Blog Tour Spotlight: The Roll Of the Dice Series: We Who Endure, by J. A. Quarles

Available from Amazon UK and Amazon US

As the fires of war spread across a divided nation, three brothers from Louisiana are swept into the storm that will decide the fate of the Confederacy-and perhaps the future of America itself.

In the bloody aftermath of Fredericksburg, young Confederate officer Johan Lutze escapes Union captivity through courage, cunning, and sheer determination. Returning to General Robert E. Lee's army just in time for the Battle of Chancellorsville, Johan performs an act of heroism that saves the life of the legendary General Stonewall Jackson and thrusts him into the inner circle of Confederate power.

Now, with Vicksburg under siege and the Confederacy teetering between survival and collapse, Johan's bold strategic ideas begin to influence President Jefferson Davis himself. But in Richmond, ambition and politics can be as deadly as bullets, and not everyone welcomes the rise of the young officer from Louisiana.

While Johan helps shape daring military campaigns alongside Generals Lee, Beauregard, and Johnston, his brothers wage battles of their own. Paul Lutze Jr., maimed at Shiloh and fitted with a prosthetic leg, enters the shadowy world of Confederate espionage, where secrets and sabotage may alter the course of the war. Meanwhile, sixteen-year-old Jacques Lutze marches north with the ferocious Louisiana Tigers, consumed by grief, vengeance, and a burning desire to kill Yankees before they kill him.

From the fields of Pennsylvania to the banks of the Mississippi, from the halls of Richmond to the courts of Europe and the rising empire in Mexico, the war expands into a conflict of global consequence. Armies maneuver. Governments scheme. Brothers bleed.

And as the summer of 1863 approaches its reckoning, the Lutze brothers will stand at the center of history-where triumph and tragedy walk hand in hand.

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About the Author

Born and raised in New Orleans, Justin has always had a passion for storytelling. This writing process has always been important to Justin, a lifelong history nerd, who received a Bachelor’s in History from the University of New Orleans. After he is done with his day job, Justin loves to come home and play with his two wonderful kiddos and watch movies with his wife. Find out more at www.jaquarles.com

Special Guest Post by Anna Belfrage, Author of A Newfound Land (The Graham Saga Book 4)

Available from Amazon UK and Amazon US

It’s 1672, and Matthew Graham and his family have left Scotland. Having taken the drastic decision to leave their homeland due to religious conflicts, Alexandra and Matthew hope for a simpler, if harsher, life in the wilds of the Colony of Maryland.

The passing of a people – the consequences of colonisation 

It would have been very difficult to write A Newfound Land, set in 17th century Maryland, without considering the impact of European colonisation on the native peoples. I’d argue that the single biggest tragedy to befall the native population of the Americas was the arrival of Columbus upon their shores. Over the course of a couple of centuries, a deadly cocktail consisting of slavery, disease and warfare was to reduce the native population with 40-80% (it varies substantially from area to area) and what had been thriving civilizations were reduced to memories and ruins.

In 1607, The Virginia Company of London established its first bridgehead into its charter territories. Jamestown was founded on a marshy island in present day Virginia, and a couple of boatloads of settlers were deposited in the wilds to make a new life for themselves. Things did not go as planned, and the first few years of its existence, the colony teetered on the brink of extinction more than once. Fortunately, the colony had a capable leader in John Smith, adventurer extraordinaire, and this gentleman spent quite some time exploring the Chesapeake area and making contacts with the local people.

Many of the tribes John Smith visited no longer exist. One such lost people is the Susquehannock. Disease and warfare – both with their fierce cousins the Iroquois and the white settlers – caused the extinction of a once flourishing nation. In fact, today we have no idea what these Native Americans may have called themselves, because there is no one around who speaks their language anymore. Once a language dies, the culture that flourished with it dies as well, and so we have no idea as to what beliefs, what myths the Susquehannock held dear. It’s almost as they never existed – well, apart from the odd artefacts that are presently displayed in one or other museum.

A Lenape (Delaware) family or group from the mid-17th century, based on a drawing by Swedish engineer and traveler Peter Mårtensson Lindeström from his time in the New Sweden colony

But the Susquehannock did exist, a power to be reckoned with, masters over a large swathe of land that stretched from Delaware, through parts of Pennsylvania and into Maryland. John Smith was very impressed by the Susquehannock, claiming they went around dressed in wolf and bear pelts and were all of them big and strong, fully capable of beating the brains out of a man. Despite these ferocious qualities, for the first few decades of their co-existence both the Susquehannock and the Maryland colonists prospered – a win-win situation for both.

Things were not quite as peachy-pie in Virginia. The colonists repeatedly broke the treaties they had signed with the Powhatan Confederacy, and when the angered natives retaliated, the colonists screamed ‘murder’ and demanded that the natives be subdued once and for all.

In the 1670’s, the constant skirmishes between the Powhatan and the Virginia colonists escalated into open warfare, and through a series of unfortunate events, the Susquehannock were dragged into the conflict. A decade later, the once so mighty Susquehannock had more or less disappeared. Their wooden forts had been razed to the ground, their men had been slain, their women enslaved, and what few remnants remained had fled due north-west, seeking the protection of the Iroquois, their former enemies.

