Book Review: The Tudor Cookbook: From Gilded Peacock to Calves' Feet Pie Paperback, by Terry Breverton

Available for pre-order from Amazon US 

and Amazon UK

Terry Breverton has clearly enjoyed bringing together over two hundred and fifty recipes from surviving records of the Tudor period. 

He suggests this is a splendid starting point for the adventurous cook - although some are a little alarming by modern standards, such as the secret of how to make a pie from which live birds emerge to delight the diners. (The origin of the nursery rhyme, four and twenty blackbirds.)

This little book is packed with fascinating details of authentic Tudor food. I was intrigued to learn how wide-ranging and exotic many of the ingredients were, showing the extent of medieval global trade. 

There is a useful list of references at the end, although I would have also liked to see an index. I will keep this on my bookshelf as a useful reference book, rather than as a source of recipes.

Tony Riches

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About the Author

Terry Breverton was born in Birmingham in 1946 to Welsh parents, and brought up in Wales before attending universities in England. He worked in over twenty countries before moving to acadaemia, lecturing in Milan, Bologna and Wales before escaping into full-time writing. A Fellow of the Institutes of Consulting and of Marketing, he has given the prestigious Bemis Lecture in Lincoln, Massachusetts, and has spoken twice at the National Festival of Wales in America and Canada. He has been awarded the Welsh Books Council's 'Book of the Month' five times. You can find Terry on Facebook. 

(A review copy of this book was kindly provided by Amberley Publishing)

Book Launch Guest Post: Inspiration For Writing We Shall See the Sky Sparkling, by Susana Aikin

New on Amazon UK and Amazon US

Set in London and Russia at the turn of the century, Susana Aikin’s debut introduces a vibrant young woman determined to defy convention and shape an extraordinary future.

Like other well-bred young women in Edwardian England, Lily Throop is expected to think of little beyond marriage and motherhood. Passionate about the stage, Lily has very different ambitions. To her father’s dismay, she secures an apprenticeship at London’s famous Imperial Theatre. Soon, her talent and beauty bring coveted roles and devoted admirers. Yet to most of society, the line between actress and harlot is whisper-thin. With her reputation threatened by her mentor’s vicious betrayal, Lily flees to St. Petersburg with an acting troupe
—leaving her first love behind.

If there was one mysterious, spellbinding female member in our family tree to look up to when I was growing up, it was our great grand aunt, Gertrude Throop Cable. The mention of her name in family gatherings always created tension. But whenever my four sisters and I, who lived in Madrid, Spain, got together with our four paternal cousins, who lived in Manchester, it was only a matter of time before speculation about Lily’s adventurous life would begin to bubble up. 

Gertrude in theatrical dancing costume

The men in the family were not thrilled with Gertrude’s story. My father and his brothers shifted uncomfortably in their chairs when the topic was brought up. ‘She was no lady’, was their unwavering verdict. They were conservative, and having a ‘bad girl’ in the family disquieted them. Although, it had originally been one of my uncles, a passionate genealogist, who had spent years collecting photographs, letters, official certificates and older family members’ testimonies, trying to assemble the puzzle of Gertrude’s story.

Gertrude Throop Cable

And the legend that emerged from his research went something like this: in 1898, Gertrude, then only seventeen, one of the beautiful and talented daughters of our strict Mancunian family, left the house against her father’s will to become an actress. She worked at the Imperial Theatre in London for a year or two before she joined a traveling theatre company that ended up in St. Petersburg, Russia. There she met a handsome Russian aristocrat, Sergei Nikolayevich Latvin, fell in love with him and followed him all the way east to Vladivostok, where they settled and had a baby daughter out of wedlock, Olga.

Olga, 1 year old

The story got blurry at this point. For some reason, she and Sergei were separated, and Gertrude was forced to return to St. Petersburg with baby Olga. She arrived in a very bad state of health, and was diagnosed with terminal tuberculosis, after which the Russian sanitary authorities demanded she leave the country immediately. Gertrude then left her child Olga behind with Sergei’s mother, and traveled all the way back to England where she died very soon after her arrival. Her sisters kept her letters, her jewels, and the amazing fur coat she brought with her which had been a gift from her beloved. She died in 1906 at the age of 24, and the death certificate declared her to be spinster and theatrical dancer, and to die of pulmonary phthisis. 

