Tag: historical fiction

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Winter Light – Martha Engber*

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Mary Donahue of suburban Chicago is a kid on the cusp of failure during the brutal blizzard winter of 1978-79, the end of a hard luck, hard rock era sunk in the cynicabrutal blizzard winter of 1978-79, the end of a hard luck, hard rock era sunk in the cynical aftermath of the Vietnam War.

Though a smart, beautiful kid, she’s a motherless girl raised by an uneducated, alcoholic father
within an extended family of alcoholics and addicts. Aware that she’s sinking, she’s desperate to
save herself and so reaches out to anunlikely source, Kathleen, a nice, normal kid from English class.

But when the real storm hits, the full force of a harsh adult world almost buries Mary. Only then does she learn that the only difference between life and death is knowing when to grasp anextended hand.

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Martha Engber’s next novel, WINTER LIGHT, will be published Oct. 6, 2020, by Vine Leaves Press.

She’s also the author of THE WIND THIEF, a novel, and GROWING GREAT CHARACTERS FROM THE
GROUND UP. A journalist by profession, she’s written hundreds of articles for the Chicago Tribune
and other publications. She’s had a play produced in Hollywood and fiction and poetry published in
the Aurorean, Watchword, the Berkeley Fiction Review and other journals. She’s also a freelance editor, workshop facilitator and speaker.

She currently lives in Northern California with her husband, bike and surfboard.

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Giveaway to Win an e-copy of Winter Light (Open INT)

Giveaway to Win a Book Club Chat from Martha Engber (Open INT)

Giveaway to Win a free hour book development consultation with Martha Engber (Open INT)

My thoughts:

This is a heartbreaking book, poor Mary, with her dead mother, deadbeat drunk dad and useless older brothers, except Danny.

Failing through life, she meets and befriends Kathleen, who with her loving and intact family, is Mary’s opposite. Their friendship offers her a glimpse at a better life.

But tragedy enters Mary’s life again and she freefalls. Luckily Kathleen’s kind mother is still on her side and in the lowest reaches of her despair, Mary calls her.

This is sad, and at times, hard to read. Thankfully there is rescue there for Mary and she’s young enough that all the darkness can’t completely overwhelm her.

Moving and powerful, this is a striking and effective novel about love, trust and pain.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

Giveaway T&Cs

Worldwide entries welcome. Please enter using the Rafflecopter box
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Book Blitz: A Painter in Penang – Clare Flynn

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Sixteen-year-old Jasmine Barrington hates everything about living in Kenya and longs to return to the island of Penang in British colonial Malaya where she was born. Expulsion from her Nairobi convent school offers a welcome escape – the chance to stay with her parents’ friends, Mary and Reggie Hyde-Underwood on their Penang rubber estate.

But this is 1948 and communist insurgents are embarking on a reign of terror in what becomes the Malayan Emergency. Jasmine unearths a shocking secret as her own life is put in danger. Throughout the turmoil, her one constant is her passion for painting.

From the international best-selling and award-winning author of The Pearl of Penang, this is a dramatic coming of age story, set against the backdrop of a tropical paradise torn apart by civil war.

Historical novelist Clare Flynn is a former global marketing director and business owner. She now lives in Eastbourne on the south coast of England and most of her time these days is spent writing her novels – when she’s not gazing out of her windows at the sea.

Clare is the author of eleven novels and a short story collection. Her books deal with displacement – her characters are wrenched away from their comfortable existences and forced to face new challenges – often in outposts of an empire which largely disappeared after WW2.

Her latest novel, Prisoner From Penang, was published on 17th April 2020. It is set in South East Asia during the Japanese occupation in World War Two.

Clare’s novels often feature places she knows well and she does extensive research to build the period and geographic flavour of her books. A Greater World – 1920s Australia; Kurinji Flowers – pre-Independence India; Letters from a Patchwork Quilt – nineteenth century industrial England and the USA; The Green Ribbons – the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth century in rural England, The Chalky Sea – World War II England (and Canada) and its sequels The Alien Corn and The Frozen River – post WW2 Canada. She has also published a collection of short stories – both historical and contemporary, A Fine Pair of Shoes and Other Stories.

