Book Launch Spotlight: The Italian Vineyard ~ a dual timeline romance by Anita Chapman

Avaiable from Amazon UK and Amazon US

Gazing out over the lush, rolling vineyards of Verona, Kate thinks of the gift that brought her to Italy. The dusty bottle of wine from her great-grandmother’s cellar, which holds the key to a family mystery that will change everything…

England, 1939. After her husband’s unexpected death, Lady Charlotte throws herself into reviving the vineyard at his beloved home, Copeley Park – desperate to focus on anything other than the dangerous secret she now carries. Along with her head gardener, Albert, she travels to Verona for research, where she is quickly distracted by Italy’s beautiful golden light and vibrant mimosa flowers. But just as her heart starts to open up, the threat of war spreads across Europe, tearing apart Charlotte’s plans for her future and leaving her with a heart-wrenching decision to make…

Now. Devastated by the loss of her mother and newly single, Kate asks to work at Copeley Park – her family’s failing estate – to take her mind off her heartbreak. But when she learns that the park’s stunning vineyard might have to be sold, she’s determined not to let this beautiful piece of her family’s history go. And when she’s given a dusty old bottle of wine that belonged to her great-grandmother with a note attached from a mysterious ‘B’, she convinces handsome head winemaker Ben to accompany her to Verona to unravel its secrets…

But as Kate and Ben grow closer against the stunning sunsets of Italy, will Kate discover that some secrets are better left buried in the past? Or will unravelling the romantic mystery at the heart of the vineyard lead to a future Kate could only ever have dreamed of…?

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About the Author

Anita Chapman won a local writing competition when she was nine years old. Encouraged by this, she typed up a series of stories about a mouse on her mum’s typewriter and sent them to Ladybird. She received a polite rejection letter, her first. Many of Anita’s summers growing up were spent with her family driving to Italy, and she went on to study French and Italian at university. As part of her degree, Anita lived in Siena for several months where she studied and au paired, and she spent a lot of time travelling around Italy in her twenties. Since 2015, Anita has worked as a social media manager, training authors on social media, and helping to promote their books. She’s run several courses in London and York, and has worked as a tutor at Richmond and Hillcroft Adult Community College. Find out more from Anita's website https://anitachapman.com/ and find her on Facebook, Twitter @neetschapman and Bluesky @neetschapman.bsky.social‬

The Key Elements of Successful Historical Fiction

The best historical fiction provides readers with compelling emotional connections to the story, and enables them to experience life in a different time and place. Every author brings their own approach to achieving this, but after a lifetime of reading and writing historical fiction, there are certain common principles which can help.

The characters

Readers want to understand who matters in the story, the conflict the protagonist has to overcome, and why they should care about the consequences. The key to this is to make characters relatable, with human flaws readers can identify with. For example, my book HENRY, about the first Tudor King of England, opens with:

Henry had a secret, a chilling truth only he would ever know. He’d never wanted to be king. He once tried to tell his Uncle Jasper. Dismissing him with a laugh, Jasper risked their lives to make it happen, so Henry learnt to live with his secret, which troubled his waking thoughts and haunted his dreams.


I can imagine how such responsibility could be overwhelming, and found it useful to think back to how I felt when I was about to begin a new job in a senior role. Readers will also have experienced self-doubt at some point in their lives, and the challenge is to draw on such feelings and memories to help readers feel sympathy for characters.

The Conflict

The classic story structure has our protagonist struggling against seemingly impossible odds, thwarted at every turn, and finding ways to deal with injustice and treachery. Screenwriter Robert McKee, in his book STORY, says, ‘Use the past as a clear glass through which you show us the present.’ This is where historical fiction can add to the bare facts of the historical record to engage readers in new experiences through exploring the human aspects of past conflicts. 

The simplest source of conflict is when there is an obvious ‘villain’, but some of the most powerful emotional triggers can come from more nuanced relationships. Readers appreciate fine-point distinctions, and notice the small details that reveal potential conflict. 

In my book KATHERINE, about the life of protestant reformer Katherine Willoughby, she finds herself in opposition to the Catholic faith. I found it useful to make the conflict personal, largely manifested through the real character of Bishop Stephen Gardiner.  

Bishop Stephen Gardiner (Wikimedia Commons)

This conflict provides a narrative thread through which Katherine’s feelings and emotions about her faith are explored. Her feelings, such as contempt for Bishop Gardiner, develop into less controllable emotions, such as anger at his actions, which breathe life into the historical facts.

The set up

We need to set the scene with as little exposition as possible. I like to visit the actual locations, to have a sense of the buildings and how they are placed in the landscape. Even five hundred years later, it’s possible to understand the sights and sounds our characters would have experienced. The season of the story setting can help evoke sensations of warmth or cold, and research into food and clothing adds a sense of place and time.

