KING RICHARD III 'S QUEEN: ANNE NEVILLE - GUEST POST AND GIVEAWAY BY JUDITH ARNOPP

Anne Neville

If, like me, you are an avid reader of historical novels you may be forgiven for thinking that we know a great deal about Anne Neville, the youngest daughter of Richard Neville, The Duke of Warwick, known historically as The Kingmaker.

I’m trusting the picture on the left does not do her justice but it seems to be the best we have of her. In truth, the details we have about Anne are very few and her movements can only be traced via the records of the men who lived their lives around her. Her thoughts and feelings can only be guessed at although, what information we do have of her, suggests her life was one of tremendous upheaval and suffering.

She was little more than a pawn, married off at around the age of fourteen to the Lancastrian heir, Edward, son of Henry VI, to seal Warwick’s alliance with Margaret of Anjou when he turned against his king, Edward IV. At around the same time, and to the same end, her sister, Isabel, was married to George, the Duke of Clarence, disloyal younger brother of the king.

What Anne herself made of her first marriage we shall never know, her feelings were not important enough to warrant recording or even speculating upon but she would have been raised to loath and distrust the Lancastrian faction and, to find herself suddenly part of it, must have been greatly disturbing.

SPRING CLEANING GIVEAWAY HOP - 2 WINNERS, 4 BOOKS ... HAPPY SPRING TIME!

Happy Spring Time to all the friends and readers of FLY HIGH! This Spring Cleaning Giveaway Hop is a great idea suggested by Inspired Kathy at I Am A Reader, Not A Writer. Do you like books? Real paperbacks, not e-books. You are at the right place on the right occasion, then!  You've got the chance to choose and win two books!
I've picked up 10 books I've read and am not going to re-read, which I need to give away to make room for the new ones coming. I'd love to give them  to someone who's willing to have them,  host them on their shelves,  and will do them justice reading them and spreading the word and, maybe, will later pass them on to someone else.

Have a look at the list below, choose two of the titles and good luck!

There will be two winners: one in Italy (where I live)  and one from the rest of the world. The 2 winners will get 2 books each. The contest will be closed on March 25th and the winners will be announced on the 26th. 

N.B. These are NOT books I want to get rid of. Most of them are lovely reads. Just check my reviews or the customer reviews on Amazon I linked the titles to.

What do you have to do to to get a chance to win the ones you prefer?

1. Become a follower, if you are not already one

2. Add your e-mail address to your comment

3. Add the country you live in

4. Choose two titles from the list

That's all. Simple isn't it? I hope you'll find something you are interested in in the list below. Some of the books are Austeneque reads I got in order to review them on my other blog, My Jane Austen Book Club. The others are from various of my shelves  Here we go:

1. A Lady, Merits and Mercenaries
2. Pamela Aidan, A Lesson in Honour
3. J. Marie Croft, Mr Darcy Takes The Plunge
4. Alexandre Dumas, The Black Tulip
5. Amanda Grange, Henry Tilney's Diary
6. Philippa Gregory, The White Queen
7. Nick Hornby, Slam
8. P.D. James, Death Comes to Pemberley
9. Nora Roberts, Heaven & Earth
10. Mary Lidon Simonsen, Mr Darcy's Bite

There are other 171 blogs taking part in this hop! Click HERE to check them out.

FANSTRAVAGANZA 3 - FINAL POST: NORTH & SOUTH FAN FICTION -DOUBLE REVIEW, DOUBLE GIVEWAY WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT

FanstRAvaganza 3 has come to its finale - It's been an amazing week, an event full of enthusiasm and creativity dedicated to Richard Armitage, his talent and his past and upcoming works. 

My final post is again in the Fanfic trail. Below you'll find my review of Trudy Brasure's A Heart for Milton and of Catherine Winchester's Northern Light as well as the announcement of the names of the winners in the giveaway contests linked to my interviews with the authors (HERE and HERE).

Don't forget to check the latest posts in this trail of the FanstRAvaganza by Fedoralady, JoAnn and Gratiana Lovelace.

Till next year then, for an even greater celebration following  the release of the first Hobbit movie. More RA - dedicated posts coming soon on FLY HIGH!

FANSTRAVAGANZA 3 : CATHERINE S. WINCHESTER, NORTHERN LIGHT. INTERVIEW AND GIVEAWAY

Welcome to my new post in the Fanfic trail for the FanstRAvaganza 3. Ready to discuss North and South, Mr Thornton and Margaret's love story, with a great RA admirer who is also the author of a sequel of Gaskell's novel? Catherine (Cat) S. Winchester is my guest and has accepted to answer some questions about her Northern Light, and to discuss her vision of North and South with us. 

Leaving your comment + e-mail address you can win an e-book copy of the book. 

