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14 June 2025

Book Launch Spotlight: All the King's Bastards: A Succession of Chaos, by G. Lawrence


Available from Amazon UK and Amazon US

What if one event could change the course of English history?

January 1536, England:  The King is dead... but who will live long now?

A fateful accident upon the jousting field leaves Henry VIII dead, crushed to death under the weight of his horse. His country, already divided over faith and power, trembles on the brink of chaos as Anne Boleyn rises to become Regent, ruling for her children, for her daughter Elizabeth and for the child as yet unborn in her womb.

Yet the children of Anne Boleyn are not the only ones who may stake a claim to the succession. Heirs will rise, supported by families of power and wealth, all vying to place their heir upon the English throne.

As conflict and rebellion unfold, alliances will be made and broken. At court and in the streets of England this war will rage, deciding who has the right to rule England, and who has the will to see this fight through, to the end.

All the King's Bastards is book one of A Succession of Chaos by G. Lawrence. This is a work of speculative historical fiction.

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About the Author

Gemma Lawrence is an independently published author living in Cornwall in the UK. She studied literature at university says, 'I write mainly Historical Fiction, with an emphasis on the Tudor and Medieval periods and have a particular passion for women of history who inspire me'. Her first book in the Elizabeth of England Chronicles series is The Bastard Princess (The Elizabeth of England Chronicles Book 1).Gemma can be found on Twitter @TudorTweep and Bluesky @glawrence.bsky.social‬

12 June 2025

Visiting The Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth

The church of St Michael and All Angels sits at the top of the cobble-stoned main street of Haworth, a small village in the Yorkshire Pennines. Patrick Brontë became curate of the church in February, 1820, and moved into the adjacent parsonage on the edge of the moors.

This was home to his wife Maria, his daughters Maria, Elizabeth, Charlotte, Emily, Anne, and his troubled son, Branwell Brontë. The people of Haworth are proud of their literary heritage, yet signage for the parsonage is modest and understated.  

A ‘reimagining’ of Branwell Brontë’s famous painting before he painted himself out, created for the 2016 BBC TV drama ‘To Walk Invisible’.

There is a sense of unreality as you enter the Brontë Parsonage Museum. The first room we entered was the dining room, overseen by the familiar portrait of Charlotte. For those, like me, who grew up reading Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights, it’s easy to imagine the ghosts of the sisters, who walked around the table reading their work aloud to each other.

The museum curators have brought together an intriguing mix of actual items and examples of the period to create an impression of the house as it might have been when the Brontë sisters lived there. 

Across the narrow hallway is Patrick Brontë’s study, with the original piano played by the whole family, and now restored to a playable condition. One of the many things I learned during this visit was that he was originally called ‘Patrick Brunty’, an old Irish name, and assumed the more distinguished sounding name Brontë at Cambridge university. 

A small kitchen leads off next, where the girls would gather for the warmth of the range on cold winter evenings. It seems their few servants became close companions, and very much part of the conversations – and the girls did their share of domestic work.

Up the stairs is Charlotte’s bedroom, with one of her dresses on display, as well as personal items, such as her paint box, preserved as she last left it. 


Charlotte’s paint box, preserved as she left it

Maria Brontë died of suspected cancer in 1821, and was followed by her two eldest daughters, Maria and Elizabeth in 1825 who died due to poor living conditions at school. Patrick never remarried, and did his best to educate his daughters in preparation for becoming governesses. He made sure they all had lessons in drawing and music, and encouraged their interest in literature, including poetry by Wordsworth, and the novels of Walter Scott, which were studied by the sisters and important to the development of their writing.

Another of the things I learned on my visit was that Patrick Brontë was also an important literary influence on the sisters. His first book of verse, published in 1811, and in 1813 was followed by his second collection entitled ‘The Rural Minstrel’. a novel. In 1818, the year Emily was born, Patrick saw his first novel published: ‘The Maid Of Killarney; or Flora and Albion; A Modern Tale.’ 

