History and Women

Reign by Ginger Garrett

2013-05-31T10:38:00.003-06:00

Beyond the Drama, Her Heart Was Real

From the moment her marriage to prince Ahab thrusts her into the intrigues of palace life, Jezebel’s exotic beauty opens doors and her will breaks down walls. Torn from her homeland and wed to power in a strange country, Jezebel vows to create a legacy and power all her own. Some might call her a manipulative schemer, bent on having her way. But they don’t know the whole story, and she was much, much worse.

As she moves through the halls of power, her heart struggles between devotion to the gods she worships, the prince who loves her, and her thirst for revenge. She sparks a battle between her strangely powerless gods and the God of palace administrator Obadiah—a God who confronts her with surprising might. She will fight, though victory may cost her everything.

Reign is the fictionalized biography of the notorious Jezebel of the Bible. The story opens with Jezebel’s hatred of her twin sister and shoving her to her death in a sacrifice.

The story unfolds through the point of view of Jezebel, her husband Prince Ahab, and Obadiah, a palace administrator. What makes this novel unique is the fact that the main heroine is abhorrent to our modern day sensibilities. As queen, she promotes murder and sacrifice, killing infants, rampant prostitution, the drinking of blood, worship of numerous gods, and pure evil. You will not like her, a most unusual predicament for most readers.

Yet the story, although slow in places, was compelling and shocking enough to hold my interest. I love a good villain - the more vile, the better. Well written and woven with intriguing historical details, this novel was a very unusual, but interesting read, one that is still haunting me.

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From History and Women

Black Venus by James MacManus

2013-05-30T09:37:00.000-06:00

A vivid novel of Charles Baudelaire and his lover Jeanne Duval, the Haitian cabaret singer who inspired his most famous and controversial poems, set in nineteenth-century Paris.

For readers who have been drawn to The Paris Wife, Black Venus captures the artistic scene in the great French city decades earlier, when the likes of Dumas and Balzac argued literature in the cafes of the Left Bank. Among the bohemians, the young Charles Baudelaire stood out—dressed impeccably thanks to an inheritance that was quickly vanishing. Still at work on the poems that he hoped would make his name, he spent his nights enjoying the alcohol, opium, and women who filled the seedy streets of the city.

One woman would catch his eye—a beautiful Haitian cabaret singer named Jeanne Duval. Their lives would remain forever intertwined thereafter, and their romance would inspire his most infamous poems—leading to the banning of his masterwork, Les Fleurs du Mal, and a scandalous public trial for obscenity.

James MacManus's Black Venus re-creates the classic Parisian literary world in vivid detail, complete with not just an affecting portrait of the famous poet but also his often misunderstood, much-maligned muse.

Black Venus is a novel about Charles Baudelaire and his mistress, Jeanne Duval. Charles Baudelaire was not a man of affluence, however, he yearned to be so. He desired the luxuries of life and strived for it, even at the risk of his own reputation. He spent money lavishly, gambling and womanizing, even indulging in drink and drugs. His mother and stepfather often came to his rescue when his debts got out of control and imposed a strict allowance, severely restricting him.

Sketch of Jeanne Duval

And then in an obscure cabaret, he met the woman who would become his obsession, an alluring Creole woman from Haiti named Jeanne Duval. He dubbed her his Black Venus. She captivated him in every way and he wanted to possess her at all costs. She inspired his poetry - graphically sexual, explicit, and descriptive. She used Charles as a means to raise her own status in life. Jeanne even made clothing purchases at elite shops and charged them to Charles’ mother. Jeanne took everything she could from the relationship that was tumultuous and lasted for decades.

Sketch of Jeanne Duval

The novel truly takes the reader in the 19^th century France, the fear of the revolution, the artists, the cafes. The poems Duval inspired were published, but due to their sexuality, were banned by the government, bankrupting his publisher and rendering Charles a very poor man indeed. Edward Manet befriends Charles and soon Manet paints Jeanne. Unlike Charles, however, his work brought Manet fame and wealth, and increased Duval’s fame.

Painting of Jeanne Duval by Edouard Manet

Black Venus is a poignant novel, heart-breaking and forlorn, almost a tragedy. It is a tale of betrayal, jealousy, obsession, and forbidden love. A magnetic story to say the least!

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From History and Women

Barbara Castlemaine's Daughters

2013-05-21T17:30:00.000-06:00

In the 17th century, bearing a royal child was evidently a certain way of securing a pension from the Privy purse, so it’s hardly surprising that all Charles’ liaisons were fruitful.

Many novels have been written about the notorious Barbara Villiers, who became first Palmer, then Countess of Castlemaine, completing her rise to nobility as the 1st Duchess of Cleveland, but the lives of the three sons and three daughters she presented to her royal lover took quite a different turn to their famous mother.

Lady Anne Fitzroy

Lady Anne Fitroy Countess of Sussex

Anne was born in 1661, and Barbara claimed she was conceived on the night of Charles’ coronation in May 1660, her enemies were quick to suggest the baby was either her husband, Roger Palmer's, or her other lover’s, Philip Stanhope, 2nd Earl Chesterfield.

Roger Palmer acknowledged Anne as his daughter, giving her his name, although this was changed to Fitzroy when the king decided to acknowledge her as his.

Her illegitimacy notwithstanding, Lady Anne was very eligible, and at thirteen, she was married to the twenty-year-old Thomas Lennard, 15th Baron Dacre and Gentleman of the Bedchamber, who was created Earl of Sussex on the marriage.

Lennard was an extravagant spender and gambler, and their marriage was an unhappy one. After two years, when Anne was fifteen, she began a lesbian liaison with Hortense Mancini, duchesse Mazarin, who had fled her own abusive husband, Armand Charles de la Porte. This liaison was not only shocking to the royal court, but very inconvenient in that King Charles was also conducting an affair with ‘the Mancini’ at the time.

A letter written to Loord Roos by his sister related:

"Lady Sussex and Madame Mazarin have privately learnt to fence, and went downe into St. James Parke the other day with drawne swords under theire night gownes, which they drew out and made severall fine passes with, to the admiration of severall men that was lookers on in the Parke."

Anne’s husband dragged her off to country like a naughty child, but instead of coming to her senses, Anne took to her bed and wept bitterly for weeks, kissing a miniature portrait of Hortense. Hortense’s feelings, on the other hand seemed unaffected and she merely moved on to another lover the Prince de Monaco while her affair with the king continued.

Anne did not back down, however, so Lord Sussex decided on desperate measures to get his recalcitrant wife back in line. In collusion with his mother-in-law, who, having been ousted as king’s mistress by Louise de Keroualle, by 1678 lived in Paris, she sent Anne to a nunnery near her own house so she could keep an eye on her. However, Barbara’s current lover, and English ambassador to France, Ralph Montagu, abducted Anne from the convent and they ran off together.

Barbara’s behaviour was considered outrageous even for her time, so her sense of affront at her daughter's actions seems misplaced. In a letter to King Charles, dated "Paris, Tuesday the 28th, 1678," Barbara, Duchess of Cleveland wrote:

I was never so surprised in my whole life-time as I was at my coming hither, to find my Lady Sussex gone from my house and monastery where I left her, and this letter from her, which I here send you the copy of. I never in my whole life-time heard of such government of herself as she has had since I went into England. She has never been in the monastery two days together, but every day gone out with the Ambassador (Ralph Montagu), and has often lain four days together at my house, and sent for her meat to the Ambassador; he being always with her till five o'clock in the morning, they two shut up together alone, and would not let my maitre d'hôtel wait, nor any of my servants, only the Ambassador's. This has made so great a noise at Paris, that she is now the whole discourse. I am so much afflicted that I can hardly write this for crying, to see a child, that I doted on as I did on her, should make me so ill a return, and join with the worst of men to ruin me.

The Sussex’s marriage did, it seems, get back on track for a while, and during the 1680’s, they produced four children, two sons who died in infancy; and two daughters, Barbara and Anne, who lived to adulthood and were co-heirs of the Barony Dacre. However the couple separated in 1688 and Anne was widowed in 1715 and lived another seven years.

Lady Charlotte Fitzroy

Lady Charlotte Fitzroy Countess of Lichfield

Barbara’s second daughter was more widely accepted as Charles’ offspring, and named Charlotte after him. Born on September 5, 1664 at her mother’s Whitehall Palace apartments, Charlotte, was Barbara’s fourth child and second daughter.

Little is known about Charlotte, other than she rivalled her mother in beauty, had the King’s entrancing Stuart eyes, as well as his mouth. In contrast to her mother, Charlotte was sweet-tempered and pleasing, a contemporary describing her in adulthood as, “a very good and virtuous lady.” In a court full of overweening ambition, sycophancy and back-stabbing, Charlotte was her father’s delight and the favourite niece of her uncle James Duke of York.

When Charlotte was ten, and on the same day as her sister Anne, a marriage was arranged for her by Anne, Countess of Rochester, to her grandson, Edward Henry Lee. a cousin. They were married on 6 February 1677 when the pair were 12 and 13, when Edward was created Earl of Lichfield.

The young married couple spent their summers at the Lee family’s country estate, Ditchley Park in Oxfordshire, bought by Sir Henry Lee in 1580. The couple were also given a property by the king, located near St James Park on what is now Horse Guards Parade.

By the age of nineteen, Charlotte already had four children and went on to have a further 16, but the couple’s 42 year long marriage was apparently a happy one though six of their children died young.

Sir Edward Henry Lee, [his father's half-brother was the libertine-poet the Earl of Rochester] was a dedicated Tory and advocate of King James II. He followed him to Rochester in Kent after the king's escape from Whitehall in December 1688.

Edward died in 1716 and Charlotte two years later. The inscription on their monument in Spelsbury Church reads – “at their marriage they were the most grateful bridegroom and the most beautiful bride and that till death they remained the most constant husband and wife.”

Lady Barbara Fitzroy

Lady Barbara Fitzroy Aged 16

Barbara was born at Cleveland House in St Martin in the Fields, London, England on 16 July 1672, at around the time Barbara Castlemaine was losing her position as the king’s chief mistress to Louise de Kérouaille.

Although her mother insisted she was a daughter of the king, Barbara was widely thought to have been fathered by either John Churchill, later Duke of Marlborough, or Lord Chesterfield, whom she is said to have resembled.

Roger Palmer, Lord Castlemaine, who had remained married to Barbara throughout her reign as king’s mistress, bequeathed the younger Barbara his estate. Charles, however, always publicly acknowledged her as his, while disavowing her in private.

In March 1691, eighteen-year-old Barbara gave birth to an illegitimate son of the Earl of Arran, and named the baby Charles.

James had been confined to the Tower of London for insulting William of Orange to his face. His father, the 3rd Duke of Hamilton, and Princess Mary prevailed on William to release him. Both were bitterly opposed his relationship with Barbara, so his release was with the condition that James should renounce all further relations with Lady Barbara Fitzroy. Their son, Charles, was raised by the Duchess of Cleveland, who supposedly disowned her.

