Word Wenches

Into the Blue

Susan here, wishing you a great 2020! Recently Pantone announced their 2020 color of the year – “Classic Blue,” they call it, citing its peaceful, dependable, calming qualities, a color that the Pantone folks say has both a tranquil modernity and an enduring sense of heritage perfect for entering a new decade. Heritage for sure – seeing their color pick, I was immediately reminded of all the beautiful blues that have been regarded over the ages as very special, reserved for royalty, treated as priceless and sacred. And reminded, too, of one of my own personal favorite colors: I am very partial to this sort of blue. 

This saturated hue, and those similiar to it, touch the spectrum somewhere between ultramarine, cobalt, and peacock. It has a natural, familiar feel, like a twilight blue sky, a deep lake in sunshine, a perfect sapphire, a chunk of lapis lazuli—or the beautiful blues in the classic and varied blue-and-white dishes found in Blue Willow china, Spode ware, Wedgwood, Asian porcelain, and more. Over the years I’ve been collecting blue-and-white patterned dishes from antiques to Asian to contemporary--here are just a few of them--and so, while I don’t usually pay much attention to trendy colors, a resurgence of this rich and truly classic blue appeals to me.

Let's look at some of the great blue hues in history . . . 

Neolithic pottery used blue color taken from plants, and sometimes formed beads and small figurines of lapis lazuli, a silicate mineral valued for its intense blue color, mined thousands of years ago.

Lapis was prized in Egypt through the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and straight into today. Lapis is also said to have supportive energies for writers, and just in case, I keep a hefty chunk of raw lapis, brought from far away by a friend, on my desk (photo).

The Egyptians used lapis lazuli in figurines, jewelry and inlays, and decorative arts, and ground it into a pigment powder for paints. It is inlaid in King Tut's spectacular gold and blue coffin covering, and carved in this exquisite cat sculpture. 

They also prized another source of rich blue often called Egyptian blue, which they prepared from oxidized copper, a cyan blue that the Romans later called cerulean. In Egypt and other ancient civilizations, it appeared in painted surfaces, pottery colors, and dyes. The oxidized copper blue, transformed to pigment, appears in Nefertiti's headdress, and is used as a glaze on the quartz-based ceramic of this little hippo figurine. 

The Celts -- and some Neolithic groups before them -- were fond of another source of blue, woad, drawn from a plant of the Brassica family, whose yellow flowers produce a strong and beautiful blue that does not always require a mordant to set, and so was used often for not only fabric dyes and paint, but tattoos as well.

The Picts, so-called by the Romans (they called themselves the Cruithin) for their tendency to paint or tattoo themselves in particular blue designs, used woad, and sometimes copper oxide, to work designs into their skin.

 

The Greatest Gift

Susanna here.

I know our Christmastide posts are officially ended, but I always have a hard time letting go of the holidays, so I hope you’ll indulge me for one more short post on the unexpected treasures that we sometimes get as gifts.

Here’s one of mine.

Twelfth Night

Just calculating which night is Twelfth Night is a madness of calendars and churches. I am afraid to even say with certainty that the twelfth day of Christmas is Epiphany, since not everyone agrees. (Susan King had an explanation or two about the date ) So I will not declare today, January 6^th, anything at all but will talk about Twelfth Night in general.

Way back in 567 the twelve days from Christmas to Epiphany were declared a sacred, festive season. The Tudors, naturally enjoying festivities, decided Epiphany was the start of still another season called Epiphanytide to extend the fun and games. They hid a bean or pea inside a Twelfth-night cake and whoever found the pea in their slice became king or queen of Twelfth-night and led the feast and fun.

The feasting and fun included Christmas carols, mumming (a blog all of its own about costumed characters!), wassail and wassailing, and king cake (a New Orleans tradition to this day. Our esteemed Jo Beverley had more to say here). In many places, decorations had to come down on this day, but this was also the day to add the kings to the nativity scene. In earlier times, Christmas trees were decorated with fruits and nuts—hard to come by and expensive—so when the tree came down, everyone gathered to feast on the ornaments. I kind of prefer that to stuffing all that junk back in boxes to be stored for another year! Of course, this was also the night the Yule Log was removed, leaving only a flame to light the next fire.

Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night was written to be played on this night’s revels. That’s a rather fine mummer’s play! A little bit more about mummers here .

(although this image appears to be Italian and a lovely spring day, not exactly an English 12th night!)

I’m not sure I have the energy to carry festivities for twelve entire nights! Christmas and New Years are about my limit. I wonder if in medieval times this wasn’t a way of the poor squeezing just a little bit more food out of the wealthy during a time of year when food was hard to come by? They could dress in costumes, put on plays, and the wealthy would provide banquets for the entertainment. Food has certainly been a large part of Christmastide, with little to do with the perceived origin of the holiday.