Visiting Henry Tudor's Forteresse de Largoët, Brittany

Next it’s important to have clarity about what the character needs to do and why it matters. The task of the author is to find the barriers and obstacles to achievement. Invariably there will be people with vested interests in different outcomes, which emerge throughout the story, although ambiguous motives will help keep readers guessing.

Once the context and desired aims are established the reader begins to guess the likely outcome.  This is where the storytelling reveals character flaws, and characters think and talk about how they are feeling. Often such introspection includes trying to justify their behaviour and reactions to actual events. The ideal is for your character to amaze the reader with an unexpectedly brilliant response, and the true events of history offer a rich vein of possibilities.

The surprise

The stories you remember are those with a twist, the unexpected surprise. Throughout history people have died in battle, through illness and disease, inept medical treatment, and more relatable life events such as childbirth and old age. People have fallen in and out of love, lied and cheated, yet this is not always apparent from the historical records.

One of the many ways to elicit emotion is through rising action, and surprise can be triggered by having your character show an emotion not immediately obvious in the scene. The skill for the writer is to add clues to dialogue, foreshadowing a response which leads readers to believe they know the likely outcome. Something which comes as a surprise to your character will be more likely to surprise your readers.

In my  initial research for a new book I’m always vigilant for opportunities to surprise readers.  Often these are little more than footnotes to history, which most readers are unaware of. In some cases the historical record is silent about what actually happened, creating the opportunity to propose an original and surprising solution to the mystery.  

The moment of truth 

The often misunderstood principle of ‘show don’t tell’ is the key to delivering the emotional moment. Enough has been written about the principle, and there is always a place for some ‘telling’, but the acid test is in Robert Frost’s quote. As a writer, you will recognise that special, emotional  moment when the ‘magic happens’. 

Hilary Mantel, writing in The Guardian, spoke of ‘some pinprick contact with the past - one of those moments when history dabs out a pointed fingertip and the nail sinks straight through your skin.’  An example of self-awareness can be a powerful way to show how your character is being changed by their experiences, and your readers will share in that moment of truth.

Tony Riches

References:

Robert McKee, Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting,  Methuen Publishing Ltd, July 1999 ISBN-13: 978-0413715609

Hilary Mantel, Unfreezing antique feeling, The Guardian, 15 August 2009

Blog Tour: The Lydiard Chronicles (A Trilogy) by Elizabeth St.John

Available from Amazon UK and Amazon US

Duty, passion, and power collide in The Lydiard Chronicles, a gripping trilogy inspired by 

true events. Follow three courageous women—survivors, strategists, and storytellers—who defy the constraints of society to shape their family’s fate and England’s future. Their voices echo through time. Their legacy changed a nation.

The Tumultuous Seventeenth Century – Backdrop to The Lydiard Chronicles

The 17th century was one of the most dramatic and transformative periods in English history—an age of revolution and restoration, war and regicide, shifting loyalties and secret alliances. Against this backdrop of chaos and change, the women and men of The Lydiard Chronicles lived extraordinary lives, navigating the treacherous currents of court politics, civil war, and personal survival.

What drew me to this era wasn’t just the sweeping historical events—it was the intimate, often untold stories of those who lived through them. My ancestors, the St.Johns of Lydiard Park, were not merely bystanders to history; they were deeply entangled in it. Their relationships—with kings and queens, generals and rebels, courtiers and courtesans—placed them at the heart of the storm. They didn’t just witness the great moments of the 17th century. They helped shape them.

As I began to write The Lady of the Tower, I was struck by how Lucy St.John’s life touched so many powerful figures of the day. Her marriage to the Lieutenant of the Tower of London gave her insight into the inner workings of the Stuart court, while her own family’s connections ran deep through the political, religious, and social veins of the time. Lucy’s story revealed how a woman, quietly positioned in a male-dominated world, could wield subtle influence, protect secrets, and endure betrayals that would break most.

But her story was only the beginning. As England descended into civil war, Lucy’s children took radically different paths—Allen Apsley becoming a Royalist courtier at the heart of King Charles’s household, and his beloved sister Luce embracing puritan beliefs and marrying a charismatic Parliamentarian soldier. Their divided loyalties, fierce convictions, and enduring love for one another became the heart of By Love Divided. Through their eyes, I explored a nation tearing itself apart, and the personal cost of loyalty to crown, cause, and conscience.

By the time I came to write Written in Their Stars, I had fully surrendered to their world. Luce Hutchinson—scholar, mother, and wife of the regicide John Hutchinson—offered a new lens through which to view the aftermath of war, England’s experiment as a Republic, and the uneasy peace that eventually restored the monarchy. Her memoirs, filled with intellect and sorrow, showed me the cost of idealism, the loneliness of conviction, and the strength of women who refused to be silenced.

What captivated me most was how close my characters lived to the pulse of history. They dined with kings, suffered under traitor’s laws, kept company with spies and courtesans, and made decisions that rippled far beyond their own lives. Through them, I was able to explore the great themes of the century—faith, power, identity, resilience—not in abstract terms, but through the deeply human experience of individuals caught between duty and desire.

