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| visiting around and about, wandering here and there... |
Island of Gold...
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| Amy Maroney |
Hello Helen! Thanks so much for hosting me on your blog. [my pleasure, Amy!]
Island of Gold, the first book in my Sea and Stone Chronicles series, was inspired by a 2012 visit to the Greek island of Rhodes with my family. I was struck by the kindness of the people there, and by the beauty.
Sapphire seas beckoned to us. The sun-baked beaches and limestone cliffs were cooled by a wind that rose up each afternoon. White-washed little villages clung to hillsides overlooking sparkling bays. When we ventured into the forested, hilly interior, we found a verdant world clothed in pine and cypress forests. Ancient temples and toppled statues of Greek goddesses existed alongside crumbling walls and forts built by the medieval Knights Hospitaller of the Order of St. John.
I knew within the first twenty-four hours that I had to learn more. Luckily, we had three whole weeks on the island—plenty of time to absorb the beauty and history around us.
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| Street of the Knights, ©Unsplash photo |
No place on Rhodes fascinated me as much as Rhodes Town. The largest community on the island, Rhodes Town has been a thriving port for millennia. In the medieval era, the Knights Hospitaller ruled Rhodes and the surrounding islands from a palace overlooking the bustling harbor. The knights were few in number—about three hundred knights lived in Rhodes Town during the mid-fifteenth century, when Island of Gold takes place—but they were supplemented by thousands of mercenary soldiers and bolstered by their powerful naval fleet. Their primary goal was to defend Christendom from Muslim forces in the East, both the Ottoman Turks and the Mamluks who ruled Egypt.
One day, we followed traces of the knights through Rhodes Town. Echoes of them lingered in the vaulted corridors of the hospital that once served local people, pilgrims en route to Jerusalem, and the knights themselves. Exiting the hospital, we followed a narrow cobbled lane up a hill. Known as the Street of the Knights, it’s lined with lovely medieval structures that once served as inns housing knights, pilgrims, and travelers.
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| medieval hospital in Rhodes Town. ©Unsplash photo |
At the top of the hill, we entered the reconstructed palace of the Order and wandered through vast, formal chambers. We peeked into dim corridors where stone tablets carved with European knights’ coats-of-arms leaned against the walls. Staring at those dusty slabs of stone, I wondered who the knights had been. Where had they come from? How did they die? What had it been like for ordinary people living in the knights’ shadow? For women, especially?
We strolled down the hill from the palace to the harbor, where seawalls stretch out from stone quays to embrace the waves. I watched sailboats cruise in from the sapphire-blue waters of the Aegean and imagined the past. Would merchant galleys six hundred years ago be powered by sails, by oars, maybe by both? Did the merchants and the knights get along? Did the locals resent the knights? Who benefited from the Order’s presence? Who suffered?
I didn’t know it then, but I would one day find answers to my questions in the historical record. Some basic facts were easy to pin down. The Knights Hospitaller overtook Rhodes in the beginning of the 1300s and controlled it until the Ottoman Turks drove them out two centuries later. Under the knights’ rule, the island became a critical trade hub for merchants hailing from western Europe, Asia, north Africa, and the Black Sea. The center of operations was Rhodes Town’s heavily fortified harbor.
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| sea harbor entrance, Rhodes Town. MaxPixel free creative commons license photo |
Standing on a seawall during our visit, I imagined the Colossus of Rhodes straddling the space between the two jutting arms of stone that delineated the harbor. The Colossus was the only bit of historic trivia I’d learned about Rhodes before arriving there. I stared at the restless waves, lost in thought. I had no idea that once, merchant ships and war galleys swarmed the seas just beyond the harbor. A massive iron chain was drawn up each evening to block off the harbor from the sea. Warehouses thrummed with activity all along the waterfront, as did brothels. The clang of church bells all over Rhodes Town marked the hours, and inside the massive Sea Gate, townsfolk streamed to the fabled marketplace. There, spices, silks, furs, timber, and other goods were exchanged for gold.
All I heard as I stood watching the waves roll in that day was the sound of the wind. But history was whispering in my ears, too. And many years later, I listened.