After that, all trace of baby Olga was lost to our family.

Back of picture sent from St. Petersburg, Russia, 1904.

Gertrude’s tragic death and her disappeared child were sources of a lot of speculation in our family conversations, especially the fate of baby Olga. What had happened to the little girl? Did she perish afterwards in the Russian Revolution? But Gertrude’s charisma outshone all else—to have an ancestress who had defied all conventions to pursue an artistic career bestowed a very particular badge on the women of the clan.

Years later, after I left my family and my homeland and moved to New York to become a filmmaker and a writer, I thought many times about Gertrude and her solo flight across Russia at the end of the 19th century. Plowing through the hardship of growing into an artist in a difficult, competitive world dominated –still today- by men, is a hard predicament for any woman at any time and place in history.

Only recently did it occur to me, one idle Sunday evening, to google Gertrude’s name, and when she popped up immediately under ancestry.com’s website, I knew I was in for a trip down the rabbit hole. The first surprise was to find her photograph uploaded onto another family tree: the descendants of her daughter Olga listed her as their grandmother. I learned instantly that Olga had survived and lived an interesting, rich life, had married into a wealthy Ukrainian family and migrated eventually to the US in the 1950s.

The picture her family had uploaded onto the site was very similar to the photo my mother kept on top of her writing desk in the living room. In both images, Gertrude is richly dressed in a long elegant coat with a fur stole that reaches below her knees, and a large, elaborate hat dressed with something resembling ostrich plumes, or some other exotic bird’s feather. Both photographs were taken in Saint Petersburg in 1900.

I immediately got in touch with her grandchildren, who were very generous in providing information to fill in the gaps of her story. The most important piece I obtained was the copy of a short life memoir written by Olga herself, in which besides narrating her own life, she recounts everything she knew about her mother. This is how it starts:

I was born in Vladivostok, Maritime Province of the Russian Far East, on January 6, 1903. My father was Sergei Nikolayevich Latkin, Commissioner of the Customs for the Far East. My mother was Gertrude Throop-Cable.

During the Russo-Japanese war in 1904 my mother took me to St. Petersburg, while my father remained as a war correspondent there. The Trans-Siberian railroad had not been built, or completed at that time. We had to cross the Lake Baikal on sleighs, it was winter and my mother contracted a cold, which due to her weak lungs developed into tuberculosis... I do not remember her, since I was only 1 1/2 years old… From what I was told and the photography I have, she was a beautiful woman. Artists always asked my father to have her sit for a painting.

The moment I started reading this document, I thought about writing a novel.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Susana Aikin

"Aikin's novel is expertly plotted and rife with historical details in both its English and Russian settings, making for a rich story of the prejudices women faced at the turn of the 20th century and how the class disparity in Russia ignited the flame of revolution."~ PUBLISHERS WEEKLY 

"Beginning and ending with letters written to her family, this novel has the feel of a serial drama. Readers of Pam Jenoff and Eva Stachniak will appreciate the strong-willed and artistically driven female character who finds her own way through difficult times."~ LIBRARY JOURNAL

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About the Author

Born in Spain of an English father and a Spanish mother, Susana Aikin is a writer and a filmmaker who has lived in New York City since 1982. She was educated in England and Spain; studied law at the University of Madrid, and later Creative Writing at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. In 1986 she started her own independent film production company, Starfish Productions, producing and directing documentary films that won her multiple awards, including an American Film Institute grant, a Rockefeller Fellowship and an Emmy Award in 1997. She started writing fiction full time in 2010. She has two sons, and now lives between Brooklyn and the mountains north of Madrid. Find out more at Susana's website https://www.susanaaikin.org/ and find her on Twitter @Susana_Aikin 

Book Launch: Blood & Sugar by Laura Shepherd-Robinson

New on Amazon UK and Amazon US

Blood & Sugar is the thrilling debut historical crime novel from Laura Shepherd-Robinson.

