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 »
Of late, I’ve been thinking about choices. We make so many choices, don’t we, and sometimes we don’t quite understand that making one choice effectively kills opportunities f, K, Q and Z. So when next we haveto make a choice, the selection is smaller. Not necessarily a bad thing—having to choose can be difficult and
Life Choices and reading choices – my August newsletter Read More »
When we bought our first house many, many years ago, it was a very small house in a very large garden. It was something of a magical garden, having been planted more than fifty years before to ensure whoever lived in the house was self-sufficient on potatoes, vegetables, berries of all sorts, apples, plums and
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 »
Very many years ago, I ran full tilt into an invisible wall. Not all that surprising, what with me working well over 70 hours a week and combining this with four children, a large home and garden and running a daycare centre (for said kids) I’ve always worked a lot, but after changing jobs I
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 »
When I was asked to join this Yarde Book Promotion book tour, I had NO idea I would be hosting an author who lives in Sweden. But there you have it: Ms Jacobs lives in my country – lei è veramente la benvenuta qui! Not that there’s much Italian or Swedish in her book –
No Ordinary June – giving a Regency Romance some limelight Read More »
Ha! Surely you did not think I’d milked my recent travels to their full extent? No, no, dear peeps, that is not the case. So: a final post (hmm) about my recent adventures along the Thames, and let’s start with saying hello to Windsor. To me, Windsor is all about the castle, perched atop a
Waterways and Windsor – a coda to our hiking trip Read More »
On one of my previous posts, someone left a comment asking me to specify our route along the Thames. In total, the route we walked is approximately 77 miles, around 125 km, but that excludes back-and-forth to hotels, plus detours. Like on our second day, we detoured to Dorchester, which added a couple of miles.