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On Tour: The Shadow Network, by Deborah Swift @swiftstory @cathiedunn #WW2 #Thriller #HistoricalRomance #Review

March 5, 2024 by Adriana Kraft

Betrayal, treachery, and courage against the odds

BOOK INFORMATION

Book Title: The Shadow Network
Series: Secret Agent Series (but can be read as a stand-alone)
Author: Deborah Swift
Publication Date: 13th February 2024
Publisher: HQ Digital
Page Length: 376
Genre: Historical Fiction / WW2

BLURB

One woman must sacrifice everything to uncover the truth in this enthralling historical novel, inspired by the true World War Two campaign Radio Aspidistra…

England, 1942: Having fled Germany after her father was captured by the Nazis, Lilli Bergen is desperate to do something pro-active for the Allies. So when she’s approached by the Political Warfare Executive, Lilli jumps at the chance. She’s recruited as a singer for a radio station broadcasting propaganda to German soldiers – a shadow network.

But Lilli’s world is flipped upside down when her ex-boyfriend, Bren Murphy, appears at her workplace; the very man she thinks betrayed her father to the Nazis. Lilli always thought Bren was a Nazi sympathiser – so what is he doing in England supposedly working against the Germans?

Lilli knows Bren is up to something, and must put aside a blossoming new relationship in order to discover the truth. Can Lilli expose him, before it’s too late?

Set in the fascinating world of wartime radio, don’t miss The Shadow Network, a heart-stopping novel of betrayal, treachery, and courage against the odds.

EXCERPT

England, 1940

The knock came again.

‘Mads?’ Lilli called.

Maddie came out of her room with the newspaper under her arm, slopping to the door in her slippers. ‘You could see who it is,’ she grumbled. ‘Probably someone collecting for the Sally Army.’

Lilli let the square, no-nonsense figure of Maddie push past her to unlock the chain and the Yale lock, just as the insistent knock came again.

‘All right, all right, I’m coming.’ Maddie yanked the door open and three men forced their way into the hall. One in a wet trilby hat followed by two policemen.

‘Lilliana Bergen?’ asked the man in the trilby.

‘No, I’m Madeleine Kettering,’ Maddie said. ‘That’s Lilli. What do you want?’

The three men surrounded Lilli before she even had time to blink.

‘What is it? What have I done?’ She tried to back away, a chill rippling down her spine. This was how they came for people, back in Germany.

‘I’m sorry, miss,’ the man in the trilby said, ‘but all enemy aliens have to come with us. Orders of the government.’

Enemy aliens? No, it must be a mistake. ‘You’ve got the wrong person. I’m a refugee. I came here to escape the Nazis. I’ve been in London more than two years.’

‘We have our orders,’ one of the policemen said. ‘You can take a suitcase with you though, one suitcase.’

The words hit her like a fist. One suitcase. That was what they said to Papa. And she’d no word of him since.

But this was England, not Germany. ‘It’s a mistake, I tell you. I have all the correct paperwork. Ask anyone. I’ve a job here, friends here. I’m about to go to work. You can’t possibly believe I—’

‘We’ll give you five minutes to pack,’ the second, burlier policeman said.

‘Let me speak to someone,’ Maddie said. ‘She’s done nothing. She’s about to train as a warden with the WRVS. The letter came today. Wait there, I’ll get it.’

‘No!’ Lilli tried to protest but Maddie had gone to get the letter from the mantelpiece. The men looked a little more uncertain.

‘Here!’ Maddie said, thrusting it into their hands.

One of the men looked at the envelope. ‘Lily Berg? According to our records, you’re Lilliana Bergen. Who is this Lily Berg? And it says you’re Welsh.’ He turned to Maddie. ‘She’s not Welsh, is she?’

‘They got it wrong. It must be a mistake . . .’ Lilli tailed off. She was caught, and couldn’t answer.