June, 1781. An unidentified body hangs upon a hook at Deptford Dock – horribly tortured and branded with a slaver’s mark.

Some days later, Captain Harry Corsham – a war hero embarking upon a promising parliamentary career – is visited by the sister of an old friend. Her brother, passionate abolitionist Tad Archer, had been about to expose a secret that he believed could cause irreparable damage to the British slaving industry. He’d said people were trying to kill him, and now he is missing . . .

To discover what happened to Tad, Harry is forced to pick up the threads of his friend’s investigation, delving into the heart of the conspiracy Tad had unearthed. His investigation will threaten his political prospects, his family’s happiness, and force a reckoning with his past, risking the revelation of secrets that have the power to destroy him.

And that is only if he can survive the mortal dangers awaiting him in Deptford . . .

‘A page-turner of a crime thriller . . . This is a world conveyed with convincing, terrible clarity’  ~ C. J. Sansom

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About the Author

Laura Shepherd-Robinson was born in Bristol in 1976. She has a BSc in Politics from the University of Bristol and an MSc in Political Theory from the London School of Economics. Laura worked in politics for nearly twenty years before re-entering normal life to complete an MA in Creative Writing at City University. She lives in London with her husband, Adrian. Visit Laura's website www.laurashepherdrobinson.com and find her on Twitter @LauraSRobinson

Guest Post by P. K. Adams, Author of The Column of Burning Spices: A Novel of Germany's First Female Physician (Hildegard of Bingen Book 2)

Available for pre-order  from

Amazon UK and Amazon US

The Column of Burning Spices is the second part of a series based on the life of Hildegard of Bingen, a 12th century German composer, mystic, writer, and physician. As I wrote on this blog last summer when the first part, The Greenest Branch, was released, I first learned about Hildegard in a music history class at university.

I became fascinated by this famous medieval woman who was not a royal. How did she manage to achieve such prominence without the prerequisites of high birth? And how did she navigate the societal strictures that prevented women from accessing education, living independent lives, and having a public voice?

The Greenest Branch (which is currently a semi-finalist for the 2018 Chaucer Awards for pre-1750 Historical Fiction and will compete for the Grand Prize in April 2019) focused on Hildegard’s early life, after she had been sent to the Benedictine Abbey of St. Disibod in the Rhineland at age eleven. It traced her struggle to secure an apprenticeship with the abbey infirmarian and then work her way up to the status of physician.

Along the way she had to fend off repeated attempts by Prior Helenger to stop her from treating patients and writing about medicine, and to relegate her permanently to the convent’s enclosure. By the end of the book, it was clear that Hildegard must leave the Abbey of St. Disibod if she wanted to live her life and her vocation as she saw fit. But in order to do that she needed to save a lot of money and obtain her superior’s permission.

The Column of Burning Spices, which will be released on February 1, 2019, picks up where The Greenest Branch left off. In her early 40s now, Hildegard has the funds to move and is at the pinnacle of her fame as a physician. She has also begun to write on topics other than medicine—namely theological matters. This puts her on a collision course with the monks who cite the biblical passages that admonish against “women teachers.”

But Hildegard has a plan. She shares her writing with Abbot Bernard of Clairvaux. He is both feared and respected throughout Europe and was a great admirer of Hildegard’s late predecessor at the helm of the convent, the ascetic Jutta von Sponheim. If he sanctions her activities, the monks will be powerless to stop her, and she might even win independence and establish her own foundation.

But will Bernard take up a woman’s cause and subvert centuries of established tradition? And will it be enough to protect Hildegard from a betrayal that lurks closer than she could ever imagine?

The Greenest Branch and The Column of Burning Spices are set against the backdrop of the lush oak forests, vineyard-covered hills, and sparkling rivers of the Rhineland, and bring to life the story of one of medieval era’s most fascinating and accomplished women.