The religious allegories in their father’s works must have inspired the love of poetry and writing for Anne, Emily and Charlotte, even after the failure of their first publication, ‘Poems by Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell’. In the dark days when they failed to find a publisher, it is likely they thought ‘our father did it, and so can we.’

Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë wrote some of the most important novels in the history of English literature - including 'Jane Eyre', 'Wuthering Heights' and 'The Tenant of Wildfell Hall', but only Charlotte saw commercial success in her lifetime – and suffered the loss of Emily and Branwell in 1848 and Anne in 1849.

In 1854, Charlotte, by then a famous novelist, married her father's curate, the Reverend Arthur Bell Nicholls, but died the following year, possibly from pregnancy complications. Her spirit lives on through her books, and there is a real sense of her presence at the parsonage, a recommended visit for anyone with an interest in lives of the Brontës.

Tony Riches

10 June 2025

New Book Review: The Shakespeare Ladies Club: The Forgotten Women Who Rescued the Bawdy Bard, by Christine and Jonathan Hainsworth


Available for pre-order 

Enjoy an extra 10% off RRP, during June 2025:

In The Shakespeare Ladies’ Club, Christine and Jonathan Hainsworth shine a spotlight on a remarkable, yet largely unknown, chapter in literary history. This well-researched and engagingly written book tells the story of four women who, in the early 18th century, took it upon themselves to restore William Shakespeare to his rightful place.

The book introduces the members of the 'Shakespeare Ladies Club', formed in 1736 by Susanna Ashley-Cooper, Countess of Shaftesbury; Elizabeth Boyd, a writer and stationer; and two other influential and aristocratic women, Mary Cowper and Mary Montagu. In an era when the theatre was viewed as a morally dubious  for respectable ladies, and Shakespeare's original works were being supplanted by sanitised adaptations, these women found a common cause in their shared passion for the Bard.

Christine and Jonathan Hainsworth paint a vivid picture of London of the time, and how the more bawdy elements of Shakespeare's work were replaced with simplistic moralising. Appalled by this state of affairs, the 'Shakespeare Ladies' Club' embarked on a campaign that would have a lasting impact on world literature.

One of the book’s central narratives is the club's successful lobbying for a statue of Shakespeare to be erected in Westminster Abbey's Poet's Corner. No monument to Shakespeare existed for over a hundred  years after his death, so the ladies raised the necessary funds and persuaded theatre managers to stage Shakespeare’s plays in their original form,


Memorial to Shakespeare in Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey
(Wikimedia Commons)

This book is a testament to the power of a shared intellectual passion, and draws a though-provoking parallels between the 18th-century "cancel culture" that sought to sanitise Shakespeare and contemporary debates about the relevance and appropriateness of classic literature.

This is a book for anyone with an interest in Shakespeare, 18th-century history, or hidden stories of the women who have shaped our cultural landscape. The Hainsworths have rescued the story of the Shakespeare Ladies' Club from obscurity, and given these four remarkable women the long-overdue recognition they deserve.

Tont Riches

(I would like to than Amberley Books for proding a review copy)

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About the Authors

Christine and Jonathan Hainsworth have a passion for historical investigation and challenging the 'conventional wisdom' regarding famous historical subjects. The husband-and-wife team bring a wealth of life experience to the task.  Christine spent several decades working for the Australian government in social services and her work on a program to re-connect lone parents with training, education and employment opportunities gave her a unique insight into family and societal challenges. Jonathan, educated in Britain and Australia and has over three decades of experience as a high school teacher of Modern and Ancient History, and English Literature. The Shakespeare Ladies Club is the couple's fourth book as researcher/writer or co-authors. Christine and Jonathan live in Adelaide, South Australia in the company of their two elderly cats. 


Enjoy an extra 10% off RRP, during June 2025:

9 June 2025

Blog Tour Book Review: Last Train to Freedom, by Deborah Swift


Available from Amazon UK and Amazon US

1940. As Soviet forces storm Lithuania, Zofia and her brother Jacek must flee to survive. A lifeline appears when Japanese consul Sugihara offers them visas on one condition: they must deliver a parcel to Tokyo. Inside lies intelligence on Nazi atrocities, evidence so explosive that Nazi and Soviet agents will stop at nothing to possess it.

