We are past Halloween and Bonfire Night, and thoughts and the season are turning towards Christmas. Christmas was the longest holiday of the year in the medieval period described in my novels and the winter is a great time to cosy up with a book. If you have a historical fiction fan on your Christmas…
Tag: medieval Wales
Christmas Presents for History Fiction Fans
Got someone on your Christmas list who is into history and historical fiction, medieval murders, medieval ladies in Wales, France, Spain? Look no further. My Christmas Bookshop makes those Christmas presents easy. You can order a beautiful hardback or an unputdownable paperback and get it sent anywhere in the UK or the US direct from…
Viking Hostage
My latest France’s Splendid Centuries post focuses on Emma of Limoges who was kidnapped by Vikings. https://www.facebook.com/FrancesSplendidCenturies/posts/pfbid022ARv2yicRUwt3SJQMQRqTyPR6GAywLjVKMxoqLaQLQokjBcoU2DmLwBTtuBPbHg9l
A Medieval Heroine in Cardiff
My trilogy of novels on Nest ferch Rhys has just arrived in stock at Book Space bookshop in Cardiff. Book Space opened last year. The owner, Lily Baron, lived in the Shakespeare and Company Bookshop in Paris for a while (see my post https://shepherd.com/best-books/in-idiosyncratic-bookshops-and-lovely-libraries), worked in a bookshop in Bristol, and built the Book Space…
Christmas recipes and scenes
In case you missed these posts last year, I’m resharing. Each one has a Christmas scene from one of my novels and a medieval recipe. Happy Christmas! https://traceywarr.substack.com/p/medieval-christmas https://traceywarr.substack.com/p/medieval-christmas-2 https://traceywarr.substack.com/p/medieval-christmas-3
Curling up with a book at Christmas
It’s December! Deck the halls with boughs of holly. Tra la la la la, la la la la. Curling up with a book in the winter holidays, perhaps in front of a logfire and the glinting Christmas tree, and/or in your Christmas jumper and socks, or with a glass of port – whatever appeals to…
Competition for Book Reviewers
Many of us don’t get around to posting reviews of the books we’ve enjoyed. It takes a bit of time to craft a well-worded review, but we writers are very grateful for the ones we do receive and even those with critiques can be very helpful for us. As a book reviewer myself (mostly for Historical…
On a Viking trouser-snake
I’ve a crick in my neck, And tend to fall on my head, My trouser-snake is soft, And my hearing’s gone away. The extract above is from Judith Jesch’s translation of a lament on old age by the 10th century Viking skald (or poet) Egil Skallagrimsson. The image is a 19th century French painting by…
The Viking Hostage – Publication Day
Very excited to announce the publication today of the new edition of The Viking Hostage. The novel is based on the true story of a French viscountess who was kidnapped by Vikings from a monastery on the French coast in the late 10th century. She was held for ransom for three years. Vikings are endlessly…
Gwenllian – Welsh Warrior Queen
A guest post on my novel, The Anarchy, and the story of Gwenllian, the 12th-century Welsh woman who led an army against the Normans at Kidwelly Castle is posted today on Tony Riches’ The Writing Desk. Gwenllian was the daughter of the king of the northern kingdom of Wales, Gwynedd. She married the disinherited king…
