Tag: medieval fiction

Mistress of the Manor is Published Today

Congratulations to Cara Clayton, whose absorbing historical saga, Mistress of the Manor, is published today!

Mistress of the Manor is the first book in the Tapestry Tales Medieval Saga: English historical fiction set in the fourteenth century.

1342, Lincolnshire, England

Clémence Masson has always yearned for more than her expected marriage to an apprentice or farmer’s son.

So when an opportunity arises at the nearby Grimsthorpe Manor House to be a companion to a newly-arrived bride-to-be, Clémence is excited by the opportunity.

The young bride is soon to be handfasted to the lord of the manor, Ruadhán Amundeville, who is recently returned from battles with the Scots.

Ruadhán’s uncle Aedric has been overseeing the estates in the young lord’s absence, and it soon becomes clear to Clémence that Aedric does not have Ruadhán’s best interests at heart.

But Clémence does. She has found herself falling for the charming lord of Grimsthorpe.

When Ruadhán leaves for war with the French, Clémence is left with Emma to deter Aedric’s unwanted advances.

And with the Black Death threatening, all of their lives could be at stake…

Will Clémence achieve her dream of rising above her station? Could Grimsthorpe hold the key to her happiness?

Or will the darkness surrounding the manor destroy everything in its grasp…?

Sapere Books Sign Three New Medieval Novels by C. F. Dunn

We are thrilled to announce that we have signed the next three books in The Tarnished Crown series by C. F. Dunn.

Set during the Wars of the Roses, the series follows Isobel Fenton — a brave and determined heiress — and the intrigues that surround her.

In Dunn’s words:

“I am delighted to continue working with the team at Sapere Books to bring the Wars of the Roses and this tempestuous period in English medieval history to life.

“I take the view that everything that happened in the past resonates down the centuries. The great names in history didn’t exist in isolation, but were part of a rich web that made up as complex a society as any that exists today. It is relationships at every level that enabled society to work, and when these broke down, conflict ensued. And like people throughout time, actions were driven by love and loyalty, fear, feuds and ambition.

“The next three books in The Tarnished Crown series see Isobel and her beloved Robert confront unforeseen twists of fortune, testing their allegiance to the Crown and to each other as England faces challenges from abroad and treachery at home.  And when those closest to the throne call upon Robert and Isobel’s support, bonds of friendship and fealty are stretched to breaking point.”

Congratulations to C. F. Dunn!

Congratulations to C. F. Dunn, whose powerful medieval saga, Sun Ascendant, is out now!

Sun Ascendant is the second book in The Tarnished Crown series: historical novels set during the Wars of the Roses.

1470, England

England is in turmoil as the battle between supporters of the Yorkist king, Edward IV and the old Lancastrian king, Henry VI escalates.

And for Isobel Fenton the war is personal. Her father’s sudden death made her an heiress to Beaumoncote Manor, a desirable estate in the midlands. But as conflict threatens England’s unstable peace, Isobel and her lands become the focus of bitter tensions and a long-held feud.

Taken from her manor, Isobel becomes the unwilling mistress of an indomitable Earl. Unable to protect her own lands or herself, she sees her only chance of happiness in the Earl’s brother, Robert Langton, newly sworn to serve Richard, Duke of Gloucester.

Isobel’s life in the castle becomes increasingly difficult as the Countess plots against her rival, and Isobel finds herself trapped and alone in her gilded prison.

She is determined to take her fate into her own hands, but how can she gain her freedom and find her way back to Beaumoncote…?

Carnival of Chaos is Out Now!

Congratulations to Richard Kurti, whose absorbing medieval adventure, Carnival of Chaos, is out now!

Carnival of Chaos is the fourth book in the Basilica Diaries Medieval Mysteries series: historical thrillers set in fifteenth-century Rome and featuring a brother and sister investigative duo.

1508, Rome

An abandoned ship is drifting in the mouth of the Tiber and a horrific discovery is found inside.

Nearly three-hundred men were packed together in the hold. All of them are dead.

They were migrant workers shipped over from North Africa, cheap labour to cut the cost of building St Peter’s Basilica, and all have died in the most horrendous circumstances.

The Vatican is desperate to distance itself from this atrocity. The guilty contractor must be found and punished, and the entire illegal trade in people must be stamped out.

The Pope charges his Head of Security, Domenico Falchoni with conducting a full investigation.