But today we all go back to work, so I’m guessing king cakes aren’t on anyone’s agenda. When do you take your tree down?

Gratitude

Andrea here, We've reached the 11th day of our Wenchly Christmastide posts, and are winding down the celebration in readiness for starting the new year in earnest. For the most part, we've been having light-hearted fun with them, as befits the festive season, where we raise a toast to the joys of family, friendship and holiday cheer.

But there's also a reflective side to the holidays and the start of a new year, where many of us take some quiet moments to reflect on our blessings and offer up gratitude for all the gifts in our lives. So I thought I'd mention just a few of things that are on my mind, especially as so many people around the globe are facing such difficult and dangerous times.

 

Quiz — Ten lords a'leaping#2

Anne here.
On day 10 of our Christmastide posts, here's a little quiz about some of the lords (or dukes or marquesses or earls or barons) of historical romance. Note down your answers with a pen and paper, because you'll have to leave the wench site to find the correct answers. The link is at the bottom of the quiz. Then come back and tell us how you did. 

1) An independently-minded heroine plans to free her foolish brother from the destructive influence of this dark, destructive and far from handsome lord, but when she travels to Paris to confront him, he turns the tables on her.     
        a) Sarah MacLean - Brazen and the Beast
        b) Loretta Chase - Lord of Scoundrels
        c) Mary Balogh - Slightly Married

2)  Attempting to save her flighty light-skirt younger sister from a known rake, our heroine is kidnapped by mistake. How can she convince the rake she's a virtuous female? Reader, she shoots him.             
        a) Anne Gracie - Tallie's Knight    
        b) Julie Garwood - Honor's Splendour
        c) Georgette Heyer - Devil's Cub

The Kissing Bough

by Mary Jo

If you've read many Christmas Regency romances, I'm sure you've encountered the kissing bough.  Christmas trees didn't become common in Britain until the Victorian age, and were brought into fashion by the Royal Family's German connections. 

But the kissing bough has deep roots in British history and is part of the tradition of bringing evergreens into the house at the holiday season.  It's essentially a globe of greens with a bunch of mistletoe fastened to the bottom. Traditionally one white mistletoe berry was removed each time there was a kiss.  I presume that festive householders would refresh the berries as necessary!  The image at the right is from the North Pole site, with instructions on how to make your own kissing bough.  

Over time, kissing boughs became more elaborate, with ribbons and candles and fruit.  I thought it would be fun to go to YouTube and find a couple of videos of people making kissing boughs.  This first is from English Heritage and goes behind the scenes of Kenilworth Castle to see how a Tudor kissing bough is made.  (It helps if you can wander into your knot garden and cut off some rose hips. <G>)

A Happy New Year!

Nicola here. Farewell to 2019 and to the "twenty tens!" As we enter a new decade, the Word Wenches would like to thank you for your continued support for the blog and wish you a very Happy New Year. Together, the Wenches and our blog readers form a community that loves chatting about history, books, writing and life in general. We look forward to many more discussions in the years ahead!

A hundred years ago in 1920, the new era was greeted with excitement in western society. In the wake of the First World War, the "Roaring Twenties" were known for a period of economic prosperity and cultural development. In London the decade was ushered in with a number of very smart black tie events as well as some less formal partying! A hundred years on we are in a very different place but who knows what this new era will bring? As long as there are new books, old favourites and friends to talk to here, we'll be good! Wishing you and your loved ones all good things for the new year and the new decade!

A Cup O' Kindness

Susan here, wishing all of you a Happy New Year’s Eve – with best wishes for 2020 and its new decade. May this be the start of a happy, healthy, peaceful time in your lives.

Tonight many of us will sing verses of a very famous and familiar song, known far and wide, sung every New Year’s Eve around the world. We may not know all the words or understand the Scots language in the verses, but we all know the song. And here’s to the Scots, for the song is theirs originally, written by Robert Burns, who based his version on remembered lines from even earlier songs.  

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne!

He wrote it shortly before December 17, 1788, and it was officially published in 1796. Burns claimed that three verses came from older traditional Scottish folk songs dating back to the 16th century or earlier, and he added two verses himself. Some scholars feel that none of his verses were authentically older versions, though the phrasing was indeed traditional.

An early precursor appears in the Bannatyne Manuscript, a collection of Scottish poetry compiled in the 16th century:

About me friendis anew I gatt,
Rycht blythlie on me thay lewch…
And auld kyndnes is quyt foryett.

(About me friends anew I had/Right blithely on me they looked… And auld kindness is quite forgot.) 

A 17th century English version of an older Scottish folksong from a sheet of ephemera (basically, a flier), hints at the Burns song to come. “My jo” is a Scots endearment meaning "my joy" or "my dear”…

On old long syne,
On old long syne, my jo,
On old long syne:
That thou canst never once reflect
On old long syne.

