"The Midnight Witch" by Paula Brackston

SUMMARY :

Midnight is the most bewitching hour of them all…

From Paula Brackston, the New York Times bestselling author of The Witch’s Daughter and The Winter Witch, comes a magical tale that is as dark as it is enchanting.  Set in high society Edwardian England, The Midnight Witch is the story of a young witch who faces the choice between love and loyalty to her coven…

Lady Lilith Montgomery is the daughter of the sixth Duke of Radnor. She is one of the most beautiful young women in London and engaged to the city’s most eligible bachelor. She is also a witch.

When her father dies, her hapless brother Freddie takes on his title. But it is Lilith, instructed in the art of necromancy, who inherits their father’s role as Head Witch of the Lazarus Coven. And it is Lilith who must face the threat of the Sentinels, a powerful group of sorcerers intent on reclaiming the Elixir from the coven’s guardianship for their own dark purposes. Lilith knows the Lazarus creed: secrecy and silence. To abandon either would put both the coven and all she holds dear in grave danger. She has spent her life honoring it, right down to her engagement to her childhood friend and fellow witch, Viscount Louis Harcourt.

 

Until the day she meets Bram, a talented artist who is neither a witch nor a member of her class. With him, she must not be secret and silent. Despite her loyalty to the coven and duty to her family, Lilith cannot keep her life as a witch hidden from the man she loves.

To tell him will risk everything.

 

 

PRAISE FOR PAULA BRACKSTON'S WRITING:

 

Publishers Weekly

01/06/2014
Bestseller Brackston follows The Witch’s Daughter and The Winter Witch with another sturdy historical paranormal. In 1913 London, on the eve of WWI, Lady Lilith Montgomery takes the title of Head Witch of the Lazarus Coven after her father’s death. Lilith and her fiancé, fellow witch Louis Harcourt, must defend the secret of the elixir of life from rival sorcerers, but both are distracted when impoverished artist Bram Cardale wins Lilith’s heart. War and the schemes of her enemies leave Lilith isolated, but loosening social conventions allow her to find love with Bram and success in her pursuits. Brackston lightly layers in unusual historical locales, like war-torn Uganda, but otherwise provides the expected charms of Edwardian balls, decadent slumming in opium dens, and repentant work in wartime soup kitchens. Her characters also fit convention (unsure prodigy, flighty socialite, spurned yet noble suitor) but their sincerity and humor make them worth following to the end. (Mar.)

 

“A sensitive, beautifully written account… If the Brontë sisters had penned magical realism, this would have been the result.” –The Guardian (London)

“There’s a whiff of Harry Potter in the witchy conflict—a battle between undeveloped young magical talent and old malevolence—at the heart of this sprightly tale of spells and romance, the second novel from British writer Brackston (The Witch’s Daughter, 2011)…. Love of landscape and lyrical writing lend charm, but it’s Brackston’s full-blooded storytelling that will hook the reader.” --Kirkus

“Brackston delivers an intimate paranormal romance that grounds its fantasy in the reality of a 19th century Welsh farm.” –Publishers Weekly

“Brackston's imaginative story is fascinating, polished and intriguing.” –CurledUp.com

“Paula Brackston’s Winter Witch is a whimsical and mystical tale that’s part romance part mystery part fantasy and all extraordinary. Her beautiful narrative moves flawlessly throughout the story… This unique novel will appeal to fans of a multitude of genres from historical to fantasy and will engage fans of all ages as well.” -- www.thereadingfrenzy.blogspot.com/

 

 

PARTICULARS OF THE BOOK :

 

Published by:  St. Martin's Press

Pages:  352

Author:  Paula Brackston

Genre:  Fiction

Website:  http://www.paulabrackston.com

 

 

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR :

 

 

 

PAULA BRACKSTON is the New York Times bestselling author of The Witch’s Daughter and The Winter Witch. She has a master’s degree in creative writing from Lancaster University in the UK.  She lives in Wales with her family.

 

 

The book trailer:

 

 

 

 

For an excerpt click here:  http://issuu.com/stmartinspress/docs/the_midnight_witch_excerpt

 

 

THE BOOKISH DAME REVIEWS :

 

To put it short and sweetly:  I loved this book.  It's been a while since I've read such a bewitching witch novel.  Paula Brackston is a captivating author with a gift for storytelling that is sure to keep even the most skeptical of readers wide-eyed!

Not only is the book a great story, but the details of a coven and witches were so realistic. Beautifully cast, the finest outlines of persons, clothing and places make this novel come alive.  I was spellbound.  I could see the vivid colors, the ghostliness of the coven's inter sanctum, and the fearsomeness of some of the characters.  Ms Brackston leaves no stone unturned to give us a gorgeous picture of her characters and their settings.  I also appreciated so much the secondary story of the artists, their sensibilities and passions. 

The love story of Lilith and Bram is wound elegantly throughout, and it's difficult not to fall in love with both of these main characters.  Bram, as an artist, appealed to me because of this additional dimension and his compassion.

This is a novel with much to offer.  Not the run-of-the-mill story...  It's a study in the sacred bonds of family and lovers, vows and secrets.

Not to be missed!!  I highly recommend it on many levels:  Excellence in writing, great characterization, descriptive detailing, background and ambience, love story, bewitching tale and more.

