21st December : The One Day Blog Hop

it is 21st December...
     Midwinter...

          and the day of... The Blog Hop!

image designed by www.avalongraphics

Celebrating The Winter Solstice 
December 21st 2013 - longest night
(unless you are in the southern hemisphere, in which case, it will be longest day!)

31 fabulous authors are lined up with a host of different articles on their blogs – so read on below, and when you are finished ‘hop’ to the next blog, where I hope you will enjoy another good read –  then ‘hop’ to the next blog…. and so on.

Here's my contribution...

I thought I would write about an issue which often darkens a writer’s confidence. The matter of the Bad Review. (Don’t worry, this isn’t a rant against those bah-humbug people who insist on rubbishing good books.)

No author minds constructive criticism. If something is genuinely amiss, that is. In fact we also don’t mind (too much) if someone puts a comment on Amazon or Goodreads et al which goes something like: “this book wasn’t quite my sort of thing,.” Fair enough, we don’t all share the same tastes.

But there really are some dark-minded “reviewers” out there!

General opinion is that it is not a good idea to respond to a bad comment. It often results in attracting in the trolls, and leads to tears before bedtime, with someone chucking all their teddies out the cot or stomping round with an aggrieved pout. It is better to remain silent and dignified. But that can be hard sometimes… so I thought I would take a light-hearted look at a few of the darker reviews by making up some tongue-in-cheek responses - the sort of thing that most of us would love to post as a reply.

The reviews below are selected at random entirely from 1* star comments  – no names or titles involved, unless the book is a classic.

#1 “This historical book was so boring. It had no plot or story. I stopped reading it.”

Reply : Well, no. It is non-fiction.

#2 “I chose this rating because there is not one lower. i reported yesterday that this package did not contain the book I ordered; It did not in fact contain any book at all. The package was empty. You have not had the decency to reply, so I can only assume that Amazon are content to take my money under false pretenses. I believe I have been a good customer over the years and I feel that I am being treated very shabbily.”

Reply : You therefore decide to treat the author of this novel shabbily in return? Thanks a bunch mate!

#3 “The most dis-connected and rambling rubbish I have ever read. Finally managed to read all 7 books in the series and after 2 books became quite annoyed at the authors inability to connect the dots. Rubbish

Reply : But you still managed to read all seven books?

#4 “My father's novel with the same title (author’s name added here) was published in 1962. It was so much superior in style and content as to render the appropriation of the title by a recent author an impertinence.”

Reply : What a superb way of doing some marketing! Buy a book, rate it 1 star and advertise a different book! If it wasn’t for the impertinence I’d maybe adopt this idea myself.

#5 “I bought this book but didn’t have time to read it.”

Reply : I read your comment but didn’t buy your excuse for leaving a 1 star comment…. 

(why comment if you didn’t read it?)

#6 “It was confusing and weird beyond words, I bet if Yoda read this book he could decipher it, or better yet if Yoda wrote a book I would understand it better than this....... I couldn't really understand the plot, but hey I got an A…”

Reply : This review was about one of Shakespeare’s plays … and the reviewer got an A…?????

#7 “I should not be rating this. I have not read this book, I will not read this book, I, alone, utterly condemn this book as well as its author. Nor do I, have I ever, or will ever drive a car. I am unlicensed."

Reply : Bit of a head scratcher this one. Something tells me this person has a grudge against the author – ah I see! Maybe the author accused him or her of stealing a car… or something.

#8 “The themes and some of the events in this book were good but the way it was written made the book unenjoyable for me. I found that the way the book was written made it this way for others as well. I don’t think this is just a coincidence. If the book was written differently I probably would have found it enjoyable.”

Reply : Yes, but if it was written differently it would be a different book wouldn’t it?

#9  “I bought this book, and was disappointed to find that it doesn't contain any pics! Now I'm not sure it actually happened.”

Reply : the book is the Bible dear, not sure pics would help you here.

#10 “This book isn’t as good as Harry Potter in MY opinion.”

Reply : Comparing Orwell’s 1984 with Harry Potter…. Words fail.

#11 “The only good thing to say about this drivel is that the person responsible has been dead for quite some time now. Let us pray to God she stays that way.”

Reply : I expect that can be arranged.

#12 “This book is like an ungrateful girlfriend. You do your best to understand her and get nothing back in return.”

