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

Thursday, 30 July 2026

My Coffee Pot Book Tour Guest: The Duty of Daughters by Wendy J. Dunn

¡HOLA!

Welcome to my Blog!
Wander through worlds real and fictional,
meet interesting people, visit exciting places
and find good books to enjoy along the way!

About the Book

Book Title: The Duty of Daughters

Series: Falling Pomegranate Seeds

Author Name: Wendy J. Dunn

Publication Date: November 17, 2019

Publisher: Poesy Quill

Pages: 310

Genre: Historical Fiction

Any Triggers: Adult themes and situations.

Castile, 1490.

Doña Beatriz Galindo is an uneasy witness to the Holy War of Queen Isabel of Castile and her husband, Ferdinand, King of Aragon. A holy war pushing the Moors out of territories ruled by them for centuries.

Beatriz does not want a life like other women. She desires power over her own destiny. Even if this means walking a far harder road.

A passionate and respected scholar, Beatriz serves her friend Queen Isabel of Castile as her advisor. She also tutors the queen’s youngest child, Catalina of Aragon.

Dedicated to Queen Isabel and her children, Beatriz guides the young Catalina of Aragon to walk her own hard life road.

But can she prepare Catalina to be England’s queen?

Buy Links:

Universal Buy Link – The Duty of Daughters: https://mybook.to/FPS

Universal Buy Link – El Deber de las Hijas: books2read.com/u/mVoKBA

Author Bio:

Award-winning Australian author of Tudor historical fiction, specialising in Anne Boleyn and Katherine of Aragon novels.

Wendy J. Dunn is an award-winning Australian author, playwright and poet fascinated by Tudor history – so much so she was not surprised to discover a family connection to the Tudors, not long after the publication of her first Anne Boleyn novel narrating the Anne Boleyn story through the eyes of Sir Thomas Wyatt, the elder. Her family tree reveals the intriguing fact that one of her ancestral families – possibly over three generations – had purchased land from both the Boleyn and Wyatt families to build up their own holdings. It seems likely Wendy’s ancestors knew the Wyatts and Boleyns personally.

Her second novel, The Light in the Labyrinth, set during final days of Anne Boleyn's life, revisits the Anne Boleyn story through the eyes of her niece Catherine Carey. The Duty of Daughters and All Manner of Things tell the story of Katherine of Aragon. Shades of Yellow tells the story of a woman writing a novel about Amy Robsart.

All Dunn's award-winning works weave together the lyricism of poetry with the pulse of history, creating stories of love, loss, and the endurance of the human spirit.

Author Links:

Website:

http://www.wendyjdunn.com/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/authorwendyjdunn/

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/wendyjdunnauthor/

Threads: https://www.threads.com/@wendyjdunnauthor

Bluesky:

https://bsky.app/profile/wendyjdunn.bsky.social

Book Bub:

https://www.bookbub.com/profile/wendy-j-dunn

TikTok:

https://www.tiktok.com/@wendyjdunn

Amazon Author Page:

https://amazon.com/author/wendyjdunn

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/197156.Wendy_J_Dunn

LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-wendy-dunn-6358181a/

Newsletter:

https://wendyjdunn.substack.com/

read an excerpt

Excerpt 3:

Men shouted in sudden warning. Whips cracked, oxen bellowed in pain. The andas pitched forward and then violently to the left. The queen grabbed onto the stiff tapestry behind her, sewn securely into the wall. Her head whipping around, she looked at her daughters, as they fell hard against one another, crying out in pain and fear.

Flung one way and then another, Beatriz snatched at the stiff tapestry, grasping for a handhold. Loud cracks, snapping leather, bellowing oxen muffled the incoherent cries of her companions.

The andas jerked again, jarring to one side. Josefa, seeing her daughter perched perilously on her seat, reached out to little María. One more time the andas tottered, tilting over to one side. Josefa lost her balance and toppled between the facing seats. Her body thudded loudly on the floor, her cut-off cry smiting all to a terrible stillness. Josefa remained there, unmoving, silent.

“Mamá! Mamá!” her daughter cried, her eyes entreating the queen for help.