‘I can vouch for her good character,’ Maddie said, ‘and so can her employer, Reg Benson; she works as a singer and as a domestic for Mrs—’

‘It doesn’t matter,’ said the man in the trilby. ‘All that will be looked into later.’

‘It’s an offence for a refugee to use a false name,’ the big policeman said. ‘She’s to come with us. Fetch your things, miss, or we’ll take you without them.’

Lilli looked at Maddie desperately, unable to believe what she was hearing.

‘Five minutes.’ The trilby man tapped his watch in a manner designed to intimidate.

She ran up the stairs again, her heart thudding. What to pack? Practical clothes. She was still wearing the silk dress, so she grabbed a cardigan and knitted jersey, plus a blouse and a skirt from the rail in the wardrobe, and another pair of flat shoes, the ones she used as a cleaner.

She was stopped in her tracks by the photo of her father, staring out at her from its silver frame.

Oh, Papa, she thought. Where will they take me?

She swept it up and pressed it to her heart, then thrust it into the inside pocket of her suitcase. From the dressing table she retrieved the gold Star of David on a chain that her mother had given her as a child. She never wore it, as it drew too much attention, but she couldn’t leave it behind.

‘Ready?’ A man’s voice from downstairs.

She grabbed her sheet music from the bedside table and at the last minute remembered her nightdress and squashed it in on top.

When she came down Maddie was complaining about how it was ridiculous, and she’d lose money from not having Lilli’s wages coming in.

‘Then get another lodger,’ the man in the trilby said. ‘One that isn’t a German.’

‘She’s a refugee,’ Maddie protested. ‘She came to get away from Hitler.’

‘Same difference.’ The burly policeman shrugged.

A police van idled at the kerb in a wreath of exhaust smoke. The officers yanked open the back doors and pushed Lilli to get in. Inside shivered another woman, an older lady, whose white face and carpet bag stuffed to overflowing, told Lilli she’d been caught equally unprepared.

‘Where are they taking us?’ Lilli asked.

The woman shook her head violently, her mouth sealed shut.

Lilli turned to see Maddie yelling, ‘I’ll report you! It’s disgusting! You can’t do this!’ and thumping on the side of the van. A noise that felt like small explosions. Then Maddie’s desperate voice; ‘Lilli! Write, hear me? You’d better write!’

MY REVIEW

Eight decades after the World War Two era, we continue to discover more and more about the colossal efforts of the Allied spy network and subversive efforts that collectively, ultimately, brought Hitler down.

In The Shadow Network, Author Deborah Swift has plunged us into a richly detailed and thrilling encounter with one of these operations: The clandestine broadcasts masquerading as Echt Deutsch (True German) that delivered false and disheartening information to the Reich troops, beginning in 1942.

I especially appreciated the author’s choice of a part-Jewish German refugee as her heroine. Lilli’s personal story kept me as a reader immersed in the horror of the Nazi regime and the absolute necessity of winning the war. The fear that held Lilli back from exposing what she knew was real, and it nearly cost her – and their broadcasting team – everything.

Five stars, highly recommend.

BUY LINKS

Universal Buy Link: mybook.to/RadioLies
Link to bookshop: https://harpercollins.co.uk/products/the-shadonetwork-ww2-secret-agent-series-deborah-swift

AUTHOR BIO

Deborah Swift is the English author of eighteen historical novels, including Millennium Award winner Past Encounters, and The Lady’s Slipper, shortlisted for the Impress Prize.

Her most recent books are the Renaissance trilogy based around the life of the poisoner Giulia Tofana, The Poison Keeper and its sequels, one of which won the Coffee Pot Book Club Gold Medal. Recently she has completed a secret agent series set in WW2, the first in the series being The Silk Code.

Deborah used to work as a set and costume designer for theatre and TV and enjoys the research aspect of creating historical fiction, something she loved doing as a scenographer. She likes to write about extraordinary characters set against the background of real historical events. Deborah lives in North Lancashire on the edge of the Lake District, an area made famous by the Romantic Poets such as Wordsworth and Coleridge.

