BOOKS & MORE BOOKS: THE FAIR BOTANISTS BY SARA SHERIDAN

 

Reading The Fair Botanists has been my latest fascinating journey back in time. I’m grateful I had the chance to fling away to Edinburgh back then, in 1822,  at a time of cultural brilliancy and great change.

As I am fond of Scotland, the 19^th century, historical fiction and - why not? -  flowers and perfumes, how could I not enjoy Sara Sheridan’s latest novel?

3 SUGGESTIONS FOR YOUR TBW LIST

 

Mare of Easttown 

After reading several positive reviews, I've finally managed to watch Kate Winslet in her latest role as the lead of HBO's Mare of Easttown. Fortunately, it was available on Italian Sky channels. Have you seen it?

BOOKS & MORE BOOKS - DEBORAH SWIFT'S NEW RELEASE: A PLAGUE ON MR PEPYS

Deborah Swift has been writing successful historical fiction novels about an age less frequently chosen by other writers. We've read plenty of tales set in the fascinating eras of the middle ages or the Tudor years - which Swift herself chose for a few of her novels - but we seldom find adventure or romance set in the 17th century. 

BOOK UNDER THE SPOTLIGHT: THE PHANTOM TREE BY NICOLA CORNICK. READ A CHAPTER FROM THE BOOK!

ABOUT THE BOOK

Thrilling time-slip historical fiction about the enigmatic Lady Mary Seymour, daughter of Henry VIII’s widow Katherine Parr.

“She had not told him a single thing about her family. She had never spoken of them. But they were all there on the pages of notes she had so painstakingly compiled. The Seymour family tree linked them together, tangled as the roots of the old oaks of Savernake Forest. They were all there: she, Edward, Mary, Arthur…”

Wiltshire, Autumn 2016. Deep in a small, unassuming art shop, Alison Bannister stumbles upon a newly discovered Tudor portrait, supposedly of Anne Boleyn. Except Alison knows better, the woman is Mary Seymour, the daughter of Katherine Parr who was taken to Wolf Hall in 1557 as an unwanted orphan and presumed dead after going missing as a child.

Alison is not from the modern world. She has travelled a long way, waited 500 years, to find a clue as valuable as this portrait. For the painting holds the key to Mary Seymour’s mysterious disappearance and Alison’s own unhappy quest.

Alison and Mary have made an agreement which transcends time. Alison will help Mary escape Wolf Hall and Mary will find Alison’s baby boy.

ANNA BELFRAGE, EXTRAORDINARY WOMEN FROM SWEDEN TO ROME: ST BIRGITTA & QUEEN KRISTINA + DOUBLE GIVEAWAY!

To celebrate our recent acquaintance through this wonderful media which is the internet, author Anna Belfrage (check out her wonderful historical fiction novels HERE) wrote this very interesting piece especially for my FLY HIGH! blog. Help me to make her welcome here and enjoy her guest post about two really extraordinary women from the past who travelled from her country, Sweden, to my country, Italy. 

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First of all, mille grazie Maria Grazia for inviting me to do some guesting on your blog. And isn’t it a somewhat magical world where an Italian lady who loves English literature meets up with a Swedish author who writes in English – all because of that marvellous invention, the Internet?

I thought it apt to somehow tie together Sweden, Rome and history in my post. Not the most immediate connection that springs to mind, seeing as Sweden has for most of its existence been a backwater no one really wanted to visit, while Rome has for millennia been right at the middle of things, a must-see place since well before the birth of Christ.

But there are connections: specifically, there are two Swedish women, one from the 14^th century and the other from the 17^th century, who had an intense relationship with Rome. (It is somewhat coincidental that my books are either set in the 17^th century or the 14^th century, even if I have as yet not published anything set in Sweden) So today I thought I’d introduce you to St Birgitta of Sweden and Queen Kristina of Sweden, two women who could never be called meek and retiring. Never.