Reply : I guess you’ve not met the right girl yet.

#13 “All in all its revolting. To make it even worse i was eating a Tika Masala while reading some of the graphic parts , rest assured it came back up in a hurry. The author appears to be a vicious man hater and this worries me more than Gaddafi ever did.”

Reply : moral of the story – don’t read at the dinner table.

#14 “I didn’t think much of this book. It was all about dead people. “

Reply : you usually find that this is the case with historical fiction.

#15 I’ve left this comment until last – it is a hoot!   The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe -

“I bought these books to have something nice to read to my grandkids. I had to stop, however, because the books are nothing more than advertisements for “Turkish Delight,” a candy popular in the U.K. The whole point of buying books for my grandkids was to give them a break from advertising, and here (throughout) are ads for this “Turkish Delight”! 

How much money is this Mr. Lewis getting from the Cadbury’s chocolate company anyway? This man must be laughing all the way to the bank.”

Reply : but I like Turkish delight…. :-/

Hope you had a giggle!

you are more than welcome to leave a comment below

(good, bad, indifferent or funny)

(see all my books at www.helenhollick.net)

…  now onward to the next Blog….

1. Helen Hollick : A little light relief concerning those dark reviews!
2. Prue Batten : Casting Light....
3. Alison Morton ‎ : Shedding light on the Roman dusk 
4. Anna Belfrage  : Let there be light!
5. Beth Elliott : Steering by the Stars. Stratford Canning in Constantinople, 1810/12
6. Melanie Spiller : Lux Aeterna, the chant of eternal light
7. Janet Reedman   The Winter Solstice Monuments
8. Petrea Burchard  : Darkness - how did people of the past cope with the dark?
9. Richard Denning : The Darkest Years of the Dark Ages: what do we really know?
10. Pauline Barclay  : Shedding Light on a Traditional Pie
11. David Ebsworth : Propaganda in the Spanish Civil War
12. David Pilling  :  Greek Fire -  Plus a Giveaway Prize!
13. Debbie Young : Fear of the Dark
14. Derek Birks  : Lies, Damned Lies and … Chronicles
15. Mark Patton : Casting Light on Saturnalia
16. Tim Hodkinson : Soltice@Newgrange
17. Wendy Percival  : Ancestors in the Spotlight
18. Judy Ridgley : Santa and his elves  Plus a Giveaway Prize
19. Suzanne McLeod  : The Dark of the Moon
20. Katherine Bone   : Admiral Nelson, A Light in Dark Times
21. Christina Courtenay : The Darkest Night of the Year
22. Edward James  : The secret life of Christopher Columbus; Which Way to Paradise?
23. Janis Pegrum Smith  : Into The Light - A Short Story
24. Julian Stockwin  : Ghost Ships
25. Manda Scott : Dark into Light - Mithras, and the older gods
26. Pat Bracewell Anglo-Saxon Art: Splendor in the Dark
27. Lucienne Boyce : We will have a fire - 18th Century protests against enclosure
28. Nicole Evelina What Lurks Beneath Glastonbury Abbey? 
29. Sky Purington  :  How the Celts Cast Light on Current American Christmas Traditions
30. Stuart MacAllister (Sir Read A Lot) : The Darkness of Depression

Thank you for visiting my blog - wishing you light and laughter for the Winter Solstice!

competition winners: everyone leaving a comment was entered into a prize draw for one of my books: I decided to offer TWO books though and the winners were
Marsha Lambert and Manda Scott.

Who's There? Tuesday Talk

Saturday 23rd November 2013 was the 50th anniversary of Dr Who. Like many others I clearly remember the very first episode. I was ten, and no, that first episode I didn't hide behind the settee (that came in a later storyline - read on....)

For some reason that first episode, starring William Hartnell must have struck a chord of some
sort - I had never been interested in science-fiction, or even fantasy before. I was very much into ponies and Cliff Richard at ten years old.

We had a black and white TV in the corner of the sitting room. And I remember the line that 'hooked' me. Maybe not word for word but it went something like this (all from memory - not looked up!)...
A young girl, Susan, was at school. I can't remember the male teacher's name, but the woman was Barbara.  The teacher was talking about the three dimensions and Susan said "But what about the fourth - time?" (or she might have said 'space'?) I can't remember the detail but I do remember a chill of excitement zinging down my spine - the whole thing suddenly opening up in my imagination like a door suddenly unlocked.

