Guest Post by Rozsa Gaston, Author of Anne and Charles: Passion and Politics in Late Medieval France: The Story of Anne of Brittany's Marriage to Charles VIII

Available on Amazon UK and Amazon US

Anne of Brittany and Charles VIII: Political alliance or true love? 

France, 1491:  In the fall of 1491 twenty-one-year-old Charles VIII of France is king, but he doesn't feel like one. When he marries Anne of Brittany in a political alliance, he acquires a wife who already feels like a queen and guides her husband to feeling like the king he already is. The brimming self-confidence of Brittany's ruler inspires his own, and fans the flames of their attraction into a lasting love. Their partnership and shared interest in new techniques in design and architecture from Italy results in the introduction of the Italian Renaissance to France.

Chateau Royal d’Amboise

Royal residence of Charles VIII of France and Anne of Brittany 

during the years of their marriage, 1491-1498

Amboise, Loire Valley, France

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Renaissance Gardens of the Chateau Royal d’Amboise
Designed by Pacello Mercogliano of Naples and commissioned by Anne and Charles
First Renaissance garden to be introduced in France, designed 1495-1497
Photo courtesy of Stephane Bern, Anne de Bretagne: Secrets d’Histoire

Anne and Charles presents French king Charles VIII in a new historical light, not as the naïve pawn of his older sister, Anne de Beaujeu, France’s regent in Charles’s minority, but as a young man with a sincere heart fired by the chivalrous tales of Roland. Charles successfully throws off his older sister’s powerful regency with the newfound confidence his bride Anne of Brittany gives him.

Charles VIII and Anne of Brittany on their wedding day

Waxwork reenactment of their Dec. 6, 1491 marriage ceremony

Great Hall of Chateau de Langeais, Loire Valley, France

Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Anne de Beaujeu, regent of France from 1483-1491 stands on far left\

Wax reenactment of secret wedding of Anne of Brittany with Charles VIII of France
Both were betrothed to others: Anne to Maximilian I of Austria, Charles to his daughter Margaret of Austria

At age fourteen, Anne of Brittany has been ruler of Brittany for three years since her father died in 1488. She lacks the resources with which to rule her country, which Charles gives her by marrying her, saving Brittany from desecration by France. Additionally, he crowns Anne Queen of France to add to her title of Duchess of Brittany.

Both Anne and Charles are pleased with what the other offers, politically and personally. Anne's objective is to retain Brittany's independence from France. Charles's aim is to fold Brittany into his kingdom. But the surprising and lasting passion they develop for each other early on in their marriage tempers their opposing political objectives.

Portraits of Anne of Brittany and Charles VIII, artist unknown, c. 1492

Chateau Royal d’Amboise, Amboise, France, photos by R. Gaston

Charles's lack of self-confidence, due to his neglected upbringing, manifests itself in his incessant need to prove himself. At age twenty-four, he invades Italy with the French army, based on a flimsy Angevin claim to the throne of Naples. After twenty months in Italy, he is forced to cede Naples by the combined forces of Venice, Milan, Spain, and the Holy Roman Empire. His army returns to France, defeated and with many men carrying syphilis. But with him, Charles brings back artists, artisans, architects and designers who introduce the glories of the Italian Renaissance to France, beginning at his and Anne’s royal residence in Amboise.

 Repeatedly faithless to Anne, despite his reliance on her love and support for him, Charles finally reforms his ways in a crisis of conscience during Anne's seventh pregnancy. Believing that he is being divinely punished for his faithlessness to his wife by the death of all of their children, he gives up his dalliances and turns to managing the affairs of his kingdom.

But it is too late…

Next month’s guest post on Anne and Louis, Book Two of the Anne of Brittany Series.