A verse by the 17th century poet Ayton contains other elements of the Burns song:

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never thought upon,
The flames of love extinguished,
And freely past and gone

A few verses of a song about soldiers returning from war were published by the Edinburgh bookseller and poet Allan Ramsay in his Tea Table Miscellany, 1724:

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
Tho' they return with scars?
These are the noble hero's lot,
Obtain'd in glorious wars

Burns was familiar with some of these sources, though we are fortunate that he decided to have a go at the lyrics himself.

The melody was traditional as well—he set his version to a Scottish strathspey, a Highland reel called “The Miller’s Daughter,” a fiddle tune that can be traced much earlier (many old fiddle tunes are based on even older harp melodies). “The air is but mediocre,” Burns said of it, but it suited his verses and was a catchy little tune.

He wrote to a friend on 17th December 1788: "Is not the Scotch phrase ‘auld lang syne’ exceedingly expressive? There is an old song and tune which has often thrilled through my soul. You know I am an enthusiast in old Scotch songs…Light be the turf on the breast of the heaven-inspired poet who composed this glorious fragment!"

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne!

For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne
We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet,
For auld lang syne

For over 200 years, the “mediocre air” with its borrowed phrases that Burns put together has proven unforgettable.

Here’s the song performed by Scottish singer-songwriter Dougie MacLean - a rendition that Burns himself surely would have applauded. Enjoy - and Happy New Year to you! 

 

On the Sixth Day of Christmas

Pat here, wishing everyone a wonderful winter! 

I'd meant to find six geese a laying, but lacking Photoshop skills, I had to give up the task. And these gowns are much prettier than geese. I'm sure this is an image of a romance opportunity in the making. Poor gentleman, going down before all the lovely misses! Don't you think one will run to his aid?

I used to love ice skating but I'd probably break every bone in my body if I tried it now. How about you, do you ice skate? How are you spending your chilly winter days?

Good Swig at the Thatcht House

Susanna here, carrying on our Christmastide with a song from the era I’m currently writing about—the late 17th century.

As some of you know, I love using songs in my own stories, and I’ve been known to spend an enjoyable research hour or seven mucking about on the Bodleian Library’s Ballads Online website…but this particular song, although it is found there, didn’t come to me as a result of my own research.

It came via Twitter, three days before Christmas, in a random tweet that crossed my timeline, authored by historian and writer Emily Brand:

“Can we all agree to forget the Victorian Christmas & embrace the Restoration Christmas this year?” she wrote. “Features: - The finest young wenches that ever were seen - Cake & ale - Widows giving out mustard - Young maids & men getting together on the village green to shake their bums”

Now I confess, the Cake and ale would more than likely, on their own, have been enough to reel me in. But add the Restoration (which I’ve always loved)? And wenches? Wenches?!

Reader, I was well and truly hooked.

Moving into the Sunshine

Joanna here, feeling like I should be doing something to encourage the sun a bit more.

It always strikes me as weird that the days get longer after the Solstice in December but the weather keeps getting colder. My truly cold winter months hit in January and February when there's more sun. It seems both unfair and, like, counter intuitive.

It's sciency stuff, basically. The "getting slowly colder" thing happens because the earth is a big place and holds a whole bunch of accumulated heat energy stored up from last July and August. Takes a while for that heat to dissipate.

Same reason you can't just take yer pie out of the oven and it's instantly cool enough to chow down.

see the similarity to the earth on the right

If the pie were the earth and you took it out on the Solstice, round here you wouldn't be eating dessert till January.

Here's a nifty map of the coldest day for the US. (you can look at it up close here.) You'll see that some places -- like in Colorado -- get chillyfreezing at the Solstice. This is arranged by the local Chamber of Commerce to encourage Ski Tourism over Winter Break. Where I live, deepest cold hits in the middle of February and we are still worried about blossom damage on the fruit trees into March and April.

So the whole "inertia of the earth's heat" is all very well, but it doesn't account for what actually happens, does it?

When you ask why, they come up with a lot of meteorological hand-waving basically. They talk about humidity and local climate and how close you are to the ocean and I suppose computers are involved somewhere. It still does not seem fair and I find the Chamber of Commerce argument more convincing, meself.

This is a fox in Norway who really cannot wit for the days to get longer

In case you were wondering How Much Longer your days are going to get now that the Winter Solstice has come and gone, you can go here, plug in your city, and you will be able to find out.

Here in Virginia I get an extra minute of daylight tomorrow. Yippee! I'll continue to get an extra minute of sun every day till the Summer Solstice. I feel so special.

Folks living in Nome, Alaska will get close to two extra minutes tomorrow, but I do not begrudge it to them.

 

Are you looking forward to getting some sun eventually? What do you plan to do with it?

