Word Wenches

Ask A Wench—October 2019

Anne here, wishing all our Canadian friends a Happy Thanksgiving, or Joyeux Action de Graces.  (photo Ruth P. Peterkin - Fotolia)

I'm also hosting our monthly "Ask a Wench" feature, and this month the question we're responding to is: "Do you have any particular subjects or themes you often return to in your novels?"

Pat here: I do not set out to write themes, but if a reviewer asks me for the theme of my newest release, after some consideration, I’ll almost always say it’s a search for justice. And yes, I include the fight against prejudice under that heading, because that’s always a huge part of my books. Usually, it’s women seeking fair treatment.

In my Magic series, I give this a fantasy spin by making my women psychic—so rather than being treated badly just for their sex, they’re treated badly because they’re weird, which covers a lot of territory, including being female.

My men are almost always seeking justice for someone or something. I usually have a mystery/action element requiring a villain to be brought to justice, whether that person is a lawyer who defrauds, a contractor who cheats, or a killer to be caught. But in my latest series, there’s an underlying element of economic injustice, because that’s so much on my mind with the news these days. A writer’s mind is a sponge—it’s difficult for us to avoid absorbing the real world!

Nicola here: My timeslip novels tend to be inspired by “lost” figures from history, usually women who were so often a footnote in a male-dominated narrative or whose stories have been told in a particular way. I like shining a different light on them. A good example is Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia, whose story I wrote in House of Shadows.

The Joy of Unexpected Books!

Nicola here, musing on the pleasure of discovering unexpected reads. Last week I visited Tredegar House, which is a fabulous 17^th century mansion in Wales, once the home of the Morgan family. Like so many of these places, the house is magnificent and the family history riveting. There’s also a connection to Ashdown House, which made it even more interesting for me so I wandered around looking at the family portraits and admiring the rooms before heading off to the gift shop and the tearoom!

Most National Trust properties these days have a second hand bookshop and browsing through the history section I came across a non-fiction book about the Norman Conquest. It was a “retired” library book called 1066 The Hidden History of the Bayeux Tapestry. I hadn’t studied the Norman Conquest of England since I was at college and hadn’t read much about it in the intervening time, so this looked intriguing and I’m also a total sucker for books that promise to solve a history mystery or tell me some sort of secret I didn’t know. That night I sat down to read it, not really expecting a thriller-style read, and I was totally hooked. Even though it was non-fiction it read like a page-turner, putting forward a story that challenged the traditional interpretation of the Bayeux Tapestry as a piece of Norman propaganda and suggesting it had a secret hidden message showing the Anglo Saxon side of the story. It was pretty convincing and I loved it.

One episode in the book particularly caught my interest. It was talking about how the tapestry had survived from 1066 until the present day, which is pretty astonishing when you think about it. It had some fairly close escapes, most notably during the French Revolution when some of the people of Bayeux wanted to rip it up to use it to cover their carts! Soon after that, though, it became a propaganda tool again, this time for Napoleon.

What We're Reading

Susanna here, considering it more than a little ironic that I should find myself in charge of this month’s What-We’re-Reading post, since having been caught in the whirl of activity that accompanies seeing one child off to university (in Europe, since my children never do things by halves) whilst fighting the lure of the ever-present Research Rabbit Holes that keep opening up for my current novel, and trying to pack for a Very Rapidly Approaching trip to Scotland, I’ve had no time for reading anything you’d want to hear about.

Fortunately, my fellow Wenches have plenty of suggestions for your bedside reading stacks:

Anne here.

I had the very great pleasure of a pre-read of Mary Jo Putney's Once a Spy for an interview on the wenches on September 25th. I read it and thoroughly enjoyed it — Mary Jo is so good at weaving love stories and action together. If you missed the interview, it's here. 

Sharon Shinn is a fantasy author I really enjoy, and I subscribe to her newsletter so when her new "Echo" series came out, I grabbed them as soon as they were available. Shinn writes very appealing characters, and her world-building is superb-- and fascinating.

In this world, aristocrats have "echoes" — creatures that are exact copies of themselves, that imitate every movement, but who don't speak or apparently think. The echoes appear soon after a baby is born — first you have one baby, then a blink later there are four, though only one is crying. It's a fair bit to swallow, but fun to imagine, and Shinn makes it work.

Echo in Onyx is the first in the series and the story is told from the point of view of Biranna, a young country girl who comes to the city in search of work, and ends up becoming maid to Lady Marguerite, who is one of the candidates for a royal marriage. I devoured it and went on to do the same for the following books in the series.

Andrea here.

I had been hearing such good things about Bringing Down the Duke, by Evie Dunmore, that I moved it to the top of my TBR pile. And oh, am I glad I did— I just loved it! Dunmore that a very familiar trope—the stiff, reserved gentleman who’s vowed never fall victim to love finding his heart won’t listen to his head—and gives it freshness and depth. At first blush, the characters appear familiar too. There’s the brilliant but destitute heroine, who is forced to work as an unpaid governess for her odious dumb-as-dirt cousin when her country vicar father dies. Desperate to escape, Annabelle finds an ad offering a scholarship to Oxford—the catch is, she has to spend some time working for a group of women agitating for women’s voting rights by approaching important men in government (the year is 1879) and lobbying them to consider the issue. She unwittingly picks the infamous Duke of Montgomery—again, the stereotypical cold, aloof, imperious aristocrat—as her target, and, well, things immediately get VERY interesting! The dialogue is wonderfully witty and clever. But it’s the depth and complexity of the characters that made the book so special for me. Their vulnerabilities, and conflicts are revealed beautifully, and the book becomes much more than a funny romp of manners as they slowly help each other overcome their fears and discover the redemptive power of love. I highly recommend it!

On a totally different note, I've also have been reading the biography of Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow (the book on which the musical is based.) I knew Hamilton was a very influential thinker, but I hadn't realized just what an extraordinary person he was, and how many facets of shaping country he was involved in. It’s beautifully written, and the story of his life is quite remarkable. You get a wonderful look at colonial America, and the other fmaous personages of the day. (Hamilton was a protege of George Washington, and despite their butting of heads at times, they remained friends lifelong friends.) It’s history at its best—combining a picture of the era as well as a portrait of an absolutely amazing individual. Again, highly recommended!

Nicola here.

I’ve been waiting with bated breath to get hold of the new Robert Harris thriller, The Second Sleep. He is one of my auto-buy authors and never more so than when he is writing a historical novel. I admire his skill at creating tension and page turning quality allied with some really elegant prose. So as soon as I got the book I plunged in. It’s hard to describe the plot without giving away a massive spoiler from the very start so I’ll just say that in the year 1468 a young priest, Christopher Fairfax, is sent to an isolated village in Devon to oversee the burial of the parish priest. Once there he untangles a series of mysteries that lead him to question everything he has learned about the past, which in turn has a profound effect on his life and his future. Everything is not as it seems in this “medieval” world… 

I liked Christopher very much and there were some interesting other characters and some good twists in the story. The sense of atmosphere is very strong. It’s fair to say this is a book I thought about for a long time afterwards. With its themes of memory and history and religion it was very powerful and I found it quite dark and disturbing. In the end, though, for me it couldn’t quite live up to some of Robert Harris’ other books and I was a bit disappointed. If anyone else has read it I would love to know what they think!

