A Novel Conversation with Vicky Adin's Gwenna

 In conjunction with Indie BRAG
posted every Friday
#IndieBragNovConv 

To be a little different from the usual 'meet the author' 

let's meet a character

Gwenna
from

Q: Hello, I’m Helen the host of Novel Conversations, please do make yourself comfortable. Would you like a drink? Tea, coffee, wine – something stronger? You’ll find a box of chocolates and a bowl of fruit on the table next to you, please do help yourself. I believe you are a character in Vicky Adin’s novel Gwenna The Welsh Confectioner. Would you like to introduce yourself? Are you a lead character or a supporting role?  

A: Hello Helen. My name is Gwenna of the title, and I thank you for inviting me to have a chat and a nice cup of tea.

Q: What genre is the novel and what is it about?

A: It seems I am the subject of what is termed historical fiction. But for me, life is now as it happens at the turn of the 20th century. I live in Auckland, New Zealand having emigrated from my native Wales. There are freedoms here but also difficulties. Auckland is growing and while many of the class prejudices have been left behind we are still British and women are expected to conform. I’m not good at conforming. 

Q: No spoilers, but are you a ‘goodie’ or a ‘baddie’? (Or maybe you are both!)

A: I hope I’m the ‘goodie’ as you put it. It is thanks to me we have a business to run and a family who cares for one another, but it’s been a struggle.

Q:  Tell me about another character in the novel – maybe your best friend, lover or partner … or maybe your arch enemy!

A: My family is complicated. Too many deaths, too many misunderstandings and too many heartaches. I battle through thanks to the indispensable Hugh who is my right hand man in the business. And my dear sister Tillie and her husband Tom who are my strongest supporters now my step-brother Elias has turned against me. He nearly brought my father’s business to ruin, but I wouldn’t let him. I promised Pa before he died I wouldn’t let my dream go. 

Q: Is this the only novel you have appeared in, or are there others in a series?

A: I do appear in another novel due for release by mid-2019. My best friend Jane is the main character. She is the costumier at the Opera House. It’s a bit different to my story because it’s a dual-timeline and stretches from the early 1900s to 1950 looking at it from recent times.

Q: What is one of your least favourite scenes you appear in? 

A: I have definitely been put through the mill and suffer through scenes of physical violence, emotional upheaval and downright despair but I think the worse scene was after I fell ill and was confined to the house. I had far too much to do and believed the success or failure of the project rested solely on my shoulders, but no one would listen to me and I was forced to do as I was told. They were right, of course. But I hated it.

Q: And your favourite scene? 

A: I’m happiest when I’m making lollies and sweets. I love the process of kneading and stretching the sugar and turning it into something delicious and desired, so my greatest delight came when I eventually hung up the sign outside the shop with my name on it. 

Q: Tell me a little about your author. Has she written any other books? 

A: Vicky loves history and genealogy and always writes about families. The ups and downs of daily life come alive through her words. So much happens both within the family and through the cause and effects of events in the greater world. No one is ever completely happy nor completely sad. As in real life there is good and bad in everyone, every day. There’s five family sagas so far.

Vicky

Q: Is your author working on anything else at the moment?

A: She’d editing furiously to polish her sixth book – The Costumier’s Gift. The story spans the first half of the 20th century. Jane has grown up to become the talented but unsung costumier at Auckland’s Opera House where she hides from her memories and keeps her secrets to herself. I can’t wait to find out how my life fits in with Jane’s and how Jane’s story ends. Generations later, Katie will be the one to discover Jane’s history and all it entailed through the myriad of photographs in her grandmother’s room.

Q: How do you think indie authors, such as your author, can be helped or supported by readers or groups? What does your author think is the most useful for her personally?

A: Support groups are an essential part of being a writer never mind what stage they are at. Authors rely on groups to help hone their writing or plan their marketing and promotion. No one likes marketing but you can’t sell a book without it. We need to help each other as much as possible. That’s why readers are so vital. Every author writes a story they want to share, so feedback is the life blood of an author. It’s a lonely life sometimes lost in another world with only the people inside the author’s head to keep them company. If readers would follow the author on social media, sign up for newsletters, comment, recommend and leave reviews, authors would feel rewarded. Readers, please let the authors know they have added something to your life experience even in the smallest way.

Q: Finally, before we must bid adieu, the novel you appear in has been awarded a prestigious IndieBRAG Medallion, does your author find this helpful, and is there anything else she would like IndieBRAG to do to help indie authors receive the recognition they deserve?

A: On behalf of myself and my author can I say we are honoured to have received two IndieBRAG medallions and I’m delighted my author has been included. She promotes IndieBRAG as a sign of quality and assurance, which means her stories meet the standard expected and can be enjoyed by many readers.  