5 stars                          Deborah/TheBookishDame



 

"The Good House" by Ann Leary~ Fabulous Audiobook!

SUMMARY:

Now a New York Times Bestseller!

How can you prove you're not an alcoholic?

You can’t.

It's like trying to prove you're not a witch.  

Hildy Good is a townie. A lifelong resident of an historic community on the rocky coast of Boston’s North Shore, she knows pretty much everything about everyone. Hildy is a descendant of one of the witches hung in nearby Salem, and is believed, by some, to have inherited psychic gifts. Not true, of course; she’s just good at reading people. Hildy is good at lots of things.  A successful real-estate broker, mother and grandmother, her days are full. But her nights have become lonely ever since her daughters, convinced their mother was drinking too much, staged an intervention and sent her off to rehab.  Now she’s in recovery—more or less.

Alone and feeling unjustly persecuted, Hildy needs a friend. She finds one in Rebecca McCallister, a beautiful young mother and one of the town’s wealthy newcomers. Rebecca feels out-of-step in her new surroundings and is grateful for the friendship. And Hildy feels like a person of the world again, as she and Rebecca escape their worries with some harmless gossip, and a bottle of wine by the fire—just one of their secrets. 

But not everyone takes to Rebecca, who is herself the subject of town gossip. When Frank Getchell, an eccentric local who shares a complicated history with Hildy, tries to warn her away from Rebecca, Hildy attempts to protect her friend from a potential scandal. Soon, however, Hildy is busy trying to cover her own tracks and protect her reputation.  When a cluster of secrets become dangerously entwined, the reckless behavior of one threatens to expose the other, and this darkly comic novel takes a chilling turn.

THE GOOD HOUSE, by Ann Leary is funny, poignant, and terrifying. A classic New England tale that lays bare the secrets of one little town, this spirited novel will stay with you long after the story has ended.

 

PARTICULARS OF THIS AUDIOBOOK:

Published by:  Macmillian Audio from St. Martin's
Unabridged
8 CDs
Narrated by Mary Beth Hurt
Author:  Ann Leary
Cost:  $39.99 on Amazon  http://www.amazon.com/The-Good-House-A-Novel/dp/1427228884/ref=tmm_abk_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1363614705&sr=1-1

Amazon Exclusive: Lee Woodruff Interviews Ann Leary

A note from Lee Woodruff on Ann Leary: I became an Ann Leary fan with her memoir An Innocent, A Broad. And like any fan, by the time I finally met her, I was mewling like a bucktoothed school girl at her first spin the bottle sleepover. She didn't disappoint. I loved Ann's first two books. I mean, the woman can write. She can really write, dammit. And in her second novel, The Good House, she weaves a tale that is engrossing, fresh and very, very real. These could be the people in your town, warts and all. I was eager to interview Ann and hear how this book had come together. And I'm happy to share some of these insights with you here.
Lee Woodruff: What was your biggest challenge in writing this book?
Ann Leary: My narrator was a bit of a handful. The Good House is told from the point of view of Hildy Good, who may or may not be an alcoholic. Her daughters think she is, but she is quite confident that she is not. So my biggest challenge was to make Hildy reliable enough to have the reader on her side and actually rooting for her, yet at the same time, question whether she's being completely honest.
LW: Is it fun or arduous to choose character names? And how do you?
AL: I love choosing names for my characters. This novel is set in the fictitious town of Wendover, Massachusetts, which is on Boston's North Shore, near Salem, Essex, and Ipswich. There are still people in that area who have ancestors who were involved in the famous Salem witch trials, so I chose to make my main character a descendent of a real witch, whose name was Sarah Good. I liked the name Hildy because it sounds like a witch's name. Frank Getchell, a fellow townie with whom Hildy shares a complicated past, was just always Frank, in my mind. I've never met a Frank I didn't like. Rebecca McAllister is the beautiful newcomer. I thought her name sounded lyrical with all the syllables, and there is a sort of flowing grace about Rebecca, at least Hildy believes there is when she first meets her. Then it was fun coming up with some of the nicknames "Sleepy Haskell" etc. Names people got when they were kids and that have stuck with them all their lives.
LW: OK--let's get past it–-the dreaded fiction author question--how much of you is in Hildy?
AL: I've written another novel and a memoir and have learned that when you write non-fiction, people always want to know what you made up. And when you write fiction, people always want to know how much of it is true. But the great thing about writing fiction is you can write about things that you wish were true and that's what I did when I wrote Hildy's character.
There is quite a bit of Hildy in me, as I have had my own personal struggles with alcoholism. But we are also very different. Hildy is in her sixties, and a real New England Yankee--wry, opinionated somewhat strident and I've always admired her type. I'd like to be a tough old bird. I'd like to not always be trying to please everybody.
LW: Whether or not we want to admit it, we all have our individual and sometimes weird writing rituals. Will you divulge yours?
AL: I try to write every day and I always write in the morning. We have a lot of animals–-dogs, cats, horses–-and I get up between 5 and 6 everyday to tend to them and then I return to my bed-desk and write. I write on my bed with my four dogs and there are papers and snacks and cold cups of coffee all around me. Really, it's disgusting. Think Grey Gardens. But that's how I write best, in a semi-prone position surrounded by snoring dogs.

