Word Wenches

What We Are Reading!

Mary Jo: I just read the second of Ashley Weaver's Electra O'Donnell historical mystery series, set in London right at the beginning of WWII, and the books are narrated by Ellie, who was taught the skills of a safe cracker by her Uncle Mick.  The family runs a legitimate locksmith business, but when money is tight, Ellie and Uncle Mick quietly break into unoccupied houses of the rich for a spot of burglary. 
      The first book, A Peculiar Combination, begins when Ellie and her uncle break into a house and are ambushed by Major Ramsay, a British army intelligence officer who needs a skilled safe cracker and is quite willing to blackmail the O'Donnells into helping him. 
       Ellie is happy to use her nefarious skills and is reluctantly attracted to the rigidly controlled Major Ramsay.  She also has a possibly developing relationship with a talented forger friend of the family, Felix Lacey. She's smart, stubborn, and determined, and in the first book, she finds that she enjoys the danger and satisfaction of  risking her life for her country. And she wants to do it again.
       In the second book, The Key to Deceit, Major Ramsay turns up again needing her skills.  The body of a well-dressed young woman with no identification has been found in the Thames, and she has an unusual bracelet locked around her wrist.  Ellie unlocks the bracelet, and soon she and Major Ramsay and her friends are chasing a Nazi spy ring around London.  
      The advancing war is palpable, and at the end of the book, the Blitz has begun as masses of German bombers begin pounding London.  It only makes Ellie, her friends, and her fellow Londoners more determined to remain unbroken.  Clearly there is much more that can be done with this series and these characters, and I look forward to the next installment!

Sparking young imaginations

Anne here, and today I'm talking about some of the early books that sparked my youthful imagination. I'm a firm believer that exposing children to fantastic and fascinating stories when they're young, helps develop their imagination. And I believe that my early exposure to magical worlds and memorable characters made me a writer in later life. 

My parents, and my older siblings, who were a decade older, used to read to me when I was very small. Until I was four, we lived in a remote house in the bush with no electricity, and so there was no TV or even radio to entertain us. But we had books, and the surrounding bushland, and as well there were stories told aloud — stories from Mum and Dad about when they were children, stories passed down the generations and plenty of made-up stories.

So intrinsic to our lives was storytelling that I'm told that as a toddler I used to sit in the sandpit telling stories to the dogs and the horse. Because they were the only ones who could follow my babble.

From a very early age my family read me AA Milne aloud — not just the Winnie the Pooh stories, but the poems and I'm convinced their rhymes and rhythms sank into my brain well before I could read. If you've only heard or seen the Disney imitations, try reading the originals. They're wonderful — funny, wise, and gentle. And Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore, Wol and the rest were utterly real to me. 

You can listen to this audio version, read by Stephen Fry, Judi Dench, Geoffrey Palmer, Jane Horrocks and others you might recognize.  It's wonderful, (though I don't understand why the on-line version is using a Disney illustration instead of Earnest Shepard's gorgeous drawings, which is what I'm showing here.) You can also buy it here.

We Have A Winner!

The wenches have drawn a name from our subscriber list and sent an email to the lucky winner of Merely Magic in this month's drawing. Sign up now so your name will be in the kitty for next month's book!

Daft Days

Susan here, putting finishing touches on a new novel set in Scotland in the summer of 1822, with a story centered on the king’s visit to Scotland that August. 

Two hundred years ago this very week, King George IV arrived in Edinburgh to huge fanfare and celebration. George IV, the first English king since Charles II’s brief visit in 1651 to visit Scotland without waging war, spent his whirlwind visit meeting prominent Scots, including Sir Walter Scott, government officials, peers, Highland chiefs and their entourages, and so many ladies, particularly at an assembly held to honor Scottish ladies, that he was said to have kissed thousands of women in one afternoon. The king was guest of honor at receptions, dinners, parades, and balls, celebrated, lauded, toasted, cheered—and was the subject of comical satire, caricatures, and tittery laughter from the Scots. While George IV made a real effort to connect with the Scots and admire and experience the Scottish culture, now and then he bumbled along, one event to another. 

David Wilkie's flattering portrait of King George in Scotland did not include the king's pink tights.

