Author Interview & Book Giveaway: Kristin Gleeson on ALONG THE FAR SHORES

This week, we're welcoming author Kristin Gleeson, whose latest title is ALONG THE FAR SHORES. Join us again on Sunday for an author interview, with more details about the story behind the story. One lucky visitor will get a free EBOOK copy of Along the Far Shores. Be sure to leave your email address in the comments of today's post or Sunday's author interview for a chance to win. Winner(s) are contacted privately by email. Here's the blurb. 

A 12th century Irishwoman sets out on the legendary voyage to America of Prince Madog of Wales.

Aisling, despite her best efforts has failed to become the seer her mother desired, so when her mother dies leaving her alone, she departs Ireland for Wales to be with her brother, Cormac, at the royal court at Gwynedd.  There she finds he is joining Prince Madog’s voyage to the western lands in order to escape the threatening war.  After Madog refuses to let her come with them she stows away, desperate to remain with her brother.  A terrible storm arises and she is tossed overboard by a resentful Welshman and washes up on the shores of the Gulf Coast. Caxna, a Tlingit trader and former shaman, finds her and reluctantly agrees to let her join him on a trading journey to the Mayan city of Xicallanca, and later Etowah (in modern day Georgia) in the hopes she might find Madog and her brother.  Caxna must succeed in this trading journey in order to free his clan but with Aisling along everything changes. 

**Praise for Along the Far Shores**

….Gleeson leaves us with a memorable and poignant love story and a vision of a wonderful culture, unique in my experience of literature.

Karen Charlton, author of The Heiress of Linn Hagh and Catching the Eagle

The underlying sexual tension is all the more powerful for the beautifully restrained writing, which makes the slightest touch electric; a medicinal massage becomes a moment of physical communion…. This is what Kristin Gleeson does best; portraying different cultures and showing how humanity can cross them.

Jean Gill, author of Song at Dawn and Bladesong

**Q&A with Kristin Gleeson**

What inspired you to write Along the Far Shores?

When I was a children’s librarian outside of Philadelphia years ago I was doing some much needed weeding and I came across this book that told about the legend of Prince Madog of Wales’ voyage to America in 1170.  It wasn’t a picture book, laid out in a beautifully illustrated manner; it was a nonfiction text that investigated the legend in order to substantiate its truth.

I was so intrigued I took it home and read it in a night.  I have to confess I’d never heard of the legend before this.  I’d heard of Leif Ericson’s 11th century voyage along Labrador and that area and of course I heard of the 6th century voyage of St. Brendan which again was most likely up in the northern areas of the Americas. Madog’s voyage apparently ended up in Mobile Bay, in what is now Alabama and he sailed up what is now called the Mad Dog River.  All very intriguing.

Your novel is set in the 12^th Century, what is it that fascinates you about that era?

There were so many events in the 12th Century that were key in the British Isles and the Americas that enabled me to bring together Welsh, Irish and Native American cultures in a unique way. In Ireland the warring factions in the Wexford area led one deposed king to turn to Henry II for assistance which brought the first English soldiers onto Irish soil and began a pattern of increasing English settlement in Ireland.  Across in Wales, the death of the Gwynedd king led to warring factions that prompted one of the sons, Madog to set out on a voyage that landed him on the Gulf Coast of America (or so the legend states).  At that time America had its own civilizations that were in some ways more advanced than Europe.  Among them was the Mississippian Empire whose center was in Etowah.  They had trade links that reached as far as the declining Mayan Empire.   Though many people know of the Mayans and have a basic understanding of the culture, they don’t see them in the context of the European culture of the time period.   The surgery, cloth dyes, cooking; the building techniques were more primitive in England and Ireland, for example.

All your books reflect an extensive amount of research of the places but also the customs and dress of the time period. How do you approach your research?

I’ve been lucky (or deliberately selective) in that the novels I’ve written so far I’ve had some basic knowledge of the time periods and for the most part it’s a job of filling it in.  I try and do some reading into sources I find either online or through the library.  I still gravitate to the library to search out any general sources and try as much as possible to get books that are specific to a topic as well.  I was lucky to find a book all about the Mississippian culture online this time.  Living in Ireland you wouldn’t always get sources about ancient America easily.