Fluent in Italian, she loves spending time in Italy. In her spare time she likes to quilt, paint and travel as often and as widely as possible. She is an active member of the Historical Novel Society, the Romantic Novelists Association, The Society of Authors, NINC and the Alliance of Independent Authors.

Get a free copy of Clare’s exclusive short story collection, A Fine Pair of Shoes, at www.clareflynn.co.uk.

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blog tour, books

Cover Reveal: The Running Wolf – Helen Steadman

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When a Prussian smuggler is imprisoned in Morpeth Gaol in the winter of 1703, why does Queen Anne’s powerful right-hand man, The Earl of Nottingham, take such a keen interest?

At the end of the turbulent 17th century, the ties that bind men are fraying, turning neighbour against neighbour, friend against friend and brother against brother. Beneath a seething layer of religious intolerance, community suspicion and political intrigue, The Running Wolf takes us deep into the heart of rebel country in the run-up to the 1715 Jacobite uprising.

Hermann Mohll is a master sword maker from Solingen in Prussia who risks his life by breaking his guild oaths and settling in England. While trying to save his family and neighbours from poverty, he is caught smuggling swords and finds himself in Morpeth Gaol facing charges of High Treason.

Determined to hold his tongue and his nerve, Mohll finds himself at the mercy of the corrupt keeper, Robert Tipstaff. The keeper fancies he can persuade the truth out of Mohll and make him face the ultimate justice: hanging, drawing and quartering. But in this tangled web of secrets and lies, just who is telling the truth?

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About the author

Helen Steadman lives in the foothills of the North Pennines and particularly enjoys researching and writing about the history of the North of England. Following her MA in creative writing at Manchester Met, Helen is now completing a PhD in English at the University of Aberdeen to determine whether a writer can use psycho-physical techniques to create authentic fictional characters.

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blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Tudor Christmas Tidings – Blythe Gifford, Jenni Fletcher & Amanda McCabe*

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Make Merry at Court… with three Tudor Christmas stories!

In Christmas at Court Sir John Talbot and Lady Alice’s secret betrothal must wait until Henry Tudor
claims the throne.

Next in Secrets of the Queen’s Lady the lady-in-waiting to Anne of Cleves isunexpectedly reunited with a handsome—younger—diplomat at the palace’s festivities!

And in His Mistletoe Lady Catherine seeks help from a mysterious Spaniard to free her father in time for
Christmas!

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Jenni Fletcher is from the north coast of Scotland and now lives in Yorkshire where she writes historical romance novels. She studied English at Cambridge University before doing a PhD on Edwardian literature & psychology at Hull. She has been nominated for 4 RoNA awards and won for Short Romantic Fiction in 2020. In her spare time she loves baking and, of course, reading.

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After many years in public relations, advertising, and marketing, Blythe Gifford started writing seriously after a corporate layoff. Ten years and one layoff later, she became an overnight success when she sold to the Harlequin Historical line. Her books, set in the 14th to 17th centuries, typically incorporate real historical events and characters. The Chicago Tribune has called her work “the
perfect balance between history and romance.” Blythe lives and works along Chicago’s lakefront.

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Amanda wrote her first romance at the age of sixteen–a vast historical epic starring all her friends as
the characters, written secretly during algebra class (and her parents wondered why math was not
her strongest subject…)

She’s never since used algebra, but her books have been nominated for many awards, including the RITA Award, the Romantic Times BOOKReviews Reviewers’ Choice Award, the Booksellers Best, the
National Readers Choice Award, and the Holt Medallion. She lives in Santa Fe with a Poodle, a cat, a wonderful husband, and a very and far too many books and royal memorabilia collections.

When not writing or reading, she loves taking dance classes, collecting cheesy travel souvenirs, and watching the Food Network–even though she doesn’t cook.
Amanda also writes as Laurel McKee for Grand Central Publishing, the Elizabethan Mystery Series as Amanda Carmack, and the Manor Cat Mystery Series as Eliza Casey.

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My thoughts:

These three novellas in one are set at different points during the Tudor period, skipping from the very beginning of Henry Tudor’s reign, to his son’s fourth marriage (Katherine Howard, beheaded) and finally to Mary I’s court at its height.

The one thing that never changes is love, monarchs (and religions) might but the desire to find someone to kiss under the mistletoe (a much more recent tradition though that is) remains.