Welcome back to FLY HIGH, Cat, and thanks a lot for accepting to answer my questions about your sequel of North and South.  First of all, is there any particular reason  for the title you’ve chosen,  Northern Light?

I wanted to keep the connection with 'the North' of the novel but originally this was titled Northern Exposure, supposed to convey how Margaret had been changed by her time in the North.

FANSTRAVAGANZA 3: TRUDY BRASURE, A HEART FOR MILTON. AUTHOR INTERVIEW AND GIVEAWAY

Welcome to FanstRAvaganza #day3!  This post is in the Fanfic Trail. If you've missed the previous posts check Jo Ann, Mr John Thornton, Fedoralady. Today you'll find Fanfic for FanstRAvaganza also at Cat Winchester's Blog. 

What follows is my interview with Trudy Brasure, the author of A Heart for Milton, a sequel of North and South by Mrs Gaskell. There's a giveaway linked to this post. Leaving your comment + your e-mail address,  you'll get  a chance to win a paperback copy of the book. On March 18th, on the last day of the FanstRAvaganza,  the name of the winner will be announced. Enjoy our chat and  ... 

Good luck! This giveaway is open worldwide.

Interview with Trudy Brasure

First of all, Trudy, when did you decide to write your sequel? Was it after reading North and South or after watching the series? Also, your story starts as a ‘what-if’ and proposes some changes to Gaskell’s plot. Can you tell us a little about that?

I happened upon the miniseries quite by accident, and was utterly captivated by the whole story, but especially by Richard’s performance. I sought out Gaskell’s book very soon after, having never heard of her before. It’s now my secular bible! I couldn’t stop thinking about the adaptation those first few months, especially the agonizing goodbye scene

FANSTRAVAGANZA 3: RICHARD III IN MOVIES OR ... WHY WE WANT A NEW KING RICHARD

Visit the site King Richard Armitage

I became an eager fan of this project as soon as I heard about it while watching an  interview with Richard Armitage at GMTV (3rd October 2007). Now, not only I signed the petition but I also started researching about Richard III and reading history books as well as historical fiction dedicated to him. I've also invited Ricardians and historical fiction writers to write for FLY HIGH to support the cause and I go on, fingers and toes crossed, hoping the project comes true sooner more than later. Of course, I'm talking about Richard Armitage's dream of producing and interpreting a new Richard III.
"And why do we need Richard Armitage's King Richard III project come true?", you might ask. Well, not only because it would be incredibly good to see our favourite actor achieve one of his dreams and ambitious goals -  one for which he has been working, reading and planning for years now - but also because the other Richard, King Richard III,   deserves the acknowledgement of how wronged he has been after his defeat at Bosworth (1485) by Shakespeare's portrayal and, especially, by the Tudor propaganda.
It's rather time people substitute the popular image of the deformed, hunchbacked, wickedly scheming murderer with a more balanced portrait, closer to the historical reality.
This is what Richard Armitage has been dreaming about in the latest years: a fictional,  biographical TV series proposing a new Richard III based on the belief that he was  probably one of the best king England has ever had. A prequel to The Tudors.

ROME - LUX IN ARCANA

My latest trip to Rome was a couple of days ago to meet friends, to have a delicious English-style tea, to plan our summer holidays together (top secret!) and to visit this intriguing exhibition. History and secret documents, not Art this time: Lux in Arcana.

The exhibition which is conceived for the 4th Centenary of the foundation of the Vatican Secret Archives aims at explaining and describing what the Pope’s archives are and how they work and, at the same time, at making the invisible visible, thus allowing access to some of the marvels enshrined in the Vatican Secret Archives’ 85 linear kilometers of shelving; records of an extraordinary historical value, covering a time-span that stretches from the 8th to the 20th century.

DICKENS WORLD - WATCHING MICAWBER (2001)

In the year of Dickens Bicentenary we owe him some gratitude and remembrance. So, since  I've seen  all the adaptations of his novels I could find, I decided I needed  some more Dickens , surfed the Net and found this lovely series dating back to 2001 (available on DVD).   David Jason stars as Mr. Micawber in this gentle comedy set in Victorian England and inspired by a character from Charles Dickens' novel 'David Copperfield'.

Like in that novel, in this lovely series too , Mr Micawber is incredibly eloquent and well-spoken, but he is also criminally bad with money. He doesn't meet any lovely 10-year-old David in the 4 episodes I saw,  but through his adventures - well, add a "mis" before the "ad "- the watcher can revisit the Dickensian - subtly ironic but lovable - portrait of an amiable character inspired to his own father, John Dickens. Micawber and Mr Dickens senior shared the same sad fate of being incarcerated in a debtors' prison (the King's Bench Prison) after failing to meet their creditors' demands.