Some Susquehannock made it over to Pennsylvania and founded a community there, Conestoga Town. There they eeked out a living far removed from their former life, hiring themselves as labourers to adjoining farms. But in 1763, the last three dozen or so of true-blooded Susquehannock were massacred by the Paxton Boys, a militant group of white bad boys that killed whatever Native Americans they could get their hands on in retaliation for the recent French-Indian war. Less than two centuries after their first contact with the European settlers, the Susquehannock had ceased to exist.

The Susquehannock play an important and recurring role in my series The Graham Saga. My male protagonist, Matthew Graham, is a devout Presbyterian, a veteran of the Commonwealth armies and a man who initially at least tends to see the world as black or white. Which is why I gifted him with Alex Lind, an opinionated modern woman who had the misfortune (or not) of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, thereby being dragged three centuries back in time to land concussed and badly singed at an astounded Matthew’s feet.

Due to Matthew’s religious persuasions, the Graham family is forced to leave their homeland behind and immigrate to the Colony of Maryland where they establish cordial relationships with the nearby Susquehannock tribe. But as the tension between colonists and Indians increase, the fragile friendship between Matthew and Qaachow, a Susquehannock chief, is put under severe pressure.

The below excerpt is from A Newfound Land, the fourth book in The Graham Saga, which is when Qaachow first enters Matthew’s and Alex’s lives.

Alex didn’t see him until she had sat down on her normal perch, a fallen log just to the east of the clearing.  Qaachow was sitting in absolute stillness a bit further on, his eyes locked on what Alex supposed had been the main house of the settlement but that now reminded her of an elongated tomb. She shivered at the thought; after all, to some extent it was.

    “I’m sorry.” She stood up. “I didn’t mean to intrude.”

Qaachow tilted his head to show he’d heard her but otherwise remained where he was.

    “You come to think of your daughter,” he said, gesturing at the ‘RACHEL’ she had carved on a nearby tree. “Those thoughts do not intrude on mine.”

    Alex sat back down again. Not that there was any possibility of her thinking about Rachel now, with this slim, half-naked Indian some yards away, but it would be rude to walk away and disturb his meditation again. He was gaunter than last time she’d seen him, more careworn. He shifted on his perch and the breechcloth rustled, releasing a fragrance of crushed pine needles.

    “I sit here at times and remember the life that was. Before…” His low voice cut through the silence.

    “Before we came,” she filled in, following the dancing beams of afternoon sunlight that fell in from the west to pattern the ground with eerily lifelike shades of that long gone existence.

    “Yes, before John Smith brought the white man over.” He looked away through the screen of trees towards the river, barely visible from here. “He came to our village once.”

    “He did? What was he like?”

    “I’m not that old.” He smiled. “I never met him in person, but my grandfather did. We should never have let you land,” he added in a darker voice. “We should have listened to our wary brethren of the north and pushed you back into the sea.”

    Alex quietly agreed. Soon nothing would be left of the Indian way of life.

    “We still could, we still might.”

    “Too late,” Alex said. “We’ll never let this go. Not now.”

    Qaachow gave her a look of grim amusement. “We could steal in like shadows in the night, and none of you would notice until you lay dying in your blood.”

Alex huddled together with physical pain at the thought. “But you won’t, will you? You won’t kill my babies.”

    “No, my people will not. We owe you lives.”

    “Your people? Are there any other Indians we need to worry about?”

    Qaachow shrugged. “This is our land. They will not touch you. But, elsewhere, white women and children will be slain, and their men will be killed slowly and in agony. The coming years will be bad, Mrs Graham, very bad.”

    Alex nodded and bent to pick up a pine cone from where it lay on the shimmering green of the moss.

    “I know. That’s why Matthew’s been called down to Providence.”

Qaachow looked away, saying something in his own language that sounded very sad. For some time he sat sunk in thoughts, eyes lost in the dappled shadow of the surrounding woods.

    “I’ve never thanked you or your husband for what you did for my people, in particular for my wife.”          Qaachow stood up in one fluid movement. He was an attractive man, Alex reflected, his hairless torso outlined with muscles without becoming too excessive. Long, beautiful hands, and a mouth that, when relaxed, was soft and tender – kissable. Their eyes met. For a couple of heartbeats he held her eyes, the shadow of a smile playing round his mouth.

    Alex cleared her throat. “Your wife?”

    “Thistledown-in-the-wind; it was her sister that died.”

    “She’s very pretty,” Alex said, thinking of the young Indian woman with the thick braids – young enough to be his daughter, but apparently his wife. He seemed to see what she was thinking and smiled crookedly.

    “I loved my first wife very much, and it took many moons before I wanted to look at another woman.” He stared off into the distance. “Morning Dream – always first in my heart.”

    “Morning Dream, what a beautiful name.”

    “As was she.” With a courteous nod in her direction, Qaachow blended into the surrounding trees.

