Devon Book Club discussion
Theme Weeks
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Historical Fiction Theme Week #4 2020
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What you do you love about historical fiction and who are your favourite writers.
Here is a taster of what is coming your way - and this is just A-D! More later
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Janet Braund Few and I are looking forward to a wonderful conversation with you all and the writers about what you enjoy most in this genre.
A third instalment will follow later but, for now, here are writers F- K TP Fielden Helen Hollick Michael Jecks Eve Karlin Graham Hurley Eleni Kyriacou
Looking forward to hearing your views on this genre - also follow us over on our Facebook and Twitter accounts and, if you can, join us for #devonbookhour on Twitter tomorrow from 8
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And so, to the final part of mine and Janet Braund Few sneak preview into the local writers we will be featuring during our #histfic theme week. We've got some great questions and issues to explore during the week. We hope you will join in with us and share your love of the genre in all its guises. It's already busy on our Twitter account, with recommendations coming from all directions
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As part of our preparation for our theme week Janet and I met on Zoom yesterday and chatted about her work and, in particular, her latest book Sins As Red As Scarlet (which I finished over breakfast this morning and highly recommend).
Janet has lived in North Devon for fourteen years and can claim Devon ancestry, her great grandmother having been born near Tavistock. Having written several social history and
family history non-fiction books, Janet turned to writing ‘based on fact’ fiction, retelling the stories of real North Devon tragedies and revealing the poignant human stories behind
these incidents.
I asked her what drives much of her interest and she replied
“I have long been fascinated by the psychology behind the seventeenth century witchcraft accusations. What makes someone an accuser, a victim or the accused? There are many similarities between these accusations and modern day
bullying, which is why I was keen to create a modern strand to my recent novel, which cast a new light on the story of the Bideford witches".
For her latest novel Sins as Red as Scarlet, Janet meticulously researched the life of each of her characters, using the techniques of the family historian. In this way, she uncovered some facts that are not widely known about the individuals who feature in her story. She says
“My work as an historical interpreter means that I live in the seventeenth century, in the guise of my alter ego Mistress Agnes (see photo), a formidable goodwife of a certain age, who leads a somewhat chaotic life during the time of the English Civil War. Writing this book was a wonderful opportunity to use both my knowledge of the social history of the time and also my genealogical background, as my twenty-first century character, Martha, learned how to research. The
part of the novel that was set in 2020 was a challenge in two ways. Firstly, I had to remember what it was like to be sixteen. As I am still waiting to grow up, this wasn’t difficult. What was more of a problem was the fact that I’d set this part of the book between June and September 2020 and it was almost complete when it became apparent that 2020 would not be an ordinary year. After much consideration, I decided that Martha should inhabit an alternative version of the year 2020. Although the seventeenth century portion of the book is based on fact, this is, after all, a novel. So, COVID-19 does exist in Martha’s world but its effects are far less severe. I hope that readers do not feel that this trivialises the situation that engulfed the world in the spring and summer of 2020.”
Janet is always keen to collaborate with others who work in the creative industries and the book has been published through the North Devon publishing collective Blue Poppy Publishing bluepoppypublishing.co.uk. Oliver Tooley
Once again, Janet has worked with musician, Dan Britton
www.danbritton.co.uk , whose family are rooted in North Devon. He has composed a compelling companion song to the book.
The powerful cover was designed by local artist,
Robin Paul, of The Branch Line ww.facebook.com/TheBranchLine.
In addition, on the day Sins as Red as Scarlet was launched, Janet’s earlier novel Barefoot on the Cobbles, also based on a real Devon tragedy, became available as an audio book, produced by Devon-based voice artists Circle of Spears Productions www.circleofspears.com. Circle of Spears Productions
I really enjoy chatting with Janet. She is knowledgeable and thoughtful in her approach to both life and writing (the two being, for her. so inextricably entwined) and encouraging of others who want to explore writing in any form, but history and genealogy in particular.
Our #histfic week could not be in safer hands.
I know you are going to enjoy getting to know Janet during the week and that you will be fascinated by and love her books.
Janet Few
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To enter, simply like and share this post and leave a comment below, saying why you love historical fiction, by noon on Saturday 14/11 (UK Only I am afraid)
The Folville Chronicles - overview
Set in the fourteenth century, The Folville Chronicles follow the real lives of seven brothers - The Folvilles, from Ashby-Folville in Leicestershire. These brothers (John. Eustace, Walter, Laurence, Richard, Thomas and Robert), operated in the early 1300's - using crime as a way of life. Such was the state of official/legal corruption across England at the time, the Folvilles- for all their crimes and violence- were often looked up to and respected more than the law of the land. They were said to use 'Folville's Law' to distribute their own brand of justice.
Their story is brought to life via the introduction of potter's daughter- Mathilda of Twyford- and her love for the tales of Robyn Hode.
Blurb- The Outlaw's Ransom
When potter’s daughter Mathilda is kidnapped by the notorious Folville brothers as punishment for her father’s debts, she must prove her worth in order to win her freedom. With her life in the hands of the most infamous men in England, Mathilda must win the trust of the Folville’s housekeeper, Sarah, and Robert Folville himself if she has any chance of survival.Never have the teachings gleaned from the tales of Robyn Hode been so useful…
The Folville Chronicles
The Outlaw’s Ransom - mybook.to/theoutlawsransom
The Winter Outlaw- mybook.to/thewinteroutlaw
Edward's Outlaw - mybook.to/EdwardsOutlaw
The fourth book in the series, Outlaw Justice, is due to be published at the end of 2020.
About Jennifer
Former archaeologist and medieval historian, Dr Jennifer Ash, recently completed her fourth novel and fifth audio-script for ITV’s revival of the hit 1980’s series, Robin of Sherwood. She has also written the medieval crime series, The Folville Chronicles
Under the pen name Jenny Kane, Jennifer is the writer in residence for Tiverton Costa in Devon. She also co-runs the creative writing business, Imagine. Jenny teaches a wide range of creative writing workshops, including her popular ‘Novel in a Year’ course. (www.imaginecreativewriting.co.uk)
All of Jennifer Ash’s and Jenny Kane’s news can be found at www.jennykane.co.uk
@JenAshHistory
Jennifer Ash https://www.facebook.com/jenniferashh...
Jenny Kane is the author of Midsummer Dreams at Mill Grange, the bestselling Another Cup of Coffee novel series, Romancing Robin Hood, as well as the Cornish romance novels A Cornish Escape and A Cornish Wedding
Email - jennykaneromance@yahoo.co.uk
Web site/Blog - www.jennykane.co.uk
Twitter- https://twitter.com/JennyKaneAuthor
Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/JennyKaneRom...
Jenny writes medieval crime novels as Jennifer Ash
Jenny is the co-manager of the creative writing workshop business Imagine.