SPOTLIGHT & GIVEAWAY - LUSITANIA R.E.X BY GREG TAYLOR

The winner of the M.M. Bennetts Award for Historical Fiction, announced in June 2015 at the Historical Novel Society Conference in Denver, and a finalist for the People’s Book Prize to be announced in April 2016, Lusitania R.E.X is an historical account of the sinking of the Lusitania replete with spies and secret societies, super weapons, millionaires and martyrs. After being struck by a single torpedo on May 7th 1915, the Lusitania sank in only eighteen minutes. Passengers such as Alfred Vanderbilt, one of the wealthiest men in the world, ignored warnings from the German embassy, confident the fastest ship in the world could outrun enemy submarines. Since the time of her sinking, the Lusitania has been wrapped in mystery and intrigue. Experts continue to debate the cause of the second explosion that sealed her fate after the torpedo struck. Imperial Germany immediately claimed she was loaded with explosives destined for the front. Lusitania R.E.X weaves a tale around disputed facts to create a plausible explanation of some of the mysteries surrounding her sinking.

Author Greg Taylor discusses the history behind his book on a Goodreads video.

SUFFRAGETTES - A MOVIE, AN ANNIVERSARY & A QUOTE

The Anniversary: 6 February, 1918

Let's start with the anniversary, then. The campaign to gain women the vote in Britain had run for decades by 1918. Thinkers such as J.S. Mill had long advocated the reform.  It was WWI which moved the game on – war has often be the locomotive of history. Women had taken on male roles; the armaments industry had based its production on the work of women. As the war progressed, politicians began to discuss how to bring about the change so that justice should be done.  Thus on March 28 1917 the Commons with a huge majority, and the Lords by a far closer margin of 134 to 71, passed the Representation of the People Act, also known as The Qualification of Women Act; on 6 February, 1918 it received royal assent and passed into law.

LIESEL, DEATH AND THE POWER OF WORDS - THE BOOK THIEF BY MARKUS ZUSAK

The Book Thief 

1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier.

Liesel, a nine-year-old girl, is living with a foster family on Himmel Street. Her parents have been taken away to a concentration camp. Liesel steals books. This is her story and the story of the inhabitants of her street when the bombs begin to fall.

SOME IMPORTANT INFORMATION - THIS NOVEL IS NARRATED BY DEATH

It's a small story, about:

a girl

an accordionist

some fanatical Germans

a Jewish fist fighter

and quite a lot of thievery.

ANOTHER THING YOU SHOULD KNOW - DEATH WILL VISIT THE BOOK THIEF THREE TIMES

Liesel, Death and The Power of Words

I read this book out of curiosity,  since I heard about it from my students.  After reading it myself, I made up my mind to work on both book and its movie adaptation with one of my classes this year and added both to a section of my syllabus, which consists of a series of readings dedicated to the theme The Power of Words.

TO READ OR NOT TO READ - AUTHOR GREG JOHNSTON INTRODUCES US TO THE SHOCKING TRUE STORY BEHIND HIS NEW BOOK, THE CAST OF A HAND.

The Cast of a Hand

At dawn on the outskirts of Paris in 1869, Hortense Kinck lies buried alive and surrounded by five of her children. Violently attacked, tormented and trapped, she sifts through the truths and deceits of her marriage to self-made industrialist, Jean Kinck. Why had he lied? 

France, snug in the prosperity of Napoleon III’s Second Empire, is shocked by the vicious destruction of the bourgeois Kinck family. Under pressure from his superiors, the Chief of Police, Monsieur Claude, must unravel the baffling connections between the family and a mysterious young man, Jean-Baptiste Troppmann, a cold case, a famous palmist and France’s rising tide of dissatisfaction with the Emperor Napoleon III. 

   

The Cast of a Hand is an unforgettable love story and a murder mystery based on one of the most shocking crimes of 19th century Paris. GS Johnston’s razor sharp prose interweaves and cross-pollinates the two narratives, both desperately trying to arrive at the truth. 