Domenico turns to his scholar sister Cristina for help and together they delve into the grudges and rivalries of the old dynastic families who are competing for building contracts for the great basilica.

Cristina and Domenico discover that dirty tricks extend across all aspects of the great construction and corruption is rife. So it is not easy to find out who is responsible for the horrific deaths of the migrant workers.

Can they protect other workers from untimely deaths? Will they expose those responsible?

Or will digging into the dark world of human trafficking put their own lives at risk…?

The Power of Story by Richard Kurti

A few weeks ago, I was standing outside St Peter’s Basilica in Rome, gazing at the ancient Egyptian obelisk that sits in the middle of the square. (It’s also on the front cover of Omens of Death — the first book in The Basilica Diaries series.)

A fresco in the Vatican depicting preparations for the erection of the obelisk in front of St Peter’s Basilica. Photograph taken by Richard Kurti.

The guide who was showing me round said, “There’s an interesting story about this obelisk. When Moses was a young man, he was educated in Heliopolis (modern Cairo), where this obelisk originally stood. As he hurried back and forth to school, Moses would have seen this very stone every day. Even then it was a thousand years old. He would have walked past it, used it as a meeting point for friends, maybe even sat in its shade.

“Now, cut forward across time. The Romans have stolen the obelisk and brought it to Italy, where the Emperor Caligula ordered it to be set up at the Circus of Nero just outside the city walls. And that is the same place where St Peter was executed. Which means the very last thing St Peter saw before he died would have been this obelisk. And now you are gazing at the exact same stone.”

I could feel my brain jolt. Moses, Caligula, St Peter and myself, all connected across 4,500 years by a single object. These were no longer remote characters from the pages of the Bible — if I reached out my hand, I could touch them through this granite obelisk.

What the guide did was a brilliant demonstration of the power of narrative. He could have bombarded me with facts and figures about the height and weight of the obelisk, about where the stone was quarried and when it was carved, and how it was moved from the Circus of Nero to its current site and erected in a single day.

But he didn’t, because he knew that those facts would have gone in and out of my mind in seconds. Instead, he told a story that organised the truth in such a way that it connected me to the distant past.

That’s what I’ve been attempting to do on every page of The Basilica Diaries historical thrillers. I have spent countless hours researching the novels, but rather than bombard the reader with details, I have tried to organise the truth into narratives that will resonate with the modern world whilst also transporting us back across the centuries.

I hope you enjoy the latest adventure in the series, Carnival of Chaos, which will be published in April.

Wheel of Fortune is Out Now!

Congratulations to C. F. Dunn, whose thrilling War of the Roses saga, Wheel of Fortune, is out now!

Wheel of Fortune is the first book in the Tarnished Crown series: historical novels set in medieval Europe.

1469, England

For almost ten years, attractive and charismatic Edward IV has ruled with the Earl of Warwick’s support, but now rebellion threatens England’s fragile peace.

With the Midlands in uproar, King Edward wants peace in the shires and the last thing he needs is potential trouble in the form of an unwed heiress.

But, strong-willed and single-minded, Isobel Fenton is determined that nothing will separate her from her beloved manor of Beaumancote, even if she does have to marry to stay there.

Isobel is unaware of the importance she and her land represent, nor of the agenda of the formidable Earl in whose care she finds herself.

And as unrest boils into war, she is drawn into the very heart of the conflict.

Can Isobel escape from the web in which she is trapped? Will she find a way to decide her own fate?

Or will the Wheel of Fortune fail to turn in her favour…?

Congratulations to Isolde Martyn!

Congratulations to Isolde Martyn, whose enchanting medieval romance, The Lady of Mirascon, is out now!

1208

When cruel King John makes advances on her, young Adela de Whitchurch is forced to flee her comfortable position as hairbraider to the Queen of England.

After stowing away on a ship, Adela finds herself in France. Surviving on her wits and courage, she is soon accepted into the retinue of Lady Alys FitzPoyntz — a noblewoman who is on her way to meet her betrothed, Lord Ricart, Vicomte of Mirascon.

On the journey, disaster strikes when the party is attacked by brigands. As one of the only survivors, Adela decides to make her way to Mirascon to deliver Lady Alys’s jewels to Lord Ricart and throw herself on his mercy.

But when the vicomte mistakes Adela for his betrothed, she is swiftly pulled into a web of deception. With Mirascon threatened by the Pope’s brutal crusade against heretics, Lord Ricart is occupied with protecting his people, and Adela is unable to find an opportunity to tell him the truth.