P. K. Adams 

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About the Author

P.K. Adams is the pen name of Patrycja Podrazik. She has a master’s degree in European Studies from Yale University. She turned to fiction writing after a career that included working as a book publicist in New York and a copywriter and editor for a marketing company in Boston. She is a blogger and historical fiction reviewer at www.pkadams-author.com. Her debut novel, The Greenest Branch, a Novel of Germany’s First Female Physician, was published on Amazon in June 2018 and is currently a semi-finalist for the 2018 Chaucer Book Awards for Pre-1750 Historical Fiction. The second book in the series, The Column of Burning Spices, will be released in February 2019. She is a member of the Historical Novel Society and lives in Boston, Massachusetts. Find out more at her website https://pkadams-author.com/ and follow her on Twitter @pk_adams

Book Launch Interview with Kaya Quinsey, Author of Valentine in Venice

New on Amazon UK, Amazon US

and Amazon Canada

Valentine wants to prove to herself that she's no longer the impulsive, daring girl who got married (and quickly divorced) in Vegas to a man she barely knew. Now, she is living by a new set of rules: planned, cautious, and carefully executed. But her plan is challenged when she falls (literally) into the path of her first love, Lorenzo. And with Valentine's Day around the corner, will Valentine be able to keep herself from making another big mistake?

I'm pleased to welcome Canadian author kaya Quinsey to The Writing Desk:

Tell us about your latest book?

Thank you for welcoming me to your blog, Tony. My latest book, Valentine in Venice, is a sweet romance novella set in none other than Venice. Valentine Wells returns to Venice. After having visited ten years earlier when she was just sixteen years old, it was where she had impulsively met Lorenzo Dipachio. Her first kiss. Her first love.

Now twenty-six, Valentine is a successful wedding photographer in Chicago. Still impulsive, Valentine is recently divorced after being married for about a minute in Las Vegas. And she doesn't miss the irony of being a divorced wedding photographer. Also dealing with her mother's recent diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer's, Valentine's father convinces her that she needs a break.

Now that she is back in Venice, Valentine wants to prove to herself that she's no longer the impulsive, daring girl who got married (and quickly divorced) in Vegas to a man she barely knew. Now, she is living by a new set of rules: planned, cautious, and carefully executed. 

But her plan is challenged when she falls (literally) into the path of her first love, Lorenzo. And with Valentine's Day around the corner, will Valentine be able to keep herself from making another big mistake?

What inspired you to write Valentine in Venice? 

Venice is, without a doubt, one of my favourite places I've had the chance to visit. I knew that I wanted Venice to act as a meaningful setting in a future book. After having written 'A Coastal Christmas', I toyed with the idea of writing another holiday-themed novella. And with Valentine's Day coming up quickly, all of the pieces fell into place.

What advice do you have for aspiring writers?

Keep writing! 

What was the hardest scene you remember writing?

The first scene from the first chapter was hardest scene to write. I wanted to do Venice justice, while also introducing the main character, Valentine Wells, and her backstory. 

What are you planning on writing next?

I am currently planning on writing a sequel to 'Paris Mends Broken Hearts'. Keep an eye out for it! Thank you so much, Tony, for having me on your blog. It has been a pleasure!

Kaya Quinsey

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About the Author

Kaya Quinsey holds her undergraduate and master’s degree in psychology. The author of three books, her work has sold in seven countries. Kaya’s passion for culture, travel, and psychology blend for a reading style that is fun, full of surprises, and easy to read. A romantic at heart, Kaya’s writing offers a contemporary twist to traditional love stories. Through her stories, she hopes to inspire readers to fiercely chase their dreams. Find out more at Kaya's website: www.kayaquinsey.com and find her on Twitter @kayaquinsey 

New: Tales of Freya – Sensual Short Stories, by Sarah Dahl

New on  Amazon UK and Amazon US

In this collection of adult bedtime stories, Sarah Dahl pulls back the curtain of history to depict the erotic lives of Viking men and women. Amid the stark landscapes of fjords, forests and snowcapped mountain peaks, her characters search for love and passion. Dahl authentically illuminates the sensual side of a world of battle and plunder in an alluring collection perfect for every lover of gritty Viking romance.