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This evening I want to begin sharing with you profiles of writers from Devon and beyond who have published in this genre - and what a fabulous breadth you are going to read about over the next two weeks. You will be spoiled for choice.
First up - Virginia Baily
Ginny Baily is the author of three novels. Her first, Africa Junction, set in Devon and West Africa, won the McKitterick prize in 2012. She used the prize money to travel to Italy to research her second, Early One Morning, which was a Sunday Times bestseller and serialized on BBC Radio 4. Her third, The Fourth Shore, takes Italy’s colonial past in North Africa as its backdrop and, through the story of one young woman, explores themes of migration, the long shadows cast by episodes of violence, forgiveness, love and the enduring power of friendship. Her work has been translated into many other languages and the Arabic language version of The Fourth Shore is due out this month.
Virginia is the co-founder and editor of Riptide short story journal publishing its 13th anthology this November. She holds a degree in French and Italian, an MA and PhD in English, has two sons and lives in Exeter.
About the books:
Early One Morning is told against the backdrop of the second world war in Italy and, in particular, the nine month Nazi occupation of Rome between 1943 and 1944. It tells the tale of a young woman who saves a Jewish child from being deported to Auschwitz.
The Fourth Shore mostly takes place in the late 1920s during the fascist period in Italy when Mussolini was at the height of his power. It is set both in Tripoli, Libya when that city was the capital of Italy's north African territory and in Italy itself. Details of the fascist colonial endeavour, its impact on the local population and also of everyday life in Italy at that time form the background to the story. The main protagonist is Liliana, a girl from northern Italy who travels to join her brother in the colony and whose actions there have disastrous consequences that ripple down through the years. The story is also partly set in 1980 when Liliana is an elderly lady and a different dictator - Gaddafy - is in power.
These books are wonderful and rightly deserve the praise they have received. They are engrossing, accessible and powerful books that deal with some major issues and leave a lasting impression.
I've had the pleasure of sharing several book events and launches with Virginia and am always captivated by her novels and admire her as a writer and great friend of Devon Book Club. Watch out for later in the the week for the opportunity to win a copy of Virginia's books
You can find out more about Virginia and her work here http://www.virginiabaily.com/
I don't read much historic fiction these days, occasionally we get one in our book group selection and I've enjoyed the ones I've read.
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The Hartford Manor Series
Maria is writing the Hartford Manor Series. Set in Devon in Victorian times, the first book, The Mazzard Tree follows the lives of Annie, a young girl whose family faces hard times when her father dies of consumption, and Robert, the heir to Hartford Manor. As Annie strives to keep her family out of the workhouse, she forms an unlikely friendship with Robert, and they develop feelings that can surely have no future.
The second book in the series is The Angel Maker which continues Annie and Robert’s story, and also features other family members. Fred finds a young woman in labour at the side of the road, and she gives birth to a daughter. Charlotte is an unmarried mother and she seeks help from her aunt. However, her aunt arranges an adoption behind her back and Charlotte is distraught. Annie is also friendly with Sam, an old tramp who lives in a makeshift hut in the woods, close to Buzzacott House. The new owners of the house are unfriendly, and the local people are curious. Why is a dangerous dog roaming the grounds? Do they have something to hide?
Author Bio
Marcia tells me that she has always enjoyed reading books and writing stories. She was born in North Devon and is a farmer's daughter. Her family has lived in this area for generations and she would never wish to live anywhere else.
When she left school Marcia worked in a bank for several years until she married Bryan, and then stayed at home to care for their three sons. As they grew older she returned to work, first as a Marie Curie nurse caring for the terminally ill, and then for the local authority managing
school transport. Marcia is retired now and I enjoy walking and gardening, as well as researching her family history. This hobby inspired some of the characters in her books. She has written two books in the Hartford Manor Series and is about to start work on the third, though she has not decided on a
title yet.
You can find out more about Marcia and her work here https://marciaclayton.co.uk/
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Read on....
THE RAILWAY GIRL
A heart-wrenching story of poverty, grief, love and compassion based around the building of the second railway through the historic market town of Tavistock on the edge of Devon’s
Dartmoor.
It is 1887 and times are lean. When West Country farm labourer, Emmanuel Ladycott, and his dairymaid daughter, Tresca, lose their jobs on the land, they head for Tavistock where Emmanuel hopes to join the hundreds of navvies working on the new railway.
Lodging together in a tiny attic room, Tresca is determined to forge a new life among the overcrowding and poverty of Bannawell Street. But when Emmanuel is dismissed from the
railway, Tresca doesn’t know whether to blame her father or his Irish foreman, Connor O’Mahoney.
Torn apart by her conflicting emotions, events spiral out of control, leaving Tresca broken and on the brink of despair. Lost and betrayed, will she find the strength and courage to
fight for her future?
The Railway Girl
To enter the giveaway simply like and leave a comment below by noon on Sunday 15/11, saying that you'd like to be entered. If you share as well you'll get an extra entry in the draw.
UK ONLY I am afraid.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Tania Crosse was born in London but when she was five, the family moved to Surrey where her love of the countryside took root. In later years, she graduated from London University with a degree in French Literature.
Tania wanted to be a writer of historical novels ever since, as a young girl, she saw the original black and white film of Jane Eyre, but didn’t have time to indulge this lifelong passion until her family had grown up. In the late 1990s, on her first ever family holiday in Devon, Tania visited Morwellham Quay. Discovering that nobody else had ever done so, she determined to pen a novel to illustrate the port’s Victorian history, and this became her debut release, Morwellham’s Child.
Falling in love with nearby Dartmoor, she and her husband bought a tiny cottage in the village of Walkhampton which they owned for fifteen years, staying there for at least a week out of every month all through the year and becoming part of the local community. She even wrote a First World War novel based on the historic wheelwrights in the village, which has recently been re-published as The Wheelwright Girl. In total, Tania wrote a further eight novels based on various aspects of Dartmoor’s history from Victorian times to the 1950s. She then took her writing career in a new direction with four Twentieth Century sagas set in London and the south east, but is now returning to the south west for all future stories.
Each of Tania’s books is like another child to her, so she was absolutely thrilled when earlier this year, her 1945 London-based novel, The Street of Broken Dreams, set in the Battersea back street where she lived as a small child, won BEST SAGA in the prestigious RoNA AWARDS 2020, which is a huge honour and achievement. And this month, her novel, The Railway Girl, based on the building of the second railway through Tavistock and previously published as The Wrong Side of Happiness, won her first ever Best Seller flag on AmazonUK by reaching Number One in Victorian Historical Romance.