The Colours of Christmas

Nicola here on the third day of Christmas, talking about colours (or even colors!) For me this year, Christmas has been a very colourful occasion. White, red and gold have traditionally been the colours associated with Christmas in my home ever since I was a child and helped my grandmother decorate the tree each year. Red always reminds me of the vivid berries that you can still find in the hedgerows, feeding the birds, in the winter. Gold feels bright and regal and white is for snow, of course! White decorations arethe closest we've been to a white Christmas here in quite a while! Together they all look lovely with the green of the tree.

Before Christmas I went to a light show at my local arboretum. It was magical to stroll through the trees and watch the play of light on the bare branches, bringing out the shadows and patterns in the wood. They had recreated the Northern Lights and they rippled overhead as you walked along an avenue of huge trees. it was the most beautiful sight and quite enchanting. Meanwhile, the church in my parents' village was lit up with purple, which I discovered is the colour of advent.

Finally, my favourite Christmas present was these rather fabulous gloves with their multi-coloured trim! Overall I do feel as though I have had a beautifully-coloured and illuminated Christmas which, when it's a bit dark and cold outside, is wonderfully bright and warming. I hope your Christmas has been full of light as well.

What are your favourite colours of Christmas?

Boxing Day

Anne here, as we move into our Wenchly daily Christmastide blogging. I've scored the Boxing Day blog several times in the past, so if you'd like to read my 2008 blog about the traditions and practice of Boxing Day, as well as some odd Australian traditions, click on this link.

I'm avoiding the Boxing Day sales, and not watching the cricket — or any TV. Nor will I be cooking for a while, as I'll be browsing on the leftovers from Christmas dinner, as well as cherries and mangoes and watermelon. It's summertime and I always have this bowl filled with cherries on my Christmas table. And there is some of the "Christmas Crack" I made for Kris Kringle "home-made" presents left over, so I guess I'll be nibbling on that, too. It's very yummy. Recipe here.

Merry Christmas!

(vintage card: thegraphicsfairy.com)

Warmest holiday wishes from the Word Wenches ~

May the sweet magic of the season

fill your heart and home this year! 

Visit the blog throughout the Yuletide season! We'll be posting greetings and fun holiday blogs every day from Christmas through Twelfth Night! 

 

Random Doodles!

Andrea here, What with the holidays upon us, and this week likely being a frenzy of last-minute running around, I’ve decided to keep my scribbling short. Very short! So I'm doing something a little different.

Now, scribbling is the operative word. Many of us here enjoy historical books—both ones written by contemporary authors set in the past, and ones actually penned in the past. (I adore seeing displays of historical manuscripts. I literally got goosebumps seeing Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre at the British Library!)

I recently saw a delightful blog that made me have a fun “ah-ha!” moment regarding on how we read books. (more on that in a moment.) I would like to posit that there are two fundamental types of readers: Those who revere the printed page and abhor the idea of adding any markings to it. And those who don’t hesitate for a moment about adding their own personal doodles.

Novellas: A Little Bit of Christmas!

By Mary Jo

There have been novella anthologies on many themes and for many holidays, but Christmas novella anthologies blow all the rest out of the water. 

A novella is usually defined as between 20K and 40K words, so it's more than a short story--it's long enough to have character development, a proper romance, and a plot.  Christmas, with warm fuzzies and over the top sentimentality, is perfect for novellas. <G>

Those of us who started out as Regency writers at NAL tend to have written more than our share of Christmas novellas--I certainly have!  I've collected mine into two different collections:  CHRISTMAS REVELS, with five novellas, and CHRISTMAS CANDLES, which has two novellas. 

But today's riff is because I've produced two of the stories from Christmas Revels as standalone e-books: The Christmas Cuckoo has been available as an e-book for several years, and I quite recently produced an audiobook version which is available for a very modest sum. 

 

Sailing the Danube Continued

Pat here:

That's me on a fake penny farthing--a vehicle that plays a part in my March release, Lessons in Enchantment. I couldn't resist the photo op. I don't know how anyone climbed on one of those things unless it was stuck to the ground like this one!

In my last blog , I described the first few days of my Viking tour of the Danube and lamented that I didn’t have room to get into the really magical stuff. My memory isn’t of the best, but I’m hoping if I dig around in our tons of photos that I may be able to piece together the rest of the journey.

Ask A Wench - December

Susanna here, with this month’s Ask-A-Wench post, in which our question is—appropriately enough for the season—“What Christmas stories have you been reading lately?"

Every year I settle in with my holiday comfort reads—Dinah Dean’s The Cockermouth Mail, and the paperback novelization of The Gift of Love (a wonderfully sappy romantic TV movie from the 1970s based on O. Henry’s The Gift of the Magi) and, if I’m not in the middle of writing a book myself, Rosamunde Pilcher’s Winter Solstice. This year, I added a book I’d bought last year and saved as a treat—Happy Christmas, by Daphne du Maurier.

