of historical long short stories from Roma Nova’s past, but staying within Carina’s family in order to have a connecting thread running through them.

Honoria’s Battle is set near Vienna when that city was being besieged for the second time by forces from the Ottoman Empire. It was hailed as an existential fight by Christian Europe against the tide of Moslem Turks. Historians continue to disagree about the battle’s significance but to people of the time it was one of survival. Of course, Roma Nova was going to be involved! Researching characters such as the ebullient John Sobieski, King of Poland and the best commander of his day, was fascinating.

The Idealist connects with Giuseppe Mazzini’s attempt to form a new Roman Republic and unite Italy in the nineteenth century – another time of crisis and transition. It’s also the story of unrealistic expectations, family secrets and pragmatism. The inspiration was curiosity about the past and wondering what a terrible threat of the past coming back to bite those in the present would do to them.

In brief

Inspiration for me is a formless cloud, wisps, really, wafting around in my mind with no fixed abode. It takes something to come along – a bad film, five words in an email from a Very Famous Author, idle attention to a television report of a coup – to get the cloud to clump and produce a bolt of lightning. Usually, it’s a little crackle at the back of the sky that grows into a steady blaze.

Alison Morton

# # #

About the Author

Alison Morton writes award-winning thrillers featuring tough but compassionate heroines. Her twelve-book Roma Nova series is set in an imaginary European country where a remnant of the Roman Empire has survived into the 21st century and is ruled by women who face conspiracy, revolution and heartache but use a sharp line in dialogue. She blends her fascination for Ancient Rome with six years’ military service and a life of reading crime, historical and thriller fiction. On the way, she collected a BA in modern languages and an MA in history. Alison lives in Poitou in France, the home of Mélisende, the heroine of her two contemporary thrillers, Double Identity, Double Pursuit and Double Stakes For the latest news, subscribe to her newsletter at https://www.alison-morton.com/newsletter/ and receive 'Welcome to Alison Morton’s Thriller Worlds’ as a thank you gift. Connect with Alison on her World of Thrillers site: https://alison-morton.com and Alison’s writing blog https://alisonmortonauthor.com/. You can find Alison on Facebook, Instagram, BlueSky @alisonmorton.bsky.social and Twitter/X: @alison_morton

Book Review: The Orphan from Verona, by Siobhan Daiko

2026-07-21T05:14:00.807+00:00

Available for pre-order from

Amazon UK and Amazon US

The Orphan from Verona is a well-paced, memorable novel with a sophisticated narrative that explores the complexities of human resilience. Highly recommended.

Tony Riches

# # #

About the Author

Book Launch Spotlight: The Falcon's Triumph: A novel of Anne Boleyn (The Falcon's Rise Book 3) by Natalia Richards

2026-07-20T06:17:19.153+00:00

Available from Amazon UK and Amazon US

A novel of ambition, love, and betrayal in the Tudor court

A broken heart. A shattered dream. A future she never expected…

Fresh from her time in the dazzling courts of Europe, Anne Boleyn returns to England with charm, wit, and an ambition she dares not reveal. Her place at court and her future in Ireland seem secure. But when a forbidden love affair threatens scandal, Anne is dismissed and disgraced.

Then King Henry VIII takes notice.

Captivated by Anne’s beauty and boldness, the king is determined to have her—not as his mistress, but as his queen. Yet his wife, Queen Katherine of Aragon, stands in his way… and so does the Church. In a kingdom still firmly Catholic, Henry’s obsession with Anne now acts as a smouldering tinder, igniting a political and religious fire that threatens to tear England apart.

Set against the glittering and dangerous backdrop of Tudor England, The Falcon’s Triumph is a gripping tale of love, power, and the woman who would change history.