I think I watched most of those early episodes - the alien monster that sent me scuttling for cover was not a Dalek or Cyberman or Zygon... no idea what it was called, but it looked a bit like a cross between a centipede and a scrubbing brush. And I have no idea why I was terrified of it!

The fascinating thing was the blue police box.  The TARDIS (Time And Relative Dimensions In Space) They were familiar things in our streets back then! There was one in Chingford, I walked past it every day - and every day was so disappointed that it was still there, it hadn't de-materialised or the Dr didn't step out.
(OK I was 16 by then, I should have known better....)

I did not watch many of the Patrick Troughton or Jon Pertwee series - I think I was too busy playing ponies and attempting to deal with some not very happy teenage years. But then Tom Baker appeared on the scene, and once again I was hooked. I even knitted myself a Dr Who scarf (that great long one that Baker wore) It must have been winter because I wore it walking to work every day.

I worked in the library then, and I recall a young lad (I think his name was Gideon - was that his first or surname?) who was an avid DW fan (I'm not sure the term 'Whovian' had been invented then). His face used to light up when he saw me, in hope that I'd put aside another Dr Who adventure story for him.

Memorable episodes? I adored K9 - my dad even made me a version as a stool for my first bed-sit flat. I wish I still had it! I recall the episode where the Dr (Tom Baker) had a chance to destroy the Daleks and he questioned his right to annihilate a whole species - was it just as wrong to murder something? Did that also make him a monster?  That thought has stayed with me all these years. If we had a chance to destroy something horrid - would  we be right to do so?

And then Dr Who went down hill a little. I quite enjoyed Peter Davison, but not the others (Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy and I don't even recall Paul McGann). I was sad when it left our screens, and overjoyed when it came back - although I wasn't sure about Christopher Eccleston as the Dr. Something was missing.... I don't think any of us knew what that 'something' was until the Doctor regenerated into David Tennant.

His blend of humour, adventure, excitement and daring-do - coupled with brilliantly written scripts (and fabulous performances from his companions - especially  Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) were perfect.
And Cpt Jack Harkness appeared. Instant love at first sight. TORCHWOOD (an anagram of Dr Who) was just as fabulous - maybe even more so because it included adult material, but it did not have quite the 'innocent'  charm of Dr Who did it?

Must mention Matt Smith - not quite s charismatic as David T - but still, an excellent Doctor

So the anniversary special edition The Three Doctors had me in my bedroom watching TV on my own (because I wanted to concentrate on it, and my husband isn't a Dr Who fan).
And at the end I cried. Not because of the story (although it was fantastic) but because of the memories - and the knowing that here I was at 60 years old, just as I had been at 10 years old, still being plunged headlong into the world of suspended belief and vivid imagination  - and loving every moment of it.

Time, for me during that special edition had been suspended. Was I 10 or 60? But then as the Dr himself says - Time is a sort of wibbly wobbly, timey wimey stuff...

and to finish - this hilarious sketch from a previous Comic Relief starring David Tennant and Catherine Tate - prepare to laugh...

Full profile of the series on Wikipedia
Dr Who
Torchwood

Thursday Fun Thought

The Black Heart of Blackbeard! (Tuesday Talk)

The Fourth of my Sea Witch Voyages, Bring It Close, is based around the true story of Blackbeard - one of the best known of all pirates, probably because we have a full account of his demise, recorded at the trial of the remains of his crew. In my story, my ex-pirate, Captain Jesamiah Acorne is responsible for Blackbeard’s end – but he makes it quite plain that he wanted no mention of his assistance in the recorded logs. Which is why the name Acorne is not there! (Don’t you just love plausible fiction!)

Blackbeard was described as a tall man with a black beard which he wore very long. Other descriptions mention that his thick black beard was braided into pigtails and sometimes tied in with small coloured ribbons. He wore knee-length boots and dark clothing, topped with a wide hat and a long coat of brightly coloured silk or velvet. In times of battle he was described as wearing a sling over his shoulders, with three brace of pistols, hanging in holsters, and placed lighted fuses under his hat.