Barbara became a nun in the English Priory of St. Nicholas, at Pontoise in Normandy, taking the name Sister Benedicta, where she eventually became prioress. James was killed in a duel in Hyde Park by Charles, 4th Lord Mohun in 1712.

Barbara signed herself as follows:

Mon nom du monde est Barbe Fitz Roy est en Religion Benedite fille Du Roy De La grande Bretagne Charles 2dc j'ay fait profession dans Le Couuent des Benedictines Angloiscs De Pontoise L'annee 1691 Le 2* D'auril c'est maison est mittige.

Translated as:

My name in the world is Barbe Fitz Roy, in Religion it is Benedicta, daughter of the King of Great Britain, Charles II. I made profession at the Convent of the English Benedictines in Pontoise, the year 1691, the 2nd of April. It is my place of penance.

Barbara became Prioress of the Convent of the Hotel Dieu at Pontoise, as Sister Benedicte, dying there on May 6, 1737.

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From History and Women

Royal Mistress by Anne Easter Smith

2013-05-20T16:14:00.004-06:00

Jane Lambert, the quick-witted and alluring daughter of a silk merchant, is twenty-two and still unmarried. When Jane’s father finally finds her a match, she’s married off to the dull, older silk merchant William Shore. Marriage doesn’t stop Jane from flirtation, however, and when the king’s chamberlain, Will Hastings, comes to her husband’s shop, Will knows King Edward will find her irresistible.

Edward IV has everything: power, majestic bearing, superior military leadership, a sensual nature, and charisma. And with Jane as his mistress, he also finds true happiness. But when his hedonistic tendencies get in the way of being the strong leader England needs, his life, as well as those of Jane and Will Hastings, hangs in the balance. Jane must rely on her talents to survive as the new monarch, Richard III, bent on reforming his brother’s licentious court, ascends the throne.

This dramatic tale has been an inspiration to poets and playwrights for five hundred years, and, as told through the unique perspective of a woman plucked from obscurity and thrust into a life of notoriety, Royal Mistress is sure to enthrall today’s historical fiction lovers as well.

Royal Mistress is an absorbing tale about Jane Lambert, the daughter of a mercer who becomes the mistress of King Edward IV and other noblemen in the fifteenth century. Born with the gift of beauty, Jane easily turns heads and attracts the attention of every man she encounters. When she meets Thomas Grey, the Marquess of Dorset, Jane falls irretrievably in love. He betroths her to William Shore, a much older, but wealthy merchant. Jane soon discovers her husband is impotent and her eye begins to wander as she contemplates seeking an annulment. When she catches the eye of William Hastings, the king’s own chamberlain, he recommends her to the king, a man with a voracious sexual appetite. Jane willingly becomes his mistress until his death. Years later, when Richard III ascends the throne, he is determined to cleanse the depraved court and Jane is one of the first to be accused.

This novel is well researched, full of historic characters, places, and items, and the story compelling. There is plenty to entertain; betrayal, suspense, and plenty of romance. The vivid prose evokes strong images, making the story engrossing and colored with the sights and smells of the 16^th century. Jane Shore is presented as a bold, spirited woman, witty and confident in all she does and says. How else could she have caught the discerning eye of so many men of lofty rank. A very entertaining novel!

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From History and Women

Queen Jezebel - A Catherine de Medici Novel by Jean Plaidy

2013-05-10T13:46:00.000-06:00

Queen Catherine de Medici, a formidable Italian woman whose name conjures suspicions of murder and poisoning. She first appeared in France for her wedding to Henry II, second son of King Henry I. When King Henry I died, followed by the dauphin Francis, his eldest son, Henry II and Catherine ascended the throne. This outraged the citizens who did not want an Italian woman as their queen.

The people’s dislike for Catherine continued throughout her entire reign. In the 16^th century, Italians had a reputation for being exports in the art of poison, and Catherine, known for her razor sharp cunning, dabbled in necromancy, poisons, and murder.

Catherine de Medici's Bedroom

Even though nothing was ever proven against her, she did leave behind several clues of her deviousness. First there is the secret room in her castle. It is believed she stored her poisons in this specially constructed room filled with numerous cabinets. Peep-holes and listening tubes helped Catherine spy on her sons, advisors, servants, and visitors.

Then there is the death of Jeanne Navarre, Catherine’s long-time nemesis.

Jeanne Navarre

Catherine lured the wary Jeanne Navarre to France and then tricked her into acquiring a set of gloves laced with poison. You see, perfumed gloves were in high fashion in France at that time and Catherine offered a most exquisite pair to Jeanne. Poor Jeanne, she suffered a horrible death, which, likely was the kindling that sparked the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre of the Huguenots a few weeks later. It is estimated up to 30,000 Huguenots lost their lives.

St Bartholomew Day Massacre Painting

Painting of Catherine de Medici inspecting the aftermath of the massacre

Catherine de Medici's life continues to fascinate. Many fictional books have been written about her life, tempting authors because of all the intrigue and suspicions. The most detailed novel portraying her life, is a trilogy written by Jean Plaidy.

Click on here for my review of The Italian Woman and here for my review of Madame Serpent.

Queen Jezebel

Synopsis

The final novel in the classic Catherine de’ Medici trilogy from Jean Plaidy, the grande dame of historical fiction. The aging Catherine de’ Medici and her sickly son King Charles are hoping to end the violence between the feuding Catholics and Huguenots. When Catherine arranges the marriage of her beautiful Catholic daughter Margot to Huguenot king Henry of Navarre, France’s subjects hope there will finally be peace. But shortly after the wedding, when many of the most prominent Huguenots are still celebrating in Paris, King Charles gives an order that could only have come from his mother: rid France of its “pestilential Huguenots forever.” In this bloody conclusion to the Catherine de’ Medici trilogy, Jean Plaidy shows the demise of kings and skillfully exposes Catherine’s lifetime of depraved scheming.

The novel Queen Jezebel by Jean Plaidy recounts the details of Catherine de Medici's later life. This is the third and final book of her life. Of the three novels, this is the most turbulent. It depicts her incredibly shrewdness, calculating mind, and mistrust of everyone around her, including her sons. Determined to end the hostility between the Catholics and Huguenots, Catherine arranges a political marriage between her Catholic daughter Margot and the Huguenot King Henry of Navarre. But this marriage failed to bring about the peace between the rival groups. As her control over her son, the king, wanes, she convinces him that there is a plot to assassinate him. This prompts Charles to launch the St Bartholomew day massacre to rid France of Huguenots.

The dreadful murders of Henry Guise and Jeanne Navarre play a pivotal role in this book, giving readers insight and a deeper understanding of her sordid motivations and craftiness of this formidable and cunning queen.

Like the previous two books in this series, Catherine's life is brought to life with vivid details and includes all the main characters of the period. Powerful liaisons, treachery, debauchery, hate, love, and cunning machinations to gain power unfold with clarity and excitement in this final installment. If you are intrigued with Catherine de Medici, then this is a novel not to be overlooked. It is the most comprehensively detailed book about her life. Highly recommended.

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From History and Women

THE FACE THAT SUNK A THOUSAND SHIPS. (WELL 3 ANYWAY)

2013-04-05T02:59:00.000-06:00

As any old sea dog will tell you, it’s unlucky to have a woman on board ship.

(Unless the woman is naked, apparently. Sailors make up the best superstitions.)

But in the case of Violet Jessop, you’d have to say the old sea dogs have a point.

Violet started life as a landlubber, her parents were Irish sheep farmers living in Bahia Blanca in Argentine.

Violet was a born survivor - three of her nine siblings did not live beyond infancy.

She herself developed tuberculosis when she was a child and doctors said she would die. But she didn’t.

As events would later prove, Violet was pretty much unsinkable.

When her father died, her mother took Violet and her family back to England. When Violet left school she joined the navy, to see the sea.

When she was 23, she sailed on the RMS Olympic as a stewardess.

At that time the Olympic was the world’s largest luxury liner and was under the command of Captain Edward Smith.

Three months after Violet stepped on board the Olympic collided with the cruiser HMS Hawke off the Isle of Wight.

The RN blamed the Olympic for the crash, but stopped short of blaming Jessop personally.

Taking this as a warning, Violet decided to sail next on something unsinkable.

The Titanic.

The Olympic and Titanic before Violet got to work

She rubbed shoulders with Jack and Rose for just four days before her luck ran out again.

After the ship hit the iceberg, Violet was ordered up on deck to set an example ‘to the foreign speaking people.’

The Irish?

She was ordered into lifeboat 16, and it was from there that she watched the Titanic go down, - all the while thinking: ‘there’s a great idea for a movie in this somewhere.’

She was rescued the next morning by the Carpathia.

A lesser soul would have given up seafaring but Violet was made of sterner stuff.

Besides, it was obvious where the problem lay. The captain on the Olympic and the Titanic was Captain Edward Smith.

Clearly, he was the problem.

So Violet, fairly confident her bad run was done, joined up on His Majesty’s Hospital Ship Brittania just in time for World War One - and you guessed it, it hit a mine in 1916 and sank in the Aegean in 1916.

just another day at the office for Violet

She grabbed her toothbrush from her cabin - she was an old hand at being sunk, and apparently she always said her toothbrush was the one thing she missed when the Titanic went down (the one thing??)

Despite being sucked under the water and striking her head on the ship’s keel she somehow surfaced and was rescued by a lifeboat.

Years later, when she complained to a doctor about headaches, it was discovered she had fractured her skull.

Having gone down with the ship three times in five years a lesser soul might have looked for a job on dry land.

Not Violet. She continued to work for the White Star and Red Star lines after the war.

Neptune had done his best, and gave up trying to scuttle her. She spent the next thirty years at sea without further mishap and made her last voyage when she was 63.

The unsinkable Violet Jessop lived to a grand old age of 84, finally foundering in 1971.

Some wags would have you believe she was finally buried at sea. Not true. Violet was buried in Hartest, in Suffolk, England

Colin Falconer is the author of the internationally bestselling CLEOPATRA, DAUGHTER OF THE NILE and over twenty other novels.

See more history from Colin Falconer at

LOOKING FOR MR GOODSTORY

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From History and Women

Easter Weekend Special - 3 Free Kindle Books

2013-03-29T00:01:00.000-06:00

Easter Weekend Special - 3 novels free on Amazon!

Orphan of the Olive Tree

Free

March 30 and 31

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A blood oath, a dreadful curse, and the evil eye.

A dark family secret that will shatter lives and the woman who risks everything to keep it buried!

From two neighboring villas in the heart of the Tuscan countryside to the elegance of Siena; from a world steeped in ancient superstitions to a culture where family honour is paramount comes, this multi-layered novel of the lives, loves, secrets and strivings of two women and their families in the 13th century.

A blood oath to wed their first born children binds the Benevento and Ventura families. When Prudenza Benevento learns her nemesis, Felicia Ventura, is pregnant, she is jealous and secretly casts the curse of the evil eye upon her. Felicia gives birth to twin boys. Jealous, Prudenza visciously resurrects an ancient superstition that unidentical twins can only come from different fathers. The scandal tears apart Felicia’s marriage and makes her an outcast in the small Italian village where they live.