Visit Tania’s website at
www.tania-crosse.co.uk
Follow her on Twitter
@TaniaCrosse
Follow her on Facebook
Tania Crosse Author
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Just pausing for lunch and just have time for another featured author, this time founder member of Devon Book Club and North Devon writer Ruth Downie Ruth's work will be well-known to many of you and, for those who haven't yet dipped your toes in and read her books, come on in - the water's lovely.
Medicus
Roman Army medic Gaius Petreius Ruso has come to Britannia to make a fresh start. Within days he finds himself landed with a female corpse that nobody else wants to deal with, and a local slave girl who won’t talk to him. He’s also fallen foul of the dreaded hospital administrator at Deva (modern-day Chester), and a senior centurion wants to strangle him. The last thing he wants to do is investigate the murders of local barmaids – and naturally, his handsome and spectacularly lazy colleague Valens is no help at all.
Things can be tough on the edge of the Empire – not only for a civilised man, but for the women he seems fated to gather around him.
‘…the beginning of an addictively escapist series.’ – The Times
My mum and I are working our way through this series and loving them so I can heartily recommend them.
About Ruth
Ruth was born in Ilfracombe, moved away as a child and finally found her way home again in 2010, much to our delight!
She’s the author of a series of novels featuring Roman Army medic Gaius Petrieus Ruso - a man whose desire for a quiet life is thwarted both by unwanted murder investigations, and by his British partner, Tilla.
The first book, confusingly published under two titles (“Medicus” and “Ruso and the Disappearing Dancing Girls”) appeared briefly on the New York Times Bestsellers list and was one of The Times’ “seven best thrillers for Christmas” in 2006. There are seven other full-length novels and one novella in the series. All are available from Devon’s library service. (More info at www.ruthdownie.com, where you can also see the stunning new covers created by local designer Bruce Aiken.)
In normal times, Ruth likes to ground her flights of fancy every summer by wielding an archaeological trowel. Sadly this year it’s just been a garden spade
You can find out more about Ruth and her work here https://ruthdownie.com/
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Kitty Underhay’s dance card is full… of death.
November 1933. Amateur sleuth-cum-dutiful granddaughter Kitty Underhay stifles a sigh of boredom as she attends the annual Hotelier’s Association Dinner and Dance on behalf of her grandmother, the proprietress of the Dolphin Hotel. She hopes the company of ex-army captain Matthew Bryant will enliven the otherwise dull evening. That is, until bullish and overbearing local councillor Harold Everton drops dead into his bowl of consommé.
While the local police are still scrambling for their whistles, Kitty and Matt waste no time leaping into action. Soon they find themselves caught up a dangerous search to uncover who amongst the distinguished guests used cyanide for seasoning?
When their digging throws light on a corruption scandal brewing in the local council involving Everton’s assistant Thomas King, they are sure they’ve cracked the case. But before he can be questioned further, King’s body is found in a smouldering car wreck. Meanwhile, the murderer has made a sinister plan to avoid detection or punishment, and it will lead Kitty and Matt into a dangerous dance with death…
A fast, fun and utterly unputdownable Golden Age cozy murder mystery, perfect for fans of Agatha Christie, T E Kinsey and Lee Strauss.
About Helena Dixon
Helena splits her time between the Black Country and Devon. Married with three daughters, a cactus called Spike, a crazy cockapoo and a tank of tropical fish, Helena is allergic to adhesives, apples, tinsel and housework. Her addictions of choice are coffee and reality TV. She was winner of The Romance Prize in 2007 and Love Story of the Year 2010 as Nell Dixon. She now writes historical 1930's set cozy crime. Nell enjoys hearing from readers and you can read her news and contact her via
her website http://www.nelldixon.com visit
her blog http://www.nelldixonrw.blogspot.com
on Twitter @NellDixon or
friend her on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Nell-Di...
Having travelled a lot, I love books set in Asia, reminding me of places I have visited. Many of these books are historical novels and I have learned a great deal about the politics and social challenges facing ordinary people throughout history in places such as China, India and Japan. My favourite author in this genre is Robinson Mistry. His most famous book is A Fine Balance, which I read whilst in India and still stays with me, but all his novels and short story collections are alive with the history, personalities and people of India - all well worth reading.
Another of my favourites is Amitav Ghosh, whose Ibis Trilogy (which is loosely structured around the Opium War of the 1800s) is riveting and gives various insights in to the impact opium had on different people.
I could go on... I also love Arundhati Roi, Vikram Seth and Kieran Desai, but would love any recommendations from anyone else!
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Hi Kerri - you have just listed a load of my favourite writers - they ae amazing. A Fine Balance is brilliant, as is A Suitable Boy.
Not so much historical novels but book set in India you will also enjoy I'm sure are Kanyakumari Under the Pipal Tree A House for Mr Biswas The Tyre
I'll ask for more recommendations on our other platforms too but these spring to mind
Ian wrote: "Turning now to more usual Devon Book Club fare. Janet Braund Few and I are calling on all lovers of historical fiction to join us in a HistFic Theme Week (or longer if you are enthusiastic) startin..."Wow! That list of books has several of my top 100 books ever on it - Red Tent by Anita Diamant, Alias Grace by Margaret Attwood, Cold Mountain, All the Light We Cannot See etc etc.
I have mixed feelings about #histfic however. My first career was as an archaeologist and one of the things I loved was that we were unravelling stories of people in the past. That's what I found most fascinating about it. But, it can also make me quite critical of #histfic where there are inaccuracies in the research and particularly where modern values and notions are inappropriately placed in the past. Cultures were different and some of the things we take for granted wouldn't have been considered important in the past. I do love a well researched but imaginative #histfic though!
Kerri wrote: "Having travelled a lot, I love books set in Asia, reminding me of places I have visited. Many of these books are historical novels and I have learned a great deal about the politics and social chal..."Hi Kerri,
I agree completely about Mistry and have written and talked about him at length, although (I must admit) it is a good while since I reread any.
If you love Mistry's work, you might also like to try the novels of Nadeem Aslam. In some ways his style and subjects are very different, but he still captures so much history in involving and varied places and plots, whether the setting is the North of England or war-torn Afghanistan.
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Agree Jo - that's the key. As someone said the other day - putting corsets and breeches on the cover doesn't make for historical fiction - needs to be thoughtfully researched and executed
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Yes - Nadeem Aslam is great too. I read The Blind Man's Garden some years ago
Ian wrote: "DrMama wrote: "Kerri wrote: "Having travelled a lot, I love books set in Asia, reminding me of places I have visited. Many of these books are historical novels and I have learned a great deal about..."He was on at the Dartington Lit Fest, oooh over 7+ years ago: it was a double bill with Pankaj Mishra. I had first heard about him, and his work, via Kingsbridge Library Reading Group: this was not long after I had moved to the area and joined the Library. We read his first novel - Maps for Lost Lovers and most of us were blown away! It's set in a UK northern city (Rotherham, maybe) and centres on an Asian family where the generations are struggling: some adapting, some not. Do read it, although all are good I think this, and The Wasted Vigil are my main loves.