 Check it out at Amazon

SCOTLAND WANTS TO REWRITE HISTORY: GUN DEID LEAT!

Glasgow - 17th September 2014

Come what may, British history will be rewritten with 18th September 2014  referendum. The Scottish want their complete independence from the UK, not the palliative autonomy they have been offered so far.

I'm not Scottish, I love Britain as it is, with all its different nations and peculiarities, so I decided I'll be watching this extraordinary event without taking sides, with great respect for the passionate political campaign of the YES! front,  as well as for the matter-of-fact worries of the NO! party. 

Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland

I'll be giving a lesson to my oldest students tomorrow titled: "Fighting for a flag of blue and white". We will read articles and listen to interviews about the Scottish referendum and will revise the historical events involving Scotland we studied last year: Mary Stuart and her rivalry with Queen Elizabeth I, which ended up with the beheading of the Scottish Queen; the ascent to the English throne of Mary's son, James VI of Scotland after Elizabeth's death,  which meant the unification of the two reigns under one crown in 1605; the 1688 Bloodless Revolution, which led to the dethronization of  the Catholic  line of the Stuart dynasty.

In the second part of the lesson we will move to literature and start discussing Walter Scott's Waverley and its historical context - the Jacobite uprising of 1744-46. In that novel, Charles Edward Stuart,  Bonnie Prince Charlie, is one of the historical figures interacting with the fictional ones created by the great Scottish writer, father of the historical novel.

PERIOD & MORE PERIOD: TURN, THE STORY OF WASHINGTON'S SPIES

Jamie Bell as Abraham Woodhull

AMC Turn

This was an amazing series! The season finale was broadcast last Sunday 8 June, with an amazing crescendo of emotions but no news of a second series.  I think this story deserves a second season, I would be more than disappointed if it didn't get it. 

An excellent historical fiction drama series,  starring a blend of great British and US actors, TURN  is a period piece that reveals the story of America's first spy ring. 

A historical thriller set during the Revolutionary War, this TV show is based on Alexander Rose's book Washington's Spies. It was developed and written by Craig Silverstein (Nikita), who also serves as showrunner. It stars, among others, Jamie Bell (Filth, Jane Eyre, Nicholas Nickleby, Billy Elliot) , J. J. Feild (Northanger Abbey, Austenland, The Ruby in the Smoke), Seth Numrich (The Good Wife) and Heather Lind (Boardwalk Empire).

BRINGING THE PAST BACK TO LIFE - AUTHOR INTERVIEW: LARRY HEWITT, THE JUNO LETTERS SERIES

Welcome to my little corner of the blogosphere, Larry. It’s a pleasure and an honour to have you as my very special guest on FLY HIGH!

This is my first question for you. I know you love writing historical fiction, especially stories set during WWII.  Do you think we can learn the truth about our past and roots reading historical novels more than or as well as researching on documents?

Reading a story set in a historical context can help stimulate interest in historical events, and further our understanding of our own path through the present.  This places an unusual duty on the author.  The context within which your story takes places must be historically accurate - balanced against the need to simplify overly complex interactions and create a story people will read and enjoy.  I research my novels as if I were writing a “real” history.  I write the context as accurately as possible, and then insert my characters into lessor known pieces of that history to create a plausible story.  Good historical fiction is a challenge and a joy.

AUTHOR GUEST POST: M.M. BENNETTS, CASTLES, CUSTOMS AND KINGS

To be honest, the runaway success of the English Historical Fiction Authors has taken us all by surprise.

It started small, you know.  Tiny.

It was the brainchild of Debra Brown, who, after writing her first novel set in the Victorian era and needing a 'web presence' set up this daily blog in which historical novelists wrote short essays about the bits and bobs of English history which they'd learned in the course of their research for their own novels.

It was a great idea.  Great for everyone involved.