ANNE AND CHARLES excerpt:

STROLLING DOWN TO the great hall Charles paused on the threshold, searching for a small figure within. The room was filled with courtiers and wedding guests, all of them noble, except for the six Bretons from Rennes in the corner. They were talking animatedly in their strange rolling accents, most likely on the subject of a duty well done.
God, it had been well done. And duty had had nothing to do with it. Scanning the room, he searched for the little bird who had laughed then cried the night before, finally falling into the sweet sleep of exhaustion in his arms until late in the morning. When they had awoken, her head had been nestled against his chest and he had felt himself a hundred times the man he had thought himself to be the morning before.
His heart swelled to think of it. Standing, he was constantly reminded of how inferior he was in height. But lying down with his Breton princess on his chest, he had felt as tall as he needed to be. The woman had the sort of ability to make him feel differently about himself than he ever had. Good God, she had even called him clever. What he most liked about her was what he most lacked in himself: her confidence. Starting with the night before, he felt as if he was beginning to have some, too.
Moving further into the great hall he traversed its length, unnoticed by anyone, as usual, due to his short stature and unprepossessing demeanor. He could do nothing about his height. But he would work on his demeanor, beginning that day. Finally, there was someone in his life he wished to prove himself to, again and again. He didn’t doubt she would advise him on how to prove himself before his public, too.
Looking everywhere for her, he avoided the eyes of his guests, who were beginning to notice he was in their midst. Where was his minx when he needed her?
“Sire! Your Majesty!” The duke of Bourbon slapped Charles heartily on the back. “Did you sleep well?” His eyes twinkled at Charles with the expected post-nuptial-night mirth.
“Not a wink, Monsieur. Too busy,” Charles replied, thinking it was not far from the truth.
“Good lad, Your Majesty. Work well done!”
Charles reached out and grabbed the duke of Bourbon's wrist. He gazed coolly into the older man’s eyes.
“What's that? What's that?” the duke spluttered, staring at the king's hand upon his wrist, the mirth draining from his face.
“You will never again address me as 'lad', Sire Beaujeu. I am your king and your sovereign.” Charles willed himself to remain calm.
“Yes, Your Majesty. Your Grace.” Pierre de Bourbon struggled to regain his composure as Charles released his wrist. He bowed to the king and when he stood again his eyes held new respect for the short youth over whom he and his wife had served as regents for the past eight years.
“And you may tell your wife the same, do you understand?” Charles stared into the older man’s eyes.
“Y-yes, Sire, I will do so at the first opportunity,” the duke of Bourbon spluttered.
“Good. Then let us break fast together. I am famished.” Charles slapped his sister’s husband on the back in precisely the same patronizing manner the duke had done to him a moment earlier.
The room had quieted. Glancing around, Charles caught Guillaume de Roquefort gazing at him with a look the king had never seen his chancellor face him with before: respect.
“What's the matter, Guillaume? Do you not recognize your newly-married king?”  Charles eyed his chancellor coolly.
“Your Majesty, I am your humble servant.” De Roquefort bent one knee before him. As he did, the other men in the room followed suit. One by one, Charles d'Angoulême, Louis d'Orleans, the count de Vendome, and the count de Foix all knelt, and as they did Charles was pleased to see he stood taller than any of them, for once.
The new order had begun. He would see to it that it continued. But he needed help. Where was she?

Anne and Charles at the time of Anne’s coronation as Queen of France, February 1492

By Jean Bourdichon, c. 1492

Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Available for pre-order now is my new short story The Least Foolish Woman in France. Readers might be interested to learn the true tale of how Anne of Brittany’s second husband was sexually harassed in young adulthood by his sister-in-law Anne de Beaujeu, France’s most powerful woman at the time. This story is short but riveting, a surprising twist on the #MeToo movement.

On pre-order now, it comes out April 12, 2019. Post a short review on Amazon by the end of April and receive an eBook edition of any of my other books for free.