The Lydiard Chronicles is not just a family saga. It’s a portrait of a century in turmoil, seen through the eyes of those who stood on the threshold between influence and invisibility. Their courage, flaws, and choices still speak to us today, in a world just as complex and divided.

In writing their stories, I came to understand that history is never just about kings and battles. It’s about the people who stood in the rooms where decisions were made—and those who suffered their consequences. And in that quiet space between fact and fiction, I found a voice that I hope brings the 17th century vividly, powerfully, and intimately to life.

Elizabeth St.John

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About the Author

Elizabeth St.John’s critically acclaimed historical fiction novels tell the stories of her ancestors: extraordinary women whose intriguing kinship with England's kings and queens brings an intimately unique perspective to Medieval, Tudor, and Stuart times. Inspired by family archives and residences from Lydiard Park to the Tower of London, Elizabeth spends much of her time exploring ancestral portraits, diaries, and lost gardens. And encountering the occasional ghost. But that’s another story. Living between California, England, and the past, Elizabeth is the International Ambassador for The Friends of Lydiard Park, an English charity dedicated to conserving and enhancing this beautiful centuries-old country house and park. As a curator for The Lydiard Archives, she is constantly looking for an undiscovered treasure to inspire her next novel. Find out more at Elizabeth's website http://www.elizabethjstjohn.com/ and follow her on Facebook, Twitter @ElizStJohn and Bluesky @elizabethstjohn.bsky.social‬

Book Launch Spotlight: The Art of a Lie: A Gripping Historical Thriller of Murder and Deceit in 18th-Century London, by Laura Shepherd-Robinson

Available from Amazon UK and Amazon US

London, 1749. Following the murder of her husband in a violent street robbery, Hannah Cole is struggling to keep her head above water. The Punchbowl and Pineapple, her confectionary shop on Piccadilly, is barely turning a profit, and her suppliers are conspiring to put her out of business. 

So when she learns that her husband had a large sum of money in his bank account that she knew nothing about, the surprise is extremely welcome. And when William Devereux, a friend of her late husband, tells her about a new Italian delicacy called “iced cream”, Hannah believes it might transform the fortunes of her shop.

But her husband’s unexpected windfall attracts the attention of author-turned-magistrate Henry Fielding, who suspects the money was illicitly acquired. Unless Hannah can prove otherwise, her inheritance will be confiscated. As she and Devereux work to uncover the secrets of her husband’s double life, their friendship opens Hannah to speculation and gossip, locking her into a battle of wits more devastating than anything, even her husband’s murder.

'Fiendishly clever and completely gripping . . . I loved it' – Jennie Godfrey, bestselling author of The List of Suspicious Things

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About the Author

Laura Shepherd-Robinson is the award-winning, Sunday Times and USA Today bestselling author of three historical novels. Her books have been featured on BBC 2’s Between the Covers and Radio 4’s Front Row and Open Book. Her fourth novel, The Art of a Lie, will be published in Summer 2025. She lives in London with her husband, Adrian.  Find out more at Laura's website  https://www.laurashepherdrobinson.com/ and follow her on Facebook, Twitter @LauraSRobinson and Bluesky ‪@laurasrobinson.bsky.social‬

Guest Post by Jackie Lapin: A History-Lovers Paradise

From cottages to castles to Kings’ Landing (Dubrovnik)

And from bridges to bastions to belltowers…

History is writ large all around the world. For historic travel lovers and people who adore history books or historic novels, there is nothing more thrilling than seeing where it all happened. Whether it is how the average peasant or nobleman lived, or where kings and queens made their fateful decisions. 

History is revealed in everyday utensils, just as much as it is in the original Magna Carta or the stake where they burned Joan of Arc. In the tiny-waisted dress worn by Empress Sisi, or the gilded thrones in the Forbidden City.

That’s why The Historic Traveler was created—to assuage the yearning of history lovers to discover and explore new historic places consistently, with copy that informs and entertains, curated photos that illuminate what to see and selected books that make you feel as if you lived it.

That’s why I fashioned The Historic Traveler to be a unique online destination for history lovers with an 80-page quarterly eMagazine, article features, travel resources, and stunning photo galleries, alongside recommendations for historical novels, history books, biographies, films, museums, and more that illuminate history’s most treasured stories.

I have traversed 50 countries and 500 locations seeking the historic essence of cities, villages, landmarks, castles, palaces, churches, Roman ruins and more—mostly on foot to capture their character with my cameras. And having been an avid historic novel and history booklover who finds reading before I go vital to understanding context, 

I felt I had to share the literature as well. It’s just so delicious to read a book –or a series of books—and walk in the footsteps of the real life or imagined heroes and villains.

That’s why we at The Historic Traveler now have a Directory of Historic Novels and History Books with nearly 8000 titles that can be sorted by country, state or city—easy to plan your reading for any trip, or just curl up in an armchair with a great yarn. 