Great for the authors--because let's face it, we do enormous amounts of research, studying ancient texts or period newspapers, visiting sites for our novels in the torrential rain (I know--I was the driver that day and it was POURING!), eating things that fortunately most cookbooks omit these days, learning skills from the past, and reading thousands of books, all so that we can put our readers 'in the room' of whatever era we're writing about.

But, to tell the truth, with all that, sometimes we only use 1% of what we've uncovered or studied in our books.  Thus, for us, this brilliant idea gave us the opportunity to showcase some of what we've picked up along the way--because let's face it, as authors and researchers, we love history.  Adore it.

SHE WOLVES, HENS AND NIGHT MOTHS: THE PROSTITUTES OF ANCIENT ROME - AUTHOR GUEST POST BY ELISABETH STORRS + GIVEAWAY

What’s in a name? In Rome, there were many different categories of prostitutes, all of whom were known by colourful titles which not onlyidentified their status but also where they plied their trade.

Wall fresco of Roman prostitutes and customers - Pompeii

Prostitution was heavily regulated with a division created between those who were accredited and worked in brothels, and those who were not officially recorded and operated on the streets or in taverns and bakeries.As part of the registration process with the city magistrate, a woman would provide her correct name and age, her place of birth and the pseudonym under which she wished to be known. She also stipulated the price she intended to charge for her services. Her name was then listed on a rollpermanently, her reputation irrevocably stained. Despite this, a licensed whore or “meretrix” (“one who earns wages”) was considered socially acceptable because she only worked during the night whereas a “prostibula” (unregistered whore) made herself available at any hour. By the time of Caligula, a tax was levied on enrolled prostitutes consisting of an amount equivalent to the sum received in one day from a single client. Failure to pay resulted in a black mark being placed against the woman’s name on the list and a whipping.However, at least a meretrix could rely on the protection of the magistrate who could be called upon to enforce payment from a client.

QUEEN NEFERTITI: LOST IN HISTORY

 (by guest blogger Ken Myers)

Often referred to as one of the most beautiful women in ancient history, the Queen Nefertiti ruled alongside her husband, Pharaoh Akhenaten, for a little more than a decade until she mysteriously vanished. Without tales of her demise, she was simply left out of the sacred texts without a single inscription bearing what had happened to this prominent figurehead in Ancient Egypt. What truly had happened to this once great and powerful Queen may never be discovered.

1. Birthright 
The exact lineage of Nefertiti is currently unknown, although there are many theories that have some basis behind who she was and where she truly came from. Commonly, she is referred to the daughter of the Pharaoh Ay, who ruled briefly 11 years after the demise of Akhenaten. Some speculate she was a Mitanni Princess as Amenhotep III was in direct communication with the Mitanni people. Others believe that she is the sister of the Pharaoh Akhenaten whom she married and became co-regent. Unfortunately, there is no real way to tell for certainty if there is any fact in these matters. Until her mummified remains are found and tested for trace DNA, these theories will be nothing more than that based on circumstantial evidence.

AUTHOR INTERVIEW - ANNE EASTER SMITH, ROYAL MISTRESS BLOG TOUR - IF HISTORY WERE TAUGHT IN THE FORM OF STORIES

My guest today is Anne Easter Smith.  A native of England, Anne spent some of her childhood in Germany and Egypt and the rest at boarding school. She came to the US in the late ‘60s for two years and is still here, living in Newburyport, MA with her husband, Scott. Anne is the author of five novels about the York family in the Wars of the Roses, all published by Touchstone at Simon & Schuster. She has been a secretary, a PBS auction coordinator, the features editor at a daily newspaper, a folksinger and the administrator at a music school. When she is not writing, Anne is usually to be found either acting or directing in community theater productions, beach-walking, practicing yoga, or watching “Mad Men.” Her latest novel, Royal Mistress has just been published and she's here today to share her passion for history, the Ricardian cause and writing with us. Join me and welcome Anne at FLY HIGH! 