Helen: Thank you Gwenna it was a pleasure talking to you. Would your author like to add a short excerpt? 

Gwenna: Thank you for the opportunity, Helen. I believe the opening section where I walk down the street sharing my thoughts has been included.

Helen: well, while the excerpt is sorted out... would you like a another cup of tea?

Gwenna: Many thanks Helen, I’ve appreciated our little chat but I haven’t time for more tea. I must rush off and visit Jane in The Costumier’s Gift and see how she is doing. 
Helen: well you take care, and here’s to being a successful Brag Medallion Honouree! 

EXCERPT
Auckland, New Zealand
1899

For the moment, she felt free – deliciously free – only too aware the illusion would pass soon enough.
    Gwenna Price hurried along busy Karangahape Road towards Turner’s, the greengrocer. Her boots crunched along the hardened grit as she swung her basket and called a cheery good morning to shopkeepers preparing for the day ahead. She loved watching them sweeping footpaths, cleaning windows or winding out the shop awnings, unless they were lucky enough to have a fixed verandah. Other merchants set their wares out in doorways and along their shopfronts, seemingly indifferent to the rattle of trams and clink of harness, or the clomp of horses’ hooves and bicycles whirring past. 
    Gwenna delighted in these sounds as the day came to life, exhilarated by all the hustle and bustle. She waved to the girl changing the window display in the milliner’s shop and stopped to pat a horse munching on oats in its nosebag, wishing her life could be as contented. In the distance, the sails on Partington’s Mill slowly turned in the breeze. 
    One day, she promised herself, she would be a part of all this busyness. One day.
She continued down the street, mentally ticking off her shopping list, thankful for the wide-brimmed bonnet shading her face. Her cool dimity blouse and pale grey skirt swishing around her ankles were a blessing in the warm air on a cloudless autumn day.

    She pushed the niggling worry of her ailing half-brother Charlie to the back of her mind as the far more pressing worry of the charming and persistent Johnno Jones entered her thoughts. She was tempted to give in to the young man’s pleas, if only to escape life at home, except for one troublesome detail – his father, Black Jack Jones.

CONNECT WITH VICKY ADIN
Website www.vickyadin.co.nz
Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Vicky-Adin/e/B006JTB0VE
Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6543974.Vicky_Adin
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/VickyAdinAuthor/
Linked In https://www.linkedin.com/in/vicky-adin-82b74513/
Pinterest https://nz.pinterest.com/nzvicky/
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/vickyadinauthor/?hl=en
Twitter @VickyAdin

Gwenna The Welsh Confectioner:

Amazon.com 

https://www.amazon.com/Gwenna-PastFinders-Vicky-Adin-ebook/dp/B0732QDT2Z

Amazon.co.uk 

https://amzn.to/2TcwmIc

Universal link

books2read.com/u/4XRKnN

INDIE BRAG LINKS:

Website: https://www.bragmedallion.com/

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/Indiebrag/

Twitter: @IndieBrag

HELEN HOLLICK:

Website: www.helenhollick.net

On Amazon: http://viewauthor.at/HelenHollick

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Is Queen Emma One of the Neglected Figures in History?

 

The first chapters of the Norman conquest of England began in the spring of 1002, with the marriage of Emma of Normandy to Æthelred, King of the English. She was a daughter of Richard of Normandy, great grandfather of William I of England. Although of Scandinavian (Viking) descent, these "Northmen" were, by the early eleventh century, mostly Christian and an alliance would prevent Vikings from using Norman ports from which to harass England. Henceforth, the Counts of Normandy would have a considerable interest in the English crown, with the ambition being that a son of Emma's would succeed to the throne.

Two, Harthacnut and Edward, did rule, but both were childless, thus eliminating the prospect of Norman rule by direct succession. Considering that the marriage alliance was to bring security from Viking raiders, it is ironic that when Æthelred died in 1016, Emma then married one of the most prominent Vikings of this period, Cnut, who conquered England and became king. 

Queen Emma and King Cnut
depicted giving a golden cross to
Winchester Cathedral

Emma became a queen who carved for herself a significant position within the political estate of England. Her first son, Edward, was born circa 1005 with a second son, Alfred, a year or so later. The succession to the throne, however, was disrupted in 1013 by an invasion by Svein Forkbeard of Denmark and his son, Cnut. In the autumn, Emma and her sons, at her initiative, fled to Normandy, soon followed by Æthelred himself. 