--This text refers to hardcover only


About the Narrator:

Mary Beth Hurt began her Broadway career with "Crimes of the Heart."  She then went on to make her film debut in Woody Allen's "Interiors."  Other movie credits include "The World According to Garp," "The Age of Innocence," "The Exorcism of Emily Rose," and "Young Adult."  Hurt was also a recurring character in the television series "Law & Order" for thirteen years.


To hear an excerpt of this book see http://www.macmillianaudio.com  



The Bookish Dame Reviews :

This is the "must listen to" audio book of the season!  What a fantastic narrator Mary Beth Hurt is for a fabulous book.  A modern day "Goodie Good" of Salem, MA, fame couldn't be cast any better than Ann Leary has done, and if ever a book was made for the movies this would be the one.  Just a wonderful book to listen to, and I'm sure a great hardcover book, as well.

Ann Leary has taken her character, Hildy Good, and made her into one of the most endearing lushes I've ever known.  I'm not a fan of alcoholism, but Hildy makes her trips through the tulips with wine nearly a sacred passage of fun.  She's irrepressible!  And, although the town seems to know her business about having been off to a famous rehab.; and, of course she knows all their secrets, too...they make exceptions for each other.  Hildy pretends not to drink, and everyone including her daughters choose to think she doesn't.  It's a perfect conspiracy until things eventually get out of hand.

Hildy is also suspected of being a witch herself since her ancestor is the Goody Good of Salem witch trial fame.  She reads people once in a while as a dinner "trick" though she disavows any real validity to her powers.  That doesn't stop locals from believing her...  She's the epitome of the town's old family maven.  So lovable to the reader, and such a New England fixture to the town and its real estate market.  I found her irresistible.

This is a book on CD you will absolutely savor.  It has atmosphere, humor, a mystery and humanity.  What more could you ask for?  The North Shore of MA never looked more real or more enticing than when told through the eyes and life of Hildy Good.

Run to the nearest bookstore for this audiobook.  You'll love it!

5 stars

Deborah/TheBookishDame


 

"Covet" by Melissa Darnell~Good Vampire Read for Christmas!

SUMMARY :

Dangerous to be together. Painful to be apart.

Savannah Colbert knows she broke up with Tristan Coleman for the right reasons. Most of all, to keep from killing him with her new vampire abilities. But try telling her heart. Now, lost in a sea of hostile Clann faces, Sav tries to come to terms with what she's becoming and what that means for her future. And that someone is doing their best to bully her into making a terrible mistake.

Tristan can't believe Sav won't even talk to him. If being apart is her decision, fine. Just don't expect him to honor it. But even as he prepares to fight for the girl he loves, forces beyond their control take them both in directions neither could have foreseen or prepared for.

A reckoning is coming…and not everyone will survive.

PARTICULARS OF THE BOOK :
Published by:  Harlequin
Pages:  496
Genre:  YA Fiction/Thriller/Vampire/Fantasy
Purchase:  Amazon
Series!! 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR :

Melissa Darnell is the author of a growing list of adult and YA fiction and nonfiction books, including The Clann Series #1: Crave, The Clann Series #2: Covet, The Source, and The Ultimate Guide to Making Cheer/Dance Gear & Gifts. Born in California, she grew up in Jacksonville, Texas and has also called the following states home since then: Utah, West Virginia, Louisiana, Alabama, Kentucky, Iowa and South Dakota. She currently lives in Nebraska with her husband Tim and two children, Hunter and Alexander, where she enjoys watching Whale Wars, Glee and True Blood, designing digital graphic products for the virtual world of Second Life, and of course writing her latest book.
Visit her websites for news, online playlists for each of her books, and more at www.MelissaDarnell.com  and
www.TheClannSeries.com


THE BOOKISH DAME REVIEWS :
This is one of those rare books nowdays about vampires, witches, etc. that has a very fine writer!  Melissa Darnell is one.  I was surprised to find this when I read her opening chapter.  It captured my attention and kept me thumbing through the pages to the end of her story.  Catching us up from the beginning (I hadn't read the first book in this series:  "Crave: The Clann Series #1"), I felt I hadn't started in the middle of a book of characters I knew nothing about.  This is actually a good read!

The characters and plot are well-formed with the adults being as interesting as the teens.  It made the reading smooth-going for me through the 400-some pages.  Though things trail behind towards the middle of the book, Ms Darnell picks up the pace again and brings the story home with the two star-crossed lovers, Savannah and Tristan. She sets us up for the next book in her series.  The "Romeo and Juliet" sweethearts are hard to resist!  They aren't sappy young things, but have substance to their characterizations.

I thought this book would be the perfect holiday gift for the mid-teen group...but then, I also enjoyed it for a quick getaway, myself.  So, I'm recommending it to young adults and as a crossover adult piece.  It was light reading, but it was as good as any of the vampire books on the market, and better than most! As I said to begin with, Melissa Darnell is a good writer, and a good storyteller.  I think we'll all be looking forward to the next installment in the series...

4 stars             Deborah/TheBookishDame


 

"Beautiful Creatures" by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

SUMMARY :
There were no surprises in Gatlin County.
We were pretty much the epicenter of the middle of nowhere.
At least, that's what I thought.
Turns out, I couldn't have been more wrong.
There was a curse.
There was a girl.
And in the end, there was a grave.Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she's struggling to conceal her power and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever.

Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When Lena moves into the town's oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them.