Welcome to my little corner of the blogosphere, Anne. It’s a pleasure and an honour to have you as my very special guest on FLY HIGH!

This is my first question. I know you love quoting Rudyard Kipling with his “If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten." Does that mean we can learn the truth about our past and roots reading historical novels more than or as well as researching on documents?

I wouldn’t say that! Of course you will gain far more by reading the chronicles, letters and histories of the period. But what historical fiction does is bring those people to life and perhaps give you an appetite for doing more research on your own. However, just like watching a bio-pic on TV -- you shouldn’t believe everything you see. I try very hard never to have a person in the wrong place at the wong time--I will do my best to see if there is any evidence that someone was or was not at a certain castle when I want them to be, but I will not mess with history. If I cannot find anything that says Cecily Neville never met Joan of Arc, but the research tells me these two women were in the same building at the same time (one in the royal apartments and the other in the dungeon) then I feel it’s plausible that they did meet. As a reader of Historical Fiction, I think you have to learn to recognize a writer who respects the history rather than one who, with one obvious anachronism, can have me throwing a book across a room! If you question something in an historical novel, then go and seek out the truth in the non-fiction shelves. Fiction is fiction after all!

TAKE MY HEART BLOG TOUR - MARIE HIGGINS, ROMANCE BACK IN THE COLONIAL TIMES + GIVEAWAY

Romance in the 1700’s

The question was brought up—how different was romance back in the Colonial times.  Answer…VERY different.

For those of you who don’t read a lot of historicals or watch historical movies, you’ll be surprised to learn that woman didn’t have a lot of options back then in regards to their life and marriage. In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s countries began giving women the right to vote…which is a whole other story which I won’t go into right now. Keep in mind that women had to be chaperoned until they were married. They couldn’t go out anywhere unless a sister, mother, or lady’s companion went with them.

BARBARA KYLE PRESENTS HER "THE QUEEN'S GAMBLE" - GIVEAWAY!

Maria, thanks for inviting me to reach out to your readers on Fly High. Flying high is what writing historical fiction is all about!

I'm happy to tell a little about my most recent release, The Queen's Gamble. It's Book #4 in my "Thornleigh" series which follows a rising middle-class family through three tumultuous Tudor reigns.

And there's a giveaway! It's open to the US and Canada, and the winner will receive a signed copy of The Queen's Gamble.

Take your chances in the rafflecopter form below and good luck! The contest will be closed on November 16th.

Synopsis

Young Queen Elizabeth I’s path to the throne has been a perilous one, and already she faces a dangerous crisis. French troops have landed in Scotland to quell a rebel Protestant army, and Elizabeth fears once they are entrenched on the border, they will invade England.

Isabel Thornleigh has returned to London from the New World with her Spanish husband, Carlos Valverde, and their young son. Ever the queen’s loyal servant, Isabel is recruited to smuggle money to the Scottish rebels. Yet Elizabeth’s trust only goes so far—Isabel’s son will be the queen’s pampered hostage until she completes her mission.

Matters grow worse when Isabel’s husband is engaged as military advisor to the French, putting the couple on opposite sides in a deadly cold war.

A DANGEROUS INHERITANCE BY ALISON WEIR - BOOK REVIEW

"I can never forget the day they brought me the news that my sister's head had been cut off. I was not yet thirteen, too young fully to understand why she had to die, but old enough to imagine the horrific scene at the end. They said she had committed treason, the foulest of all crimes, but it didn't make any sense to me for Jane had only done what she was forced to do. and by that reasoning, I too had been an innocent traitor, just as she was."

This is the opening of this incredible novel I've just finished reading. The young girl in distress for her sister's horrible, unfair death is Katherine Grey, only 13 at the time her sibling was crowned Queen of England for nine days only to be  sentenced to death as a traitor soon after by Queen Mary Tudor  (1554). After Jane’s death,  also the life of Katherine Grey will be full of sorrows and pains in her constant attempt to pursue  true love as well as  the recognition of her status as heiress to the throne of England. She will have to fight against a fierce and very powerful rival, Queen Elizabeth I,   who saw her as a danger to her rule.