Christmas Ghost Stories

Joanna here, talking about ghosts and Christmas and the assumptions we make about the past. These are three topics of moderate interest and even — to me at least — related.

Consider long winter nights. This is natural to consider since we in the Northern Hemisphere have been doing the whole it-gets-dark-at-4:30-in-the-afternoon-dagnabit thing for a while now and we are very tired of it. It’s still two weeks till the tipping point of the year, the Solstice, when we start to get our sun back.

Good on you, Brother Sun, for showing up to do your job.

 

How did folks cope with these long, dark, cold winter nights, historically?

In the beginning, countless generations of our pre-technological ancestors spent their long winter nights huddled together, scratching fleas, giving serious effort to the goal of not freezing to death, and keeping an ear cocked for cave bears. Probably they were not bored.

Eventually folks killed off the bears and got their act together enough for a warm fire, a solid roof, and walls that kept out the wind. The edge was off the accustomed misery of existence and everybody was seeking entertainment. Families gathered round the increasingly effective hearth of a wintry evening, exchanging merry jests, roasting chestnuts, and telling each other stories.There might have been riddles involved.

It makes one understand why we, as a species, charged headlong into the electronic age and the internet.

Rebranding AKA New Covers and Titles for Old Books

Nicola here. Today I’m talking about re-branding in the form of book covers and titles.  The reason: My publisher and I decided to give The Woman in the Lake a new cover and a new title for the UK e-book and I thought it might be interesting to explore why this happened. I hope this will appeal to readers who might wonder why books are sometimes rebranded, and to authors who may face the same dilemmas themselves. It’s a look behind the scenes – and a very honest one – into what happened with The Woman in the Lake.

TWITL as I call it, was published simultaneously in the UK and North America in March 2019. It’s my third “timeslip” novel, a term which in itself can cause problems for an author trying to interest an agent or publisher in a book. Some people haven’t heard of timeslip, others ask what the differences are between timeslip and time travel, some people call the books dual or multiple time stories… There can be some identity issues!

Of shopping centers and chocolate

Anne here. A few weeks ago I visited Sydney, and spent a few hours wandering through the Queen Victoria Building (known to Sydneysiders as the QVB.)

Situated in the heart of Sydney, it's a large ornate Victorian-era building, filled with upmarket shops and cafes and boutique stores of various kinds — and was one of the earliest "trading halls" of its kind, certainly in Australia.

Building commenced in 1893 as a government project, and, as there was a depression at the time, there was a deliberate choice to make the building grand and ornate — partly to express confidence in the future, and partly to employ large numbers of unemployed craftsmen and workers — stonemasons, plasterers, tilers, stained glass artists, metal workers and many more.

You can see from my photos how elaborate and heavily decorated it is, in the best Victorian-era fashion, with decorative tilework, intricate stone carving, elaborate plaster work, great copper domes, stained glass windows and fanciful wrought iron. It took four and a half years to construct and was opened with great ceremony in 1898 and was named The Queen Victoria Market Buildings in commemoration of her Diamond Jubilee. See the invitation to the opening and grand ball below.

An Edith Layton Christmas Collection!

By Mary Jo

Just in time for the holidays! It’s a Wonderful Regency Christmas , a collection of six Christmas stories by the late and much missed Word Wench, Edith Layton, has just been released. 

Edith wrote many and varied wonderful stories, but she had a special gift for Christmas novellas.  For the first time, these six novellas are available in one volume.  The stories have been out of print for years, so this is a special treat for Layton Lovers and else who loves a warm, romantic holiday tale.

This collection includes the following stories:

The Duke’s Progress

It’s a Wonderful Christmas

The Gingerbread Man

The Last Gift

The Amiable Miser

Dogstar

I haven’t read Dogstar yet, but since Edith was a whole-hearted dog lover, I expect something really special! 

I just reread the first story, The Duke's Progress, and it was as lovely as when I first read it on the initial release.  A lonely and depressed duke, a winsome little boy, and the perfect woman to take dashing through the snow on a sleigh!  What more can a sentimental lover of Christmas stories want?

It's available as an ebook for the first time and in paperback almost everywhere books are sold. Edith's daughter Susie Felber says fans have been asking for this for years, and she's delighted to publish the first Layton Christmas collection is here--so we readers can be delighted as well! 

Mary Jo

PS:  A surprise bonus!  Susie Felber will give an e-book of IT'S A WONDERFUL REGENCY CHRISTMAS to one person who comments between now and Sunday midnight.  Good luck!

A Royally Sweet Secret!

Andrea here, As most of you know, I love doing research. For me it’s endlessly interesting—and at times exciting, especially when I discover something new about something I’ve delved into before. (That’s truly one of the pleasures of history—the more you think you know, the more you find hidden surprises!)