A warrior recovering by a river is drawn into an unforeseen skirmish with a beautiful shield maiden. An enslaved Christian monk is entranced by his captors’ pagan allure. A dissatisfied housewife finds that her home holds an unexpected and liberating secret. An injured farmer is captivated by the magic of his irresistible healer ...

In a world of crackling fires and rough landscapes, long winters and bloody raids, the immediacy of life and death ignites undeniable passions. Warriors and monks, healers and housewives – all follow the call of their hearts and bodies to indulge in pleasures that may forever change their lives.

Why Freya is the perfect namegiver for a series of Viking sensual romance with grit

There are many reasons why this collection of sensual tales had to carry the name of the goddess Freya. First and foremost, Freya was the goddess of love and war (as well as sex, lust, beauty, sorcery, fertility, gold, and death) for the Vikings. Both themes dominate my stories: love, passion, desire, battles and fights of all kinds.

The name Freya (in Old Norse "Freyja") means "lady". Her name can be spelled Freya, Freija, Frejya, Freyia, Fröja, Frøya, Frøjya, Freia, Freja, Frua, and Freiya. She is from the Vanir gods, but became an honorable member of the Aesir after the war between the Aesir and Vanir ended.

Freya lives in Asgard (the home of the gods, as opposed to Midgard, the home of the Vikings on earth). Her house is located by the field Fólkvangr, the "field of the host", "people field" or "army field". Half of the warriors who died in a battle go to her for the afterlife, while Odin will receive the other half. Freya is always given the first choice among the brave warriors after she had picked the ones she wanted, the rest were sent to Odin. I'm quite sure which of my warriors she would have found worthy to live with her …

Freya is incredibly beautiful and she has many admirers, not just among the gods and goddesses but also among the dwarves and giants. And among the humans: The magic of the goddess Freya is a constant topic in many original tales, such as the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources as well as in the Prose Edda and the Heimskringla, composed by Snorri Sturluson in the 13th century. She appears in several Sagas of Icelanders, in the short story "Sörla þáttr", in the poetry of skalds, which were the storytellers of the Viking Age.

And now she also becomes the fitting title- and theme-giver and a frequent addressee for my characters in the Tales of Freya, my collection of sensual Viking romance short stories.

But she is not only the topic of many tales — she also has a big passion for poems and stories herself, and she loves to sit and listen to songs for many hours. So Freya surely is a fitting goddess to grace the cover of these Viking Tales about human battles and passions! Freya herself loves and grieves passionately. When she was left by her lover, she cried tears that turned into amber or gold.

But did you know: Freya also has a boar named Hildisvini, "battle swine", which she rides when she is not using her cat-drawn chariot. And here comes a very naughty tale: they say the boar is Freya’s human lover, Ottar, in disguise — so Loki consistently accuses her of being immoral by riding her lover in public…

Who would have thought the Viking mythology was quite so … naughty?
The goddess surely makes one fascinating protagonist …

Someone should definitely write her many stories down.

Skål to the goddess of love and war – wishing you happy holidays and a wonderful new year!

Sarah Dahl

(additional source: https://norse-mythology.net/freya-the-goddess-of-love-in-norse-mythology, accessed Nov 15, 2018)

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About the Author

Sarah Dahl lives on the edge of the rural German Eifel and writes historical fiction (novels and short stories) primarily set in the Viking age. She also works as an editor, translates, and coaches new writers in German and English. She is interested in everyday life in bygone centuries and the human stories that may have occurred behind the hard, historical facts. Find out more at Sarah's website www,sarah-dahl.com and find her on Facebook and Twitter @sarahdahl13

Book Spotlight ~ The Blue, by Nancy Bilyeau

Available from Amazon UK and Amazon US

In eighteenth century London, porcelain is the most seductive of commodities; fortunes are made and lost upon it. Kings do battle with knights and knaves for possession of the finest pieces and the secrets of their manufacture.

For Genevieve Planché, an English-born descendant of Huguenot refugees, porcelain holds far less allure; she wants to be an artist, a painter of international repute, but nobody takes the idea of a female artist seriously in London. If only she could reach Venice.