Anna Belfrage

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About the Author

Had Anna been allowed to choose, she’d have become a time-traveller. As this was impossible, she became a financial professional with two absorbing interests: history and writing. Anna has authored the acclaimed time travelling series The Graham Saga, set in 17th century Scotland and Maryland, as well as the equally acclaimed medieval series The King’s Greatest Enemy which is set in 14th century England.  Her Castilian Heart is the third in her “Castilian” series, a stand-alone sequel to her September 2020 release, His Castilian Hawk. Set against the complications of Edward I’s invasion of Wales, His Castilian Hawk is a story of loyalty, integrity—and love. In the second instalment, The Castilian Pomegranate, we travel with the protagonists to the complex political world of medieval Spain. This latest release finds our protagonists back in England—not necessarily any safer than the wilds of Spain! Anna has also authored The Whirlpools of Time in which she returns to the world of time travel. Join Duncan and the somewhat reluctant time-traveller Erin on their adventures through the Scottish Highlands just as the first Jacobite rebellion is about to explode!  All of Anna’s books have been awarded the IndieBRAG Medallion, she has several Historical Novel Society Editor’s Choices, and one of her books won the HNS Indie Award in 2015. She is also the proud recipient of various Reader’s Favorite medals as well as having won various Gold, Silver and Bronze Coffee Pot Book Club awards. Find out more about Anna, her books and enjoy her eclectic historical blog on her website, www.annabelfrage.com and find her on Facebook, Twitter @abelfrageauthor and Bluesky @abelfrageauthor.bsky.social

Special Guest Post: A Deadly Fall, by Jon Neal

Available from Amazon UK and Amazon US

What lengths would you go to in order to keep a secret? When private investigator Stanley Messina is called to a secluded Sussex manor house to re-examine an unexplained death, he hopes it might be a straightforward job - a few interviews, a tidy conclusion, and a chance

to catch his breath.

A Deadly Fall: Psychology, Secrets and a Sussex Manor

When a private investigator is called to a secluded Sussex manor house to re-examine an unexplained death, he hopes it might be a straightforward job. Behind the estate’s idyllic façade, however, lies a tangled web of strained loyalties, festering resentments and carefully curated lives. Every inhabitant has something to protect, and every story comes with a shadow…

A Deadly Fall is the third novel in my Stanley Messina Investigates series. Set in a grand house tucked away in the Sussex countryside, it is a mystery driven as much by the psychology and relationships of its characters as by the tragic event at its centre. Readers have described the series as intriguing, and this atmospheric instalment continues that tradition while remaining fully readable as a standalone.

As with my earlier books, the investigation into what happened at Lanthorn Manor provides the spine of the story, complete with clues, suspects and motives. Yet my primary interest as a writer has always been what makes people tick—the quiet tensions, hidden histories and shifting loyalties that shape how they behave under pressure. Along the way, readers also learn a little more about Stanley Messina himself, whose own backstory continues to unfold across the series.

I publish as an independent author exclusively through Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing. The greatest advantage of this is complete creative freedom and control over every aspect of the creative and business processes. I promote the books through social media and will soon launch a website and regular e-newsletter so readers can stay more closely connected.

The publishing landscape has changed markedly in the last five years. While greater opportunities for writers also mean more competition, I remain convinced there is still ample space to build an engaged audience for authentic stories.

I’m always grateful to readers who take the time to leave a rating or review on Amazon. These not only provide real encouragement but also help future readers decide whether a book might be one they would enjoy too.

Jon Neal 

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About the Author

Jon Neal is a British author. His first book, A Twin Room, was published in 2022 and reached number 1 in its Amazon category, selling copies around the globe. The Other Path introduced private investigator Stanley Messina and began the series of page-turning mysteries that continues with A Deadly Fall. Jon completed a Master of Arts in Writing while living in Australia and holds a Music & Media Studies degree from the University of Sussex. He was runner-up in the 2010 Sydney Mardi Gras short story competition, has been shortlisted for other prizes, and has had poems published in numerous anthologies. He grew up in Kent and now lives with his partner in East Sussex. To keep up to date with Jon’s news, follow his author page on Facebook and Twitter/X 

Blog Tour Interview with Marilee Aufdenkamp, Author of Sparrow’s Song

Available from Amazon UK and Amazon US

Sparrow’s Song is a sweeping, intimate novel about resilience and belonging, rooted in the real history of wartime federal nursing education and the evolving landscape of modern American nursing. At its heart is a young immigrant woman pushing herself toward the advantages she’s convinced education will unlock, even as that drive pulls her away from the people and heritage she loves.

I'm pleased to welcome author Marilee Aufdenkamp to The Writing Desk:

Tell us about your latest book

Sparrow’s Song spans two world wars and follows one woman’s search for equal advantage in a country that doesn’t always welcome her. Rooted in the early twentieth century German from Russia immigrant experience and set against the federal nursing education programs of World War I and World War II, the novel explores resilience, belonging, and the cost of ambition.

In 1917 Nebraska, Kathryn Scheibel wants what every young woman hopes for: a fair chance at a future. As a German from Russia immigrant, she believes education is the only path to opportunity for herself and her family. When she reaches beyond the cigar making floor, her ambitions unsettle those closest to her. To Kathryn, her hopes are simply the means of gaining the same advantages native born families enjoy.