Rozsa Gaston

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About the Author

Rozsa Gaston writes playful books on serious matters, including the struggles women face to get what they want out of life. She studied European history at Yale, and received her Master’s degree in international affairs from Columbia University. She worked at Institutional Investor, then as a hedge funds marketer. Entirely unsuited to the world of finance, she was happy to give it up to become a full-time novelist. Gaston lives in Bronxville, New York with her family and is currently working on Anne and Louis: Middle Years, Book Three of the Anne of Brittany Series. If you read and enjoy Sense of Touch, please post a review at http://lrd.to/SENSEOFTOUCH to help others find this book. One sentence is enough to let readers know what you thought. Drop Rozsa Gaston a line on Facebook to let her know you posted a review and receive as thanks an eBook edition of any other of Gaston’s books: Anne and Charles, Anne and Louis, The Least Foolish Woman in France, Paris Adieu, or Black is Not a Color. Visit her at www.rozsagaston.com or at https://www.rozsagastonauthor.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rozsagastonauthor  Instagram: rozsagastonauthor  and on Twitter: @RozsaGaston

See Also:

Anne of Brittany? Raised to rule, she knew how to lead: Guest Post by Rozsa Gaston, Author of Sense of Touch

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

Guest Post by Steven A. McKay: Researching The Druid and the 'Dark Ages.'

Northern Britain, AD430 A land in turmoil. A village ablaze. A king’s daughter abducted. In the aftermath of a surprise attack Dun Buic lies in smoking ruins and many innocent villagers are dead. As the survivors try to make sense of the night’s events the giant warrior-druid, Bellicus, is tasked with hunting down the raiders and thwarting their dark purpose. 

Available on Amazon UK and Amazon US

As an author of historical fiction it is absolutely vital that you have a good idea of the period you are writing about. What did they wear? What did they eat, drink, do for fun? And, in the case of my latest book, The Druid, what was their religion like? 

My first series was a retelling of the Robin Hood legend so that was fairly simple to research—there’s hundreds of books out there on the medieval period and probably the same number about the infamous outlaw. The druids, however, are a different matter entirely. 

We all have our own perception of what a druid would have been like, and probably most of us think of an old, grey-bearded man, in a long robe, holding a staff. Gandalf, or Merlin, essentially. The thing is, there are very few historical records from this period of time (5th century Britain in the case of my novel), with much of what we do have being basically propaganda written by the Romans to demonize their enemies.

So what to do? Where to start researching a book about a dark age druid? Well, the fact there are so few records about the druids can actually be seen as a good thing as it gives a writer license to use their own imagination to create a character and a religion of their own. However, we do know much about things like the weapons, buildings, foods, names of local gods and goddesses and so on, and that means we can steep ourselves in that and build a solid picture of the time in our head. This planting of oneself in a particular era is something I always do with my books and it allows me to build a solid, realistic world for the characters to appear within.

To find out more about the post-Roman period in Britain I made use of a number of books like Simon Young’s A.D. 500, which gives a fantastic overview, from the point of a Roman tourist actually, of the entire country and the peoples of the time. Then there’s Ancient Scotland by David Ross with chapters titled, for example, “Picts’ Houses”, “Farmhouses, Duns and Crannogs”, and “Languages of North Britain and Caledonia”. This is a fabulous little volume which is crammed with useful information. With these, and more, I was able to root myself in 5th century Britain, and then it was onto the difficult part: The Druids and their religion.

There are a few books available on the druids, but, it has to be said, no-one really knows anything for certain about them. One person who hadn’t even read my book, just seen an advert for it, complained about my use of Stonehenge because, to her, the druids were not interested in that monument – they venerated trees and water and open spaces, not some man-made ‘temple’. The evidence suggests that is true, but to me, if a druid felt inspired by a stone circle they’d have incorporated it in their work, without question. I would!

Similarly, everyone knows the druids sacrificed humans to their bloodthirsty gods, right? Well, maybe they did at one point but the religion of the druids was not like Christianity, with a rigid set of doctrines and commandments and rituals to be followed to the letter. My druid, Bellicus, would have learned his craft at the feet of his elders, but surely he would have used his own intuition and personal preference when it came to performing his ‘magic’. Much of what they did was down to performance anyway—how can an author research something like that?