In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything.


PARTICULARS OF THE BOOK :

Published by:  Little Brown Books for Young Readers
Genre:  YA Fiction/Supernatural
Pages:  592
Series
Find it here:  Barnes & Noble 


ABOUT THE AUTHORS:

Kami Garcia is a teacher and reading specialist with an MA in education, and leads book groups for children and teenagers. Margaret Stohl has an MA in English and studied creative writing under poet George MacBeth at the University of East Anglia, Norwich. They both live in Los Angeles, California, with their families. Beautiful Creatures is their debut novel.


THE BOOKISH DAME REVIEWS :

I've had my eye on this book for quite a while.  It captured my attention because of the small Southern town setting and the "To Kill A Mockingbird" sort of hype.  It didn't let me down.  From the earliest chapters I was caught up in the story of a young man whose father and elderly housekeeper reminded me happily of those "...Mockingbird" surroundings.  Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl are not to be overlooked as just YA writers with a light story to tell.  This is a book with depth and interest for a cross-over read for adults, as well.

The primary characters, Ethan and Lena, are sophisticated and well drawn with plenty of interesting dialog and formidable backgrounds to draw upon.  I loved the suspense of finding out all the intricacies of their attachment to each other.  And, I enjoyed learning about their Southern roots and the people who intersected their previous and current lives.  Some things never change in small towns in the South!

The circumstances of witchcraft and mysterious happenings just adds thickness to the soup in this novel.  It's the pre-life that intrigued me most.  Garcia and Stohl bring an over all eerie magic to their setting.

I look forward to reading all the books in this series.  It's charming and well-written, and the characters are worthwhile.  I can see how they would stand up to more.  Interesting and exotic.  I highly recommend this book!

5 stars             Deborah/TheBookishDame

"The Map of True Places" by Brunonia Barry ~ Mesmerizing

Summary : 

Brunonia Barry, the New York Times bestselling author of The Lace Reader, offers an emotionally compelling novel about finding your true place in the world.

Zee Finch has come a long way from a motherless childhood spent stealing boats—a talent that earned her the nickname Trouble. She's now a respected psychotherapist working with the world-famous Dr. Liz Mattei. She's also about to marry one of Boston's most eligible bachelors. But the suicide of Zee's patient Lilly Braedon throws Zee into emotional chaos and takes her back to places she though she'd left behind.

What starts as a brief visit home to Salem after Lilly's funeral becomes the beginning of a larger journey for Zee. Her father, Finch, long ago diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, has been hiding how sick he really is. His longtime companion, Melville, has moved out, and it now falls to Zee to help her father through this difficult time. Their relationship, marked by half-truths and the untimely death of her mother, is strained and awkward.

Overwhelmed by her new role, and uncertain about her future, Zee destroys the existing map of her life and begins a new journey, one that will take her not only into her future but into her past as well. Like the sailors of old Salem who navigated by looking at the stars, Zee has to learn to find her way through uncharted waters to the place she will ultimately call home.

Particulars of the Book :
Published by:  HarperCollins
AudioBook, ebook and regular books
Author:  Brunonia Barry
Find her:  Brunonia


ABOUT THE AUTHOR :

Born and raised in Massachusetts, Brunonia Barry studied literature and creative writing at Green Mountain college in Vermont and at the University of New Hampshire and was one of the founding members of the Portland Stage Company. While still an undergraduate at UNH, Barry spent a year living in Dublin and auditing Trinity College classes on James Joyce’s Ulysses.
Barry’s love of theater led to a first job in Chicago where she ran promotional campaigns for Second City, Ivanhoe, and Studebaker theaters. After a brief stint in Manhattan, where she studied screenwriting at NYU, Barry relocated to California because she had landed an agent and had an original script optioned. Working on a variety of projects for several studios, she continued to study screenwriting and story structure with Hollywood icon Robert McKee, becoming one of the nine writers in his Development Group.
Brunonia’s love for writing and storytelling has taken her all across the country but after nearly a decade in Hollywood, Barry returned to Massachusetts where, along with her husband, she co-founded an innovative company that creates award-winning word, visual and logic puzzles. In recent years, she has written books for the Beacon Street Girls, a fictional series for ‘tweens. Happily married, Barry lives with her husband and her only child that just happens to be a 12-year-old Golden Retriever named Byzantium. The Lace Reader was her first original novel.
Barry is the first American Writer to win the Woman’s International Fiction Festival’s 2009 Baccante Award (for The Lace Reader.) Her second novel, The Map of True Places will be published 0n May 4, 2010.


Trailer:

THE DAME'S REVIEW :

I listened to this book on AudioBook first on my trip to Louisiana and then at home afterwards because I couldn't bear not to finish it having completed my driving before it was over.  This was a mesmerizing book and the miles just melted away as the story progressed.  The narrator was wonderful on this one, but the story was most perfect.  It ranks as one of the best stories I've listened to on tape of all time.  I loved it.  Made me wish I'd just read the book!

You can see the summary above, and here is a review below by Kirkus.