 After some general reading and note taking for a few weeks I get the feel for the time period and the major elements. Then I start writing and find that I check things and go for specific areas of research as I write.  That helps prevent dumping too much information in and have the facts and setting as a backdrop that doesn’t dominate or overpower the story.  When I’m reading an historical fiction book that has someone making a ceramic pot in  ancient America and I want to know how it’s done I will look later to a non-fiction book rather than have the author slow down/interrupt the story to tell me.

What brought you first to writing?

As many writers will tell you, I was always writing, I guess and before that I was telling stories.  Chatting away to dolls or just living them in my head.  My mother used to do that with us too, so I guess I get it from her.  I wrote down my first chapter book when I was 11.  ‘Mr. Dealy’s Inventions’, it was called and I even illustrated it in pencil and marker.  I never finished it though, it fizzled out when I ran out of ideas. No story arc. 

Can you tell me what books you have on your bedside table?

Right now I have a pile of books from Christmas and a book certificate given to me by the book club I run in the village.  Among them are The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton, Life After Life by Kate Atkinson, Sisterland by Curtis Sittenfeld, Girl in a Green Gown (about the Arnolfini portrait) by Carola Hicks and Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undsett. The last one is a book that won the Nobel prize in 1923, I think and my mother named me after it. This is a new translation that I’ve been dying to read and promised myself I would this winter.  Haven’t cracked it yet. Too many books, too little time.

Can you say anything about your next project?

Along the Far Shores is part of a series of books that are set in different time periods and were inspired by red-haired plaid clothed mummies that were discovered in the Xinxiang Province in western China.  The mummies dated back to about 1500 B.C. long before any archaeological evidence of “Celts” or what we group as Celts, though they seemed to share many of the same characteristics in their burial patterns, clothing composition and other items.

I loved the idea of it and my novel evolved as two parallel narratives, one in the ancient past that brought a small proto Tlingit group and a proto Irish/Celtic group together and the present that brought an Irish woman and a Tlingit man together.   In the many centuries in-between those periods I thought I would write other novels that told the story of similar encounters between the two groups where I could show the two cultures in different periods and the aspects of prejudices and assumptions that each time period might have. Linking all this there was a medallion passed down through the centuries and back and forth and appearing in each novel as a connection that means something strongly to one of the characters. 

The next novel which brings these elements together and shows the narrative about the original mummies and the archaeologists who discover them. It’s called Raven Brought the Light and it will be out in the spring.

Learn more about Kriston Gleeson:

Website:   www.kristingleeson.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/kristingleeson1

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Along-Far-Shores-Kristin-Gleeson-ebook-x/dp/B00PSOVZU2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1423588000&sr=8-1&keywords=along+the+far+shores

Excerpt Thursday: ALONG THE FAR SHORES by Kristin Gleeson

This week, we're welcoming author Kristin Gleeson, whose latest title is ALONG THE FAR SHORES. Join us again on Sunday for an author interview, with more details about the story behind the story. One lucky visitor will get a free EBOOK copy of Along the Far Shores. Be sure to leave your email address in the comments of today's post or Sunday's author interview for a chance to win. Winner(s) are contacted privately by email. Here's the blurb. 

A 12th century Irishwoman sets out on the legendary voyage to America of Prince Madog of Wales.

Aisling, despite her best efforts has failed to become the seer her mother desired, so when her mother dies leaving her alone, she departs Ireland for Wales to be with her brother, Cormac, at the royal court at Gwynedd.  There she finds he is joining Prince Madog’s voyage to the western lands in order to escape the threatening war.  After Madog refuses to let her come with them she stows away, desperate to remain with her brother.  A terrible storm arises and she is tossed overboard by a resentful Welshman and washes up on the shores of the Gulf Coast. Caxna, a Tlingit trader and former shaman, finds her and reluctantly agrees to let her join him on a trading journey to the Mayan city of Xicallanca, and later Etowah (in modern day Georgia) in the hopes she might find Madog and her brother.  Caxna must succeed in this trading journey in order to free his clan but with Aisling along everything changes. 

