Thursday 31 December 2020

Catherine Meyrick is giving away two ebook copies of her fabulous book — The Bridled Tongue #Giveaway #HistoricalFiction @cameyrick1

 





Book Title: The Bridled Tongue
Publication Date:1 February 2020
Publisher: Courante Publishing
Page Length: 358 Pages
Genre: Historical Fiction

Death and life are in the power of the tongue.

England 1586.

Alyce Bradley has few choices when her father decides it is time she marry as many refuse to see her as other than the girl she once was—unruly, outspoken and close to her grandmother, a woman suspected of witchcraft.

Thomas Granville, an ambitious privateer, inspires fierce loyalty in those close to him and hatred in those he has crossed. Beyond a large dowry, he is seeking a virtuous and dutiful wife. Neither he nor Alyce expect more from marriage than mutual courtesy and respect.

As the King of Spain launches his great armada and England braces for invasion, Alyce must confront closer dangers from both her own and Thomas's past, threats that could not only destroy her hopes of love and happiness but her life. And Thomas is powerless to help.

‘People never forget. When the fancy takes them, they bring the old stories out and embroider them further.’






If you would like to be in with a chance to win one of two ebooks of Catherine Meyrick fabulous book The Bridled Tongue then you need to head over to #Bookstagram and follow the instructions on the Instagram post.

Enter HERE!

Giveaway is now closed.

Not on Instagram - you can still enter! just drop the answer to this question in the comments section at the bottom of this post:

What is your favourite tradition?


Good Luck!


*Open Internationally.

*The winner must be willing to provide their email address.

*Giveaway closes on January 4th 2021

 



As Alyce rose from the table following the evening meal in the hall, her father said, ‘Come, sit with me.’

She followed him to the settle at the fireside and sat staring into the flames of the small fire crackling against the chill of the evening.

‘I said last week I would seek marriage offers for you.’

‘No!’ Alyce sprang up from the seat, her voice carrying across the room.

The servants clearing the table paused and watched.

‘If I am of no use in this household, I will find a place elsewhere.’

‘What ails you, girl?’ her father said, impatient. ‘All women want marriage.’

‘I will not marry Robert Chapman.’ Her worst days with Lady Faulconer would be as nothing compared to life with Chapman.

‘Pah!’ He scowled at her. ‘You would do well to learn humility—good women are led by their parents.’

She stared back at him—he did regard Chapman’s offer as worthy of consideration.

‘You said I would have the final say.’ Alyce’s voice creaked. ‘I would rather die than marry him.’ What evil had she done in life to earn such a living hell?

‘His is not the only offer.’ He patted the seat beside him. ‘Sit down.’
Alyce gripped her hands tight in her lap, her knuckles white. Who did he have in mind? Some aged man with grown children who would despise her?

‘Thomas Granville is interested too.’

She let go her breath. ‘Ah, his interest would be the dowry.’

‘He does want a wife. He needs someone to help his sister—her health is failing. From what I know of him, I doubt he would marry for money alone. And remember, all good marriages involve property and all parties try to make the best they can of it. Granville insists you agree to this marriage.’

‘How kind—a willing lamb to the slaughter.’ Alyce knew she was being unfair to Granville. Many men would not care. And, she suspected, he was a far better man than common rumour suggested.

‘And Robert does not care whether I am willing or not.’

‘Robin has much to recommend him. He is diligent and hardworking and knows the business well.’

‘And, in expectation of inheriting your business, the dowry would be much lower. Does the fact I despise him count for anything?’

‘Solid marriages can be built from inauspicious beginnings.’ Her father frowned. ‘What do you want, a love match?’

‘I am not a fool, Father,’ Alyce said bitterly. ‘I would like honour and respect. Even a mutual liking. And the freedom to make my own choice.’

‘Such freedom would be fine if you had plenty to choose from.’

Alyce drew a sharp breath. It was hardly her fault she had spent her most marriageable years in what amounted to exile.

‘Look,’ his voice softened. ‘Who has freedom in this life? Most of us do what we must. Love is no basis for marriage. Hard decisions need to be made. View marriage as a business decision—weigh the pros and cons. Love can grow later.’

‘So it must be Thomas Granville? He is charming, but word is he has debauched hundreds of women. The wife of such a man would have no peace of mind.’

‘God-a-mercy, girl. It is idle chatter. He is unmarried—you cannot expect a man to live like a monk.’

‘Women are expected to.’ All went to church. All heard the exhortations to continence. Nowhere did it say that these applied only to women. ‘St Paul said—’

‘I do not want to hear what St Paul said,’ her father raised his voice over hers. ‘We live in the world as it is where it is an entirely different matter for women, as you well know.’