Kirkus Reviews

A novice psychotherapist finds unsettling parallels between a patient's suicide and her mother's history, in Barry's second (The Lace Reader, 2008). Hepzibah (ZeeZee grew up in the historic Salem home that was once Purveyance's domestic prison.) Now a doctoral candidate in Boston, Zee sees aspects of Maureen in her bipolar patient Lilly, a suburban homemaker. Lilly tells her of Adam, a carpenter, whom she loves desperately, but who now appears to be stalking them both-Zee's seen him lurking outside her office. With adjusted meds, Lilly improves, but then leaps to her death from a bridge during rush hour. At Lilly's funeral, Zee spots a man she recognizes from TV news as a distraught eyewitness to Lilly's death. More personal woes intrude. Finch's Parkinson's disease is worsening, he's now alienated from Melville (his partner since Maureen's death) and requires full-time care. Zee returns to Salem, and this town of Wicca practitioners, pirate re-enactors and tall ships, like Friendship, a replica of the vessel on which Purveyance fled, reclaims her. Hawk, the stricken eyewitness, is now crewing on the Friendship and, when Zee enrolls in his celestial navigation class, she's ineffably drawn to him. Soon the pair are making love in Maureen's room, beneath the same widow's walk on which the storied lovers once trysted. Although marred by unnecessary "come-to-realize" moments, this woman-in-jeopardy thriller retooled with gothic elements-shifting identities, secrets and portents, a deserted cottage and a missing suicide note-manages to transcend its component cliches. A highly readable sophomore effort. Reading group guide available online.



I loved the depth of character study Ms Barry goes into with Zee and her parents.  Maureen is especially compelling to me for some reason...perhaps because she's such a tragic figure and because her love of fairytales and the ghostly appeals to the gothic in me.  Zee keeps the story alive as she searches for herself and the meaning of her roots.  And I love the relationship between her father and his gay lover,  "Hawthore" and "Melville" are just brilliant.  Melville's story is especially poignant.  Zee's dad (Hawthorne's) gift of Yeats book of poems is a section of the story that will tear your heart out.

This is a book on tape that will keep you happily engaged for several days, and I'm sure the same could be said for the book.  I love Brunonia Barry's style and her setting of Salem, MA.  Made me very homesick for Massachusetts.

5 stars             Deborah/TheBookishDame

"The Lady of the Rivers" by Philippa Gregory

Overview:

Passion. Danger. Witchcraft . . .

The Lady of the Rivers is #1 New York Times bestselling author Philippa Gregory’s remarkable story of Jacquetta, Duchess of Bedford, a woman who navigated a treacherous path through the battle lines in the Wars of the Roses.

Descended from Melusina, the river goddess, Jacquetta always has had the gift of second sight. As a child visiting her uncle, she met his prisoner, Joan of Arc, and saw her own power reflected in the young woman accused of witchcraft. They share the mystery of the tarot card of the wheel of fortune before Joan is taken to a horrific death at the hands of the English rulers of France. Jacquetta understands the danger for a woman who dares to dream.

Jacquetta is married to the Duke of Bedford, English regent of France, and he introduces her to a mysterious world of learning and alchemy. Her only friend in the great household is the duke’s squire Richard Woodville, who is at her side when the duke’s death leaves her a wealthy young widow. The two become lovers and marry in secret, returning to England to serve at the court of the young King Henry VI, where Jacquetta becomes a close and loyal friend to his new queen.

The Woodvilles soon achieve a place at the very heart of the Lancaster court, though Jacquetta can sense the growing threat from the people of England and the danger of royal rivals. Not even their courage and loyalty can keep the House of Lancaster on the throne. Henry the king slides into a mysterious sleep; Margaret the queen turns to untrustworthy favorites for help; and Richard, Duke of York, threatens to overturn the whole kingdom for his rival dynasty.

Jacquetta fights for her king, her queen, and for her daughter Elizabeth for whom Jacquetta can sense an extraordinary and unexpected future: a change of fortune, the throne of England, and the white rose of York.

A sweeping, powerful story rich in passion and legend and drawing on years of research, The Lady of the Rivers tells the story of the real-life mother of the white queen.

Particulars of the book:

Publisher: Touchstone

Publication date: 10/18/2011

Pages: 464

Series:Cousins' War Series , #3

                          

A Bit About the Author :

Philippa Gregory, author of the bestselling Wideacre trilogy and other celebrated historical novels, holds a B.A. in history and a Ph.D. in 18th-century literature. In her youth, however, the meticulous writer-researcher almost skipped going to university (she was, as she put it, "a bit of a rebel at school"). When she finally did enroll at Sussex University, she took a course taught by the historian Maurice Hutt, and the rest is -- what else? -- history.

"It was such a powerful experience that, really, it transformed my life," she explained in an interview with The Guardian. "I was looking for something that would explain everything -- I was that kind of earnest young woman! -- and history seemed to be able to do that."

Gregory earned her degree from Sussex, then traveled to Edinburgh to research 18th-century popular novels. The research spawned both a Ph.D. thesis and Gregory's first novel, Wideacre, which was a New York Times bestseller. It came, Gregory pointed out in a Barnes and Noble interview, "at a time when people wanted a new sort of historical fiction: more realistic, more radical, more sexy, and harder edged. That's how I see the world, so I never wrote for a market, I always wrote to reflect my own view of the period, and it has been phenomenally successful."

After extending Wideacre into a trilogy, Gregory continued to write fiction, delving into 16th-century witchcraft , 17th-century political turmoil, and 18th-century slave trading, as well as exploring contemporary life.