Fate intervenes, and when Prudenza gives birth to twin daughters, she is desperate to save herself from the same scandal that ruined Felicia. She orders the midwife to take one daughter away. With only a gold ring and a brocade blanket as clues to the infant’s past, the midwife leaves the child and the items in an olive tree in front of a small convent. The nuns lovingly name the child Olivia and raise her.

Years later, in a shocking encounter, Olivia meets a young man named Luca. When an act of God nearly kills her, it is Luca who comes to her rescue. Soon, their love for each cannot be denied. When she finds herself with child, Luca offers to care for her and the child, but cannot wed her because he is already betrothed. Despite her misgivings, her love for Luca proves strong and Olivia places her faith in him and follows him to his new villa and a new life. Luca makes numerous unsuccessful attempts to avoid his forthcoming marriage and marry Olivia instead, but the blood oath and Church laws make it impossible. As the date of Luca’s wedding draws near, and the secrets of Olivia’s secret past begin to surface, long buried secrets are exposed in a twist of fate no family member can anticipate.

An absorbing novel about wicked intentions, medieval superstitions, a curse uttered in envy, undisclosed secrets, unstoppable destinies, and two generations of women and the extraordinary event that will vindicate or destroy them.

The Contessa's Vendetta

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March 29, 30, and 31

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When faced with the ultimate betrayal, a murderous vendetta is one woman's only solution!

A deadly plague is raging, killing thousands in 17th century Vicenza Italy. Carlotta Mancini struggles to protect her family and servants, but despite her precautions, she is the one who falls prey to the deadly illness. Her body is tossed into a coffin and swiftly buried in the underground, dank confines of her family’s vault. But Carlotta is not dead; she is merely unconscious because of the illness. She returns home to her beloved husband, her best friend, and her darling daughter. But before she reveals herself to her loved ones, she learns of an endless series of lies, deceits, and betrayal. As she unravels the labyrinth of shocking treachery, her wrath breathes life to an overwhelming need for vengeance. Slowly, meticulously, she launches her diabolocial vendetta. The Contessa's Vendetta is a historical fiction thriller ripe with suspense from first page to last. A tale of betrayal and revenge that will hold you spellbound until the shocking ending! The Contessa's Vendetta is a retelling of the classic novel, Vendetta by Marie Corelli. Inspired by this epic classic novel; a new and captivating tale in a new setting, a new century, and with new plot twists while remaining faithful to key story elements.

The Pendant

Free for the last time ever!

March 29, 30, and 31

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A lost ancient treasure.

A 100 year family feud.

And a woman with a passion richer than the bloodstone pendant she wears around her neck!

In medieval Italy, as spirited and stalwart as any man, the brazen Contessa Morena is betrothed to the impoverished, black-hearted Count Ernesto, a man desperate to escape his mounting gambling debts by marrying her and laying claim to the ancient treasure secreted somewhere in the underbelly of her castle. Morena meets her match when Amoro, the handsome and brash heir to the Duchy of Genoa, who swears an oath upon his father's grave to claim her as his bride and end the feud between their families. Soon, Amoro's virile charm awakens the passion in her steadfast heart. But a treacherous plot ensnares them; Ernesto abducts Morena and renders Amoro helpless. Embroiled in a life-and-death chase, Morena learns that not even the devious madness of her captor can destroy her love for Amoro as their hearts unite and their destinies become one.

This Italian historical romance novel has it all - an ancient mystery, a bloodstone pendant with a secret, murder, vengeance, and a love story to take your breath away!

An historical gothic romance of murder, desperation, and true love!

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From History and Women

THE FIRST FEMALE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

2013-03-22T02:08:00.001-06:00

Who was the first female Native American female president of the United States?

(a) Pocahantas
(b) Hiawatha
(c) this is a trick question, isn’t it?

If you answered (c) you’d be right. Because no, there has never been a female American president, never mind one with Native American heritage.

Well, sort of. Historians are divided.

the first female president of the United States

The woman that divides opinion is was the wife of President Woodrow Wilson - Edith Bolling Galt Wilson.

Wilson’s family were descendant of Pocahantas on her father’s side. Pocahontas married John Rolfe, an early British settler. Her family had a plantation before the Civil War, and were staunch southerners and confederates.

Edith was frankly racist; to her death she adhered to the view that the family’s “darkies”, as she called them, liked being slaves before the Yankees came and ruined everything.

She had little formal education, and was home schooled by her grandmother. Edith read only a few books in her life and her handwriting was so bad it was illegible.

Vivacious and pretty, she met and married a prosperous jeweler, Norman Galt, in 1896 and lived for 12 years in the capital. Her husband died suddenly in 1908.

The still young widow met President Wilson through a friend of hers, Helen Bones, the president’s cousin.

She was glamorous and tall and had no interest in politics or government, She later admitted that at the time of the election of 1912, which sent Woodrow Wilson to the White House, she could not have named the candidates.

Wilson had only recently been widowed but fell in love with her with scandalous haste. According to a Washington insider joke at the time, when she heard him propose marriage she was so surprised she nearly fell out of bed.

The Washington Post didn’t make thing easier for the President’s press officer. Writing about the his theatre outings in its social pages they were meant to report: "... rather than paying attention to the play, the President spent the evening entertaining Mrs. Galt."

What was printed was: " ... rather than paying attention to the play the President spent the evening entering Mrs. Galt."

The Post has never been kind to Presidents.

Despite the scandal, Wilson, then 58, married the 43-year-old Galt in 1915 at her Washington home in a small affair attended by 40 guests.

She became his political confidante as well as his wife, sitting beside him during Oval Office meetings. He even trusted her with a secret code to a drawer holding classified information.

But the very active woman suffrage movement won no support from Edith Wilson. She referred to them as “those devils in the workhouse.” Her husband's shift on the suffrage question—he eventually favored a national amendment granting women voting rights—resulted from political considerations, not from any influence of his wife.

But she was the first person besides the President to receive permanent Secret Service protection when America entered the War. As First Lady she introduced 'gasless Sundays' and 'meatless Mondays' at the White House to set an example for the federal rationing effort.

She had sheep graze the White House lawn to save money on mowing it.

After the war she became the first First Lady to make international visits with European royalty. She was both Jackie Kennedy and a Sherman tank.

But it was in September 1919, when Wilson suffered a stroke, that she left her mark.

Vice President Thomas Riley Marshall

At the time there was no Constitutional provision for replacing an incapacitated President and she didn’t want the Vice President to take over. So she misled the public and the Congress as to how gravely ill as he was.

She said he just needed bed rest. In fact he was totally incapacitated on his left side.

She and Wilson's physician kept his true condition hidden from the nation for six weeks; you could do that in those days, before investigative reporters and Wikileaks.

She couldn’t vote but she could run the country.

She took over his routine duties and decided which matters of state should be brought to the bedridden president. She stayed up late reading briefing papers and hand wrote Presidential orders that she said came from her bed-ridden husband. Considering her handwriting was ineligible her Cabinet relied on her interpretation of them.

She claimed she only decided which matters to bring to his attention and what could be resolved without him. Depending on how you read this statement, it sounds like running the country without him.

In her memoirs she called her role ‘stewardship.’ Many historians disagree.

"It's nothing dear, just a declaration of war on Canada."

Although the nation faced many serious problems while Woodrow was incapacitated—including strikes by miners and steelworkers—the White House dithered. To many it seemed that no one at all was making decisions, and one journalist wrote that “our government had gone out of business.”

One senator charged that the nation was under a “petticoat government,” and rumors spread about an “Assistant President.”

When there were disagreements over her husband's envisioned League of Nations, Edith held fast, refusing to take requests for a compromise to her husband. The discussions broke down - a failure that contributed to the Second World War.

A frail Wilson muddled through the last year of his Presidency.

In 1921, she and the president retired to their Washington home. He died in 1924.
She accompanied Franklin D. Roosevelt when he went to Congress on December 8, 1941 to declare war on Japan; she attended JFK’s inauguration in1961.

She died later that year at the age of 89 on what would have been her husband's 105th birthday - the first female president of the United States.

Colin Falconer is the author of the internationally bestselling CLEOPATRA, DAUGHTER OF THE NILE and over twenty other novels.

See more history from Colin Falconer at

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From History and Women

Above All Things by Tanis Rideout

2013-03-18T06:13:00.000-06:00

I'm very excited to welcome author Tanis Rideout to our blog today. Next week, Viking Penguin will be officially releasing her eagerly anticipated biographical novel about Ruth Turner Mallory, the wife of George Mallory who climbed Mount Everest in the early 1900's.

Tanis Rideout

Author of Above All Things

(Viking Penguin, published 7^th March)

About Ruth Mallory

Above All Things is a fictional reimagining of George Mallory’s third attempt on Mt. Everest. The novel alternates between George’s struggles on the mountain and his wife’s, Ruth’s, as she waits for him at home in Cambridge. While George’s adventures may take up the bulk of the novel, Ruth is undoubtedly the heart of it.

Ruth Turner Mallory

When I first set about writing I was certain I would have an easier time writing Ruth than I would writing George. After all, I had never been to Everest, never climbed a mountain. I’d never even really given those things much thought. But I was certain that I could relate to Ruth, would understand her – after all, who hasn’t been left behind, hasn’t been lonely and over whelmed.

It was Ruth though that proved the difficult one. There are seemingly endless pages written about George and his temperament and his days and his desires. George had an adventure to set off on. Ruth, though was circumscribed by her time and place. She was a woman of at certain class, a certain background, a certain town and country. Her world was infinitely smaller than George’s and yet had to be able to engage a reader as strongly as he did.

And yet – what I believed, what I knew must be true, was that in order for George and Ruth to have been married for a decade, to be so seemingly in love despite long absences, dangers and difficulties, that Ruth had to be an exceptional woman.

By creating a single, important day in Ruth’s life, one day out of her endless days of worrying and waiting, the reader is able to follow her through those needs and desires and wants. And even though it is one day against George’s many, it is her emotional avalanches and crevasses, that to me, anchor so much of the book.

I was lucky, while I was writing, to receive a grant from the Canadian government that allowed me to travel to England to research. My time there included several days in Cambridge, at Magdalene College. While there I was able to read many of the letters that George and Ruth had written to each other over the course of their marriage. It was there that Ruth really came alive for me – that I was able to more fully conceive of her as a complete character with her own wants and needs, entirely separate from her husband’s, her children’s.

In those pages I found a woman that was incredibly bright, although a terrible speller. (If my memory serves, she left school at a young age after her mother died.) A woman who was thoughtful and questioning and in some ways incredibly modern.

In her letters Ruth is very cognizant of the kind of parent she wants to be, the kind of partner. She wrote to George about how they should behave towards each other, what they should model for their children. How important it was to try and stay abreast of issues and ideas so that they might better connect with their children. I was surprised and moved by the woman I found in those pages. I hope I was able to try and make a woman like her come to life in my own.

