Today I am hosting Karen Essex and her latest release, Renaissance Rivals as part of her Coffee Pot Book Club blog tour. Ms Essex has written an interesting story, featuring not only the rivals themselves, but also – however indirectly – the great masters of the period she is writing about: Leonardo da Vinci (who, […]
Meet our Renaissance Rivals – Lucrezia and Isabella Read More »
Medieval princesses had it tough. Rarely did they experience the joy of a loving union—Eleanor of Castile and her Edward is one of the major exceptions to that—often were they sent off to lands unknown, never to return. Yes, they were raised to do this. They were educated and buffed and polished, and many likely
Poor little Maria – the sad story of a medieval princess Read More »
Today, I have Tony Riches visiting me. He does that from time to time, usually because there’s a new exciting book of his to talk about. And yes, there IS a new exciting book to talk about, but as I haven’t read it yet, it will have to wait some weeks. Instead, I was chatting
In the shadow of a queen – Tony Riches shares the inspiration for his Elizabethan series Read More »
I must start by apologising: I should have posted this some days ago, but e-mails got crossed, my brain went on a blink, and so this Coffee Pot Book Club blog tour post is 48 hrs late. Euuw! Makes me feel itchy all over. Anyway: today I am welcoming Ms Alvear and her book The
The Cleansing – in which Ms Alvear transports us to Ancient Rome Read More »
I have just finished reading Princesses of the Early Middle Ages by Sharon. Yes, I call her Sharon – I have been interacting with her for well over a decade, ever since I discovered her blog “History-the interesting bits“. By now, Sharon has publised a lot of books, all of them non-fiction, all of them
Princesses and kings – a post inspired by Sharon Bennett Connolly’s latest book Read More »
There are benefits to ushering book babies into the world vs real babies – like it doesn’t hurt quite as much. The labour behind a book baby is, however, in many ways as significant as that behind delivering a child. Hours and hours of research; days, weeks, months writing and honing your text; moments when
Welcoming my 24th book baby – Queen of Shadows is here! Read More »
In 1328, fifteen-year-old Maria of Portugal married Alfonso XI of Castile. He was a couple of years older than her, still a teenager, had been king since he was a baby and had, at the age of fourteen assumed control over his realm. They were first cousins on both sides, which required papal dispensations. (As
In one of my books about Adam de Guirande (Ah! Almost my favourite hero, this knight so torn between his allegiances to the lord who saved him and raised him, Roger Mortimer, and the young boy-king, Edward III . . . Your favourite? Matthew Graham growls. Aye, what about the rest of us? asks Robert
Dangerous ambitions – of a failed coup and its consequences Read More »
If I hear the word mantua, I think of a garment that originally was some sort of female version of a male banyan – i.e. relax robe – successively became more and more complex, developing into the imposing 18th century robe à la française before further developing into dresses like the one below, worn by
A posy of Eleonoras – or how a portrait led to a LOT of reading! Read More »
It is quite rare that solving a crossword inspires me to write a post, but today it happened! Hubby and I were struggling with a clue varjagsfurste (Swedish, sorry for that) and it took me some time to work out that varjag in Swedish is Varangian in English. Once I got that far, the hitherto
Meet Olga (or is it Helga?), bloody avenger – and saint Read More »