My non-fiction read this month was Lovell Our Dogge: The Life of Viscount Lovell, closest friend of Richard III and failed regicide by Michele Schindler. I’d say this is a must for anyone who is interested in Richard III and the events around his life and the disappearance of the Princes in the Tower. It’s a very well-written book that reads like a novel and I was completely engaged. It’s astonishing that there hasn’t been a biography of Francis Lovell before when he was so closely involved in such a significant period of history. Francis does, of course, have a walk on part in a number of historical novels set in this period, such as the Sunne in Splendour, but it was fascinating to read the real story of this historical figure.

Last but not at all least, after all the recommendations here, I picked up a copy of The Work of Art by Mimi Matthews and enjoyed it very much indeed! It’s a really beautiful love story and I enjoyed the depth and richness of the characters and their relationship. Wonderful and satisfying!

Mary Jo here, and in a fantasy + romance mode.

Firstly, I want to enthusiastically endorse Anne's recommendation of Sharon Shinn's new Echo trilogy. Shinn is an amazing world builder and her stories always have good romances, and these books are no exception. I read all three on my recent vacation, and wish there were more!

My own recommendation this month is for Sorcery and Cecilia, by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevemer, friends and fantasy writers in Minnesota. Think Georgette Heyer Regency with magic.

Set in 1817, this is an epistolary novel as cousins and best friends Cecilia and Kate exchange letters after they're separated when Kate is packed off to London for her Season and Cecy is left home and bored in the country. Each author writes one of the main characters. (I think Wrede is Cecilia and Stevemer is Kate, though I won't swear to it.) Magic is part of their world, including a Royal College of Magicians.

The book is light and funny as the young ladies meet young gentleman, worry about their wardrobes, and find themselves involved with magic and annoyingly bossy men who are nonetheless appealing. <G> There are mysteries to be solved, social events to be attended, and budding romance. Great fun.

I first read this book years ago and enjoyed it thoroughly, and recently I found that the authors had written two more books in the series. The second book is called The Grand Tour, and it starts with the double wedding of Cecilia and Kate and their men. Their husbands are best friends and both former officers of Wellington's in the Peninsular Wars. They take off on a joint honeymoon and get drawn into uncovering a perilous plot that threatens the peace of Europe. As one does. <G>

A good part of the fun of this book is that even though both couples are madly in love with their mates, they are learning how to be married. (Since Cecy and Kate are traveling together, they aren't exchanging letters; Cecy's contributions are part of her later deposition with the Royal College of Magicians, and Kate is writing in her day book. The effect is the same as in the first book).

The third book is The Mislaid Magician and is set ten years later. Cecy and her husband are up north looking for a missing German surveyor/magician while Kate and Thomas ride herd on all their magically inclined children. In this book, the husbands also exchange letters.

All three books are bundled together in a box set. My favorite is the first, but they're all good fun, and the authors are pretty darned good at their Regency details!

Pat here.

I am beyond tired of publishers limiting genre fiction to certain parameters that have worn thin. I love romance and cozy mysteries, but right now, I can’t find a single original story. So when PopCo by Scarlett Thomas popped up after I bought a new iPad, and I couldn’t remember reading it, I gave it a go. If you read the opening, you’ll understand my level of desperation that I kept slogging through that morass.

Because it contains a lot of interesting Information (I researched codes and ciphers for Devilish Montague, remember) about logic, math, and code problems, I took my time with it. Probably the first quarter of the book is getting to know the thoughts of the protagonist, who is a very human confusion of hopes, doubts, and fears.

Essentially, the protag works for a major toy company designing new toys. At the last minute, she’s included in a month-long retreat where other people from the company—oddly, not all toy designers—are immersed in how to market toys, particularly to teenage girls. Our heroine has an extremely odd background of family code-breakers and mathematicians and treasure hunters, so creating toys is just one more fun fantasy for which she’s paid very well.

Except as the retreat continues, she comes to realize they are creating brainwashing techniques in the name of profit. And then all the odd things happening in her life, in the company, with all her new-found friends, start snowballing until she finally realizes what she wants out of life. It’s a very odd book with all the puzzles explained by the end and with a happy-in-its-own-way ending. Read it just for the sheer pleasure of reading.

There you have it — our round-up of Wenchly reads and recommendations. Now, what are you reading this month?

Return to Downton Abbey

Nicola here! Today, in honour of the recent release of the Downton Abbey film, I’m reposting a blog from a few years ago when I took Guide Dog Puppy Rochester on a visit to Highclere Castle. I haven’t seen the film yet but I’m looking forward to it. So here, to celebrate, is my updated post from 2012:

"Last week I had the pleasure of a visit to Highclere Castle in Hampshire, which is the location where much of the hit TV series Downton Abbey is filmed. I was pretty excited about this trip as not only do I enjoy the TV programme very much I also love visiting historic houses so this was combining two of my favourite things.

With Downton Abbey the house is far more than just a setting; it feels like a character in itself. As we drove towards it the house was immediately recognisable. It’s enormous (fifty bedrooms!) and grand in a way that only a Victorian mansion can be (it was built in 1838). It’s not the first building on the site. There was a medieval hall at Highclere, a manor house and a classical Georgian mansion before the transformation that created the current castle. It is said that the grand central tower of the house cost a fortune and Lord Caernarvon’s land agent warned his employer that the plans were “pregnant with the most alarming danger to your Lordship’s pocket.” Despite this, the 3^rd Earl was determined on a grand plan and when the house was finished it dominated its surroundings in the most dramatic way.

Before we went on our tour of the house we strolled across the parkland and admired the cedar trees that were part of the landscaped grounds created in the 18^th century. We had Rochester the Guide Dog Puppy with us and as he is a Yellow Labrador we thought we would do our own version of the Downton Abbey opening credits, filmed on my mobile phone with my husband standing in for Lord Grantham. Alas Rochester was not as majestic as Lord Grantham’s Labrador Isis, who had her own storyline in the second series, but he did love wandering through the park. Although NBC was also filming that day at Highclere I think I can claim that Rochester was the star of our particular show. He was made very welcome by staff and visitors alike and the sight of this small guide dog puppy descending Highclere’s fabulously grand central staircase as though he was to the manor born was very funny. On his way out he even met Lord Caernarvon, who commended him for being a very good dog!

The interior of the house was also instantly recognisable from the TV programme. I loved the dining room, where so many of those splendid dinners in Downton Abbey take place, and the magnificent oak staircase that ascends from the Saloon up to the Gallery and the Gallery Bedrooms. It is around this landing that some of the bedrooms are situated that are used in the filming. We saw “Lady Grantham’s room”, “Lady Edith’s room” and “Lady Sybil’s room” and also the room given to the cad and bounder Kamal Pamuk in the first series. This is decorated with bright red flock wallpaper and is known as the Stanhope Room. It was refurbished in 1895 for the visit of the then Prince of Wales. It was also great to meet some of the room stewards who had their own anecdotes to tell of the Downton Abbey cast and the filming. Mrs Patmore the cook, Mr Carson the butler and the Thomas the footman were their favourites!

Highclere wears its Downton Abbey connections lightly with only a few signboards in the rooms to tell visitors of a specific link to the TV series. This leaves plenty of room for the “real” history of the house. I loved the Library, which resembled a gentleman’s club and was furnished with Georgian and Regency desks and tables. My favourite room though was the lovely south facing drawing room, which felt warm and intimate because it was comparatively small. I could quite imagine the ladies withdrawing there for tea and a chat!

The Castle became a centre of political life during the late Victorian era and in the 20^th century it saw different uses during the two World Wars. During the First World War it was a hospital for wounded officers. In this the storyline in the TV series mirrored the real history of the house. 