A babble of voices rose to a crescendo outside. The andas now steady, Beatriz, with caution, followed the queen, moving from her place on the upward slope. Crouching over Josefa, they gently rolled her over to her back. She lifted her eyes to meet the queen’s eyes. Queen Isabel waved Josefa’s daughter back without even glancing her way. She gently shook Josefa’s shoulder. “Cousin?”

Fanning out her hands either side of Josefa’s belly. Beatriz let out a breath of relief. “I felt a kick. The babe lives!” she said.

Josefa moaned. Beatriz gazed at her friend’s white face and now opened eyes, and her heart skipped a beat. Her pupils enlarged and skin as white as pure alabaster, Josefa looked terrified, and in great pain.

Beatriz helped the queen seat the dazed Josefa between them. Outside, men’s voices boomed, shouting over one another until the sound became a cacophony of confusion. Horses squealed and snorted, their hooves thundering around the andas like a violent storm.

One side of the andas opened up with a loud slap of leather. Beatriz blinked her eyes at the sudden rush of light. Josefa’s husband appeared, the strong angles of one side of his face all harsh shadows, the other bathed in light. After an anxious glance at his drooping wife, he vanished from sight. Beatriz heard him take charge. “Heave! Heave! Heave! Come on, men, work together. Get your backs into it, keep it steady. Right that wheel on its axle! You – over there. Check the ropes of the oxen. Remember, the queen is inside!”

With another violent jerk and shake, the andas became level again. Emitting a soft whimper, Josefa’s head fell against the queen’s shoulder. Queen Isabel bit her bottom lip and glanced aside at Beatriz. “How far to Sevilla, my friend?”

Trying to hide her growing fear and alarm, Beatriz lowered her head. “Hours away, my queen.”

“Shall I call a physician?” asked Queen Isabel.

Placing her palm on Josefa’s chest, Beatriz concentrated on counting the beats of her friend’s heart. She rubbed her face. Mother of God, help me. Josefa’s heart beats too fast. She gazed at the four infantas. Even Juana stayed still and quiet. It seemed a door had opened to a part of life none of them wanted to see. Even Isabel, a woman full-grown and old enough to be mother of both Catalina and María, kept her eyes fixed upon her lap.

Beatriz turned to Queen Isabel, keeping her voice down. “My queen, you know I speak the truth when I humbly say I am as learned as them.” She smiled grimly. “Remember, the two physicians accompanying us today were both once my students at Salamanca.” She put her hands upon Josefa’s belly. “I can care for her. I do not think her labour has started, but she’s hurt. I cannot easily judge how badly this might be while we remain cramped up here. The sooner we reach Sevilla the better.”

Follow the tour:

Twitter / X Handle: @cathiedunn

Bluesky Handles: @wendyjdunn.bsky.social @cathiedunn.bsky.social

Instagram Handle: @wendyjdunnauthor @thecoffeepotbookclub

Hashtags: #KatherineofAragon #TheDutyofDaughters #HistoricalFiction #WomenInHistory #BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub

Tour Schedule Page:

https://thecoffeepotbookclub.blogspot.com/2026/07/blog-tour-the-duty-of-daughters-by-wendy-j-dunn.html

Bsky: @cathiedunn.bsky.social

(Helen might not have read this title yet)

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You might also like books written by Helen Hollick

Website: https://blog.helenhollick.net/

Amazon Author Page:

https://viewauthor.at/HelenHollick

cosy mysteries : historical fiction
nautical supernatural adventure

1066 : King Arthur
ghosts : non-fiction

anthologies

2025 annual award winner

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Monday, 27 July 2026

My Coffee Pot Book Tour Guest: C.M. Gray One More Hour of Daylight

Welcome to my Blog!
Wander through worlds real and fictional,
meet interesting people, visit exciting places
and find good books to enjoy along the way!

About the Book

Book Title: One More Hour of Daylight

Author Name: C.M. Gray

Publication Date: June 2026

Publisher: Constance Books

Pages: 417

Genre: WW II Thriller

From the Bestselling Author of Shadowland

On the first day of World War II, a young man makes a promise—one that will shape every choice he makes for the next four years.

Essex. September 1939.

