On tour with The Coffee Pot Book Club — A Most Unsettled Man by Lily Style #BiographicalNonFiction #Biography #HistoricalBiography #BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub @cathiedunn

 Oh look. check out Lily Style's new release, A Most Unsettled Man.

A Most Unsettled Man
By Lily Style

George Matcham, dubbed the most unsettled man alive, was born in East India Company controlled Bombay and undertook three epic overland treks between Asia and England before marrying the favourite sister of the not yet famous Horatio Nelson. Intimate details about George's life have been preserved because of his close relationship with Nelson and his famous paramour Emma Hamilton, whose rises and falls he observed first-hand.

Packed with period press clippings and eyewitness accounts, A Most Unsettled Man provides an unprecedented glimpse into the private life of a modest 18th century English gentleman, as well retelling the enduring love story of Nelson and Emma from an entirely new perspective.

Excerpt

On the 6th of November 1805, the ring of church bells, near and far, grew and grew like a storm that must soon break. Then did.

George’s copy of the Gazette Extraordinaire bore news that rocked his whole family to the core. Britain’s navy had annihilated the French and Spanish fleets at Cape Trafalgar, off the southern tip of Spain, but Horace’s resounding victory had cost him his life.

Kitty collapsed and, after this, George junior noted that the news of Horace’s death had made his mama very ill.

Details of Horace’s last moments flew around England with great gusto. Brave Lord Nelson had ignored the tradition by which naval officers saved their skins by leading from behind. He’d instead insisted on wearing his full Royal Navy admiral’s uniform on HMS Victory’s open deck, complete with his array of medals and sun-catching gewgaws. Bold and bright, leading from the front, Horace’s uniform had made him an easy mark for a sniper perched on a French tall ship’s mast.

George later reflected that, from Horace’s physical frailty and proneness to melancholy, “it might have been imagined that he was ill-fitted for war & hardship. But … He went a willing victim to his country's safety and renown”.

George, Kitty and Susanna Bolton, distraught themselves, sped to Merton to support the heart-broken Emma.

Doesn't this book sound utterly amazing? You can pick up your copy over on Amazon.

Lily Style

Lily Style is the direct descendant of famed lovers Admiral Lord Nelson and Emma Hamilton and also Nelson's sister, Kitty Matcham (because their grandchildren married).

Lily is the founder of Emma Hamilton Society and writes regularly for Nelson-related publications. She is also a keen genealogist with an interest in piecing together real human stories lying behind dry facts. 

One of these stories is of her 4th great-grandfather, George Matcham, whose story she's traced from his mid eighteenth-century birth in East India Company controlled Bombay through to his intimate involvement with Nelson and Emma's rise and fall.

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On tour with The Coffee Pot Book Club — Downriver by Jennifer M. Lane #HistoricalFiction #Revenge #BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub @Jenn_L_Writes @cathiedunn

 

Would you look at that, another great book! I am so excited to have author, Jennifer M. Lane, on Oh Look, today. Scroll down more to find out more about her new book.

Downriver
By Jennifer M. Lane

A sulfur sky poisoned her family and her heart. Now revenge tastes sweeter than justice.

It’s 1900. In a Pennsylvania coal town tainted by corruption and pollution, Charlotte's world collapses when her parents meet a tragic end. Sent to a foster family in a Maryland fishing village, she’s fueled by grief and embarks on a relentless quest for justice against the ruthless coal boss, Nels Pritchard.

But Charlotte is no ordinary girl. She shares the fiery spirit of her father, whose powerful speeches inspired worker riots. With a burning desire for vengeance, she sets out to uncover the truth behind Pritchard's crimes, unearthing a shocking connection between the town's toxic air and the lifeless fish washing up on the shore of her Chesapeake Bay foster town.

To expose the truth, Charlotte builds a network of unexpected allies. There are gutsy suffragists, a literary society of teenage girls willing to print the truth… and Weylan. The captivating young man lost his own family to Pritchard’s poison. He offers support, but Charlotte questions his true motives when he lures her to break the law. Could she be falling into a dangerous trap, leading her to a fate worse than poison?

With her unwavering spirit and determination, Charlotte must forge alliances and navigate a web of treachery before Pritchard seeks his own ruthless revenge.

The newest book by award-winning author Jennifer M. Lane is perfect for fans of Jeannette Walls’ Hang the Moon and the fiery protagonist in The Hunger Games. Join Charlotte in this small town, coming-of-age dystopian historical saga as she finds resilience, courage, and triumph in her search for identity, independence, and her true home.

Doesn't this book sounds utterly amazing?! You can grab your copy over on Amazon. And get this, if you have #KindleUnlimited subscription you can read for free - winner winner chicken dinner!