My favourite part of the visit was discovering about the life of a servant at Highclere during the Edwardian era. Once again, Downton Abbey mirrored reality perfectly. Guests at Highclere ranged from Royalty to politicians, Egyptologists to aviators. Behind the green baize door (there really was one, and a stone flight of steps leading down to the servants’ hall) the butler reigned supreme with Lord Caernarvon’s valet and the housekeeper also at the top of the pecking order. The butler ran the castle, looked after the wine cellar and waited on the family at dinner. He was also expected to announce visitors, take calling cards, escort departing visitors from the premises, organise the post and oversee the secure closing of the house each night. The valet managed the Earl's personal accounts as well as his wardrobe and travelled with him. The Highclere footmen had navy coloured livery and buttons sporting the family crest. They were all required to be clean-shaven and the more handsome and presentable the better it reflected on the family! 

After lunch in a marquee on the lawn – with Rochester being offered a drink of water out of special Highclere china! – we took a tour of the gardens. The Monks’ Garden has surviving Georgian walls and arches and is a beautiful and tranquil place to walk. The grounds are dotted with "follies;" decorative ruins in classical style designed to enhance the view.

We finished the day climbing Beacon Hill to the grave of the 5^th Earl of Caernarvon, the Egyptologist who with Howard Carter, discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun. Highclere Castle was framed in the distance, the perfect view to end a wonderful day."

An update on Rochester - He qualified as a guide dog and went to work in London. He retired from active service this year!

You may have read that Lord and Lady Caernarvon are offering visitor the chance to stay at the castle via AirB&B and there is a private tour of the house and grounds and special afternoon tea thrown in as well. I imagine they will be inundated with applications!

Did you enjoy the Downton Abbey series and have you seen the film yet or isn’t it your cup of (Earl Grey) tea? How would you like to stay at Highclere?

 

Travel Tips and Pitfalls to Avoid

Pat here: As writers, the wenches travel. We travel for research. We travel for conferences. We travel for fun. So we thought we'd exchange a few of our favorite travel tips and see what happened--and apparently, it's all about the luggage! (Personally, I've always craved Terry Pratchett's suitcase with legs!)

Mary Jo:

 I could write a whole column about this myself!  But I'll stick to saying that it's best to never have more luggage than you can control with your own two hands.  I've seen inexperienced travelers juggling half a dozen different bags of different sizes, which is a recipe for disaster.

Stranded!

Nicola here, talking about the unexpected delights of being stranded in a remote community. It’s a familiar and popular trope in books, whether it’s being marooned in the snow with a handsome hero or, in crime novels, stuck in an eerie house with a bunch of suspects, but I’ve always wondered what it would really be like to be stranded somewhere. When I was a small child, we went on a family trip to the Lake District at Christmas time and did get stuck in the snow. We all ended up rattling around in an empty hotel – they opened it up specially for us – and it felt like a great adventure to me but then I didn’t have to work out the logistics of how we were going to get home! I suspect that Wench readers in countries with more extreme weather than the UK are used to that sort of thing!

Last month, on our holiday in Alaska, we got stranded again. Our trip was heavily dependent on
the Alaska Marine Highway, the ferry system that takes you all the way along the coast. We started out in Juneau on the MV Columbia and travelled up to Skagway, Sitka and various other intriguing ports along the coast. It was fabulous – along with admiring the stunning scenery we met and chatted to some very interesting people; locals who used the ferry system for their work, holiday-makers like us, a big family on their way to a wedding, lots of other very interesting people doing very interesting things. We disembarked on Wrangell Island to stay for 5 days with the plan of hopping back on another ferry after that to take us down to Prince Rupert in BC.

However, we’d been only a day in Wrangell when we heard that the ferries were on strike. There was no way we were going to be able to get the ferry out of Wrangell, which, of course, had implications for all of the rest of our trip. We weren’t the only ones by any means. There were stories of towns along the coast where they were putting stranded travellers up in school and church halls because there wasn’t enough accommodation for everyone. Alaska Airways put on a special flight to help a stranded school party get home. We hoped that the wedding guests we’d met along the way had all made it in time for the ceremony even if they couldn’t get home afterwards! For all these villages and towns along the coast, especially those with no road access, the ferry is literally a lifeline, and necessary for food supplies to be delivered and businesses to run and all sorts of other communications.

We were very lucky. We were staying in a lovely float house on the harbour and the owner very kindly told us we could stay as long as we needed. Our neighbours, living on the other boats, generously shared their freshly-caught prawns with us so there was no danger of us starving! The shops and museum in Wrangell provided plenty of things to do and we got to know people far better than we would have done if we’d just been passing through. Meanwhile we tried to find some options that would enable us to stick to our itinerary as best we could. The scheduled flights were all fully booked as there was only one a day and they went in the wrong direction; we realised it would take us four more flights to get back to where we were supposed to be! We couldn’t drive since we were on an island… There weren’t any other boats going south to Prince Rupert. Then one of our new friends came up with a suggestion: The local air charter company could squeeze us in to their schedule as a favour if we were prepared to be flexible in terms of when we could go.

As the ferry company had very kindly refunded us our costs, chartering a light aircraft was possible but then we hit the next problem. The weather was awful and a small plane couldn’t fly in it. We’d have to wait, which didn’t help my “nervous flyer” stress! Finally a clear day arrived. We chartered our very own aeroplane complete with standard-issue hero-style pilot to take us to Prince Rupert. Once I’d got over my nerves I almost enjoyed it. The views were amazing and there was a lot less queuing than on a scheduled flight but for lots of reasons I can’t see it becoming a regular thing!

I guess the lessons we learned from a real-life stranded situation was how friendly, helpful and kind people were and also how interesting it was to have time to get to know a place better than we might have done on a shorter visit. These days, with improved communication links it’s a lot more unlikely people are going to be castaway on an island for years, or stranded in a remote wilderness for months at a time although it is still possible.

In the past it was often poor weather that would maroon our ancestors somewhere isolated. Fog as well as snow was a particular hazard. As early as the 13^th century, the government records show concerns over air pollution in London from the burning of sea coal and by the mid 17^th century the combination of natural mist and fog in the Thames Valley plus the industrial smoke had given rise to the term “London Particular.” In the Regency the term “pea soup” was coined to describe “a fog as thick and as yellow as the pea-soup of the eating house.” In December 1813 the Prince Regent set out from Hatfield House to visit the Marquis of Salisbury but the fog was too thick for him to proceed. One of his outriders fell in a ditch and he was obliged to turn back. Meanwhile, the Maidenhead coach overturned in the fog and various other carriages drove off the road, ending up down alleyways and in gardens. Coachmen ended up leading their horses.

I used the pea soup fog idea to inspire a short story set in Bath, and the idea of being stranded by snow in another Regency short story. It’s definitely a trope that I enjoy reading and writing!

Have you ever been stranded anywhere, and if so how did you cope? Is it a theme you enjoy reading about in a book?

Travels with my History Books

Nicola here, enjoying being back at home after an epic trip to Alaska and Canada. When I travel I do like to read up on the history of the places I'm visiting and to seek out historical sites - museums, old houses, monuments, battlefields, as well as experiencing as much as I can of a place as it is now. So today I'm sharing a bit of a whistle stop travelogue and I hope you enjoy it!

We arrived in Juneau Alaska twenty two hours after setting off from home and gratefully settled into our beautiful bed and breakfast place. Suitably restored by a long sleep, we went out to explore the city. I guess the first thing that impressed us was the location; it was a gorgeous day and the mountains and the water looked simply stunning. What a beautiful setting the city has as well as a rich history. I thought St Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church, built in 1894, was very striking. It has strong connections to both the native Tinglit and the European settlers, so this was my first history stop. Another quirky bit of Juneau history that I loved was the story of Patsy Ann, a bull terrier who came to the town in 1929. Although she was deaf she could tell when the steamships were coming in and would trot down to the docks to meet them, earning her the title of "Official Greeter of Juneau, Alaska!"

