The Meonbridge Chronicles series by Carolyn Hughes

 

The Meonbridge Chronicles series 
By Carolyn Hughes

Set in 14th century England, the MEONBRIDGE CHRONICLES recount the lives of the folk of Meonbridge, both the common people and the gentry, as they contend with what life throws at them. Natural disaster, social disorder, villainy and injustice bring conflict, treachery and death to Meonbridge, but friendship, community and love are also never far behind…

Start your reading adventure with

Fortune's Wheel 

(The Meonbridge Chronicles Book 1)

HERE!

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This is a six-book series

Carolyn Hughes

Carolyn Hughes has lived much of her life in Hampshire. With a first degree in Classics and English, she started working life as a computer programmer, then a very new profession. But it was technical authoring that later proved her vocation, word-smithing for many different clients, including banks, an international hotel group and medical instruments manufacturers.

Although she wrote creatively on and off for most of her adult life, it was not until her children flew the nest that writing historical fiction took centre stage. But why historical fiction? Serendipity!

Seeking inspiration for what to write for her Creative Writing Masters, she discovered the handwritten draft, begun in her twenties, of a novel, set in 14th century rural England… Intrigued by the period and setting, she realised that, by writing a novel set in the period, she could learn more about the medieval past and interpret it, which seemed like a thrilling thing to do. A few days later, the first Meonbridge Chronicle, Fortune’s Wheel, was under way.

Six published books later (with more to come), Carolyn does now think of herself as an Historical Novelist. And she wouldn’t have it any other way…

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Rough Diamond - Rough Justice by Avien Gray

 

Rough Diamond - Rough Justice 
By Avien Gray

Publisher: Avien Gray

Page Length: 446

Genre: Political Thrillers & Suspense / Historical Fiction

After a first kill, MI5 Agent and erstwhile photographer Cain becomes an undercover, extra-judicial killer for a secret Bureau.

Recovering from injuries sustained protecting the Royal Family, Cain embracesa new life and romance in sun-drenched Australia, leaving his past life behind.

But when tragedy strikes, he is on the move again. This time to a new career in the world of diamond dealings in Florida.

Curiosity takes Cain to the diamond world in South Africa, where his past finally catches up with him, the criminal world allies against him and he becomes a killer again.

In Cain's action-packed escapades, a spectacular betrayal takes him into the rigours of a Chinese prison where the truth about his past begins to unravel.

Aided by a loyal band of friends from the shadowy world of intelligence, he delivers his own particular brand of rough justice.

However, with enemies closing in on all sides, will Cain prevail?

Pick up your copy of
Rough Diamond, Rough Justice 
HERE!

Avien Gray

Avien Gray, the English author behind Rough Diamond – Rough Justice, brings a wealth of experience to his gripping debut novel. Born in the UK, Gray has led a dynamic, bachelor’s life marked by an impressive array of skills and global adventures. He has a driver’s license, motorbike license, and pilot’s license. His physical discipline extends to martial arts, where he earned a karate black belt, complemented by a lifelong passion for photography that captures the world through his discerning lens.

Gray’s rumoured travels paint the picture of a man unbound by borders. He is said to have spent many months in Saudi Arabia, Australia, the USA, South Africa, Europe and China. This rich tapestry of experiences infuses his writing with authenticity, lending a vivid, worldly edge to the thrilling narrative of his complex protagonist: a man called Cain.

Avien and his best friend shared a flat and went out with various female friends together. They had a great time. As it says in the book when Cain is talking with his best friend: a Royal Protection Officer.

 ‘We will have to write that book when we retire,’ Cain said.

 They looked at each other with knowing smiles – for a long few seconds.

 ‘All those secrets,’ said Jerry. ‘Perhaps we will.’

 And time moved on.

But in real life, his best friend tragically died – leaving Avien to write their book alone.

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Love Lost in Time by Cathie Dunn

 

Love Lost in Time
By Cathie Dunn

Publication Date: 7th November 2019
Publisher: Ocelot Press
Page Length: 274 Pages
Genre: Duel Time-Line / Historical Mystery / Romance

A reluctant daughter. A dutiful wife. A mystery of the ages.

Languedoc, France, 2018

Historian Madeleine Winters would rather research her next project than rehash the strained relationship she had with her late mother. However, to claim her inheritance, she reluctantly agrees to stay the one year required in her late mother’s French home and begins renovations. But when she’s haunted by a female voice inside the house and tremors emanating from beneath her kitchen floorboards, she’s shocked to discover ancient human bones.

The Mediterranean coast, AD 777

Seventeen-year-old Nanthild is wise enough to know her place. Hiding her Pagan wisdom and dutifully accepting her political marriage, she’s surprised when she falls for her Christian husband, the Count of Carcassonne. But she struggles to keep her forbidden religious beliefs and her healing skills secret while her spouse goes off to fight in a terrible, bloody war.

As Maddie settles into her rustic village life, she becomes obsessed with unraveling the mysterious history buried in her new home. And when Nanthild is caught in the snare of an envious man, she’s terrified she’ll never embrace her beloved again.

Can two women torn apart by centuries help each other finally find peace?

