Word Wenches

What We Read in May

Anne here, and it's that time again, where we share the books we've read and enjoyed in the last month. Brace your credit cards . . . 

We start with Christina:
My favourite read this month was Sue Moorcroft’s latest novel Summer at the French Café.  This story is an absolute delight and exactly what I needed right now to sweep me away from real life! It’s a wonderful tale of learning to trust, the importance of being open and honest with everyone, and the healing power of love. The reader can’t help but empathise with the hard-working heroine Kat from the start. She’s independent and capable, but with a positive outlook on life, and she never complains even when things go decidedly pear-shaped. A child of divorced parents, she has lots of emotional baggage, but for the most part, she manages to ignore it. Then the hero Noah arrives on the scene and he seems almost too good to be true. He has his own problems to contend with, but instead of charging in like a bull in a china shop, he stops to consider the best way of solving them. I fell head over heels in love with him – how can you not love a man as determined as he is to do the right thing for his very sensitive 8-year old daughter, while at the same time being the perfect boyfriend? Kat has to decide whether she dares to take a chance and believe that he is every bit as great as he seems, and I was rooting for this couple all the way. This is definitely the perfect summer story!  (If the links above don't work for you, try this one.)

I also very much enjoyed Under One Roof, a novella by Ali Hazelwood which she calls “STEMist”. The heroine Mara is an environmental engineer and extremely brilliant at what she does, but she’s fighting against sexism and prejudice in her workplace. She’s just been left a half share in a house by her former mentor, but she hadn’t reckoned with having to share it with the woman’s nephew Liam. At first glance he is everything she hates – a corporate lawyer working for a company that has no regard for the environment whatsoever. They try to co-exist as house owners, but drive each other nuts. But everything is not as it seems, and slowly but surely they begin to find common ground. I absolutely loved the chemistry between these two and watching the romance develop. This is only the first novella in a series of three and I can’t wait for the other two!

Pat Rice tells us about: SEVEN DAYS OF US by Francesca Hornak.

The basic story here is that Olivia Birch has been treating some kind of plague in Africa and when she comes home for Christmas, she has to quarantine for a week. So her family quarantines with her in their stately old, crumbling manor in Norfolk. Olivia is the no-nonsense doctor out to save the world. Andrew, her father, was a journalist who once thought he could save the world. Now he’s a food critic. Emma, his wife, gave up her dreams to be a mother and has buried herself in tradition. Phoebe is the younger sister with no purpose other than getting married. Into this suffocating atmosphere drops Jesse, an American son fathered by Andrew while he was in a war zone. He had been given up for adoption and is now searching for his birth parents. Nuclear explosion ensues.

Make no mistake about it, this is a deliberately literary novel, so you won’t get your fun and games happy ending, but the writing is positively compelling. The reader is dragged into their mixed-up lives and really needs to know how all these good, but confused, people fix themselves or each other. We root them on as they grope about in their darkness. I can promise that they find a new kind of light at the end of their week of togetherness, so it’s well worth diving into for your escapism addiction.

Anniversary Giveaway Winners

We are delighted to announce the winners of the Word Wenches' 16th Anniversary giveaway contest – congratulations to the following:-

Elaine F

Tricia D

 Anne H  

   Heidi G     

Jeanne B

 Denise M  

Diane S

(If you haven’t already heard from us, you will be contacted shortly.)

 

Huge thanks again to everyone who joined us for our celebration!

Eccentricity is What Makes History Interesting!

Andrea here, As I mentioned recently, I’m starting a new book project in a new genre, which is both exciting and a little intimidating. It’s historical fiction with a twist—a “fictional” biography, inspired by the life of a real-life person. In my case, it’s Lady Hester Stanhope, an extraordinary individual who broke just about every rule—both written and unwritten—that governed what a woman could and could not do during the Regency era.

The project requires a lot of research, as I need to know not only the details of her life, but also the details of those close to her, and how their stories interweave with hers. Now, I’m a total history nerd, so this is what I consider fun! I’ve already tracked down a number of out-of-print books and memoirs on the internet and google books—thank you to all the libraries, museums and historical society who have so much of their archives digitized. It's wonderful to have an amazing treasure trove of material that I can access while I sit in my pajamas at my writing desk!

Celebration Time!

Photo by Mark A Coleman

Christina here and I'm delighted to tell you that this week it's THE WORD WENCHES’ 16th ANNIVERSARY! In order to celebrate properly, we decided to hold a picnic and you’re all invited!

We're each bringing our favourite historical food to a lovely park somewhere in the UK – the precise location is a secret as it’s by invitation only, but you can reach it via this lovely temple folly which acts as a time portal.