From Juneau we travelled up to Skagway on the ferry. Skagway still had something of the rough and ready feel of a frontier town which felt very authentic to the story of the Klondike Gold Rush. The first boatload of prospecters landed there in summer 1897 and by the autumn the town had developed from a row of tents to a place with well-laid-out streets, a number of frame buildings, stores, saloons, gambling houses, dance houses and a population of about 20,000. There were rich stories of lawlessness and profligate behaviour and equally compelling tales of the hardship many prospectors went through on the trail to the gold fields. Some of the old building remain and really conjure the raffish air of the old town. Something I hadn't appreciated though, was that the gold rush was over so quickly; by 1900 it had ended and Skagway was in danger of becoming a ghost town, although the coming of the railroad fortunately gave it a new purpose. We took some photographs in black and white to be in keeping with the historical atmosphere!

Our next stop, via the Alaska Marine Highway, was the city of Wrangell where we were staying for 5 days in the most gorgeous little float house in the harbour. As well as giving us the chance to visit the Anan Bear observatory, this stop also took us to the Le Conte Glacier, and the town of Petersburg. We'd never seen bears and the chance to watch them in the wild was amazing. Later in our trip we had the unexpected experience of meeting a bear when we were out on a walk on our own, and fortunately we remembered our bear training! We were behind a barrier when we took this photo, by the way, in case anyone thinks we stopped on the path to take a picture!

Petersburg was a very interesting place, like so many other settlements it had been a Tinglit fishing camp for hundreds of years before the European settlers arrived, in this case Norwegians who established a sawmill and cannery. Petersburg is known as "Little Norway" and the Scandinavian influence there is still strong. There's a great little museum, the Clausen Memorial Museum, that has traditional costumes on display and there is also a wonderful tradition of "rosemaling" in the town, which is decorative art that originated in Norway in the 18th century. It's so beautiful! There are painted panels on shops and houses and it's very evocative.

Alaska was wonderful and we'd love to return to travel further north and see more of the state. On this occasion though, we were heading south, down to British Columbia. In Vancouver I zoomed in on the Roedde House Museum, which is beautifully restored heritage house in the city's West End. Gustav Roedde settled in Vancouver in 1888 and he became the city's first bookbinder. There was a real appetite for culture and information in the growing city and within 5 years, Gustav had been successful enough to commission the architect Francis Rattenbury to build him a very stylish house! This has been restored and preserved to reflect late Victorian family life and it reflects the age in perfect detail. It feels as though you are stepping back in time when you walk through the front door and as always it's the little details of day to day life that are so fascinating - the children's toys and the family photographs drew me into their lives and even the charred wood over the doorway told the story of Christmas 1913 when the Christmas tree with real candles on it caught fire! Luckily the Vancouver fire department was just round the corner and the fire fighters arrived quickly and saved the house.

On to Toronto, then, via The Canadian, and a four day rail trip across Canada which was awesome. My final historical visit of the holiday was to the Fort York Historic Site, Canada's largest collection of original War of 1812 buildings and the 1813 battle site. I'd used the 1812-1814 war as background in one of my early Regency novels and it was so interesting to remind myself of the history and learn more about it. Fort York has a palpable sense of atmosphere which I think you find at a lot of battle sites. It was quite haunting. Even now, sandwiched between the railway and the freeway, it feels as though you're stepping back in time. I particularly loved the re-enactment of raising the flag and the demonstrations of military music, drill, musketry and artillery, all performed by students in uniforms of the Canadian Regiment of Fencible Infantry, the soldiers who garrisoned the fort at the end of the War of 1812.

There were so many brilliant aspects to our holiday, both historical and other, that it left us wanting to return to see more of both the US and Canada. Most notable of all were the wonderful people we met along the way, so friendly and generous and helpful to these travellers! it really was a trip of a lifetime and I hope you have enjoyed a peek into some of the historical highlights!

 

Giving Old Books A Makeover

Nicola here and today I’m talking about reprints of my old books that come out all around the world. Although I now write timeslip books – and some of those are being published in different countries – my Regency historical romances are still regularly reprinted and reissued. It makes me very happy that books, some of which were originally written 20 years ago, are still in print somewhere in the world and hopefully reaching new Regency readers!

When I first started writing, back in 1998, I was published only in the UK. The books were shorter, sweet romances, sometimes with no sex and if there was a hint of it, the bedroom door closed quite quickly! After a few years, by great good luck, my books were selected (along with a certain brilliant author called Anne Gracie!) to be published in the US. I vividly remember the day the first one came out; not only did it feature a cover model called Mike Dale, which seemed to cause some interest, it was published in the week that I gave up my office job to become a full-time author. It also gained some pretty scathing reviews that almost sent me scuttling back to the day job, convinced my writing was no good, so the timing wasn’t great but I stuck with it.

My Tudor House is Falling Down!

Nicola here and today I'm sharing a visit I did recently to an amazing country house. Just to the side of a busy main road in Cheshire, surrounded by houses and traffic, lies a throwback to another time. It’s called Little Moreton Hall and whilst it’s not a stately home it certainly isn’t that small either. Built 500 years ago, it’s a time traveller from the Tudor era to the present. It was built to impress; a half-timbered house with decorative timber, plasterwork, painting and glazing that is totally dazzling.

I hadn’t been to Little Moreton Hall since I was a child and it’s a tribute to what an amazing place it is that I remember it so well. It was wonderful to revisit it. My first thought when I saw it, though, was to wonder how on earth it had managed to stand for so long. It looks like a house that is crumpling under its own weight. It bends, sags and buckles and the floors and walls are nowhere near straight. It is extraordinary.

What we're watching!

Mary Jo

We Wenches are creatures of The Book, but we also enjoy stories in other formats.  Here's a selection of what we've been watching and enjoying on TV/streaming/movies lately. 

From Nicola:

I’ve been glomming on Killing Eve, which is a British spy thriller TV series where a female intelligence officer tracks down a female psychopathic assassin. It’s based on the Villanelle books by Luke Jennings which I haven’t read so I’m not sure how close the show mirrors the books, whether the book or the TV series is better, or whether it matters! The series has won multiple awards and been highly praised, not least because all the major characters are women and it’s written by women. It certainly has a different sort of take on the spy genre. It’s quirky and comical at times and the dialogue is funny and sharp. The obsession that both Eve and Villanelle develop for each other is fascinating to watch

I also went to the cinema to see Apollo 11 on the big screen as it’s that sort of film! I thought it was an amazing piece of documentary film making and was completely riveted by it. The way it’s put together with never-before-seen footage and audio is very immediate and the rocket launch quite nerve-wracking! It left me speechless and overwhelmed – stirring stuff.

As a follow up I watched a new documentary series about the solar system, The Planets, with Professor Brian Cox which was also fascinating.  Since they couldn’t go on location to Jupiter and Mars they filmed a lot of it in places like Jordan and Iceland, which I’ve visited, so that was even more fun!