Joining the Army School of Nursing brings her closer to the life she imagines and farther from the family she loves. At Walter Reed, she faces open hostility from classmates who target her social status and her ancestry. As the years pass, Kathryn must decide whether she gave up too much in her quest to gain equal advantage and what it might take to reclaim the parts she never meant to lose.

What is your preferred writing routine?

I wrote Sparrow’s Song while I was still teaching undergraduate nursing students at a mid sized Midwestern Jesuit university. Evenings were often spent grading papers or preparing lectures, so I wrote when I could, mostly on weekends. I have been retired for the past two years, and now most of my days are devoted to writing and writing adjacent activities.

What advice do you have for aspiring writers?

I learned so much about the writing craft, first by reading craft books. This was well before the internet. By the time the internet was commonplace I started taking advantage of mostly free online webinars as well.

I’ve attended every Historical Novel Society biennial convention since 2015, either in person or virtually. If you can afford it, I recommend attending at least one conference each year. Early in your career, a craft heavy conference that focuses on your genre can be especially helpful.

Critique groups can be valuable if you find the right one, and thanks to the internet, networking with other writers is easier than ever and also recommended.

What have you found to be the best way to raise awareness of your books?

I’ve been doing as much speaking as possible. My protagonist was inspired by members of the community of Germans from Russia who immigrated to Hastings, Nebraska, early in the twentieth century. I’ve been a nurse since 1985 but I first worked as a nurse’s aide in our local hospital beginning in 1979 and cared for some of these individuals as they neared the ends of their lives. My nursing work and my protagonist’s background have influenced my speaking opportunities.

I presented about our local community of Germans from Russia at our county historical society’s annual meeting to an audience of more than one hundred people and tied their story to my novel. I also gave a presentation at our local library during Nurses Week, sharing how Sparrow’s Song highlights important nursing reforms of the early twentieth century. I recently spoke to the class of 1986 at the former hospital affiliated diploma nursing program that operated in our community from 1915 to 1988. And on October 1, I’ll present a program titled “Beyond Florence: The Value of Knowing Our History and How Fiction Can Help” for the Nebraska Nurses Association’s annual convention.

Tell us something unexpected you discovered during your research

Because I’m a nurse, I’m especially drawn to medical and nursing history. Part of my novel takes place in 1943, when my protagonist is teaching in a hospital affiliated school of nursing participating in the Cadet Nurse Corps. At that time, penicillin was beginning to be used by the U.S. military to treat venereal disease, especially syphilis.

Aqueous penicillin has a short duration of action and had to be injected every four hours, which was not practical in wartime. To prolong its effect, it was suspended in peanut oil and beeswax. Because beeswax is solid at room temperature, the mixture had to be heated before injection. I found a detailed description of how this was done and intended to use it in my story, but a computer crash erased my source. I couldn’t relocate it, and I no longer remembered whether the heating was done in a warm water bath or in some type of incubator or warming oven. My memory leaned toward a warm water bath, so in my author note I explained that this was one of the few historical details I wasn’t entirely certain about, but I didn’t want to exclude it because it was too interesting.

What was the hardest scene you remember writing?

No single scene stands out as harder than the others, but I write lean, and reaching standard word count expectations for my genre was difficult. 

What are you planning to write next?

My next story, my work in progress, is about ninety seven percent ready to send to my publisher. It’s set in 1927 Omaha. My main character is a young Irish immigrant who came to Nebraska with his parents a few years earlier and now works under the direction of the real jazz musician who led the Boys Town traveling band, Daniel Desdunes. He repairs and maintains the band’s uniforms and brass instruments, and I’ve learned a great deal about dent repair, soldering, and brass instrument maintenance.

To earn extra money and help his father, who is a down and out homeless alcoholic musician, my main character milks for a young widowed neighbor woman on the adjacent farm. He is beginning to have feelings for her. My work in progress is not a romance, but there are some romantic elements. The central conflict is his responsibility to his father set against his hope for a life of his own, a life he doubts he deserves and isn’t sure he has the strength to sustain alongside his father’s needs.

My debut novel Sparrow’s Song took place between 1917 and 1943, so I had plenty of room to stretch events out. My newest story, working title Leo but likely changing to A Measure of Cream and Flux, occurs over the summer of 1927, and much of the action happens on weekends. I needed to make sure I hadn’t inadvertently placed seven Saturdays in July and that I had room for everything I included. There is also a scene I need to rework, and I have two elderly Jewish immigrant men who serve as mentors to my young Irish protagonist. I need to make sure the scenes involving those two men respect their religious traditions for observing Shabbos.

Marilee Aufdenkamp

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About the Author

Marilee Aufdenkamp is a retired nurse educator who taught undergraduate nursing for twenty six years before turning her full time focus to historical fiction. She writes early to mid twentieth century stories grounded in immigrant experience and working class life.  Her debut novel, Sparrow’s Song, was inspired by her early nursing career in Nebraska, where she came to admire the Germans from Russia she cared for at the end of their lives.  Originally from Southern California, she has spent her adult life in Nebraska. Find out more at her website: https://marileeaufdenkamp.com  and find Marilee on Facebook and Instagram

Rogues, Rakes and Robbers: A True Crime History of Georgian Britain by Angela Muir

Available from Amazon UK and Amazon US

On October 20th, 1799, at Pensieri in the Isle of Anglesey, a fire breaks out, destroying cart house, corn, haystacks, and timber. A young woman is seen running from the scene―but what secrets drove her to set the fire? 