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From History and Women

The Maid and the Queen by Nancy Goldstone

2013-03-15T16:45:00.002-06:00

The untold story of the extraordinary queen who championed Joan of Arc.

Politically astute, ambitious, and beautiful, Yolande of Aragon, queen of Sicily, was one of the most powerful women of the Middle Ages. Caught in the complex dynastic battle of the Hundred Years War, Yolande championed the dauphin's cause against the forces of England and Burgundy, drawing on her savvy, her statecraft, and her intimate network of spies. But the enemy seemed invincible. Just as French hopes dimmed, an astonishingly courageous young woman named Joan of Arc arrived from the farthest recesses of the kingdom, claiming she carried a divine message-a message that would change the course of history and ultimately lead to the coronation of Charles VII and the triumph of France.

Now, on the six hundredth anniversary of the birth of Joan of Arc, this fascinating book explores the relationship between these two remarkable women, and deepens our understanding of this dramatic period in history. How did an illiterate peasant girl gain access to the future king of France, earn his trust, and ultimately lead his forces into battle? Was it only the hand of God that moved Joan of Arc-or was it also Yolande of Aragon?

In the novel THE MAID AND THE QUEEN, author Nancy Goldstone proposes that Yolande of Aragon, Queen of Sicily, was a reckoning force behind Joan of Arc’s rise to power. It is an interesting premise and forms the basis of this novel about these two very remarkable women. The author has successfully blended their lives together, crossing paths amid the convoluted machinations of royal courts, political aspirations, and military secrets.

Yolande of Aragon

Joan of Arc

Could these two women truly have met and known each other? Of course. How else could a poor young woman from an obscure town in France gain the introductions necessary to reach the loftiest heights of royal power? The author does her research to make this a very compelling possibility.

Yolande of Aragon was the wife of Louis II, a member of the French royal family and King of Sicily.

Louis II

With her husband embroiled in fights in Italy for his claim to the kingdom of Naples and The Hundred Year War, Yolande sought to help her husband and France any way she could. Thus, she used Joan of Arc. The connection between the two women was through the town of Domrémy in the duchy of Bar where Joan lived and Yolande’s mother who once held that duchy as her ancestral home.

THE MAID AND THE QUEEN is a story told in three parts. The first part tells the life of Yolande, the second part focuses on the life of Joan, and the final part concludes with the latter part of Joan’s and Yolande’s life.

The research is meticulous. The beauty and sadness of Joan’s story compliments the political events Yolande found herself embroiled in. There are plenty of gripping scenes and emotional passages. This is a fascinating novel about two powerful women, who were ahead of their time, struggling to survive in a world dominated by men. A very memorable read indeed.

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From History and Women

Margaret Tudor - The Forgotten Queen by D.L. Bogdan

2013-03-11T07:00:00.000-06:00

Margaret Tudor

Like most women of her time, Princess Margaret Tudor was a political asset, to be married off to enhance her family’s wealth or power. When she was 6, her father, King Henry VII betrothed her to Scotland’s King James IV as a means to link the two countries together, end centuries of historical discord between them.

James IV

When she was 14, before could depart for Scotland to marry, she suffered two severe losses. Her brother, Arthur, heir to the throne, died. Her mother, died shortly thereafter in childbirth.

After a brief period of grief, she set out for Scotland where she married James. The wedding feast was lavish with jousts and much celebration.

At first, Margaret struggled with settling into her new life as is evident in a letter she wrote to her father:

Margaret’s letter to her father

Note: The first part was written by a servant and the bottom portion is in Margaret’s own hand.

Courtesy of http://tudorhistory.org

Here is the translation:

My most dear lord and father, in the most humble wise that I can think, I recommend me unto your Grace, beseeching you of your daily blessing, and that it will please you to give hardy thanks to all your servants the which by your commandment have given right good attendance on me at this time. And especially to all these ladies and gentlewomen which hath accompanied me hither, and to give credence to this good lady the bearer hereof, for I have showed her more of my mind than I will write at this time.

Sir, I beseech your Grace to be good and gracious lord to Thomas, which was footman to the Queen my mother, whose soul God have pardon; for he hath been one of my footmen hither with as great diligence and labor to his great charge of his own good and true mind. I am not able to recompense him, except the favor of your Grace.

Sir, as for news I have none to send, but that my lord of Surrey is in great favor with the King here that he cannot forbear the company of him no time of the day. He and the Bishop of Murray ordereth everything as nigh as they can to the King's pleasure. I pray God it may be for my poor heart's ease in time to come. They call not my Chamberlain to them, which I am sure will speak better for my part than any of them that be of that counsel. And if he speak anything for my cause, my lord of Surrey hath such words unto him that he dare~speak no further.

God send me comfort to his pleasure, and that I and mine that be left here with me be well entreated such ways as they have taken. For God's sake, Sir, hold me excused that I write not myself to your Grace, for I have no leisure this time, but with a wish I would I were with your Grace now, and many times more, when I would answer.

As for this that I have written to your Grace, it is very true, but I pray God I may find it well for my welfare hereafter. No more to your Grace at this time, but our Lord have you in his keeping.

Written with the hand of your humble daughter

Margaret

Courtesy of http://tudorhistory.org

Margaret gave birth to a son who they called James, but he lived only for a year. Her next child survived only hours before dying. News of her own father’s death brought her even more sadness. Her brother, Henry VIII was no king of England. Soon, she became pregnant again; this time giving birth to a son they named Arthur. At first Arthur thrived, but died when he was nine months old.

The grief-stricken Margaret became pregnant yet again and gave birth to another son they named James. Fortune smiled upon her this time, for James survived until adulthood.

James V

Mary Tudor's Son with James IV

Unfortunately, relations between her husband and her brother, Henry VIII, became strained. War soon erupted at the Scottish/English border. Pregnant once more, Margaret bid her husband farewell and watched him march off to war.

James was killed in battle, leaving Margaret a widow and his one year old son, James, king of Scotland. His will named Margaret as regent for his young son provided that she not remarry. She gave birth to another son who she named Alexander. He was bestowed the title of Duke of Ross.

But Margaret was a very young woman and soon, she fell in love and remarried. Her new husband was Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus.

Archibald Douglas

6th Earl of Angus

The Scottish nobles, in keeping with their late king’s wishes, summoned John Stuart, Duke of Albany (a cousin to the king, and next in line to the throne after little Alexander’s death) to be regent in her place. Immediately, her children were seized and she was stripped of all income.

Margaret pleading with Parliament to remain with her son

Pregnant with her new husband’s child, Margaret and Archibald fled to England. There, lodged at Harbottle Castle, Margaret gave birth to a daughter they named Margaret Douglas. After the birth, Margaret became very ill and nearly died. Due to the severity of her illness, she was not told that her son, Alexander, had died in Scotland.

When Archibald returned to Scotland, Margaret remained in England, travelling to London, where her brother honored her with month-long celebrations. There she remained for one year, until she was promised safe conduct to return to Scotland.

Upon returning home, Margaret was devastated to learn her husband had taken a mistress and they were living the high life off her Scottish revenues. All hopes were dashed into misery as she found herself trapped in an unhappy marriage, stripped of all power, lacking money to live comfortably, and denied contact with her son, James.

Desperate to improve her circumstances, Margaret entered into an alliance with the Earl of Arran. Together, they overthrew her son’s regent and formally made him king, with Margaret helping her 12 year old son govern. All was well for a time, but soon, Archibald returned and took control.

Margaret finally secured an annulment and married Henry Stewart, her treasurer. Archibald acted quickly and arrested Margaret’s new husband on the grounds that she had married without permission. By now, her son was 16 and he removed Archibald from power. He bestowed the title of Lord Methven to his new stepfather and the Scottish parliament proclaimed Angus and his followers traitors. Ever illusive, Archibald escaped death by fleeing to London once more.

Review:

The novel, The Forgotten Queen, accurately portrays the fascinating life of Margaret Tudor. The book covers almost her entire life in great detail, portraying her as likeable, but dreamy, courageous, yet prone to youthful naivety and gullibility.

The plot is intricate and easily followed. Margaret’s love for her was strong, and although she made a definite judgement in error when picking her second husband, it only makes her plight understandable – for who among us hasn’t made similar mistakes in our youth?

For those who love the Tudor era, and even for those who are tired of novels about Henry VIII’s wives, this novel gives us a glimpse into the political climate between Scotland and England, and details of the adversities faced by a lesser known queen.

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From History and Women

The Day Embroidered

2013-03-08T06:48:00.000-07:00

The Scottish Highlands, 1899. A life altering event led Catrina Davies to hide from her family and society. Alone in The Highlands she exists in a lonely world cared for only by her saviour, a kind old gentleman. When she receives a surprise visitor, Travis Millard, the man she used to love, her head and heart are thrown into turmoil. Travis is determined to save her from this poor life and return her to her family where she belongs. No one is more surprised than he when she agrees to marry him. When Catrina arrives back at her family estate, Davmoor Court in Yorkshire, she is stunned to see the changes. While her father clings to life, Davmoor is nearly ruined by her brother's gambling obsession, and there is something strange about his new wife. As Catrina adjusts to her regained position in society and being with Travis, her marriage comes under attack from Travis's grandmother, who has her own secrets and reason for loathing the Davies family. When one of her brother's adversaries comes to stake his claim on the estate, the resulting chaos threatens not only Catrina's home, but the very lives of those she loves the most. Can she find the strength to fight once more for the right to be happy?

Author Anne Brear has long been a favourite of mine and this new release is in keeping with success of her previous novels. If you’ve never read a novel by Anne Brear, then you are in for an exceptional treat if this is your first, and rest assured, it won’t be your last. To read a novel by this author evokes memories of reading books by Catherine Cookson or Jane Plaidy. Most of her novels are set in Victorian era England, a time of tumult and great change. And they are always compelling and richly told.

Like all her novels, at the heart of The Day Embroidered, is an exceptionally courageous woman and a family with dark secrets. Catrina comes from a well-to-do family who has fled the security of her family home because of an inaccurate, unjust scandal. Befriended by her benefactor, an elderly, wealthy, childless gentleman, who is like a father to her, she lives in a secluded cottage in The Highlands. When her ex-beau, Travis arrives to see for himself what has become of Catrina and if the rumors are true that she has taken up with a man old enough to be her father, he learns the truth and urges her to return home. With the blessing of her adopted father, she returns home with Travis, only to find her family’s estate is in dire peril due to her brother’s gambling debts and mismanagement.

Anne Brear has once again weaved a story where her heroine must face insurmountable problems and unfathomable dilemmas. As in real life, her characters are imperfect, each with his or her own past issues to resolve, making her tale seem very real and probable. Years of research has enabled the author to write with reality and historical accuracy. The author’s love of England and York come through with every word. Exceptional writing, compelling characters, and a rich tale with plenty of plot twists, kept me reading. I finished this book in two sittings because I simply struggled to put it down.

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From History and Women

HerStory Launch - Prizes and Giveaways

2013-03-08T06:40:00.000-07:00

In ancient times, women were regarded as sacred. They were thought to hold the mystical power of creation—responsible for the continuation of our species. With the rise of Science and Religion, these myths were dispelled and their plight began.