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That's another for my ever growing tbr list - thanks Carol. It does sound like a great book. What are you reading currently?
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Congratulations to Devon's C.S. Quinn for making the last with The Bastille Spy- which I loved when I read it last month
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Our good friend and writer Anjana Chowdhury (who is of Bengali origin) recommends A Suitable Boy, Difficult Daughters, The Piano Tuner, The Quiet American which capture important periods in recent history.
Ian wrote: "DrMama wrote: "Ian wrote: "DrMama wrote: "Kerri wrote: "Having travelled a lot, I love books set in Asia, reminding me of places I have visited. Many of these books are historical novels and I have..."I am reading Colum McCann's Dancer a biofiction (I guess) about Nureyev, with The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis; plus Non Combatants and Others by Rose Macaulay, which is atmospheric research about the 1st World War. Then I'm occasionally forcing myself to read a short section of Christina Lamb'sOur Bodies, Their Battlefields: War Through the Lives of Women. The first 2 are bedtime books (?): a careful analytic reading of one of Davis's weirdly wonderful stories, before I pile into the McCann for the wonderful madness of Nureyev. The Lamb is grim … and though it covers an awfulness that we need to know about - and stop! - I imagine it's not widely read.
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It does sound like an acquired taste
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I'm delighted to share this with you as Carol has been a loyal and active member of our community from Day 1, has provided many insights into the art of writing and offered many book recommendations.
I asked Carol to tell us about herself and her work and this is what she says:
I grew up in Ilfracombe and in my childhood roamed the town and countryside with her brother and sister. Children during the 1950s were much freer than now, and we climbed cliffs and trees, explored derelict buildings and trekked the hills. We caught crabs and fish and ate wild strawberries and blackberries from the hedges. As a child, my family lived in Fore Street, near Ilfracombe harbour, and my earliest memories are of seagulls screeching, and of playing in the soft sand of the Strand near to fishing boats unloading their cargo. St Nicholas's Chapel and the distinctive rugged shape of Hillsborough formed the boundaries of my world. We later lived in a Georgian house near the Wilder and I would visualise the ladies in their long dresses and the men in their breeches who had lived there many years before. This is the world I wanted to describe in my novels.
Storks in a Blue Sky is a historical romance set in Devon and Alsace and tells the story of a servant who impersonates her mistress when she suddenly dies at Lynmouth as they are travelling across the remote wilderness of Exmoor. Love, deception and fear ensue. It won the 2009 David St. John Thomas Fiction Award.
Hecate's Moon is a sequel to Storks in a Blue Sky but is a historical novel rather than a romance. Again set mainly in North Devon, it takes place during the French Revolution. Young women have disappeared, and two men have been killed, against a background of treachery and witchcraft, although it is left to the reader to decide if there are supernatural forces at work. It was a semi-finalist in the 2016 MM Bennett Historical Fiction Award.
Best wishes
Carol.
I will also add that Carol is a talented artist as you will see from the link below
You can find more about Carol here https://www.carolannedobson.info/
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Living in Cornwood, nr Ivybridge - TP has two historical series going.
The English Riviera mysteries (HQ/HarperCollins) are set in the Devon seaside resort of Temple Regis, and feature 1950s detective Miss Dimont. Four books have been published so far - The Riviera Express Resort to Murder A Quarter Past Dead Died and Gone to Devon. Miss Dimont is chief reporter on The Riviera Express newspaper and, with a wartime background in Naval Intelligence, she is well-placed to solve the mysteries of the dead bodies slowly stacking up in 'England's prettiest seaside resort'. The books have been described as "retro, pro-feminist and witty".
The Crown series, starting with Stealing the Crown (Thomas & Mercer), is set in wartime Buckingham Palace and features courtier/spy/sleuth Guy Harford. There is not much connection with Devon in these books (but we won't hold that against them) beyond Guy's surname, taken from the Dartmoor hamlet situated next to TPs village. These novels combine real royal history with a wartime/spy narrative. The first one came out in August. Burying The Crown is out in March. In a nod to the Riviera mysteries, Burying The Crown has a walk-on part for Miss Dimont in her earlier guise as a naval intelligence officer, but the two series are otherwise entirely different from each other.
TP Fielden is the fiction-writing name of Christopher Wilson. In this other life Christopher is an acclaimed royal biographer and commentator who has penned biographies of Charles, Camilla, Diana and other members of the British royal family.
I'd love to hear from fans of TPs (or Christopher's) work
Kerri wrote: "Having travelled a lot, I love books set in Asia, reminding me of places I have visited. Many of these books are historical novels and I have learned a great deal about the politics and social chal..."Totally agree Kerri. Having lived in Sri Lanka for two years I love fiction from Sri Lankan writers, Shyam Selvadurai is my favourite. And Roma Tearne has written some great novels.
I'm also a big fan of Rohinton Mistry. I've read some really excellent novels helping me to learn more about Asian history too.
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Not heard of Shyam Selvadurai - I'll check out his work
Ian wrote: "Karen wrote: "Kerri wrote: "Having travelled a lot, I love books set in Asia, reminding me of places I have visited. Many of these books are historical novels and I have learned a great deal about ..."Cinnamon Gardens is my favourite Cinnamon Gardens, but I've also read The Hungry Ghosts, which I enjoyed immensely, and Funny Boy
DrMama wrote: "Ian wrote: "DrMama wrote: "Kerri wrote: "Having travelled a lot, I love books set in Asia, reminding me of places I have visited. Many of these books are historical novels and I have learned a grea..."I really enjoyed The Blind Man's Garden and resolved to read a lot more by Nadeem Aslam. Thanks for the reminder in this thread, I'll get on to that!
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Its a great book.
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Eleni has been a fabulous support to our themed discussion, which is no surprise when you look at her CV. And, very generously, Eleni is offering a paperback copy (she has run out of hardback copies) as a giveaway, when it is released in February.
"She Came To Stay" is an historical thriller set in 1950s Soho, London. It's about a Cypriot woman who comes to England in search of a better life and becomes tangled up in her new friend's past. It explores themes of toxic friendship, home and whether we can really change who we are.
It was longlisted for the Guardian's Not The Booker Prize, and Woman & Home magazine named it one of their top historical reads of 2020.
Eleni Kyriacou is an award-winning editor and journalist. Her writing has appeared in the Guardian, the Observer, Marie Claire, Grazia, You, Stella and Red, among others. She was also the Editor of national magazines New Woman and Looks. Eleni is the daughter of Greek Cypriot immigrant parents, and her debut novel was inspired by their experiences.
Eleni’s had many a happy family holiday in Devon and managed to squeeze in a pre-lockdown stay just a few weeks ago, celebrating her birthday at the beautiful art deco Burgh Island Hotel.