And given the season, this sweet discovery is particularly fun. Chocolate and the holidays—really, how perfect is that! The royal palaces of London are some of my favorite places, and I happened to be doing some additional research on Kensington Palace and Kew Palaces for the Wrexford & Sloane mystery I’m currently writing . . .when lo and behold, a tantalizing little sidebar popped up regarding Hampton Court Palace. Given that it involved chocolate, how could I resist! So join me in enjoying this little nibble of history.

 

Susanna's TBR

Susanna here, and once again, I didn’t have anything to contribute to this month’s What We’re Reading post. That’s because I’m deep in the middle of writing a book, and I don’t read much fiction at all when I’m writing—partly because I’m so buried in nonfiction research reading I don’t have a lot of free time left, and partly because I learned long ago that, if a writer has a strongly individual storytelling voice, it will start to creep into and influence mine if I read while I’m working.

Case in point: way, way back in the day, when we were on our honeymoon (which was actually also a research trip for my novel Season of Storms only he didn’t entirely know about that), my husband brought along a copy of Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath to read on the train. I wasn’t actively writing the novel then, but I did have my ever-present notebook with me, in which I jot down things that I observe and lines of dialogue and bits of scenes. I started thumbing through the Steinbeck, too.

What We're Reading for November

Howdy folks. Joanna here.
Hope all those who celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday had a good one.

It's been a good month for reading, it being fall weather and brisk enough that the dog doesn't beg for a walk so much.

 

Andrea brings us a YA and a biography:

It was a strange reading month. I started and didn’t finish a couple of books, which is very rare for me. But they just didn’t catch my fancy. However, having enjoyed the Ron Chernow biography of Alexander Hamilton so much, I snatched up Washington: A Life,  his bio on George Washington, when it recently appeared on BookBub. (It won the Pulitzer Prize some years back) I’m only about a quarter of the way through it, but am really enjoying it.

 

Chernow has a wonderful knack of making his subjects come so alive. Washington’s early life is fascinating, and he comes across as a very different character from the solemn, stately president that the history books present. We see a full range of his humanity—he was a man of passions and pragmatism—and really paints a viid portrait of his many nuances. I’m very much looking forward to glomming through the rest of it in next little while.

I love Leigh Bardugo’s YAs, so I was also eagerly waiting the release of her first adult novel, Ninth House. I glommed through it, but have to confess that it wasn’t an easy read. The plotting and character development were ragged in places, and it was VERY dark and gritty—enough so, that I paused in a few places wondering whether I could continue. It didn’t have the strong band of misfit friends that she created so beautifully in the YAs, so the relationship of protagonists seemed a little disjointed.

 

BUT, as as the blurb says, it’s a tale of power, privilege, dark magic, and murder set among the Ivy League elite . . . and glimmers of Bardugo’s magical writing flickered enough in places, that I stuck with it. And as the backstory of the main character—a deeply damaged freshman young woman who suddenly finds herself trying to keep evil magic from running amuck when her senior mentor disappears—is slowly revealed, the story really begins to come together, and the bonding begins to work.

 

It’s a challenging read, so be forewarned. But I ended up liking in spite of the problems I found. It’s clearly the start of the series, and I’m hooked enough on the characters and the quest that I’ll definitely get the second book. (In the last chapter of this book, she and her friends have discovered that her mentor isn't dead, but has been swallowed by a demon . . . so the last line of this book is hard to resist. “So, who’s ready to go to Hell?”

 

Nicola offers us a fine mix:

I’ve been mixing romance and crime in my reading this month. I started with My Sister the Serial Killer, which was recommended here last month. The title in itself is enough to rouse the curiosity! It’s about Korede, whose gorgeous sister Ayoola is the serial killer of the title. Korede has been covering up for and tidying up after Ayoola for years but she’s about to reach breaking point when her sister takes a shine to the man Korede is in love with… A lot of the reviews describe this book as hilarious.

I didn’t actually find it very funny because it was pretty dark, but I did find it compulsive and the writing was very, very good. I always feel it’s hard to say I enjoyed a book like this because I found it disturbing but it was a very interesting reading experience.

Next up was The Word is Murder by Antony Horowitz. I really enjoyed the last book of his I read, The Magpie Murders, and this was just as good. It’s a modern take on the old-fashioned murder mystery, full of red herrings, misdirection, a fascinating cast of characters and a maverick detective.

Romance was provided by a timeslip novel by Melinda Hammond, called Casting Samson. Linda is an award-winning author of Regency romance (she also writes under the name Sarah Mallory) but I’ve read and enjoyed her timeslip writing before (Moonshadows) so I was really looking forward to Casting Samson.