The setting – hills, woodland and parkland – is beautiful, with wildflowers, ancient trees and herds of deer that can be glimpsed roaming in the distance.

Birds fill the air with song and a couple of peacocks are strutting nearby showing off their shimmering plumage. There’s a boating lake too, where we can paddle in the water if we like, or just drift peacefully while someone else does the rowing. For our comfort, we have brought rugs and silk cushions to recline upon, and we would advise you to bring a parasol or a hat as the sun can be very hot! It's going to be a wonderful day and here’s what else the Wenches will be bringing:-

Adriatic Shores

Adriatic Shores

By Mary Jo

I've written about the first part of our Italy to Istanbul cruise, and now it's time for part two, visiting countries on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. 

Croatia

First up was Croatia, a beautiful country with mountains and a long stretch of sea coast.  Dubrovnik is perhaps its best known city, and it's spectacular.  We visited several years ago so instead of touring the city, we visited places in the country.  Above is a view of Dubrovnik from a road above the town. You can see the round shape, the walled city, and the orange roofs. We visited several years ago.  On the right is a picture of one of its steep, stepped streets. I loved all the greenery along the steps!

 

New Experiences

Nicola here, back home after a couple of weeks in Scotland and reflecting that it’s never too late to have new experiences. This was the first time that we had taken Guide Dog puppy Baden on a holiday with us, which meant that our itinerary needed to allow plenty of opportunities for him to do some training as well as for us all to have a good time. So this was a new experience for all of us.

The first thing that was new for Baden was long distance travel. Guide dogs need to be adaptable to new situations and be good at travelling on different modes of transport. Baden is used to the train and the bus but when he goes in the car, he normally travels in the special dog compartment in the back. Not this time! The dog compartment was full of two weeks’ luggage and Baden was on the back seat in his dog harness. He rather liked his “throne” and the view it gave him out of the windows, and he took the 9-hour journey to the east coast of Scotland in his stride.

Marriages of Convenience

Anne here, and today I'm musing once more on tropes in romance novels. I say "once more", because some years ago I blogged about tropes here, and some years before that the wenches answered a reader question about the "chick in pants" trope, and had so much to say we had to split the post into two. Part 1 is here and part 2 is here.

But today I'm talking about the marriage of convenience (MoC) trope. The first convenient marriage story I ever read was Georgette Heyer's The Convenient Marriage, and I loved it to bits — and it started a lifetime fascination.

I've practically made a career out of it, though not all my book marriages were convenient: some were forced marriages, and others were . . . shall we say unexpected marriages. But what they almost all have in common is that the hero and heroine marry first as virtual strangers, and then get to know each other.

Ask A Wench: The Road Not Taken

Susan here, with our Ask-A-Wench question for May, in which we ponder what might have been:

If you had not become a career writer, what sort of work do you think you'd be doing today?

Teacher, archaeologist, journalist, other dreams--we Wenches might all be in different places in life now if we hadn’t pursued the writing urge. Read on for our thoughts on what we had planned to do once upon a time, and how our paths changed. And then let us know what you might be doing today if you had taken a different path in life!

Pat here:

As a kid in elementary school, pecking away at my father’s typewriter on Nancy Drew style mysteries, I figured my chances of earning a living at writing were nil. I was pretty practical even then, and I didn’t want to end up as an old maid in an attic full of cats. Obviously, I read too much as well. <G>

 So as a teen, I decided I’d be a journalist. I read newspapers front to back, could see the power of the pen, and knew I could write. Unfortunately, when I reached university and had to interview subjects for the school newspaper, my epic shyness insured that I fail big time. I gave up that dream and went to work full time in a Sears accounting department. I’d been working with finance since I was sixteen and realized it mostly allowed me to work without people. Voila—a new career!

 I returned to school, got my accounting degree, passed the CPA test, and sold my first book the week I started my accounting career. It took years before my writing income exceeded my salary. . .  Had my employer actually paid me a living wage, I might not be a writer today.

Oh c’mon, who am I fooling? I might have had to write at midnight, but I would never have quit writing.

Bringing Historical Women to Life

Andrea here, musing on starting a new book project. I’m excited—and also a little nervous—because it’s a new genre. Now, writing never gets easier, but the genres of romance and mystery are a familiar landscape. And I while I always try try to find new path through the nuances with each book, the landmarks are familiar—I have a mental map and feel pretty confident of navigating my way from start to finish.

This new project takes me into historical fiction, and more specifically into a emerging sub-genre of fictional biographies inspired by remarkable women of the past who for too long have had their accomplishments hidden in the shadows of traditional narratives. I’ve occasionally mentioned in my previous blogs how exciting it is to me that so many hidden stories are emerging to broaden and enrich our understanding of the past. So many people and events that didn’t fit into a narrow view of what was deemed “important” or “true” are now getting the acknowledgment they deserve.