But while Gregory -- in her own view and in the views of many critics -- continued to improve as a writer, none of her books matched the popular success of Wideacre until she wrote The Other Boleyn Girl, a provocative tale of sexual politics in the court of Henry VIII, and The Queen's Fool, the story of a 14-year-old Jewish girl brought to the court of Queen Mary. Both novels became bestsellers and widely acclaimed storytelling tour de forces.

Gregory continues to mine the territory of Tudor England for stories -- and she continues with her historical research, building up an ever more dazzling, daring and complete picture of the period. "Accuracy is very important to me because I have a total commitment to history," Gregory told The Guardian. "It answered my deepest questions, of which, I suppose, the most profound is: ‘Why am I here?' Understanding your history can tell you that. It's how I understand who I am and where I came from. I would never lie to anyone about history."

See her website:  http://philippagregory.com



Watch the "...Lady of the Rivers" trailer!

Guest Review by:  Catherine Fahy~

A sweeping tale based on the true story of Jacquetta, Duchess of Bedford, "The Lady of the Rivers" follows this extraordinary woman from her childhood in France to her place at the center of the court of young King Henry VI and the War of the Roses.

"The Lady of the Rivers" is ultimately a story about the power of women — wise and unwise, overt and covert — and the efforts of the men around them to suppress that power. Only Jacquetta seems to be able to navigate the treachery of 15th century England with all the tact, decorum and loyalty we'd admire in a woman today.

Those familiar with Gregory's work will recognize "The Lady of the Rivers" as akin to "The Other Boleyn Girl" rather than the debaucherous Wideacre Trilogy.

Part of Jacquetta's success is her trust in her instincts, or her gift of second sight as it's named, which comes to her as a child sitting on a riverbank at her uncle's castle with his prisoner, Joan of Arc.

Playing tarot, they draw "the wheel of fortune" card, whose symbol — a circle drawn in the air with a forefinger — is used throughout the book, such as when Joan becomes one of the women to meet an unfortunate end at the hands of vengeful men.

"I am here to witness what happens to a woman who thinks she knows more than men," Jacqetta says upon seeing her friend burned at the stake for witchcraft and heresy.

Shortly after that, in an an effort to endear her country to the English occupiers who Joan defied, Jacquetta is married to the much older Duke of Bedford, English Regent of France. Rather than love (they don't even consummate the marriage) the duke covets his young bride for her gift of second sight and forces her to "scry" before a mirror.

But he is ultimately a kind man, and also introduces her to the world of learning and alchemy contained in his vast library. It's not surprising that the Duke dies, given his (at that time) advanced age and the stress he was under to keep France secure for England, but Jacquetta's trajectory after he dies is even more surprising.

Rather than submit to remarriage at the direction of the king's advisors, she secretly marries her lover — her former husband's squire, Richard of Woodville. Normally, this bold and scandalous move would send a high-born woman away from the court to a life of shame, but Jacquetta becomes a confidante of Henry VI's new queen, Margaret of Anjou.

With the arrival of Margaret — a woman who wields her power very unwisely — the book descends into the series of nail-biting battles that mark the War of the Roses. Margaret, only 15 when she is taken from France to England for her marriage, assumes uncustomary decision-making because of the king's mental state, which sends him into long periods of somnolence.

Jacquetta and Richard, meanwhile, suffer long bouts of separation while Richard serves the king in France, but the couple remain loyal to the throne, even while Margaret incites strife and destruction throughout England by excluding from her council lords from the House of York who she believes are scheming against her.

Though based on a true story, it seems implausible that Jacquetta gives birth to 14 children (one does not survive past boyhood). It also seems implausible that she leaves her children for long periods of time to serve the reviled queen. But such must have been the custom of medieval courtiers.

It isn't until the Battle of Towton — when an estimated 28,000 men died on the snowy battlefield — that Richard and his son Anthony, both of whom survive the battle, renounce House of Lancaster for the victorious House of York. The family of 16, plus Jacquetta's two grandchildren whose father was killed in battle, live quietly at their country manor until one day the new king, young Edward, sees Jaquetta's beautiful oldest daughter and her two sons on a tour of his new lands.

But don't stop there — read to the very end of the book, where you'll see a sneak-preview of what results from that chance encounter in Gregory's next book, "The Kingmaker's Daughter," due out in August, 2012.

When she is still young, Jacquetta hears a wise woman and herbalist tell her, "Any woman who dares to make her own destiny will always put herself in danger" — a prophecy that eventually plays itself out for Jacquetta in the tale of her daughter, who becomes the White Queen.

Catherine Fahy, seen here with her children in MA where they live, will be a recurring guest blogger on A Bookish Dame.  She is a former journalist who is taking time out to raise her family...and keeping her hands busy here and there writing.  We are deliriously happy to have her join us here!

Catherine rates this book 5 stars!

"The Gilly Salt Sisters" by Tiffany Baker~Cape Cod Salt Marsh "Witches" Live?

Opening lines: "It was the season again for fire in Prospect, a time of cold and ice but also an occasion for rising heat and smoke.  A moment for salt and prophesy, when the future met the past and the old ceded to the new, for better or for worse."

Storytelling in a New England saga- -Cape Cod, salt marshes, mud-thick property, wet and slick from harsh winter storms and treacherous ice.  This is the stuff of a small town's mysterious workings; witchery, superstition, relics of old, a faceless Madonna and traces of history repeating itself. 