 

The Language of Romance

Nicola here. Today I’m talking about the sort of words that people use to describe romance and romantic fiction. In four days, I step down as Chair of the UK Romantic Novelists Association. It’s been an interesting couple of years, sometimes challenging, always busy, but incredibly rewarding to be a part of an organisation that is so involved with the business of romantic fiction. I love the RNA and I love the fact that organisations like it exist to support, celebrate and promote the romance genre. Together with readers, bloggers, writers and all fans of the genre we make up a very loyal band. We’re lucky; we have discovered the joy that reading romantic fiction can bring.

One of the issues of which I have become hyper-aware over the last couple of years is that of the
language that is used by critics to describe romantic fiction. I’ve always been aware of romantic fiction’s literary reputation – at the very start of my writing career a friend told me how she covered my books in brown paper bags because they were a guilty pleasure. (At least she was eco-friendly about it!)   This is hardly a new phenomenon. My grandmother used to hide her genre fiction at the back of her wardrobe. The RNA itself was formed 60 years ago next year to try to tackle the prejudice that there was in the press towards romantic fiction.

What We're Reading!

Hey there, Pat here, bringing you the Word Wenches comments on what we’ve been reading this month. I’ve been hunkered down trying to fine tune my new release while reading up on the next book set in Victorian Edinburgh--my main reading this month. I really don’t think you want to hear about the archives of the University of Scotland, although they are fascinating!

But I discovered I’d missed a Terry Pratchett book and grabbed a copy of RAISING STEAM when it crossed my radar. This is one of the later volumes written with his wife, so the puns aren’t there except in some of the names. What was really interesting about this read is that I started it in e-book format and was feeling a bit let-down and disappointed by it. We have all my favorite characters (except the witches!) and Disc World has just discovered steam engines, which is throwing everything into a tizzy. But I just wasn’t getting into it. Because we have a library of Pratchett books, we ordered a print copy to fill the missing gap. So I opened the book to where I was in the e-reader and tried reading on the page and lo and behold, the experience was utterly different.

Henry VIII - Cause for Celebration?

Nicola here. Today is the 510th anniversary of the coronation of Henry VIII. Despite my very mixed feelings about Henry and his Dad, it feels like the sort of occasion I can’t ignore, particularly as my next timeslip is set in the Tudor period, albeit later in the reign of Henry’s younger daughter, Elizabeth. A decade ago, when it was the quincentenary of Henry's coronation, there were a number of celebrations to mark the occasion. But is Henry someone who we want to celebrate?

Henry VIII bestrides English history like a colossus both in terms of physical size and reputation. Not many kings or queens can compete with his fame. Was this solely down to the fact that he had six wives and beheaded two of them? A number of other British monarchs have had more than one spouse but none of them make the headlines (sorry, bad pun) like Henry still does. As someone who enjoys exploring the myths and legends about historical characters as much as I enjoy the “real” history, I thought I’d take a look at “Why is Henry VIII still so big” (in the sense of popular culture.) I call it “the afterlife” of Henry VIII.

The Bestest Time Evah

 

Pat's cool vacation

Vacations, vacations, wonderful vacations.
It's summer time (up here in the northern hemisphere) and folks are travelling.

So I asked the Word Wenches, What do you remember as a really great vacation?

 

Pat remembers one totally-for-fun expedition.

From Pat:

Our vacations are often working vacations, or combining two purposes like family and travel, and after a while, they all tend to blend together a bit. So perhaps I’m most nostalgic about a trip IT Guy and I made alone, just for the fun of it, shortly after he retired. We finally had the freedom to leave at any time of the year we liked—no job, no kids with school, no social or business obligations.

We were a bit uncertain about our newly limited budget, so we didn’t want to do any big splurges, but we had one place we’d dreamed of for decades—the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta.

Yes, we’d traveled that direction once before, while writing California Girl  about a Route 66 trip. At the time, we could only admire the gorgeous balloons floating across the sky as we drove through. They were magical and all too brief. So this time, we made the trip just for the festival. I wasn’t writing a book about it. No research was involved, just pure enjoyment. We went with a tour so we didn’t have to worry about finding the best rooms or parking or any other hassle.

And it truly was the most magical trip I can remember. We saw the balloon glow and the dawn patrol and watched the race from our room when we left the grounds. We sat back and embraced the beauty of the countryside and the mystical blue skies.

And I even sneaked in a visit to a special tea room to meet with an author friend of mine and catch up. All in all, a very memorable trip!

Andrea is one of several Wenches who get their wilderness on.

Andrea: There are so many vacations filled with special memories—from the sublime to the absurd—so it’s impossible to pick a favorite. Spending time with family and friends, exploring history, just chilling out . . . each has its own unique and wonderful vibe.

 But that said, a backpacking trip with my two brothers to Wind River range in

Andrea, intrepid mountain hiker

Wyoming not long after I had graduated from college and started working in New York stands out as one of the ones on the “keeper” shelf.

As happens when the rhythm of going off to school and college begins, it had been a long time since the three of us had been together in the same place for more than a day or two at holidays. My younger brother had recently moved to Wyoming to work for a mining company. He loves the outdoors—as do I and my older brother. So when Big Brother suggested we pack our knapsacks and do a fishing trip with Little Brother up in the alpine lakes, I was all in.

 

Hiking through THIS country

 So off we went, hiking in 16 miles up to Island Lake, a remote spot at 11,000 ft (the last few miles are a real huff and puff when you’re carrying 60 lb on your back!) Oh, but was it worth it. We were camped on the water’s edge, surrounded by a semi-circle of peaks called Cirque of Towers. In the late afternoon sunset, the towering majesty of the stone alight in pink and gold was breathtakingly beautiful. We also hiked  one day up to the top of highest peak in the continental U.S. at 13,000 ft. Again, unbelievable views.

 But the truly special moments were sitting around the campfire each night, really having a chance to connect and talk the journeys we had been on so far. We were up there for a week—one rarely takes that sort of quiet time with people who matter in our lives, and that sense of renewing bonds and shared experiences still resonates with me.

I did mention fishing, right? So I have to add an anecdote. Both brothers are serious fishermen, and take pride in their flyfishing skills. Off they went each afternoon, after casting pitying looks at moi, their novice sister. One day, they laughingly left me an old rod with a hook baited with a worm, and told me to have fun, ha, ha, ha. So of course I throw the line in after they left . . . and promptly reeled in a 24” lake trout! I wish there had been cellphone cameras back then. The looks on their faces when they saw my monster were priceless. (Need I say, their fish were mere minnows in comparison!) I still tease them about that to this day!

 

Nicola's favourite holidays are very Scottish:

 

Scotland. A house by the beach

Nicola: It’s wet and windy here in the UK at the moment so there’s no better time to revisit one of my favourite holidays which was also wet and windy! Yes, it was last year on the very northernmost coast of Scotland. I’ve been on many amazing trips, some even to hot places (!) but in the end I just keep going back up north!

The first great thing about it was that we were staying in a cottage that was literally on a beach. Now I live as far from the sea as it is possible to get in the UK so going to the seaside is always a huge treat for me – and Angus as well of course. To fall asleep to the sound of the waves and to get up, open the door and be out in the dunes was totally amazing for us.

... both of them dressed for the weather

The area is rich in history, from the Viking settlement at SmooCaves along the coast to the ancient graveyard just across the sands with its tiny ruined church and many legends. Next to us was the Castle of Durinas, built in the 18^th century on the site of a medieval palace. The castle, like our little cottage, was available to rent for holidays and fortunately it was vacant that week. I played the “I’m a historical author and I’d love to look round” card, which I don’t do very often but I simply had to see inside… I got the full tour with local guide Duncan and his adorable dog. Together we explored the ancient passageways and they told me stories of ghosts and pirates which, of course, will one day make their way into a book. If you’d like to go and stay there, the link is here!