This is an epic journey across the Siberian wilderness that will keep you guessing until the end. I've read most of Deborah Swift's books but Zofia is one of her most compelling characters. Tough and resourceful, Zofia's difficult past has made her stronger - which is just as well as she has to contend with harrowing challenges every day.

I particularly liked the way we discover new sides to her fellow travellers through Zofia's eyes, and how this develops into  a tale of suspense, courage, and desperation against the backdrop of a world on the brink of collapse. The novel is rich in historical detail, vividly depicting the perilous conditions and the constant fear of the war. 

Last Train to Freedom is a compelling narrative that combines elements of a thriller with the poignant reality of wartime struggle and sacrifice. It's a story of resilience, the fight for truth, and the lengths people will go to protect those they love. Readers interested in the less well known events of World War II will find this book captivating and unforgettable.

Tony Riches
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About the Author

Deborah Swift lives in North Lancashire on the edge of the Lake District and worked as a set and costume designer for theatre and TV. After gaining an MA in Creative Writing in 2007 Deborah now teaches classes and courses in writing and provides editorial advice to writers and authors. Find out more at Deborah's website www.deborahswift.com and follow her on Facebook and Twitter @swiftstory

6 June 2025

Luminous: The Story of a Radium Girl, by Samantha Wilcoxson


Available from Amazon UK and Amazon US

Catherine's life is set on an unexpected course when she accepts a job at Radium Dial. The dial painters forge friendships and enjoy their work but soon discover that an evil secret lurks in the magical glow-in-the-dark paint. 

When she and her friends start falling ill, Catherine Donohoe takes on the might of a big corporation and becomes an early pioneer of social justice in the era between world wars.

Emotive and inspiring - this book will touch you like no other as you witness the devastating impact of radium poisoning on young women's lives.

It's too late for me, but maybe it will help some of the others.

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About the Author

Samantha Wilcoxson is a writer, history enthusiast, and sufferer of wanderlust, Samantha enjoys exploring the lives of historical figures through research and travel. She strives to reveal the deep emotions and motivations of historical figures, enabling readers to connect with them in a unique way. Samantha is an American writer with British roots and proud mother of three amazing young adults. She can frequently be found lakeside with a book in one hand and glass of wine in the other. Samantha's most recent release is a biography of James Alexander Hamilton published by Pen & Sword History. She is currently writing a trilogy set during the Wars of the Roses for Sapere Books. Find out more at Samantha's website samanthawilcoxson.blogspot.com and find her on Facebook and Twitter @carpe_librum

5 June 2025

Blog Tour Guest Post by Fiona Forsyth, Author of Death and the Poet (The Publius Ovidius Mysteries Book 2)


Available from Amazon UK and Amazon US

14 AD: When Dokimos the vegetable seller is found bludgeoned to death in the Black Sea town of Tomis, it’s the most exciting thing to have happened in the region for years. Now reluctantly settled into life in exile, the disgraced Roman poet Ovid helps his friend Avitius to investigate the crime, with the evidence pointing straight at a cuckolded neighbour.

Ovid, the man of mystery

“Why don’t you write about Ovid?” said my publisher, who for some reason didn’t want me to write a novel starring the Roman poet Catullus. I have to say I was hooked. Why hadn’t I thought of Ovid? Roman poet in the right era, wrote the brilliant Metamorphoses and the racy Ars Amatoria (Art of Love), and was suddenly exiled by the Emperor in the biggest scandal of 8CE. Immediately, I knew I would do it.