Exploring detailed accounts of historical crime is one of the best ways to catch a glimpse of a society and its culture decades and even centuries later. Of course, stories of crime and deviance are intriguing in their own right, but by understanding the context in which they were committed and how communities and officials responded to them, we can gain incredible insight into life at that time and place.

Rogues, Rakes and Robbers uncovers the tales of real-life murders, manslaughters, assaults, and arson in Georgian Wales and its borders that together give us a window into life for ordinary, common people whose lives would otherwise be lost from the historical record. From courtship rituals to the value of horses and Georgian attitudes on sex work and insanity, each chapter uses documents from Wales’s Court of Great Sessions to illuminate the past.

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About the Author

Angela Muir  is a social and cultural historian of Britain in the long 18th century (roughly 1680 to 1830) with a focus on gender, crime, deviance, sex and the body in Wales and England. She has worked at the University of Leicester since 2018, and in 2024 became an Associate Professor. Prior to Leicester Angela held a one-year lectureship and fellowship at Cardiff University after completing her PhD at the University of Exeter. Find out more at https://angelajmuir.wordpress.com/ and find Angela on Instagram and Twitter @muirdershewrote

Lady of the Castle: A Medieval Epic of Love, Loyalty, and Betrayal (The Nicola de la Haye Series Book 2) by Rachel Elwiss Joyce

Available from Amazon UK and Amazon US

For a woman, holding power in a man's world is dangerous;

holding faith in an intolerant one is deadly.

England, 1185. Nicola de la Haye, constable of Lincoln Castle, commands her fortress with hard-won authority. Determined to protect her family from a kingdom fracturing around her, she discovers the hardest battle is the one inside her own walls.

When the king's chancellor marches an army to her gates and her husband stands accused of treason, Nicola must hold her castle against a siege—and hold her family together against something far harder to fight. As her marriage buckles under the weight of loss, jealousy, and the ghosts of their pasts, Nicola must choose between the walls she has built around herself and the man she has never fully let in.

Miles away, Nicola's Jewish childhood friend Bella has built her world on different foundations: a husband she adores, a strong, vibrant community, and a faith and traditions kept alive despite centuries of persecution. When crusading fervour sweeps the nation, Bella's family is stripped of its fortune and forced to flee to York—only to find themselves trapped in a castle tower by a mob demanding baptism or death.

As King Richard the Lionheart departs for the Holy Land, leaving England to turn on itself, both women face the same impossible question: what do you love enough to sacrifice everything for?

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About the Author

After a rewarding career in the sciences, Rachel returned to her first love—history and the art of storytelling. Fascinated by the women history neglected, or tried to forget, she creates meticulously researched, emotionally resonant fiction that brings her characters’ stories vividly to life. Her fascination with the past began early. At six years old, she was already inventing tales about medieval women in castles, inspired by her treasured Ladybird books and other picture-rich stories that transported her to another time. By the time she discovered Katherine by Anya Seton as a teenager, she knew the joy and escape that only great historical fiction can bring. Rachel’s two grown-up children still tease her (fondly) about childhoods spent being “dragged” around castles, archaeological sites, and historical re-enactments. For Rachel, history and imagination have always gone hand in hand.There was, however, a long gap between the stories of her childhood and her decision to write her own novel. The spark came when she discovered the remarkable true story of Nicola de la Haye—the first female sheriff of England, who defended Lincoln Castle against a French invasion and became known as “the woman who saved England.” Rachel knew she had found her heroine, and a story she was destined to tell. Rachel lives in the UK, where she continues to explore the lives of women who shaped history but were left out of its pages. Lady of Lincoln is her debut novel, the first book in her Nicola de la Haye Series, with sequels to follow. Find out more at www.rachelelwissjoyce.com and find Rachel on Facebook and 

X/ Twitter: @RachelElwJoyce

Audiobook Narrator and Actor Ruth Urquhart on Narrating ‘Queen Anna’, Book One of the Stuart Queen Trilogy

Available from Amazon UK and Amazon US

A crown won in the eye of a storm. A queen who refuses to be broken... Princess Anna of Denmark sails for Scotland to marry King James VI, but storms ravage her fleet, igniting a deadly obsession with witchcraft in her new home. Arriving in a strange and paranoid court, Anna finds her new husband’s bed is a treacherous place.

I chose Ruth Urquhart as the perfect narrator while still in the early stages of researching the first book of the Stuart Queens trilogy, so she had quite a wait until I’d written Queen Anna – including delays with my editor. Now the audiobook is released, here are a few thoughts from Ruth:

Tell us a little of your background and how you decided to go into audiobook narration?

My background is as an actor and after many years touring in small scale theatre, my kids came along and it seemed a natural progression to go into voice acting as something I could do from home and still spend time with my family. When I did I was amazed at the scope of work available and I've loved it ever since!

How much did you know about Anna of Denmark before you began the narration?

