Blog Tour and Giveaway ~
Historical Virtual Book
Tour Presents....
There is Always a Tomorrow
by Anna Belfrage
There is Always a Tomorrow is the ninth
book in Anna Belfrage’s time slip series featuring time traveller Alexandra
Lind and her seventeenth century husband, Matthew Graham.
It is 1692 and the Colony of Maryland is
still adapting to the consequences of Coode’s Rebellion some years previously.
Religious tolerance in the colony is now a thing of the past, but safe in their
home, Alex and Matthew Graham have no reason to suspect they will become
embroiled in the ongoing religious conflicts—until one of their sons betrays
their friend Carlos Muñoz to the authorities.
Matthew Graham does not leave his
friends to rot—not even if they’re papist priests—so soon enough most of the
Graham family is involved in a rescue attempt, desperate to save Carlos from a
sentence that may well kill him.
Meanwhile, in London little Rachel is
going through hell. In a matter of months she loses everything, even her
surname, as apparently her father is not Master Cooke but one Jacob Graham. Not
that her paternity matters when her entire life implodes.
Will Alex and Matthew be able to help
their unknown grandchild? More importantly, will Rachel want their help?
Excerpt
There were certain aspects of seventeenth century life
Alex could well do without, and top of that list was the dratted Richard
Campbell. Men like him were fortunately rare on the ground—and if Alex were to
be honest, creeps existed just as much in her original time as in the
seventeenth century. The difference was that a pompous minister, however
sleazy, was accorded substantial respect in this day and age. While most people
could read and write, the supposition was that learned men such as ministers
had read much, much more, thereby acquiring an unplumbed depth of wisdom. Huh:
in Campbell’s case, Alex seriously doubted he’d ever progressed beyond learning
by rote.
On this fine September morning, Alex was hurrying
along with Matthew towards the town hall and the impending trials when she
bumped into her least favourite minister ever. Well, "bump" was
fortunately not in the literal sense, as Richard Campbell came to an abrupt
stop at the sight of her and scowled.
Beside her, Matthew muttered an expletive and
attempted to guide them away from the minister. Not to be, as Campbell was
accompanied by a band of cronies who rapidly blocked their way.
“And what may you be doing here?” Campbell demanded.
He looked Alex up and down. “Ah, yes: the papist priest is a friend of yours,
isn’t he?” He laughed, a high-pitched sound that grated on Alex’s ears.
“Maybe he serves as your familiar.”
Matthew stepped forward. “Hold your mouth.”
“Hold my mouth?” Richard Campbell sneered. “Oh, no
Graham, not this time. This time, I…” and here he broadened his stance, placed
his hands on either side of his waist and puffed out his chest, “Richard
Campbell, will root out evil wherever I find it and see it burn!”
“Like you helped them do in Salem?” Matthew snorted.
“Superstitious nonsense, and God will surely throw you in the deepest pits of
hell for your persecution of the innocent and feeble-minded.”
“Superstition?” Campbell looked about to choke. Alex
hoped he would. The horror show offered by the Salem Trials had left narrow-minded
bigots like Richard Campbell firmly on the top of the dung-heap. “Evil lives
amongst us!” He shook his finger at them. “Evil, Graham, evil. Like yon papist
priest.”
“Don’t be an idiot!” Alex said. “Oh, right, I forgot:
you are an idiot.” She ignored Matthew’s aggravated look and ploughed on.
“Carlos Muñoz is a good and educated man, not an evil bone in his body.”
“Well, you would say so, wouldn’t you? You harboured
him—you and your apostate of a daughter. I am telling you,” Campbell continued,
“it is people like the Grahams, who succour the papist heretics, nourish them
at their breasts, who are the greatest danger to our colony. The enemy within,
my friends, behold them!” With a flourish he pointed at Alex and Matthew,
yelped loudly when Julian Allerton grabbed him by the arm.
“Back to your fire and brimstone preaching?” Julian
said. “Planning on subjecting yet another woman to your untoward advances?”
“Untoward?” Campbell yanked himself free.