Author Links:

Twitter https://twitter.com/swiftstory
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authordeborahswift/
Website: www.deborahswift.com
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/deborahswift1/
Amazon  http://author.to/DeborahSwift
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/deborah-swift

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Filed Under: Blog, Excerpts, Guest Bloggers Tagged With: Historical Fiction, review, Thriller, WWII

Golden Years and Silver Linings ~ My Review #LesbianRomance #LaterInLife #Review #FiveStars @IHeartLesFic

December 28, 2023 by Adriana Kraft

For starters – a golf course in Palm Springs? Count me in! Mr. Kraft and I get to Palm Springs at least once a year, and our son and his partner join us from L.A. (where we absolutely refuse to drive any longer). We’ve taken in the marvelous Judy Show at the Purple Room, gone Tiki Bar hopping (the Reef is a favorite), hiked the stunning Andreas Canyon trail with its native palm trees and clear creek waters, explored the Art museum, taken the aerial tram and hiked at the top, toured modernism houses, and sampled more restaurants than are probably good for us.

Palm Springs may have been a reason I picked up this book and kept reading upon first opening it, but there is so much more.

BOOK INFORMATION

Golden Years and Silver Linings: A Lesbian Romance
by Linda M. Ford (Author), Patricia Grayhall (Author)
ASIN: ‎B0CFSG8X9V
Publisher: Rain City Press
Publication date: ‎August 14, 2023
Print length: 283 pages
Genres: Lesbian Fiction, Lesbian Romance, Women’s Divorce Fiction

MY REVIEW:

This book is a breath of fresh air for all of us over sixty. I could not put it down. Having lived through the Women’s Lib of the 60s and Consciousness Raising of the 70s, I was impressed with the realistic portrayal of that era – and chagrined yet again over how long it took for our culture to move from there to inclusiveness and acceptance for the LGBTQ community (a battle we are obviously still fighting).

If I had to identify two main themes that stood out to me, they would be fidelity and authenticity. Now in their late sixties, the two main characters first fell in love with each other in their early twenties, in 1972. By then Christina already identified as lesbian, but Robyn Elizabeth had never considered that there might be any other option than to fall in love with a man. I appreciated the authors’ authentic description of her inner struggle to accept her feelings and finally act on them in that era. In 2023, readers who are younger may write off Robyn Elizabeth as an undeserving wimp when she ultimately turns tail and runs, abandoning Christina. I fully understood her.

The dual timeline novel gives us a window into their 1972 experience, then drops us into a chance meeting 46 years later, in 2018, on a golf course in Palm Springs. As a sidebar, I love Palm Springs and thoroughly enjoyed it vicariously through the characters’ eyes.

Christina’s wife has died of cancer, in 2016, and Robyn Elizabeth is in a stable 40+ year marriage that is relatively comfortable but lacking passion. We are allowed to experience the inner world of both characters as they journey toward what many might think an impossibility – a late-in-life happy ending.

Christina is deeply afraid of being hurt again, as she was by the abrupt break-up in 1972. Robyn Elizabeth must once more examine her feelings and become faithful – not to a marriage that is already broken, but to her authentic self. Even knowing that all romance novels have a happy outcome, I was pulled into their experience and found myself struggling to envision how it all could ever work out. And that is what kept the pages turning.

BUY LINK:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CFSG8X9V/

Available On Kindle Unlimited

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Filed Under: Adriana's Library, Blog, LGBT Tagged With: Five Stars, Lesbian Fiction, lesbian romance, review, Women's Divorce Fiction

On Tour: The King’s Command, by Rosemary Hayes @HayesRosemary #BookReview #HistoricalFiction #Huguenots #LouisXIV #BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub

October 5, 2023 by Adriana Kraft

Book Information 

Book Title: The King’s Command: For God or Country
Author: Rosemary Hayes
Publication Date: July 3rd, 2023
Publisher: Sharpe Books
Page Length: 415
Genre: Historical Fiction