LATEST GIVEAWAY CONTESTS - WINNERS ANNOUNCED FOR GISBORNE AND THE BOAR

 1. The Boar (Il Cinghiale) by Cecilia Latella
(from my review) This graphic tale focuses on the passionate love story between Richard III and the Earl of Warwick's younger daughter, Anne Neville. The story starts with a hunting scene, Richard is just a boy allowed by his father to hunt for the first time: he kills a boar. And a white boar will become his symbol once he is Duke of Gloucester, then king  Richard III.

The story is narrated from a very personal angle , focusing on the tormented, guilt-ridden soul of Richard Plantagenet  first as a boy, then as  a young man  and finally as an adult. The leitmotiv is his longing for Anne, his only love. She is the strength and light in his life, once she is no longer with him,  he will lose his will to go on living. Bosworth victory is not a merit of smart Henry Tudor, but a battle lost by a man already defeated by life.The historical facts, battles and politics,  are just hinted at:  it is mainly a romance made up of flashes with many shifts in time. 
Giveaway winners : The paperback copy in Italian has been won by Giada M.  and the e-book copy in English goes instead to Debra Brown 

2. Gisborne - Book of Pawns by Prue Batten (from my review)  Gisborne and Ysabel will be side by side in a long journey, an unfolding ride through Aquitaine and England, filled with unwanted self discovery and unwilling bonding with each other. Theirs is not a smooth, easy relationship. It will be taunted by her prejudices and lack of trust in him and his unwillingness to open to her. However, they will not be able to loose that strong, instinctive tie made of lust, passion and empathy.  She will have to face her mother’s death, her father’s financial ruin, the marriage to a brutal man, and she must grow up while trying to drown her memories of Gisborne in a sea of misunderstanding, rage and mistrust. She is sure he sold her to Benedict De Courcey, the man who ruined her father. She should only hate Gisborne but it will not be as simple as that.
Giveaway winner: Lauren Gilbert
Many thanks to Cecilia Latella and Prue Batten for their kindness and for providing the copies for these giveaways Grateful thanks to all the readers who commented and entered the contests.
You can get your copy of The Boar at lulu.com. You 'll find Gisborne on amazon Kindle store.

THE FANTASTIC FLYING BOOKS OF MR LESSMORE - AN OSCAR-WINNING ANIMATED TALE

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore  directed by   William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg  has recently  won the Oscar in the category "Short". I wasn't so interested in the glamour of the Oscar night this year. I wasn't interested in none of the films either. So I only  came to see this touching, poetic winning short  yesterday thanks to   Austen author Laura Hile who posted about it on her facebook wall. 

You know, my best favourite books are books about ... books (Farhenheit 451, for instance). So, being this short about books helped me to overcome my wariness of animated movies and my little fondness for Oscar-winning works. 
Well, especially since it is about flying books. It was not by chance that I chose to add just flying books to my blue banner and to call my blog FLY HIGH!  I'm truly convinced books can make us fly. Fly high over this world's pettiness, fly away from its ugliness, fly far beyond its boundaries. 

VICTORIA LAMB, THE QUEEN'S SECRET - GIVEAWAY WINNER

I can't wait to read this intriguing novel dealing with a mystery in Queen Elizabeth I 's life. One lucky reader of FLY HIGH  will also be able to enjoy THE QUEEN'S SECRET soon since she'll get her copy directly from the author, Victoria Lamb,  who accepted to be my guest and granted one signed copy of her beautiful hardback book.  Thanks to Victoria Lamb for being such a kind and generous guest! And, of course, congratulations to the winner picked up through random.org

Sam (Tiny Library)

DANCING BACK IN TIME - THE RENAISSANCE HISTORICAL DANCE SOCIETY

Louise Smith is my guest today to present her group performing dances from different historical periods, Renaissance Historical Dance and to tell us about her incredibly rewarding and entertaining activity. Read her blogpost and  welcome her on Fly High!

Renaissance Historical Dance Society is based in Plymouth, Devon, and we learn and perform dances from four historical periods - Medieval, Elizabethan, Stuart and Regency.  We perform at different venues across the UK in order to teach people about history in a fun way and promote both history and dancing. 

The group was initially set up by Rosemary Smith who wanted an activity that she and her daughter could take part in. Rosemary had seen a re-enactment group elsewhere in the UK, and after being diagnosed with Leukaemia decided that this is what she wanted to do too.   Her determination to promote history and dancing gave her the drive to achieve all her goals. The feeling of creating a social, fun night out for the members has been maintained, with members comprising of people who like performing, dancing and have an interest in history. The group has grown from strength to strength – after starting off using pillows or tomatoes to act as missing dance members,the group is now around 20 strong.