Love Lost in Time is a vivid standalone historical fiction novel for fans of epoch-spanning enigmas. If you like dark mysteries, romantic connections, and hints of the paranormal, then you’ll adore Cathie Dunn’s tale of redemption and self-discovery. 

Pick up your copy of

Love Lost in Time

HERE!

Cathie Dunn

Cathie is an Amazon-bestselling author of historical fiction, dual-timeline, mystery, and romance. She loves to infuse her stories with a strong sense of place and time, combined with a dark secret or mystery – and a touch of romance. Often, you can find her deep down the rabbit hole of historical research…

 

In addition, she is also a historical fiction book promoter with The Coffee Pot Book Club, a novel-writing tutor, and a keen reviewer on her blog, Ruins & Reading.

 

After having lived in Scotland for almost two decades, Cathie is now enjoying the sunshine in the south of France with her husband, and her rescued pets, Ellie Dog & Charlie Cat. 

She is a member of the Historical Novel Society, the Richard III Society, the Alliance of Independent Authors, and the Romantic Novelists’ Association.

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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!

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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Blog Tour: Quillan Creek and the Little War: Time Stones Book I by Ian Hunter

Quillan Creek and the Little War: 

Time Stones Book I 
By Ian Hunter

Publication Date: 3rd August 2018

Publisher: MVB Marketing-und Verlagsservice des Buchhandels

Page Length: 281

Genre: Historical Fantasy

Jessie Mason lives with her nose in the pages of history. But she is about to discover that the past is a dangerous place where she doesn't belong, and knowledge alone is not going to save her.

In Jessie’s troubled life her aunt is the only constant and comfort she has. But when she inexplicably disappears, and Jessie uncovers her mother's Time Stone, that unhappy life turns unreal and terrifying.

She is summoned to a world in crisis, 250 years in her past, to three unlikely companions, and the aged Onondaga shaman, Nishkamich, who promises an education in the powers of the stones which they each possess.

Over one glorious summer, Jessie reluctantly settles to village life and the developing bond with her prickly friends, until they are forced to accept that their stones are being hunted through history.

But in the depths of winter, their friendship, their wits, and the very limits of their endurance, will be tested by an unforgiving Nature as war finally erupts around them.

Pick up your copy of

Quillan Creek and the Little War: 

Time Stones Book I 

HERE

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Ian Hunter

Books have been an important part of my life as long as I can remember, and at 54 years old, that’s a lot of books. My earliest memories of reading are CS Lewis’, “The Horse and His Boy” – by far the best of the Narnia books, the Adventures series by Willard Price, and “Goalkeepers are Different” by sports journalist Brian Glanville. An eclectic mix. My first English teacher was surprised to hear that I was reading, Le Carré, Ken Follett, Nevil Shute and “All the Presidents’ Men” by Woodward and Bernstein at the age of 12. I was simply picking up the books my father had finished.

School syllabus threw up the usual suspects – Shakespeare, Chaucer, Dickens, Hardy, “To Kill a Mockingbird” – which I have reread often, and others I don’t immediately recall. By “A” level study, my then English teachers were pulling their hair out at my “perverse waste of talent” – I still have the report card! But I did manage a pass.

During a 35 year career, briefly in Banking and then in IT, I managed to find time, with unfailing family support, to study another lifelong passion, graduating with an Open University Bachelors’ degree in History in 2002. This fascination with all things historical inspired me to begin the Time Stones series. There is so much to our human past, and so many differing views on what is the greatest, and often the saddest, most tragic story. I decided I wanted to write about it; to shine a small light on those, sometimes pivotal stories, which are less frequently mentioned.

In 1995, my wife, Michelle, and I moved from England to southern Germany, where we still live, with our two children, one cat, and, when she pays us a visit, one chocolate labrador. I have been fortunate that I could satisfy another wish, to travel as widely as possible and see as much of our world as I can. Destinations usually include places of historic and archaeological interest, mixed with a large helping of sun, sea and sand for my wife’s peace of mind.

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Tour Schedule Coming Soon

What Remains is Hope (The Heppenheimer Family Holocaust Saga Book 2) by Bonnie Suchman

What Remains is Hope

(The Heppenheimer Family Holocaust Saga Book 2)

By Bonnie Suchman

Publication Date:  October 2nd, 2025

Publisher: Black Rose Writing

Pages: 360

Genre: Historical Fiction

Beginning in 1930s Germany and based on their real lives, four cousins as close as siblings—Bettina, Trudi, Gustav, and Gertrud—share the experiences of the young, including first loves, marriages, and children.

Bettina, the oldest, struggles to help her parents with their failing business. Trudi dresses in the latest fashions and tries to make everything look beautiful. Gustav is an artist at heart and hopes to one day open a tailoring shop. Gertrud, the youngest, is forced by her parents to keep secrets, but that doesn’t stop her from chasing boys. However, over their seemingly ordinary lives hangs one critical truth—they’re Jewish—putting them increasingly at risk.

