Today's #HistFicThursdays blog is a brilliant interview with Susan Appleyard , as part of her Yarde Book Promotion tour! I was very excited to be a part of this tour as Susan is a fellow member of the Historical Writers' Forum , too. Read on to find out about her influences, inspirations, and the thrilling story readers can expect to share in with Escape of the Grand Duchess . But first, let's meet the book... Blurb Escape of the Grand Duchess by Susan Appleyard is a gripping historical novel that shatters the notion that royalty is synonymous with privilege and ease. At its heart is Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna, the youngest sister of Tsar Nicholas II—a Romanov who defied a doomed destiny and survived. Unlike her ill-fated brother and his family, Olga’s story is one of resilience, sacrifice, and daring escape. Trapped in a loveless marriage to a reckless gambler—who harbours secrets of his own—she finds hope in the arms of a dashing army lieutenant. But be...
What a weekend it has been! The 1st John o' Groats Book Festival has been in the pipeline for a long time, and it certainly lived up to expectations.
It started with a bang on Friday. A cartographer was launching her new set of Northern Scotland maps. Sadly, I was at work during this event but I've heard great things about it from people who were there. The cartographer's name is Val Fry and the publisher is Nicolson.
The first event I could attend was on the Friday evening when the authors were introduced, including 8 fabulous local authors who each had a 10 minute slot. It was great to see one of the organisers, Ian Leith, start the evening by showing his books.
The next author was Virginia Crow, published by Crowvus, who started her talk by showing the Day's Dying Glory book trailer which had people sitting on the edge of their seats.
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| Virginia Crow, author of Day's Dying Glory |
Dorothy Stewart (her books can be purchased here)
Meg Macleod
Sharon Pottinger
Laura Morgan
Margaret Mackay
Catherine Byrne
Please browse around the links above to look at the author's selling pages, or blogs.
I will write an individual article about the four main authors - Theresa Breslin, Christopher Brookmyre, Andrew Greig and James Hunter - throughout this week.


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