You can’t, because, quite simply, no druids wrote anything down about what they did, so the writer is free to make up his own set of rules that stick to the known facts already discovered by reading books like The Quest For Merlin by Nikolai Tolstoy. That is a treasure trove of information on the oldest sources from Wales and Ireland in particular that deal with Merlin. If anyone can be said to be a druid it’s that guy, so where better to start researching than with this book?

The internet is also a valuable tool for finding period-correct things like names to use for characters, and even Youtube is handy. For the sequel to The Druid I wanted to describe a scene where the characters set animal traps and, having no knowledge of hunting myself, I found a video showing how to make a really simple snare, allowing me to describe it in the book.

Sometimes it’s simply not possible to visit a location yourself. I still worked a full-time day-job when I was writing my Robin Hood books so never once set foot in Yorkshire or Nottingham – yet readers who live there told me I’d got things spot on! With The Druid being, in part, set near my own home though, it allowed me to make some field trips to places like Dumbarton Castle and the site of a Roman fort, take pictures, note the geography and, perhaps best of all, just absorb the atmosphere. It’s amazing to stand someplace your character has ‘stood’ hundreds of years earlier and put yourself in their place!

I’m not going to detail every resource I used to research my novel—you can see many of the books in my photos, although there’s more stashed all around the house and in my car! The point, as with researching any historical novel, is to read as widely as possible, take what you need from each source, and mould it all into an exciting, somewhat-believable tale (I will say, there’s no fantasy style magic in The Druid, it’s supposed to be a realistic account of an adventure that might really have taken place).

Once you have your foundation you can let your imagination fly! 

THE DRUID excerpt

Bellicus drew the knife from its sheath at his waist and jumped headlong from the table, using the momentum to propel himself through the air at one of the nearest invaders. He crashed into the man, a great bearded brute with flashing eyes, and hammered the blade into his neck. The wound erupted in a gout of blood which drenched the druid’s hand, but Bellicus moved on without stopping.

“Cai! Here, boy!” The muscular hound slipped through the confused, shouting mass of people and appeared by the giant’s side as he fixed upon another target. “Attack.”

The dog lunged forward and fastened upon the man’s wrist, powerful jaws crushing the bones and drawing a scream of pure agony which was cut off as Bellicus punched him in the mouth, knocking him backwards to the ground. Cai moved then from arm to throat and, again, like some avenging demon, the druid’s huge robed figure moved on, searching for more of these attackers to kill, the lean form of Eolas now at his rear.

It wasn’t going well for the invaders, he could see. Some of the local men, and women too, had shown their courage by fighting back, despite the fact they wore no armour or carried war gear and now, only three of the intruders still stood.

One of those was beset by both Coroticus and Nectovelius and it was clear the man, tiring as he was, wouldn’t survive long, especially as the king’s guards were moving to surround him.

Another fell as Bellicus watched, borne down under the weight of four or five furious locals whose knives rose and fell in a bloody spray.

The third, a short barrel of a man, stood in front of the doors, almost as if he was guarding them, and Bellicus’s eyes narrowed thoughtfully. Why wasn’t the fool escaping? His companions were beaten and he’d be killed soon too if he didn’t get away.

A shiver ran down the druid’s neck. Something was amiss here – this was no simple raid gone wrong. 

“Take him alive!” he shouted, but as the cry left his mouth someone threw an empty amphora at the stocky swordsman, the pottery smashing into pieces on the unfortunate’s skull.

“Alive,” Bellicus roared again, but the people were too enraged to heed his words and they set about the downed interloper with fists and feet and whatever else they could find.

The screams didn’t last long. The hall was far from silent though, the babble of fear and confusion almost raising the rafters as everyone wondered what to do.

Men eyed the smashed doors, wanting to run to their homes and gather their shields and swords and axes, but fearing what might be out there waiting for them.

The king hurried across to Bellicus and together they peered at the doorway, trying vainly to see what, or who, might be waiting outside for them.