So I began with a man who had been successful all his life. He wrote poetry, in a culture that loved to recite out loud so that one did not have to be able to read to be familiar with poetry. Ovid had been a celebrity since he was young. He wrote love poetry, rude poetry, light-hearted poetry, serious poetry. He wrote about myths, solemn religious festivals, cosmetics…

He was the only surviving son of a wealthy family, loved, educated, never knew poverty. He was known in the bars on every street-corner, he was invited to be the entertainment at the best parties. And then at the age of 52 he found himself in a small town on the shore of the Black Sea, forbidden from leaving, disgraced, unable to believe what had happened to him, pouring out a stream of poems begging for his return.

This was the poet Ovid in 8 CE, and his downfall has fascinated the Classical world ever since. We can piece together a straightforward story of how it happened from his poems but for one thing - we don’t know why Ovid was exiled. This is roughly what we know: in the autumn of 8 CE, the Emperor Augustus recalled Ovid from the island of Elbe where the poet was visiting a friend. On arrival at Rome, Ovid was immediately told that he was to leave for the Black Sea town of Tomis, a long way from Rome. 

He took his time getting there, stopping off at the island of Samothrace for a month, but maybe in the depths of winter this was a sensible idea. If you ask the invaluable Orbis website to calculate a journey sailing to Tomis from Rome in December, the quickest it comes up with is 26.3 days. If you hit a storm – and Ovid tells us he did – then add more! But sometime in the spring of 9 CE, Ovid arrived in Tomis, and his life of misery amongst the barbarians (his words, not mine) began.

I decided to read through Ovid’s exile poetry using Peter Green’s excellent translation and frankly I needed a LOT of chocolate to get through it. Desperate pleading, unctuous flattery, abject wretchedness – repeat ad nauseam. Where was the Ovid I had read at University? Of course, the exile poetry is rarely a set text. Instead we show young people Ovid’s popular work Metamorphoses with its sparkling recital of hundreds of Greek myths, along with a carefully curated selection from the Ars Amatoria. I remember reading this passage from the Ars Amatoria, giving advice to young men on how to pick up women at the chariot races:

Sit next to the lady, there’s nothing to forbid it, press your thigh to hers because you can. The seat divisions force you, you don’t want to! The rule of the place means you must touch her! Now to begin a friendly conversation – a subject fit for public conversation, at first. Ask her earnestly – whose horses are those? Who does she support? Immediately, “Oh I’m a fan too!”, whichever team it is. In the ivory procession of the gods, you clap for Venus. And if a speck of dust falls into her lap, you flick it away. Actually, if there is no speck of dust, then flick away nothing.

When I was sixteen, this was daring stuff. Now I’m sixty, a traditional feminist and slightly depressed that sexism still exists, I find it tiresome and childish but you can see Ovid’s confidence that his male contemporaries - and who knows, maybe some of the women - will find it funny. In the Rome of Augustus, bristling with moral legislation designed to encourage child-bearing within chaste marriage, it is outrageous. 

There is no indication of responsibility, and it not-very-subtly challenges the boring old men of the time. But it is also full of energy and people, and it is lively, and the writer thinks he is charming. Incidentally it is a marvellous source for chariot racing at Rome, for example telling us that men and women were not segregated as they were for other entertainments.


Now let’s compare this with an excerpt from Ovid’s poems of exile:

If you’re wondering why this letter is written in someone else’s hand, I’ve been ill. At the far end of the unknown world I was ill and unsure that I would survive. How do you think I feel as I lie in this horrible land among the Sauromatans and Getans? I can’t stand the climate or get used to the water and even the land doesn’t please me, I don’t know why. Here there is no house, no food suitable for a sick man, nobody skilled in the art of Apollo to cure me, no friend to comfort me or while away the dragging hours with conversation.

For Ovid the fun has stopped and he does not have to the resilience to cope. He hates everything in one breath, then complains he has no friends in the next. There are many such passages in the exile poetry. The man who enjoyed the thought of flicking dust from a woman’s dress at the races is now whining because nobody will talk to him. I can remember thinking as I read this, “Gosh, I wonder why?”