To enter the giveaway just reply to the event invitation by 5PM on 19 Nov 2020 (UK Only)
You can find out more about Eleni here
http://elenikwriter.com
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Jennifer is the author of THE LIAR, THE MURDERESS, THE SECRET and THE LOST GIRLS, all published by Aria Fiction.
The Lost Girls
"Everyone remembers the day the girls went missing.
May Day 1912, a day that haunts Missensham. The day two girls disappeared. The day the girls were murdered.
Iris Caldwell and Nell Ryland were never meant to be friends. From two very different backgrounds, one the heir to the Caldwell estate, the other a humble vicar's daughter. Both have their secrets, both have their pasts, but they each find solace with one another and soon their futures become irrevocably intertwined.
Now, many years later, old footage has emerged which shows that Iris Caldwell may not have died on that spring morning. The village must work out what happened the day the girls went missing..."
Jennifer's novels involve the themes of family, betrayal and love, and always include a good mystery element with a few twists thrown in. She bases her stories in the first half of the twentieth century, always with a time-slip element because, as she told me, "one time period is never enough!"
Jennifer has lived in Devon for nearly twenty years but grew up in the Home Counties where her novels are set. She lives with her young family and cats, and is busy working on her next novel.
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Read on....
A couple of weeks ago, Eve contacted me to let me know that she is a local historical fiction writer, having followed and enjoyed our community for some time.
As always, this led me to write back and ask about her and her work and where in Devon she was from. Cue - confusion.
Eve had just realised her mistake. Close to where she lives is a book club, linked to the Devon Yacht Club. OK, I thought, she must be by the sea then.
Well, yes - except Eve lives on the east end of Long Island in New York in East Hampton. " In my defense I was confused by the seaside photo which looks a lot like our bay here", she told me.
The book club is called Devon because of a group of homes built around the turn of the 20th century known as the Devon Colony. Hoping it was connected to our Devon, she checked it out. Sadly not, but to a colony of families from Ohio linked to the company Procter and Gamble (the Procter family founded the Yacht club). Ah well.
She apologised and politely withdrew her request to feature her work but I was intrigued so asked more about it and her life in the US.
Eve told me that, as well as being a writer, she is a bookseller at a beautiful store called BookHampton.
And what about the book? One reviewer said of it, "City of Liars and Thieves is a well-researched, minutely plotted piece of work that will appeal to lovers of historical crime set in the New World. It offers a sharply focused sense of place and period and shines a spotlight on a dark and largely forgotten piece of New York history, making for a worthy debut"
I think it looks like a fantastic read..
"A crime that rocked a city. A case that stunned a nation. Based on the United States’ first recorded murder trial, Eve Karlin’s spellbinding debut novel re-creates early nineteenth-century New York City, where a love affair ends in a brutal murder and a conspiracy involving Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr erupts in shattering violence.
It is high time to tell the truth. Time for justice. . . . How she was murdered and why she haunts me. It is not only Elma’s story, it’s mine.
On the bustling docks of the Hudson River, Catherine Ring waits with her husband and children for the ship carrying her cousin, Elma Sands. Their Greenwich Street boardinghouse becomes a haven for Elma, who has at last escaped the stifling confines of her small hometown and the shameful circumstances of her birth. But in the summer of 1799, Manhattan remains a teeming cesspool of stagnant swamps and polluted rivers. The city is desperate for clean water as fires wreak devastation and the death toll from yellow fever surges.
Political tensions are rising, too. It’s an election year, and Alexander Hamilton is hungry for power. So is his rival, Aaron Burr, who has announced the formation of the Manhattan Water Company. But their private struggle becomes very public when the body of Elma Sands is found at the bottom of a city well built by Burr’s company.
Resolved to see justice done, Catherine becomes both witness and avenger. She soon finds, however, that the shocking truth behind this trial has nothing to do with guilt or innocence"
So, our contact was accidental, our Devons are not connected but, as lovers of books and bookshops, we certainly are.
Eve has a contract for a second book, also a historical novel, which is set in Amagansett.
I can't wait to read the book and maybe one day visit Bookhampton in New York State. In the meantime Devon Book Club now has a local NY State branch 😂
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WHILE PARIS SLEPT: A POWERFUL NOVEL OF LOVE, SURVIVAL AND THE ENDURANCE OF HOPE
About the book:
"On a platform in occupied Paris, a mother whispers goodbye.
It is the end.
But also the beginning.
Santa Cruz 1953. Jean-Luc thought he had left it all behind. The scar on his face a small price to pay for surviving the horrors of Nazi occupation. Now, he has a new life in California, a family. He never expected the past to come knocking on his door.
Paris 1944. A young woman’s future is torn away in a heartbeat. Herded on to a train bound for Auschwitz, in an act of desperation she entrusts her most precious possession to a stranger. All she has left now is hope.
On a darkened platform two destinies become entangled. Their choice will change the future in ways neither could have imagined.
Beginning on an ordinary day and ending on an extraordinary one, WHILE PARIS SLEPT is an unforgettable read"
I have been privileged to read a pre-publication copy of While Paris Slept and can tell you that it is a wonderful book. Here are some of the reviews:
‘What a book… Emotional and heartrending…absolutely phenomenal. I was on tenterhooks throughout. A wonderful achievement’ Jill Mansell
Beautiful. Powerful. Unforgettable. A stunning portrait of the brutality of war and the tenacity of love. In the tradition of Virginia Baily’s Early One Morning and M. L. Stedman’s The Light Between Oceans.
‘Both epic and intimate, this unexpected story had me completely and utterly enraptured. You’ll have your heart in your mouth and tears on your cheeks as it reaches its rich, life-affirming conclusion’ Louise Candlish
‘While Paris Slept made me think and cry and rage and smile at mankind’s capacity for both beautiful, selfless love and terrible, heartbreaking cruelty. Prepare to be thoroughly engrossed in this compelling book’ Natasha Lester
‘What a book, I absolutely loved it. An ingenious plot, wonderful believable characters and it moved me to tears. A fabulous read’ Lesley Pearse
‘A heartbreaking debut. The novel delves into eternal questions: How far will we go to protect our child? Is love holding tightly or letting go?’ Janet Skeslien Charles, author of The Paris Library
‘A powerful and poignant debut from a brilliant and bold new novelist.’ Imogen Kealey, author of Liberation
About Ruth:
Ruth Druart grew up on the Isle of Wight, moving away at the age of eighteen to study psychology at Leicester University. She has lived in Paris since 1993, where she has followed a career in teaching. She has recently taken a sabbatical, so that she can follow her dream of writing full-time.