“Can’t stay in here all night,” the druid growled, and Coroticus nodded grimly.

“Guards, form up behind me.”

Steven A. McKay

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About the Author

Steven A. McKay was born in Scotland in 1977. His first book, "Wolf's Head", came out in 2013 and was an Amazon UK top 20 bestseller. "The Abbey of Death” is the final book in the Forest Lord series which has over 100,000 sales so far. Steven's new book, "The Druid" is the first in a brand new series set in post-Roman Britain and was published on November 1st 2018. He is now finishing off a standalone novel about a slave in Roman Britain. He plays guitar and sings in a heavy metal band when they can find the time to meet up. Find out more at his website https://stevenamckay.com/ and find him on Twitter @SA_McKay.

Guest Post by Sharon Bennett Connolly, Author of Silk and the Sword: The Women of the Norman Conquest, by

New from Amazon UK and Amazon US

Harold II of England had been with Edith Swanneck for twenty years but in 1066, in order to strengthen his hold on the throne, he married Ealdgyth, sister of two earls. William of Normandy’s Duchess, Matilda of Flanders, had supposedly only agreed to marry the Duke after he’d pulled her pigtails and thrown her in the mud. Harald Hardrada had two wives – apparently at the same time. So, who were these women? What was their real story? And what happened to them after 1066?

The Kievan Connection: First Wife of Harald Hardrada

When I started writing Silk and the Sword: The Women of the Norman Conquest I discovered that there are several Kievan links to the story of 1066. The baby sons of England’s short-lived king, Edmund II Ironside, who reigned and died in 1016, were given sanctuary and protection in Kiev, saving them from the clutches of Edmund’s successor, King Cnut. And after the Conquest, Harold II Godwinson’s own daughter, Gytha, would make her life in Kiev as the wife of Vladimir II Monomakh and was the mother of Mstislav the Great, the last ruler of a united Kievan Rus. Vladimir was the nephew of Harald Hardrada’s first wife, the Russian princess, Elisiv.

Harald Hardrada’s story had been one of almost-constant conflict since he was a teenager. At the age of 15 he had fought alongside his half-brother, King Óláf, at the Battle of Stiklestad, in an unsuccessful attempt by Óláf to regain the throne. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle recorded: ‘This year returned King Óláf into Norway; but the people gathered together against him, and fought against him; and he was there slain, in Norway, by his own people, and was afterwards canonized.’ [1]
Following Olaf’s death, Harald Hardrada first fled to Sweden before moving on to Kievan Rus. Harald spent 3 or 4 years at the court of Yaroslav I the Wise, Prince of Kiev, husband of Óláf’s sister-in-law, Ingergerd (sister of Óláf’s wife, Queen Astrid). At only 15, Harald’s military skills were already impressive and Yaroslav made him a captain in his army; the young Norwegian fought alongside the Kievan prince on his campaigns against the Poles in 1031.

Having gained a reputation that spread throughout eastern Europe, in 1034 or 1035, Harald and his force of 500 men moved on to Constantinople, where he joined the ranks of the Varangian Guard, in the service of the Byzantine emperor, Michael IV (reigned 1034–1041). A formidable warrior and commander, Harald eventually became leader of the whole Varangian guard, seeing action against Arab pirates, and the towns of Asia Minor that supported them. Throughout his adventures in Byzantium, Harald sent his plunder back to Prince Yaroslav in Kiev; treasure which, given the number of towns he had taken, must have been quite considerable.

On the death of Michael IV Constantinople proved a less friendly place for the Scandinavian and after a brief imprisonment and daring escape from his cell, Hardrada decided that it was time to return home. It is said that the new empress, Zoe, refused him permission to leave, but the Norwegian managed to escape Constantinople with two ships and his most loyal supporters. One of the ships was destroyed by the iron chains which blocked the seagoing entrance and exit to Constantinople, but the other made it through by shifting the weight in the ship so that it effectively jumped over the chain. Harald returned to his friend Yaroslav I in Kiev, to whom he had sent his vast amounts of plunder. In 1044, whilst still at Yaroslav’s court, Harald married the Kievan prince’s daughter, Elisiv (also known as Elisiff, Elizabeth or Elizaveta).

