Monday, 7 September 2026

Editorial Book Review: Braving the Dawn by Peggy Joque Williams

Braving the Dawn: A Novel of New France

By Peggy Joque Williams

Publication Date: January 15th, 2026

Publisher: Black Rose Writing

Pages: 371

Genre: Historical Fiction

Banished from France by King Louis XIV, once royal favorite Sylvienne d'Aubert must make the dangerous ocean crossing with a group of young women eager to secure husbands in the French colony of Quebec as Filles du Roi (Daughters of the King). Sylvienne, however, scarred by an abusive, arranged marriage in France, vows never to wed again. She is determined to one day return to her beloved homeland and to her lover, Etienne.

Clinging to hope that her true love still lives, she must first survive hardships and challenges unique to the Canadian frontier and rebuild her life in a young colony that is at once welcoming and dangerous. She finds friendship in unexpected places and allies among the Native people while developing a resilience she didn't know she possessed.

But the king's reach is long, and Sylvienne's past haunts her at every turn in this saga of new beginnings, survival, and determination of the heart.

Starting again is rarely as simple as leaving the past behind. For Sylvienne, arriving in New France means facing a future she neither wanted nor chose, in a world for which almost nothing in her previous life has prepared her. In 'Braving the Dawn', Peggy Joque Williams takes her heroine far from everything familiar and places her in a young colony where survival requires courage, adaptability and a willingness to learn an entirely different way of life.

New France could hardly be further removed from the world Sylvienne has known. The comforts and conventions of France have been replaced by a settlement where preparing for winter is essential, the surrounding wilderness presents unfamiliar dangers and many of the practical skills required for everyday life are things she has never previously needed to consider. Williams captures Sylvienne's uncertainty beautifully. She may have reached New France, but finding her place there proves to be another journey entirely.

It is watching Sylvienne adapt that makes this novel so absorbing. Williams does not suddenly turn her into an accomplished frontierswoman. She has to learn, and some of those lessons are rather uncomfortable. Sylvienne can be stubborn, impulsive and far too inclined to act before considering what might happen afterwards. There were certainly moments when her decisions tested the patience, but these imperfections make her wonderfully human. As the story progresses, she becomes stronger and more capable while remaining recognisably Sylvienne.

Her friendship with Catherine is one of the warmest aspects of the story. Catherine has endured terrible cruelty, yet there is a strength and capability to her that quickly becomes apparent. She understands many of the practicalities of life in New France that Sylvienne does not, creating an interesting balance between the two women. Their friendship develops naturally, and Catherine becomes an important part of Sylvienne's new life.

Sylvienne's encounters with the Indigenous peoples of New France are equally important to her development. She arrives carrying assumptions shaped by the society in which she was raised, but her own experiences gradually encourage her to question them. Language, religion, customs and different ideas about what it means to be civilised challenge much of what she has previously accepted. Williams allows Sylvienne's understanding to change through her encounters and friendships, rather than giving her a sudden transformation that would have felt far less convincing.

The men in Sylvienne's life bring their own complications. Armand is one of the novel's most quietly impressive characters. There is a gentleness to his relationship with Sylvienne, along with an understated intelligence that makes him particularly interesting. He notices considerably more than he necessarily comments upon, while his relationship with Minette is especially touching and reveals much about the kind of man he is.

Jacques Farley brings an entirely different energy to the story. A coureur des bois who is considerably more comfortable in the wilderness than he is with colonial authority, Jacques has a flexible attitude towards rules and a habit of keeping Sylvienne on her toes. Beneath the humour, however, is a thoughtful and fiercely loyal man whose experiences have given him a very different perspective on New France. His friendship with Armand is wonderfully portrayed, while his conversations with Sylvienne are among those that encourage her to look again at ideas she has previously taken for granted.

Etienne also remains an important presence in Sylvienne's life. Williams wisely does not pretend that everything that came before can simply be forgotten. Love, loyalty, memory and responsibility do not always sit comfortably beside one another, and the emotional uncertainty this creates is handled with considerable sensitivity. Each relationship reveals something different about Sylvienne and the woman she is becoming.