It’s all accessible through the complimentary membership in Historic Traveler International, developed to assemble exclusive resources for members paired with a dynamic network of like-minded historic travelers and readers--found nowhere else. 

Not only will you find the Book Directory, but Directories for Historic TV Dramas; the top 200 History-centric Films by era; Historic Hotels, B&Bs and Inns globally, and soon we’ll be adding Historic Museums worldwide.  

The free membership confers the right to listen in on interviews with historic travel experts and authors (yes, including Tony Riches!), join online gatherings and book clubs and chat with the community. 

There is a bi-weekly newsletter with updates, news, tips and more—and even a complimentary concierge service for travel booking. In the near future, members will also have the opportunity to join me — your Historic-Traveler-in-Chief -- on curated historic travel excursions. Today, you can also discover a photo gallery with 50+ individual collections of photos from around the world based on historic locations, beautiful scenery and fabulous animals.

All that’s to say, if you already enjoy or yearn to do more historic travel, you’ll find a beautiful sense of home. If you’re curious, then please come and explore www.TheHistoricTraveler.com

If you’d like a great quick resource, let me offer our eGuide: 20 Great International Cities Where You Can Immerse Yourself in History …and the Books That Make You Feel as if You Lived It!  

Here’s a selection of some of my favorite places:

Bruges, Belgium…a mini-Amsterdam with pristine swan-filled canals lined by tall Dutch merchant houses with their winches at the top. Once a dominant lace and textile hub, Bruges lay dormant for years as time passed by, only to be rediscovered in the modern era—nearly untouched in its loveliness. 

   

Breckenridge, Colorado. Brilliantly colored western storefronts brim with humor and quirkiness without losing their wild west character. Tucked in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains,  Breckenridge never takes itself too seriously. 

The hidden mysteries of Prague, laid out by Emperor Rudolph II along energetic “ley-lines”, while he collected astrologers and alchemists.  You can still see the small cell-like rooms where they lived behind the castle on the hill. One of the most picturesque bridges in the world, the Charles Bridge with its distinctive statuary, connects the Lower town Malá Strana (Lower Town) from Staré Město (Old Town).

How can you NOT love Hampton Court Palace, which Henry VIII snatched from Cardinal Thomas Woolsey, where Henry made many of his fateful decisions that echoed down through history. While at the same time admiring the place as an architectural marvel -- with its indoor tennis court and 241 individually designed brick chimneys.

The Piazza della Signoria in Florence in the shadow of the Brunelleschi’s domed masterpiece—where the Medici’s ruled and fled, where Savonarola burned, where Michaelangelo’s David reigned and where the artist and DaVinci fought over the frescos in the Signoria Hall of the Five Hundred (the ruling council assembly room.)

The fairytale whimsey of Český Kromlov in the Czech Republic, with pink and green towers dangling over a horseshoe bend in the Vltava river with two castles up high and a red-roofed village below. Not to mention, a couple of real live bears play-fighting in a moat! 

The Alpine town of Annecy in France, captivating with charm, sits bestride a lake -- but bisected by an offshoot river snaking through its city center. Right as you enter town is the picture-perfect tiny Palais de l'Isle, a 12th-century castle in the shape of a ship located on an island in the river  -- that at one time has been a defensive stronghold, a prison, an administrative headquarters, a courthouse and a mint!

The remarkable citadel of the Mayan culture, Chitzen Itza, with its 91-step Temple of Kukulcán, on which equinox days, the setting sun casts a serpent-shaped shadow slithering down the staircase. Plus, Chitzen Itza’s nearly intact ball court, astonishing observatory where Mayan astronomers tracked the heavens, and the deep well cenotes where human sacrifices were made.

Come discover full features and photo galleries for each of these and more at www.TheHistoricTraveler.com

Jackie Lapin

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About the Author

Jackie Lapin is the Historic-Traveler-in-Chief at The Historic Traveler, a media outlet and membership community for history lovers offering article features, travel resources, and stunning photo galleries, alongside carefully curated recommendations for historical novels, history books, biographies, films, museums, and more that illuminate some of history’s most treasured stories. An avid historical reader herself, Jackie shares highlights from more than 500 destinations she has visited and photographed, presented through a quarterly e-magazine, website, newsletter, and the Historic Traveler International membership community. Jackie is a former journalist, and serial pioneer in multiple businesses. Find out more at www.TheHistoricTraveler.com

Thomas More: A Life and Death in Tudor England, by Dr Joanne Paul

Available from Amazon UK and Amazon US

The definitive biography of the man who dominated political and intellectual circles in England during the sixteenth century: 

Thomas More.

Born into the era of the Wars of the Roses, educated during the European Renaissance, rising to become Chancellor of England, and ultimately destroyed by Henry VIII, Thomas More was one of the most famous—and notorious—figures in English history.