HerStory: Fiction Honoring Women’s History Month is a collection of Flash Fiction and Short Stories from today's top authors featuring female characters that exemplify strong strength of mind, body, and character. Some of these tales are based on real people while others are purely fictional. However, all are standing up for themselves and what they believe in.

Grab yourself a glass of wine or favorite hot beverage and get comfortable as you read about the lives of women who will light the fire in your soul.

It's finally here. HerStory. Available to the masses. And to honor release day, we're having a party. Use the Rafflecopter below to enter to win some terrific prizes. *U.S. residents only*

Here's what's up for grabs.

GRAND PRIZE

First Grand Prize

Because they have the same agenda: empowering girls/women, Keira's Kollection owner Mr. Wagstaff has graciously agreed to donate a Strong is Beautiful T-shirt. One very lucky woman is not only going to walk away with a paperback copy of HerStory and be empowered through words, but she will also be showing her empowerment right there on her shirt.

And that's not all, the grand prize winner also gets a pair of earrings from Cathy from Etsy, who runs Yesware. The earrings sparkle one side and have a message on the other side: the greatest story never told.

Only, we're telling it, the authors of HerStory. We are telling it.

SECOND GRAND PRIZE

Author Laura DeLuca has donated an incense diffuser to go along with some handmade soap from Greenchild Creations.

And we're throwing an e-book into this mix. Why soap and diffusers? What does that have to do with women's history?

In HerStory, Mathilda of Ringelheim runs a bath house. It seems appropriate to honor herstory this way.

AND as Mathilda seems to know, every woman needs soap and every woman needs time to relax. So one lucky winner will take a nice long shower with her fantastic handmade soap, set her diffuser on a table, and curl up with HerStory on her kindle. Who says you can't be relaxed and empowered at the same time? (and smell good)

THIRD GRAND PRIZE

Another donation from Laura DeLuca: an ebook, a Japanese tea set, and an Oriental incense diffuser. How does this tie into HerStory?

In Please Stay, Asuka, a Japanese wife of the 1600s, is preparing the evening meal while awkwardly trying to discuss a matter--somewhat delicate--but of great importance with her husband.

As you get lost in your ebook, in Asuka's story (penned by Becca Diane), you can pretend you are there. Perhaps you feel your husband's penetrating stare. But you serve him his tea, straighten your spine, and say what needs to be said...then wait, breath held, for his reply, incense lightening the tension in the air...

FOURTH GRAND PRIZE

One lucky winner will have a chance to make their voice heard on the radio...with a $25 Amazon gift card burning a hole in their pocket!

HerStory goes behind the scenes to locate the stories of women who lived, laughed, and touched the lives of generations...

Now, here is your chance to have your story told to the world....or your mother's...it's your chance to talk about the most inspiring woman or women in YOUR life. Shout it out! Tell listeners everywhere about this amazing person. Honor her!

This prize is being donated by Indie Reviews Behind the Scenes.

PRIZE 5, FOUR WINNERS, FOUR TINS OF EMPOWERMINTS

Four of these tins of mints are being donated by the Unemployed Philosophers Guild. That means four lucky winners are going to win a tin of mints to carry around in their pockets and every time they look at the tin, they'll be empowered!

The tin is also the perfect size to serve as a pillbox once the mints are gone. This is something you can keep for a LONG time.

PRIZE 6, TWO WINNERS, CROSS STITCH WALL HANGINGS

Author and editor Tara Chevrestt has a secret addiction and hobby. It makes her feel like an old lady, so she keeps it under wraps, but now the truth is out...

She likes to cross stitch!!!

And with the suffragette tales (Sister Suffragettes by Dahlia DeWinters and Chevrestt's own From You No and Silent Suffragette) in the back of her mind, she found a pattern on Etsy by Patternbird and set to stitching.

Two lucky winners will walk away with these. They are 3.25" by 6" and have a hard backing so they may be placed on a wall.

PRIZE 7, ONE WINNER, FLAPPER-STYLE HAT

Donated from Rakestraw Book Design.

Toni Rakestraw, one of the HerStory contributors, is stitching this hat so one lucky reader can--in her mind--march in a suffragette parade as she reads HerStory. Or perhaps this is something Margaret Sanger would have worn as she leaves the workhouse in The Woman Rebel.

PRIZE 8, ONE WINNER, ONE PAINTING

You've heard the term multi-published and many of HerStory's authors can place that before their name, but how about multi-talented?

Author Morgan Summerfield can not only write as she shoes us in Adella, but she can paint too! She is kindly donating a painting 27" wide by 11" high, titled Morning Poppies. The frame is handmade with real wood and she stretches all her own canvases. It is hand-painted-by her!-in multi media.

And last, but certainly not least, we have a lovely Coco Chanel quote pendant donated by the lovely Jewelry Designs by Lula. One winner will win this delightful pendant that says A girl should be things: WHO and WHAT she wants.

I could not have said it better.

Enter for all prizes using the Rafflecopter form below. Giveaway is for three weeks. Winners will be notified via email and will have 48 hours to respond with their snail mail addresses. After 48 hours, new winners will be chosen.

Thank you and enjoy HerStory! Be empowered! Learn something. Believe in yourself and womankind.

Buy links:

Smashwords

Barnes and Noble

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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From History and Women

THE SHE-WOLF OF ROME - the woman they just couldn’t kill

2013-03-07T23:36:00.002-07:00

Her mother is remembered by history as a modest and heroic woman.

photograph:
MrArifnajafov

Agrippina the Younger isn't.

She came from a line of Roman bluebloods; her father was a popular general and politician, while on her mother's side she was great grand-daughter of the Emperor Augustus (the one who defeated Cleopatra) and the adopted grand-daughter of the Emperor Tiberius.

She was born at a Roman outpost on the Rhine, near present day Cologne. When she was 13 she married her second cousin Domitius who, although wealthy, was - according to Suetonius - “a man who was in every aspect of his life, detestable"

When she was 21 the emperor Tiberius died and her only surviving brother, Caligula, became the new emperor. A man who was, in every aspect of his life, degenerate.

Nevertheless, Agrippina’s star began to rise. Caligula loved his sisters very much; too much. Today he might plea bargain 2-5 years too much.

That same year she gave birth to a boy - Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, better known to the world today as Nero.

When her husband was congratulated by friends on Nero’s birth, he supposedly replied: "I don't think anything produced by me and Agrippina could possibly be good for the state or the people."

Portentous words.

When Agrippina's sister, Drusilla, died of fever, Caligula went insane. She was the sister he loved too much most of all. The party was over: Agrippina and her other sister, Livilla, turned on him. They were involved in the Plot of the Three Daggers, a failed attempt to murder Caligula and install Lepidus as the new Emperor.

Instead, Lepidus was executed and the two sisters had to sell their slaves and (gasp!) jewellery and were exiled.

Caligula. Photograph: Giovanni dall'Orto

When Caligula was finally murdered, Agrippina’s uncle, Claudius, became the new Roman Emperor. Her husband conveniently died and Agrippina returned to Rome, still hungry for the game. She put the moves on an up and coming general called Galba (he later became emperor) but he was a happily married man and told her so. His mother-in-law then gave Agrippina a good slapping in public.

A minor setback. Agrippina’s brother-in-law then divorced her dead husband’s sister so he could marry her. Yes, really. He was very rich and well connected.

Even better, he had the good grace to die soon afterwards and leave everything to Agrippina’s son. There were rumours she had poisoned him. Just as there were rumours she had poisoned Domitius.

Co-incidence.

Two wealthy husbands, both dead; Agrippina was doing very well indeed. Then the empress Messalina was executed for trying to poison Claudius (the leading divorce lawyers in those days was a firm called Hemlock, Henbane and Nightshade.)

Incredibly, Claudius considered remarrying for a fourth time. Agrippina climbed onto uncle’s lap, incest being a family tradition, so to speak. She persuaded him to marry her.

Even the Romans considered this immoral.

But this did not deter Agrippina. She consolidated her hold on power by having Caligula’s other ex-wife, Lollia, convicted for sorcery. After her suicide she became the most powerful woman in Rome.

photograph: Kadellar

She manipulated Claudius into adopting her son, making Nero his successor and depriving his real son, Britannicus, of his heritage. She then married Nero to Claudius’s daughter, Octavia, his step-sister.

There are families in the Ozarks who would frown at this behaviour.

When Claudius tried to renege on this arrangement Agrippina is said to have divorced him with a plate of poisonous mushrooms. She then became a priestess of the cult that deified him after his death.

Perverse? You decide.

Nero became the next emperor and she hoped he would be her puppet. But now he had everything he didn't want her interfering anymore so she decided to switch her allegiance back to Britannicus.

You guessed it.

Nero had him poisoned at a banquet. For the next 3 years no one in Rome ate anything. Agrippina was forced out of the palace. Nero even took away her bodyguards.

But now he wanted her out of the picture completely. Three times he tried to poison her but each time she had the antidote on hand. So Nero settled on an idea so ingenious it would make even the CIA wince. He rigged his mother’s bed so that when she laid on it a mechanism collapsed the ceiling. Nice idea - but Agrippina had a slave warm her bed for her every night; the poor woman died - working flat out, as it were.

Well before the Titanic, Nero then invented the self sinking boat. He invited her onboard to celebrate the feast of Minerva, and dropped the upper deck on her, but a sofa broke the fall. Nero then ordered the crew to scuttle the ship.

'I wish I hadn't killed Mummy.'

After the sinking, one of Agrippina’s friend shouted out to a rescue boat that she was Agrippina, thinking they would come and save her. Instead they bludgeoned her to death with their oars.

Agrippina meanwhile safely reached the shore.

Losing all patience Nero gave up on dirty tricks and sent three men to stab her at home. Her reputed last words were: Stab me in the womb first, a not too oblique reference to the son who sent her assassins.

If she wanted to prick his conscience, it worked. Having finally murdered his mother, Nero was spooked. He had his mother’s death on his conscience the rest of his life. He suffered recurring nightmares, and saw her ghost so often he hired Persian magicians to scare her away.

Agrippina was a formidable woman. During her life she boasted an impressive list of lovers, including her brother, her brother-in-law, her son’s tutor, her uncle, and according to Suetonius, her son as well.

She once visited astrologers to ask about her son’s future. They told her that he would one day become emperor and kill her. She replied, "Let him kill me, provided he becomes emperor.’

She got her wish.

Colin Falconer is the author of the internationally bestselling CLEOPATRA, DAUGHTER OF THE NILE and over twenty other novels.

See more history from Colin Falconer at

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From History and Women

Katherine de Valois - The Forbidden Queen - A Novel by Anne O'Brien

2013-03-06T14:09:00.000-07:00

Katherine de Valois

Katherine de Valois was the daughter of King Charles VI of France and Isabelle of Bavaria. When she was fourteen, her parents entered into negotiations to marry her to King Henry V of England who demanded a large dowry and acknowledgement of his right to the throne of France.