**Praise for Along the Far Shores**

….Gleeson leaves us with a memorable and poignant love story and a vision of a wonderful culture, unique in my experience of literature.

Karen Charlton, author of The Heiress of Linn Hagh and Catching the Eagle

The underlying sexual tension is all the more powerful for the beautifully restrained writing, which makes the slightest touch electric; a medicinal massage becomes a moment of physical communion…. This is what Kristin Gleeson does best; portraying different cultures and showing how humanity can cross them.

Jean Gill, author of Song at Dawn and Bladesong

CHAPTER ONE

Tá brón orm. The words of mourning in her Irish tongue hung heavy on Aisling.  They’d followed her as she travelled along the fields and through the woodlands on the broken nag with her servant and then across the sea to the kingdom of Gwynedd.  It lingered now around the castle hall, mingled with the smoke from the fire and grew stronger, joining the sorrow of the passing of the Gwynedd king.

‘Was it the plague that took your mother, our kinswoman?’  Prince Hwyel, one of the dead king’s sons, addressed her in Latin, for she knew little Welsh.

She could hear the sharp intake of breath from those around her.  Some edged away, while others were more overt in their panic, putting hands to their mouths and noses. With a brief flash of anger, she thought of the comments she could make on the ripe odors coming from their elegantly laced gowns and rich tunics.

She caught her brother Cormac’s fearful glance from where he stood at the far end of the hall.  They were some ways away from Hwyel, who sat at a small table with some of his brothers and other relations to discuss the succession. It was his mother who’d provided the connection years before so that her brother Cormac could be fostered here, far away from their home in Leinster.  She’d hoped to escape Hwyel’s notice for a little longer, feeling that he would have no interest in a newly arrived sister of his poor and distant kin.  But his dark, piggish eyes had missed nothing and she had felt his periodic scrutiny for some time, until after inquiry he’d been told who she was.

Everyone’s eyes were on her, waiting for her answer.  She resisted the urge to smooth her hair, held in place only by a plain band around her head, or tug on the sleeve of her woolen dress, which, though finely woven, was fashioned in the simple, loose style of her home and no match for the women here.

‘My Lord…Cousin,’ she said, uncertain what title to give him. ‘It’s true my mother died of a fever, but it was not the plague.’  She responded in Latin, glad for once that her brother had made her learn it, so that she might let everyone know she carried no contagion.

She felt some of the tension ease as false smiles and nervous chatter erupted when Hwyel, seemingly satisfied, resumed his conversation with his neighbor.  Aisling felt some relief that attention had shifted away from her, but she could not push aside her astonishment that Hwyel had not even pretended to observe the custom to offer condolences on her bereavement. She looked over at Cormac to see if he found Hwyel’s words as lacking in sensibility as she did.

He smiled at her, his face full of determined reassurance, and made his way towards her.  He was fair, like she was, though he appeared almost angelic with his honey colored curls and beardless face.  She noticed his hands still possessed the slender grace she remembered.  Though it had been more than three years since they’d been together, she still found that her heart swelled at the sight of him.  Her dearest younger brother.  He was all she had left now.

‘We’ll go to the chapel later and say prayers for our mother,’ Cormac said when he reached her side.

She studied her brother a moment, puzzled. ‘Yes, of course.’  Why would Cormac suggest such a thing?  She’d only had a few moments with him since she’d arrived.  Just enough time to embrace him and pass on the awful news, before she was told she must go to the hall before Hwyel and his brothers.  But surely Cormac remembered that her mother wouldn’t have wanted them to pray in a chapel.  She’d kept the ancient customs and had paid only lip service to the Christian beliefs to please their father.  Perhaps it was the only way he could speak privately to her.

She stood restlessly, waiting for the princes to leave so that she might speak to her brother alone, share with him all that she and her mother had endured these many months. And there was much to be done.  She must not lose sight of that. All that time her mother had made her promise to refrain from writing to Cormac had been precious time wasted.