Blurb:

Sixteen-year-old Lidie Brunier has everything; looks, wealth, health and a charming suitor, but there are dark clouds on the horizon. Lidie and her family are committed Huguenots, and Louis XIV has sworn to stamp out this ‘false religion’ and make France a wholly Catholic country. Gradually Lidie’s comfortable life starts to disintegrate as Huguenots are stripped of all rights and the King sends his brutal soldiers into their homes to force them to become Catholics. Others around her break under pressure, but Lidie and her family refuse to convert. With spies everywhere and the ever-present threat of violence, they struggle on. Then a shocking betrayal forces Lidie’s hand and her only option is to try and flee the country, a decision that brings unimaginable hardship, terror and tragedy and changes her life forever.

“One of the very best historical novels I have ever read.” Sandra Robinson, Huguenot Ancestry Expert

Buy Links: 

This title is available to read with #KindleUnlimited.
Universal Link: https://books2read.com/u/bW6zGG
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CB4RH68S
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Kings-Command-God-Country-ebook/dp/B0CB4RH68S/
Amazon AU: https://www.amazon.com.au/Kings-Command-God-Country-ebook/dp/B0CB4RH68S/
Amazon CA: https://www.amazon.ca/Kings-Command-God-Country-ebook/dp/B0CB4RH68S/

Review

Do you have French Huguenot ancestors? If so, have any stories come down to you about their experience – what they endured, why they chose the risk of leaving France, how they decided to come to the country where they eventually settled? My answer to the first question is yes, but the scant information that was passed down through family stories and recorded over a century ago turns out to contain many errors. I blogged about my own Huguenot history yesterday and hope you will take a peek at it: https://wp.me/p9O7pv-3sP

In The King’s Command, author Rosemary Hayes has brought us a thoroughly researched and detailed account of life for one Huguenot family in southwestern France. Her story opens in 1680, some five years before King Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes and required all protestants to convert to Catholicism: “One king, one country, one religion.” That the family are her direct ancestors and she has been able to visit the French town where they lived has added greatly to the richness and veracity of her fictionalized account.

I especially appreciated the author’s careful parsing of each step of the transition from respected freely worshipping tradesmen and professionals to a persecuted minority with no rights to property, profession, freedom of religion, or even life itself that took place in France over the decade of the 1680s and beyond.

The persecution and exodus were not a single event, although the crisis peaked in 1685. By opening her novel five years earlier, the author has succeeded in conveying  not only the gradual escalation of attacks and curtailment of rights that preceded the revocation, but also how news traveled, how families learned what was happening to others like them, how they first attempted to protect themselves and their assets, and how they began to consider whether to stay or flee. The peril and travails of her family in their escape is a story shared by thousands, many of whom did not make it.

The novel is well written, engaging, and rich with accurate historical detail. I found it easy to imagine my own ancestors, likely in a different region of France, gradually learning and observing those same changes and weighing their options as the depredations and dangers increased and came closer to home. A highly recommended read.  Adriana Kraft

About Rosemary Hayes:

Rosemary Hayes has written over fifty books for children and young adults. She writes  in different genres, from edgy teenage fiction (The Mark), historical fiction (The Blue Eyed Aborigine and Forgotten Footprints), middle grade fantasy (Loose Connections, The Stonekeeper’s Child and Break Out)  to chapter books for early readers and texts for picture books. Many of her books have won or been shortlisted for awards and several have been translated into different languages.

Rosemary has travelled widely but now lives in South Cambridgeshire. She has a background in publishing, having worked for Cambridge University Press before setting up her own company Anglia Young Books which she ran for some years. She has been a reader for a well-known authors’ advisory service and runs creative writing workshops for both children and adults.

Rosemary has recently turned her hand to adult fiction and her historical novel ‘The King’s Command’ is about the terror and tragedy suffered by the French Huguenots during the reign of Louis XIV.

