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...
After the loss of NaNoWriMo, it did not take the Crowvus writers long to realise how much we relied on this structured routine for our writing. For me, November had become the only time I was guaranteed to do creative writing. In fact - if truth be told - I've done very little at any other point of the year. Consequently, we decided to adapt to our own interpretation: Cro(w)NoWriMo - the W is in brackets because there was some discrepancy over whether or not it should be in there. The rules were simple: Write. As November went on, the end goal changed slightly for each writer. Was it 50,000 words? Was it to write every day? Was it to write an entire book? For me, it was about finishing a book. I haven't finished an historical fiction book in ages - though I've started plenty! Now, with four more writing days left on the clock and into the final chapter, I might finally be able to lay the ghost. The story I returned to was Poisoned Pilgrimage , the book I began as a submiss...