‘And if I do not accept his offer?’

‘What future is there for you? In service for the rest of your days, a dependant in someone else’s household. When your mother and I are gone, where would your home be then?’

‘I could stay here…’ She knew she could make a useful place for herself if only given the chance.

‘Alyce. Have sense. As a single woman, even with wealth, you would be prey to every foul-tongued rumour-monger. They would have you a witch, a whore or worse.’ He leant forward, his palms spread on his thighs. ‘You must want a home of your own, children, a husband to keep you safe.’

‘In a perfect world—’

‘The present world is all we have. You have no choice but to consider these offers and decide on one.’

‘Can we not wait? You said we would take our time.’

‘And risk no one else offering?’

‘You think so little of me?’

He jerked his head. ‘If what is offered is good enough, grasp it. If you wait, hoping for a green girl’s dream, you will end up with nothing.’

Alyce, her lips pressed tight, rose from the bench.

‘Think on it tonight and tell me your decision on the morrow.’

‘My decision? It appears you have made it for me,’ Alyce said as she moved towards the stairs.





Catherine Meyrick
is a writer of historical fiction with a particular love of Elizabethan England. Her stories weave fictional characters into the gaps within the historical record—tales of ordinary people who are very much men and women of their time, yet in so many ways are like us today

Catherine grew up in Ballarat, a large regional city about 70 miles from Melbourne, Australia, but has lived all her adult life in Melbourne. Until recently she worked as a customer service librarian at her local library. She has a Master of Arts in history and is also an obsessive genealogist. When she is not writing she enjoys gardening, the cinema and music of all sorts from early music and classical to folk and country and western.

Connect with Catherine:
Website  •  Facebook • Twitter • Instagram








Blog Tour: The Search (Across the Great Divide, Book II) By Michael L. Ross


Join The Coffee Pot Book Club on tour with…

The Search
(Across the Great Divide, Book II)
By Michael L. Ross


February 1st – February 19th 2021

Publication Date: December 15, 2020
Publisher: HistoricalNovelsRUS
Page Length: 217 Pages
Genre: Historical Fiction, Christian Historical Fiction, Historical Romance

Where do you go when home is no longer an option?

The guns of the Civil War have ceased firing, and the shots are but an echo... yet the war rages on, deep inside Will Crump's soul. His "soldier's heart" is searching for peace, and in that quest Will joins the westward movement, setting his path on a collision course with adventure, loss, and love.

The Westward Expansion floods the sacred, untouched lands with immigrants, bringing conflict to the Shoshone, Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho. Amidst the chaos Will finds safety in the shadow of the US Army, but the army brings battle-hardened troops into Red Cloud's War, pulling Will into a tornado of conflict. Broken treaties and promises leave both sides searching for answers. Will's search leads him to a battle for survival, and there he finds a love that could change him forever.

Dove, a young Shoshone woman, is a survivor of the Bear Creek Massacre. After being kidnapped and escaping from the Cheyenne, she joins Will's search, seeking where she belongs. Dove longs for more than the restricted role placed on women in her tribe. If she can learn to trust a white man, he just might help her find home... and hope.

Together, Will and Dove must search for understanding, and reach Across the Great Divide.


Michael L. Ross

Best selling author Michael Ross is a lover of history and great stories. He's a retired software engineer turned author, with three children and five grandchildren, living in Newton, Kansas with his wife of forty years. He was born in Lubbock, Texas, and still loves Texas. The main character of "Across the Great Divide", William Dorsey Crump, is one of the founders of Lubbock and Shallowater, Texas. Michael knew Will's granddaughter when he was a child. He has written a scholarly article on Will Crump for the Texas Historical Society, published in the Handbook of Texas Online, and has sold short stories in the past. This is his first novel and the first in the Across the Great Divide series, now an Amazon bestseller.

 Michael attended Rice University as an undergraduate, and Portland State University for his graduate degree. He has degrees in computer science, software engineering, and German. In his spare time, Michael loves to go fishing, riding horses, and play with his grandchildren, who are currently all under six years old.

 He sees many parallels between the time of the Civil War and our divided nation of today. Sanctuary cities, immigration, arguments around the holiday table, threats of secession - all are nothing new. Sometimes, to understand the present, you have to look at the past- and reach Across the Great Divide.  