Jennifer M. Lane

A Maryland native and Pennsylvanian at heart, Jennifer M. Lane holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Barton College and a master’s in liberal arts with a focus on museum studies from the University of Delaware, where she wrote her thesis on the material culture of roadside memorials.

Jennifer is a member of the Authors Guild and the Historical Novel Society. Her first book, Of Metal and Earth, won the 2019 Next Generation Indie Book Award for First Novel and was a Finalist in the 2018 IAN Book of the Year Awards in the category of Literary / General Fiction. She is also the author of Stick Figures from Rockport, and the six book series, The Collected Stories of Ramsbolt.

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On tour with The Coffee Pot Book Club — Return to the Eyrie by Katerina Dunne #HistoricalFiction #MedievalFiction #MedievalHungary #BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub @cathiedunn

 

Are you ready for today's book recommendation? 

Return to the Eyrie 
By Katerina Dunne

Honour, revenge, and the quest for justice.
Belgrade, Kingdom of Hungary, 1470:

Raised in exile, adolescent noblewoman Margit Szilágyi dreams of returning to her homeland of Transylvania to avenge her father's murder and reclaim her stolen legacy. To achieve this, she must break the constraints of her gender and social status and secretly train in combat. 

When the king offers her a chance at justice, she seizes it—even if it means disguising herself as a man to infiltrate the vultures' nest that now occupies her ancestral ‘eyrie’.

Plagued by childhood trauma and torn between two passionate loves, Margit faces brutal battles, her murderous kin's traps and inner demons on her quest for vengeance. Only by confronting the past can she reclaim her honour—if she can survive long enough to see it through.

Return to the Eyrie is an epic coming-of-age tale of a young woman's unwavering pursuit of justice and destiny in 15th century Hungary.

Doesn't this book sound amazing?! You can grab your copy over on Amazon.

Katerina Dunne

Katerina Dunne is the pen-name of Katerina Vavoulidou. Originally from Athens, Greece, Katerina has been living in Ireland since 1999. She has a degree in English Language and Literature from the University of Athens, an MA in Film Studies from University College Dublin and an MPhil in Medieval History from Trinity College Dublin.

Katerina is passionate about history, especially medieval history, and her main area of interest is 13th to 15th century Hungary. Although the main characters of her stories are fictional, Katerina uses real events and personalities as part of her narrative in order to bring to life the fascinating history of the medieval Kingdom of Hungary, a location and time period not so well-known to English-speaking readers.

Return to the Eyrie (published April 2024) is the second book in the Medieval Hungary series, a sequel to Lord of the Eyrie (published in February 2022).

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On tour with The Coffee Pot Book Club — Roman Equestrian I: Venator by A. M. Swink #HistoricalFiction #AncientRome #AncientBritain #RomanFiction #BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub @cathiedunn

I don't know about you but i love books set in the ancient world. Today, I have a very special guest, A. M. Swink, who is sharing an excerpt from her new book. Scroll down and check it out!

Roman Equestrian I: Venator 
By A. M. Swink

Britannia, AD 59. Decimus is a long-serving senior centurion who dreams of retirement in Rome. Luciana is a Cornovii princess devoted to the freedom and survival of her tribe. Connected only by a passion for horsemanship, the pair could not be more ill-matched. After a deadly conflict thrusts these enemies together, each is determined to fight their desires and triumph over the other. Who will ultimately control the other’s heart? 

But Decimus and Luciana are not the only ones on the hunt for supremacy; a desperate struggle over the province is beginning to simmer to a boil. There are whispers of mysterious Druids fomenting unrest among the western British tribes, whose inter-tribal divisions threaten to subsume them. The future of the Roman legions in the province is suddenly thrown into doubt as casualties begin to mount. Decimus and Luciana find themselves entangled within a web of characters, Briton and Roman, playing with Britannia’s destiny to serve their own ends. 

The hunt for power is on, where only one side can emerge triumphant. But just who among these hunters will end up hunted?

Excerpt

Cassia watched the water of the Sabrina rippling before her. She stood on the bank, fists clenched, concentrating on the spot where the river had swallowed her angry offering.

‘Are you happy now?! Are you happy?! I don’t want it anymore!’ Angry tears flowed down the rivulets they’d carved into her painted cheeks. ‘Not at your price!’

She panted, staring bleakly up into the silent trees looming on the opposite bank. She’d wandered downriver for quite a stretch, making sure she was far enough away from the vicus and its shallow wharves for nobody to see or hear her. The relative seclusion of the overgrown bank she’d chosen received and deadened her cries.