Finally, Hwyel and his brothers rose and made their way out of the hall, dogs crowding their feet.  Some of the women followed them, while others lingered, forming small, whispering groups.  Cormac moved closer and took her hands.

‘Come, I’ll take you to the chapel.’

Learn more about Kriston Gleeson:

Website:   www.kristingleeson.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/kristingleeson1

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Along-Far-Shores-Kristin-Gleeson-ebook-x/dp/B00PSOVZU2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1423588000&sr=8-1&keywords=along+the+far+shores

HEA or Not: Urraca of León-Castile and Alfonso I of Aragón

By Jessica Knauss

A Marriage That Sparked Rebellion, Sieges, and Battles

She was the Queen of Castile. He was the King of Aragón. Their marriage could unite two dynasties and create the most powerful kingdom in Western Europe…

You might think I’m referring to the 1479 union of Isabel and Fernando, the Reyes Católicos, one of the most successful monarchical couples in history (and profiled beautifully here). But this Queen of Castile and King of Aragón were married 370 years before Isabel and Fernando. The marriage of Urraca of León and Castile and Alfonso I of Aragón was an experiment in nation-building that failed miserably, perhaps to pave the way for the later success of the Reyes Católicos.

Statue of Urraca in the Parque del Buen Retiro
(Photo by Jessica Knauss)

Before this explosive marriage, Urraca had already been a child bride, given birth to the boy who would be Alfonso VII, and become Queen of León and Castile. She married her first husband at the age of eight. Historical evidence suggests that the marriage was consummated when she was all of thirteen. She had no time for naïveté, and by the time her first husband died and she was on the marriage market again, she was 26 and ready to assert all the command granted by her position. In Aragón, women were not allowed to become queen, but in Castile, Urraca had always known ultimate earthly power as her birthright. Regardless, her authority became jeopardized during the life of her father, who named her brother his heir and opened up the possibility of his illegitimate children, including his daughter Teresa, sharing the fractured kingdom with the legitimate ones. Her father unwittingly trained Urraca in strategy and the willingness to fight for her rights.

Statue of Alfonso I of Aragón in Zaragoza
(WikiMedia Commons)

Alfonso I of Aragón, known as “the Warrior,” proved the validity of his nickname in battle and also in this marriage. He was well over 30 when the nuptial negotiations began and had been the King of Aragon for five years when the wedding took place. His agenda revolved around the taking and keeping of cities and power, occupations in which women did not play a role. Alfonso’s inured bachelor ways left him unprepared for Urraca’s refusal to play a subordinate role to his imperial ambitions.

The fireworks began when Urraca’s father came up with the mere idea of getting Urraca and Alfonso I together. In spite of the obvious advantages such a union would have against the Almoravid threat from the south, many local nobles feared the eastward shift in power. They were also anxious to unite their own families with the Castilian royal line. The marriage negotiations, which took place over the protests of Castilian and French nobles in addition to Urraca herself, became protracted beyond the death of Urraca’s father. Once Urraca was Queen, any new marriage could disenfranchise her ability to assure her children’s inheritance. Pure enjoyment of the privileges of widowhood may have been her chief reservation about Alfonso I.

Swayed by a sense of duty to her father’s wishes, Urraca married Alfonso in 1109 at the castle of Monzón de Campos. Alfonso wasted no time in titling himself Emperor of Spain and naming his Aragonese nobles to high positions all over the Christian part of the Iberian Peninsula. The Galician nobles declared a rebellion when they insisted Urraca’s son was the rightful inheritor to their kingdom. Alfonso responded with military action and established control against Galician troops at Monterroso Castle in 1110.

This military action was only a prelude to the unrest and all-out civil war the marriage would provoke for the next few years. It seems that Urraca and Alfonso had an explosive case of negative chemistry. Two factions developed at court, each one in support of one spouse against the other. Urraca quickly achieved an annulment from Pope Paschal II on the basis that she and Alfonso were second cousins. She also cited abuses, tyranny, removing bishops from their dioceses and planning the death of her son. Urraca had already put some geographical distance between herself and Alfonso, but he refused to accept the annulment. When he learned that she had been carrying on an affair with Gómez González, an important count at her court, Alfonso had Urraca imprisoned and used all his military might to take over as many cities that supported her as he could, deposing more bishops and archbishops as he went.

