Today I’m highlighting Try Before You Trust, a novel about the fascinating early Elizabethan poet Isabella Whitney. Try Before You Trust: To All Gentlewomen and Other Maids in Love by Constance Briones What if Taylor Swift found herself penning songs about love in Elizabethan England when women were required to be chaste, obedient, and silent? Isabella Whitney, an ambitious and daring eighteen-year-old maidservant turned poet, sets out to do just that. Having risked reputation and virtue by allowing her passions for her employer’s aristocratic nephew to get the better of her, Isabella Whitney ..read more

Anyone who enjoyed my book The Occupation will also enjoy this book by Liz Harris which gives a different and fascinating account of WW2 and how it affected the islanders of Jersey. This is the first in a series of books about three sisters, and Rose, the first in the series is easy to warm to, as she makes the transition from urban life in England to a farm on the island of Jersey in the Channel Islands with her new husband Tom. Working on a farm before the advent of mechanisation is not easy, and through the book we learn more about farming life – the planting and harvesting of the famous Je ..read more

I am delighted to host Rosemary Griggs today to tell us all about Dartington Hall – a place I know well, as I was a student there in the 1970’s! Dartington Hall by Rosemary Griggs Dartington Hall, known for its mellow grey stone walls, stunning gardens, and age-old trees, exudes an atmosphere of peace and tranquillity. As I stroll through the grounds that surround the medieval buildings, I always feel a powerful connection to the people who have made this special place their home throughout the ages. Dartington Hall Since ancient times, people have settled in this favoured spot amongst rol ..read more

EXCERPT FROM FIND ME IN THE STARS Chapter 4 Flee Like the Mist from the Tempest’s Might – Jehan 26 September 1697 ~ Early Evening Chomérac, France Immediately after sunset, Jehan and his companions moved out again in their usual order, this time on foot, following Massip along the tracks of a rutted farm road toward a river crossing near Le Pouzin. The soft melodies of a nightingale gave Jehan a moment to ponder all that had been revealed while at the farm. It was most impressive, what he had learned. An entire network of people and places existed throughout the realm that were available to ..read more

A Matter of Time Henry VIII: The Dying of the Light – The Henrician Chronicle, Book 3 Review This is a superb chronicle of the last years of one of the most famous kings of England. Written entirely from Henry’s perspective, we watch him wrestle with the the killing of his former wives and his subsequent horror at what he has done. We also witness his slow decline from vibrant man to a hulk that is disintegrating before our eyes. The break from Rome  and its effects on the Church are fully explored with the battle between the old and new forms of worship playing out in a way Henry had not ..read more

Virtual Book Tour I’m on tour for the next moth visiting various blogs courtesy of the Coffee Pot Book Club! You can find all the links here on their site: https://thecoffeepotbookclub.blogspot.com/2023/12/blog-tour-the-shadow-network-by-deborah-swift.html On the tour you’ll find me talking about these historical aspects of The Shadow Network Hitler’s links to the IRA The Rushen Women’s Internment Camp in the Isle on Man The Aspidistra Radio Transmitter Tom Sefton Delmer and his ‘Black Propaganda Radio Station WW2 Intrusion Operations to fool enemy aircraft As well as my general research in ..read more

Weaving Mama’s dress through The Low Road  – a writer’s process Katharine Quarmby “The good wife had given me a grey dress, in a soft cotton, and I had hand sewn our favourite flowers around the hem, cornflowers for me, and poppies for George.” This dress, given to the “dear mama” of the main character in The Low Road, Hannah, is woven throughout the novel. It was to have been the dress that her mother had worn to marry her father, George, but before they can wed he dies in an awful industrial accident and so, instead, it is wrapped and kept, and becomes a memory of past happiness. It i ..read more

About Beautiful Ghost During the fall of 1918, the influenza pandemic crosses the nation and reaches the mining town of Butte, Montana. Marika Jovich, who wants to go to school to become a physician, works menial tasks for Dr. Fletcher. She feels useless as she tries to save friends and neighbors from the ravages of the flu. In the midst of the pandemic, she watches the town shut down, young and old perish, and her medical dreams all but evaporate. Kaly Monroe used to be a half-good woman of the night. She left that life to raise her daughter, Annie, and live and work with her long-lost mother ..read more

Even a clever matchmaker may need a push in the right direction if she’s to find true love. When she’s asked to find a match for herself, it proves to be the most difficult task she’s ever undertaken. Mid-December 1796. Sixty-year-old spinster Miss Jemima Thurgood has three weeks to finish the preparations for her annual Twelfth Night party. In her position as a matchmaker, for over forty years she has assumed a grave responsibility. Luckily, she’s a shrewd observer of people, and many happy reunions have come about due to her exceptional talent for nudging kindred hearts in the right directio ..read more

Hampshire, UK, 2015. When Chloe Harper’s beloved grandmother, Lena dies, a stranger hands her Lena’s wartime diary. Chloe sets out to uncover deep family secrets that Lena guarded to her grave. Darjeeling, India, 1943. Lena Chatterjee leaves the confines of a strict boarding school to work as assistant to Lieutenant George Harper, an officer in the British Indian Army. She accompanies him to Nepal and deep into the Himalayas to recruit Gurkhas for the failing Burma Campaign. There, she discovers that Lieutenant Harper has a secret, which she vows never to reveal. In Kathmandu, the prophes ..read more