“We all saw it.” Julian pitched his voice so it carried.
“A minister, crazed by lust, groping a good and decent woman. You, Mr Campbell,
throwing Mrs Graham to the ground and baring her skin to your roving hands and
drooling mouth.”
Eeuuw! Alex pulled her shawl tight. It hadn’t exactly
been like that, seeing as Campbell had been armed with a very large, very sharp
needle with which he had attempted to prick her, but Julian’s word had the men
closest to Campbell distancing themselves from him.
“It is a lie!” Campbell yelled. “A foul lie, a—”
“I saw what I saw.” Julian looked Campbell up and
down. “Only the fact that you were a minister saved you from an extended stand
at the pillory—that, and your promise never to return.”
“She has you bewitched,” Richard bleated. “All this
nonsense you are spouting, it is because she has spelled you.”
“Spelled me?” Julian snorted. “In this the Colony of
Maryland we do not believe in such nonsense as witches. Only uneducated boors
hold with such primitive beliefs.” He took a step closer to Campbell. “If I see
you even looking at Mrs Graham, I will have no alternative but to go directly
to Governor Blakiston and give him a full account of what transpired when last
you were here.”
“Try,” Campbell sneered. “I have the ear of the
Protestant Associators—both Blakiston and Coode.”
“Ah, but so do many of us,” a voice from somewhere at
the back said. William Hancock, Ian’s father-in-law, pushed forward. “And I saw
it too, just as Minister Allerton described it.”
“It’s nice, isn’t it, when one’s friends do the
fighting on your behalf,” Alex murmured to Matthew.
“Oh, aye.” His breath tickled her cheek. “It won’t
help much, not with that toad of a man.”
“Why did he come back?” Alex asked. “Why leave Salem
when he must have been as happy as a pig in muck up there?”
“I don’t know. Maybe he decided it was safe to come
here now that Minister Walker has passed."
“Well, I hope he isn't staying."
"Amen to that." Matthew frowned.
Giveaway
During
the Blog Tour we will be giving away 2 eBooks and 2 paperback copies of There is Always a
Tomorrow! You can enter the giveaway HERE!
Giveaway
Rules
•
Giveaway ends at 11:59pm EST on December 21st. You must be 18 or older to
enter.
•
Giveaway is open INTERNATIONALLY.
•
Only one entry per household.
•
All giveaway entrants agree to be honest and not cheat the systems; any suspect
of fraud is decided upon by blog/site owner and the sponsor, and entrants may
be disqualified at our discretion.
•
Winner has 48 hours to claim prize or new winner is chosen.
Links
for Purchase
About
the author
Anna was raised abroad, on a pungent mix of Latin
American culture, English history and Swedish traditions. As a result she’s
multilingual and most of her reading is historical- both non-fiction and fiction.
Possessed of a lively imagination, she has drawers full of potential stories,
all of them set in the past. She was always going to be a writer – or a
historian, preferably both. Ideally, Anna aspired to becoming a pioneer time
traveller, but science has as yet not advanced to the point of making that
possible. Instead she ended up with a degree in Business and Finance, with very
little time to spare for her most favourite pursuit. Still, one does as one
must, and in between juggling a challenging career Anna raised her four
children on a potent combination of invented stories, historical debates and
masses of good food and homemade cakes. They seem to thrive…
For years she combined a challenging career with four
children and the odd snatched moment of writing. Nowadays Anna spends most of
her spare time at her writing desk. The children are half grown, the house is
at times eerily silent and she slips away into her imaginary world, with her
imaginary characters. Every now and then the one and only man in her life pops
his head in to ensure she’s still there.
Other than on her website, www.annabelfrage.com, Anna can mostly
be found on her blog, http://annabelfrage.wordpress.com –
unless, of course, she is submerged in writing her next novel. You can also
connect with Anna on Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads.
There is Always a Tomorrow by Anna
Belfrage
Publication Date: November 5, 2017
Timelight Press
eBook & Paperback; ISBN: 9781788039666
Series: Graham Saga, Book #9
Genre: Historical Fiction/Time-Slip