His real name is believed to have been Edward Teach or Thatch, and he was born around 1680 in or near Bristol, an important shipping port at that time. ‘Thatch’ has been recorded as 'Teach', 'Tache', and 'Thach' – the discrepancy, I personally believe, being caused by an inconsistent spelling of that time, and the broad West Country accent he must have had. There is no tax record of any of these names – but then who is to say Blackbeard paid taxes! One early source claims his surname was Drummond, but there is no supporting documentation for this.

He obviously had a career as a mariner, for he knew his job when it came to sailing a ship, very possibly he was either a merchant seaman or a Tar in the Royal Navy before he turned pirate. He served as a privateer during the War of Spanish Succession but when the war ended, as with many privateers and sailors, he found himself out of work, and turned to a more profitable line of business. Almost certainly he could read and write for he communicated by letter with merchants and when killed had in his possession a letter addressed to him by the Chief Justice and Secretary of the Province of Carolina, Tobias Knight.

He joined the crew of Benjamin Hornigold between 1714 and 1716, and while under Hornigold’s command, served with several other men who also become notable pirate

Captains – men such as Sam Bellamy and Jack Rackham. Teach and Hornigold joined up with Stede Bonnet, a landowner and military officer from a wealthy family who had turned to piracy. Teach took control of his first command in September 1717 when Bonnet's crew of about 70 men were dissatisfied with his command, so with Bonnet's permission, Teach took control of Revenge. The pirate flotilla now consisted of three ships; Teach on Revenge, Teach's old sloop, and Hornigold's Ranger, then another vessel was captured and added to the small fleet. The sloops Robert of Philadelphia and Good Intent of Dublin were stopped on 22 October 1717, and their cargo holds emptied. In a report made by Captain Mathew Munthe on an anti-piracy patrol for North Carolina, "Thatch" was described as operating "a sloop 6 gunns [sic] and about 70 men".

Hornigold only attacked his old enemies, but the sight of British vessels filled with valuable cargo became too much for his crew, and toward the end of 1717 he was demoted and he retired from Piracy. Whether Teach had any involvement in this decision is unknown.

Blackbeard's flag

On November 28 1717 Blackbeard took his most famous prize, the 250-ton French slaver La Concorde, which then made him one of the most notorious pirates in the Americas. Renaming her the Queen Anne’s Revenge – which may have indicated Blackbeard had a leaning towards the Jacobite movement and the re-instatement of the Stuart King, James, over George of Hanover. She was mounted with twenty-two guns and became the flagship of a deadly fleet which included a brigantine and Stede Bonnet’s Revenge. There were a number of Africans aboard Queen Anne’s Revenge, most of whom appear to have been equal members of the crew, but it is not known what happened to the slaves who had been aboard La Concorde when it was seized. Very probably they were sold.

Blackbeard and his crew brought terror to the Caribbean attacking and burning Guadeloupe town and destroying most of the vessels at St. Kitts, leaving the Governor of the British Leeward Islands in fear of his life. Teach's movements between late 1717 and early 1718 are not known, but he and Bonnet were probably responsible for an attack off St Eustatius in December 1717 and it is likely that the crew spent the winter of 1717-1718 in Central American waters, before sailing to Nassau and the Carolinas.

Blackbeard was aware of the King’s pardon – an opportunity for amnesty offered by Governor Woodes Rogers of Nassau in an attempt to put an end to the piracy in the Caribbean and Bahamas, which was affecting the sugar and tobacco trade (and thus hitting the pockets of wealthy Englishmen). At this point, he does not seem to have been lured by the promise of a pardon, though, for he launched a raid on Charleston, South Carolina, blockading the town for many days and kidnapping the Governor’s son for a demand of ransom. Which was paid, and was, surprisingly, not money but medical supplies, including mercury which was the common-used cure for syphilis.

Teach thought that Governor Charles Eden of North Carolina was a man to be trusted (or more probably, manipulated) but to make sure he sent Bonnet ahead to surrender to and plead a pardon. Bonnet returned to the small fleet with the pardon but Teach had stripped his vessel of valuables and provisions, and marooned its crew. Bonnet set out for revenge, but was unable to find Teach, so he and his crew returned to piracy. They were captured on 27 September 1718 at the mouth of the Cape Fear River and all but four were tried and hanged in Charleston.

For some reason Blackbeard also deliberately scuppered the Queen Anne’s Revenge on a sandbank in North Carolina’s Beaufort Inlet (or was it just bad sailing?) abandoning the majority of his crew to their own fate. Was the ship too much of a liability, or did he not want Bonnet to have her?