And as she begins to fall for his charm and passion, she wonders whether she will ever summon the strength to leave his side…

Will Lord Ricart discover Adela’s true identity? Can he return her love?

Or will Adela’s deception cost her her life?

The Real-life Inspiration Behind my Medieval Novels by Isolde Martyn

In this behind-the-scenes blog series, Sapere Books authors offer an intriguing insight into how, where and why they write.

Isolde’s writing space

Today, we are delighted to spotlight Isolde Martyn, the author of a number of historical novels including The Lady and the Unicorn and The Knight and the Rose.

Instead of looking out at rose bushes and oak trees or hearing blackbirds, I face an office window that is flanked by palm lilies, and the bird noises come from kookaburras and sulphur-crested cockatoos. None of which is very helpful when I am attempting to describe a scene in fifteenth-century England or thirteenth-century France. Living in Sydney, my research is limited to the occasional overseas trip or the internet. Fortunately, the latter is so fantastic these days and British History Online is now one of my go-to places.

Inspiration? Visiting Carcassonne and Minerve in France and hearing how the Northern French crusaders ransacked the land of the troubadours. Or sometimes it’s someone’s talk quivering my antennae. My second novel, The Knight and the Rose, resulted from hearing a fellow historian cite a rare medieval divorce case that involved a ‘green card’ situation. My third book, The Silver Bride, was hatched from reading of a daughter dressing in armour to fight a duel for her cowardly dad, plus wondering what it would have been like to be a clairvoyant woman back in the 1480s. The Golden Widows arose out of a friend taking me to visit Shute Barton in Devon and hearing about Warwick the Kingmaker’s youngest sister losing seven menfolk in battle. That gave rise to the idea of two young widows on opposite sides in the Wars of the Roses in the early 1460s: Katherine Neville and Elizabeth Woodville.

Historical novelists tend to go over the ground with a metal detector trying to find new angles. It becomes a challenge, especially with the Tudors. Fortunately, the character who was trying to get my attention was from the previous century and one of history’s most mysterious wheelers and dealers, the twenty-nine-year-old Duke of Buckingham, Richard III’s cousin, and so the tale of a villain and a loser came to life in The Devil in Ermine.

‘Write a woman next, a shameless gold-digger,’ suggested my agent. It didn’t work. Instead, on further acquaintance that most appealing of royal mistresses, Elizabeth Lambard — aka ‘Shore’s wife’ — took charge of the writing, and away we went with Mistress to the Crown.

I still envy novelists living in the UK for being able to easily do location research, but living in Australia hasn’t stifled my lifelong interest in… Oh, there goes another kookaburra!

Congratulations to David Field!

Congratulations to David Field, whose gripping historical mystery, The Slaughtered Widow, is published today!

The Slaughtered Widow is the third instalment of the Bailiff Mountsorrel Tudor Mystery Series – private investigation crime novels set during the reign of Elizabeth I and beyond.

Nottingham, England, 1592

Town Bailiff Francis Barton has been arrested for the murder of his former lover, the widow Agnes Timberlake, and the case against him is a strong one.

Agnes was hacked to death where she lay in her bed and Francis was found standing next to her body, with both his clothing and his sword covered in her blood.

And there is a motive. Agnes had recently loaned Francis her entire life savings and was believed to be demanding an accounting for them.

Despite the overwhelming evidence against him, Francis’s friend, County Bailiff Edward Mountsorrel, refuses to believe that Francis is guilty and sets out to investigate for himself.

Edward wants to speak to the serving girl from the widow’s house who may have been the last to see her mistress alive, but she has vanished.

Is the girl running from a guilty conscience? Or has she also fallen victim to the killer?

Time is running out for Francis. Can Edward clear his friend’s name … or is it time to accept that Francis really is capable of murder…?

Blood of Lions is Published Today

Congratulations to Daniel Colter, whose page-turning Crusader adventure, Blood of Lions, is published today!

Blood of Lions is the third book in the Knights Templar Thriller series.

Jerusalem, 1186

Baldwin V, the Boy King of Jerusalem, is dead and the nobles of the Crusader States scheme to fill his empty throne.

Alliances are fraying and in the midst of the politicking, the Templars, and their brother order, the Hospitallers, suffer a humiliating defeat at Cresson Springs, weakening both Orders.