# # #

About the Author

As a curator and historian for over 30 years, Natalia has worked in many museums in Derbyshire and later in London. She also worked free-lance for the History Channel USA as researcher, co-ordinator, and interviewer on the award-winning production 'Secrets of War.' However, her passion since a very early age has been the study of the Tudors, particularly Anne Boleyn and the court of King Henry VIII. She did not begin writing seriously until around 2008 and originally wanted to write about Anne Boleyn at the English court. However, a great deal had already been written about this period, and Natalia began to look at her earlier life from around 1500 to 1521. The result of her research was 'The Falcon's Rise,’ set at the court of Margaret of Austria. She then followed this up with part two 'The Falcon's Flight'. This second book covers Anne's time at the French court, with Queen Claude, and ends as she is about to return to England. In her spare time, Natalia loves travelling, gardening, rambling, and visiting historic houses, as well as constantly reading and researching the Tudor period. She spends her time between Derbyshire and Chelsea, in London. Find out more at Natalia's website https://www.nataliarichards.com/ and follow her on Facebook and Twitter @nat_wieczorek

Special Guest Post by Elena Maria Vidal, Author of My Queen, My Love: A Novel of Henrietta Maria (The Henrietta of France Trilogy Book 1)

2026-07-18T05:19:52.577+00:00

Available from Amazon UK and Amazon US

The youngest daughter of Henri IV, the first Bourbon King of France, Henriette-Marie always knew she would have to marry a prince. When the Prince of Wales, Charles Stuart, travels through Paris he sees her dancing at the Louvre and within two years a marriage is arranged. However, Henriette is Catholic and Catholicism is banned in England. In preparing to become Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland, Henriette has no idea of the obstacles that must be overcome before

she can find happiness with Charles.

In the lone tent, waiting for victory,
She stands with eyes marred by the mists of pain,
Like some wan lily overdrenched with rain:
The clamorous clang of arms, the ensanguined sky,
War's ruin, and the wreck of chivalry
To her proud soul no common fear can bring:
Bravely she tarrieth for her Lord the King,
Her soul a-flame with passionate ecstasy.

~from "Henrietta Maria" by Oscar Wilde

Discovering Henrietta Maria

First of all, let me thank Tony Riches for inviting me to compose a guest post about the Henrietta of France Trilogy which I am in the midst of writing, Book 1 being completed. I grew up in Maryland, a state which was once a colony called “Mary's Land”, named in honor of Henrietta Maria, Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland.

Wife of the ill-fated Charles I, the colony named for her was intended to be a refuge for Roman Catholics, the Catholic religion being forbidden in the Three Kingdoms. In my room as a teenager there was a print of the Van Dyck portrait of Henrietta Maria, the original of which is in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Called “Mary” by her subjects, the second Stuart queen of England peers down from the portrait with her black eyes, which contemporaries described as large, sparkling and beautiful. Her dark curls with auburn highlights contrast against the deep marine blue shimmer of a silk dress, with the salmon-pink bows and elaborate white cuffs and high starched collar. A wide-brimmed plumed black hat was of the type made famous by the cavaliers who later fought for her husband in the English Civil Wars.

The white plumes are reminiscent of the one made famous by her father Henri IV of France, which he wore into battle so that his men could always find him. Like her father, Henrietta Maria was not afraid to stand out, remaining a devoted Catholic in a land where her faith was banned, becoming the number one lawbreaker, while also striving to be a traditionally obedient wife, as was expected. But the expectations placed upon her made her life a tightrope walk which almost broke her.

The life of Henrietta Maria of France (1609-1669) was turbulent from the beginning. Half-Bourbon and half-Medici, her father, the famous Henri IV, was assassinated when she was an infant. Brought up by her mother, the Queen Regent Marie de’ Medici, to be a devout Catholic, she also mastered ballet, singing, and acting, skills which she would use in masques to entertain the Bourbon Court and later the Stuart Court. At fifteen she was sent to marry Charles Stuart, grandson of Mary Queen of Scots, who had just succeeded his father James I to the throne of the Three Kingdoms.

While Charles I never converted to Catholicism, as had been hoped by many, his relationship with his wife was profoundly spiritual, enhancing the intense physical passion between them. After the initial clashing of cultures and personalities, theirs became one of the most devoted in the history of royal marriages, and was blessed with nine children. During the troubles which led to the English Civil War, Henrietta Maria became a liability to Charles because of her religion and her meddling, both perceived and actual. But her courage and her devotion fuelled the royalist cause, as she sold her jewels to raise money for arms and led soldiers to aid her husband.