When Genevieve meets the charming Sir Gabriel Courtenay, he offers her an opportunity she can’t refuse; if she learns the secrets of porcelain, he will send her to Venice. But in particular, she must learn the secrets of the colour blue…

The ensuing events take Genevieve deep into England’s emerging industrial heartlands, where not only does she learn about porcelain, but also about the art of industrial espionage.

With the heart and spirit of her Huguenot ancestors, Genevieve faces her challenges head on, but how much is she willing to suffer in pursuit and protection of the colour blue?

‘...transports the reader into the heart of the 18th century porcelain trade—where the price of beauty was death.’ - E.M. Powell, author of the Stanton & Barling medieval mystery series. 

'Bilyeau is an impressive talent who brings to life a heart-stopping story of adventure, art and espionage during the Seven Years War.' - Stephanie Dray, bestselling author of My Dear Hamilton

'With rich writing, surprising twists, and a riveting sense of 'you are there,' The Blue is spine-tingling entertainment.' – Gayle Lynds, New York Times bestselling author of The Assassins

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About the Author

Nancy Bilyeau studied History at the University of Michigan and has worked on the staffs of "InStyle," "Good Housekeeping," and "Rolling Stone." She is currently the deputy editor of the Center on Media, Crime and Justice at the Research Foundation of CUNY and a regular contributor to "Town & Country" and "The Vintage News." Nancy's mind is always in past centuries but she currently lives with her husband and two children in New York City. Find out more at Nancy's website www.nancybilyeau.com and find her on Facebook and Twitter @Tudorscribe

Book Launch Excerpt from Sisters of Arden, by Judith Arnopp

Available for pre-order from

 Amazon UK and Amazon US

England 1536: For almost four hundred years Arden Priory remains unchanged until a nameless child is abandoned at the gatehouse door; the nuns take her in and raise her as one of their own.

As Henry VIII’s second queen dies on the scaffold, the embittered King strikes out, and unprecedented change sweeps across the country. The bells of the great abbeys fall silent, the church and the very foundation of the realm begin to crack. 

Determined to preserve their way of life, novitiate nuns Margery and Grace join a pilgrimage thirty thousand strong and attempt to lead the heretic king back to grace.

Sisters of Arden is a story of valour, virtue and veritas.