I first met Ruth nearly 3 years ago and was immediately impressed by the quality of her writing. I have since had the pleasure of following her journey towards publication. Ruth is a very active member of our community, mainly over on Twitter, and I am delighted to share news of her book with you.
I am sure that her book is going to be a major international success and hope that, at some point in 2021, she will join us in Devon to share her story with you. It is inspiring, showing that with the skill and determination to succeed, writers can achieve their dream. She is currently writing her second boo
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Rosie Meddon is the author of The Housekeeper's Daughter, A Wife's War, The Soldier's Return – along with Her Patriotic Duty, and a further novel scheduled for release in February 2021.
The Woodiscombe House series is set during WW1 and explores the impact of the Great War on the lives of the women who are left behind as their husbands go to and return from war. Although they can be read separately Rosie says they are best read in order, which is why she is offering all 3 as a great giveaway prize.
She is represented by Kiran Kataria of Keane Kataria Literary Agency.
Her books are published in e-book and paperback by Canelo, and in audio and large print versions by Magna Ulverscroft.
Of her writing and Devon, Rosie says -
‘Like many people, I had always hoped I might one day live in Devon. And so, when we returned to the UK after ten years overseas, it seemed natural that we should choose to make our home here in order to enjoy the things we loved – unspoilt countryside, stunning coastlines, historic houses, walking…
What I hadn’t expected was how coming to live here would influence my writing. When my agent first asked me whether I’d ever thought about writing a story set in World War I, initially, I was short on ideas. But then, out walking one day, I came across a deserted house and immediately a storyline started to take shape. From there, the three-part Woodicombe House saga came into being, which, in turn, led to two further novels following the lives of the subsequent generation of women into World War II.
When I’m not writing, I can be found on my allotment and – lockdown permitting – exploring all that Devon has to offer, always on the lookout, of course, for inspiration for further novels…
We are obviously delighted that Rosie chose to make her home in North Devon and is part of our wonderful and varied book-loving community
To enter the giveaway just like this post and leave a comment below by noon on 21st November 2020 (UK Only)
Ian wrote: "The winner of our giveaway of Jenny Kane The Outlaw's Ransom is a Twitter entry from Dartmoor, Chablis Pablis. Inevitably, there were many entries for the draw (Jenny's books are always so popular)..."Thank you!
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I see it arrived today - hoe you enjoy it
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First - I am pleased to announce that the winner of our giveaway of Eleni Kyriacou's She Came To Stay is Nikki Marmery. Nikki is a fabulous supporter of Devon Book Club and you may remember that we previously featured her brilliant book On Wilder Seas (more of that later). It will be a bit of a wait until the paperback comes out Nikki (February) but you will be first in line for a copy.
Secondly, the winner of our giveaway of Rosie Meddon's Woodicombe House trilogy is Kim Mace, who entered over on our Twitter account. Kim has shown a keen interest in historical fiction and has been a big contributor to our discussion over the last two weeks.
Thanks to everyone who entered. Both writers and their books (as with all our giveaways) have been very popular and I am sorry that there can only be one winner.
But, three more giveaways to come before we finish our #histfic theme and you are going to love them. I will launch the first tomorrow so keep your eyes peeled.
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I read the book when it was published earlier this year and absolutely loved it. In relation to historical fiction, it did something that I love; it gave me a glimpse into a period of history through different eyes and threw new light on a figure who shaped both Devon's and our national story.
I asked Nikki to tell us about the book:
"Devon’s most famous son, Sir Francis Drake, is the subject of my debut novel, On Wilder Seas, – but this retelling of his 1577-1580 circumnavigation may be unfamiliar.
In my book, Drake takes a back seat. He is never named, though readers will understand exactly who is ‘The General’ – the enigmatic, capricious and domineering captain of the Golden Hind. Instead, I focus on the African woman who shared his cabin: Maria, whom Drake took from a Spanish ship off the Pacific coast of Guatemala and abandoned eight months later – heavily pregnant – on a deserted island in the East Indies.
I was inspired to write Maria’s story after reading the dehumanising eye-witness accounts of her, in which she is described as a ‘proper negro wench’. What would Maria have said about herself had she had the chance to write her own history? What did she want? And what was so compelling about her that Drake defied his own rule banning women from his ships – uniquely, in her case?
Since the historical evidence for Maria is so scant, I turned instead to the narratives of other 16th and 17th century African women in the Spanish New World. Here, I found extraordinary women who steered the course of their lives, despite the limitations imposed on them: women who had freed themselves from slavery and left descendants valuable inheritances; female litigants using Spanish law for protection against abusive husbands or to be reunited with enslaved spouses; women who fought witchcraft accusations and won. Through them, I glimpsed possibilities for Maria other than the passive, objectified woman described in the English records.
I found inspiration to reconstruct Maria as she undoubtedly was: an active and courageous woman on a journey of her own, with her own secrets, aims and motivations"
About Nikki:
In a previous life, Nikki worked as a financial journalist, editing magazines about credit and foreign exchange trading. She now writes historical fiction from a small village in Buckinghamshire. On Wilder Seas was published in March 2020 and was shortlisted for the Historical Novel Society’s New Novel Award and the Myriad Editions First Drafts Competition. In July 2020, it was selected for the Wilbur & Niso Smith Foundation’s #AdventureSociety Book Club.
Nikki can be found on Twitter @nikkimarmery on Instagram @marmerynikki and at www.nikkimarmery.com
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Ivybridge-based historical adventure fiction author Julian Stockwin was sent at the age of fourteen to Indefatigable, a tough sea-training school. He joined the Royal Navy at fifteen before transferring to the Royal Australian Navy, where he served in the Far East, Antarctic waters and the South Seas. In Vietnam he saw active service in a carrier task force. After leaving the Navy (rated Petty Officer), Julian practised as an educational psychologist. He lived for some time in Hong Kong, where he was commissioned into the Royal Naval Reserve. He was awarded the MBE and retired with the rank of Lieutenant Commander.
Julian is the author of the highly-acclaimed Thomas Kydd Series, one man's journey from pressed man to admiral in the Great Age of Fighting Sail.
He has written 23 books in the series to date, begiinning in 2000 with Kydd and the latest, published this year, is Balkan Glory: Thomas Kydd 23. In addition, Julian has published two standalone novels, THE SILK TREE and THE POWDER OF DEATH, and a non-fiction tome, STOCKWIN'S MARITIME MISCELLANY. More titles in the Kydd series are projected over the next few years.
More information can be found on his website at www.julianstockwin.com
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For entry details see the end of this post
Virginia is the author of three novels. Her first, Africa Junction, set in Devon and West Africa, won the McKitterick prize in 2012. She used the prize money to travel to Italy to research her second, Early One Morning, which was a Sunday Times bestseller and serialized on BBC Radio 4. Her third, The Fourth Shore, takes Italy’s colonial past in North Africa as its backdrop and, through the story of one young woman, explores themes of migration, the long shadows cast by episodes of violence, forgiveness, love and the enduring power of friendship. Her work has been translated into many other languages and the Arabic language version of The Fourth Shore is due out this month.