Blackbeard decided to ‘retire’ and settled in Bath Town, North Carolina, taking pardon from Governor Charles Eden. There, he married a local girl and established himself as an apparently respectable man, while secretly undertaking pirate raids on incoming shipping – probably in league with Governor Eden.

This ‘nice little earner’ however, enraged Governor Alexander Spotswood of Virginia who initiated a military and naval invasion of North Carolina – which was, strictly speaking, illegal as it was out of his area of jurisdiction.

 Under the command of Lt Robert Maynard Blackbeard and his crew were engaged at Ocracoke Island on November 22, 1718, where a sensational fight to the death ensued. Blackbeard had deliberately cultivated a terrifying reputation by going into battle with burning fuses tied into his hair and beard, and it is said that he had five gunshot wounds and over twenty other wounds before finally dying by a pistol shot fired by Maynard himself. He was beheaded after death and his head hung from the bowsprit – his body thrown overboard, where it was said to swim around the boat three times before sinking beneath the sea (a probably explanation is that the tide was coming in). The remainder of his crew were taken for trial to Williamsburg, Virginia where they were all hanged.

 For an excerpt from Bring It Close, where Jesamiah encounters Blackbeard – click here

There is a reasonable fuller account on Wikipedia

further information about the discovery of the remains of the Queen Anne's Revenge wreckage :
archaeology news network.blogspot.co.uk

Buy The Sea Witch Voyages
Amazon UK 
Amazon US

The Thursday Fun Thought

This one is rather fitting.
Seeing as I've been saying this for the past .... um.... year or two....

The only difference for me .... my laptop has a little alien skull on it, not a half eaten apple.

:-)

Tuesday Talk - Ladies Ride Aside

Bit of a cheat again for my Tuesday Talk 

I'm going to send you forward to another blog

 where the fabulous author Jenny Barden has a post of mine

.... about riding side saddle.

Thursday Fun Thought

Side Saddle Pirate!

My dear daughter is doing a side saddle demonstration tomorrow at a local venue, organised by a local riding club.

I'm really pleased for her as this is the sort of thing she has been wanting to do for a long time.
But guess who is doing most of the preparing?

Moi.
I now have to go up to the stable yard & help her practice bursting balloons (while she rides side saddle.) OK so the yard is only at the other end of the garden but.... I've no idea when I'm going to get this next book written!
#Frustrating

For anyone in/near Devon: Tickets are still available
venue is the Calvert Trust near Exmoor and it it this Friday at 7pm
click here > for  details .…

Fun side saddle

Henry Fitzroy – The Almost King

by Judith Arnopp 
my Tuesday Talk Guest

Kings, especially Tudor kings, could have everything they wanted. 
Power, property, wealth, women, it was all theirs with a click of the fingers yet, for many years, Henry VIII was denied one thing
 – a son and heir to follow him. 

Henry Fitzroy
Duke of Richmond and Somerset (1519-36)

In 1519, less than forty years after Bosworth, the Tudor dynasty was still young, and it was Henry’s job to ensure it continued to flourish. The responsibility weighed heavy on his shoulders and as Catherine of Aragon suffered more and more miscarriages, and the sons she did bear died in infancy, that need became an obsession.

With just one legitimate daughter, Mary, Henry was becoming desperate. Imagine his frustration when his mistress, Elizabeth Blount, with no trouble at all produced a healthy son. The temptation to turn his bastard into something more was irresistible. They named the child Henry.

Just to ensure that no one was mistaken, the name Fitzroy which means 'the king’s son', was often given to base-born male offspring, but although it is likely there were a good few more, Henry Fitzroy is the only illegitimate child that the king acknowledged. 

Shortly after he was born, Elizabeth was decently married to Sir George Talboys and assigned several manors in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire. A mark of favour, or perhaps gratitude, for providing the king with what his wife could not.

While the relationship between Henry and Elizabeth ceased, his favour of the child continued. At his christening it was Cardinal Wolsey who stood as Godfather, and by the time he was six young Henry was made knight of the Garter and created Earl of Nottingham and Duke of Richmond and Somerset. This double dukedom ensuring that he took precedence over all other dukes in the land, barring the King’s lawful issue – should he have them. 