Henry V

After much bantering back and forth, the deal was struck. The moment Henry saw Katherine, he was smitten by her great beauty and they were soon married. True love grew between them and Katherine was very happy with her new surroundings and husband.

Katherine's marriage to Henry V

In 1421, while Henry was fighting in France, she gave birth to a son and named him after his father.

King Henry VI

Katherine and Henry V's son as an adult

Before the king could return home to meet his namesake, he died of dysentery. At the tender age of 21, Katherine became a widow. Not long afterwards, her father died, leaving the infant Prince Henry to be become king of England and in parts of France.

In time, Katherine fell in love with Edmund Beaufort, her late husband’s cousin. Humphrey, her late husband’s brother, concerned she might remarry, introduce a bill in Parliament making it impossible for Katherine to remarry without the king's consent. If she did so, her husband would lose his lands and possessions, but their children would be considered members of the royal family. Oh, and he also included the clause that the king must have reached his majority before he could grant his approval. At the time this new law was set in place, the king was only six years old. Edward Beaufort abandoned his ambitious quest to marry the dowager queen and soon found himself another wife. Katherine was trapped, kept under watch by the king’s counsellors.

Ah, but soon, love returned to her life in the form of a handsome man named Owen Tudor of Wales. An impoverished noble, he worked as the keeper of her household and wardrobe. Their love burgeoned, they secretly married, and she soon bore him a child, sending shock waves and scandal through the court.

Author Anne O'Brien captures the details of Katherine's life in a fabulous biographical novel.

Synopsis

1415. The Battle of Agincourt is over, and the young princess Katherine de Valois is the prize to be offered to Henry V of England. The innocent Katherine is smitten with Henry, but soon understands that her sole purpose is to produce an heir to unite England and France. When Henry leaves her a widow at the age of 21, Katherine is forced to resign herself to a quiet life as the Dowager Queen; her duty is to raise her son, the young King of England, and little more.

But Katherine is still young and passionate. Many desire her, and her hand in marriage is worth a kingdom. Setting aside those driven by ambition, Katherine falls in love with her servant Owen Tudor, and glimpses the happiness that love can bring. But their enemies are circling, all battling for power and determined to prevent their marriage. Katherine will have to fight to control her own destiny…

My Review

The Forbidden Queen is a historical novel that sticks close to the facts. The story is conscientiously written with lush detail and historical insight. What I found most compelling were the struggles Katherine faced as she fought to stay close to her son while machinations were at work to keep her at a good distance from any decision making. She was to appear by the boy-king’s side, but was prevented from holding any influence over him.

I had never read a novel about this lesser known queen, and was thrilled to have her story portrayed with such passion, elegance, and vivid detail. The writing flowed easily, making it a pleasant read. Highly recommended.

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From History and Women

A WOMAN CALLED 'KEEPS WARM WITH US'

2013-02-17T14:23:00.000-07:00

She was christened Cynthia Ann Parker, but she would have told you her name was Naduah -'Keeps Warm With Us.'

Hers is one of the great love stories of the Wild West - and ultimately one of the saddest.

She was born in 1824, to Silas and Lucy Parker in Illinois. When she was 9 years old the family moved to north-west Texas to follow the American Dream - land and a better life. They went to Fort Parker, established by Cynthia’s grandfather, in what is now Limestone County.

But on May 9, 1836, around a hundred Comanche and Kiowa warriors attacked the fort, killing many of the men, including her grandfather. Cynthia and five other captives were led away. One teenage girl escaped; four others, including her brother John, were later released for ransom.

Cynthia was beaten and treated as a slave at first, but her life improved when she was adopted by a Comanche couple, who raised her like their own.

While still barely a teenager she married Peta Nakoni, (Camps Alone), a Comanche chieftain. It turned out to be an extraordinarily love match. It was traditional for Comanche chiefs to take more than one wife but he never did. They had three children; the future and famed Comanche chief Quanah Parker; another son Pecos (Pecan), and a daughter Topsannah (Prairie Flower).

A newspaper account from 1846 describes how a trading party led by Colonel Leonard G. Williams came across a tribe of Comanches camped on the Canadian River. Williams offered a ransom of 12 mules and two mule loads of goods to the tribal elders for Parker but he was refused, and in subsequent sightings, Parker would run away and hide to avoid being traded back. The Indians said she loved her husband and children too much to leave them. These reports were not believed.

In the winter of 1860, a small band of Texas Rangers surprised a group of Comanche at a meat camp at Mule Creek on the Pease River; most of the men were away and the raid turned into a massacre of women and children.

The Rangers executed a man they thought was Nakoni but he later turned out to be a Mexican slave. Parker attempted to flee on horseback with her daughter but was captured.

It was then the Rangers realized that the woman in the deerskin and moccasins had blue eyes and that she might be the missing Cynthia Parker.

When she overheard her name banded around by the Rangers she patted herself on the chest and said, “Me Cincee Ann.” Her fate was sealed.

Cynthia Ann and Prairie Flower were taken back to an army post. While traveling through Fort Worth she was photographed with her daughter at her breast and her hair cut short-a Comanche sign of mourning. She thought that her husband was dead and her sons too.

The story of her ‘rescue’ transfixed the nation. She was treated like a hero. Texas granted her four and a half thousand acres of land and a pension of $100 per year. Her brother, Silas Junior., was appointed her guardian in 1862, and took her home to Van Zandt County.

Chif Quanah Parker

But she never adapted to her new life. She was shuttled from one family to another, often locked in her room to prevent her escaping. In 1863, she heard that her son Pecos had died of smallpox, and a few months later, Prairie Flower died of influenza. She was overwhelmed with grief.

Later she learned to weave and sew and created home remedies from local plants and herbs. But she she rarely spoke much. Broken in spirit and an exile among her own race, she died in 1870 from complications arising from a long and self imposed fast. She never knew that her oldest son, Quanah had become the last Comanche Chief, later to become the principal spokesman of the entire Comanche nation after their defeat.

Footnote: The character 'Stands With A Fist' in Kevin Costner’s 1990 movie 'Dances with Wolves' is based on her. Cynthia is buried in Fort Sill, Oklahoma,

Colin Falconer is the author of the internationally bestselling AZTEC and over twenty other novels.

See more history from Colin Falconer at

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From History and Women

Emma of Normandy - Shadow on the Crown by Patricia Bracewell

2013-02-15T12:40:00.006-07:00

Emma of Normandy


988–1052

Emma of Normandy, the great-aunt of William the Conqueror, was wife to two English Kings, and mother to two others.

King Aethelred the Unready sought her hand in marriage to secure Normandy as an ally to England. Despite the fact he dislikes her, she bears him two sons, Alfred and Edward the Confessor. Because Aethelred already had sons from a previous marriage, the succession to the crown for Emma’s two sons was far from certain.

When Aethelred died, Canute the Great showed came knocking at her door seeking marriage. This time, Emma insisted that any sons born to her from this marriage be given preference to succeed as king over Canute’s son from his previous marriage. Before he would agree, the cunning Canute demanded tit for tat – Emma must also repudiate the claims of her own sons to the crown of England in favor of their future sons. This she did, alienating her sons, shattering their trust in her, and rendering their relationship cold and distant from that day forward.

Emma reigned happily as Canute's queen for eighteen years. Together they had one son, Hardicanute. When Canute died, however, all promises made seemed to hold no weight. Discord broke out between all their sons from both marriages as they battled young Hardicanute for the crown. When Canute’s eldest son claims the throne of England, Emma is sent into exile. After much bloodshed, both sons of Canute, as well as her son Alfred, were killed. Her son Edward the Confessor, who wisely stayed out of the conflict and never sought the throne, ended up with the crown of England.

Patricia Bracewell brilliantly writes of Emma's life in the novel, Shadow on the Crown.

Book Synopsis

A rich tale of power and forbidden love revolving around a young medieval queen

In 1002, fifteen-year-old Emma of Normandy crosses the Narrow Sea to wed the much older King Athelred of England, whom she meets for the first time at the church door. Thrust into an unfamiliar and treacherous court, with a husband who mistrusts her, stepsons who resent her and a bewitching rival who covets her crown, Emma must defend herself against her enemies and secure her status as queen by bearing a son.

Determined to outmaneuver her adversaries, Emma forges alliances with influential men at court and wins the affection of the English people. But her growing love for a man who is not her husband and the imminent threat of a Viking invasion jeopardize both her crown and her life.

Based on real events recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Shadow on the Crown introduces readers to a fascinating, overlooked period of history and an unforgettable heroine whose quest to find her place in the world will resonate with modern readers.

Shadow on the Crown by Patricia Bracewell tells the fascinating story of Emma of Normandy. With flowing narrative, Emma’s life is brought to light in great detail and foresight. From Viking attacks to deadly family conflicts, this novel is so brilliantly written that I could not put it down. I was engaged to the very end. Aethelred’s dislike and lack of respect for Emma is poignant, her unhappiness heart-wrenchingly depicted. Amid a hostile court, Emma perseveres and struggles to make her way and define her role. It is a story of love, hate, betrayal, and perseverance. Riveting from start to finish.

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From History and Women

Lavinia Fontana

2013-02-09T12:20:00.000-07:00

Lavinia Fontana (1552-1614)

Self-portrait- Lavinia at the clavichord

Here is yet another fabulous lady in history, Lavinia Fontana. This worldly renowned artist, was born in the late sixteenth century at a time where women had very little clout when it came to expressing themselves through art. But, lucky for her, her father, Prospero Fontana, was a famous art teacher at the School of Bologna and therefore commissioned to great works in in their native city. This made it easy for Lavinia to practice her craft daily- art was everywhere around her. So it was that Lavinia-even if not male- carried on the family tradition and business of making art for sale.

Bologna being such an avant-garde place to flourish, Lavinia initially painted for the well known nobles of Bologna. The aristocracy loved her and commissioned her to paint their family portraits. Besides portraits, Lavinia dabbled in several different genres and one of her trademarks was altar art for churches.

Word of such great talent soon reached the ears of Pope Clement III where in no time he summoned Lavinia to Rome. Lavinia was quickly integrated into upper class circles where she was soon sought after by Pope Gregory XIII as well. Her art naturally progressed onto the more religious type genre and was much favoured by the Church.

It was indeed a rarity for a female artist of those times to be so well accepted- especially by the Vatican. One can only imagine what it must have been like to have both Popes (Clement III and Gregory XIII) as subjects in all their regalia, posing for her!

Although Lavinia dedicated much of her life to art, she did not remain single. She met Gian Paolo Zappi while working in her father’s studio. Another marvel for those times; Lavinia was the bread winner in that household! Zappi readily gave up his career to stay at home and take care of their 11 children and also helped Lavinia out as her art assistant.

Lavinia is known for having produced the largest number of art pieces ever for a woman of the Renaissance.

Portrait of a noblewoman, by Lavinia Fontana

A book on Lavinia Fontana, by Caroline P. Murphy:

Lavinia Fontana:

A Painter and Her Patrons in Sixteenth- century Bologna

Another great historical woman of substance!