Very little. I have previously narrated a non-fiction book called 'Scottish Queens' by Rosalind K Marshall which had a section dedicated to Queen Anna. But that was the extent of my knowledge. Tony's book has made it much more personal and made me realise that so little is focused on the queens and consorts of the past

What most surprised you about Anna’s life?

I suppose her resilience even from such a young age, dealing so well with being shipped off to another country and then the seemingly never-ending pregnancies with so much heartache and loss. She also has a surprising amount of agency with James and when he proved disappointing, she carved her own way to benefit both her children and to a lesser degree herself. I admire her greatly.

How did you approach preparing for the narration process?

The first thing I do as with any book is read it cover to cover. Then I go through and make notes. Of course there were lots of tricky Danish pronunciations to unpick as well as the accents of various foreign nobles. I also watched the documentary 'Queen James' although that of course focuses more on James than Anna.

There are plenty of Danish phrases in the book, so how did you deal with them?

With this I had my Danish Sister-ln Law (another Anne) on speed dial! It is quite a tricky language to pronounce for non-natives but I was very lucky to have this resource at hand.

Ruth Urquhart

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About the Narrator

Ruth Urquhart is an award winning, Scottish female voice over artist and character voice actor. Professionally trained as an actor with over 10 years experience as a voiceover artist, she is the voice of multiple characters in global animations, cartoons and video games. Ruth has provided voiceovers for TV commercials, global brands and corporate films as well as e-learning and online courses, medical narration, video explainers, and radio adverts.  She has dubbed worldwide cinema released movies and animations as well as providing narration for documentaries and over 200 audiobooks.  Ruth says, ‘My sister-in-law Anne is Danish and I have always been picking her brain over the years regarding various jobs that have required a Danish accent!’ Find oiut more at ruthurquhart.com/ and find Ruth on Instagram  @tartanchameleon 

Dressed to Impress: Queen Elizabeth I and the Art of Fashioning Power by Sylvia Barbara Soberton

Available from Amazon UK and Amazon US

For Elizabeth I, fashion was never simply about looking beautiful—it was a language of power.

From dazzling jewels and pearls to elaborate gowns, ruffs, and sumptuous fabrics, every detail of the Queen’s appearance helped shape the image she presented to her subjects, courtiers, and foreign ambassadors. Dressed to Impress explores how Elizabeth used clothing, jewellery, and portraiture to communicate authority, wealth, femininity, chastity, and majesty.

Discover the woman behind the spectacular costumes—and the remarkable ways in which England’s Virgin Queen transformed fashion into one of the most powerful tools of her reign.

Elizabeth I did not simply wear fashion. She fashioned power.

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About the Author

Sylvia Barbara Soberton is a writer and researcher specialising in the history of the Tudors. She is best known for The Forgotten Tudor Women book series, which concentrates on shifting the perspective from famous figures like Henry VIII’s six wives to the lesser-known, but no less influential, women of the Tudor court. Sylvia has written ten books to date, and her newest titles include The Forgotten Years of Anne Boleyn: The Habsburg & Valois Courts, Ladies-in-Waiting: Women Who Served Anne Boleyn and Medical Downfall of the Tudors: Sex, Reproduction & Succession. Her ground-breaking paper on Anne Boleyn and the accusation of witchcraft was published in the Royal Studies Journal in 2023.  You can find Sylvia on Facebook,  Goodreads, Twitter @SylviaBSo and Bluesky @sylviabso.bsky.social

Inigo Jones and the Celestial Costume of Queen Henrietta Maria

There is something otherworldly about this delicate drawing of Queen Henrietta Maria. At first glance, it appears to be a fanciful court dress: a richly decorated gown, enormous sleeves, a jewelled headdress and a sweeping feather. Yet the design was intended for something far more theatrical. 

Inigo Jones

The queen's costume was created by architect and stage designer Inigo Jones for her appearance as 'Divine Beauty' in Tempe Restored, the spectacular court masque performed at the Banqueting House, Whitehall, on 14 February 1632.

Jones’s surviving costume design, now in the Devonshire Collection at Chatsworth, reveals just how carefully the queen’s appearance was conceived. This was not simply fashionable court dress. Every element had to work under theatrical lighting and contribute to the allegorical world of the masque.

The costume was described by a contemporary observer as being made of “watchet satin” – a pale blue – embroidered with silver stars that appeared to rise from the surface of the fabric. On her head was a crown of stars mixed with small falls of white feathers.

The drawing shows how Inigo Jones transformed those ideas into a costume that would catch the light. The bodice is covered with star-like ornaments, while the enormously rounded sleeves give Henrietta Maria a deliberately impressive silhouette. 

The full skirt spreads outward from the waist, creating an almost celestial radiance around the Queen. At the throat, a high, pleated collar frames her face, while the elaborate headdress rises above her head like a constellation. (See Historic Royal Palaces video below.)

For Inigo Jones, costume was inseparable from stagecraft. He understood that the audience at Whitehall would not experience the masque as they might an ordinary play. Music, movement, painted scenery, machinery, lighting, costume and architecture were intended to become one extraordinary spectacle. His designs were particularly concerned with the way materials reflected and caught light, turning embroidered stars and jewels into points of brilliance.