Summary :

The author of the New York Times bestselling The Little Giant of Aberdeen County returns with a magic-tinged tale of dreams, family secrets, and betrayals on a New England salt farm.

In the isolated Cape Cod village of Prospect, the Gilly sisters are as different as can be. Jo, a fierce and quiet loner, is devoted to the mysteries of her family's salt farm, while Claire is popular, pretty, and yearns to flee the salt at any cost. But the Gilly land hides a dark legacy that proves impossible to escape. Although the community half-suspects the Gilly sisters might be witches, it doesn't stop Whit Turner, the town's wealthiest bachelor, from forcing his way into their lives. It's Jo who first steals Whit's heart, but it is Claire—heartbroken over her high school sweetheart—who marries him.

Years later, estranged from her family, Claire finds herself thrust back onto the farm with the last person she would have chosen: her husband's pregnant mistress. Suddenly, alliances change, old loves return, and new battle lines are drawn. What the Gilly sisters learn about each other, the land around them, and the power of the salt, will not only change each of their lives forever, it will also alter Gilly history for good.

 

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Particulars of the Book:

Published by:  Grand Central/Hachette Book Group
Pages:  385
Author:  Tiffany Baker
Author's Website: http://tiffanybaker.com


Book may be purchased on AMAZON at:  http://www.amazon.com/The-Gilly-Salt-Sisters-ebook/dp/B004QX07FK/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1335099023&sr=1-1

or through BARNES AND NOBLE at:  http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-gilly-salt-sisters-tiffany-baker/1103367217?ean=9780446194235

Something About Tiffany Baker :

              Tiffany Baker’s Recipe For A Writing Life

A handful of islands: Belvedere, Aquidneck, Balboa, Manhattan, Corsica, Maui, the UK
Three small children: Two girls and a boy, plump in the cheeks and knees. Strong-willed but sweet when kissed.
One husband
Indecent amounts of chocolate and coffee
A view of a grassy ridge and an old gum tree

Start with the islands. Move from one to another up through your twenties. Add a graduate degree in creative writing from UC Irvine and then a PhD in Victorian literature for extra flavor, plus a smattering of tragic relationships. Move to New York to teach humanities, drink expensive cocktails, and give up on men.
Go hiking on Corsica with your mother. Meet your future husband. Move to England to be with him.
Add the first child to the mix and marinate. Return to the US, to the town where you began. Wonder what you’re doing home again. Gradually, fold in one, additional child until life is thick and hard to stir.
Decide to write a novel. Get pregnant again in the meantime, but refuse to give up writing. Finish the novel and get rejected. Repeat as necessary until the mixture becomes glue-like and unappetizing.
Finally, find the world’s most perfect agent who performs a miracle and sells your novel to the world’s best editor. Revise the novel many times, until it congeals. Do a victory dance.
Begin Book 2, having forgotten how hard writing a book is. Eat obsessive amounts of chocolate and decide what you’re doing isn’t half-bad. Gain an undisclosed amount of weight and take up jogging.
Every day, take a long walk on the grassy ridge. Stop at the gum tree, breathing deeply. Stare across the hill at your house where your children and husband are. Hope your cypress tree isn’t really dying. Hope for enough rain in the coming season. Hope for world peace. Finally, really, really hope people enjoy your book. Hope they like the second one even more.
Bon Vivant!

The Dame's Look At The Gilly Salt Sisters:
The Gilly Salt Sisters takes place in a small New England town similar, if not just, Falmouth...near Woods Hole. Of course the original New England colonies were not only populated by puritans and those pious believers in the straight and narrow path, but they were seasoned by island peoples...slaves from the Caribbean, from Africa and from other exotic places where superstition and "witchcraft," magical and mystical things followed them.  These characteristics were met with the same that underpined some of those who fled England and Scotland, as well.  In Massachusettes, Salem had experienced the witch trials...the areas of Cape Cod and up as far as Gloucester were aware of these things. The people of New England don't easily forget~it's in their blood. Who wouldn't be influenced by the Gilly Salt Sisters?

In this novel (and in actuality, as a matter of fact) the salt's unique properties, historic and mystical to begin with, were given a reverence~they were fraught with healing powers, the power to keep and preserve foods and meats, originally the power to exchange like money, to season cooked foods; and, quite mysteriously to change the well-being of businesses and the over all climates of the town.  Only the Gilly family and specifically the Gilly women were capable of handling the harshness of the salt marsh, harvesting it and controlling the delivery of the salt throughout the town and region.  They were afforded a sort of begruding prominence and fearsomeness in town.  Their ability to throw their own bag of salt into the yearly, autumn bonfire to predict the future of the town in a sort of ancient festival, solidified the superstition and mysticism that surrounded them; that made them weird and outcast.

Within this confine of prejudice and their wild, muddy marsh of a farm life, Jo and Claire Gilly grew up and struggled with their fates along with their single mother.  They are marvelous characters as different as Cain and Able.  Jo the Abel of the two: dark-haired, faithful to the marsh and salt, protective of loved ones, strong and rough around the edges. And, Claire; the Cain, weak in spirit, red-haired and tempermental, selfish, working to tear down the salt and all it represents in the town and to her past. Gloriously well developed characters that stand up in realism.  So real in fact, that you believe they're actual people.