Each story centres on a couple revolving round the court, and there’s plenty of intrigue, politics, family loyalty and other machinations to keep it interesting. In an age where few could marry for love, can you ever fall and be able to make your own choice?

Perfect for curling up and dipping into in the warmth of your centrally heated home, a far cry from the Yule logs of Tudor England.


*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

blog tour, books, reviews

Bookstagram Tour: Cane Warriors – Alex Wheatle*

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Today I’m over on Instagram sharing my thoughts on a new book, so head over there and follow the tour!

Nobody free till everybody free.

Moa is fourteen. The only life he has ever known is toiling on the Frontier sugar cane plantation for endless hot days, fearing the vicious whips of the overseers. Then one night he learns of an uprising, led by the charismatic Tacky. Moa is to be a cane warrior, and fight for the freedom of all the enslaved people in the nearby plantations. But before they can escape, Moa and his friend Keverton must face their first great task: to kill their overseer, Misser Donaldson. Time is ticking, and the day of the uprising approaches . . .

Irresistible, gripping and unforgettable, Cane Warriors follows the true story of Tacky’s War in Jamaica, 1760.

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Alex Wheatle is the author of several acclaimed novels, many of them inspired by experiences from his childhood. He was born in Brixton to Jamaican parents, and spent most of his childhood in a Surrey children’s home. Following a short stint in prison following the Brixton uprising of 1981, he wrote poems and lyrics and became known as the Brixtonbard. Alex has been longlisted for the Carnegie Medal, won the Guardian Children’s Fiction Award, and was awarded an MBE for services to literature in 2008.

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My thoughts:

This slim volume contains a powerful and moving story, based on real historical events and people.

Despite a lot of my school friends and classmates having Jamaican parents and grandparents, the history of the island, and of the Caribbean in general, don’t really appear on the curriculum – apart from briefly being mentioned in the British Empire bit sometimes.

This is a shame because it means that children are being denied their own history, and the rest of the class an understanding of the trauma handed down from slavery’s legacy.

It’s been left to talented writers, like Alex Wheatle, to correct this and fill in the gaps in our history. This book should be on all schools’ reading lists, packing a punch that will make you angry and sad, at the cruelty and horror inflicted on millions of people.


*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: The Slaughter of Leith Hall – Lexie Conyngham*

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‘See, Charlie, it might be near twenty year since Culloden, but there’s plenty hard feelings still amongst the Jacobites, and no so far under the skin, ken?’

Charlie Rob has never thought of politics, nor strayed far from his Aberdeenshire birthplace. But when John Leith of Leith Hall takes him under his wing, his life changes completely. Soon he is far from home, dealing with conspiracy and murder, and lost in a desperate hunt for justice.

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Lexie Conyngham is a historian living in the shadow of the Highlands. Her historical crime novels are born of a life amidst Scotland’s old cities, ancient universities and hidden-away aristocratic estates, but she has written since the day she found out that people were allowed to do such a thing. Beyond teaching and research, her days are spent with wool, wild allotments and a wee bit of whisky.

My thoughts:

Inspired by real events, this story of a wicked plot leads us across Scotland from Aberdeen to Edinburgh and then over to Amsterdam, in search of answers as to who wanted John Leith murdered and why.

A clever, twisting narrative, a gentle and naive protagonist, some devious friends and generous benefactors all combine to a thrilling and surprising end. Highly enjoyable and full of historical detail.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Nefertiti & Tutankhamun – Nick Drake*

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NEFERTITI

A MISSING QUEEN. A DARK GAME OF POWER.

With her husband, Akhenaten, Nefertiti – the most powerful, charismatic and beautiful Queen of the ancient world – rules over an Empire at the peak of its glory and domination.

Together, they have built a magnificent new city in the desert on the banks of the Nile and are about to host kings, dignitaries and leaders from around the Empire for a vast festival to celebrate their triumph.

But suddenly, Nefertiti vanishes.

Rahotep – the youngest chief detective of the Thebes division- can see patterns where others cannot. His unusual talents earn him a summons to the royal court.

With ten days to find the Queen and return her in time for the festival, Rahotep knows that success will bring glory – but if he fails, he and his young family will die…

TUTANKHAMUM

A KING IN DANGER. A BATTLE TO STAY ALIVE.