Urraca as Queen
(WikiMedia Commons)

Gómez González, with the help of the Queen’s supporters, freed her from Alfonso’s prison and took her to Candespina, where they thought she would be safe. Alfonso could not allow such an affront to his power. In October 1111, with support from Urraca’s illegitimate half-sister Teresa, he won the Battle of Candespina, which Gómez González did not survive.

The emotional blow of losing her lover did no harm to Urraca’s strategic thinking. Teresa attempted to use the victory as a bargaining chip, but Urraca hated her more than she hated Alfonso. She agreed to reconcile with her husband as long as he forced Teresa to stay within her own lands in Galicia.

With disregard for Alfonso’s wishes, Urraca then proceeded to proclaim her son from her first marriage King of Galicia. The entire year of 1112 was a succession of confrontation and reconciliation in words and deeds, including the battles of Astorga and Carrión de los Condes. In 1113, the Queen besieged Burgos, the most Castilian of cities. Although his military prowess could have won the city for Alfonso, he understood that with only the support of his Aragonese and Navarrese nobles, he wouldn’t be able to make this empire work in any practical way. He finally accepted the annulment in 1114, making it official at a council in Palencia and returning to Aragón.

Urraca's royal signature

Urraca never married again, preferring to keep the company of powerful men without being under their thumbs. The union of Castile and Aragón would have to wait for a different kind of spark.

The definitive work in English about Urraca’s reign is Bernard F. Reilly’s The Kingdom of León-Castilla under Queen Urraca, 1109–1126.

A driven fiction writer, Jessica Knauss has edited many fine historical novels. Find out more about her historical novel, Seven Noble Knights, and her other writing and bookish activities here. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter, too!

Guest Blog: Jean Gill

This week, we're welcoming author Jean Gill, whose latest title is Bladesong, book two of  The Troubadours series. The author will offer a free copy of the book to a lucky blog visitor. Here's the blurb:    

1151 – the Holy Land during a fragile peace

Estela, the troubadour, following the destiny of her beautiful voice, and Dragonetz, her passionate knight; divided by the times they love in.

Dragonetz is imprisoned in Damascus, his military prowess as valuable and dangerous to the balance of power as the priceless Torah he has  to deliver to Jerusalem.

Can Estela get him out alive, despite Nur-ad-Din, the Muslim Atabeg; Melisende, the Queen of Jerusalem; and an avenger from the past?

Will she still want to, when she knows what they’ve done to him?

On the run from abuse, Estela wakes in a ditch with only her lute, her amazing voice, and a dagger hidden in her petticoats. Her talent finds a patron in Alienor of Aquitaine and more than a music tutor in the Queen's finest troubadour and Commander of the Guard, Dragonetz los Pros. Weary of war, Dragonetz uses Jewish money and Moorish expertise to build that most modern of inventions, a papermill, arousing the wrath of the Church. Their enemies gather, ready to light the political and religious powder-keg of medieval Narbonne. 

**Q & A with Jean Gill, author of ‘The Troubadours’ books, ‘Song at Dawn’ and ‘Bladesong’**

You’ve written in many different genres; why historical fiction now?

Yes, I started as a poet and turned to prose at 40. Poems still happen sometimes but not as often. I have a deskful of ideas and can’t write them all in full, so choosing which one to spend a year on is very important. It was my husband who chose ‘the story about the girl troubadour and the big white dog’ as the one he’d most like to read, out of the three completely different novel ideas I couldn’t choose between.

 ‘Song at Dawn’ does start with Estela (the girl troubadour) and Nici (the big white dog) but by the time I wrote it, the character of Dragonetz was alive in my imagination and I was already in love with him, so spending time with these fictional people is so much fun. I also discovered the real historical characters and true stories of the 12^th century and am totally hooked on this period.

Who do you think was the most interesting historical character of your period?