He was also appointed King’s Lieutenant-general north of Trent, and Keeper of the City and Castle of Carlisle.This may seem a lot for a small boy but it didn’t stop there and by the time of his death in 1536 he was Lord high admiral of England, Wales, Ireland, Normandy, Gascony, and Aquitane, with a further commission as warden general of the Scottish marches thrown in for good measure. 

Sometimes thought to be of Edward of Middleham
or Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond and Somerset, 16th century, son of King Henry VIII.
of England and his mistress Elizabeth Blount

Throughout his life he acquired castles, land and immense fortune, making him the richest man in England after the king. With the breakdown of Henry and Catherine’s marriage, and the advent of Anne Boleyn and the failures of that union, it soon became clear that, in the absence of a legitimate son, Fitzroy would be Henry’s heir. Nothing, bar the birth of a legitimate son, could stop it.

Henry Fitzroy received an education to match his status. Although often at court he was resident in King’s College, Cambridge and taught by Richard Croke, a pioneer of Greek Scholarship in England, and John Palsgrave, another eminent scholar. By the time he was ten young Henry was reading Caesar, Virgil, Terence and speaking Greek. Henry VIII, proud of his son, despite the stain of his birth, lost no time in proposing matrimonial alliances beneficial to England, attempting to wed him into the family of Pope Clement VII; to a Danish princess; a French princess; and a the sister of Charles V who later became queen of France. 

In spring 1532 Fitzroy spent some time at Hatfield, accompanying Henry VIII to Calais in the autumn. He moved on to Paris, staying with his friend the Earl of Surrey until September 1533. And, later that year, at the age of fourteen, possibly at the instigation of Anne Boleyn, he married Mary Howard, daughter of Thomas, the third Duke of Norfolk by his second wife. The marriage was never consummated due to their age. Thereafter plans for him to go to Ireland were abandoned and he remained at court, in the midst of the furore surrounding the reformation and the downfall of Anne Boleyn.

Anne Boleyn

He is recorded as present at the execution of the Carthusians in May 1535, and was one of the peers at Anne Boleyn’s trial, witnessing her execution, as Henry’s representative in May 1536.
Fitzroy benefited both in wealth and status from Anne’s death, and those that died with her.

Among Anne’s detractors there were rumours of jealous rivalry between Fitzroy and the Boleyns, and whispers that she and her brother, Rochford, plotted to poison him. It was more likely to have been consumption, or possibly plague.

Fitzroy’s death in July, just two months after his stepmother, must have proved devastating for the king who, having disinherited both his daughters by this time was left temporarily heirless. But with a new wife, Henry VIII was pinning his hopes on Jane, who was already pregnant, perhaps with a legitimate son this time. One that would live.

Henry Fitzroy was not given a state funeral as one might expect after his royal upbringing, the arrangements were left to his father in law, the Duke of Norfolk. He is believed to be interred at Thetford Priory with other members of the Howard family. After Fitzroy’s death it was decreed that, since the marriage was not consummated, the marriage was invalid, consequently stripping his widow of her benefits.

Further reading: 

Elizabeth Norton: Bessie Blount: Mistress to Henry VIII 

Susannah Lipscombe: 1536: The year that changed Henry VIII

Amy Licence: In Bed With the Tudors 

Photographs: wikimedia commons. 

Judith Arnopp's blogs are featured in Castles, Customs, and Kings. A compilation of essays from the English Historical Fiction Authors blog, this book provides a wealth of historical information from Roman Britain to early twentieth century England. Over fifty different authors share hundreds of real life stories and tantalising tidbits discovered while doing research for their own historical novels. You can find out more and read the reviews here. 

Amazon.co.uk 

Amazon.com

From Queen Boadicea’s revolt to Tudor ladies-in-waiting, from Regency dining and dress to Victorian crime and technology, immerse yourself in the lore of Great Britain. Read the history behind the fiction and discover the true tales surrounding England’s castles, customs, and kings. 

Judith Arnopp is the author of historical fiction. Her novels range from the 7th to the 16th century. They include Peaceweaver, The Forest Dwellers, The Song of Heledd. Most recently, due to reader requests she has switched to the Tudor court. The Winchester Goose is set around the court of Henry VIII during the time of Anne of Cleves and Katherine Howard. Judith's second Tudor novel, The Kiss of the Concubine: a story of Anne Boleyn is due to be published this week. 

To see more about her work please click here.