Throughout the book we find abberations in the tale, however, that changes all perceptions.  The men and women involved with the Gillys aren't always what they appear to be and the lives of the Gillys and townspeople overlap in a multitude of ways.  All this causing their histories to intersect for good and for bad.  This is a story rich in family dynamics of love and betrayal, mystery and revelation, mysticism and romance.  The sea and the marshes that hem them in play against the gothic themes an cause the book to take on a dark tone...so like Poe in some instances.

Tiffany Baker knows how and when to pull the strings that deepen our connections with her characters and the momentum surrounding the Gilly Salt Sisters.  The spector of mystery and revelation hangs before us as she builds and hints and drops us through Jo's discoveries.  But even as the other charcters are brought in and layers are developed, we still remain in the dark until the climax of the book.

I love this kind of mystery mixed with a grand and sweeping tale of a family that mysteriously winds its way through a history. A family unwittingly repeating itself until somehow it finally finds a way to break the bond that held it captive.  And through that freshly broken wound restores something of itself through a healing, a new trust, a new love and life of hope.  Even though grief and punishment remain behind. Even though some of the connections are thin and come from wild roots.

The Gilly Salt Sisters is a great book in the order of a sort of Jane Smiley's "Thousand Acres," but I think it's richer and it's dug into more detail.  I loved the book and hope you get a chance to read it very soon! 

5 stars!!

Deborah/TheBookishDame

PS:  You'll never look at salt the same again...I'm now eating only sea salt.

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Secret Confessions, New Books and Odd Things

A stack of new books which looked so much better on my camera than on this page--

The Bookish Dame is the very happy recipient of many ARCs and author's copies of books, so I'm spoiled in some ways, not often having to actually leave the house to purchase too many books.

Most often, if I want a book in hard copy for my library, I'll just order online and have it dropped right on my doorstep.  Convenient and cool.

Once in a while, though, I like to get out and shop for some of the newest books and first editions for my library. That's when I really have those "bookathon" long afternoons at the bookstore.  My arms ache with books, my eyes get blurry, my feet hurt and my stomach gnaws from lack of sustenance. I go in at about noon fueled on toast and tea, and don't show my biopic face again until closing time (10 PM).  In my town, there aren't too many who act like I do... :]   Eccentric, anyone?

All of the above works for me because I'm a bibliophile who's much of a recluse, anyway.  I do entertain company...  :]   If you're a reader, all's the better!  If you aren't, you may have some difficulty dodging my book stacks or seeing me over them.  Interior design:  Early English Professor/Dumbledore--messy--colorful--everything at arms reach...antiques and collectibles..a plethora of glasses 275 strength.

This past week, I had to get my own copy of:

I think we all know where this book is headed, don't we?

It's time to get your First Edition copy, you libraria aficionados!

Andrea Cremer's books are YA collectibles, in case any of you were wondering.  Also, I believe she has been optioned for movies.

First Editions are out now for this final episode in her trilogy, and the odd copy of her last book in hard copy is still out there.

"Switched: A Trylle Novel" #1 in the series

is about a girl whose mother decided when she was 6 yrs. old that she was a monster, and tried to kill her. LOL

Okay...what better way to start a trilogy that YAs will love!

The other rapidly following books:

"Torn" and "Ascend" feature just as gorgeous covers.

I thought I should be reading this book asap.

"Stolen Away" is Ms Harvey's newest book which

will entertain us with faery folk and their wicked ways. I sense another series here.

Released next week

To read an Alyxandra Harvey book is

 to enjoy like a great cup of latte. Yummy...

Historical Fiction: 15th century Spain...the Spanish Inquisition...Queen Isabella...Christopher Columbus, and a beautiful Jewish woman who helps the King's chancellor.

Beautiful, deckled-edged paperback, too!

"Jason Crow is a mix of Ironsides and James Lee Burke's Dave Robicheaux. Plenty of twists and turns along with an electrifying ending."

I was in the mood for some Southern murder mystery hard core!  This protagonist is an amputee who's looking for his dad's killer.

Deadly serial killer preys on children and single mothers looking for his "perfect" little family.  Strong woman crime scene investigator!  I love these type of novels...woman beats psycho killer at his own game, hopefully!

Some YA authors may think they're the first to come out with fairytale retellings...but, no!  Romance novelist, and award winner Eloisa James has beaten them to it with her fantastic and fun series of fairytale romances....   Have to have these just for the fun of it!  Little chocolate kisses for bedside decorations...  These are my secret confession books!

A young widow of Alabama trying to survive the (Damned Yankee!)Reconstructionists after the War...those scalawags!  Soon to be released.  I can say all this because I'm a Boston girl with roots in the South.  :]

Now~Not Shown In My Book Stack Above:

But purchased today...

If a book has these authors' names on its cover

I don't need to know anything else.  Do you?

"Rivals Anne Rice, Diana Gabaldon, Marion Zimmer Bradley

 and Elizabeth Kostova"  Really?

Get out of my way! 

This one got past me this past year, but I'm on it now...

What I'm reading just as soon as I post this feature.  I've been trying to read all of Kristen's book in this series. Shockingly good!

So, what are you reading or buying these days?  And, what do you know about the books I've just bought?

Better yet....What are your secret confession books??

Deborah/TheBookishDame