The final icing on the cake, as it were, was that just down the road was a craft village where I spent plenty of time browsing the workshops, and on the site there was also one of the best cafes in the north of Scotland that served hot chocolate that could make even the coldest, rainiest day less driech!

Panda in a suitcase.
Have cat, will travel

Mary Jo brings us her great vacation and a cat picture.
Any vacation is better with a cat picture so I'll show that first.

Oh, Jo, how can you be so cruel as to ask about a favorite vacation?  I've loved them all, and you can see that both The Panda and I are always ready for a new adventure.

arched niches in the walls

I haven't blogged about my trip to Greece before since it was pre-Wenches, but it was a great chick trip with me, my sister, and our former sister-in-law, whom we like so much that we kept her.  <G>  We spent several days in Athens in the Plaka, the historic area of the city, and had an amazing view of the Parthenon from our

Santorini

windows.  Then on to Santorini, the Greek island I've most wanted to see, and it was amazing. 

I could drown you in pictures, but I'll go with just this iconic one that shows the rugged volcanic bones of the island and part of the caldera, which is the circular sea left when the volcano blew the island into component parts. There is also the dazzling white and blue colors that say "Greece," and also make up the Greek flag.  Sigh. I want to go back.

 

Once upon a time, Anne took her first expeditions a writer.

Cats of Rhodos

Anne here. 

I can never pick any "favorite", whether it's a book or a vacation or a piece of music.  Looking back it feels as though much of my childhood consisted of holidays — we camped in tents when I was small — in fact, my mother left Dad and my three older siblings in the tent when she went off to give birth to me in hospital. They were camping at the beach near my grandparents' home. Travelling was something my family did constantly. As a child I travelled all over the UK, Ireland and parts of Europe with a caravan, and once I grew up, I went off with friends and tramped the bush and hitch-hiked around Tasmania and New Zealand. Whenever I could I headed off on holiday.

 

But Jo, when she passed this question to the wenches, added "..

Anne's foot in Connemara
(see it, bottom left)

. special points if a vacation inspired your writing." 

And that decided me, because there was one year when I went off travelling around the world on my own, for the better part of a year. We have this wonderful thing in Australia called Long Service Leave, and after you've worked for an employer for 10 years, you are entitled to time off on full pay.

So I took my long service leave, and added leave without pay to it, and went off with my backpack to explore the world.  

 

Penllyn in Wales

I was a bit nervous at first, but it turned out travelling solo, you meet all sorts of wonderful people that you probably wouldn't if you were with someone else. It also gave me time to think and ponder — a luxury that had been in short supply in my working life. And stories began to spin in my mind. Then, when I was in countries where I didn't speak the language, and didn't feel comfortable going out in the evening for anything other than dinner, I started to write in the evening. I sat on beaches in Brittany and wrote, I sat on Greek islands and wrote, I sat in grubby stations and wrote. The ideas came thick and fast and I loved it.

 

I came home at the end of that year with several A4 notebooks full of stories and ideas, and the firm intention of becoming a writer. And that, dear readers, is how a vacation inspired me to become a writer.

 

 

And back to Joanna again.

I have always admired the adventurous Australians one meets, hiking about in the far corners of the globe.

I hadn't realized they were taking writerly notes.

 

As for me:
I have lived a lifetime of vacations. So much travel, all of it wonderful and interesting. I am so lucky.

Picking one vacation more or less at random . . .
In the summers when I was young, my father used to take us to Maine to go fishing.

 

I am not the first of us to talk about fishing.

 

Yer typical Maine lake, but without a boat

Now, for me, fishing consists of sitting in a boat with a line dunked in the middle of a lake, admiring the scenery and thinking deep thoughts. Every once in a while you actually catch something, which is gratifying and leaves you with a lifelong disdain for any fish that isn't in the pan pretty much as soon as you dock on dry ground.

Catching fish makes you feel very clever.

I knew an actual Maine Guide and asked him how one survived when lost for long periods of time in the wilderness

and he said to forget about chasing down deer or hitting a rabbit over the head with a rock.

Carry fishhooks and eat fish.

But I digress.

A Maine stream of the type I do not catch fish in

There are other types of fishing that involve going out on the sea and being sick the whole time. Or you can hike through the bushes and trip over rocks and eventually get to a stream where you do this thing with throwing your hook upstream to entice fish but mostly it gets tangled in a tree.
Not my fish shtick, as it were.

 

The Carnegie library in Calais Maine because one cannot fish all the time

The lakes remain with me. Vivid hours with my father and a sister or two, listening to the woods, feeling the wind. Silence and bird calls everywhere around.
It just doesn't get any better than that.

 

 

And you? What's your great vacation? Where did you go and what do you remember? 

Anniversary Winners

Here are the winners of the Wench 13th Anniversary #giveaway.

 

Each wench will contact her winner individually to obtain a posting address.

 

Thanks so much to everyone who left good wishes and participated in the discussion and the competition. Thanks also to all those who've followed us in the past. We hope you'll all continue with us on into the future. 

 

Wenchly readers are the BEST!

 

Andrea's winner:  Vicki W.

Mary Jo's winners: Molly M. and Ghazal M.

Pat's winner: Pat--Annette N.

Susan's winner: Nancy M.

Jo's winner: Kareni

Nicola's winner:  Lucia 

Susanna's winner:  Margot

Anne's winners: Theo and Shelley

 

(The flowers are mostly Australian native flowers, arranged by Swallows Nest Farm in Tasmania. Photo used with permission)

Roses Around The Door

Nicola here. Today I’m looking at roses, literally out of my study window and also as a historical symbol. It’s that time of the year in the UK when the rose is in full bloom. It’s a sign of summer and the sight of roses growing around a cottage door (or window) is one of the quintessential images of an English country village.

The rose is also a symbol of a lot of other things: A red rose is for romance, of course, whilst innocence or purity is symbolized by the white rose, friendship with yellow roses and passion with orange.  I’m currently writing a book set in the 15^th century during the period known now as “The Wars of the Roses” although this term wasn’t coined until the 19^th century. The red and white roses were of course said to be the rival emblems of the aristocratic houses of York and Lancaster. In Shakespeare's play Henry VI rival nobles plucked them from bushes in the Temple Gardens, as depicted in this painting by Henry Payne. The different roses are the perfect embodiment of the antagonism each side had for the other, with the thorns and the red for the blood spilled in the conflict.

From Paris with Love!

Nicola here, fresh back from Paris and the amazing Festival du Roman Feminin, Festival of Women’s Fiction. The festival is an annual event for readers and authors, and when I was invited I was thrilled; the combination of books and Paris was, of course, irresistible! I’m so glad I went. It was an opportunity to meet new-to-me authors as well as old friends, and also to have time to chat properly with readers in a relaxed way (chatting in Franglais and with the help of some awesome interpreters!)

Thursday morning found me at St Pancras Station in London all ready to board the Eurostar to Paris. It was a fast, smooth and
comfortable trip, delivering me to the Gard Du Nord whilst I was still wondering at how quick and easy it all was! The taxi ride through Paris to the hotel reminded me of how mad French traffic can be but also gave the opportunity for a whistle-stop sight-seeing tour of the city from Sacré Coeur to the Louvre, with the river Seine shining in the sun. (The photo is from the same bridge of the river at night and it's from Wikipedia.)

It's our Wenchiversary!