In the spring of 1014, Æthelred dispatched ambassadors to England, with his young son Edward accompanying them, to negotiate a return to the English throne. Shortly after Æthelred's reinstatement, his son by a first (common-law) wife, Edmund Ironside, began to act independently of his father. Emma, it seems, was also dissatisfied with her husband’s failures, for she apparently transferred her support to Edmund. In the Encomium Emma Reginae (her biography) written during her lifetime) Æthelred is not merely omitted as her husband, but his existence is significantly suppressed. Emma was a strong and determined woman who knew her own mind, what she wanted, and was ruthless in her ambition to obtain it. It is doubtful that she would have chosen to ‘forget’ her first husband because of infidelity, more likely she was dissatisfied with his failures and weakness as a king. 

Emma and her sons
as depicted in the Encomium
The third man is thought to be the author.

Æthelred died in 1016, Edmund Ironside occupied the throne and withstood Cnut, with the boy Edward, who was possibly no older than thirteen, at his side. That Emma had deliberately sent her eldest son to be with his half-brother is typical of her character. Edward would have been too young to stand against Cnut on his own, her only chance of recovering her position, wealth, and estates would have rested on Edmund's success - with Edward as his successor. Unfortunately for Emma, Edmund died in 1016, and Cnut became King of England. 

Cnut turned to securing his position and took Emma as his second wife in July 1017. He had a reputation of paganism and needed to establish his Christianity. The degree of involvement that Emma herself had in the betrothal negotiations is unknown, but she was certainly shrewd and politically wise. As Queen, Emma had acquired expertise in English politics, and marriage to her diverted support away from the two royal English sons, neutralizing them as potential opponents. The master plan of the sixth or seventh-century usurper had three stages: murder the king, get the gold, marry the widow.

Since the widow usually sat on the gold, the two went together.

US Title and edition
a USA Today bestseller

Emma achieved a position of prominence under Cnut that she had not enjoyed under Æthelred. She benefitted from her second husband's control of three kingdoms and by Cnut she had a third son, Harthacnut, reducing Æthelred's sons who were again in exile in Normandy, to little more than pawns. When Cnut died in 1035, Harthacnut was ruling in Denmark and Emma pressed for his succession, not Edward's. Harthacnut would retain for her, as King of England and Denmark, her wealth and status and would be more likely to receive support from the Angle-Danish aristocracy who had risen to power under Cnut. Her main ally proved to be Earl Godwine of Wessex. When Edward and Alfred arrived in England in 1036 to make a claim for the throne, there was virtually no support for either brother, including none from Emma herself.

UK title and edition

Emma was a woman of considerable wealth and because of that, held great political power. She held three types of property which would provide her with revenue. The possession of the royal treasury was crucial. It would contain essential royal documents, such as tribute lists, gold, silver, precious stones and weapons. Possibly also, the royal insignia. By having control of the treasury, Emma was able to attract - and hold - support. Harthacnut, however, remained in Denmark and when Godwine, the crux of Emma's success, unexpectedly switched sides to support Cnut’s illegitimate eldest son, Harold Harefoot, Emma fell swiftly from power and went, once again, into exile. 

Turkish translation edition

Harefoot died in 1039 which gave Harthacnut opportunity to renew his claim on England. It may have been during her exile that Emma commissioned the Encomium Emmae Regina to be written; a work of praise for herself and a demonstration that Harthacnut was the right choice as King of England. It shows that Emma was literate and of distinguished learning. 

Harthacnut's reign was brief; he died in 1042. After all her struggles Emma must have been devastated; the crown passed to Edward, but was of little comfort to her. For most of his life, Edward had lived in exile in Normandy. His mother had abandoned him and there was no love between son and mother. Soon after his consecration in 1043, Edward rode to Winchester to accuse Emma of treason and to dispossess her of lands and movables, although he stopped short at exile. According to the Anglo Saxon Chronicle, "They came unexpectedly upon the lady and deprived her of all the treasures …because she had been very hard to the king, her son...”

Whether by her own strength of character or her son's remorse, she was soon reinstated into favour, although at a lower scale. He took Earl Godwine’s daughter, Edith, as wife – although the marriage produced no children, and Emma retired to Winchester, an indication that her influence had decreased. She died on 6th March 1052 and was buried in the Old Minster, Winchester near Cnut and Harthacnut. 

Post-1066 Queens of England are discussed at length, appreciated or condemned, depending on their worth, while those of pre-Norman history are considerably neglected - even ignored. Emma was the only woman in British history to have been Queen twice, the wife of different ruling Kings of England. This makes her unique. She was an intriguing woman, on a par with the later Eleanor of Aquitaine, and she has a significant place in English history. We must not forget her.

Amazon Author Page

filmed July 2010

(when I still lived in Walthamstow, London)

an interview where I talk a little bit about Emma

© Helen Hollick

The above is part of an essay I wrote in 1997 for a history degree course at Birkbeck College, University of London. Unfortunately, I never found the time to complete the degree.

The full, original essay is here http://www.helenhollick.net/h2uitem16.html