Italian Lakes

Cruising 2022:  Northern Italian Lakes

by Mary Jo

With the pandemic fading, the world has opened up again and the Wenches are now traveling!  Pat Rice has written about Italy and her Southeastern coastal, while Christina has just posted about her recent visit to Roman sites in Italy.

Now it's my turn.  We're just back from a two week cruise on Viking Ocean that we'd booked in 2019.  You know why it was delayed!  But it was an itinerary worth waiting for.  Venice to Istanbul, plus we'd booked a pre-cruise extension in Northern Italy at the famous lakes that lie along the edge of the Alps. 

Covid caused more changes than the years of delay. I've never had to deal with such a complicated and stressful set of hurdles for a vacation.  There were masses of online forms and apps to be filled out, and I LOATHE having to enter so much info on my cell phone because I'm terrible at using itty bitty electronic keyboards.  It was complicated! But I managed all those, along with the equal stress of arranging Covid tests for just before we left.  It's not easy to get the right timing for the tests and have lab certified results within a very narrow frame of 1 to 3 days before leaving. But we managed that, too.

 

Italian Inspiration - Part 2

Christina here with Part 2 of my Italian adventures.

Having visited Pompeii, of course I also had to go to Herculaneum. It’s a nearby town that was destroyed by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD at the same time as Pompeii, and I’d been told that most people nowadays find it more impressive. This is because it is much better preserved, with a lot of the upper storeys of the houses still intact, and the paintings on the walls in situ. I’m afraid I have to disagree though.

Don’t get me wrong – I loved Herculaneum too, it's a fabulous place! Walking around its narrow streets in the Italian sunshine made me feel as though I had travelled back in time 2000 years. The houses were beautiful and gave me a lot more details for the story I’m planning, and I can see why people would prefer it to Pompeii. But to me, the latter was more poignant because it’s so big and the scale of the tragedy that occurred there just hit me in the gut. I can’t explain it, but that’s how I felt.

Confessions of a Country House Tour Guide

Nicola here. Now that we are into May, I’ve restarted my volunteering at Ashdown House, the 17^th century hunting lodge in Oxfordshire where I work for the National Trust. It’s a great pleasure to be back, not least because we have only been open intermittently during the last two years of the pandemic and I really missed being in one of my favourite places.

I love visiting historic houses myself and when I go, I’m always curious to see the tour guides and volunteers in action. So often, things seem to run so smoothly yet when you’re behind the scenes you know it isn’t always the case at all. As with organising anything, there’s mad paddling going on below the surface!

I’ve worked at Ashdown for 20 years now. For years I drove past the stunning little 17^th century white stone house that sat looking mysterious in the middle of a wood. I wondered a lot about its history but I always seemed too busy to visit. It was seldom open to the public and then only by guided tour. However when I gave up my job to become a full time author I was looking for something to do that would get me out of the house and meeting real people. Since history was my obsession, volunteering with the National Trust seemed like a good option.

History of Detective Fiction

Pat here:

As we all know, my Malcolm/Ives families started out in historical romance, took a wicked right turn at the Victorian Age, and crossed over into the contemporary market. With my new Psychic Solutions  series, they took another zig-zag and ended up in mystery. I’ve done romantic suspense, so it isn’t a total departure. But romance is where my heart and soul have been for so long, that I can’t quite let it go. So, of course, romance wraps its way around the mystery because it makes me feel good.

And I miss my historical research. I probably should have missed it enough to dig into the roots of detective fiction so I had a clue of what genre I was actually writing, but my characters are gonna do what they’re gonna do. So I probably saved myself a step.

On "Stuff"

Anne here, and with only a few days to go until I leave my old house and move into the new one, I'm panicking slightly. So I hope you'll forgive me if this post is short, and not exactly book-related.

I was talking to a friend about how shocked I've been, realizing the amount of "stuff" I've accumulated over the years. Okay, I have too many books (and yes, despite those memes circulating that claim there is no such thing, there is such a thing as too many books!  But there's also a lot of "stuff".

The thing is, I'm not particularly materialistic — I'm not much of a shopper, I'm not terribly fashionable and I have no interest in owning the latest of anything. And yet still I have too much stuff.

My friend is the same. She's only been in her house a couple of years but is feeling as though she already has too much stuff. She's also not much for buying the latest "must-haves" but what I realized is, we both love finding bargains or beautiful things at charity shops, second-hand shops and fetes or auctions. 

So my theory is that at heart, at a bone-deep level, we're still hunter-gatherers. That's why in our society, most shopping is not so much a necessity, but a pastime, a hobby, a cultural social activity.