Every Wednesday evening, members from across Devon and Cornwall meet up to learn, practice, and share information about the costumes and etiquette of the time.It’s an ideal place to meet new people and learn history without getting stuck intotextbooks!

GIVEAWAY WINNERS ANNOUNCEMENT FOR THE SKIN OF WATER AND TOM-ALL-ALONE'S

1. The Skin of Water by Greg Johnston

Passions flare and alliances shift in this breathtaking story of survival set during the final days of World War II in Hungary.

Young Zeno dreams of moving to Budapest and becoming a great filmmaker in the Hungarian film studios. But one evening he follows Catherine Steiner, a guest at the exclusive lakeside resort where he works as a bellboy, into the forest. Unknowingly he dives into her life, changing his forever.

Her husband is a wealthy industrialist with the power to create – or crush – Zeno. Despite Catherine’s protests, Zeno moves to Budapest and takes a servant’s job in the Steiner house, shining her husband’s shoes while hearing the family’s secrets.

All Zeno and Catherine have are precious hours in a secret apartment, tucked above the uneasy streets of a city at war, their affair a flimsy wall against a future no one can see or predict. Until it arrives.

GISBORNE - BOOK OF PAWNS BY PRUE BATTEN. REVIEW + GIVEAWAY

GISBORNE started for fun, in instalments on her blog, Mesmered's Blog, and after a long work of research and editing, has now become a very interesting debut historical novel for Australian author Prue Batten. Mind you, this is not Ms Batten's  first publication,  but her debut in the historical fiction genre. Today GISBORNE has been released and it is available for Kindle at amazon.com (HERE).

I've  had the pleasure and honour to read it before its publication and - do I need to say it? - I loved it! This is my review. No major spoiler, don't worry. And by the way, there is a giveaway contest linked to this post. Read the details below if you want to get a chance to win your copy of GISBORNE!

‘And all shall be well, and all shall be well,

and all manner of thing shall be well.’

Julian of Norwich

Richard Armitage as Gisborne (BBC Robin Hood 2006)

When you first meet him astride his steed and with his proud demeanour, he feels compassion, not pity, for Lady Ysabel. He is Gisborne, her father’s steward come to escort her home from Aquitaine after her mother’s death. With his black hair, his blue eyes and his visceral voice, he immediately fascinates you and, like Ysabel of Moncrieff, you want to know more about this man.

It is not Guy of Gisborne from Child  Ballad  (#118), the big man “clad in his capull-hyde topp and tayll and mayne” who Robin Hood easily dispatches, but a rewritten gripping hero. The author was inspired by the character from the BBC Robin Hood (2006/2009) and with the sensitive contribution of Richard Armitage but there the similarity ends.

No Robin Hood nor merry men exist in Prue Batten’s tale set in the final years of the 12^th century, the years of Henry II’s sons, Prince Richard and Prince John, both aspiring to the throne of England. And Gisborne is not the  Sheriff’s second-in-command. A dark character, maybe. A complex round figure definitely. You can find echoes of the Gisborne you’ve seen in the BBC series, fighting for status and power, with his conflicting attempts to redeem himself for love, with a temptestous temper and a troubled soul, vulnerable but strongly proud at the same time. But he lives again in the pages of a totally new story with a different background and an utterly new heroine to love – Ysabel of Moncrieff.

CECILIA LATELLA ABOUT RICHARD III - INTERVIEW & GIVEAWAY

Cecilia Latella is my guest today to talk about her interest in Richard III and  about her comic book dedicated to him, The Boar (Read my review HERE)

Cecilia Latella was born in Naples in 1981. She has always loved stories of heroes and knights, so that her first comic, drew when she was in elementary school, was a short version of the Odyssey. While at university she has outlined 948 pages of a fantasy saga entitled Asanor. After her PhD in Comparative Literatures, she has returned to comics, writing and drawing The Boar, a biography of Richard III, that was self-published and presented in Lucca '09. In 2010, she was selected by Craig Thompson for a graphic novels residency that took place at the Atlantic Center for the Arts, Florida. She is currently working as art director for the MAD Entertainment animation studio and is continuing to draw comics for a series of indipendent writers.

Richard III - Saint and Wicked by Cecilia Latella

Where does your interest in Richard III and the Ricardian cause come from? A book, a movie, a college course?

The first time I met the figure of Richard III was in the comic book adaptation of The Black Arrow by Gianni De Luca. I was 13 at the time. In it, as in Stevenson’s novel, Richard is described as a young captain, ruthless but at the same time following his own code of honour. Plus, he is superbly drawn (De Luca was and is one of my favourite artists). I was hooked in particular by the last scene, in which he regrets not being able to enjoy a normal, happy life. After that, I started looking for more stories featuring Richard III.