Lady Katherine Grey’s fate is intertwined with the story of another unlucky young royal child, Kate Plantagenet, Richard III’s  illegitimate daughter.  Katherine Grey finds her miniature portrait and a diary, and starts feeling sympathy for whom she imagined to be,  like her,  an unhappy victim of a dangerous inheritance: they both have their destinies signed by their having royal blood running through their veins.

The two stories develop onto parallel levels, distant in time, but so close in human suffering. Both girls will have to fight in the pursuit of true love: being of royal blood, a marriage for love is highly improbable for them. They have to marry for state reasons, they have to accept what parents and monarchs choose for them. The two  different levels of the narration offer a privileged perspective on historical figures and facts: Kate Plantagenet lived at Richard III’s court after his marriage to Anne Neville, while Katherine Grey is part of the Tudor family, cousin to Edward VI, Mary and Elizabeth and always kept close to the court by all of them in order to check her movements as a possible contender.

The two stories merge into a quest for the truth about the tragic fate of the Princes in the Tower, after Richard III’s coronation as king of England. Kate wants to purge her father tainted fame after his death at Bosworth, even risking her own life,  and Katherine Grey, imprisoned like the young Princes in the Bell Tower  by Elizabeth I,   will try to get to the truth thanks to Kate’s diary.

Is the mystery solved in the end? You’ll have to check that out yourself reading the book. I’m not revealing any further detail.

AUTHOR INTERVIEW WITH JENNY BARDEN & GIVEAWAY OF MISTRESS OF THE SEA

I'm extremely  glad to welcome best selling author Jenny Barden at FLY HIGH to discuss her latest release, Mistress of the Sea. Read the interview, leave your comment + e-mail address to enter the giveaway contest for a signed first edition copy of her book. The giveaway is open internationally and ends on November 2nd.

Jenny Barden has had a love of history and adventure ever since an encounter in infancy with a suit of armour at Tamworth Castle. Training as an artist, followed by a career as a city solicitor, did little to help displace her early dream of becoming a knight. A fascination with the Age of Discovery led to travels in South and Central America, and much of the inspiration for Mistress of the Sea came from retracing the footsteps of Francis Drake in Panama. She is currently working on a sequel centred on the first Elizabethan 'lost colony' of early Virginia. Jenny has four children and lives in Hertfordshire with her long suffering husband, a loving Labrador and a deadly Bengal cat.

Welcome to FLY HIGH, Jenny, and many thanks for accepting my invitation. Now, my first question for you is: Mistress of the Sea is set in the Elizabethan Age, the first part of Queen Elizabeth I’s reign. What is it that you find most fascinating in those years?

Mistress of the Sea covers the years 1570-3; it begins twelve years into Elizabeth I's long 44 year reign. At that time England was on the point of emerging as a power to be reckoned with on the world stage, free from the Church of Rome and domination by any other state. Her seafarers, Francis Drake among them, were voyaging far and opening up new opportunities for trade, colonisation and piracy. They were developing the skills in navigation, sailing and ship-design that would lay the foundations from which the British Navy and the British Empire would later emerge. In 1570 England was about to enter her Golden Age, Shakespeare and Marlowe were only boys but they would epitomise the flowering of the English Renaissance; Edward de Vere was already writing beautiful poetry and Nicholas Hilliard was starting to produce the exquisite paintings that would help create the iconography supporting the image of Elizabeth as 'Gloriana'; the sublime music of Thomas Tallis graced the chapels of the royal household and nobility. There was a new confidence and optimism. The country was free, relatively liberal and growing economically. England was looking outward and toward a 'brave new world'. What I particularly like about the true adventure which forms the backdrop toMistress of the Sea is that it encompasses so much of what was pivotal in England's development at this exciting time.