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When the Mermaid Sings by Helen Hollick #Extract #CoffeePotBookClub #ShortStory
When the Mermaid Sings by Helen Hollick A prequel short read story to the Sea Witch Voyages of Captain Jesamiah Acorne When the only choice is to run, where do you run to? When the only sound is the song of the sea, do you listen? Or do you drown in the embrace of a...
The Carnival of Ash by Tom Beckerlegge #Historical #Fantasy #Renaissance
Today I'm welcoming Tom Beckerlegge to tell us more about his new literary novel, The Carnival of Ash. The Carnival of Ash is a historical fantasy set during the Italian Renaissance in an imaginary city called Cadenza, where poets and scholars as its most important...
Naughty Language in Tudor England by Carol McGrath #Tudor #Love #Language
I've been looking forward to my guest, Carol McGrath enlightening me about Tudor language, and particularly the naughty words! Carol McGrath is the author of the acclaimed She-Wolves Trilogy, which began with the hugely successful The Silken Rose and continues with...
Richard II’s London by Mercedes Rochelle #blog #CoffeePotBookClub #HistoricalFiction
I'm thrilled to bring you an excellent post from Mercedes Rochelle about London in the time of Richard II. Thank you Mercedes! While researching this novel I had the good fortune to stumble across the book “The Turbulent London of Richard II”—not, as it turns out,...
Author Spotlight – Kerry Chaput, Daughter of the King #CoffeePotBookClub #17thCentury
I'm delighted to spotlight historical fiction author Kerry Chaput today, especially as her book is set in the 17th Cerntury, one of my favourite periods. Born in California wine country, Kerry Chaput began writing shortly after earning her Doctorate degree. Her love...
Audiences Behaving Badly – The London Theatre in the 1660’s
Crowd Pleaser In my novel, Entertaining Mr Pepys, the main character ‘Bird’ Knepp, so named for her beautiful singing voice, is an actress with the King’s Playhouse in the city of London, just before the Great Fire. As an actress her job was to please the audience –...
1066 Upside Down – alternative histories – To Crown a King by Helen Hollick #CoffeePotBookClub
Today I present an excerpt from 1066 Turned Upside Down by Helen Hollick To Crown A King by Helen Hollick An appropriate excerpt, for on January 6th in 1066 Harold Godwinson was crowned as King of England... King Edward, later known as ‘The Confessor’ died on 5th...
Fair Mountain Christmas by Heidi Eljarbo #CoffeePotBookClub #Review
Review A real comfort-blanket of a book! I've been getting into the Christmas spirit this week, and what better way to do it than with a heart-warming novella set in Norway! Plenty of snow in this one, along with a schooldays friend who turns out to be more than a...
A Mystery of Murder by Helen Hollick #CoffeePotBookClub #Review
Have you got a nice log fire lit, and your hot chocolate? Because Helen Hollick wants to take you back to the 1970's with this lovely cozy mystery. I last met Jan Christopher in the previous book, but this one has a decidedly Christmassy edge, with lots of snow as she...
Rebel’s Knot by Cryssa Bazos #CoffeePotBookClub #17thCentury
Review of Rebel's Knot I have already read the other two in this series, and was really keen to read the third as I knew I'd be in for a treat. What an adventure! The action never stops as the reader is whisked from one disaster to the next. Set in Ireland, in the...
Seventeenth Century Artists in ‘Hidden Masterpiece’ by Heidi Eljarbo #CoffeePotBookClub
Today I welcome Heidi Eljarbo to my blog to tell us about the 17th Century artists featured in her new novel, Hidden Masterpiece. Over to Heidi! What a joy it is to write a novel about something I have a passion about. Historical fiction is my favorite genre. What’s...
Seadogs and Criminals – a #Victorian adventure by Alex Fisher
I'm delighted to welcome Alex Fisher to my blog today to tell me all about his new novel, Seadogs and Criminals. Over to Alex: Seadogs and Criminals is a historical fiction adventure that begins in the winding cobbled streets of Victorian London and is set amid the...
Traitors Knot by Cryssa Bazos – Read an Excerpt #CoffeePotBookClub #GreatReads
Today I'm hosting an excerpt from the wonderful novel Traitor's Knot by Cryssa Bazos. I've already read this book, and Severed Knot, the one that follows it, and I'm halfway through Rebel's Knot, the last in the series. All three books are immaculately researched,...
Spotlight on ‘Widdershins’ by Helen Steadman #audiobook #17thCentury
The new audio book of Widdershins is narrated brilliantly by talented actor, Christine Mackie, from Downton Abbey and Coronation Street. The first part of a two-part series, Widdershins is inspired by the Newcastle witch trials, where 16 people were hanged. Despite...
Darjeeling Inheritance by Liz Harris #Review #CoffeePotBookClub
Darjeeling, 1930 After eleven years in school in England, Charlotte Lawrence returns to Sundar, the tea plantation owned by her family, and finds an empty house. She learns that her beloved father died a couple of days earlier and that he left her his estate. She...