Which was the book /film/play that made the difference for you?

I’d lie if I didn’t admit that Shakespeare’s Richard III was a major factor of my fascination. I read it after The Black Arrow and it was a blast. I fell in love with Richard’s way with words, his wit and his black humour. I’ve always been fascinated by ambiguous characters, and Richard was the peak of charming villains. Then I found, by chance, an abridged version of Jean Plaidy’s The Reluctant Queen, and as easily as I was hit by Richard as villain, I accepted his version

AUTHOR INTERVIEW & GIVEAWAY - VICTORIA LAMB, THE QUEEN'S SECRET

Meet Victoria Lamb and get a chance to win her "The Queen's Secret" (read the giveaway details below) .

While studying Elizabethan playwrights at university, Victoria Lamb always dreamed of writing a series of novels about Shakespeare's 'Dark Lady'. Now a busy mother of five, she has finally achieved that ambition after much research, fixing on the fascinating figure of Lucy Morgan as Shakespeare's Muse.

Victoria lives in Warwickshire, also known as Shakespeare Country, only twenty minutes from Kenilworth Castle where her novel, "The Queen's Secret", is set. The middle daughter of bestselling novelist Charlotte Lamb, Victoria grew up in the peaceful Isle of Man, benefitting from a vast library of thousands of books and a family of published writers from which to take inspiration. She is presently working on a new novel featuring Lucy Morgan and William Shakespeare.

Her other work includes several books of poetry published under the name Jane Holland, and a paranormal Tudor series for Young Adult readers as Victoria Lamb, launching with "Witchstruck" in summer 2012. Here is my interview with her.

THE TWO WOMEN IN MR THORNTON'S HEART - JOIN ME AT MELANIE'S MUSINGS FOR THE NORTH AND SOUTH CELEBRATION

Re-reading North and South or re-watching the TV series (BBC 2004),  I can never avoid figuring out the dreaded event, pushing myself  a step ahead the words “the end “.  By dreaded event, I mean the meeting between  Margaret Hale and Hannah Thornton as John’s wife-to-be and mother-in-law to be.  Not an enthusiastic one, I guess, with poor embarassed John between them hoping they could get on well together somehow for his sake. 

I've written a guest post about "The Two Women in Mr Thornton's Heart" for  A North and South Celebration , the event celebrating Mrs Gaskell's novel at Melanie's Musings this week.

I'll wait for you there, then. Join the discussion and contribute your opinion, if you feel like doing it. Melanie and I will be glad to read your comments. 
- How do you imagine their first meeting as in-laws to be?

- Do you think young and old Mrs Thornton will get on well together? 

- Will they leave apart their pride and their strong temper for John's sake? 

- Can the love they share for him lead them to love each other?

Click and read my guest post

RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS - GIVEAWAY WINNER

 Wow! This has been an incredible Giveaway Hop! Thanks to the organizers, the ladies at I Am A Reader, Not A Writer and Read For Your Future! More than 150 comments is something definitely out-of-ordinary for my little blog, used to  avarage comment rates 0/10. 

I'm glad so many visitors liked the gift I chose. It is actually a beautiful present I'd love to receive myself and which I chose just because I liked it very much.

The beautiful wooden box one of the commenters is going to win is disguised as one of my favourite books: Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. In this beautiful box she may keep trinkets and secret love letters away from prying eyes or other smaller books.  It will blend in perfectly with the other ones on her shelves and will look like an old leather volume. Ready to discover who the lucky winner is? 

Congratulations to...  

Book First Love!!!

I hope she'll treasure my beloved Pride and Prejudice on her shelf and think of FLY HIGH! each time she'll open it for any reason.

Thanks to all those who dropped by and commented to enter the giveaway. I'll wait for you back for other giveaway contests and, of course, to discuss books, films, art, period drama and TV series. By the way, have you checked the new giveaways on the right sidebar? 

AUTHOR GUEST POST - G.S. JOHNSTON, COME TO THE CABARET + E-BOOK GIVEAWAY OF THE SKIN OF WATER

Today's guest at FLY HIGH! is G.S. Johnston. He is the author of two historical novels, The Skin of Water and Consumption, noted for their complex characters and well-researched settings. In one form or another, Johnston has always written, at first composing music and lyrics. After completing a degree in pharmacy, a year in Italy re-ignited his passion for writing and he completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature. Feeling the need for a broader canvas, he started writing short stories and novels. Originally from Hobart, Tasmania, Johnston currently lives in Sydney, Australia with two cats - home-loving Reba and the wayward Rose - and Miss Mia, a black and white cuddle dog. He would be impressed with humanity if someone could succeed in putting an extra hour in every day.  
Read through G S Johnston's post below,  "Come to the Cabaret", and get a chance to win the e-book version of his new novel, The Skin of Water. Read the details at the end of the blogpost.