By Mary Jo and the rest of the Wenchly Crew

Has it really been thirteen years since we cautiously launched the Word Wenches blog? Indeed yes, and so much has changed in the world, in publishing, and in us. We've lost beloved Wench sisters Edith Layton and Jo Beverley, entered into new genres and new forms of publishing, and we've expanded to having Wenches from Australia, Canada, the UK, and the US so we can truly say that the sun never sets on the Wench Empire!

Here is the very first Word Wench blog post, also written by me. (I thought I was better at not volunteering!) Here is also a link for the first month of blogs, as we felt our way into this new enterprise and learned how to use the blog site's tools.

And we're still here, musing three times a week on books, history, travel, and other intriguing topics. Blogging is work even if we each only write one about every two weeks. When on deadline, there can be a mad scramble to swap dates, whip off something very quickly, or republish an older post. But we've kept blogging all these years because, basically, we like doing this.

We like connecting with our readers. We like being able to do quick, low stakes riffs on things that catch our attention. We LOVE telling readers about our new books, or new authors we've discovered.

For our first anniversary, we did a three part series on Getting Naked With the Wenches, and very popular it was! Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

 

Ask A Wench - Men in Boots, and other favorite historical clothing!

Nicola here, introducing this month’s Ask A Wench feature. Recently on my Facebook page I’ve started to post an item called Saturday Swagger, sharing some of the gorgeous historical portraits I’ve seen and love. One of them was this 17th century miniature of Sir Edward Herbert reclining in a come-hither pose. When she saw it, fellow author and Word Wench friend Sophie Weston of the Liberta Blog  commented: “The Boots! The Boots!” Happily, this set us all thinking about those aspects of historical costume that we particularly enjoy, and the result is this blog piece in which we ask: “What is your favourite item of historical clothing, to wear, to make or simply to appreciate?” So here are the Wenches' thoughts on this topic of sartorial splendour and we would love to hear yours!

What We're Reading: April Edition

by Mary Jo

We Word Wenches love doing these posts because we always find new authors to try! 

Starting off with Pat Rice:

One Plus One by  JoJo Moyes  I love the way romance has expanded into women’s fiction, and One Plus One by JoJo Moyes is a masterful example of how it’s done. It’s clear from the very first that we have a conflicted hero and heroine. Ed is owner of a software company about to go mega-huge. Jess is his housekeeper—and he doesn’t even know she exists because she cleans his vacation home, and he never takes vacations.

But this is not the usual meet cute or billionaire-sweeps-heroine-off-her-feet. They both come with so much baggage that it takes most of the book to unload it, with bits exploding along the way—in suitably dramatic fashion. She comes with a math genius daughter and a goth teenager who isn’t even hers, plus a giant slobbery dog. He has a dying father, a screaming sister, a girlfriend he tried to get rid of by handing off insider stock info, and an ex-wife who helps herself to his bank account whenever she likes.

 

In Praise of Special Libraries

When I’m travelling within the UK I tend to look for somewhere historical en-route to break my journey, whether it’s a castle or stately home or ruin or some other interesting place. If there is a tea room and gift shop that’s a bonus. So when I was driving from the east coast of Scotland back to Glasgow a couple of weeks ago I got out the map to help me decide where to stop. The whole area is absolutely packed with castles so it was more a case of trying to whittle it down than find somewhere. Then I spotted an intriguing dot on the map at Innerpeffray, near Crieff in Perthshire. “Historic Library” it said. Well, that was enough to lure me in.

It was a bit of a bleak day when we reached Innerpeffray. The wind was whistling across the fields and the little collection of buildings we approached felt
as though they were all alone in the middle of nowhere. It seemed a curious location for a historic library but that just added to the interest. We scurried inside out of the wind and were met with the warmest welcome in Scotland. What can I say – a personal tour of the oldest free public lending library in Scotland is like my idea of heaven and Innerpeffray is a very special place indeed.

Of Beaches and Castles

Nicola here and today I’m talking about beaches – and history. You may already have noticed that the Wenches love a good trip to the sea, whether it’s a Caribbean island or the Antarctic or the Northern shores of Scotland. There’s something about the water and a stretch of golden sand that is refreshing and inspiring, even if you’re wearing several layers of thermals to appreciate it, as I was last week!

My beach odyssey started in Bamburgh in Northumberland, on the North East coast of England. It’s a favourite spot of mine and the setting for a story I’ll be writing a little way down the line. The whole area is chock full of history from pre-Roman times through the centuries, plus it has castles by the score and at Bamburgh there is the big mama of them all.

What We're Reading in March

 ... and what a medley it is.

Joanna here, with some lovely book suggestions from all of us.

I’m rereading one of Lois MlcMaster Bujold’s books. The Curse of Chalion. I picked it up at the library because the librarian had it out on the Recommended Shelf and I was reminded of it. 

When we reread books we sometimes come at them a little differently or, at least, I do. This time, when I approached Bujold’s broken, exhausted, emotionally and psychically destroyed protagonist I was better able to see the honorable man beneath. It’s a new way for me to look at heroism and I’m hoping to learn from it.

This is not a Romance, but it’s a satisfying portrayal of a complex protagonist and — yes — a bit of a love story.

 

Andrea writes:

I’m a big fan of Charles Finch’s historical mysteries—I find his Charles Lenox series, set in early Victorian England, an absolute delight. So it’s always a treat when a new one comes out.

Now, Finch has done something really interesting with the series. In the first book, A Beautiful Blue Death, which came out 12 years ago, we meet Lenox as an established amateur detective. He’s a cultured, erudite, clever younger son, so his slightly “black sheep” profession is tolerated by family and friends (it helps that he’s such a lovely, sensitive fellow) And throughout the next nine books, we see him develop, take on new challenges, dabble in politics, get married, have a child . . . all while unraveling some very intriguing mysteries.

Then lo and behold, like the clever mystery writer he is, Finch suddenly surprised his readers with a unexpected plot twist. In his previous book, The Woman in the Water, the 11th in the series, he started writing a “prequel to the series—we meed Charles as a green cub, just down from Oxford, trying to decide what he wants to do in life. He loves solving conundrums, but everyone thinks he’s a fool to consider it as a possible career. Nonetheless, he keeps reading the papers about crime, and finds he has an idea he thinks may help solve one. The police, of course, dismiss him as fop and

The Enduring Appeal of Romantic Comedy

Nicola here, talking about the popularity of romantic comedy, both in contemporary and historical stories. A couple of weeks ago I was at the London Book and Screen Week, interviewing Sarah Morgan about romantic comedies and why they are so appealing and so enduring. Not only did we have the chance for a great chat, we also had a private screening of Sarah’s favourite rom com movie, In Her Shoes, just for us and the audience in a very cool little cinema!

I love a good romantic comedy. The best and most enduring ones are funny, witty, charming and moving, whether they are books or on the screen.  I think
they are also thoughtful and complex and tell us about ourselves as humans – about emotions such as desire and love, about relationships and our longings and wishes. They often reflect the attitudes, assumptions and prejudices that prevailed when the films were made and from the very start in the 1930s they had intelligent roles with great dialogue for women. They often show heroines and heroes as well struggling to push back the boundaries that confine their lives. There’s a lot of good things in a package that has so often been underrated.

Nicola Cornick — the Woman in the Lake

Anne here, interviewing Nicola Cornick about her new book, THE WOMAN IN THE LAKE, which came out in the USA last week and comes out in the UK next week. That's the US cover on the right.

The publisher's blurb:
From the bestselling author of House of Shadows and The Phantom Tree  comes a spellbinding tale of jealousy, greed, plotting and revenge—part  history, part mystery—for fans of Kate Morton, Susanna Kearsley and  Barbara Erskine

London, 1765
Lady  Isabella Gerard, a respectable member of Georgian society, orders her  maid to take her new golden gown and destroy it, its shimmering beauty  tainted by the actions of her brutal husband the night before.