When I moved onto the secondary sources, JSTOR and the Ovid scholars, I came across a very interesting theory – that Ovid’s exile was a fiction, a scenario made up by the poet purely so that he could write a different sort of poem. This theory relies heavily on the fact that we have no contemporary evidence for Ovid’s exile, just Ovid’s own words. But then we have no contemporary evidence for so many events in the ancient world - our primary historians for the entire reign of Augustus are Tacitus and Suetonius, both born many years after Augustus’ death. I found the “exile as fiction” theory hard to accept (it would ruin my books for one thing) but was struck by one point - Ovid is not a reliable conveyor of his own real emotions.

To explain this, I turn to Shakespeare and his mysterious Dark Lady. Since I was a teenager, I wanted the Dark Lady from the Sonnets to be a real woman, I wanted Shakespeare’s feelings for her to be true. I discovered I was in the majority and whole books have been written in which scholars try to identify the real woman behind the Dark Lady. But when I looked at the woman in many of Ovid’s poems, Corinna, I was not convinced, and again I am in the majority here. Corinna is not real. She is a useful mannequin and Ovid drapes his poetry around her, but that is all. The question one must always ask with Ovid is: does the poem I am reading betray anything of what the poet genuinely feels? I cannot tell you the answer to this, because Ovid is very good at creating the atmosphere and scene that the poem demands, but also very good at self-contradiction, at teasing the reader, at swerving away from the answer to readers’ questions.

It is quite right that Ovid’s poetry is known, read and loved still. He conjures images out of wisps of verse and his use of language is brilliant. When I decided to write about him, make him the hero of my books, I took an important decision. I would use the poetry, I would research the circumstances of the exile, but I would always remember that I was writing fiction, writing for the reader’s entertainment.

Do I hope that some readers will go on to read some of Ovid’s poetry? Oh yes, please do, and I can recommend Stephanie McCarter’s translation of the Metamorphoses. I want everyone to be as intrigued and infuriated by the man as I am!

Fiona Forsyth

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About the Author

Fiona Forsyth studied Classics at Oxford before teaching it for 25 years. A family move to Qatar gave her the opportunity to write about ancient Rome, and she is now back in the UK, working on her seventh novel. Find out more from Fiona's website:https://substack.com/@fionaforsyth1 and find her on Twitter @for_fi, Facebook, and Bluesky: ‪@fionawriter.bsky.social‬

3 June 2025

Historical Fiction Spotlight Nothing Proved, by Janet Wertman


Available from Amazon UK and Amazon US

Danger lined her path, but destiny led her to glory… 

Elizabeth Tudor learned resilience young. Declared illegitimate after the execution of her mother Anne Boleyn, she bore her precarious position with unshakable grace. But upon the death of her father, King Henry VIII, the vulnerable fourteen-year-old must learn to navigate a world of shifting loyalties, power plays, and betrayal. 

After narrowly escaping entanglement in Thomas Seymour’s treason, Elizabeth rebuilds her reputation as the perfect Protestant princess – which puts her in mortal danger when her half-sister Mary becomes Queen and imposes Catholicism on a reluctant land. 

Elizabeth escapes execution, clawing her way from a Tower cell to exoneration. But even a semblance of favor comes with attempts to exclude her from the throne or steal her rights to it through a forced marriage.  

Elizabeth must outwit her enemies time and again to prove herself worthy of power. The making of one of history’s most iconic monarchs is a gripping tale of survival, fortune, and triumph.

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About the Author

By day, Janet Wertman is a freelance grantwriter for impactful nonprofits. By night, she writes critically acclaimed, character-driven historical fiction – indulging a passion for the Tudor era she had harbored since she was eight years old and her parents let her stay up late to watch The Six Wives of Henry VIII and Elizabeth R. Her Seymour Saga trilogy (Jane the Quene, The Path to Somerset, The Boy King) took her deep into one of the era’s central families – and now her follow-up Regina series explores Elizabeth’s journey from bastard to icon. Find out more from www.janetwertman.com and follow Janet on FacebookInstagram and Bluesky @janetwertman.bsky.social