When World War II breaks out, the four are still in Germany or German-occupied lands, unable or unwilling to leave. How will these cousins avoid the horrors of the Nazi regime, a regime that wants them dead? Will they be able to avoid the deportations and concentration camps that have claimed their fellow Jews? Danger is their constant companion, and it will take hope and more to survive.

Praise

"Readers will find this follow up to Suchman's prior novel, Stumbling Stones, both a heartbreaking reminder of the Holocaust's atrocities and a compelling tribute to a family's refusal to surrender to despair...Richly compelling Holocaust account, centered on the power of hope."

Booklife by Publishers Weekly

"Author Bonnie Suchman has a way of making every moment count with her characters in a narrative that feels powerfully real as she spins deeply personal stories against a sweeping and tragic backdrop of history. ..What Remains is Hope is historical fiction at its best, and I'd highly recommend it to fans of gripping fiction that's emotionally resonant and grounded in truth."

K.C. Finn for Readers’ Favorite

Excerpt

Frankfurt

November 1938

Gustav carefully navigated the streets to the shop. It was normally a five-minute walk, but broken glass was everywhere and Gustav needed to be careful. To complicate matters, Nazi brownshirts were still in the streets, looking to inflict more damage. Everywhere Gustav looked, there were broken windows and defaced storefronts. They lived in the East End of Frankfurt – often called the Jewish section – and the hoodlums knew where to focus their attention. Gustav had been awakened in the early morning hours by the sounds of yelling and glass breaking. Parting the curtain carefully in his apartment, Gustav could see the Nazi brownshirts carrying torches, randomly breaking windows. The family decided it was safer to remain inside and away from the windows and wait until the violence ended. By eleven a.m., things were quieter, and his stepfather announced he was leaving, walking out the front door without waiting for a response. His mother yelled to Gustav to get dressed and follow his papa, which he did.

As he reached the shop, Gustav could see his stepfather picking up trash in front of the building. The windows were all broken and large swastikas were painted across the front door. Someone had entered the store through the broken windows, since Gustav could see that most of the few remaining bolts of fabric were gone. Gustav went up to his stepfather and said, “Papa, there’s not much we can do right now, and it’s still not safe for Jews. Let’s go home.” 

His stepfather stopped picking up trash but didn’t move. “We can go home, but I need to see one place first. I need to see the synagogue.”

“Okay, but let’s hurry.”

To reach their synagogue on Friedberger Anlage, they walked along the Zeil – the main shopping street in Frankfurt – and Gustav was shocked at the level of destruction. Windows were smashed, and swastikas were painted on the walls. Looters were running out of the stores through broken doors and windows. Gustav wanted to run home, but he knew it was important for his stepfather to see the synagogue. His stepfather had moved to Frankfurt from Poland after the Great War, part of an influx of Polish Jews looking for a better life. The Polish Jews settled in the East End and were welcomed to the Orthodox synagogue established years earlier by Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch in opposition to the movement of many German Jews to a more liberal religious practice. His stepfather was not particularly observant, but found a community with the members of the synagogue, mostly Polish Jews. He tried to go as often as possible to services, and Gustav had his bar mitzvah there. The synagogue was the largest in Frankfurt, and Gustav, as a child, would marvel at the numerous cloakroom attendants who would take the men’s hats and exchange them for the silk top hats worn for the Saturday morning service.

Gustav could smell something burning as they neared the synagogue. Once they turned the corner onto Friedberger Anlage, he saw the synagogue in flames. They walked as close as they could, but a large crowd had already gathered and included youths with large clubs. Every window had been broken. Worse, the Torahs and prayer books were in a pile in the street, and they watched in horror as a Nazi youth set them on fire. Gustav knew it wasn’t safe to remain there long, and nudged his stepfather to leave. 

His stepfather ignored Gustav, and said softly, almost to himself, “Baruch Dayan Ha’emet.” The blessing one recited in the face of a terrible loss, usually a death, but a blessing that also expressed faith that God had an ultimate purpose for this terrible loss. Gustav could not bring himself to repeat the blessing. He just couldn’t imagine there was any purpose for the destruction of this beautiful synagogue. Instead, he put his arm around his stepfather’s shoulders and guided him away from the synagogue. As they walked away, they saw firemen spraying water on the neighboring buildings to prevent the fire from spreading but ignoring the burning synagogue. His stepfather turned to Gustav and said, “I will always remember this day, November 10th.”

Pick up your copy of

What Remains is Hope

HERE

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Bonnie Suchman

Bonnie Suchman has been a practicing attorney for forty years. Using her legal skills, she researched her husband's 250-year family history in Germany, publishing the award-winning, non-fiction book, Broken Promises: The Story of a Jewish Family in Germany, as a result.

Those compelling stories became Suchman's Heppenheimer Family Holocaust Saga. The first in the series, Stumbling Stones, was a Finalist for the 2024 Hawthorne Prize for Fiction, and recently, her family traveled to Frankfurt, Germany, to install stumbling stones for her husband's Great Aunt Alice and her husband Alfred, the real-life characters in the book. What Remains is Hope is the second novel in the saga.

In her free time, Bonnie is a runner and a golfer. She and her husband reside in Potomac, Maryland. 

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