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Tour Schedule




Blog Tour: Jude & Bliss, by Mal Foster, February 4th – April 8th 2021


Join The Coffee Pot Book Club on tour with…

Jude & Bliss
By Mal Foster


February 4th – April 8th 2021

Publication Date: 12 November 2020
Publisher: Publish Nation
Page Length: 234
Genre: Historical Fiction

In the Victorian era, for many young women, going into domestic service was a significant source of employment where they found suitable work but with extended hours for a reasonable salary, receiving free accommodation as well as enjoying the perks and prestige of working for the aristocracy or other members of the upper or middle-classes.

 As a matter of course, employers had a moral obligation, but one without a legal requirement to ensure their servants were kept clean, healthy and well-nourished. However, for one poor girl, that, unfortunately, was not the case.

 In 1896, Jude Rogers, a wide-eyed but vulnerable sixteen-year-old from Woking, Surrey, secures a position as a domestic servant at a large terraced house in Half Moon Street, near London's Piccadilly. Following a brief settling-in period, she quickly realises everything is not quite as it seems.

 As time moves ruthlessly forward, what happens next is almost beyond comprehension. Jude finds herself in the most impossible of situations and finally succumbs to the pure evil dealt out by her employer.

 This story is NOT for the faint-hearted!


Mal Foster

Mal Foster was born in 1956 in Farnham, Surrey and grew up in nearby Camberley. He was educated at secondary modern level but left school at just fifteen years old to help support his single mother and younger brother. It was around this time that he began writing, and indeed, his first poems were published soon after.  

In 2007 his most widely read poem The Wedding was published in the Australian Secondary Schools anthology Poetry Unlocked' a book that formed part of its English Literature exam curriculum. The irony of its inclusion has always amused Mal considering he left school before gaining any formal qualifications himself.  

A former local journalist, his first novel The Asylum Soul, a historical tale of incarceration was published in 2015. A second book, Fly Back and Purify, a paranormal drama appeared in 2017. Described as an explosive conspiracy thriller, An Invisible Nemesis was published at the beginning of May 2019.

In November 2020, his fourth novel, Jude & Bliss, was published and marked a return to historical fiction for Mal. "This book is close to my heart, it's the one, I think, which will define the course of my future writing," he told one observer.  

Tour Schedule



Wednesday 30 December 2020

Welcome to Day #10 of the blog tour for - Three Monkeys (DCI Jack Callum Mysteries Book 1) by Len Maynard #HistoricalFiction #Crime @len_maynard @storywhispers

 

Three Monkeys

(DCI JACK CALLUM MYSTERIES BOOK 1)

BY LEN MAYNARD


OCTOBER 28TH – DECEMBER 30TH  2020

AMAZON UKAMAZON US


Publication Date: 22nd July 2020

Publisher: Sharpe Books

Page Length: 270 Pages

Genre: Historical Crime


1958.


A girl’s body is found in Hertfordshire.


Her eyes and mouth have been sewn shut. Candle wax has been poured into her ears to seal them.


DCI Jack Callum, policeman and dedicated family man, who cut his teeth walking the beat on the violent streets of London, before moving his family away from the city, to a safer, more restful life in the country, leads the investigation into this gruesome crime that shatters the peace of the sleepy English town.


Images of three monkeys are sent to the police to taunt them: see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. Something more sinister than a mere isolated murder seems to be going on as more victims come to light.


Who is doing this and why?


At the insistence of the first victim’s father, a local dignitary, officers from Scotland Yard are brought in to bring about a speedy conclusion to the case, side-lining Jack’s own investigation.

In a nail-biting climax, one of Jack’s daughters is snatched. Before she can become the next victim, Jack has to go against the orders of his superiors that have constantly hampered his investigation, and risk his own career in an attempted rescue at the killer’s own home.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR



Len Maynard was born in North London in 1953.

In 1978, a book of short ghost stories, written in collaboration with Michael Sims, was published by London publisher William Kimber. For the following forty years the pair wrote ten more collections of ghost stories before moving into novels in 2006, completing over thirty more books, including the successful Department 18 series of supernatural/crime crossover novels as well as several standalone novels and novellas in the supernatural and crime genres. Always a keen reader of crime novels, and with a passion for the social history of the twentieth century it was fairly inevitable that, when he decided to branch out and write under his own name, some kind of combination of these two interests would occur.  The six DCI Jack Callum Mysteries were the result of several years of total immersion in the world he created for Jack Callum, his family, his friends (and enemies) and his work colleagues. He has also written a trilogy of adventure thrillers set in the Bahamas (also available from Sharpe Books) He is currently at work on the seventh book in the DCI Jack Callum series.


Head over to Whispering Stories to find out the history behind the DCI Jack Callum series!

Click HERE!