The historical setting is exceptionally well realised. Williams pays close attention to the ordinary practicalities of colonial life as well as the wider concerns surrounding her characters. Food must be preserved, homes prepared for winter and journeys undertaken in a landscape that can be unforgiving. Canoes, snowshoes, medicine, childbirth and the fur trade all become part of everyday existence. The research is evident throughout, but the story never feels as though it has stopped simply to give the reader a history lesson.

There is also a fascinating political element to the novel. Although Sylvienne is now in New France, the authority and influence of France remain important. The colony has its own hierarchy, ambitions and rivalries, while regulations surrounding trade create further tensions. Historical figures are incorporated naturally alongside the fictional characters, giving the novel a convincing sense of time and place.

Despite the dangers and uncertainties, there are some wonderfully humorous moments. LeDuc, Sylvienne's dog, occasionally discovers that the wildlife of New France does not necessarily appreciate his curiosity, while Jacques has his own ideas about what constitutes a useful contribution to Sylvienne's household. These lighter moments bring warmth to the story and provide a lovely contrast to its more emotional passages.

What makes 'Braving the Dawn' particularly satisfying is the gradual change in Sylvienne's understanding of the place in which she now lives. Things she initially finds strange become familiar, strangers become important to her and skills that once seemed completely beyond her become part of ordinary life. Williams never rushes this development, which makes Sylvienne's journey all the more believable.

'Braving the Dawn' is a beautifully written and deeply absorbing historical novel that brings seventeenth-century New France vividly to life. Peggy Joque Williams combines meticulous research with memorable characters, complicated relationships and a heroine whose imperfections make her journey all the more convincing. Sylvienne can frustrate, surprise and delight in equal measure, but she is never dull.

Emotionally engaging, wonderfully researched and filled with friendship, humour and the challenges of beginning again, 'Braving the Dawn' is a compelling and beautifully realised historical novel. Peggy Joque Williams brings seventeenth-century New France vividly to life while giving her characters the space to feel wonderfully human. A thoroughly absorbing novel from beginning to end.

Review by Mary Anne Yarde
Yarde Book Promotions

Pick up your copy of Braving the Dawn HERE

Read with #KindleUnlimited.

Peggy Joque Williams

Award-winning author Peggy Joque Williams writes historical fiction inspired by her love of genealogy and her deep historical research into her European, French-Canadian, and Ojibwe ancestors.

Prior to Braving the Dawn, she first penned Courting the Sun: A Novel of Versailles, a prequel following her character Sylvienne’s rise and fall at court. She has also co-authored two contemporary mystery novels: On the Road to Death’s Door and On the Road to Where the Bells Toll.

A retired elementary school teacher, Peggy has both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in education. She enjoys travel, gardening, and spending time with family. She lives Madison, Wisconsin.

Hope (Operation Galton Book 1) by Terry Tyler

Hope

(Operation Galton Book 1)

By Terry Tyler

Publication Date: 24th May 2019

Publisher: Independently Published

Print Length: 390 Pages

Genre: Dystopian Fiction

Terry Tyler's nineteenth published work is a psychological thriller set in a dystopian near future - the UK, Year 2028.

Blogger Lita Stone and journalist Nick Freer live and work online, seeing life through soundbites, news TV and social media. Keeping the outside world at bay in their cosy flat, they observe the ruthless activities of the new PM and his celebrity fitness guru wife, Mona (hashtag MoMo), with the mild outrage that can be quelled simply by writing another blog post.

Meanwhile, in the outside world, multinational conglomerate Nutricorp is busy buying up supermarket chains, controlling the media, and financing the new compounds for the homeless: the Hope Villages.

Lita and Nick suspect little of the danger that awaits the unfortunate, until the outside world catches up with them - and Lita is forced to discover a strength she never knew she possessed.

Pick up your copy of Hope HERE

Read with #KindleUnlimited

Terry Tyler is the author of thirty-one books available from Amazon, the latest being the 'Revenge' series, a collection of novellas.

Other recent publications include the SFV-1 rage virus series: Infected, Darkness, Reset and Safe Zone, also 'Where There's Doubt', the story of a romance scammer and his prey. Terry is an avid reader and book reviewer, and a member of Rosie Amber's Book Review Team.

Terry's interests are photography, wildlife, birdwatching and history, particularly Saxon, Plantagenet and Tudor. She likes going for long walks in quiet places where there are lots of trees, and lives in the north east of England with her husband. She is a Christian.