Three  months later, Lord Gerard stands at the shoreline of the lake, looking  down at a woman wearing the golden gown. As the body slowly rolls over  to reveal her face, it’s clear this was not his intended victim…

250 Years Later…
When  a gown she stole from a historic home as a child is mysteriously  returned to Fenella Brightwell, it begins to possess her in exactly the  same way that it did as a girl. Soon the fragile new life Fen has  created for herself away from her abusive ex-husband is threatened at  its foundations by the gown’s power over her until she can't tell what  is real and what is imaginary.

As Fen uncovers more about the  gown and Isabella’s story, she begins to see the parallels with her own  life. When each piece of history is revealed, the gown—and its  past—seems to possess her more and more, culminating in a dramatic  revelation set to destroy her sanity.

The Reviews:
Publishers Weekly said: "The tentative romance between Fenella and Hamish effectively balances the sinister mood of the 18th-century story. Romance fans will be most satisfied."  Steph's Fiction said: "If you love historical fiction, then I highly recommend you pick up a copy!" The New York Journal of Books said: "As the story unfolds, the reader understands why, piece by piece. It’s fascinating to look back at life centuries ago, to imagine the people and their circumstance, and this novel fleshes them out with an assured storytelling style."

The Interview:
Anne:  Nicola, congratulations on the release of THE WOMAN IN THE LAKE, your 3rd dual timeline novel. I was intrigued by the contrast in your two covers, the American one focusing on the historical story, the British cover on the more modern story.

Which of the two periods did you enjoy writing the most — and why?

Nicola: Thank you, Anne! I’m really excited that THE WOMAN IN THE LAKE is making its debut at last

What We're Reading in February

Nicola here, introducing the Wenchly reading recommendations in the month of February. As ever we have a big mix of books for you and look forward to hearing what you've been reading too! the picture on the left is the rather gorgeous old bookshop in Marlborough, a town just down the road from me, where I love to browse. Sometimes you might even meet the resident bookshop ghost, which seems appropriate for Pat's first recommendation today!

Pat writes:

SEANCES ARE FOR SUCKERS by Tamara Berry

Ellie Wilde is a cynic, for good reason. As the youngest of triplets, she’s paying to keep her comatose sister in the best nursing home available by using her limited skill set—tricking people. To be fair, she also gives them comfort—by ridding their homes of ghosts she doesn’t believe in. People might call her a psychic medium, but in reality, she’s a great problem-solver and people reader. She has to be, or her sister will be out on the street. Her brother is a gym teacher and can’t possibly afford the cost of nursing care, so it’s up to Ellie. When she’s offered a small fortune and the opportunity to fly to England and live in a mansion while she rids the house of its resident ghost, she happily takes the job.

The Woman In The Lake

Susanna here, inviting you to join me in wishing a very Happy Book Birthday to THE WOMAN IN THE LAKE by our own Nicola Cornick!

This is its American birthday, actually, which will be followed on March 7 by its British birthday, so we will be keeping the celebration going here at the Word Wenches (any excuse for cake, really).

It’s a dual-time novel, linking the lives of two women together over centuries through one lovely but ill-fated gown…

***

‘I see it all again: the silver moon swimming beneath the water and the golden gown billowing out about her…’

1765: Lady Isabella Gerard asks her maid to take her new golden gown and destroy it. Its shimmering beauty has been tainted by the actions of her husband the night before.

Three months later: Lord Eustace Gerard stands beside the lake looking down at the woman in the golden gown. As the body slowly rolls over to reveal her face, it’s clear this is not his intended victim…

1996: Fenella Brightwell steals a stunning gown from a stately home. Twenty years later and reeling from the end of an abusive marriage, she wonders if it has cursed her all this time. Now she’s determined to discover the history behind the beautiful golden dress…

***

I always find covers so interesting. For the American edition of THE WOMAN IN THE LAKE, the cover artists have focused on the historical part of the dual-time story…

…while for the British edition of THE WOMAN IN THE LAKE, the cover focuses on the modern-day thread of the story...

Which cover do you like best?

And when you’re reading a twin-stranded story, with modern day parts and historical ones, do you like one part better?

AAW — Films and TV shows

Anne here for this month's Ask A Wench, and the question of the moment is, "What movies or TV shows have you enjoyed lately?"

We start with Pat.  I record TV and never know how long the shows have been in the DVR. Looking at the list of unwatched programs, I’d say I have apparently stopped watching most regular TV. I used to love Modern Family until it got stale. Elementary has good and bad years, depending on the writers. The Good Place is still watchable, but they’re pushing their limits.

So lately we’ve been streaming a few shows. Dietland is marvelously well-written and acted but occasionally violent. At the moment, I think The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel  is my very favorite.  Set in the early 60s, when Lenny Bruce kept getting thrown in jail for using obscenities in public (yes, kiddies, saying the F word would get you sent to jail), it’s about a young housewife with a gift for comedy. This was not a time when it was easy for a young mother to balance home and career, but the fact that her career is in sleazy nightclubs and makes little money stretches credulity a bit. The show is produced by the gifted people who created Gilmore Girls, so expect laughter, a little societal satire, and not total realism. But looking at the early 60s from our current perspective is entertaining, and the witty dialogue is laugh worthy. 

Nicola here. With the new series of Endeavour, the Inspector Morse prequel, starting tonight, my Sunday night viewing is sorted for the next month and I’m very excited. I love this series with its flawed and fascinating characters, the period setting of 1960s Oxford and the clever plots. I’ve watched and re-watched the previous series so many times.

The Northern Lights!

Nicola here, just back from a cruise along the coast of Norway taking in some spectacular scenery and the stunning beauty of the Northern Lights. Standing on the deck on the ship at 2am in temperatures of -13, it did occur to me to wonder what our ancestors had made of the extraordinary phenomena of the aurora. It’s so beautiful and other-worldly that even in these days when it can all be explained by science, it’s still pretty mind-blowing.  How did people view the aurora in the past? Fortunately there was an excellent lecture on the ship that covered everything to do with the Northern Lights and it was so interesting that I thought I would blog about it here.

Fine Dining through the Ages!

Nicola here! When I was a small child we lived in an ultra-modern house in a town in the North of England. It was the 1960s and 70s and open plan was the height of fashion. Both sets of grandparents however lived in bungalows and my step-grandparents lived in a Victorian two-up tow-down house. All three of these buildings had one thing in common; they had a room that was “for best.” The door was almost always closed and when I was allowed in I didn’t like it. It was always cold (there was no heating on because it wasn’t used very often) and it smelled of that closed up mustiness that rooms sometimes have. In all cases there was a cactus or an aspidistra (or both!) on a wooden plant stand. It was the dining-room.

Dining-rooms are curious things. They go in and out of fashion. At some stages they are the ultimate in aspiration and at others ignored. The Ancient Greeks are usually given the credit for inventing the concept of the dining-room. There were very specific requirements for it: no more than 11 wood or stone benches around the walls. It was a place where men gathered to eat honey cakes and chestnuts, washed down with wine. Yes, it was men only! The Romans, refining the concept, created the triclinium where both men and women dined reclining on sofas, which can’t have been great for the digestion. The Roman triclinium was a very high status room built to have a view and to provide refreshing breezes as one ate. Many were outside and had murals on the wall and fountains in the tables, according to archaeology done at Pompeii.