Cassia clutched at the palla wrapped about her head and sank down into the stiff, broken reeds. She watched the water burble past her feet, offering no acknowledgement of her presence or, indeed, her gift.

Her fingers numbly curled around the thick rushes and snatched them up from the earth. With an anguished shriek, she threw the reeds into the water as well and watched them swirl away with the current. ‘And don’t expect any sort of dedication, either! You can’t bring him back, so you’re lucky that’s all you get!’

A wood pigeon cooed from the shadows of the treeline. Cassia looked up, shoulders heaving, searching the cloudy sky. She didn’t know what British deities might have attached themselves to this river; she knew that the natives both here and in Germania felt the need to sacrifice items of high value to their bodies of water, so there must be something here. When it came to Roman gods, she wasn’t sure if they could even hear her at all in this heathen wasteland. If the Fates could hear her now, she was sure they’d be cackling.

She sighed and dropped her head into her hands. Her palla slipped from around her shoulders and collapsed in the reeds behind her. Ultimately, it didn’t matter if any gods, British or Roman, heard her or not. Cato wasn’t coming back. He was gone. Forever. Her only brother, her only sibling, the only person who shared a bond forged from the very beginning of their respective lives with her.

Her only family, gone.

She drew her knees up against her chest and furiously wiped her tears against the cotton folds of her toga. A pang of remorse tore through her as she rested her quivering chin upon her knees and studied the muddy brown currents. It had been foolhardy of her to throw it in the river; it wasn’t going to change anything for Cato, and it might have successfully…

No. It was too late. It belonged to the barbarian river gods now. Best not to think about it.

She sniffed, considering her bleak fate. She was all alone in this world now. Her sole remaining bond was with Decimus, a man so insensitive to love he’d failed to see in the last twenty years how deeply she’d always cared for him.

‘You could at least give me that much,’ she mumbled to the river. ‘If you can’t give me back Cato, at least let me have Decimus. And I don’t mean physically, either.’

She scowled, folding further into herself. She had been his very first, the person who’d initiated him into the world of sexual fulfilment. It was just her luck that he’d learned to treat it as coldly and clinically as she herself had been forced to.

‘It never meant nothing to me,’ she whispered into her tunic. ‘Never with him. Not ever.’

And Cassia had bedded Decimus plenty since that first time. A grim smile pulled at the corners of her mouth as she remembered following him to the Rhenus valley, setting herself up as Charis’s star attraction in the canaba of army followers. She’d witnessed her dear friend take his first steps into battle and celebrated gleefully upon his safe return. He’d come to her after being blooded from his first successful hunt, still brimming with manly pride. She’d oiled his sore chest after his promotion to the centurionate and its attendant rites, and again after he’d withstood the initiation into his mysterious cult of Mithras. She’d laughed with him over the ineptitude of his fellow legionaries and delighted in his wry impressions of the officers. She’d succoured him in loss. She’d dutifully brought and fed broth to him on his sickbed. He’d shared his confidences with her and they had mutually commiserated over the state of German food, sweltering German summers, and the horrific guttural tongue of the savage Germanic peoples. Then, she’d had to swiftly return to Rome to attend to family matters…

…And when she’d reunited with Decimus two years later, it was in a place somehow even worse than Germania: Manduessedum.

She drew in a shuddering sigh, casting her mind back over the years to when she’d first sighted the centurion in Britannia. He’d changed, oh, how he’d changed! Gone was the gentle light with which he’d always spoken to her; gone was his charm and sense of humour; gone was his companionable chatter. He was cold. He was brusque. He was disfigured with horrific scars he’d earned in the invasion. Even on the rare occasion when he’d felt the need to visit her bed, his loveless lovemaking had become crueller. And, worst of all, he remained emotionally closed to her. Her, his dearest friend!

Cassia sniffed, mouth curled down into its customary pout. Britannia had stripped Decimus of any remaining vestiges of youth and happiness. And she hated the place for it.

Perhaps this dreaded isle was cursed. It had certainly brought her nothing but misery.

‘Give him back,’ she intoned to whatever water spirits might be listening, ‘whoever you are, whatever you are called, preserve us and tolerate us both on your shores for just six seasons more, then I promise we will leave and never trouble you again. Let us leave and release your hold upon him. Give me back the Decimus you took.’

She lurched slowly onto her feet, brushing the reeds from her toga. Charis’s business would be heating up shortly and Cassia would catch it from the madam if she wasn’t ready to ply her services at the moment when every other younger, prettier prostitute was already occupied. She set her narrow shoulders and readjusted the drape of her toga over her tunic. 