Virginia is the co-founder and editor of Riptide short story journal which has just published its 13th anthology this month. She holds a degree in French and Italian, an MA and PhD in English, has two sons and lives in Exeter.
Early One Morning is told against the backdrop of the second world war in Italy and, in particular, the nine month Nazi occupation of Rome between 1943 and 1944. It tells the tale of a young woman who saves a Jewish child from being deported to Auschwitz.
The Fourth Shore mostly takes place in the late 1920s during the fascist period in Italy when Mussolini was at the height of his power. It is set both in Tripoli, Libya when that city was the capital of Italy's north African territory and in Italy itself. Details of the fascist colonial endeavour, its impact on the local population and also of everyday life in Italy at that time form the background to the story. The main protagonist is Liliana, a girl from northern Italy who travels to join her brother in the colony and whose actions there have disastrous consequences that ripple down through the years. The story is also partly set in 1980 when Liliana is an elderly lady and a different dictator - Gaddafy - is in power.
I can promise you that both these books are fantastic and will leave you thoughtful - about the decisions that you might make faced with huge moral dilemmas and about how our actions impact far into the future.
For more information about Virginia go to http://www.virginiabaily.com/
To enter the giveaway please reply to the event invitation and leave a comment saying which book you wish to be entered for by NOON ON 29/11/2020 (UK Only I'm afraid). You can enter for either or both but please state clearly.
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About the book:
“Mary Mitchell, nine years old. Draw your straws, gentlemen, and we’ll see who’s to win this prize.”
It is 1842, and this method of assigning parish apprentices has died out, except in North Devon. This story is based on the actual experiences of one such apprentice sent to work on a remote farm.
Mary is fearful of her master’s volatile temper and, despite the comforting presence of her older brother Thomas, she finds the harsh regime of physical labour hard to bear. The inspirational preacher, Mary O’Bryan Thorne, encourages Mary and Thomas to attend a nearby chapel where they are welcomed and taught to read. But as the years pass, and a series of failed harvests makes life on the farm intolerable, the brother and sister take daring action in an effort to change the course of their lives. Their attempt ultimately wins them their freedom, but not before they are brought face-to-face with the heartless judicial system of early Victorian England.
This novel draws on original documents to shine a light on the farming and chapel communities of nineteenth century Devon.
About Liz:
Liz Shakespeare draws her inspiration from the landscapes, people and history of Devon. The family stories she has grown up with and the sense of being deeply rooted in the area
have been a powerful influence on her writing.
She has written five books set in North Devon, bringing to life the stories she finds in old newspapers, on gravestones and in parish records. Her most recent book, The Song of the Skylark is a novel telling the true story of a young brother and sister who were sent to work as parish apprentices on a remote North Devon farm. They experience extreme
hardship but, in time, the farming and chapel communities come together to help them start a new life. Her previous book, The Postman Poet, published in 2017, is a novel telling
the extraordinary true story of Devon’s nineteenth century poet, Edward Capern. Liz has collaborated with two Devon musicians to produce a CD of Capern’s songs and the three
have given sell-out performances of readings and songs at literature and folk festivals.
Liz has successfully
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Last Flight to Stalingrad is to be published on 7th January, 2021, and is the fifth in Graham's WW2 series, The Spoils of War. The series was a deliberate departure from Graham's earlier work as a crime novelist. After sixteen cri-fis (including the final quartet set in East Devon), he was beginning to tire of the police interview room and wanted to get back to bigger, slightly bolder books.
Graham told me that, If a writer has had any kind of success in a particular genre (and he had), this isn’t as easy as it sounds. Publishers want you to stick with your knitting, to keep delivering what they know they can sell, and the news that you want to genre-hop doesn’t go down well. But "banged up in the crime stalag", Graham knew he had – somehow – to tunnel out. And so he wrote a big airport thriller called Finisterre. Orion, my publisher, discovering it wasn’t crime fiction, wouldn’t even read it.
Finisterre is set in the closing years of the Second World War, and centres on an elaborate German bid to make the Allies believe that they’re weeks away from building a working nuclear weapon. The action takes place in Portugal, Spain, the UK, and New Mexico, where Allied scientists working on the Manhatten Project are likewise perfecting an atomic bomb. The manuscript, uncommissioned, ended up in the hands of Head of Zeus, a newish London publisher with a reputation for taking risks. They liked the book well enough to offer Graham a two-book contract, but only if the entire series was built around the same central character.
Graham said to me
"This I didn’t want to do. Living with the same hero (or heroine) for maybe a decade, regardless of the number of books he or she sells, can become a pain and so I came up with a proposition I called ‘soft-linkage’. In essence, this means creating a central core of characters who come and go throughout the series, sometimes downstage, sometimes not. A handful are Brits. Others are German. A couple are American. But as the series develops, they interlink, deepening their own story and the series as a whole. This, as you might imagine, gives me an enormous degree of freedom, not only in terms of narrative focus but in terms of chronology. The books dot back and forth across the seven-year span of the war, a huge treasure trove of stories (and thus fictional opportunities).
Zeus bought it. And Last Flight to Stalingrad will be the fifth in the series.
Last Flight features the developing and often fraught relationship between a maverick Georgian journalist called Mikhail Magalashvili and Joseph Goebbels, the Nazis’ Minister of Propaganda. The little Georgian has reinvented himself as Werner Nehmann. He’s a gifted fantasist, prefers creative half-truths to the real thing, writes like an angel, has a huge contacts book that extends to every corner of the Third Reich, and is a gift for someone like Goebbels, already the master of the dark arts of propaganda, with total belief in the power of the Big Lie.
Goebbels, a born loner, scents something of himself in Nehmann and entrusts him to take a letter to his one-time Czech mistress, a film star called Lida Baarova, currently living in Rome. Nehmann, meanwhile, has embarked on an affair with a young pianist, whom Goebbels knows is Jewish. The love lives of these two men becomes a minefield and Nehmann incurs the wrath of Goebbels, who sends him to join General Paulus Sixth Army, battling to take the trophy Soviet city of Stalingrad. His mission? To send back despatches painting the developing catastrophe in the kindest light.
This is a book about truths, half-truths, and straightforward lies, big and small. As you might imagine, in the age of Fake News, it has lots to say about where we currently find ourselves. But there’s something else going on here, too, something infinitely more personal.