Author Links:

Website: https://www.rosemaryhayes.co.uk

Twitter: https://twitter.com/HayesRosemary

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rosemary-Hayes/e/B00NAPAPZC

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/80106.Rosemary_Hayes

Tour Schedule Page:  https://thecoffeepotbookclub.blogspot.com/2023/08/blog-tour-the-kings-command-by-rosemary-hayes.html

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Filed Under: Adriana's Library, Blog, Excerpts, Guest Bloggers Tagged With: Book Review, French Huguenots, Historical Fiction, Huguenots, review

Recent Release: The Earl’s Awakening, by Joy Lynn Fielding #LGBTQ #GayRomance #Regency #Review #Giveaway

September 18, 2023 by Adriana Kraft

RECENT RELEASE

Book Title: The Earl’s Awakening

Author: Joy Lynn Fielding

Publisher: Extasy Books

Cover Artist: Martine Jardin

Release Date: September 8, 2023

Genre: Regency M/M romance

Tropes: Rake/bad boy romance

Themes: Learning to live, self-discovery.

Heat Rating: 5 flames

Length: 55 000 words/ 198 pages

It is a standalone story and does not end on a cliffhanger.

Goodreads

 

Buy Links

Extasy Books | Amazon US | Amazon UK

 

One glance, and his past life was history.

Blurb

Leander Talbot’s life changed forever when his wife died. He is now reluctantly venturing back into society, knowing that, as the Earl of Ockley, he must marry again to produce an heir. But he can’t bring himself to the sticking point. Instead, he spends his time evading the matchmaking mamas of the ton.

The dark and dangerous Duke of Arden is an infamous libertine. It is said that he seduces innocents, and there are even more sinister tales whispered of his predilections. Only the wild young blades who form his retinue know the truth, but he is shunned by all save those wishing to court notoriety.

A chance meeting brings Leander into Arden’s orbit. Ignoring the warnings about Arden’s intentions, Leander is drawn into a seductive world of sexual indulgence. There, he finds the freedom he craves from his overbearing family. By the time he suspects Arden might have ulterior motives, it may be too late to save his reputation—and his heart.

Excerpt

Leander sighed slightly. He had immersed himself in work and duty since Bella’s death, but it was only now he understood how removed from his contemporaries he had become. Most faces here were unfamiliar to him. Take the character in the corner—a dark complexion, his dress rich but careless in a way that proclaimed he cared little for the opinion of society. Leander was certain he had never set eyes on him, though the deference with which his circle of friends was treating him indicated that he was a man of some standing. He took the opportunity to ask the servant who brought him a glass of champagne.

“His Grace the Duke of Arden, my lord,” the man informed him.

The name was one with which Leander was familiar. It was a name with which all of London and some of the more enlightened provinces were familiar. Arden represented all that was decadent in the ton, his philandering ways extending far beyond opera dancers and actresses to ladies of quality. And it was not only widows or liaisons with married ladies, for it was said of him that he had ruined more than one young maiden. The number of duels that he had fought and won, the drunken orgies at which he presided, and his losses and gains at the gaming table had all assumed the proportions of legend. There were still darker things whispered about him. Only the coterie of wild young blades who formed his retinue knew the truth of these, but the intimations were there, and Arden remained unrecognised by all save those wishing to court notoriety.

Leander became aware that Arden was returning his gaze, his heavy-lidded eyes holding what appeared to be a gleam of amusement. As Leander watched, Arden raised his glass in a mocking salute before putting it to his lips and tossing back the contents.

Perhaps it was the champagne, perhaps it was the shock of realising that his acquaintances now viewed him as a prig. Whatever the reason, some demon prompted Leander to his feet. In defiance of all proper behaviour, he crossed the room to Arden and introduced himself.

Those dark eyebrows raised briefly, a noble head was inclined, and one of the young men clustered around Arden was moving from his seat, offering it to Leander.