A wounded German pilot drops from a clear autumn sky into a quiet English field. Seventeen-year-old Derrick finds him—broken and feverish. Not an enemy. Just a young man asking for one small mercy before everything ends.

One more hour of daylight. That is all I ask. A chance to breathe free air before whatever comes next.

Derrick gives him until morning.

When the stretcher comes, the pilot’s last words strike Derrick like a blow he will never stop feeling.

Scotland. France. Germany. 1941–1943.

In the mountains of Scotland, they teach him how to kill, how to lie, and how to endure things that break most men. Then they give him a new name, put him on a plane, and drop him into the dark.

As an SOE operative deep inside occupied Europe, Derrick Sedgley lives on false papers, borrowed names, and nerves worn to nothing by years in the shadows. He moves agents to safety, builds escape routes, and stays one breath ahead of the Gestapo.

Then a mission collapses—and everything changes.

Forced to run, Derrick finds himself moving through the most dangerous corners of occupied Europe alongside someone whose connection to his past he cannot yet see. As safe houses fall, loyalties fracture, and the frozen passes of the Pyrenees rise ahead like the edge of the world, Derrick begins to understand something.

The choice he made in an Essex field on the first day of the war has been leading him here all along.

Some debts cannot be paid.

Some can only be carried.

And some—if you are brave enough, and fortunate enough—can finally be laid to rest.

From the quiet fields of Essex to the mountains of Scotland, from the dangerous streets of Lyon to the shadows of wartime Hamburg and the high passes of the Pyrenees, One More Hour of Daylight is an unforgettable story of courage, guilt and redemption—of ordinary people forced to make impossible choices in extraordinary times.

Some promises can survive a war.

Some people can too.

For readers who believe that even in war, what matters most is who we choose to be.

Praise for One More Hour of Daylight:

"A beautifully written book with a perfect pace that kept me reading

from start to finish."

~ Bookcollector, Amazon 5* Review

"A confident, carefully crafted novel that handles its subject matter with restraint, earning the weight it carries."

~ Indie Library, Goodreads 5* Review

Buy Link:

Universal Buy Link: https://books2read.com/u/bz01nG

This title is available to read on #KindleUnlimited.

Author Bio:

C.M. Gray's first book, The Flight of the Griffin, was longlisted in the 2015 Times Chicken House Writing Competition. Shadowland, the first book in the Pendragon Saga, has so far received over 900 five-star reviews on Amazon. These things still genuinely astonish him, and he is deeply grateful for every one of them.

Most of his previous work has been fantasy: either pure fantasy or historical fantasy, the kind of writing where druids turn up uninvited and one of your main characters develops an unsettling affinity with wolves before you have quite decided what sort of book you are writing. Shadowland began with every intention of staying grounded in historical reality, the story of Uther Pendragon. It did not. It has turned out to be a popular book, so he does not complain.

His years travelling through Asia, India, Africa and the Middle East have a habit of finding their way onto the page. He has seen and done some fairly strange things along the way and met some extraordinary people, and writing fantasy has always felt, to him, only a short step from writing fact.

New for 2026

One More Hour of Daylight, marks C.M. Gray's return to writing. It will be fully published in June 2026, marking a departure: pure historical fiction, no druids, no wolves. It follows Derrick Sedgley, a seventeen-year-old from Essex who makes a single moral choice in a field one September morning in 1939 and spends the next four years living with the consequences. From the Essex countryside to occupied France, from the mountains of Burgundy to the Pyrenees, it is a story about promises, betrayal, courage and the cost of doing the right thing too late.

And for those who have been waiting patiently for the Pendragon Saga to continue: the third book, Shadow's Heir, the story of Arthur Pendragon, follows in September 2026. More on that very soon.

C.M. Gray was born in England and grew up in the Essex countryside near the Suffolk border, which is where Derrick Sedgley grows up, too. The flat fields, the big skies and the particular quality of Essex light found their way into the book, whether he intended them to or not.

C.M. Gray is now very happily settled just outside Barcelona with his wonderful wife and partner in life, Adriana.

Author Links:

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B0H23SV952/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5752854.C_M_Gray