A year ago today I published Forsaking All Other, an Elizabethan love story set against the war in the Netherlands abroad and Catholic plots at home. Forsaking All Other has been almost continuously in the top 50 bestsellers in Amazon’s Tudor Historical Romance Category for the last eight months – and for a brief shining … Continue reading It’s My Book’s Birthday!
Elizabethan Magpie Pickings
I have something of a magpie brain—I like to collect shiny bits of information, not necessarily immediately useful but interesting, to me at least. Over the past few weeks I have been heavily revising my current work in progress, The Bridled Tongue, and checking that I have no glaring anachronisms. These are some of the … Continue reading Elizabethan Magpie Pickings
My Reading – February 2019
The Western Wind by Samantha Harvey Dust and ashes though I am, I sleep the sleep of angels. How to Behave Badly in Renaissance Britain by Ruth Goodman Welcome to a century of bad behaviour. How To Be a Tudor: A Dawn-to-Dusk Guide to Tudor Life by Ruth Goodman Just before dawn the cockerels began … Continue reading My Reading – February 2019
Book Review – The Heir’s Tale by April Munday
The Heir’s Tale is the first book in the series, The Soldiers of Fortune, tracing the fortunes of the sons of the Earl of Somerton following the Battle of Poitiers. In 1357, Ancelin Montfort, the Earl’s second son, returns home bringing with him the news of his elder brother John’s death in that battle. Ancelin … Continue reading Book Review – The Heir’s Tale by April Munday
Favourite Books
While each year I read dozens of excellent and memorable books, there are few that I feel compelled to reread. There are a handful, though, that I keep coming back to. No doubt the primary reason for re-reading is that these particular books have an emotional appeal. There is the added delight of discovering new … Continue reading Favourite Books
Book Review – Call of the Curlew by Elizabeth Brooks
Call of the Curlew begins on 30 December 2015. 86-year-old Virginia Wrathmell has known for years that one New Year’s Eve she will walk onto the marsh and meet her end there. She has been waiting for a sign. The sign has now appeared on her doorstep in the form of a fragile curlew’s skull. … Continue reading Book Review – Call of the Curlew by Elizabeth Brooks
My Reading – January 2019
Call of the Curlew by Elizabeth Brooks Virginia Wrathmell knows she will walk on the marsh one New Year's Eve, and meet her end there. The Corset by Laura Purcell My sainted mother taught me the seven acts of corporeal mercy: to feed the hungry; refresh the thirsty; clothe the naked; shelter the traveller; visit … Continue reading My Reading – January 2019
More than just written words?
Yesterday was National Handwriting Day in a number of countries and wonderful images of pages handwritten by various people from the past were floating around the internet. One was the the draft of a speech given by Elizabeth I to Parliament on 10 April 1563 responding to a House of Lords petition urging her to … Continue reading More than just written words?
Black Friday, 13 January 1939
It is 80 years today since the Black Friday bushfires which devastated the Gippsland area of Victoria. In 1989, on the 50th anniversary of those fires, my mother, Catherine Mary (McGrath) Merrick, put her memories of that day on paper . ~~~ 'What a dreadful day. The hills of East Gippsland and beyond Melbourne were … Continue reading Black Friday, 13 January 1939
2018 – A Year of Reading
For about twenty years now, my goal has been to read a book a week. It is not such a difficult thing to do, but something I seem to be incapable of achieving. I usually manage to read forty-eight books, give or take a couple, each year. In 2017 I reached fifty books but this … Continue reading 2018 – A Year of Reading