Although very excited to welcome King George to the north, historically the Scots were not the biggest fans of the English. Some were skeptical about the visit, given the long cultural memory of centuries of conflict and oppression under pressure from the English – and eventually English rule with the Acts of Union in 1707, which joined the Scottish and English Parliaments and placed Scotland under English rule with the formation of Great Britain. That was followed by the Jacobite wars and Culloden in 1745, with Jacobite sympathies lingering among some for generations - fueling political and ideological differences between the Tories and the Whigs - and the Highland Clearances, spanning more than a century of struggle primarily for Highland people tossed out of their homes as lands were sold or leased to those who preferred using vast, beautiful Highland acreage for hunting and country houses rather than raising sheep and cattle.

In this political atmosphere, during the hot, steamy, rainy August of 1822, King George IV arrived on a ship that sat outside Leith Harbor for days until rough waters abated to allow him and his enormous party of courtiers and support people to land. The crowds were immense, the cheers uproarious, the heat intense and the rains incessant. The streets of Edinburgh were so congested that the throngs of people could hardly move. For weeks, the city had been preparing for the momentous arrival of the monarch; there was hardly a corner left for city visitors to sleep, with rooms renting out for a week at the outrageous price of a year’s lease.

 

Turkish Delight!

Turkish Delight

By Mary Jo

In April and May of this year, we took a marvelous cruise from Italy to Istanbul.  I've written three blogs already:

The first was our time in Northern Italy, staying at a grand hotel on the legendary Lake Maggiore, and enjoying the all time best, warm-hearted wine tasting:

https://wordwenches.typepad.com/word_wenches/2022/05/italian-lakes.html    

Next was cruising down the Eastern Adriatic and visiting several amazingly beautiful and hospitable countries. (That's Kotor, Montenegro on the right.)

https://wordwenches.typepad.com/word_wenches/2022/05/adriatic-shores.html 

Next was Greece, mother of so much Western European culture, where we saw several splendid islands as well as notable mainland sites:

https://wordwenches.typepad.com/word_wenches/2022/06/greek-highlights.html 

 

Scarecrows!

Nicola here. A couple of weeks ago I went to Herefordshire to visit a castle that is only open once a year. It’s a well-known site whose history is tied up with the English Civil War in the seventeenth century. It was also the home of very distant ancestors of mine which was why I was so keen to see it. However, there was a problem. The castle, Brampton Bryan, is open as part of a special village celebration called “Scarecrow Sunday” and I have a thing about scarecrows. I don’t like them. I find them creepy. When I was a child, I was terrified of the TV programme Worzel Gummidge even though it’s been voted one of the UK’s favourite children’s TV series of all time.

Phobias have, of course, existed long before modern studies by psychiatrists and psychologists defined the condition. The term phobia was first coined by
the Greeks. Social anxiety as a “phobia” was first described by Hippocrates as “shyness” in the early 4^th century BC. I wouldn’t go so far to say that I have a phobia about scarecrows although it’s almost that bad. I have the same reaction to clowns, puppets and mimes. (Dolls and puppets have their own phobias and metamfiezomaiophobia is the fear of mimes and people in disguise generally.) A terror of scarecrows – or of people dressed as scarecrows - is called formidophobia. Apparently formido derives from the Latin for “fear” or “scare.” And, of course, scarecrows are meant to be scary, but only to birds and not people. Meanwhile, a fear of clowns is called coulrophobia. Unsurprisingly, research shows that the portrayal of killer clowns in horror films has contributed directly towards an increase in people with an intense fear or phobia of clowns. Well, duh.

(You can imagine that the combination of clown/jack in the box/scarecrow was almost too much for me but in the photo I'm attempting to tackle several phobias in one go!)

Hidden in the Mists

Anne here, and today I'm interviewing Christina Courtenay about her new book, HIDDEN IN THE MISTS (released yesterday 18^th August). As expected, this is a Viking story — and just as an aside, Christina's Viking stories have brought me happily back to this genre, after I'd thought I'd given up on Viking stories. Hers are fresh, original and really well researched. But this time Christina has departed from the time-slip plot and written a dual timeline story, one set in Viking times and the other in modern times.

Here’s a short summary: Skye Logan has been struggling to run her remote farm on Scotland’s west coast alone ever since her marriage fell apart. When a handsome stranger turns up looking for work, it seems that her wish for help has been granted. But echoes of the distant past won’t leave them alone, and it seems that the ghosts of the past have secrets … and they have something that they want Skye and Rafe to know.

