Let us Talk of Many Things; of Books and Queens and Pirates, of Mystery and Kings...

Wednesday, 17 June 2026

LET'S CELEBRATE! PUBLISHED TODAY!

e-book & paperback from Amazon

https://mybook.to/COURAGE-Anthology

or order from any good bookstore

CELEBRATE WITH US!

support the Coffee Pot Book Tour

one day splash

trailer/animation by Jean Gill (A.I. generated)

cover graphics by www.avalongraphics.org

The Tour

our fantastic hosts

(one of the biggest Coffee Pot Tours ever!)

(some stories have an adult content others a 'you will need tissues' warning)

Fifteen short stories about Courage

featuring authors:

Alison Morton

The Sentry - Noricum AD 395

Derek Birks

The Saxon - Southern Britain AD 471

Marian L Thorpe

The Phoenix - a fictional country circa AD 900

Judith Arnopp

Siflede - London 1066

Annie Whitehead

Daisy Chain - England 1141

Anna Belfrage

Stepping Between - England 1308

Carolyn Hughes

Confronting Plague - England 1361

Patricia Furstenberg

Kate’s Letter - Transylvania 1478

Amy Maroney

The Portrait’s Secret - Paris 1536

Jean Gill

Legacy - England 1558

Cathie Dunn

Darkness Rising - Venezia 1923

Helen Hollick

A Taleteller’s Tale - The Caribbean 1709

Elizabeth St.John

The Gate - London 1900

Antoine Vanner

A Sack of Potatoes - The Netherlands 1954

Kathy Hollick-Bater

Grumpy Old Grandfather – Anywhere, Present-day

with an introduction by Lorna Fergusson

BUY LINKS:
Amazon US ~ Amazon UK

"One Morning in Provence by Lorna Fergusson unfolds not as a single journey, but as a series of moments — glimpses, really — where lives tilt, however slightly, toward revelation. Her Provence is not merely a setting but a quiet conspirator..." Patricia Ferstenburg

https://alluringcreations.co.za/wp/one-morning-in-provence-by-lorna-fergusson-when-you-need-to-choose-change/#comment-18411

Lorna Fergusson is an award-winning short story writer and novelist. Founder of Fictionfire Literary Consultancy, she is an experienced editor, speaker and writing coach, and has taught on various Oxford University writing programmes for over twenty years. Her latest book is ‘One Morning in Provence’, a collection of short stories set in France. She has won an Ian St James Award and the Historical Novel Society’s Short Story Award, as well as being shortlisted for the Bridport Prize, Pan Macmillan’s Write Now Prize for children’s fiction, the Mogford Prize (twice) and the Historical Novel Society’s First Chapters prize.

website: https://www.lornafergusson.com/

e-book & paperback from Amazon

https://mybook.to/COURAGE-Anthology

or order from any good bookstore

A thank you from the authors

more great anthologies
featuring various authors
https://viewauthor.at/HelenHollick

< Previous Post
> Next spotlight tomorrow: Patricia Furstenberg

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You might also like books written by

Helen Hollick

cosy mystery series

nautical supernatural adventure

historical fiction:

King Arthur / 1066 era

non-fiction:

Ghost Encounters

Pirates /smugglers

Amazon Author Page:

https://viewauthor.at/HelenHollick

or website:

https://blog.helenhollick.net/

Say thank you...

leave a comment on Amazon or Goodreads etc

Tuesday, 16 June 2026

COMING VERY SOON: Carolyn Hughes- COURAGE: Tales of History, Mystery and Hope

publication date: 17th June 2026

e-book pre-order

https://mybook.to/COURAGE-Anthology

(paperback also 17th June)

Today we feature

Carolyn Hughes

Confronting Plague by Carolyn Hughes

England, 1361

When courage must survive in the face of history’s cruellest plague...

trailer/animation by Jean Gill (A.I. generated)

cover graphics by www.avalongraphics.org

(some stories have an adult content others a 'you will need tissues' warning)

Fifteen short stories about Courage

featuring authors:

Alison Morton

The Sentry - Noricum AD 395

Derek Birks

The Saxon - Southern Britain AD 471

Marian L Thorpe

The Phoenix - a fictional country circa AD 900

Judith Arnopp

Siflede - London 1066

Annie Whitehead

Daisy Chain - England 1141

Anna Belfrage

Stepping Between - England 1308

Carolyn Hughes

Confronting Plague - England 1361

Patricia Furstenberg

Kate’s Letter - Transylvania 1478

Amy Maroney

The Portrait’s Secret - Paris 1536

Jean Gill

Legacy - England 1558

Cathie Dunn

Darkness Rising - Venezia 1923

Helen Hollick

A Taleteller’s Tale - The Caribbean 1709

Elizabeth St.John

The Gate - London 1900

Antoine Vanner

A Sack of Potatoes - The Netherlands 1954

Kathy Hollick-Bater

Grumpy Old Grandfather – Anywhere, Present-day

About Carolyn's story

Confronting Plague - England, 1361

My series of historical novels, THE MEONBRIDGE CHRONICLES, is set in the middle of the fourteenth century. Plague features in two of the books: Book 1, Fortune’s Wheel, which is set in the immediate aftermath of what we call The Black Death (1349-50), and Book 4, Children’s Fate, in which plague returns (1361). This second occurrence of the disease was thought of as the “Children’s Plague”, because many of the victims were very young. Why isn’t clear but, perhaps, as the children weren’t born at the time of the earlier outbreak, they didn’t have the immunity that folk, including their parents, who survived it might have acquired.

My story for the COURAGE anthology, Confronting Plague, is a reworking of the plague aspect of Book 4. I thought it demonstrated well the courage that people, young and old, had to muster in order to face their fear and incomprehension of plague.

Of course, in the fourteenth century, death was everyday – illnesses were mostly incurable, accidents commonplace. Medieval people often ascribed every disaster, be it the loss of a child, dead cows, a bad harvest, or the failure of the butter to churn, either to God’s will or the Devil’s work. If a particular disaster was “God’s will”, the reason for His anger might be people’s sin, and the disaster His punishment – which was what priests told their congregations. But I’ve often thought many people must have wondered which of their sins could be so terrible that God would want to punish them, and especially their children, so severely?

When I was still writing Children’s Fate (2020), the world was plunged into chaos by the coronavirus, COVID-19. The way the coronavirus spread apparently so fast and so easily was frightening. But, in 2020, doctors and scientists did at least know what coronavirus was (they understood the nature of viruses), how it spread (for example, coughing), had some idea of how to mitigate it (for example, isolation), had a way of testing for the disease and toiled to find a vaccination.

But medieval people of course understood neither the “what” nor the “how” of plague, nor did they have any clear idea of treatment, let alone cure. Mightn’t their very ignorance have made them more afraid? At any rate, it seems to me they had to muster extraordinary courage to confront it and endure.

About Carolyn:

Carolyn Hughes is a writer of The Meonbridge Chronicles series, historical fiction set in fourteenth century England. The first Chronicle, Fortune’s Wheel, is set in the immediate aftermath of what we call The Black Death. Times of social change are always fascinating, and trying to depict the great upheaval in society brought about by the plague was the inspiration for the book. In the subsequent novels, Carolyn has sought to reveal the lives of mostly ordinary medieval folk through stories that tell of experiences especially pertinent to the time but which also resonate today. The stories focus particularly on the lives of women, if only because women in history often have not had much opportunity to “speak”.

There are now eight books in the series. More will follow.

Fortune’s Wheel,
the First Meonbridge Chronicle

Website: www.carolynhughesauthor.com.

Amazon series: https://mybook.to/MhkUql

read a snippet

Confronting Plague by Carolyn Hughes

England, 1361

When courage must survive in the face of history’s cruellest plague

In June 1361, plague returned to England. Mariota, who survived what we now call The Black Death of 1349-50, must summon her courage to face the horror of what she knows very likely lies ahead. Young Betha, who wasn’t born eleven years ago, but now witnesses the terror first hand, must find unfamiliar, untested, courage, believing it her duty to support her family.

Betha was at the far end of the garden, feeding the chickens, when someone called out to her from the other side of the wattle fence that separated their garden from that of their neighbour, Thomas, the village carpenter. She looked up, and saw his mother, Mariota, smiling at her.

‘Good morning, Betha,’ said Mariota, her pale eyes twinkling. ‘Your flock is looking very fine.’

Betha dropped a slight curtsey and thanked her. ‘Ma’s very fond of them,’ she said. ‘Are you visiting your family today?’

publication date: 17th June 2026

e-book pre-order

https://mybook.to/COURAGE-Anthology

great anthologies
featuring various authors
https://viewauthor.at/HelenHollick

< Previous Post
> Next spotlight tomorrow: Celebrating Publication Day!
(and an introduction by Lorna Fergusson)