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From History and Women

Shirley Temple Black - A Depression-Era Woman of Distinction by Normal Welty

2013-02-06T12:05:00.001-07:00

Shirley Temple Black—A Depression-Era Woman of Distinction

A guest post by Norma Welty

Author of

The Dirty Days

A Young Girl's Journey to and from the Oklahoma Dust Bowl

There are several distinguished American women whose biographies would provide a wealth of information about their significant contributions to our society. But I have chosen to proclaim Shirley Temple as my Depression-era woman of distinction—a noteworthy American child who became a solid role model for American women. Especially in the eyes of the many living women who are of the same generation as Ms. Temple Black.

Many girls, like myself, who grew up extremely poor in the Dust Bowl during the 1930s Great Depression revered Shirley Temple. We knew about her through listening to the girls from the more well-off families whose parents took them to see the young actress's movies. These more fortunate girls often brought pictures of Shirley Temple to school and talked profusely about her and her movies.

From a poor girl's perspective, the young actress possessed a wholesome beauty and goodness in character that came from within, and she had an admirable talent and obvious athletic strength. As residents of the heat belt, we could appreciate Shirley Temple's endurance of hot, sweaty dance lessons and challenging rehearsals.

More importantly to girls from poor families, her success engendered in us a subconscious hope for better times—adequate clothing, healthy diet, dust-free air and enough water for crops and human consumption. And while laboring in the field we may have grumbled a bit, but we persevered just as we knew young Shirley would have done, had she been in our unfortunate circumstances.

Off screen, Shirley Temple has lived her adult life in ways that have confirmed our assessment of her in our youth. Her physical strength and mental perseverance sustained her during her recovery from breast cancer; and she was bravely one of the first prominent women to talk openly about breast cancer and its survival to the media. And, she steered herself toward several other noteworthy endeavors.

Ms. Temple Black ran for Congress when the majority of voters weren't yet prepared to vote for a woman rather than a male opponent—and was defeated. But she hadn’t put all her eggs in one basket. Later, she was appointed to represent the United States in the United Nations, was the first woman appointed US Chief of Protocol and she later served as US Ambassador to Ghana and US Ambassador to Czechoslovakia. She did it all without fanfare, and to name but a few, she may have paved the way for Madeleine Albright, Condoleezza Rice and Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Think about it. As a child, Shirley Temple persevered throughout a grueling movie-making schedule of singing, dancing and acting while winning the hearts of millions. She later served her country with dignified aplomb, received accolades such as the Actors Guild SAG Life Achievement Award and Kennedy Center Honors, and she published a well-received autobiography. Now a widow in her eighties, she is working on a second volume.

I’m also in my eighties and have written my first book, which includes in its story many references to Shirley Temple—one of my childhood heroes. To me she is much more than a former exceptionally talented child movie star or a commercialized icon of by-gone days. And I believe numerous older women, myself included, who grew up during The Great Depression still think of her as their childhood symbol of hope for better times.

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From History and Women

The Dirty Days: A Young Girl's Journey to and from the Oklahoma Dust Bowl by Norma Welty

2013-02-06T11:57:00.000-07:00

"It is 1933. As a beat-up truck travels down a road away from Arkansas, seven-year-old Molly May Dowden can only hope a better future awaits her parents in Thistleway, Oklahoma. They have no idea of what is about to come. With their money safely tucked away in a mattress, the Dowdens feel hopeful as they pass through Oklahoma City. But their hopes for an improved life disintegrate a hundred miles further west when a dust storm swirls dangerously around their truck. Forced to take shelter inside a dingy cafe with a band of quirky strangers, the Dowdens soon realize that life in Oklahoma may not be as easy as they had hoped. After the family finally settles in their two-room workers’ shanty, one hardship piles up after another as they battle spider bites, rancid water, strange rashes, loneliness, and death. Left with no choice but to bravely persevere through the never-ending drought and dust, Molly and her family soon discover a fortitude they never knew they had.

In this historical tale based on true events, a young girl embarks on a coming-of-age journey where she and her loved ones must nobly fight to survive the Great Depression and the Oklahoma Dust Bowl."

Set in 1930’s rural America, Dirty Days tells the story of a young girl coming of age during the Great Depression - a time of extreme poverty and hardship. Horrible dust storms and the daily struggle to keep the dirt and dust from drinking water, bedding, dishes, and furniture bring the details of day-to-day life into vivid reality. The portrayal of the strife faced by so many because of extreme poverty, foreclosures, hunger, and measly possessions strikes at one’s very heart.

What made this novel so poignant is that the author based it upon her own firs-thand experiences as she and her family grappled to survive. With the addition of fictional characters, she brings to life the hardships faced by farmers who literally watched their livelihood blow away with their topsoil when the winds howled.

Norma Welty gives voice to an era of American history so that our children and grandchildren can understand all that helped shape our history. It is a stark reminder that despite this fast-paced, technological era that we currently live in, our elders faced what seemed like insurmountable strife to provide for their family and future generations.

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From History and Women

HerStory Anthology

2013-02-04T15:23:00.002-07:00

I'm so very excited to announce the release of HerStory, an anthology featuring biographies of integral women throughout history. The anthology is being released by Pagan Writers Press and will be released in March 2013. Stay tuned for more information by following my blog.

My submission for this anthology is a short story about a 10th century Queen and Saint named Matilda of Ringelheim. I have been working on a novel of Queen Matilda's life for several years now. The novel will be entitled THE PROPHETIC QUEEN and it is very near completion. The novel will be published sometime in 2014.

For a peek at Queen Matilda's bio and other sneak peeks at other stories that will be included in this fascinating anthology, please visit HerStory Anthology!

Happy reading!

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From History and Women

May Dugas - A Most Dangerous Woman (Parlor Games by Maryka Biaggio)

2013-02-04T14:25:00.000-07:00

Back Cover Synopsis

A sweeping historical novel about a beautiful con artist whose turn-of-the-century escapades take her around the world as she's doggedly pursued by a Pinkerton Agency detective

The novel opens in 1917 with our cunning protagonist, May Dugas, standing trial for extortion. As the trial unfolds, May tells her version of events.

In 1887, at the tender age of eighteen, May ventures to Chicago in hopes of earning enough money to support her family. Circumstances force her to take up residence at the city’s most infamous bordello, but May soon learns to employ her considerable feminine wiles to extract not only sidelong looks but also large sums of money from the men she encounters. Insinuating herself into Chicago’s high society, May lands a well-to-do fiancé—until, that is, a Pinkerton Agency detective named Reed Doherty intervenes and summarily foils the engagement.

Unflappable May quickly rebounds, elevating seduction and social climbing to an art form as she travels the world, eventually marrying a wealthy Dutch Baron. Unfortunately, Reed Doherty is never far behind and continues to track May in a delicious cat-and-mouse game as the newly-minted Baroness’s misadventures take her from San Francisco to Shanghai to London and points in between.

The Pinkerton Agency really did dub May the “Most Dangerous Woman,” branding her a crafty blackmailer and ruthless seductress. To many, though, she was the most glamorous woman to grace high society. Was the real May Dugas a cold-hearted swindler or simply a resourceful provider for her poor family?

As the narrative bounces back and forth between the trial taking place in 1917 and May’s devious but undeniably entertaining path to the courtroom—hoodwinking and waltzing her way through the gilded age and into the twentieth century—we're left to ponder her guilt as we move closer to finding out what fate ultimately has in store for our irresistible adventuress.

Review

May Dugas rose from the dregs of poverty. After a brief stint as a prostitute, where she learned to use her beauty and graces to aquire numerous trinkets and baubles of value from her johns, she soon moved on to bigger and better things. Through the help of two friends, she sneaks her way into the parlors of high society where she encounters a young man of immense wealth. When his father hires a Pinkerton detective to snoop into her background, she is forced to break off her relationship.

The first of her troubles happens when one man sues her for failing to reimburse him for a string of pearls he bought for her. Later, there is an insurance pay out for the lost pearls. Not one to stay still for too long, May travels about Europe and spends time shoulder to shoulder with society's elite, collecting men, treasure, and houses along the way. She even married a wealthy Baron, but her ties to him never stopped her from her globe trotting. And always a step behind her was the Pinkerton detective who dubbed her the "Most Dangerous Woman in the World", a name this larcenous, con-artist baroness truly earned.

Author Maryka Biaggio has done an incredible amount of research into this fascinating woman's life. What is most engaging about this novel, is how the author is able to keep the reader bouncing between understanding and disapproving of May and her actions. One neither likes or nor dislikes her. I suppose that was part of her charm, otherwise, how could she have swindled so many people.

More importantly, the author brings to life the splendour and decadence of the Edwardian era with lush descriptions and historical detail.

I am always compelled to read stories of notorious bad girls, and this book does not disappoint in that regard. This was a fun, sinful read about a wicked dame and her bold machinations. Highly recommended.

An Interview with Maryka Biaggio
Author of Parlor Games

1. When did you first stumble upon the story of May Dugas?

In the summer of 2010 my parents and I were traveling through Menominee, Michigan, and decided to stop at their Information Center. Prominently displayed on a shelf was a pamphlet by Lloyd Wendt entitled Life of May Dugas of Menominee. It started with this line: “She was down in our files as the most dangerous woman in the world.” That got my attention! We straightaway drove to the Menominee Historical Society to purchase the pamphlet. When I expressed interest in May Dugas, the attendant showed me the only memento they had of her—a gorgeous bejeweled black gown. May was not only dangerous—she possessed a sense of style as well as the money to afford the best of attire.

2. What about May intrigued you?

Once I read Wendt’s write-up of May’s life (as told by his Pinkerton detective informant), I knew I had to write about her. The story posed so many questions: How much of a challenge was it for her to break out of societal expectations of the time? What motivated her? How did she feel about the men she extracted money from? Was she a victim of powerful men or did she lure them in with blackmail in mind?

3. Did writing this novel require special research or travel? Have you been to many of the places May visits in the book?

I did a great deal of research online about the period, customs, and events. But I also traveled. For instance, I visited the National Archives in Washington, DC, to search for May’s passport and travel records. While I was in San Francisco, I checked out her stomping grounds at the historic Palace Hotel. In Chicago I studied buildings that were in existence when she frequented the city. I had traveled in China in 1985, not too long after it opened up to outside visitors, and I drew on that experience in portraying May’s sojourns in the bustling cities of Hong Kong and Shanghai. A professional meeting had taken me to Mexico City in the 1990s, so I was familiar with its sights and the surrounding geography. I also arranged a trip to the south of France while I was working on the novel. I paid the requisite fee to enter the exclusive gambling lounge at the Monte Carlo Casino, where I was able to soak up the ambience of the scene—the beautiful, inviting decor, the serious expressions of the gamblers, and the shuffling of chips—just as May did during her visits there.

4. Which place that you haven’t visited would you most like to see?

The Chateau de Pallandt, the country estate of the Dutch Baron who May wed, is still in existence. May and the Baron were married on the grounds and lived there for many years before moving to London. This gorgeous property is now a luxury bed and breakfast owned by Baron and Baroness d' Hooghvorsis. I would love to go for a stay and gift a copy of my novel to the current proprietors.