Around 1972, my mother took my brother and I to the film Cabaret.  We didn’t have live productions in Hobart, Tasmania so we made-do with Michael York and Liza Minnelli in their prime.  My mother loved the theme song.  My father was away sailing for the weekend.  In the evening, we went to the Avalon Theatre in Melville Street, a Victorian theatre with imperial plaster moldings and pillars, gold trim and swathes of lush red velvet.  We sat in the dress circle.

I don’t think she knew how risqué the film was going to be.  From the opening scene, the distorted image of the Master of Ceremonies, this clearly wasn’t The Sound of Music.  We descended into an alien world, a world without judgments, mein Herr.  The cabaret formed a Greek chorus to the off-stage story, even though my knowledge of the function of a Greek chorus was many years away.  There were people of indeterminate gender, gay people, straight people, all seemed to mish-mash.  Even the Nazis came to the cabaret.  I remember the telephones on the tables so people could call to other tables.  This was sophisticated and restless, a long way away from Melville Street, Hobart, Tasmania.  

SPOOKS NOSTALGIA & STRONG WOMEN

by guestblogger Anne Illsley

Hermione Norris and Richard Armitage

We've often discussed Spooks here on Fly High focusing on  Lucas North (for very well-known reasons). I'm also sure you -  like me -   have missed not only handsome Lucas but also all the other cool "spooks" since our favourite series ended in October 2011. Do you remember Maria Grazia 's farewell to Spooks? Well, her farewell to Lucas was certainly a tiny bit more heartfelt .
Richard Armitage is, without doubt, a superb actor. Spooks is an outstanding BBC Drama that has delivered some world class performances, and showcased some of the greatest actors in the UK. Richard Armitage (Lucas),  Peter Firth (Harry Pearce), Rupert Penry-Jones (Adam) and Matthew MacFadyen (Tom)  are mesmerising male leads. But for me,  it is the women who really lift Spooks into another league as drama. And the best of the best is Ros Myers, played by actress Hermione Norris. It's refreshing to be able to relax on your leather sofa and take in superb performances from an actress who is also a strong female role model. 

RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS GIVEAWAY HOP - AN AUSTENESQUE PRIZE FOR THE READERS OF FLY HIGH!

Friday, February 17th is Random Acts of Kindness Day. What better way to celebrate than by taking part in a giveaway hop?  Read for Your Future and I Am A Reader, Not A Writer have teamed up to bring this Random Acts of Kindness Giveaway Hop and I joined in. 

It is a way to thank both new and old, regular followers of FLY HIGH! with the chance to win  a beautiful wooden box disguised as one of my favourite books: Pride and Prejudice.In this beautiful box you may keep trinkets and secret love letters away from prying eyes or other smaller books.  It blends in perfectly with the other ones on your shelves and is designed to look like an old leather volume!  Would you like to win it?

1. You just have to leave a comment adding your e-mail address.

2. If you want to have an extra chance, you should be or  become a follower of FLY HIGH! (optional) 

This giveaway is open worldwide and ends on February 21st. 

The winner will be announced on the 22 nd. There are other 172 blogs participating in this giveaway hop and you can enter all the contests,  if you want.

CLICK HERE, CHECK THE LIST and GOOK LUCK!

ROBERT EARLE, THE MAN CLOTHED IN LINEN. GIVEAWAY WINNER ANNOUNCED.

An interesting guest post and a thought-provoking book. Thanks to Robert Earle for being my guest here on Fly High and for presenting his The Man Clothed in Linen. 

Now, the name of the winner  in the drawing through random.org is ...

Adriana Zardini !!!

Congratulations, Adriana,  and thanks for taking part.

BBC BIRDSONG - TO LOVE AND TO BE LOVED. NOTHING MORE.

BBC two-part serial Birdsong , adapted from a novel by Sebastian Faulks (1993), is a gripping, touching love story set in the years of the First World War. But it is much more than a classic romance.  It is an epic tale of great passions and extraordinary events experienced by ordinary men and women who were called  to become heroes and heroines. There are so many layers to this wonderful story and I'm so happy I could finally watch it! It is indeed one of the best TV adaptations I've ever seen.

The action  moves between 1910 and 1916, telling the story of Stephen Wraysford (Eddie Redmayne) , a young Englishman who arrives in Amiens in Northern France to stay with the Azaire family and falls desperately in love with Isabelle Azaire (Clémence Poésy). They begin an illicit and all-consuming affair, but the relationship falters. 
Years later, Stephen finds himself serving on the Western Front in the very area where he experienced his great love. As he battles amidst the blood and gore of the trenches he meets Jack Firebrace (Joseph Mawle), a tunneller who unexpectedly helps him endure the ravages of war and enables him to make peace with his feelings for Isabelle.

