Crowvus Book Blog

 I've been talking a lot about my family saga this month, so here's a little excerpt from Beneath Black Clouds and White . Although I published this second, it comes first chronologically. I hope you enjoy it! Chapter Nine Persephone and Rosanna Fotherby wasted little time as Peters left him, but began walking in the direction of Mayfair. After arriving at the house of Sir Manfred Chester so late on the last two occasions he had been a house guest, he was determined to arrive at a civilised time. He reached the white fronted house in the late afternoon and paused at the steps, uncertain that he should presume to simply arrive there. He walked across the road, rebuking himself for his lack of etiquette. He still carried the card that Peters had given him and he wondered at what the address was. It was somewhere in Westminster, and he was on the point of returning into the city when he turned at the sound of his name. “Henry! You have come back to us. You must come in at once.” “...

There is a line in the remake of The Parent Trap  when the man (who owns a vineyard) is showing his former wife his collection of special wines: "I'm a man of limited interests". That is sort of like me with books! I have accumulated quite a few old books and it's not just because I love books. Our oldest complete book is the one above. It predates most of the settings for my books, the Jacobites, and the Great Fire of London. There is something very exciting about thinking about the different people who have read it over the years! I got it because it links in with one of our family's favourite books, The Children of Green Knowe . And then there are books which directly impact on my own writing. My sister bought me a first edition of Walter Scott's Ballads and Lyrical Pieces , a book which is gifted in my own story Day's Dying Glory . It is amazing to be able to hold the book, getting an idea of things beyond the words: the weight of the paper; the size o...

 What do you say when people ask you if you like poetry? It's one of those questions where a single word answer just does not work for most people. Like all artforms - writing included - poetry is hugely subjective. But, when you do  find a poem you love, it can be one of the most inspiring things of all. Blake's original plate for The Little Black Boy My family saga draws constantly from poetry. I love the poetry of the Romantics - Byron in particular - and their poetry weaves in and out of the books, right down to the titles:  Day's Dying Glory  (from Byron's  Lachin y Gair ); and Beneath Black Clouds and White  (from Blake's The Little Black Boy ). I'm someone whose writing style is rather sumptuous (or should that be: overindulgent?!), and these flowery poems of depth and flow serve to add to my inspiration and also find a common ground between me and my characters, for whom they are contemporaneous. The way we interact with words can say a great deal a...

     Today for #HistFicThursdays, I am delighted to be sharing a book excerpt from  R. W. Meek 's fabulous new book! I'm once again teaming up with  The Coffee Pot Book Club  to share a sample of the  The Dream Collector: Sabrine and Vincent van Gogh ! First of all, let's meet the book... Sabrine, hospitalized for five years at the infamous Salpêtrière Asylum for Women, gains her release due to intervention of her sister Julie Forette and a young Sigmund Freud. The reunited sisters are introduced to the dazzling art milieu of 1886 Paris, and soon become close friends to the leading Impressionists. Sabrine attracts a cult following as a poetess, the enigmatic "Haiku Princess." Seemingly cured by Freud of her Grand Hysteria, Sabrine soon enters into a tumultuous relationship with Vincent van Gogh. Julie and Sigmund Freud, alarmed by the eerie parallels between the emotionally volatile couple and their self-destructive impulses, begin an urgent search to ...

 For NaNoWriMo last year, I wrote a book called The Stonemason's Crown . This was in part inspired by a discovery I made whilst poring over a map. It was not an old map, but a map of old things using LiDAR technology. For Christmas, my sister got me a copy of that map, printed on metal and zoomed in on the very spot where my story was set. Maps give an amazing insight. Not only do they point out landmarks which are sometimes long gone and forgotten, they also show how people reacted with - and believed in - the world where they lived. Where would our imaginations be without etched sea serpents, or "Here Be Dragons" on the edges of these documents? Time was I would only read books which had a map in them. I've got a little bit more accepting now, but I still get a real buzz as a reader to find a beautiful map tucked into the opening pages of a book. My dad loves maps. Consequently, I have always found them fascinating. He has quite a collection, some which are hundreds...

Caledon has appeared many times. This story introduces Caledon's sixth incarnation... The Calling of Aonghas Caledon “There’s an evil abroad in the world,” croaked the minister from the front of the kirk. Aonghas heard him, but thought nothing of the words. He was not a covenanter. He was more inclined toward papist tendencies, but he had been employed as a bodyguard to Thomas Geddes, the man who now occupied the seat in front of him. And Aonghas went where the money was. He looked out the window and idly wondered what force would await them there. Surely, nothing could be as bad as Dalwhinnie. Men had lined up there, women too, with torches and farming implements to attack the small band of covenanters as they left the church. There had been a small skirmish, but no one had been killed. Aonghas and John had got Thomas Geddes to safety, and the pious man had continued northward. But the deeper they passed into the Highlands, the more tenacious the crowds became. Dornoch had been a ...

   This week for #HistFicThursdays, I'm delighted to once again be teaming up with  The Coffee Pot Book Club  for author  Gail Ward Olmsted 's blog tour! Today, I'm sharing an excerpt from her fabulous brand new release, Katharine's Remarkable Road Trip ! First of all, let's meet the book... In the fall of 1907, Katharine decides to drive from Newport, Rhode Island, to her home in Jackson, New Hampshire. Despite the concerns of her family and friends, that at the age of 77 she lacks the stamina for the nearly 300-mile journey, Katharine sets out alone. Over the next six days, she receives a marriage proposal, pulls an all-nighter, saves a life or two, crashes a high-society event, meets a kindred spirit, faces a former rival, makes a new friend, takes a stroll with a future movie mogul, advises a troubled newlywed, and reflects upon a life well lived; her own!  Join her as she embarks upon her remarkable road trip. Katharine Prescott Wormeley (1830-190...