The challenges the royal couple faced in their early years of marriage are told in Book 1 of the Henrietta of France trilogy, My Queen, My Love. Book 2 will deal with the Civil Wars and Book 3 will be about the Queen’s widowhood as well as the adventures of her surviving children.

My view of historical fiction is that the author attempts to paint a portrait of the past with words. A historical novel is like a portrait come to life, allowing the reader to step into the past. Authenticity is vital, and that comes only from thorough research. While it is not always possible to visit the historical places that play a part in the novel, it helps.

The internet has been a gift to historical fiction writers, making accessible old documents, manuscripts, pictures and books that one once had to travel far to find. I found the original program of the 1623 masque performed by Anne of Austria and Henrietta of France at the Louvre during Shrovetide. It was at the rehearsal of the masque that Charles Stuart first saw Henrietta during his incognito visit to Paris. Such primary sources, like the Queen’s letters, are indispensable for creating a living portrait.

So much of what people think they know about Henrietta Maria has been filtered secondhand through multiple writers, some of whom view her as a frothy but tiresome fanatic who led her husband into ruin. This is often accompanied by the perception of the Queen as a dangerous seductress, who used her French wiles in the boudoir to subject Charles to her will.

And others decide that Charles was not enough for her but she had lovers such as Henry Jermyn who actually told her what to do, while fathering her children. Just as her enemies called her the “popish brat of France,” she has been portrayed erroneously either as a sex fiend soaked with crazed religiosity, or as a shy, pious pawn.

On the other hand, there have in the past decades been some excellent biographies of Henrietta Maria, based upon superb research. I include them, and other sources, in a bibliography at the end of the novel My Queen, My Love, to encourage further exploration. The latest biography of Henrietta Maria to date is that of Leanda de Lisle. De Lisle takes into account the women of Henrietta’s family, all of whom were active rather than passive as consorts, like Henrietta herself. Henrietta’s faith is repeatedly demonstrated as not only sincere and unwavering but as an impetus for charitable and creative endeavors throughout her life.

And it becomes obvious Henrietta was a most discerning and insightful patroness of the arts, literature and architecture, employing names such as Inigo Jones, Ben Jonson, Van Dyck, Artemisia Gentileschi, while encouraging educators like Mary Ward. She brought to England the music of the continent, particularly magnificent liturgical music for her various chapels. Even in her days of hardship, Henrietta continued to give to others, whether it was giving a beggar woman her last valuable possession, or endowing a Visitation Monastery in France as a harbour for pious women.

Even as a great portrait reveals something about the soul of the subject painted, so does a written portrait. Yet each soul remains an enigma, especially souls who loved deeply, like Henrietta. Art offers a glimpse behind the veil of the senses, but it is done by using the imagination to describe the exteriors, the sounds, the smells, the foods, the music. By understanding a little bit about a world that is gone and the people who are gone, but whose actions have directly or indirectly influenced us, like the founding of Mary’s Land by Charles I and Henrietta Maria, we can better understand the present.

Elena Maria Vidal

# # #

About the Author

Elena Maria Vidal was born in Florence, Oregon in 1962 but grew up in Frederick County, Maryland. She received her BA in Psychology from Hood College and her MA in Modern European History from SUNY Albany. She has been a member of the Secular Order of Mount Carmel since 1986. Elena enjoys cooking, gardening, opera and working with the elderly. She lives on Maryland’s Eastern Shore with her family. She is currently engaged in writing a historical fiction trilogy about Queen Henrietta Maria. Elena’s Tea at Trianon blog deals with social, religious and political issues as well as history. My Queen, My Love: A Novel of Henrietta Maria is her fifth novel and sixth book. Find out more from her blog, Tea at Trianon and find her on Twitter @emvidal

Book Launch Guest Post by Naomi Kelsey, Author of Pale Mistress: Lover. Courtesan. Survivor.

2026-07-16T04:06:10.132+00:00

Available from Amazon UK and Amazon US

Cyprus, 16th century. Murder, lies and vengeance has left lovers dead, promises broken and no one to trust. Only one woman survives, Bianca. The slain? History knows their names: Emilia, Desdemona, Othello.

“I am no strumpet”: the inspiration behind ‘Pale Mistress’

If you speak to most people, the female characters they remember from ‘Othello’ are Desdemona and Emilia. Very few recall Bianca – and yet, she has the dubious distinction of being the only named female character in Shakespeare’s four major tragedies who does not die!