Joseph Mawle and Eddie Redmayne

Extraordinary events and ordinary heroes

The First World War was a shocking event - when is war not? - in which a million British soldiers died. Only in the attack at La Somme, France, which is fictionalised  in Birdsong, the British had 60, 000 casualties in only one day. That was the war which transformed men into numbers. It was an uprooting, devastating violent storm that cancelled an entire generation of proud young men and left the few survivors, haunted , guilt - ridden, torn and compromised. Shell-shocked is the term usually used.

MY TOP TEN CLASSIC LOVE STORIES

Download free DA cards at Chad Thomas's site

Happy Valentine's Day, everybody! Are you happily celebrating? No? Like me trying to cope with  the great deal of messages and hearts sent to you? Joking. I must be honest: I've never loved this day's celebrations and all the marketing activity connected. So, why am I here?  Because I am really fond of love and of great love stories.  Especially the unforgettable ones from classic literature.

These are the first 10  that come to my mind if you ask me. Well, I know you didn't, but I'm afraid you must be patient, because I've asked that myself and I'm going to write about them. I'm also very curious to know what yours are. If not 10, at least one, your best favourite. Do you feel like sharing with us here on FLY HIGH?

1. Mr Thornton and Margaret's love story in Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South.
Did any of you doubted that? My regular readers expected this for sure.

 They know how much I love this novel and that I've always found this beautiful romance blossoming in such an unusual, complex environment  very intriguing. For several different reasons. A curiosity: reading this book, I've always related to John and felt for him. Never for Margaret.  When he got the woman, I feel his pride and his gratification. Is that ... normal?

GIVEAWAY WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT - TERESA BOHANNON, SHADOWS IN A TIMELESS MYTH & OTHER BOOKS

Teresa Bohannon was my guest last week for an interesting interview about writing and about her latest release. If you've missed it,  CLICK HERE to catch up.

The giveaway contest linked to that guestpost is over and I'm here to announce the name of the winner, of course. But first, the prizes.Teresa suggested that the readers who entered the giveaway could choose which one of her books they wanted as a prize. Here are the 3 items offered (e-book version.

Book Presentations from Amazon.com Kindle Store

.1. Shadows in A Timeless Myth 
The Lindsey Mountain Massacre was the stuff of legend—the spine chilling, wicked-cruel kind of story that evil-humored folk like to share on a dark and moonless night. It held all the makings of a fine and frightful tale, a blustering blizzard of a winter storm, a candlelit, backwoods mansion in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains, a Christmas Eve celebration in the year of nineteen and one, good folk killed by a vengeful haint... or a rabid bear—depending on who was doing the telling. Truth be told, no one ever really found out exactly what did happen or why, nor even realized just how far from the truth all their old stories fell...'til more than a century later, when folks 'round Lindsey started mysteriously disappearing and dying...and the ancient ones returned. 

From the nevermore mists, lost among dark realms of nothingness and myriad points of twinkling light, in a place that had never really been before or since, the Fates appeared, and with caprice and whimsy created all that followed as unscripted players on a stage designed for no more mind or purpose than to lessen the burdens that neverending eons of time lay upon the creators themselves. 

BOOK REVIEW: WOLF HALL - A TALE OF POWER, POLITICS & LUST

(from the blurb) "Lock Cromwell in a deep dungeon in the morning," says Thomas More, "and when you come back that night he'll be sitting on a plush cushion eating larks' tongues, and all the gaolers will owe him money." 

England, the 1520s. Henry VIII is on the throne, but has no heir. Cardinal Wolsey is his chief advisor, charged with securing the divorce the Pope refuses to grant. Into this atmosphere of distrust and need comes Thomas Cromwell, first as Wolsey's clerk, and later his successor. Cromwell is a wholly original man: the son of a brutal blacksmith, a political genius, a briber, a charmer, a bully, a man with a delicate and deadly expertise in manipulating people and events. 

Ruthless in pursuit of his own interests, he is as ambitious in his wider politics as he is for himself. His reforming agenda is carried out in the grip of a self-interested parliament and a king who fluctuates between romantic passions and murderous rages.

My musings

Thomas Cromwell was a man capable of writing a contract and taming a wild falcon, of drawing a map and settle a fight down, of furnishing a house and bribing a jury. He was the Machiavellian architect of Henry VIII's kingdom and master of the Tudors' destiny. 