An excerpt from Sisters of Arden

1537 - Yorkshire

We run, heads down through the darkness, away from the cries of our dying friends and the sickening thud of their falling bodies.
  Ducking through a garden gate, I cast about for a hay store or a tangle of bushes that might conceal us. Grabbing her wrist, I pull Frances into a briar patch, the thorns snagging and tearing at our robes and limbs. As we crouch in the dark, she trembles and wipes her wet cheeks on my sleeve. I can just distinguish her bone-white face and the stark terror in her eyes, and I am sickened with guilt that I have led her to this. Her life is now forfeit to my mistaken conviction that simple folk can make a difference.
  I grope for God in the faithless void of my mind, begging that the king’s men grow tired of the hunt and ride away, back to their warm hearths, their laden tables, and their fragrant, sinful wives. Frances’ teeth begin to rattle, her breath faltering as her courage dwindles. I give her a gentle shake and put a warning finger against her lips, beseeching her to be silent, to be brave for just a little longer.
  As the stealthy hooves draw closer to our hiding place, we hold our breath, sinking deeper into the undergrowth when he halts just a little way above our heads. The dank aroma of rotting vegetation rises; the tang of frost tickles my nose and pinches my toes. Frances trembles so violently it is indistinguishable from the juddering of my own body. I fumble for prayer, nausea washing over me as I fail to recall a single one.
  A creak of harness as the rider shifts in his saddle. I cannot see him but when the horse snorts, in my mind’s eye his breath mists the darkness, rising wraith-like in the night. I can feel the rake of the man’s gaze as he searches, seeking out our hiding place. My lungs strain fit to burst, my chest is aching, and I am ready to relinquish my freedom for just one blessed breath. The horse stirs, turns and moves away, and we fill our lungs with fresh damp air. We clutch hands as the vague hope of escape returns.
  Then noise erupts with a harsh yelp. A hound is loosed and, with a furious growl, it crashes through the hedge. As I fall backward, I glimpse a lolling tongue, and yellow eyes stare briefly into mine; cold, murderous eyes. Frances’ scream shatters the night as the jaws clamp down upon her wrist.
  “Let go! Let go!” I strike out with my bare feet, feeling the crack of bony ribs beneath a silken coat.   The hound yelps but holds on fast, screaming aloud as I kick out again, hammering his head with my heels. The air fills with a confusion of hooves, screaming women, and triumphant male laughter as they lay hands upon us. As they drag me to my feet, Frances gives a loud unintelligible sound that breaks my heart.
  “Please,” I beg, as my hands are wrenched behind me and roughly held. “We are nuns from Arden. My sister has done nothing. Take me, but … let Sister Frances go – she ... she doesn’t understand.”
  A white dagger of agony flashes through my skull as my captor clouts me around the ear. My head rings and my vision blurs. Through a fog of pain, I realise they are hauling Frances from the ground, dragging us both rudely forward.
  “Hold them,” the man on the horse orders, and their grip tightens as he slides from his saddle, hawks and spits on the ragged skirts of my habit before slowly unfurling a rope from his belt.
  The knots are tight about my wrists; my hands are numb. I cry out as the horse jolts forward and, tethered to the saddle, all we can do is follow him. Agonisingly, we retrace our route back the way we have come, through the hamlets and homesteads that earlier offered us shelter.
  Our cause is lost. Our peaceful mission to bring England back to the true church has failed; doomed by the promises of a false king. In the lightening dawn, the slack-limbed, sightless bodies of those who aided us sway as we pass. The voiceless, lifeless men, women and children who dared to share our questioning of the king’s wisdom gape blindly at our passing.
  We will join them soon; our useless lives cut short, our fruitless existence ended in ignominy.
  My throat grows tight. How have we come to this?

# # #

About the author

When Judith Arnopp began to write professionally there was no question as to which genre to choose. A lifelong history enthusiast and avid reader, Judith holds an honours degree in English and Creative writing, and a Masters in Medieval Studies, both from the University of Wales, Lampeter. Judith writes both fiction and non-fiction, working full-time from her home overlooking Cardigan Bay in Wales where she crafts novels based in the Medieval and Tudor period. Her main focus is on the perspective of historical women from all roles of life, prostitutes to queens. Her novels include: The Beaufort Chronicles: the life of Lady Margaret Beaufort (three book series); A Song of Sixpence; Intractable Heart; The Kiss of the Concubine; The Winchester Goose; The Song of Heledd; The Forest Dwellers, and Peaceweaver. Her latest book, Sisters of Arden, is told from the perspective of a novitiate nun during the dissolution of the monasteries. Her non-fiction articles feature in various historical anthologies and magazines. Find out more at Judith's website www.judithmarnopp.com and find her on Facebook and Twitter @JudithArnopp

Special Book Launch Guest Post ~ The writing of Miss Marley, by Rebecca Mascull (In Memory of Author Vanessa Lafaye)

New on Amazon UK and Amazon US

Before A Christmas Carol there was… Miss Marley

A seasonal tale of kindness and goodwill

Orphans Clara and Jacob Marley live by their wits, scavenging for scraps in the poorest alleyways of London, in the shadow of the workhouse. Every night, Jake promises his little sister ‘tomorrow will be better’ and when the chance to escape poverty comes their way, he seizes it despite the terrible price.

The writing of Miss Marley

My friend Vanessa Lafaye was an historical novelist who loved Dickens, just like me. We bonded over reading each other’s first novels. We could see instantly that we both had the same feeling about history, that we loved the modern world of decent medical and social care, easy transport and communications, Twitter and Facebook and having hot cross buns all year round. But imaginatively we lived in the past and didn’t want to live anytime else, thanks very much.