Anne:  Christina, what inspired this story?

Christina:  HIDDEN IN THE MISTS was written during the Covid pandemic when we were in lockdown here in the UK. Usually I like to travel to the places where my stories are set, but as we weren’t allowed to go anywhere I decided I had to use a location I’d already visited. Scotland is one of my favourite places and it seemed ideal as I wanted to write a dual time narrative that was partly about Vikings. They raided and settled along the west coast of Scotland and the islands there quite early on. It helped that I happen to have a very good friend who lives there and she was able to assist me whenever I needed any precise details. As I mentioned in last week’s blog post, the spark for this book also came from the Galloway Hoard, the fabulous Viking treasure found in 2014. The plot grew from there and the various elements came together in my imagination.

The Grand Tour

Andrea here, thinking about the joys of traveling, and how much I have missed the heady experience of of being inspired by visiting new places—or cherished favorite spots that hold a place in my heart. As the world continues to open up, it feels like it’s possible to venture far from home, and I'm busy plotting where to go . . .

As you’ve probably noted, a number of the Wenches have been traveling hither and yon. Research beckons! (That’s always a good excuse for us to pack our bags!) But along with exploring specific sites for our books, it's also just  good to get the general creative juices flowing by being in a foreign place and seeing the world from a different perspective.

And human nature being human nature, this desire to experience the world beyond one’s own familiar turf is nothing new in history. In the Georgian and Regency era, the "Grand Tour" was a rite of passage for the beau monde.

Ask A Wench — Bird Watching.

Anne here, and today the wenches are talking about birds. A few weeks ago, when we were chatting on line, as we often do, we started to share bird stories, and it transpired that we were all very fond of birds. So the question we each answer today is this: What are some of your favorite birds, and where do you get to see them?

Nicola: As a child I loved the English garden birds such as the robin, which I read about in my books and saw when I visited my grandparents. We lived in the city and had a tiny garden but my grandparents lived in the countryside and were surrounded by nature. My grandfather was a keen gardener who knew all the different birds we’d find when we were outside and would point out to me the blackbirds, blue tits and sparrows. It wasn’t until I travelled abroad as an adult that I realised that birds with similar names could be quite different in other countries! I loved seeing an American Robin, for example, and was surprised how different it looked from a European one – except for the orange chest!

My dh is a keen birdwatcher and far more interested and knowledgeable than I, and when we moved to our village in Oxfordshire, we became involved with Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in species protection. It was an exciting time; we had one of the rarest birds in the UK, the Montagu’s Harrier, nesting locally. This beautiful bird of prey is very common in some other countries but not in England. For a number of years, we monitored the breeding pairs and the nests and learned so much about them. Sadly, the harriers are long gone from our area now but instead we have red kites which are also stunning birds. I love the kites, which are a successful re-introduction into the UK. In the Middle Ages they were common and would fly over towns and cities looking for scraps of food to eat. With their forked tails they were known as “devil birds.” They died out but now they are back and I enjoy seeing them up on the hills and flying over the village.

All that glitters ...

… isn’t gold – but sometimes it IS!

Christina here. Next week my latest book will be released and the idea for this story was sparked by the Galloway Hoard, a magnificent treasure found in Scotland in 2014. As soon as I heard about it, I was fascinated. I could only imagine how amazing it must feel to discover something like that. Despite having bought myself a metal detector a few years ago, I’ve never found anything other than a few rusty nails and a piece of iron pipe, so I decided I would have to fulfil this dream in my imagination instead. Add to this the fact that the hoard was of Viking origin and it seemed like serendipity! That’s when Hidden in the Mists started to take shape in my mind.

The hoard was probably buried around 900 AD and consists of various gold and silver items, as well as other more ordinary things. It’s one of the most incredible treasures ever found in Scotland and the richest one from the Viking age. I read all the articles about it when it was first revealed and couldn’t wait for it to go on display. That took a while as obviously the items had to be conserved and assessed first. Eventually, I was fortunate enough to see it in person, and I was enthralled by the many precious objects. My absolute favourite was a little gold pin in the shape of a bird which I had already used in another story, Whispers of the Runes. The hero of that book is a silversmith/jeweller and I had him make a pin just like this. I saw it as a bird of prey or a raven judging by its curved beak, but archaeologists felt it more resembled a flamingo. Most probably it’s a fantasy bird but either way, I just love how intricate it is, despite being so small!