Before leaving, she leant over the bank and peered into the water. Her reflection rearranged itself into her brother’s freckled face and she choked on her grief once more. 

‘It’s the least you can do for me now!’

Doesn't this excerpt make you want to read the rest of the book? I know, I do. You can grab your copy and find out what happens next over on Amazon! 

A. M. Swink

A native of Dayton, Ohio, A.M. Swink grew up obsessed with two things: books and horses. After a childhood of reading, writing, showing, and riding, she moved to Lexington, Kentucky to complete a degree in equine science and management and a degree in English literary studies. She now works in Lexington as a college professor of reading and writing. In her spare time, she has travelled extensively around the UK and Ireland, exploring ancient sites and artefacts, as well as tracing her own ancestry. She is proud to be descended from County Cork’s Callaghan clan.

When not writing, she can be found collecting and showing model horses or enjoying her favourite British comedy programmes.

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On tour with The Coffee Pot Book Club — The Witch of the Breton Woods by Jennifer Ivy Walker #HistoricalFiction #HistoricalRomance #FrenchResistance #Brittany #BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub @bohemienneivy @cathiedunn

 Would you look at that - another fabulous historical fiction novel to add to your to-read list! Scroll down to find out more! 

The Witch of the Breton Woods

By Jennifer Ivy Walker

Traumatized by horrors witnessed during the Nazi invasion of France, a young woman retreats to the dense Breton woods where she becomes a member of the clandestine French Resistance. When she finds a critically injured American paratrooper whose plane was shot down, she shelters the wounded soldier in her secluded cottage, determined to heal him despite the enormous risk.

Ostracized by villagers who have labeled her a witch, she is betrayed by an informant who reports to the Butcher—the monstrous leader of the local paramilitary organization that collaborates with the Germans. As the enemy closes in, she must elude the Gestapo while helping the Resistance reunite the American with his regiment and join the Allied Forces in the Battle of Brittany.

Can true love triumph against all odds under the oppressive Third Reich?

I don't know about you but I have added this book to my to-read list. You can find your copy over on Amazon.

Jennifer Ivy Walker 

Jennifer Ivy Walker has an MA in French literature and is a former high school teacher and professor of French at a state college in Florida.  Her novels encompass a love for French language, literature, history, and culture, incorporating her lifelong study, summers abroad, and many trips to France.

The Witch of the Breton Woods is heart-pounding suspense set during WWII in Nazi-occupied France, where a young woman in the French Resistance shelters and heals a wounded American soldier, hiding him from the Gestapo and the monstrous Butcher who are relentlessly hunting him.

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Book Review - The Harbour Master's Daughter by Tania Crosse, Narrated by Emma Powell

I have just finished another fabulous book. Scroll down to check out my review of The Harbour Master's Daughter.

The Harbour Master's Daughter
By Tania Crosse
Narrated by Emma Powell 

Devon, 1867

Free-spirited Rebecca Westbrook recognises her perfect match when she sees him. His name is Captain Adam Bradley.

She is the harbour master’s daughter.

He is smouldering and sophisticated - the most eligible captain ever to sail into the quay.

Anyone can see it’s meant to be. But Rebecca is anything but charmed. Her heart belongs to Tom Mason, a lowly cooper she’s known forever.

Her father doubts Tom's ability to provide securely for her. But Tom has a plan to prove him wrong. And until then, passionate Rebecca refuses to wait to be with him.

But fate has other plans.

Tragedy strikes, shattering the couple’s dreams of a life together. Vulnerable and alone, how will Rebecca survive without her soulmate?

With the threat of bringing shame on herself and her family nipping at her heels, Rebecca can see only one way out. Is she strong enough to take it?

What an enthralling adventure I have just been on. The Harbour Master’s Daughter is, unsurprisingly, about the harbour master’s daughter - the clue is in the title. Despite her father wishing her to wed the handsome Captain, Rebecca has given her heart to Tom. These two young love birds have to wait until Tom has earned enough to give Rebecca a decent standard of living, as her father will not let her marry him until he does. But then tragedy strikes and Rebecca is forced to reconsider her choices - maybe being married to the Captain is not such a bad idea after all.

Stop the press and listen up - if you enjoy Catherine Cookson / Poldark type novels, then this book has to be on your read list. There are enough twists and turns that this story never lags. If anything, the more things that happen, the more the plot seems to speed up. The characters are beautifully portrayed, and the story is really quite brilliant, actually.

There is an evil antagonist in this novel - there always has to be one family member that has to be a total ass. The author also addresses subjects such as death, miscarriage and injury, but she dose so in a very delicate way.