The truth is, Rhodes cast a spell on me a decade ago that only grew deeper as the years wore on. When I decided to write about the island and its history, I had no idea what an incredible journey of research lay ahead. The secrets of history I’ve shared in Island of Gold are just the beginning…there are many more voices and stories of the past waiting for their turn in the spotlight. In time, the Sea and Stone Chronicles will reveal them all.
©Amy Maroney
About Island of Gold
1454. A noble French falconer. A spirited merchant’s daughter. And a fateful decision that changes their destiny forever.
When Cédric is recruited by the Knights Hospitaller to the Greek island of Rhodes, his wife Sophie jumps at the chance to improve their fortunes. After a harrowing journey to Rhodes, Cédric plunges into the world of the knights—while Sophie is tempted by the endless riches that flow into the bustling harbor. But their dazzling new home has a dark side.
Slaves toil endlessly to fortify the city walls, and rumors of a coming attack by the Ottoman Turks swirl in the streets. Desperate to gain favor with the knights and secure his position, Cédric navigates a treacherous web of shadowy alliances. Meanwhile, Sophie secretly engineers a bold plan to keep their children safe. As the trust between them frays, enemies close in—and when disaster strikes the island, the dangers of their new world become terrifyingly real.
With this richly-told story of adventure, treachery, and the redeeming power of love, Amy Maroney brings a mesmerizing and forgotten world to vivid life.
Buy the book:
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Helen's Latest Release
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A new edition with new additional scenes |
When the only choice is to run, where do you run to?
When the only sound is the song of the sea, do you listen?
Or do you drown in the embrace of a mermaid?
Throughout childhood, Jesamiah Mereno has suffered the bullying of his elder half-brother. Then, not quite fifteen years old, and on the day they bury their father, Jesamiah hits back. In consequence, he flees his Virginia home, changes his name to Jesamiah Acorne, and joins the crew of his father’s seafaring friend, Captain Malachias Taylor, aboard the privateer, Mermaid.
He makes enemies, sees the ghost of his father, wonders who is the Cornish girl he hears in his mind – and tries to avoid the beguiling lure of a sensuous mermaid...
An early coming-of-age tale of the young Jesamiah Acorne, set in the years before he becomes a pirate and Captain of the Sea Witch.
“Ms Hollick has skilfully picked up the threads that she alludes to in the main books and knitted them together to create a Jesamiah that we really didn't know.” Richard Tearle senior reviewer, Discovering Diamonds
“Captain Jesamiah Acorne is as charming a scoundrel as a fictional pirate should be. A resourceful competitor to Captain Jack Sparrow!” Antoine Vanner author
“Helen Hollick has given us the answer to that intriguing question that Jesamiah fans have been aching for – how did he start his sea-going career as a pirate?” Alison Morton, author
“I really enjoyed the insight offered into Jesamiah's backstory, and found the depiction of our teenage hero very moving.” Anna Belfrage, author
“I loved this little addendum to the Jesamiah series. I always had a soft spot for the Lorelei stories and enjoyed that the author cleverly brought her over from the Rhine valley to fit into the story.” Amazon Reviewer
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Helens cosy mystery set in 1970s north London
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| The first in a new series of quick-read, cosy mysteries set in the 1970s. A Mirror Murder https://getbook.at/MirrorMurder |
Eighteen-year-old library assistant Jan Christopher’s life is to change on a rainy Friday evening in July 1971, when her legal guardian and uncle, DCI Toby Christopher, gives her a lift home after work. Driving the car, is her uncle’s new Detective Constable, Laurie Walker – and it is love at first sight for the young couple.
But romance is soon to take a back seat when a baby boy is taken from his pram, a naked man is scaring young ladies in nearby Epping Forest, and an elderly lady is found, brutally murdered...
Are the events related? How will they affect the staff and public of the local library where Jan works – and will a blossoming romance survive a police investigation into murder?
Reviews
“A delightful read about an unexpected murder in North East London.” Richard Ashen (South Chingford Community Library)
“Lots of nostalgic, well-researched, detail about life in the 1970s, which readers of a certain age will lap up; plus some wonderful, and occasionally hilarious, ‘behind the counter’ scenes of working in a public library, which any previous or present-day library assistant will recognise!” Reader Review