A Kiss of Fate!

by Mary Jo

A Kiss of Fate, Guardian Trilogy #1

I'm delighted to finally be re-releasing my Guardian paranormal historical trilogy, the last of my backlist trilogies that were still in the closet The stories are set in the 18th century Georgian era and the main characters are Guardians, people who have magical abilities and are sworn to use them to help others.  But being sure of when that's the case can be a challenge!

The heroes and heroines are strong, the romances are intense, and the stories are woven around real, powerful history.  All three show what happened behind the scenes to make history turn out the way we know it.

If you enjoy the intelligent, honorable characters who star in my traditional historical romances, I think you'll love these stories as much as I do. (I use M. J. Putney for all my stories with fantasy elements so readers can tell which are straight historical and which have some magic.)

Celebrating Friendships!

Nicola here. Today I’m celebrating the power of friendship as yesterday was International Friendship Day. The value of friendship has been recognised since people first walked the earth – and it’s pretty strong between some animals too and between humans and animals. Greek philosopher Herodotus wrote “Of all possessions, a friend is the most precious.” More recently, the lyrics of the song is the Toy Story movie say “We stick together and can see it through, ‘Cause you've got a friend in me.”

What is friendship, really? A dictionary definition calls it “a state of mutual trust and support” but it’s so much more complicated than that sounds. Some of us are lucky enough to have friends we have known since childhood, others from school or college. I’m part of a group of college friends who first came together almost 40 years ago and we still meet up twice a year as a group. It's lovely to have such enduring relationships with people I know so well and feel I can pick up with so easily. Then there are the other friends we make at different stages of our lives. You don’t even have to see each other that much, though when you do, it’s special. The Wenches are an amazing group of friends scattered across three continents; we don’t get the chance to see each other much but we’re so supportive of each other through the thick and thin of writing and life. In fact, being an author is a wonderful way to meet friends across the world, through readers’ and writers’ groups.

Giveaway, Sign Up Now!

The wenches will be giving away a free book every month for people on our newsletter subscription list. You'll have a chance every month at the giveaway plus you'll get the inside scoop on discounts, sales, and what the wenches are up to. With pretty pictures. <G>

 

 https://madmimi.com/signups/152567/join

 

A Very Brief History of Buttons

Pat here:

I’m still digging around in research for my current, very tentative, historical idea. I’m thinking the village I talked about last time has lost its inhabitants to industries which pay better than farming small plots. And I’m thinking whatever cottage industry once paid women has also died, so young people packed up and left, and there’s no one left.

Dogs in Books

Anne here. We were talking about dogs and cats in books the other day, and though I've had several cats in my books, and I'm very fond of all animals, when it comes down to it, I'm generally for dogs, especially in books.

When I was a kid, I used to love Lassie and RinTinTin movies, and I snapped up any dog stories I could find. There was Finn the Wolfhound,  Old Yeller, Jack London's The Call of the Wild, Nip (a story about a collie.)

But in the main, they were angsty stories about dogs enduring hard times, and surviving, but . . . as a friend of mine's teenage son once told her, "I'm not reading any more dog stories; they always die at the end."  I remember howling at the end of Old Yeller. 

And I recall reading Nip in the back yard, and fretting about the terrible things he was enduring, and calling my collie, Bessie, over every few minutes so I could cuddle her — and comfort me. I couldn't find a web reference for that story and the book is in a box somewhere, so I can't even find the author's name, sorry.

But it doesn't need to be that way. Dogs can fulfil other functions in books and it doesn't have to break your heart. Georgette Heyer was a dog lover — I would know this even if I didn't know anything else about her because of the way she portrays dogs in her books. But here are two photos of her with her dogs (with thanks to Jennifer Kloester for them.)

In The Grand Sophy, for instance, Charles —who was pretty autocratic and unsympathetic at the start, clicks his fingers, and Sophy's dog, who doesn't usually take to strangers, immediately comes to him. And thus we know that Charles isn't as bad as he seems.