I listen to this book on audio and I thought Emma Powell really gave life to the characters and the story. It is only a mere 11.17 hours on audio, but it really did not feel that long.

I loved this book, and I know you will too. It is a five star from me.

I listened to this book on audio, but it is also available on Kindle, paperback and hardback. It is also available to read with #kindleunlimited. so what are you waiting for? Head over to Amazon now! 

Tania Crosse

Tania is absolutely thrilled and honoured that Book Two of her Banbury Street series, THE STREET OF BROKEN DREAMS, won the prestigious SAGA OF THE YEAR award 2020!

Tania was born in London and lived in Banbury Street, Battersea, which is the setting for her two London titles. However, at a very young age the family moved to Surrey where Tania's love of the countryside took root. She always enjoyed reading and has composed stories ever since she could hold a pen. After studying French Literature at university, she devoted twenty years to bringing up her family. But her passion for writing never left her, and side by side with her in-depth research into Victorian social history, she began to pen her novels in earnest as her family grew up.

When Tania discovered Morwellham Quay, the restored Victorian copper port in Devon, she fell in love with this magical place and felt a spiritual compulsion to create a story that would illustrate life there in times gone by. This led to the publication of her debut novel, 'Morwellham's Child', recently republished as The Harbour Master's Daughter, and now Tania has fourteen published titles with which to thrill her readers.

Tania has now written an entire series of novels illustrating the rich history of Tavistock and the surrounding area of Dartmoor from Victorian times to the 1950's. Having completed a series of Twentieth Century stories set in London and the south east, she has now returned to Devon for her future novels. She draws very much on her own experiences of life to create her books. She hates being catagorised as a writer of historical romance. The history comes first, she insists, and the human tales develop from her research. The characters lead harsh, demanding lives and their stories are often cruel and harrowing.

Tania has been happily married for fifty years and claims she would never have achieved her success without her husband's support. They have three grown up children, two grandchildren and three grand-dogs!

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On tour with The Coffee Pot Book Club — Try Before You Trust: To All Gentlewomen and Other Maids in Love by Constance Briones #HistoricalFiction #BiographicalFiction #LiteraryFiction #BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub

What if Taylor Swift found herself penning songs about love in Elizabethan England when women were required to be chaste, obedient, and silent? 

Now, there's a question! Scroll down and check out Constance Briones fandabidoz new book!

Try Before You Trust: To All Gentlewomen and Other Maids in Love 
By Constance Briones

Isabella Whitney, an ambitious and daring eighteen-year-old maidservant turned poet, sets out to do just that. Having risked reputation and virtue by allowing her passions for her employer's aristocratic nephew to get the better of her, Isabella Whitney enters the fray of the pamphlet wars, a scurrilous debate on the merits of women.

She's determined to make her mark by becoming the first woman to write a poem defending women in love, highlighting the deceptive practices of the men who woo them. Her journey to publication is fraught with challenges as she navigates through the male-dominated literary world and the harsh realities of life in sixteenth-century London for a single woman.

Loosely based on the life of Elizabethan poet Isabella Whitney, this is a compelling tale of a young woman's resilience and determination to challenge the status quo and leave her mark in a world that was not ready for her.

Excerpt

On a brisk September morn in the ninth year of Queen Elizabeth’s reign, I arrived at the Bramwell House, the London estate of Lady Bramwell, a widowed baroness and my new mistress. The fiery hue of the red brick facade made the house seem indestructible as it stood bold and vibrant in the late morning sunlight on the bank of the Thames. I counted eight chimney stacks and forty mullioned windows with diamond-shaped glass and mused whether I would find friend or foe within.

As I gazed at the gables and corner turrets, my sisters’ sweet laughter reverberated in the cool breeze that swept across my cheeks. How they twirled and giggled with delight when my mother promised that, like me, when they reach the age of eighteen, they too will venture from home to work for a grand lady, acquiring superior housewifery skills that would help them snag a well-bred gentleman.

If you are anything like me then I am going to be heading over to my favourite online book store - Amazon.

Constance Briones

Constance Briones has a Master's in Woman's History, which informs her writing.

She first learned about the subject of her debut historical fiction novel, the sixteenth-century English poet Isabella Whitney, while doing research for her thesis on literacy and women in Tudor England. Isabella Whitney's gusty personality to defy the conventions of her day, both in her thinking and actions, impressed Constance enough to imagine that she would make a very engaging literary heroine.

As a writer, Constance is interested in highlighting the little-known stories of women in history. She is a contributing writer to Historical Times, an online magazine. When not writing, she lends her time as an educational docent for her town's historical society.

She contently lives in Connecticut with her husband and Maine coon sibling cats, Thor and Percy.

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