There were so many! It has been an eye-opener to discover people I’d never heard of, especially the women in power. I expected to admire Eleanor of Aquitaine (Alienor in ‘Song at Dawn’ as I gave her the Occitan name) but actually it was Ermengarda, the sole ruler of Narbonne from 1143-1192, who amazed me. She was Viscomtesse of a vital trading port, she survived the military attempts to usurp her and she created a sophisticated ‘court of love’ where the finest troubadours performed.

It has just happened that for each book my research has found an amazing woman about whom I previously knew nothing. In ‘Bladesong’ that woman is Melisende, Queen of Jerusalem, again a ruler in her own right, although she had to fight her subjects’ prejudice and a husband to wield power. She and her three sisters formed the royal family of the Crusader States and some of their alleged adventures make the Borgias look tame.

I’ve already discovered two more of these remarkable women whose paths are likely to cross those of Dragonetz and Estela in the third book – watch this space!

How much research do you do?

A huge amount! I spend a year researching before I feel ready to plot a novel. I’m in the middle of a research year, reading history books and making background notes. Dragonetz and Estela are fictional characters in real events, mixing with real historical characters and I try to use only what did happen or what could have happened. If I know something to be untrue I change the story. This makes my books very complex to write, especially as I avoid working out the plot beforehand. I have a rough idea but there is always leeway for the characters to make their own choices. If I feel that so-and-so would never have done that, I don’t write it. Sometimes I lie awake in bed wondering why a character would have done such-and-such, and I’m not happy unless I know why, even if I don’t write all the motives down.

What advice would you give to other historical novelists?

Read historical novels and network with others writing in the same genre. I have a group of writer-friends and some of them also write historical novels. Our discussions have been so useful and their input to ‘Bladesong’ was invaluable. We don’t always agree either! I blogged some of our arguments here http://www.jeangill.blogspot.fr/2013/01/lets-argue-about-history.html You’ll find genre-specific groups on the writers’ support sites such as authonomy.

There are many different kinds of historical novel and I don’t like ones that are too slushy, too predictable, too melodramatic, or without any specific period background. Many many readers do like these books – and won’t like mine. I’m fine with that and I’m learning to accept that authors and books have to fit so there is no point breaking your heart over the wrong readers – find the right ones. My books are reaching more and more readers who like them, so I think I’m doing that now.

What do you think about self-publishing?

I’ve published fifteen books, every-which-way except best-selling (as yet) and there are pros and cons to all the routes, plus the publishing world is changing so fast no-one can keep up. I’ve reached the stage where I don’t know what a small press can offer me that I can’t do myself, so I’m very happy self-publishing most of my books now. I love designing my own jackets have had my designs accepted by traditional publishers so I feel confident in them. I do have editing input from other people and I think it’s essential to have critical friends or professional input on aspects of publication.

Would I sign for an agent? A big publisher? If I felt they were going to take over legal headaches (translation and film rights come to mind) then maybe. But my ambitions have shrunk in response to all the crazy things writers do to make a bestseller. I’d rather watch my readership grow slowly, while I do only those marketing activities that I enjoy and that I consider worthwhile – like answering questions on this blog.

Thank you for inviting me here.

Bladesong is available from Amazon and in all ebook formats from Smashwords.   Also available in print from Lulu. 

Book one, Song at Dawn, won the Global Ebooks Award for Best Historical Fiction

'Believable, page-turning and memorable' - S.P.Review 

Jean Gill is a Welsh writer and photographer living in the south of France with a big white dog, a Nikon D700 and a man. For many years, she taught English in Wales and was the first woman to be a secondary headteacher in Carmarthenshire. She is mother or stepmother to five children.

Publications are varied, including prize-winning poetry and novels, military history, translated books on dog training, and a cookery book on goat cheese. With Scottish parents, an English birthplace and French residence, she can usually support the winning team on most sporting occasions.

Follow jean on twitter @writerjeangill

Join the Troubadours on Facebook 

Have fun with the Troubadours on TV Tropes   

Jean says:

I love hearing from readers so feel free to mail me at jean.gill@wanadoo.fr with comments or questions. You'll find a mix of my work, along with fun trivia about books, at www.jeangill.com My photo portfolio is at www.istockphoto.com/jeangill and I blog at www.jeangill.blogspot.com I sometimes accept guest bloggers so get in touch.