The symbolism was unmistakable. Beauty, embodied by the queen, becomes a force capable of restoring order to the enchanted world of Tempe. The masque therefore made Henrietta Maria herself part of its argument: her physical beauty was presented as a reflection of an inner, moral and almost divine beauty.

It is also worth remembering that Tempe Restored was deeply personal to Henrietta Maria. The masque was dedicated to her, and she was closely involved in its creation and performance. It had originally been planned for an earlier date but was postponed because she was suffering from an eye ailment.

Today, Inigo Jones’s fragile pencil design gives us an extraordinary glimpse behind the spectacle. The surviving drawing is quiet and almost unfinished in appearance. Yet from these few lines emerged one of the most dazzling images of Stuart court culture: a young queen transformed, through silk, silver, feathers, stars and theatrical illusion, into Divine Beauty.

Tony Riches

 Silks, Crowns & Fairies: Dressing a 17th Century Queen

Historic Royal Palaces

Blog Tour: London Tales (Short Stories) by Tim Walker

Available from Amazon UK and Amazon US

London Tales is a collection of sixteen tales that offer dramatic pinpricks in the rich tapestry of London’s timeline, a city with two thousand years of history. They are glimpses of imagined lives at key moments, starting with a prologue in verse from the point of view of a native Briton tribeswoman absorbing the shock of Roman invasion. 

Then there’s a tale set in Roman Londinium in 60 CE, from the perspective of terrified legionaries and townsfolk facing the vengeful Iceni queen, Boudica, whose army burnt the fledgling city to the ground.

From Roman Londinium there’s a jump to Saxon Lundenwic in the late eighth century, then onward to the medieval city in 1381 at the time of the Peasant’s Revolt. Then a jump to the second significant conflagration, the Great Fire of London, in 1666. 

From there the reader is transported to 1814 and the last ice fair on the frozen River Thames in the year before the battle of Waterloo, then onto an unnerving tale of copycat killings based on the 1888 Jack the Ripper murders. This is followed by a fraught romance set during the Blitz in 1941; then the swinging Sixties and wide-flared seventies are remembered in the life story of fictional policeman, Brian Smith. 

There’s a series of contemporary stories that reference recent history and current affairs, including the London terrorist bombings of 2005; a literary pub crawl and a daring prison break, building to the imagined death throes of London in a dystopian vision.

These stories are inspired by the author’s love of history, personal experiences and reflections on his time living and working in London in the 1980’s and 90’s. Adaptability, resilience, conformity and resolve are recurring themes in these stories.

For ten years the author was one of thousands of commuters who’d pour in daily from outlying suburbs to feed the insatiable economic appetite of the city. London’s a busy and at times unfriendly place, driven by the productivity of its inhabitants and set against an incredible landscape of history, art, architectural and cultural development. It both inspires and tires in equal measure.

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About the Author

Tim Walker is an independent author living near Windsor in the UK.  Born in Hong Kong in the Sixties, Tim grew up in Liverpool where he began his working life as a trainee reporter on a local newspaper. He went on to attain an honours degree in Communication Studies at the University of Glamorgan in South Wales before moving to London where he worked in the newspaper publishing industry for ten years. In addition to short stories, he researched and wrote a five-book history-meets-legend fiction series, A Light in the Dark Ages. This series connects the end of Roman Britain to the story of a possible historical King Arthur based on scant research material. Find out more at Tim's website and follow him on  Twitter,  Facebook, and Bluesky: @timwalker1666.bsky.social

Special Guest Post by Elena Maria Vidal, Author of Generalissima: A Novel of Henrietta Maria: The Henrietta of France Trilogy, Book Two

Available from Amazon UK and Amazon US

As the Three Kingdoms totter on the brink of anarchy, Henriette-Marie, queen of Charles I, strives to bring up their lively, growing family. In addition to her own health problems, she worries about the welfare of her mother the Dowager Queen of France, who sought refuge in London only to find herself under attack. As Henriette faces choices which may separate herself from her beloved husband and children, she seeks help from the Pope and the Irish Catholics. 

Henrietta Maria and Her Mother, Marie de’ Medici

First of all, I would like to thank Tony Riches for opening his popular blog to other historical writers so that we may share our research. I am the author of a biography of Marie-Antoinette as well as six historical novels. The latest two novels are about Queen Henrietta Maria, wife of Charles I and they are entitled My Queen, My Love and Generalissima. They are part of an unfinished trilogy; the third instalment Avalon will be out sometime in 2027 or 28. 

In my readings about Henrietta of France, I have found that her mother Marie de’ Medici played an enormous role not only in her upbringing but in her ongoing political decisions, as well as shaping her faith, her love of the arts, of music, theater, and architecture. 

Queen Marie has ended up playing a much larger role in my novels than I originally would ever have imagined, due to the sheer force of her personality as much as to her real adventures, which included leading rebellions against her son, climbing out of windows to escape the royal guards, and hiding with her entourage of dwarves in a German brewery. All of this followed a glittering career of being Queen Mother Regent of France. Most of the Queen’s life is captured in the spectacular series of twenty-four huge paintings by Rubens, now at the Louvre.

 Marie de' Medici, Queen of France, painted by the Flemish Baroque artist 

Peter Paul Rubens around 1622.