All the while, in Damascus, the Sultan Saladin scents blood on the air and prepares to make good on his vows to reclaim the Holy City.

Templar knight Finn of Struan has been tasked with venturing across The Black, the no-man’s land between Christian and Muslim territories, to find Saladin’s war machine and assess its threat.

The balance of power in the Holy Lands is tipping. Two forces are converging on the Horns of Hattin, where the fate of a kingdom will be decided.

Finn must wade into a bloody fight and commit pitiless deeds, while relying on the loyalty of his brothers…

Will Finn emerge victorious? Can the Brotherhood prevail?

Or will Saladin finally fulfil his deadly promise?

The Abandoned Queen by Austin Hernon

Austin Hernon is the author of The Wars of the Magna Carta series — military historical sagas — and the Berengaria of Navarre Medieval Trilogy: early Plantagenet novels set during the Third Crusade and the reign of Richard the Lionheart.

For the second instalment of my Berengaria of Navarre trilogy, The Abandoned Queen, I wanted to provide a little historical background. Why did England have a Basque queen between 1191 and 1199? Queen Berengaria didn’t chase or lobby for that crown. She was fully occupied managing her widowed father’s court.

Her father, King Sancho VI of Navarre was an enlightened man and ensured that all his children received the same comprehensive education. Therefore, by the time she was in her twenties, Berengaria was educated, multilingual, intelligent, and a keen observer of European politics and diplomacy of the time. The person who invited her to become Queen of England was none other than Richard the Lionheart’s mother: the dowager Queen of England, Eleanor of Aquitaine. She, the matriarch of the Plantagenet dynasty, was anxious to preserve the royal bloodline. With Richard already bound for Palestine, there was no guarantee he would return, and she was also determined to keep the runt Prince John off the throne.

But why was Richard bound for the Holy Land? The answer to that lies in the Third Crusade. Pope Gregory VIII called for the Crusade, which was intended to conquer the Holy Land and bring it under Christian control. Three kings responded to his call: King Phillip II of France; Frederick I, the Holy Roman Emperor; and Richard I of England.

A glance at a map of the time reveals that the kingdom of Navarre abutted Eleanor’s duchy of Aquitaine. In proposing that Berengaria marry Richard, Eleanor was able to satisfy her desire for a daughter-in-law and secure a useful ally on her southern border. And what princess would refuse the opportunity to be made a queen?

Once Berengaria had agreed to the plan, she and Eleanor set off together in hot pursuit of the war-bound king. And what an unexpected adventure the brave princess had volunteered for.

Sapere Books Signs a Medieval Series by Isolde Martyn

We are thrilled to announce that we have signed a series of Medieval sagas by Isolde Martyn.

Isolde is the author of nine novels and, recently, a history picture book for children. Her debut novel, set during the Wars of the Roses, won significant awards in the USA and Australia.

In Isolde’s words:

“The Wars of the Roses era is often overshadowed by the Tudor century, yet it is full of so many fascinating people, so I am delighted that Sapere Books are republishing my novels set in this time period. There are some strong, fantastic women I’d love readers to get to know better: Mistress Shore, seeking a way out of a loveless marriage; young mothers Elizabeth Woodville and Katherine Neville, struggling to survive in the aftermath of battles that took their husbands; and Margaret Neville, Warwick the Kingmaker’s bastard daughter, secret agent in France for the King of England.

“It’s a great pleasure to be working with the wonderful team at Sapere books and I look forward to getting to know my fellow authors and Sapere’s great family of readers.”

St Peter’s Basilica by Richard Kurti

Richard Kurti is the author of the Basilica Diaries Medieval Mysteries series: historical thrillers set in fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Rome and featuring a brother and sister investigative duo.

Donato Bramante (1444-1514) was the brilliant architect who designed St Peter’s Basilica in Rome and oversaw the initial stages of construction. If you could put him in a time machine, bring him forward five hundred years, and lay out the current problems of the HS2 railway line before him, I doubt he would be very surprised. Bramante discovered the hard way that huge, ambitious construction projects that test the limits of technology always run into the same dilemmas and have the same questions hanging over them:

Why build it at all?

Isn’t the existing structure good enough?

What philosophy should drive the new project?

How can you prevent the costs ballooning out of control?

Will the public lose interest and turn against you?

How will you cope with unforeseen complications?