Now, it’s entirely possible Shakespeare intended to kill Bianca off. He leaves her being escorted away by Venetian soldiers after Iago has accused her of complicity in the attempted murder of her lover (or fiancé!), Michael Cassio. Iago tells Bianca, “Come, mistress, you must tell’s another tale.” Within the text, this is taken to imply that Bianca will be tortured until she confesses her role in the plot – which is, of course, entirely of Iago’s own making. However, as a novelist, this felt like an invitation. Just what tale would Bianca tell? What would her story be?

Indra Ové portraying the character Bianca in the

1995 film adaptation of Othello.

My initial inspiration for ‘Pale Mistress’ came during an A Level Literature lesson in 2024. I’d studied the play myself as a teenager, and have taught it multiple times over the years. But the wonderful thing about returning to classic texts again and again, at different stages of my life and with different students in front of me, means that new ideas emerge each time. On this occasion, during a lesson on Act 4 Scene 1, in which Cassio and Iago talk about Bianca behind her back before she storms on stage in a fury, one of my students made the immortal observation, “Cassio’s a bit of a douche, isn’t he?”

Tom Hiddleston performing as Cassio alongside Martina Laird
as Bianca in a 2007 production of Othello

This was the first time I’d taught ‘Othello’ post #MeToo. The first time I’d taught it since ‘gaslighting’ became one of Oxford Dictionary’s buzzwords of 2018, and since Merriam-Webster made it one of their words of the year in 2022. And suddenly I was looking at this play in a very different light.

Cassio’s generally regarded as a chivalrous chap: handsome, noble, much-admired by Venetian society. He’s played by attractive actors – Nathaniel Parker, Jonathan Bailey, Tom Hiddleston. His fate, being gravely injured by Iago and accused of sleeping with Desdemona, is usually interpreted as thoroughly unfair. However, to a modern audience, his behaviour is decidedly two-faced.

On the one hand he describes Desdemona as “the divine Desdemona” and “a maid / That paragons description and wild fame, / One that excels the quirks of blazoning pens”. On the other, he describes Bianca as a “monkey”, a “bauble”, and a “rogue” behind her back, yet to her face calls her “my most fair Bianca” and “my sweet Bianca”. The chivalrous courtier’s mask slips: away from the postures of courtly love performed for and about Desdemona, Cassio reveals himself to be mocking, scornful, even cruel.

Of course, there’s another character in ‘Othello’ who speaks derisively of others behind their backs, then is all charm to their faces. But while Iago is ultimately revealed as a villain and abhorred as a “demi-devil”, Cassio is rewarded with the governorship of Cyprus, and the power to punish Iago as he sees fit. What Shakespeare doesn’t mention is that this also grants Cassio the ability to decide Bianca’s fate.

What would Cassio do, I wondered, to a woman he thought had betrayed him, even conspired to mutilate and murder him? Would he carry out the torture Iago had threatened? Would he put her on trial – perhaps even condemn her to death?

Once I’d started asking this question, I couldn’t stop. Everything about Bianca started to fascinate me: who was she, really? We know very little about her, other than that she must be extremely skilled at embroidery, given that Cassio asks her to “take the work out”, or copy, the fateful handkerchief Iago has planted in his chamber. Iago calls her a whore, but then Iago calls all three female characters in the play a whore, so why do audiences and critics only believe it of Bianca, especially when she herself insists “I am no strumpet, but of life as honest as you that thus abuse me”?

Iago also says in the first scene of the play that Cassio is “a fellow almost damned in a fair wife”, which could either mean Cassio is such a catch he’s bound to marry sooner or later, or that Cassio has a fiancée already. Bianca moves freely about Cyprus, with a degree of confidence and independence that neither Desdemona or Emilia are permitted – was this the freedom of an unmarried woman, or a sex worker? And then her freedom is abruptly, brutally, unjustly curtailed.

My question about what Cassio might do branched out: what would Bianca do to prove her innocence – or get her revenge?