On the shadowy city streets the cryptically mutilated bodies of several young people are discovered. These brutal acts are destabilizing a ruthless regime already unstable thanks to corruption and the appalling divide between rich and poor.

Meanwhile, Tutankhamun, at 18, has inherited an empire that should be at the height of power and glory. But he faces only a Court full of conspiracies and plotting, and a bitter struggle for power.

And when his own security is threatened by an intruder in the palace, he needs an outsider he can trust to track down the traitor. Rahotep receives a mysterious invitation to the labyrinthine halls of the Royal Palace.

But what he discovers at the dark heart of power will put his life, and his family, in grave danger. .

My thoughts:

Using the limited historical facts about two ancient Egyptian monarchs, Nefertiti and her stepson Tutankhamun, Nick Drake weaves clever, twisted mysteries in the royal palaces of Ankhtaten and Thebes.

The detective, Rahotep, is smart, intuitive and determined, but his investigations bring him into contact with dangerous and powerful enemies, men who will murder anyone who gets in their way as they seize more power and aim for the throne.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own

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Blog Tour: The Wit and Wisdom of Hilda Ffinch – Juliet Warrington*

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England, 1940. With Adolf Hitler and his henchmen goose-stepping about the place and ranting for the Fatherland on the far side of the English Channel, the villagers of Little Hope in deepest, darkest Yorkshire, are doing their very best to Keep Calm and Carry On. It isn’t always easy though, even with the best of intentions. There are evacuees to deal with as well as nightly air raid warnings and suspected fifth columnists. Worse still, there’s a dire shortage of spotted dick and knicker elastic.

But help is at hand! Enter Mrs Hilda Ffinch, horrendously rich and terribly bored lady of the manor who takes it upon herself to step into the role of Agony Aunt at the local newspaper.

Unshockable, unshakable and completely devoid of any hint of tact whatsoever, Hilda soon has the villagers flocking to her banner as she dishes out her own unique brand of gin-fuelled advice.

What could possibly go wrong?

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JULIET WARRINGTON was born on a small (and now totally defunct) RAF station in the Libyan part of the Sahara Desert, some 30 odd miles from the Egyptian border. Constantly on the move as a child due to her dad’s job, she grew up in Surrey, Buckinghamshire, Cyprus and London. Long-term friendships were hard to form without internet and mobile phones and so books became her constant companions. She lived in Limassol with Lorna Doon, Aylesbury with Tom Sawyer and hid The Scarlet Pimpernel in the garden shed in Uxbridge on more than one occasion. She currently resides just outside Wrexham, in North Wales.

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My thoughts:

Hilda Ffinch is determined to give the letter writers of Little Hope her unfiltered, unvarnished opinions. She can be very abrupt and lacks all tact, but there’s lots of innuendo to be found in the problem pages of the local newspaper.

Reminiscent of seaside postcards of yore, there’s a refreshing lack of fuss and plenty of straightforward, no nonsense “advice” to be had in Hilda Ffinch’s Agony Aunt column.


*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: A Burning Sea – Theodore Brun*

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Doomed to wander. Destined for glory.

Erlan Aurvandil has turned his back on the past and his native Northern lands, taking a perilous journey to the greatest city in the world, Byzantium.

But as his voyage ends, Erlan is brutally betrayed, captured and enslaved by a powerful Byzantine general.

Meanwhile, Lilla Sviggarsdottír, Queen of Svealand, has lost her husband and with him, her kingdom. Leaving her lands and people behind, Lilla journeys east on a new quest: to find Erlan and raise an army mighty enough to defeat her usurper.

But when she reaches the great city of Byzantium, she discovers a place in turmoil. A dark tide is rising against the Emperor from within his own court.

As the shadows darken and whispers of war begin to strengthen, Erlan’s fate becomes intertwined with that of the city. Are they both doomed to fall, or can freedom be won in the blood of battle?

Theodore Brun studied Dark Age archaeology at Cambridge. In 2010, he quit his job as an arbitration lawyer in Hong Kong and cycled 10,000 miles across Asia and Europe to his home in Norfolk. A Burning Sea is his third novel.

My thoughts:

I haven’t read the previous novels in this series, but that didn’t seem to make a huge difference to enjoying this epic saga of Vikings in Byzantium. Erlan is seeking the King of Kings, a cure for the curse placed on him, and is told to head south.