Henry VIII

He is the protagonist Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall (the title refers to the name of the residence of the Seymours) and from his point of view we witness the well-known facts:  Cromwell  was the man King Henry VIII  trusted  to get to marry Anne Boleyn and get rid of Catherine of Aragon. We watch and take part in all the whims  of king and mistress from the smart, detached, strategic point of view of a power-hungry man. Cromwell is the emblem of a self - made man who thanks only to his incredible intellectual skills rose from very humble origins to be the politician who marked the new course of the English Church which led to the separation from the Church of Rome and from papal authority, the dissolution of the monasteries, and to the establishing of the king as the Supreme Head of the Church of England. 
Honestly, what still disturbs me is that all that was for ... a woman. Not for the love of a woman but in order to  accomplish  lusty wishes, which drove many others of Henry VIII's political decisions even later on. Mind you, I'm not a Puritan nor such a conservative but yet the fact disturbs me quite a lot.

AUTHOR GUESTPOST & GIVEAWAY - ROBERT EARLE, THE MAN CLOTHED IN LINEN

Guest author

My guest today is Robert Earle, writer.  Robert was a member of the U.S. Foreign Service for twenty-five years. He is the author of The Way Home, a novel, Nights in the Pink Motel, a memoir of a year in war-torn Iraq, and dozens of short stories that have appeared in magazines across the U.S. and Canada. He received a classical education as a boy, studying Latin and Greek and attending chapel six days a week. The Man Clothed in Linen is dedicated to the teachers who introduced him to the classical and Biblical world at The Hill School.  He also holds degrees from Princeton University and Johns Hopkins University.

Giveaway

Please welcome Robert Earle on Fly High!  Furthermore, leaving your comment + e-mail address you'll have the chance to win the e-book version of The Man Clothed in Linen. The giveaway is open internationally and ends on February 17th.

The Historian Behind The Man Clothed in Linen by Robert Earle

Some many years ago I fell into a reverie about the man sometimes referred to as “the historical Jesus.”  As a cultural Christian though not a religious Christian, I found the topic fascinating.  A few writers, Paula Fredriksen, John Dominic Crossen and Harold Bloom, to name three, excelled in describing the various phases, challenges, and circumstances that may have characterized Jesus’ life.

Even though we know little about Jesus, there isn’t much doubt he existed. One of the key bits of evidence is found in the histories of Flavius Josephus, just a reference, not much. 

And then there are the Gospels and the other texts of the New Testament, each curiously distinctive and yet (perhaps with the exception of the very Hellenistic Gospel according to John) sharing commonalities not only in the narrative sense but in the sense of Jesus’ mission and purposes on earth.

THE BOAR - A COMIC BOOK ABOUT RICHARD III BY CECILIA LATELLA

In my constant quest for real Richard III, I've found out this graphic tale online. It is by an Italian  artist who happens to be also a Ricardian with a degree and Phd in Foreign Languages and Literatures. Cecilia Latella has been a Richard III fan since she read Robert Louis Stevenson' s The Black Arrow at 13. Later on,  she studied English Language and Literature at University in Italy where she researched, wrote and discussed a thesis about Richard III. 

She works in a graphic studio now. You can visit her at  Holy Grail Comics, her blog.

In the preface to  The Boar  (first published in Italian as Il cinghiale)  she tells how she came to create a comic about Richard III: "I joined the Society in 2003-4 and in June 2008 I had the lucky chance to take part in the Ricardian Rover organized by the American Branch. During the long rides from site to site, to keep myself busy, I started doodling little scenes featuring Richard, who has

AUTHOR GUESTBLOG - PHILLIPA ASHLEY, A NEW MUSE?

When I heard Michael Fassbender won the Best Actor award at the Evening Standard awards last night, I gave a quiet cheer – but wasn’t the least bit surprised.

Last week, via Twitter, Maria heard about my current obsession and offered me the chance to blog about the actor and his roles.

Now, I'll admit that over the last few months, I've slowly developed a thing for Mr Fassbender. He first came to my attention a couple of years ago in The Devil’s Whore, the brilliant English Civil War drama starring Angela Riseborough and John Simm. However, I’ll admit I didn’t really take much notice of him until last September when we went to see the new movie of Jane Eyre.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CHARLES DICKENS!

I should have celebrated this occasion, Dickens Bicentenary, at school with my oldest students, the ones in their final year. No way. Schools are still closed because of the snow and it goes on snowing right now outside of my windows. 

I had planned to tell them about Dickens life, his picture of Victorian London,  and show them scenes from David Copperfield and Oliver Twist.

I have to renounce and postpone. But can I celebrate with you? Genius story-teller , Dickens, deserves to be read, remembered and celebrated on his 200th birthday (7 February 1812) . There will be celebrations all through the year and lots of TV programmes and new adaptations of his novels. The latest BBC series were very good. Have you seen them? Have you read my posts about them? Great Expectations was stunning and Edwin Drood a revelation to me who had never read nor seen the story.

Google remembers Dickens today