GIVEAWAY to readers of Unusual Historicals blog; a signed copy of Bladesong by Jean Gill by random draw. If you can find the time to post a review, whether on Smashwords, Amazon, Goodreads, your blog, wherever, Jean will be very grateful. 

Excerpt Thursday: Bladesong by Jean Gill

This week, we're welcoming author Jean Gill, whose latest title is Bladesong, book two of  The Troubadours series. Join us on Sunday, when the author will offer a free copy of the book to a lucky blog visitor. Here's the blurb:    

1151 – the Holy Land during a fragile peace

Estela, the troubadour, following the destiny of her beautiful voice, and Dragonetz, her passionate knight; divided by the times they love in.

Dragonetz is imprisoned in Damascus, his military prowess as valuable and dangerous to the balance of power as the priceless Torah he has  to deliver to Jerusalem.

Can Estela get him out alive, despite Nur-ad-Din, the Muslim Atabeg; Melisende, the Queen of Jerusalem; and an avenger from the past?

Will she still want to, when she knows what they’ve done to him?

On the run from abuse, Estela wakes in a ditch with only her lute, her amazing voice, and a dagger hidden in her petticoats. Her talent finds a patron in Alienor of Aquitaine and more than a music tutor in the Queen's finest troubadour and Commander of the Guard, Dragonetz los Pros. Weary of war, Dragonetz uses Jewish money and Moorish expertise to build that most modern of inventions, a papermill, arousing the wrath of the Church. Their enemies gather, ready to light the political and religious powder-keg of medieval Narbonne. 

**An Excerpt from Bladesong**

Chapter Two

While her lover Dragonetz is on a mission in the Holy Land, Estela is a troubadour at the court of Dia, accompanied by her men-at-arms Raoulf and Gilles, and by a huge white dog …

It took both Raoulf and Gilles to drag Nici away from Estela and lock him in another room so the midwife could get anywhere near her, and it was just as well they were wearing gauntlets, boots and leather jerkins. Estela could still hear Nici’s furious scratching at the door and outraged yelps at being shut away from his mistress when she clearly needed him.

She had known when she woke in a pool of liquid that it was time to send for the midwife and, after a scurry of servants, Bèatriz’ women had ushered her to a chamber well away from the daily bustle of castle life. The purpose of the room was clear enough. Apart from the blazing fire, which barely took the chill off the air, there was a bed, a birthing stool, chamber-pot, wash-stand and ewer.

In her own home, the mattress would have been stuffed with our lady’s bedstraw and the fire strewn with juniper branches but Estela didn’t know what herbs were used here, if any. The only light came from the fire and the pitch torches on the wall, as if the business of birthing should be in darkness, like the act that produced it.

Estela’s gloom deepened into panic as her body spasmed. She had a rough idea of what would happen, thanks to visits with her mother, a healer, and thanks to a Moorish physician, who’d held science above prudery and discussed medicine with her. If only her mother or Malik could have been with her now, instead of women whose names she could barely remember. She hadn’t felt so alone since she’d woken in a ditch after running away from home.

And then Nici appeared as if by magic, bounding to her side, anxious brown eyes and insistent tongue, her only friend now as then, licking the salt of her tears as she indulged in self-pity. In between the waves that racked her, Estela trailed her hands in the coarse white fur but when the midwife arrived, Nici made it clear that no-one was going to touch his mistress when she was so clearly vulnerable and incapable of making any decision. It was unquestionably his job to take charge.

Usually an easy-going lump of a dog, who was as happy milling around with any of the hunting packs as he was dozing hopefully under a trestle table at meal-time, Nici was unrecognizable. Hackles raised, eyes bright as pebbles in water, he fixed the midwife with an inimical glare.

The midwife made it equally clear that she was leaving unless someone removed the growling monster from the room. Helpless with contractions, Estela’s half-hearted attempts to reassure Nici seemed merely to convince him that she was not herself.