Lilla is looking for Erlan and a way to claim back her queendom, stolen from her by a cruel and vicious thug of a man, who happens to be her late husband’s brother.

Both of them arrive in Byzantium (now Istanbul) just as an army arrives on its doorstep, determined to claim the city and its empire for the caliph Suleyman. They find themselves in the Emperor’s palace as war breaks out.

I really liked both Erlan and Lilla, but Einar (not so) Fat-Belly was easily my favourite character, a jolly, axe wielding Norseman, he comes with Lilla to protect her, and ends up serving Emperor Leo alongside Erlan.

A lot happens and is given plenty of room to happen in this chunky book, in between battles there’s romance and betrayal, feasts and hardship. There’s also religion and its many faces – Byzantium was a Christian city crowned by the Hagia Sophia, named for God’s female side and wisdom.

I found this interesting as I don’t know a huge amount about this period of history, being more familiar with the religious Crusades of the medieval period, which also saw Muslims and Christians clash over land for many years, and involved to the violent sacking of Constantinople (another of Byzantium’s names) in the 13th century.

This was a really interesting book and I really enjoyed it. Somewhere in my family history are some Vikings of some nation and I’ve always been fascinated by the history of the northern reaches of Europe.

If you like big historical epics, with lots of detail thrown in (although the author admits moving some things around historically speaking) and enjoy battles, plots and long journeys that don’t go to plan, then this is for you. Enjoy!


*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

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Blog Tour: The Fallen Persimmon – Gigi Karagoz*

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Japan 1985 – a young English woman battles her conscience.

A page-turning suspense novel…

Money blows across a field, the notes slapping against the stubble of dry rice stalks. Mr Ito walks towards the irrigation ditch at the end of his field, his rubber boots kicking up dust.

Standing at the ditch, he remembers the rumour; the one about the missing English woman.

But this is Mari’s story. She knows it’s her fault that her sister died, and trying to move on, she takes a dream job teaching English in small-town Japan. It turns into a nightmare when Mari learns that she’s employed by the yakuza (Japanese mafia), and that the man she loves has his own dark secrets. When the yakuza play their final hand, Mari believes that once again, it’s all her fault.

If you like a novel that builds suspense, is set in an exotic location, has a strong female lead, and a pinch of romance; then this book is for you.


Gigi has spent most of her life living and working in countries all over the world. Her big passion is travel, especially in Asia, and India is a favourite destination. Giving up a career in tourism, she qualified as a holistic therapist and worked in yoga retreats in the Mediterranean for twelve years. Currently, Gigi lives in Wiltshire with Isabella, the cat she rescued from the streets of Fethiye, in southern Turkey.

My thoughts:

Inspired by the author’s own time in Japan, although hopefully hers wasn’t quite as traumatic, this tale of English woman getting mixed up with the yakuza and paying the price for crossing them is gripping and shocking.

Hired to teach English in a language school in the 80s, Mari meets Kate at the airport and they become fast friends. Given a set of rules, which they immediately set about breaking, they see their chance to have fun and flirt.

But their employers are not happy, the contracts they signed turn out to belong to some pretty nasty customers and insulting them has deadly consequences.

The plot darkens the further the girls go into the nightlife and romance of their adventure. Mari falls in love with Ryu, who is engaged to another and despite warnings, they carry on their affair. Kate defies their boss at a night club and insults the wrong man.

Things turn very bleak and as outsiders they have nowhere to turn, who can they trust when everyone tells them to keep quiet?

When I trained as a TEFL teacher (teaching English as a foreign language) Japan was one of the more highly recommended places to go, although that was a lot later than the setting of this novel, but we were advised to stick to larger cities, unlike the one Mari and Kate end up in.

It made me think of stories of the Mafia in Sicily and other parts of Italy, dangerous places where dangerous men really run things, despite what the police and politicians say. That subtle darkness that suddenly flares into violence when people break the unwritten rules, though both women are given plenty of warnings, friendly and less so.

The switch from light hearted ‘two young women abroad’ to dark thriller exposing the rotten underbelly is slow and done skillfully and cleverly. You’re drawn into their world and carried along by their youth and enthusiasm, the violence is sudden and shocking, jolting the plot into something far grimmer – replete with dark deeds.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.