As a much-published author (forty books to date), ‘soft linkage’, plus the Second World War, has offered me a rich opportunity to mix the real (eg Goebbels and Lida Baarova) with the fictional in a bid to attract a sizeable readership. This is a very different challenge to writing series crime fiction, and involves a mountain of historical research, but lockdown has been perfect as I start the seventh book in the series, which makes me a very happy scribe. Book Six, incidentally, is called Kyiv, and will be published in July, 2021. Book Seven? Katastrophe.
Zeus, I’m glad to report, are delighted with the series so far, and regard Last Flight to Stalingrad as the blockbuster offering. Book sales in general, it seems, are on the rise, again thanks to lockdown. So here’s hoping…."
You'll find more about Graham and his work here https://www.grahamhurley.co.uk/
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About the book:
FIVE STRANGERS IN FLORENCE, EACH WITH A DANGEROUS SECRET. AND AN APOCALYPTIC FLOOD THREATENING TO REVEAL EVERYTHING.
A wife on the run, a student searching for stolen art, a cleaner who has lined more than his pockets, a policeman whose career is almost over, and a guest who should never have received a wedding invite. Five strangers, entangled in the forger’s wicked web.
In a race against time, and desperate to save themselves and all they hold dear, will their secrets prove more treacherous than the ominous floodwaters swallowing the historic city?
Dive into a world of lies and deceit, where nothing is as it seems on the surface…
The Forger and the Thief is set in Florence, Italy, amidst the devastating 1966 floods, which killed 101 people and damaged or destroyed millions of masterpieces of art and rare books.
I hadn't realised the impact of the flood until Kirsten shared her inspiration for her novel with us and will be fascinated to read the book and am keen to learn more about the "angeli del fango" ( "mud angels") who helped to rescue and restore so many works of art.
About Kirsten:
Now a full time author, Kirsten McKenzie is a former customs officer and antiques dealer, who has also dabbled in film and television.
Her time travel trilogy - The Old Curiosity Shop Series (which includes the books Fifteen Postcards, The Last Letter and Telegram Home), has been described as 'Time Travellers Wife meets Far Pavilions', and 'Antiques Roadshow gone viral'.
Kirsten released her bestselling paranormal thriller, Painted, in 2017, with her medical thriller Doctor Perry, following in 2018. Both books hit #1 in the Canadian and Australian horror charts.
Kirsten lives in New Zealand with her husband, her daughters, and two rescue cats.
We met Kirsten on our #devonbookhour evening a few weeks ago and she has made a big impression. Thoughtful in her contributions, appreciative of the work of other writers, fascinating in her approach to writing #histfic and delightfully funny, it has been a pleasure getting to know her. Plus she likes ginger nuts with her coffee so she obviously fits in well with us.
We now have an official DBC branch in Aukland - I love that and hope that the friendship with Kirsten will build wonderful links in NZ. I'm sure it will.
You can find out more about Kirsten here https://www.kirstenmckenzie.com/author
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I was really intrigued by this book and asked Drema to send me more detail. I will certainly read it - what a fabulous and interesting premise.
About the book
"My debut novel, Victorine, features Victorine Meurent, a forgotten, accomplished painter who posed nude for Edouard Manet’s most famous, controversial paintings such as Olympia and The Picnic in Paris, paintings heralded as the beginning of modern art. History has forgotten (until now) her paintings, despite the fact that she showed her work at the prestigious Paris Salon multiple times, even one year when her mentor, Manet’s, work was refused.
In order to live authentically, she eventually finds the strength to flout the expectations of her parents, bourgeois society, and the dominant male artists (whom she knows personally) while never losing her capacity for affection, kindness, and loyalty.
Possessing both the incisive mind of a critic and the intuitive and unconventional impulses of an artist, Victorine and her survival instincts are tested in 1870, when the Prussian army lays siege to Paris and rat becomes a culinary delicacy, and further tested when she inches towards art school while financial setbacks push her away from it. The same can be said when it comes to her and love, which becomes substituted, eventually, by art.
About Drema:
Drēma suffers from Stendhal’s Syndrome, the condition in which one becomes overwhelmed in the presence of great art. She attended Spalding University’s MFA in Creative Writing Program where she learned to transform that intensity into fiction.
To find out more about Drema's writing, art, and travels, please visit her website, www.dremadrudge.com, and sign up for her newsletter. Whilst not Devon - based Drema has been a regular contributor to our community and I am pleased to share her work with you
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About the book:
Sweeping and heartrending, The Restless Sea is an epic journey of changing times, courage, and a love story only made possible by war. Jack - orphaned and homeless after the Blitz - begins a new life in the Merchant Navy. As his ship waits to make the dangerous crossing to Russia, he meets Olivia, the cosseted daughter of a Royal Navy captain. Free to roam, Olivia is relishing the new freedom granted by war. But her family - and especially the fast-rising Fleet Air Arm pilot Charlie - do not welcome these changes. The war inflicts danger and social upheaval like never before. But the most unlikely friendships are forged in times when people live like they don't want tomorrow to come.
About Vanessa:
Vanessa was a columnist for the Western Morning News for almost three years (under the name Zoë Kenyon) before publishing her first novel, The Restless Sea (HarperCollins) - which was inspired partly by family history.
One of the 3 pictures shows Vanessa's great-grandfather, who inadvertently inspired the story after telling Vanessa's grandmother and her 4 sisters that they must stay in Scotland during the war to be safe from invasion... without realising that the loch they were staying on was about to become a secret naval base....
Wonderful how events can be retold many years later and inspire a novel.
Vanessa is currently editing her second novel, which is set on the Devon and Somerset borders between the wars. She has just moved to Somerset from Devon but can see Devon across the river so we'll forgive her.
I am grateful to Vanessa for offering a copy of her book as a giveaway in our extended #histfic fortnight. To enter just respond to the event invitation by noon on 30 November 2020 (UK Only I am afraid)
Devon Book Club
Books mentioned in this topic
Buffalo Soldier (other topics)Hell & High Water (other topics)
Courage of the Conquered (other topics)
Peril & Plunder (other topics)
Rising from the Ruins (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Virginia Baily (other topics)Anjana Chowdhury (other topics)
Janet Few (other topics)
If you are a writer of Historical Fiction and would like your work featured please let us know (priority to Devon - based writers and those from outside Devon who are active in our community. All it takes is a short bio and a little about your work which you can send to me by e-mail. Please message me if you are interested.
If you are a reader of Historical Fiction I'd love you to be ready to share your favourite books and writers as part of our week. Maybe 3 to keep it manageable but I am not a big rule follower - especially when I've made them up!
Here is a list to get you going - is your favourite on there? https://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/5...
As always, during these theme weeks, we will be live on our Twitter account #devonbookhour from 8PM on 9/11 (and possibly 16/11 if there is lots more to share) for an extended conversation of 90 minutes
So far this year we have had a theme week on Romance, Crime and Non-Fiction - but only Romance trended on Twitter - can you #histfic lovers do it again?