Two years ago, I half-heartedly joked to my A Level students that one day I would write a novel about Bianca, and it would be full of feminist rage! And here we are. As for whether Cassio receives the comeuppance I promised them, you’ll have to read ‘Pale Mistress’ to find out…

Naomi Kelsey

# # #

About the Author

Naomi Kelsey's debut novel, The Burnings, was published by Harper North in 2023, followed by The Darkening Globe in 2025. Her next book, Pale Mistress, a reimagining of Shakespeare's 'Othello', is out now. She is the winner of two Northern Writers’ Awards and of the HWA Dorothy Dunnett Competition 2021. Her fiction has been published in Mslexia magazine and shortlisted for several further awards including the Bridport Prize and the Bristol Prize. She posts about books, history, and the chaos of writing around small children and teaching English on Instagram as @naomikelseybooks and on X as @naomikelsey_ Bluesky @naomikelsey.bsky.social and writes a monthly-ish newsletter on Substack at @naomikelsey

Blog Tour Book review: The Making of Marigold McGrath: A Novel of London in the Second World War, by Carrie Hayes

2026-07-15T04:04:32.306+00:00

Available from Amazon UK and Amazon US

New York City, 1937. Seventeen-year-old Marigold McGrath is coming undone. Her mother is dead. Her father is drawn to dangerous politics. The only place she feels joy is behind a camera — where she can frame the world on her own terms. After a series of her own missteps, she reinvents herself in London. She falls in love with Joop, a charming Dutch student, and shrugs off the war gathering around her.

Readers could be forgiven for thinking there isn’t much more to say about London during the Blitz, yet Carrie Hayes’s The Making of Marigold McGrath is a fresh and sometimes moving story.

Seventeen-year-old Marigold McGrath leaves New York to make a new life as a photographer in London. She tries to frame the world on her own terms, documenting the arrival of Kindertransport children, but the beginning of the devastating Blitz forces her to choose what kind of observer she is going to be.

I particularly like Carrie Hayes’s engaging character development, and the London setting is well researched and authentic. Marigold’s journey from a privileged teenager to a wartime photographer is convincing and often poigniant.

If you like original WW2 historical fiction, this is a story of survival and resilience that I am happy to recommend.

Tony Riches

# # #

About the Author

Carrie Hayes lives with her husband and two spoiled dogs in a rambling Victorian house just outside of New York City. Her previous historical Fiction novels deal with the suffragist movement. Find out more at www.carriehayeswrites.com and find Carrie on Facebook and Instagram

Historical Fiction Spotlight: Book Title: The Quest for the Crown of Thorns, by Cynthia Ripley Miller

2026-07-14T05:47:35.771+00:00

Available from Amazon UK and Amazon US

AD 454. Three years after the Roman victory over Attila the Hun at Catalaunum, Arria Felix and Garic the Frank are married and enjoying life on Garic's farm in northern Gaul (France). Their happy life is interrupted when a cryptic message arrives from Arria's father, the esteemed Senator Felix, calling them to Rome. At Arria's insistence, but against Garic's better judgment, they leave at once.

On their arrival at Villa Solis, they are confronted with a brutal murder and a dangerous mission. The fate of a profound and sacred object--Christ's Crown of Thorns--rests in their hands. They must carry the holy relic to the safety of Constantinople, away from a corrupt emperor and old enemies determined to steal it for their own gain.

But a greater force arises against them--a secret cult who will commit any atrocity to capture the Crown. All the while, the gruesome murder and the conspiracy behind it haunt Arria's thoughts.

Arria and Garic's marital bonds are tested but forged as they partner together to fulfill one of history's most challenging missions, The Quest for the Crown of Thorns.

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About the Author

Cynthia Ripley Miller is a first-generation Italian-American writer with a love for history, languages, and books. She has lived in Europe and traveled worldwide, holds two degrees, and taught history and English. Her short fiction has appeared in the anthology Summer Tapestry, at Orchard Press Mysteries.com, and The Scriptor. She is a Chanticleer International Chatelaine Award finalist with awards from Circle of Books: Rings of Honor and The Coffee Pot Book Club. She has reviewed for UNRV Roman History, and blogs at Historical Happenings and Oddities: A Distant Focus and on her website, www.cynthiaripleymiller.com. Also connect with Cynthia on: Twitter:@CRipleyMiller