Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Historical Fiction Enticements 10/02

The Patterer
Larry Brill

In 1765 London, Leeds Merriweather is scratching out a living as a common street performer, a patterer, using his wit and storytelling skills to draw crowds and sell newspapers. Although he aspires to be a respected journalist and start his own publishing house, he is relegated to pattering by a handsome face, strong voice and straight teeth.

Inspired by a drunken chance encounter with Benjamin Franklin, Leeds assembles a zany cast of characters to become history’s first celebrity newscaster. But at the peak of his meteoric rise to fame and fortune, Leeds risks it all for the love of a conniving wench in this Dickensian comedy.

The Patterer is the first release in a trilogy.

Amazon US
Website

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Sisters of The Bruce
Jeanette Harvey

Sisters of The Bruce is a captivating work of fiction that weaves family history with a gripping narrative through the social and political landscape of medieval Scotland, Norway and Orkney.
Late 13th century Scotland is a wild and perilous place. Against a background of cataclysmic events, the adventurous lives of Robert the Bruce and his five sisters come to life through their own words in a series of letters. Courage and tenacity are often associated with Scotland’s great hero, but few appreciate the enormous challenges experienced by these remarkable sisters.

As a young girl, Isa leaves her home and family to sail to the land of the Vikings to become Queen of Norway whilst her sister, Kirsty, finds herself Countess of Mar: chatelaine of the great Kildrummy Castle in Scotland’s far northeast. Danger shifts and swirls about them. With assistance from Isa, younger sisters, Mathilda and Margaret, escape north.

As Scotland spirals into war, the Bruce kinfolk face the wrath of King Edward I of England, whose murderous vengeance wrought the brutal death of William Wallace some years earlier. Kirsty is incarcerated in solitary confinement in an English nunnery whilst Mary languishes within a cage on the walls of Roxburgh Castle. Only a Scottish victory at Bannockburn can save them.
Under Robert’s kingship, old wounds heal and his committed fighting force achieves a miracle. Eight years on, the fragile women return home to rebuild their shattered lives. Such an intimate account of love, loss and hope still resonates today.
Sisters of The Bruce is due out September/October in book and ebook form. Available through Amazon and Troubador Publishing UK or order through your local bookstore.

Blog: www.sistersofthebruce.wordpress.com
Websites: sistersofthebruce.com; robertthebruce.info

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Roan Rose
Juliet Waldron

More like a gangland war for turf and loot than chivalry, the War of Roses disrupted the life of commoners for hundreds of years. Roan Rose is the story of one of them, Rose Whitby, born on the Yorkshire dales. When the Countess of Warwick, decides to take the sturdy, gentle child to Middleham Castle to be companion and bed-time poppet for her youngest daughter, Rose’s fate is changed forever.

Rose bonds strongly with Anne Neville, her young mistress. She also meets a delicate royal boy enduring his knightly training—Richard of Gloucester, King Edward’s youngest brother. The noble children suffer illness and accidents as they grow, but Rose is a constant, always there to nurse and serve.

Rose bears intimate witness to betrayals, murders, battles and all the abrupt reversals of fortune which will shape Anne’s life--and her own. When Anne and Richard are at last free to marry, Rose is given a husband, too. From now on, she will live in the village at Middleham, work as a herbalist, raise her children and watch while her friends travel among their many castles. When King Edward unexpectedly drops dead, the hitherto loyal Richard surprises everyone by declaring his nephews illegitimate and seizing the throne. Rose’s beloved Anne will briefly become a Queen, while Richard’s name will become synonymous with evil. After he, the last Plantagenet King, is betrayed and slain on the field of battle, Rose returns to her humble existence on the Dales. She has one last service to perform.


Amazon US
Amazon UK

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Hellraiser - Mother Jones: An Historical Novel
Jerry Ash

"If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must man be of learning from experience." — George Bernard Shaw, Irish playwright and co-founder of the London School of Economics.

Hellraiser —Mother Jones: An Historical Novel brings Irish American Mother Jones back to renew the lessons of her history, to understand and compare the economic injustices of her time with the economic inequalities of contemporary life and to enable Mother Jones to once again call her people to action.

In history, Mary Harris Jones faces threats and jail terms, bullets and bombs to defend the American worker, the underclass — men, women and children — against the greed of robber barons like Ford, Rockefeller, Carnegie, Morgan and Vanderbilt.

In the end, the spirit of Mother Jones returns to find an America where economic servitude has shifted from the coal mines and sweatshops of her day to the fast food chains, big box retailers and even the high tech industries of ours. Where capitalism has robbed the people of the promises of justice, equality, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness in what was supposed to be a democratic society. Just as she warned 100 years ago.

Amazon US
Amazon UK
Hellraiser website
Barnes & Noble

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Castles, Customs, and Kings: True Tales by English Historical Fiction Authors
Edited by Debra Brown and M.M. Bennetts

Please see also this newly released nonfiction tome--a delicious anthology of British history posts from the first year of the English Historical Fiction Authors blog.
It is a large, beautiful book of 514 pages. Each article is just a few pages, making it a book that you can read on coffee breaks or in a waiting room, choosing a section that interests you at the moment. It is divided into various eras of history, and the table of contents enables you to quickly find what appeals.

The book also introduces readers to fifty-five authors of historical fiction and their titles. There really is something for everyone who enjoys British history and the stories that develop around it in the imagination of histfic authors.

Amazon US
Amazon UK
Kobo