Elisiv was born around 1025 and would probably have met Harald when he first appeared at her father’s court as a 15-year-old fugitive from Cnut’s conquest of Norway in 1034–5. Elisiv was probably the oldest daughter of Yaroslav’s eleven children with his wife, Ingegerd. Through her mother, Elisiv was the granddaughter of Sweden’s king, Olof Stötkonung. Her father, Grand Prince Yaroslav, was responsible for the rise in power and influence of Russia in the 11th century; his court was considered modern and cultured. Yaroslav’s children were well-educated and able to read and write, including the girls; Elisiv’s sister, Anna, who married King Henry I of France, demonstrated her superior level of education when she signed her marriage contract with her full name, in her own hand; KingHenry, her new husband, could only manage to write a cross. Although we have no description of Elisiv, we know that Anna was renowned for her ‘exquisite beauty, literacy and wisdom’ and we can assume that Elisiv, having shared in her sister’s upbringing, was no less accomplished. [2]

It is possible that marriage between Harald and Elisiv had been discussed during the Norwegian’s first visit to Kiev in 1030. However, given that she would have only been nine or ten years of age when Harald left for Constantinople, it seems hard to believe the claims that Elisiv had refused him on the grounds that he was not wealthy enough to marry her; her father, on the other hand, may well have done so. This may also explain Harald sending his plunder back to Kiev for safekeeping, as proof of his increasing wealth and eligibility as a husband for Elisiv, even if he still held no princely title and was exiled from his homeland. In 1044, therefore, there was no financial objection to Harald and Elisiv marrying and there is evidence that Harald was genuinely in love with his Russian bride; Harald wrote poetry to his Russian princess:

Past Sicily’s wide plains we flew,
A dauntless, never-wearied crew;
Our Viking steed rushed through the sea,
As Viking-like fast, fast sailed we.
Never, I think, along this shore
Did Norsemen ever sail before;
Yet to the Russian queen, I fear,
My gold-adorned, I am not dear. [3]

With the treasure Harald amassed during his sojourn in Constantinople and Elisiv’s dowry, Harald now had the means to return home. He initially made for Sweden, arriving there in 1046. By the end of the year, he was co-king in Norway, under Magnus the Good, who left Harald to rule Norway while he concentrated on Denmark. The two kings had kept separate courts, Harald’s court in Norway was presided over by his queen, Elisiv. Within a couple of years of arriving in Norway, the couple had two daughters, Ingegerd and Maria Haraldsdóttir. Ingergerd was probably born in 1046, with Maria arriving a year of two after.

Married life, however, was about to get more complicated, when Harald took a second wife, without setting aside Elisiv. According to Snorri Sturluson, in the ‘winter after King Magnus the Good died, King Harald took Thora, daughter of Thorberg Arnason, and they had two sons; the oldest called Magnus, and the other Olaf.’ [4] 

Sharon Bennett Connolly

Footnotes: [1] The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle translated by James Ingram; [2] Prominent Russians: Anna Yaroslavna (article), russiapedia.rt.com; [3] Quoted in Fulford: The Forgotten Battle of 1066 by Charles Jones; [4] Heimskringla. The Chronicle of the Kings of Norway, by Snorre Sturluson.

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About the Author

Sharon Bennett Connolly was born in Yorkshire and studied at University in Northampton before working at Disneyland in Paris and Eurostar in London. She has been fascinated by history for over thirty years and has worked as a tour guide at historical sites, including Conisbrough Castle. Best known for her fascinating blog History ... the Interesting Bits she began focusing on medieval women and in 2016 her first non-fiction book, Heroines of the Medieval World was published by Amberley Publishing. Follow Sharon on Facebook and Twitter @Thehistorybits

See also: Heroines of the Medieval World, by Sharon Bennett Connolly

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