Hope on Hope (Blossoming of Truth, Book 2) by Susan Gray

Hope on Hope
(Blossoming of Truth, Book 2)
By Susan Gray

Publication Date: 14th February 2025
Publisher: UK Book Publishing
Page Length: 379 Pages
Genre: Historical Romance

Love, secrets and hope against the odds.

Can hope become…a lifeline…a defining attitude…a powerful reality?

In WW2 as her homeland France is occupied by enemy forces, Chantal receives a letter with a missing page – what wartime secret did her beloved Sam want to divulge? She is drawn into the French Resistance network and when the war ends, she embarks on her quest to trace her lost love.

On the cusp of womanhood, Darcy is headstrong, impulsive and outspoken. It’s 1946 and reuniting with her aunt, Chantal, the two strong women form a tight bond. But soon conflicting opinions force a wedge in their relationship.

Can secrets from the past and life altering circumstances, refine Darcy’s attitudes?

Sadness has blighted Henri’s young life, but a chance encounter heralds a brighter future. Moving to northeast England he begins a new career and finds romance – only for his hopes to be dashed with an unexpected discovery.

From war-torn France to post war northeast England, engage in this romantic drama as Chantal, Darcy and Henri discover how the presence of hope can transform their lives.

Pick up your copy of Hope on Hope HERE!

Read with #KindleUnlimited

Susan Gray

'Never to old to follow your dreams' has become Susan Gray's mantra since beginning to write novels after celebrating a significant birthday. Susan endeavours to entwine the genres of mystery and romance and sets her novels in the early Twentieth Century. She lives with her husband in northeast England, setting her books in this picturesque area. She has a son and daughter, both married, two granddaughters and a grand dog. When not writing she loves to spend time reading, puzzling, walking and catching up with friends over a coffee. She enjoys travelling and tries to include many of the places she has visited in her books. Her plots are inspired by 'life' and how her characters navigate the waters. She loves to 'people watch' and creates her characters based on the many strangers she has observed. She has written six novels. SPANISH HOUSE SECRETS was her debut novel and is now joined by another standalone novel BLOSSOMING OF TRUTH.

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Shades of Yellow by Wendy J. Dunn

Shades of Yellow
By Wendy J. Dunn

Publication Date: 7th September 2025

Publisher: Other Terrain Press

Page Length: 314

Genre: Women's Fiction / Historical Fiction

Lucy Ellis does not believe the past stays buried.

Grief has a way of opening doors—especially the ones history tried to seal.

In contemporary England, Lucy navigates the devastation of a broken heart as she writes a novel giving voice to Amy Robsart, a Tudor woman almost erased from the historical record. Across centuries, two women—one modern, one historical—echo each other in sorrow, longing, and resilience.

As Lucy follows the fragile traces of a woman whose life ended without justice, the boundaries between past and present begin to thin. What emerges is not simply a mystery of history, but a reckoning with grief, love, and the way women’s lives persist—even when they are denied a voice.

Shades of Yellow is a haunting dual-timeline novel about grief, forgiveness, and the women history tried to forget. Blending literary fiction with historical depth, it will resonate with readers who value emotional complexity, quiet storytelling, and books that linger long after the final page.

Pick up your copy of Shades of Yellow HERE!

Wendy J. Dunn

Wendy J. Dunn is an award-winning Australian writer fascinated by Tudor history – so much so she was not surprised to discover a family connection to the Tudors, not long after the publication of her first Anne Boleyn novel, which narrated the Anne Boleyn story through the eyes of Sir Thomas Wyatt, the elder. Her family tree reveals the intriguing fact that one of her ancestral families – possibly over three generations – had purchased land from both the Boleyn and Wyatt families to build up their own holdings. It seems very likely Wendy’s ancestors knew the Wyatts and Boleyns personally.

Wendy is married, the mother of three sons and one daughter—named after a certain Tudor queen, surprisingly, not Anne. She is also the grandmother of two amazing small boys. She gained her PhD in 2014 and loves walking in the footsteps of the historical people she gives voice to in her novels. Wendy also tutors at Swinburne University of Technology, Australia.