Was he a saintly scholar, the visionary author of Utopia, and an inspiration for statesmen and intellectuals even today? Or was he the cruel zealot famously portrayed in Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall? 

Thomas More: A Life is a monumental biography of this hypnotic, flawed figure. Overturning prior interpretations of this titan of the sixteenth century, Joanne Paul shows Thomas More to have been intellectually and politically central to the making of modern Europe.

Based on new archival discoveries and drawing on more than a decade of research into More’s life and work, this is a richly told story of faith and politics that illuminates a man who, more than four hundred years after his execution, remains one of the most brilliant minds of the Renaissance.

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About the author

Dr Joanne Paul is Honorary Associate Professor in Intellectual History at the University of Sussex. Her research focuses on the history of the Renaissance and Early Modern Periods and she has shared her work widely, including with academic presses, popular magazines and blogs and on TV and radio. Find out more at her website: www.JoannePaul.com and find her on Twitter: @Joanne_Paul and Bluesky @drjoannepaul.bsky.social‬

Guest Post by Ben Bergonzi, Author of A Cruel Corpse

Available from Amazon UK and Amazon US

Carlisle, September 1747: A rebellion has been put down, but trouble persists for two soldiers in the government army. Jasper Greatheed is a man with a secret.

The Challenge of a Deception-based Plot

One day, over ten years ago, I took my children to see the Regimental Museum of the Warwickshire Fusiliers, which I had enjoyed so much at their age. That day I saw a new item on display, an 18th century print showing a woman in uniform. The caption said she was called Hannah Snell and that she had been a female soldier with the regiment in the 1740s. 

Hanah Snell (Wikimedia Commons)

I was prompted to obtain a biography of Hannah, and then I read further about other female soldiers, sailors and civilians. These women confounded the era’s rigid division between male and female and all its rules of rank and behaviour. Thinking of the genre of historical crime, I conceived of a female detective who could adopt either male or female roles at will and so use her disguises to investigate crime. 

For us today, the period where all women wore skirts and never trousers has disappeared from our living memory, so it is difficult for us today to imagine the severely normative effect of that dress code. But in the eighteenth century it seemed that there were several cases of women who wore breeches every day, and were more or less believed to be men. In the book I have Hayden say the line, ‘No one sees past the uniform,’ and I do believe that may have been true. 

It’s interesting – and logical – to reflect that this was the one century when men were invariably clean shaven and either wore their hair long or used wigs.

 
Having devised this situation as a plot device, and conceived of Hayden Gray the soldier, who was formerly Grace Hayden the actress, and tested the concept in a short story which did well in a competition judged by the crime writer Howard Linskey, I then sat down to write the novel – then the trouble started. 

I was determined to start on page one with my female soldier on duty in the army and with the murder victim already dead, so that the man killed should continue to present a danger even from his grave (It is because of his death that she has to turn detective so as to protect her own secret.) All this means that a lot of backstory has to be in place early on.

 
Perhaps echoing the questions we might ask of Hannah Snell or any of her contemporaries, why does Hayden choose to masquerade as a soldier? Who is helping her maintain her secret in a crowded barrack? And in terms of plot logic, what did Hayden do to earn the dislike of the dead man and his friend, the official investigator, the Provost Marshal?

 
I found an answer to the last question in the life of Hannah as related in her 1750 biography The Female Soldier. This book tells us that she was charged with ‘neglect of duty’ by a corrupt sergeant because she prevented him from raping a local woman, and that she was punished by flogging. I borrowed the same incident and made the corrupt sergeant the initial murder victim – the Cruel Corpse of my title. 

However I dispensed with the flogging, as I did not think readers would believe that my heroine could remove her shirt and yet conceal her breasts, as reported in The Female Soldier. I replaced the flogging with a demotion, shown in flashback, from corporal to private.

 
Hayden’s reason to go into the army was resolved as a matter of debt, relating to the fact that she had earlier fallen foul of the always-fine distinction between acting and prostitution. Her helper in the army I decided would be the man who had recruited her in the first place. Here I conceived an entirely imaginary character, a bandsman orderly named Jasper who has the keeping of the medical stores, thus having an opportunity to safely hold Hayden’s female clothes, and indeed the supplies she needs to deal with menstruation. 

I felt he should be a man accustomed to keeping secrets, and that she should be relaxed with him. Thus it became obvious that he should be a gay man, an ex-theatre colleague. The experience of a family member decided me to make him Black too.

 
Having the backstory in mind, successfully getting it into the book was very difficult. This caused a lot of rewriting, much of it having to be done from the query trenches. Eventually it dawned on me that I could use my secondary main character, Jasper, and his medical role, to introduce the body before I actually introduce Hayden. I also rewrote several scenes from her point of view to his, thus providing more about how she appears. This also helped me to ‘trickle in’ the backstory via flashbacks.