“So you’re Ockley.” The duke’s aristocratic fingers curved elegantly around the stem of his glass and his dark eyes surveyed Leander as he sat. “I didn’t think this to be your sort of place. I’d thought you more of a White’s man.”

The provocation was there. It was well known that Arden had been pre-emptively blackballed by the respectable club lest any member lose their faculties and propose him for membership.

“Indeed?” Leander said stiffly, his somewhat lamentable temper aroused by Arden’s dismissal of him as a priggish bore. “And I thought you a legend, sir. A cautionary tale used by protective parents to keep young cubs in line.”

Reaction rippled through the assembled ranks, but Leander’s gaze was on Arden’s face. A smile touched his lips as he looked at Leander. “A palpable hit, Ockley,” he murmured. His voice was rich and soft, with a hint of steel that intrigued Leander.

“Lea.” Henry’s voice broke in. He was not precisely floored, but he was foxed enough to ignore all dictates of manners as he tugged insistently at his brother’s arm. Knowing that if he resisted, Henry would only become more forceful, Leander allowed himself to be raised to his feet. His brother had been the same since nursery days—when he wanted something, he wanted it now, and it was usually attention he craved. Leander directed a small bow towards Arden, whose smile had widened at the spectacle Henry was making of them both, before following his brother’s urgent strictures to leave immediately.

Review

I’m always eager to pick up a new LGBTQ romance set in the regency era, where we know such relationships had to be clandestine, deeply hidden, highly cloaked. Having read (and re-read, more times than I can count) all of Jane Austen’s groundbreaking novels from the era, I’m already steeped in what such a novel should look like, and The Earl’s Awakening did not disappoint.

Where the novel departs from the period regency, of course, is in its open bedroom – or ballroom, or card room, or wherever the participants engage in their flaming debauchery and wild orgies.

The novel maintains a single point of view throughout, that of Leander, Earl of Ockley. As the novel opens, his behavior in every aspect conforms with what is expected from an upstanding and desirable male member of the Ton. Having recently lost his beloved wife, he honors the needs of his lady mother and plans to re-marry to provide her with the required heir – just not at present.

Seeds of his dramatic transformation are sown in Chapter Two when he first meets the Duke of Arden at a London gaming salon and notices, in spite of himself, that “his voice was rich and soft, with a hint of steel that intrigued Leander.”

Leander’s internal struggle to deny his urgings and prevent himself from acting upon them is richly and authentically conveyed. At nearly every turning point, he responds with action – powerless to resist that hint of steel – then tries to deny that what has occurred satisfies his deepest desires. The many explicit scenes that propel his journey forward are crafted with superb eroticism.

Is he being played for a fool by a rake who intends merely to ruin him? As he comes to recognize and claim what he truly wants, will he find himself rejected? Afficionados of gay erotic romance will relish the journey and find its conclusion highly satisfying.

Five Stars.

About the Author

Joy Lynn Fielding lives in a small English market town, where she indulges her passions for vintage aircraft, horse riding and gardening (though not all at the same time).

Joy tends to wax lyrical about the fascinating facts she discovers during her research for books. Thankfully, she has a very patient Labrador who has a gift for looking interested in what she’s saying while he waits for the food to arrive.

Social Media Links

Blog/Website | Facebook | Newsletter Sign-up

 

Giveaway

Enter the Rafflecopter Giveaway for a chance to win

a $15 Amazon gift card

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Hosted by Gay Book Promotions

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Filed Under: Blog, Contests, Erotic Romance, Excerpts, Guest Bloggers, LGBT Tagged With: bad boy, Gay Erotic Romance, Giveaway, new release, Rake, Regency, review

Celtic Fervour: Series by Nancy Jardine @nansjar #5Stars #Review #Historical #Fiction #Celtic

May 19, 2023 by Adriana Kraft

I downloaded the first book in this series because I have Scottish/Celtic roots in my ancestry, and I’m always curious to know what my ancestors’ life was like. I was vaguely aware that Rome had attempted conquest of much of what is now Scotland but then had withdrawn to Hadrian’s Wall by the time they began its construction early in the second century AD. I had no idea how far north the conquest actually advanced, and I knew very little about how my ancestors might have lived in Roman Britannia.