The two time periods are contemporary and the era of the Crusades and the Knights Templar, which was a fascinating and unusual period of history to read about. The historical and modern days sections were woven together beautifully and there were two very satisfying love stories in the contemporary story. There was also a hilarious scene at a village fete which had me laughing aloud. Anyone who enjoys romances set in English villages should like this – it has a lovely and vivid cast of characters, three very attractive heroes, history and mystery! Casting Samson was previously published by HQ Digital and Melinda will be republishing it very soon – watch this space! In the meantime, here’s the link to Moonshadows.

 

Pat's here with a New York City story:

Elizabeth Gilbert is a fabulous writer who can draw the reader in with her effortless prose alone. The reviews of City of Girls caught  my interest with promises of New York City theater history in the 1940s. The opening chapter was a bit of a literary conceit, but I tolerated that. It gave the author the opportunity to write a chatty monologue, presumably to some woman she’d only met once, explaining how the narrator's relationship with the unknown woman’s father. That sounded promising.

I knew it wasn’t romance and the narrator wouldn’t end up with the father, but I was happy to go along for the ride—until midbook when the narcissistic shallow protagonist had yet to mention said gentleman but talked only of herself.

There were a lot of entertaining characters along the way, and I kept waiting for the story to coalesce into a beginning, middle, and end. Instead, I got lots of enchanting vignettes of 1940s New York that never went anywhere. So I skipped to the end, and the father showed up maybe forty pages from the end. I’ll leave it to you whether he was worth the effort. So if you don’t mind just going along for the ride with no destination in mind, read this for the history and the prose.

Anne returns to a favorite author and brings us someone new. Anne says:

 

I've recommended Juliet Marillier's novels before in this column, and her latest, The Harp of Kings, was a standout read for me this month. Juliet Marillier writes Celtic history with elements of fantasy and magic. In The Harp of Kings eighteen-year-old Liobhan and her brother Brocc are musicians training to join an elite warrior band. When they are recruited for a secret mission to find and retrieve an ancient harp, vital to the coronation of a king—and the stability of a kingdom—they are challenged by both men and magic. A wonderful novel, highly recommended.

 

My other recommendation is Ann Swinfen — The Bookseller's Tale. Recommended to me by a friend, this is a medieval mystery set in the Oxford of 1353. The small university town is still trying to recover from the aftermath of The Great Plague, several years before. When maker of books, bookseller and scrivener, Nicholas Elyot, finds the body of a student known to him, murdered and tossed into the river, he becomes involved in a search for answers, answers that are closely connected to the book trade.

 

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Apart from the story, plot and characters -- all of which were intelligent and engaging -- I learned a lot about this time period and place that I hadn't known. The minute I finished The Bookseller's Tale, I bought the next in the series, The Novice's Tale and gobbled it down. I've since finished the series. Best read in order.

 

 

Mary Jo brings me cats, which is always a delight.

 

Murder at the Cat Show by Marian Babson

I've been in the mood for light reading, and when I saw a cozy mystery by Marian Babson on BookBub, I snapped it up because I read and enjoyed it years ago.  While I remember the general plot, I'd forgotten most of the details, so I enjoyed it all over again.  The story is narrated by Doug Perkins, who runs a small public relations firm with his friend Gerry Tate.  They’re hired to publicize a London cat show.  

Doug has no opinions about cats one way or the other, but he soon gets sucked into discovering celebrity working cat and their doting owners. There's a murder, Doug gets enslaved by a peremptory young Siamese, and much fun is had all around. <G>  Very enjoyable, especially if you like cats. 

A Holiday by Gaslight by Mimi Matthews

This is an enjoyable Victorian Christmas novella, a nice light bite at a busy season. As of this writing, it's 99 cents, though I don't know how long that will last.  Here's the blurb:

Sophie Appersett is quite willing to marry outside of her class to ensure the survival of her family. But the darkly handsome Mr. Edward Sharpe is no run-of-the-mill London merchant. He's grim and silent. A man of little emotion--or perhaps no emotion at all. After two months of courtship, she's ready to put an end to things.

 But severing ties with her taciturn suitor isn't as straightforward as Sophie envisioned. Her parents are outraged. And then there's Charles Darwin, Prince Albert, and that dratted gaslight. What's a girl to do except invite Mr. Sharpe to Appersett House for Christmas and give him one last chance to win her? Only this time there'll be no false formality. This time they'll get to know each other for who they really are!

 

And me, I'll round out the month of November with a paranormal.

I don't read a lot of story collections, but I picked up a couple in November, doing the mind-broadening thing.

One struck me in particular. It's Small Magics by the writing team of Ilona Andrews. This is five or six stories set in the her fictive universe. You got yer magic, yer warrior women,yer  shape shifters, post-Apocalypse world, folks fighting with swords and adventure in general. They give us a couple YA stories and a couple love stories. All of them are lovely.