 
I also took from the Hannah Snell biography the city and castle of Carlisle, an isolated setting and one which, as my story starts, is still recovering from having been the only English city occupied by Jacobites in the 1745 Rebellion. The postwar setting, of garrison soldiers suddenly at peace but falling out amongst themselves, appealed to me for all sorts of reasons.

I think the eventual outcome is suspenseful, vivid and reasonably fair to the history, whilst being a crime novel first and foremost, not a discussion of transvestism, nor indeed a book solely from the female point of view (which is a tricky sell for a new male author.) If A Cruel Corpse does one thing, I hope it will appeal as much to the slim number of male readers of historical fiction as to the female readers.
Needless to say, Jasper and Hayden will return.

Ben Bergonzi

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About the Author

Ben Bergonzi had a career in education and heritage, including spending time as a museum curator and as a manager of document digitization, Ben now works mainly as a reviewer and writer. He is a Reviews Editor for Historical Novels Review. Born in the north of England, he has spent most of his life in the midlands and the south; currently he lives with his family on the cusp of London and Chiltern Hills. His days as a re-enactor are long behind him, but he often remembers them while writing. You can find Ben on Twitter @BergonziBen and Bluesky ‪@benbergonzi.bsky.social‬

Historical Fiction Spotlight: The Herb Knot: A gripping, epic Medieval historical fiction adventure by Jane Loftus

Available from Amazon UK and Amazon US

A quest born on the battlefield will change a young boy’s destiny…

Rafi Dubois is five years old when his mother is murdered after the Battle of Crecy in 1346. Alone and lost, Rafi is given a token by the dying Englishman who tried to save his mother’s life: a half-broken family seal which he urges Rafi to return one day to Winchester.

Years later, when Rafi saves a wealthy merchant’s wife from a brutal robbery, he is rewarded with the chance to travel to England, taking the seal with him.

But when he reaches Winchester, Rafi finds himself in a turbulent world full of long-held allegiances, secrets and treachery. His path is fraught with danger and with powerful enemies working against him, Rafi falls in love with Edith, a market apothecary. But in doing so, Rafi unleashes a deadly chain of events which threatens to overwhelm them both…

The Herb Knot is a sweeping and passionate novel set in one of the most tumultuous times in English history, from a powerful new voice

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About the author

Jane Loftus gained a degree in 16th Century European and British history from Surrey before taking a postgraduate degree in modern political history. As a lone parent, she worked in Winchester Waterstones before returning to IT once her son was older. Hugely passionate about the Middle Ages, she drew inspiration for this novel from the medieval layout of Winchester which has been painstakingly documented. Jane is originally from London but has lived in Winchester for over twenty years. When not writing, she is usually out walking or watching costume dramas on Netflix. Find out more at https://janeloftus.com/ and find Jane on instagram at janeloftusauthor and Bluesky @janeloftus.bsky.social‬

Book Launch Guest Post: When Secrets Bloom: An enchanting Transylvanian historical fiction novel by Patricia Furstenberg

Available from Amazon UK and Amazon US

Transylvania, 1463: Some secrets heal. Others kill.

Kate Webber, a 28-year-old Saxon healer, has long walked the line between reverence and suspicion. Trained in the healing arts under the guidance of Lord Vlad Dracula, she has learned that skill alone cannot protect a woman in a city ruled by fear. Her marriage to the powerful but secretive Magyar promised stability, yet left her silenced and watched. On a bitter Advent night, when a mother and her newborn face death, Kate defies her husband's command and steps into danger 

— for life, not reputation.

If History Forgets, Who Remembers? Hidden Truths Behind When Secrets Bloom

There’s something about winter in Transylvania that seems to still and steal time. The snow not only softens the rooftops, it silences the noise of modern life and recalls echoes. In a land layered with German Saxon fortresses, Romanian superstitions and a contested rule that spanned centuries and still sparks feud, only memory clings to stones after names fade.

 
There, in my native land, while I added my muffled footsteps to those of countless generations before me imagining what lay beneath the surface — both literally and figuratively — I first asked myself this simple question: if history forgets, who remembers?

That’s where I began writing When Secrets Bloom, a novel born out of my fascination with forgotten women, medieval medicine, and the quiet resilience that blooms even in the coldest seasons.
I chose to tell When Secrets Bloom through the eyes of Kate, a Saxon healer moving through the dangerous, shifting layers of 15th-century Transylvanian society of Kronstadt (modern-day Brașov), where a woman’s knowledge could be her salvation or her downfall and every tie, personal or political, came at a cost. Kate must confront suspicion, an old love and the haunting legacy of her former mentor, Vlad the Impaler.

Brasov, Black Church and Council Square, 15th century buildings

Within the same fortress walls lives Moise, a Jewish apprentice at the city’s printing press who investigates the disappearance of a rare manuscript only to discover… that it was tied to Kate’s past and to a treasure that refuses to remain buried.