Since retiring from teaching elementary students, Scottish author Nancy Jardine has immersed herself in research and publications about the Roman Empire and Roman Britannia. In this five-book Celtic Fervour series, she has expertly woven both historical characters and the few actual events about which some detail is known into her fictional saga. We experience Iron Age tribal life through her fictional Brigante warriors and their families, from 71 to 89 AD – the era when the Roman general and governor Agricola tried unsuccessfully to conquer all of what is now Scotland.

The Brigante tribe itself is real and was quite large. When the Romans began advancing north, the Brigantes covered Eastern Britannia between the firth of Forth in the north and the Humber estuary in the south. Their lives, their culture, their beliefs and their struggles came to life and pulled me in throughout the entire series.

The series has already received high praise from many authors of historical fiction. I highly recommend this read for any who love historical fiction grounded in facts, and especially any who are curious about Roman Britain.

Five Stars.

SERIES BUY LINK

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07D313CWC

Free to read on KU

 

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Filed Under: Adriana's Library, Blog Tagged With: 5 stars, Brigante, Celtic, Historical Fiction, review, Roman Britain, Scotland

My Review: #5Stars for the Lydiard Chronicles, by Elizabeth St. John @ElizStJohn #HistoricalFiction #UKHistory #KU

April 8, 2023 by Adriana Kraft

When you read historical fiction that’s anchored in real events, do you ever wonder where your own ancestors were at that point in time, what their role was, what they were doing? My husband and I each have UK and European ancestors, and we’ve been able to follow some of their lines back farther than we’d ever hoped. A distant relative traced one my husband’s lines all the way back to England’s Edward III, through Edward’s second son, John of Gaunt, and John’s mistress, Katherine Swynford (later his wife).

So when the two of us delve into books about UK royalty during the War of the Roses, the Tudor era, and beyond, we’re reading about (very) distant relatives, and yes, we wonder where our related ancestors were and how they fit in with those events.

MY REVIEW

When I downloaded The Lady of the Tower, by Elizabeth St. John, I didn’t know what to expect. I was immediately pulled into 17th century England. The opening lines bring us a woman entering the Tower of London, uncertain what will happen to her next. I feared for her and kept reading. You will, too.

It turns out that the Lady who looks to be in peril is Lucy St. John, a descendent of the St. John family who owned the Lydiard estate, now preserved as Lydiard Park, some 85 miles east of London. The author is a present day descendent of that same family.

In her three-book series, aptly named The Lydiard Chronicles, Elizabeth St. John traces four generations of family members who, as relatives of Elizabeth I, were close to that court and continued to be connected to royalty throughout the 17th century during the reigns of James I/VI, Charles I, and later Charles II. During the civil war and the Commonwealth era, family members took opposite sides, with sometimes tragic results.

The works are thoroughly researched, and the major events are historically accurate. The prose is so engaging and the details rich that I was compelled to stay in in the 17th century through all three books in her series. I didn’t want to set them down, and I know I will go back and re-read them.

Highly recommend.

Five Stars.

BUY LINKS

The Lady of the Tower

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1523417889/

The Lydiard Chronicles

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GRDP6QP/

PORTRAITS

Author Elizabeth St. John has graciously sent me the following three photographs of portraits several major characters in the Lydiard series. The portraits were commissioned by their older brother, John St. John, for a family Polyptych which now hangs in St. Mary’s Church, Lydiard.

The Lady St. Johns (Lucy St. John is on the left, Barbara next to her.

The Original Polyptych

John St. John, painted when he had just acquired his title of Baronet in 1611:

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Filed Under: Adriana's Library, Blog Tagged With: 17th Century, 5 stars, Historical Fiction, Kindle Unlimited, review, UK History

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