5. How much of the novel is based on historical record?

All the key events in the novel are based on actual occurrences as reported in either Lloyd Wendt’s pamphlet or newspaper reports of the time. I wanted to be true to this woman’s fascinating life, which I hope heightens the reader’s interest in her. Of course, the daily events and conversations are my constructions, albeit designed to paint a picture of the larger events.

6. Without giving anything away, what were your favorite scenes to write?

Writing about May was such a delight! Once I found May’s voice, the story flowed rather easily. I especially enjoyed writing about her first big adventure in Chicago. It wasn’t easy going, and she really did need to call on her wits and wiles to avoid the pitfalls that many young women succumbed to in America’s big cities at that time.

7. May is a captivating character and many readers end up rooting for her. Did you want the readers to feel conflicted about May?

Absolutely. In order for May to have successfully traveled the world and entered the circles of so many interesting and wealthy men, she had to have charm and charisma. I wanted the reader to experience that firsthand and contemplate May’s motives for telling her story. Was she trying to dupe the reader or simply confide in and earn the trust and approval of her listeners?

8. May is quite a unique character. Do you see yourself in her at all?

I’d like to think I have a bit of clever resourcefulness about me. My family moved around a great deal during my childhood and adolescent years, so I had to learn to adapt to strange places, meet new people, and foster fresh friendships. Perhaps I gained some measure of adaptability and resourcefulness from that experience. I did have great fun trying to figure out how May pulled off her many exploits, but I myself am too encumbered with a diligent superego to ever attempt such intrigues.

9. How has your background as a professor of psychology helped you in your writing?

I hope that after eight years of study and thirty years of teaching clinical psychology I have translated some of what I know into my writing. Since I am knowledgeable about human development, personality functioning, and diagnostic categories, I tried to bring that understanding to bear in imagining May’s formative years, motives, and some of the self-delusions she may have operated under.

10. Was this your first writing effort outside of academia?

No, from an early age I was fascinated by fiction and have always wanted to write a novel. During my academic career I took some university courses in creative writing and dabbled in short stories. But it wasn’t until the year 2000 that I decided to take the leap into novel writing. I toiled over and submitted three novels for publication before I wrote Parlor Games. I view those novels as my proving ground. With each one, I felt my mastery improve, and I want to keep pushing myself to ever-greater writing challenges.

11. What’s your writing routine like?

I rise early, take a brisk walk, breakfast over articles about writing, and read the daily newspaper. Then I steal away to my study and write all morning, blocking out, as much as possible, the distractions of e-mail, phone, and doorbell, as well as the neighborhood children squealing at the school bus stop. I don’t schedule appointments during this time if at all possible. I like to immerse myself in writing for a good three hours every weekday. That time flies by, and my usually astute stomach sometimes forgets when lunchtime has arrived. I often use afternoons and weekends for research and other writing-related tasks.

12. Are there any authors, writing in either historical fiction or other categories, whom you’ve looked to for inspiration?

Barry Unsworth is one of my favorite authors. I had occasion to meet him at a writer’s conference a few years before his passing. We talked about two of my favorite books by him—Sacred Hunger and Sugar and Rum. He was charming and personable, and I will forever remember the wonderful conversation we shared. Barbara Kingsolver’s novel of a missionary family in the Congo, Poisonwood Bible, influenced me a great deal, particularly the skill with which she captured the voices of her varied characters. One of my favorite books about a real person is Joyce Carol Oates’ Blonde, a fine literary work that brilliantly evokes Marilyn Monroe’s complex personality. It’s my favorite book by Oates and she, in fact, has divulged that it’s one of her favorites as well.

About Parlor Games

The novel opens in 1917 with our cunning protagonist, May Dugas, standing trial for extortion. As the trial unfolds, May tells her version of events.

About the Author

Maryka Biaggio is a former psychology professor turned novelist with a passion for history. Twenty-eight years after launching her academic career she took the leap from full-time academic to scrambling writer and now splits her time between fiction writing and higher education consulting work. More information about Maryka and Parlor Games can be found on MarykaBiaggio.com, including a discussion guide, historical information, recommended reading and a fun “Parlor Talk” feature. You can also find out more about Parlor Games onFacebook.

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From History and Women

NEFERTITI: LADY OF ALL WOMEN

2013-02-04T13:58:00.000-07:00

Philip Pikart: Neues Museum, Berlin

"Great of Praises; Lady of Grace; Sweet of Love; Lady of The Two Lands; Lady of all Women; Mistress of Upper and Lower Egypt."

These were all her titles; but we know her now simply as Nefertiti, the great royal wife of the Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten.

She was made famous by her bust: (a little like Dolly Parton.) But Nefertiti's bust is now in Berlin’s Neues Musem, where it preserves her transfixing beauty for all time. This astonishing piece of art is attributed to the sculptor Thutmose. It has made Nefertiti the most famous Egyptian queen in history, with the possible exception of Cleopatra VII.

Her husband was Amenhotep IV and after they were married he built a temple dedicated to her at Karnak. It was called the Mansion of the Benben and, extraordinarily for the times, she was depicted in temple carvings almost twice as often as her husband and in scenes that would have normally been the prerogative of the king - such as taking a sword to the nation’s enemies.

offered by LI and A Curtis. Photo:Rama

In the fourth year of his reign, he instigated a religious revolution, moving his capital to Amarna and changing his name to Akhenaten, He decreed that Egypt would now worship just a single deity - abandoning all of Egypt's traditional gods for a single deity, the sun god, Aten.

Some scholars argue that it was Nefertiti (literally, 'the beauty has come') who persuaded him to make this controversial move. She certainly embraced the change wholeheartedly. In all the statues and carvings of her she wears the same fashion as God's Wife, a clinging robe tied with a red sash, a short rounded hairstyle, a diadem bearing a double uraei.

She held a special position in Akenaten’s esteem and affections: ".. Great in the Palace, Fair of Face, Adorned with the Double Plumes, Mistress of Happiness, Endowed with Favors, at hearing whose voice the King rejoices, the Chief Wife of the King, his beloved, the Lady of the Two Lands, Neferneferuaten-Nefertiti, May she live for Ever and Always."

They are seen in temple reliefs with their family - they had six known daughters - in idealized poses. The king is depicted riding with her in a chariot, or kissing her or with her sitting on his knee.

photo: Keith Schengili-Roberts

Nefertiti enjoyed unprecedented power and by the twelfth year of his reign was possibly elevated to the status of co-regent, for women were not only basic to his romantic and family life, but also his thinking and to his faith. The woman about Akhenaten were depicted in every representation of ritual or state ceremony conducted by the king in honour of the sun god.

She shared her husband with at least two other royal wives. Each of the royal women had her own sanctuary, called a 'sunshade temple,' an oasis of palms and water pools, for they were considered vital in the renewing of the creation principle and communing with with the god Aten.

In fact, women were so highly valued in Atenhaten's Egypt, it is hard to find true comparisons in history.

But neither Atenhaten nor Nefertiti could live for Ever and Always. When he died, her likeness was carved onto the four corners of his granite sarcophagus to protect his body, a place traditionally reserved for the female gods, Isis, Nephthys, Selket and Neith.

Around 1330 BC Nefertiti also disappeared from the royal records, and it is suspected she died from a plague that was sweeping the city at that time. Her mummy has never been found or identified.

Atenhaten's son, Tutankhaten became the next pharaoh. He changed his name to Tutankhamun, abandoned Amarna and returned the seat of government to Thebes and the state religion to the worship of Amun.

Nefertiti's time as Lady of All Women was brief; but thanks to Thutmose, we can still gaze at 'the beauty has come' forever.

Colin Falconer is the author of the internationally bestselling CLEOPATRA, DAUGHTER OF THE NILE and over twenty other novels.

See more history from Colin Falconer at

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From History and Women

Vannozza dei Cattanei and her scandalous affairs and marriages

2013-02-03T13:11:00.001-07:00

Vannozza dei Cattanei

Born into the lowest levels of the Italian aristocracy, the beautiful and spirited Vannozza dei Cattanei was charismatic and clever enough to run not one, but two inns, or ‘osterias’ as they are called in Rome. It is likely there that her charms caught the attention of Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere, whom she scandalously entered into an affair with, despite his vows of celibacy. He later became Pope Julius II.

Giuliano della Rovere

Pope Julius II

In his elder years

In her inns, she lavishly entertained rich, ambitious cardinals. Soon, the affair with Giuliano petered out and she turned her attentions to Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia, from a very wealthy Spanish family. She soon became his favorite mistress – not bad for a guy at the highest levels of the church who is supposed to abstain from the sin of lust.

Rodrigo Borgia

Pope Alexander VI

When it came to Rodrigo, she was obliging and compliant, never making demands, and always offering helpful suggestions. He showed his appreciation by letting her use several of his properties which she eventually managed to convince him to put solely in her name. Oh, but that’s not all he gave her. In addition to properties, she had full financial support and bought a vineyard, a country-house, and more inns in highly desirable areas of Rome. As the years passed, she bore Rodrigo four children: Juan, Cesare, Lucrezia, and Jofre.

But all good things must soon come to an end and it was no different for this adoring couple. The Vatican soon took note of their wayward son and his flagrant violation of the celibacy vows that he had taken upon entering the Church. If he wanted to be in the running to become the next pope, then poor Vanozza had to go. But how could he get rid of his social climbing, materialistic, wealth-grabbing lover? The answer was simple – marry her off to someone else, of course.

So Rodrigo presided over her wedding to Domenico d'Arignano, a wealthy man who died a few short years later. With Rodrigo’s help Vanozza married a man named Antonio da Brescia. When he died, in order to continue to keep the mother of his children at arms’ length, and a safe distance from Vatican eyes, Rodrigo chose another compliant husband for his ex-mistress - Giorgio di Croce. In exchange for marrying Vanozza, Rodrigo made him apostolic secretary. A good job, steady money, why not? So Vanozza married Giorgio and moved into the same neighborhood as Cardinal Borgia's Palace on the Piazza Sforza-Ceasarini.

Over the years, Vanozza continued to be Rodrigo’s friend and confidante to many of his darkest secrets. When her second husband died a wealthy man, Rodrigo set out yet again to find her another suitable husband. This time, he chose a Mantuan named Carlo Canale, who had many lucrative and useful connections. To seal the deal, Rodrigo provide a dowry of 1000 florins and another high level job.

As Vanozza grew older, she became a little wiser too. Establishing herself as a reformed sinner, she began donating to charities and supporting convents. She remained in touch with her children.

When she died, she was given a lavish funeral almost equally attended by Vatican officials as well as citizens.

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From History and Women

The Contessa's Vendetta by Mirella Sichirollo Patzer

2013-02-01T13:14:00.002-07:00

I'm very excited to announce that today, February 1st, and tomorrow, February 2nd, The Contessa's Vendetta, my historical suspense/thriller novel about an ultimate betrayal and a dark plot of revenge, is free today on Amazon!
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From History and Women