Kate and Moise face betrayal, unravel hidden lies and try to survive the forces rising against them. While the shadow of Vlad the Impaler, no yet legend but a fond memory, stretches silently between their fates. This is a time where knowledge is dangerous, silence is currency while betrayal, its price.

Beside visiting historical locations my price was… writing through the dark.

My writing routine is unconventional, between the hours of 3 and 6 a.m. when only wood creaks and the birds almost stir, while the world, as we know it, feels distant. Such silent hours connect me with the past. Later, after breakfast and family time, I return to mid-morning writing with a fresh mind. The first shift is for raw emotion and imagery; the second for structure and sense.

The hardest scene I wrote for When Secrets Bloom, both technically and emotionally, was the birth scene. As a mother of two and someone with a medical degree I’ve witnessed natural births. I wanted to render it truthfully; with urgency, but also with the awe I deserves. As for Kate, the healer, it was more than a medical challenge; it was a deeply personal moment, one charged with vulnerability, danger but also the hope of a new beginning. I wanted the reader to feel all of that.

 
The true challenge, though, was emotional. I was placing a woman in labor under the care of a shaman--woman already under suspicion of witchcraft, with no guarantee of safety. And while I needed to show the rawness of that moment, I also didn’t want the reader to feel uncomfortable or disconnected. So I turned to subtext, finding original ways to express vulnerability and tension and using what was unique to Kate: her training, her composure, her fear, her resolve. Her safe memories…

That scene set the tone for the entire book, where strength is quiet, danger is constant, and survival often begins in the most fragile places.

That sense of what lies beneath, unseen yet vital, carried into my research as well.

One unexpected discovery during my research was the city’s hidden water system. Old maps of Brașov reveal how natural streams once flowed downhill through what are now paved streets, running from the fortified noble district to the outskirts, from Council Square to cattle market and farther still, to the witches’ lake. As the Saxon town modernised these channels were gradually covered, but the water never stopped flowing. It was simply diverted, like the hidden lives of women in history.

Transylvania, by Mercator published by Janssonius 1644, ...

I found in this a perfect metaphor for Kate: a woman flowing through the cracks of history, unseen, but essential.

Equally fascinating (and heartbreaking) was learning that marriages between different castes or ethnic groups, such as between German Saxons, Szeklers, Vlachs (Romanians) or immigrants Jews, were forbidden. Love, like knowledge, had borders. For a woman like Kate, who walks both worlds, such rules were more than social; they were life-threatening.

Uncovering those buried layers, of city, of history, of character, reminded me that writing, too, begins beneath the surface.

To new writers, I offer this advice: begin with silence, with listening. Let your characters speak before you do. Just start. Write the first scene you see or hear. Do your research but only enough to anchor yourself in the place and time. Don’t drown in it. As you write, if more detail is needed, make a note and return to it later. And steer clear of movies; instead, research the places, the books, the scents. Touch and taste. And, above all, write the book you want to read, not the one you think you should write.

Because once that story is written, the next journey begins: finding the readers excited to walk its path.
Raising awareness about my books involves community and consistency. I try to blog regularly and take part in daily or seasonal X / Twitter hashtags to connect with readers and fellow authors. I believe in sharing not just the book, but the heart behind it: snippets of research, historical curiosities, forgotten voices. Sometimes a single image or sentence opens a door to a whole world. And that is where true connection begins.

 
In writing When Secrets Bloom, I sought to answer one question: if history forgets, who remembers? Not to romanticize the past, but to reveal it. To show how whispers carry strength, how fear walks beside purpose, and how even in the darkest hours, something brave and human dares to bloom.
Woven with tension and tenderness, Kate’s world is one where personal and political threads entwine and where Vlad Dracula’s shadow lingers not as myth, but as real memory. The novel offered me a glimpse behind the legend, into the man shaped by multiple exiles and survival, whose true power lay not in fear, but in the price of wielding it.

Through Kate, I explored not only wounds of war but what survival truly demands and how knowledge — especially in a woman’s hands — can both save and condemn. It’s exhilarating to stand between fact and fiction, past and present. If history is a garden, I hope my stories are the seeds that bloom where the world least expects.

 
I couldn’t say goodbye to Kate’s world that’s still alive in my mind.
When Secrets Bloom is just the beginning. I’m currently working on books two through four in the Blood of Kings, Heart of Shadows series, following the ripples left by Kate’s defiance across both past and present. The next book will delve deeper into political and romantic intrigue, exploring the delicate threads of medicine, faith, and folklore; always through the eyes of those overlooked by history.