How will you prevent corrupt builders skimming off vast sums for their own personal enrichment?

Take a moment to think about building something like St Peter’s without the use of computers, high-powered machinery or sophisticated scientific instruments. It took one hundred and twenty years, and Bramante was long dead by the time it was completed, but its construction was still a lot quicker than Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, or York Minster. And once built, these cathedrals have stood the test of time. How many railway lines will still be operating half a millennia after they were constructed?

The triumph of this superhuman achievement inspired me to write a series of novels centred on the construction of St Peter’s. Each murder mystery swirls around a different theme linked to the vast building project. Omens of Death explores the morality of building St Peter’s in the first place; Palette of Blood focuses on the vicious battle between artists competing to design it; and the newest book, Demon of Truth, shows what happens when you make a catastrophic discovery mid-construction.

Although the novels are fictional thrillers, I spent a lot of time doing research to find elements that grounded the stories in the sixteenth century, but also resonated with the dilemmas of the modern world.

So, the next time you find yourself on a rail replacement bus service, why not download some Basilica Diaries to while away the time?

Happy Publication Day to Austin Hernon!

Congratulations to Austin Hernon, whose page-turning Medieval saga, The Lionheart’s Bride, is out now!

The Lionheart’s Bride is the first novel in The Berengaria of Navarre Medieval Trilogy: early Plantagenet novels set during the Third Crusade and the reign of Richard the Lionheart.

1191

Eleanor of Aquitaine sets her sights on Berengaria, Princess of Navarre as a potential bride for her son, Richard the Lionheart.

Richard is determined to make his mark crusading, and might not return, so Eleanor is keen to see an heir on the way to stop his feckless younger brother John from inheriting the kingdom.

Richard is not averse to his mother’s plans for the succession, but his priority lies in fulfilling his reputation as an indomitable warrior.

Berengaria is charmed by the prospect of travelling to a distant land to marry a handsome king of a distant land but she finds she has to accompany Eleanor in a race across Europe to catch her elusive bridegroom.

War on land, storms at sea, and the risk of alienating a conniving Pope go only some way to preparing Berengaria for life with the crusading Lionheart.

Will Richard’s blood-fuelled ambition be compatible with the husband Berengaria dreams of? Can she make her mark under Eleanor’s wing?

Or will she find her new life to be a lot more than she bargained for…?

Brotherhood of Wolves is Out Now

Congratulations to Daniel Colter, whose gripping historical adventure, Brotherhood of Wolves, is published today!

Brotherhood of Wolves is the first instalment of Knights Templar Thrillers series: action-packed Crusader novels set during the Medieval era.

Jerusalem, 1177

The Holy City is in Christian hands and the Sultan Saladin has vowed to retake her, whatever the cost.

Two faiths are warring over sacred ground. It is within this feverish hotbed that Finn of Struan, a young knight dedicated to the Templars, is stationed.

Finn’s world unravels when his mentor, Robert of Saint Albans, murders a brother in cold blood. Worse, Robert joins the Devil himself — Saladin.

The foul deeds stain the Templar name and Finn is tasked with killing Robert, a man with a mind sharper than any sword.

But as Finn slips into enemy territory, he finds the hunter has become the prey…

As Templar fights Templar for control of the Holy City, can Finn avenge his dead comrade? Will the Brotherhood prevail?

Or will Saladin’s army emerge victorious?

The Absentee King is Out Now

Congratulations to David Field, whose gripping historical saga, The Absentee King, is published today! The Absentee King is the fifth book in the Medieval Saga series.

England, 1189

Richard the Lionheart has been crowned King of England.

But his obsession with fighting in the Third Crusade sends him off to foreign lands.

The nation is left in a perilous state, with high public offices sold off, and trusted favourites left to rule during Richard’s absence.

Richard’s dissolute and envious younger brother John feels humiliated, not least when Richard declares his four-year-old nephew Prince Arthur to be his heir, and he causes unrest throughout the nation by enforcing harsh laws designed to keep the population under his iron fist.

Chief Justice, Earl William of Repton, is ordered to investigate the possibility that John is seeking to undermine his brother Richard’s rule.

And when news reaches England that King Richard has been captured, and is being ransomed by Henry VI of Germany, William becomes convinced that John is plotting to seize the English crown.

Will Richard be released? Will he return to claim his throne?

Or will John succeed in his mission to overthrow the absentee king…?