Marie’s life had always been eventful, however. Born in 1575 in Florence, the youngest daughter of Francesco de' Medici, who was to inherit the Duchy of Tuscany, she was reared in the magnificent Pitti Palace. Marie’s mother, a Habsburg Archduchess, fell down the palace steps when expecting her eighth child and died in agony. Some thought she had been murdered. 

Marie’s father married his mistress. Marie was well-educated and healthy but lonely. The stepmother found a companion for Marie: a homely dwarf named Dianora, who claimed to possess psychic powers. In spite of the Florentine court’s penchant for fortune-telling and astrology, Marie remained firmly Catholic her entire life. When in her twenties, word came that the King of France was looking for a wealthy wife.

Henri IV or Henri of Navarre (1553-1610) has been celebrated by the French people as the monarch who was the epitome of justice, kindness, and virility. The fact of his many mistresses and bastards never hindered his popularity, so great were his achievements on behalf of the French people in ending the Wars of Religion. His childless first marriage with his cousin Marguerite de Valois was annulled so that he could have legitimate offspring. 

He married the much younger Marie de' Medici in 1600. Queen Marie, loving her husband, suffered from his unfaithfulness. She brought with her Dianora, renamed Leonora. Leonora married another Italian, a thug named Concini who later bullied his way into becoming a marshal of France. After the couple had several children, in 1610 Henri had Marie crowned and anointed at Notre Dame de Paris. The day after her coronation, Henri was stabbed to death in his coach in the streets of Paris. Marie became the Regent for their young son, Louis XIII.

As Regent, Queen Marie chose to avoid war by making peace with the other Catholic powers of Spain and the Empire. She believed that Catholic monarchies should unite to keep Protestantism at bay. Too often Queen Marie is dismissed as being "stupid" in histories of the time. But Henri IV would never have designated Marie to be Regent in case of his death if he had thought her hopelessly ignorant and helpless. Queen Marie had great devotion to the Virgin Mary, seeing her role as being like that of the Mother of God, the conduit of power between the king and his people. 

As regent for her son Louis XIII she was determined to keep France out of wars, especially wars with other Catholic countries. Her older daughters, Elisabeth, Queen of Spain and Christine, Duchess of Savoy, had been brought up with Marian devotion and saw their roles in their adopted countries as being active rather than passive. As for Louis XIII, he attained his majority in 1614, although Marie kept running the country. Louis overthrew his mother in 1617, and had Leonora and Concini executed. After a brief exile, Marie managed to make her way back to Paris, where she presided in majesty at the new Medici Palace, later known as the Luxembourg. And she had one more daughter left to marry off.

The youngest child, Henriette-Marie de France, born on 25 November, 1609, was perhaps Marie’s favorite as she greatly resembled Henri IV, in coloring and wiry agility, as well as in merriment and a sense of adventure. Marie arranged for her youngest daughter Henriette to marry in England because she believed there was a chance of bringing Charles I into Catholicism. Henrietta Maria, at age fifteen, tackled the insurmountable task of converting the British Isles back to Catholicism. 

Marie made Henriette promise never to become a Protestant and if she did, she would be cursed by Marie. Henriette never flagged in the practice of her Catholic faith no matter the cost. While Charles I never converted to Catholicism, his relationship with his devout wife was deeply spiritual, which enhanced the intense physical passion between them. They were happiest together and with their children. Their tragedy is that they were eventually separated by the Civil Wars as their family was scattered. Their two youngest children were captives of the enemy forces. And Charles I was eventually arrested and beheaded in 1649.

In Marie’s later years, another falling-out with her oldest son Louis XIII, and especially with his minister Cardinal de Richelieu, led to her exile in England, where she lived in St. James Palace. Marie was warmly welcomed by Charles I and Henriette, although they were in the throes of a constitutional crisis. Marie saw the coming disasters and, realizing her Catholic presence was causing political complications for Charles and Henriette, went to Germany to seek refuge with her friend the painter Rubens. 

The Thirty Years War was raging; Rubens had died but the ailing Queen was able to stay in a brewery in Cologne owned by the Rubens family. She died in the brewery in Cologne on 3 July, 1642 in a state of destitution, abandoned by her son Louis XIII, who would not allow her to die in France, although he later had her buried at Saint Denis. Mercifully, the Queen received the ministrations of the Carmelites of Cologne, to whom she bequeathed a cherished statue of the Blessed Virgin, one of her last possessions.

Elena Maria Vidal

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About the Author

Elena Maria Vidal was born in Florence, Oregon in 1962 but grew up in Frederick County, Maryland. She received her BA in Psychology from Hood College and her MA in Modern European History from SUNY Albany. She has been a member of the Secular Order of Mount Carmel since 1986. Elena enjoys cooking, gardening, opera and working with the elderly. She lives on Maryland’s Eastern Shore with her family. She is currently engaged in writing a historical fiction trilogy about Queen Henrietta Maria. Elena’s Tea at Trianon blog deals with social, religious and political issues as well as history. My Queen, My Love: A Novel of Henrietta Maria is her fifth novel and sixth book. Find out more from her blog, Tea at Trianon and find her on Twitter @emvidal