Patricia Furstenberg

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About the Author:

Patricia Furstenberg is a Romanian-born historical fiction author with a passion for medieval Transylvania, untold women’s stories and the bond between people and animals. Her books include Silent Heroes, Joyful Trouble and her latest, When Secrets Bloom. Find out more from the author website, https://alluringcreations.co.za/wp/ and find her on X / Twitter @patfurstenberg, Facebook and Bluesky @patfurstenberg.bsky.social‬

Special Guest Post by Aimee Fleming, Author of Tudor Princes and Princesses: The Early Lives of the Children of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York

Available from Amazon UK and Amazon US

In 1485, the marriage of Henry Tudor and Elizabeth of York united two warring houses, setting the foundation for the powerful Tudor dynasty. Together, they had seven children, heirs to a new era in England’s history. While some of these siblings would go on to leave a lasting legacy, shaping the course of history through politics, religion, and culture, little is often said about their early lives.

The Education of Princes and Princesses

Education looked different in the Early modern period, but not so different as you might think.
Education was, for the most part, reserved for an elite few. In cities schools admitted those who could pay the fees, and were usually run out of monasteries or cathedrals, focussing on liturgical scholarship, or on teaching Latin to the school of boys who were to become the next generation of lawyers and government officials. 

It is from these schools that the term ‘Grammar School’ comes, as the schools focussed on their grammatical knowledge of Latin and sometimes Greek, and they were mostly reserved for those who would pay for their children (their sons) to attend.

 
Sometimes, school rooms were opened up by ambitious members of the clergy who would admit boys on a charitable basis, or whose schools would only charge a nominal amount for the boys’ attendance. In these cases, education did become more widely available, but was still on the whole, the preserve of boys and men.

 
For women and girls, education was something done in the home. Skills that were required for running a home were what was deemed important, rather than scholarly studies, and even in noble families the girls would not be expected to be educated beyond a basic level. Reading and writing were usually encouraged in noble households, as well as some mathematical skills so as to be able to balance the household budget and manage staff. 

However, beyond the basics, there were little or no expectations. More importance was given to courtly skills – playing instruments, dancing, sewing and crafts – things that were considered ladylike and genteel, and were seen as appropriate for young ladies.

 
The exception to this was in royal households, and especially for children of the Tudor Dynasty, where a broad curriculum was encouraged for both the girls and the boys, and was seen as necessary for them all to fulfil their potential as princes and princesses of the realm.

 
Henry VII and his wife, Elizabeth of York, had each been given a traditional education, and sought more for their own children. The fashionable humanist movement encouraged a broader curriculum of languages and classical literature, theology and sciences. Scholars such as Erasmus were at the spearhead of the new movement, and royal households across Europe sought to employs tutors for their children, including Henry and Elizabeth. 

Henry VII and Elizabeth with their children

(Wikimedia Commons)

They invited Bernard Andre, the scholar and poet, to be Prince Arthur’s tutor while he was living at Ludlow, and William Blount, Lord Mountjoy, and John Skelton to teach their younger children. These men all had connections with the humanist movement in Europe, and they designed a rounded curriculum for all of the royal children, even the girls.

 
Alongside the academic learning, royal children were also expected to learn to ride horses, hunt with a long bow, and play sports such as tennis. They were also taught to dance, play musical instruments, sing and write poetry. Princess Margaret impressed the Scottish nobility with her skills at hunting and riding when she travelled north in 1503, when she chased down and shot ‘a fine buck’ all by herself. Prince Henry made an impression at the wedding of his brother, Prince Arthur, to the Spanish princess Catherine of Aragon, when he;

 
‘…perceiving himself encombered with his clothes, suddenly cast off his gown and danced in his jacket’.
Even at such a young age, Prince Henry already had presence on a dancefloor.

 
Physical activity was not encouraged in large amounts though, due in part to the danger that it posed of injury to a member of the royal family, and also because there were worries that too much activity would actually be detrimental to a young person’s body. Sports were strictly limited especially for very young children, until their bodies were thought to be mature enough to handle the exertion.

 
This humanist influence on education continued to be popular, made even more so by families such as that of Sir Thomas More, and later on the Greys, whose children, particularly their daughters, were educated to an extremely high level. King Henry VIII employed tutors for all of his children, including Henry Fitzroy, his illegitimate son. 

Later on in the sixteenth century, James VI of Scotland also received a thorough education from his tutor, George Buchanon, who continued the tradition of humanist inspired tutors for future kings. It was through Buchanon that James learned about theology and politics, and like his great great Uncle, Henry VIII, learned the skills needed to be a modern Prince, and a modern King, in the schoolroom.

 
While it took whole centuries for education to become something every member of society would receive, these early pioneers, both the tutors and the pupils, proved that education was something that everyone can have and can reap rewards from. The Tudor Princes and Princesses, were able to perform their duties, enter and endure high politics, and survive the cutthroat world of the sixteenth century court, all because of their wits and the tools they were given through their childhood education.

Aimee Fleming

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About the Author

Aimee Fleming is a historian and author from North Yorkshire. She is a married Mum of three, and has worked in history and heritage throughout her career. She completed an MA in Early Modern History as a mature student, and has since written two books and is currently working on her third. Find out more at https://historyaimee.wordpress.com/ and follow Aimee on Facebook and BlueSky ‪@historyaimee.bsky.social‬