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Saturday, 5 September 2026

Blog Tour: Floating by Nerina L Jones

Floating

By Nerina L Jones

Yarde Book Promotions Blog Tour
7th – 11th December 2026

Yarde Book Promotions is delighted to be organising the Blog Tour for Nerina L Jones' fabulous novel Floating, from 7th -11th December

Publication Date: TBC
Publisher: Other Terrain Press
Print Length: 300 Pages
Genre: Literary Fiction / Women’s Fiction / Speculative Fiction / Magical Realism /Social commentary

WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN LIFE LETS YOU DOWN AND THE WORLD IS ABOUT TO LEAVE YOU BEHIND?

It’s the 80s when 40-year old Nanette Marigold Pollo leaves her philandering husband. As she tries to re-discover her place in the world, she must navigate a rapidly emerging digital workplace that has no space for a woman with traditional skills and values. But Nanette is not ready to become obsolete just yet.

As Nanette’s hometown of Floating City rises and falls with the seasons, the known boundaries of reality are set adrift.

Nanette tries to keep her head above water in the wake of surging digital technologies that lead her to question the nature of reality and the imaginary.

Author Nerina Jones’s powerful debut novel depicts sisterhood, courage, and misogyny from the lens of a woman who is far from accepting the fate she’s been dealt.

Nerina L. Jones

Nerina L. Jones was raised in Melbourne’s outer east in the days of bushland, orchards, dairy farms and owner-built houses. She worked variously in shop sales, factory process work, as a housemaid in a motel and an aged care facility. She was a guest art teacher at primary and secondary level in rural Gippsland and a public servant, briefly in the 60s and later for 12 years with VicPol at the close of the millennium.

Nerina studied Arts at Monash, majoring in Visual Arts and later gained a Diploma of Visual Arts from GIAE (now Federation University). That was last century. Spanning the millennia, Nerina raised 2 generations of children over 55 years, most of them as a frazzled, sleep-starved sole parent and provider. In this century Nerina traded her paint brush for a pen and had a number of short stories and articles—some award-winning—appear in local Learning Centre publications and Positive Words magazine. She subsequently gained an MA in writing at Swinburne University and was employed as an online tutor of writing before gaining a PhD in 2019.

Floating is the first of Nerina’s long-form works offered for publication.

Blog Tour Schedule coming soon...

Friday, 4 September 2026

Fraying Skeins (Silver Sampler Series, Book #3) by Nancy Jardine

Fraying Skeins
(Silver Sampler Series, Book #3)
By Nancy Jardine

Publication Date: August 29th, 2026

Series: Silver Sampler, Book #3

Publisher: Nancy Jardine with Ocelot Press

Pages: 153 (ebook) / 342 (print)

Genre: Historical Fiction / Scottish Saga / Womens’ Fiction

An engrossing Victorian Scotland Saga (Silver Sampler Series Book 3)

Escape In Paradise Evasion

1870 Scotland

Fleeing from Peterhead, Margaret Law makes Aberdeen her refuge. Menial jobs keep her and her toddler son fed– till an unusual tutoring task boosts her finances, and self-worth. Letters to best friend Jessie contain the absolute truth, especially when Johnny Fraser re-enters her life. Is he the man for Margaret to grow old with? When better employment emerges in St. Andrews, Margaret is torn. Will the move mean losing Johnny?

When Johnny follows Margaret to St. Andrews, their life together is idyllic. But when menacing secrets unfold, will Johnny’s past indiscretions be their undoing? Will he lose the cherished family he is establishing with Margaret?

Pick up your copy of Fraying Skeins

HERE

Read with #KindleUnlimited

Nancy Jardine

Nancy Jardine writes historical adventure fiction, historical saga, time travel historical adventure and contemporary mysteries. Research gobbles up lots of time but it’s a delight, and never a chore. Her garden wouldn’t win any prizes but tending it is a great way to unwind and gives her some lovely plants to post on Instagram!

When not creating her novels, or promoting her writing, she loves to interact with readers at Book and Craft Fairs where she signs / sells paperback versions of her novels. Recently she’s taken part in author panels at Book Festivals.

Memberships include: Historical Novel Society; Society of Authors; Scottish Association of Writers; Federation of Writers Scotland; Romantic Novelists’ Association; and Alliance of Independent Authors. She’s self-published with Ocelot Press.

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