We discovered a mutual love of Dickens. I’d read all of his novels when I was pregnant and he became my all-time number one novelist. In one of our first conversations Vanessa suggested (jokingly, kind of) that we begin an A Christmas Carol appreciation society.

Vanessa had cancer the whole time I knew her. It didn’t define her life though and she just got on, writing gorgeous books and making dear friends throughout the writing world. We lived at opposite ends of the country, so didn’t see each other much but we kept in touch regularly via Skype calls and messaging. Her condition became terminal. This year, it became clear that her time was running out and she only had a few months left. She’d just got a new deal with HarperCollins for a prequel to A Christmas Carol called Miss Marley. 

She was writing against the clock. She messaged me from a ship near New Zealand on a trip of a lifetime, asking me questions about Scrooge’s timeline and I sent her pictures of pages from the novel and talked it through. The writing was going really well and she was determined to finish it. In February 2018, we made a date to talk about her next book the following week. She died three days later. Miss Marley was two-thirds completed. Her time had run out. Too soon, too soon, for a thousand reasons.

In March 2018, HarperCollins asked me if I would consider writing the final chapters of Vanessa’s novella. I didn’t have to think about it for a second. Of course I wanted to do it. I was sent the 22,000 words Vanessa had already written and I read it with a pencil in hand, covering it in notes. I was looking for patterns in her style, such as the way she used figurative language, the details she liked to focus on and key phrases or ideas that should be reiterated and developed in the final section I was to write. 

As I read, my mind automatically began projecting forward into how these plot strands might play out and where I, as a reader as much as a writer, wanted these characters to end up. We had very little information on what Vanessa planned for the ending and so, after discussion with the publishers and those close to Vanessa, it was decided that I should write the ending as I felt it should naturally end. I had a clear picture in my head of what should happen and it was agreed by my editor Kate. I was ready to write.

The deadline was tight. It was May 2018 and they wanted the book published in November of this year, in time for Christmas. I sat down at my desk to write. I could have laboured over it and edited manically as I went along and agonised over every word – does this sound like Vanessa? Is this how she would have written it? I decided that way madness lay and also it would have created stilted prose. I realised I just had to get on with it. I had to write it how it came naturally, how it flowed. 

So I started writing, very fast, thousands of words a day. I got the whole thing finished in five days, around twelve thousand words. I didn’t think much as I wrote, I just let it flow. At points, it felt like a kind of channelling. Read into that what you will. That’s just how it felt at the time. It was a strange and beautiful experience. When I read what I’d written, I had no idea if it was similar to Vanessa’s style, if it worked as an ending or if people would approve of it. It’s like when you’ve been cooking a stew all day and you keep tasting it and it starts to taste of nothing. People close to Vanessa read it and they all liked it. 

No changes were called for. I’ve never had so little editing in my whole writing career. It was a lovely thing to do and a sad thing to do. It brought me closer to Vanessa and made me miss her presence even more. I’m so glad I was asked and I hope she would have liked it. I’ll never know, but I did the best I could. I hope Mr Dickens wouldn’t be too outraged with it either. It’s a lovely, touching story, all about goodwill and humanity. I hope you enjoy Vanessa’s last book and I heartily I recommend you read it on Christmas Eve! Thank you.

Rebecca Mascull

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About the Author

Rebecca Mascull is the author of three historical novels, all published by Hodder & Stoughton.

Her first novel, THE VISITORS, tells the story of Adeliza Golding, a deaf-blind child living on her father’s hop farm in Victorian Kent. Her second novel SONG OF THE SEA MAID is set in the C18th and concerns an orphan girl who becomes a scientist and makes a remarkable discovery. Her third novel, THE WILD AIR, is about a shy Edwardian girl who learns to fly and becomes a celebrated aviatrix but the shadow of war is looming. After previously working in education, Rebecca is now a full-time writer. She has a Masters in Writing and lives by the sea in the East of England. Rebecca also writes sagas under the pen-name Mollie Walton. Find out more at Rebecca's website rebeccamascull.co.uk and find her on Facebook and Twitter @rebeccamascull

Vanessa Lafaye