Can I call the stories warm and funny when they’re full of monsters and bloodshed?

Anyway, I enjoyed this lot and it might be just what you need if you don’t have time to sit down and concentrate for a long stretch.

 

So. what are you reading lately that you think other folks might like hearing about?

 

 

Drawing Writing Inspiration from Family History with Elizabeth St.John

Nicola here. Today I welcome historical author Elizabeth St.John to the Word Wenches. I first met Elizabeth at the Historical Novel Conference in Oxford a few years ago. I confess to stalking her a little (in a completely non-sinister way!) because I knew she had a family connection to Lydiard Park, the glorious 18^th century stately home in Swindon near where I live, and I was desperate to meet her and chat about Lydiard and its history. It’s been a huge pleasure to get to know Elizabeth and discover her writing. Her books are set in the 17^th century, in an intensely turbulent period of English history, and they are intricate, immersive and beautifully-written. I’ve just started reading Written In Their Stars and I am hooked. Elizabeth evokes a rich historical world that draws you in from the very start of the book. Here she is to tell us more about her writing.

Elizabeth, welcome to the Word Wench Blog! Please tell us about your personal connection to the family you are writing about.

The St.John family in The Lydiard Chronicles share a common great-grandmother with me: Margaret Beauchamp, who was also grandmother to Henry VII. The seventeenth century family thought she was a very useful ancestor to increase their standing in society, and didn’t hesitate to use their “royal connection” to further their position. Sir John St.John, the First Baronet, was particularly enthralled, and thus commissioned the Polyptych in 1615, which stands in St. Mary’s Church at Lydiard Park. It’s an extraordinary monument, full of beautiful portraits which inspired my work—plus a gorgeous family tree, complete with Margaret at the top.

The HNSA Conference

A few weeks ago I attended the HNSA Conference — (HNSA = Historical Novel Society of Australasia) in Sydney. It was quite different from Romance Writers' conferences, which tend to be mostly about the craft of writing and business and publishing. The HNSA Conference was more about ideas — issues to do with research, fine lines to walk when writing about real people's lives, research challenges across eras, truth and lies in crime fiction, historical fiction screenwriting, sources of inspiration, and much more. You can link to the full program from here.

I loved the interview with Jackie French, a wonderfully prolific Australian author, who writes for children and adults and everyone in between, and whose historical novels I recommended on Word Wenches earlier this year. I was lucky enough to meet her in the green room, and she was as warm and charming as her books. She gave a marvelous speech about the importance of writing and representing people and telling the truth, and at the end I wanted to stand up and cheer. I restrained myself and clapped really hard instead. Her website is here.

It was both refreshing and inspiring, listening to people talk about historical writing from such varied points of view. As well, so many of the speakers and panelists were natural storytellers, and were so interesting I wanted to hear more, and so of course, bought their books. I learned things about history — mostly Australian history, but also South African and NZ and other times and places — that I knew very little about.

Book Winner!

Congratulations to Maryellen, who just won an e-copy of Susan King's LAIRD OF TWILIGHT! 

Thanks for being a Word Wenches reader, Maryellen. Hope you enjoy the book! 

If you'd like a chance to win a book from one of the Word Wenches, be sure to check our blog regularly and leave comments -- we often give away books, and you never know when it might be your lucky day!  

 

The Boy Inside The Man

Susanna here.

Eight years ago, when I was writing The Firebird, I did something I’d never done in a novel before.

One of my readers, Lee Ann Ray, had written to me asking whether Robbie McMorran—an eight year old boy in The Shadowy Horses—would ever get his own story. At the time, I’d thought to myself, “But he’s only eight (or, as he would have corrected me, eight and three quarters)—too young for a book of his own.” Then I realized that he had been eight and three quarters way back when I’d written that book in the mid-1990s, which meant that in 2011 he would have been in his mid-twenties—and even older by the time I wrote a new book and it actually got published.

The more I thought about it, the more I could see how Robbie’s gift of second sight could work to bridge the past and present in the story threads that were developing for what would be The Firebird.

So I gave him a try as the modern day hero of that book.

Audiobooks! Angel Rogue & The Christmas Cuckoo

by Mary Jo

FINALLY these two audio projects are available after a long time in process. Both are narrated by the most excellent Siobhan Waring, who has narrated four other of my Fallen Angels books. 

One of my goals has been to have all seven books in my Fallen Angels series available in audio, and with Angel Rogue, Fallen Angels #4, that goal has been achieved. 

I've always had a special fondness for Robin and Maxie, the protagonists of Angel Rogue.  Lord Robert Andreville is the black sheep son of an aristocratic family.  He first appeared as an ambiguous secondary character in the previous book in the series, Petals in the Storm.  After years of dangerous spying against Napoleon, he returns to his family home weary to the bone and with a bad case of PTSD before the term existed.