At which point, Raoulf and Gilles braved women’s territory and took matters into their own gauntlets, ignoring the scandalised squeaks of the attendant women as much as the furious complaints of the huge dog, whose muffled barking from his solitary confinement accompanied Estela’s involuntary shouts of pain.

‘Jasmine oil,’ she begged the midwife, whose face looked like a child’s dough sculpture, lumpy and white, with raisin eyes. Eyes that narrowed, weighing her up. In the birthing chamber, the only queen was the midwife, whatever the rank of the mother-to-be.

‘Jasmine oil,’ the midwife repeated flatly.

Estela couldn’t keep the desperation out of her voice as she felt the beginning of another wave. No longer a baby kicking; more like a herd of horses pounding her into the dust. ‘Inhaling oil of jasmine helps with the pain...’ she tailed off, biting her lip bloody and doubling over, half-falling onto the bed.

‘Well we don’t hold with such fancy things here and babies get born just the same. You’ll manage,’ stated the midwife, moving Estela to the birthing chair to see how wide open she’d become.

Estela felt the screams rising as if they belonged to someone else, except that Nici joined in, so they must be hers. She knew Raoulf and Gilles were just outside the door, hers in a way that none of these women were, and she was overwhelmed by longing to call them in, to grab onto a hand of each, to anchor her body in this world to the rock of their loyalty. To have them with her when she brought Dragonetz’ baby into the world.

 She almost called them but enough thought remained to know she mustn’t. This dour woman was her baby’s herald, able to doom - or bless - him or her with a word. Let it be said that men had been at the birth and the baby would be cursed, hag-ridden, switched, any of a thousand insinuations that would make themselves into truth. Men would cross themselves and avoid touching such an ill-fated child, and if he sickened from so much as gum-fever, it would be the devil’s work and no-one would lift a hand to make him better.

Estela knew the way people’s minds worked. When visiting cottages with her mother, with salves and potions, she’d listened to the rhymes and prayers that her mother advocated applying with the medicaments, knowing that the patients’ minds played a part in the healing. So Estela gripped the chair arms instead of her friends’. She would bring this baby into the world, whatever it cost her.

Hours, days or years later, adrift and dazed in the distinction between more pain and less pain, exhausted beyond obeying the midwife’s impossible instructions, Estela nevertheless realised that the purse-mouthed enemy was about to stick some kind of irons into her most tender parts, irons more suited to turn a pig on a spit than a baby in its mother.

Bursting her lungs, Estela screamed and pushed one last time, Nici no longer barking but howling with her, a wolf-call of solidarity. The irons were dropped on the stone flags as the midwife caught the baby and, astonishingly, smiled up at Estela.

Want to read more?

Bladesong is available from Amazon and in all ebook formats from Smashwords.   Also available in print from Lulu. 

Book one, Song at Dawn, won the Global Ebooks Award for Best Historical Fiction

'Believable, page-turning and memorable' - S.P.Review 

Jean Gill is a Welsh writer and photographer living in the south of France with a big white dog, a Nikon D700 and a man. For many years, she taught English in Wales and was the first woman to be a secondary headteacher in Carmarthenshire. She is mother or stepmother to five children.

Publications are varied, including prize-winning poetry and novels, military history, translated books on dog training, and a cookery book on goat cheese. With Scottish parents, an English birthplace and French residence, she can usually support the winning team on most sporting occasions.

Follow jean on twitter @writerjeangill

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Jean says:

I love hearing from readers so feel free to mail me at jean.gill@wanadoo.fr with comments or questions. You'll find a mix of my work, along with fun trivia about books, at www.jeangill.com My photo portfolio is at www.istockphoto.com/jeangill and I blog at www.jeangill.blogspot.com I sometimes accept guest bloggers so get in touch.

GIVEAWAY to readers of Unusual Historicals blog; a signed copy of Bladesong by Jean Gill by random draw. If you can find the time to post a review, whether on Smashwords, Amazon, Goodreads, your blog, wherever, Jean will be very grateful. 

Scandalous Affairs: The "Abduction" of Isabel de Vermandois

By Lisa J. Yarde

On June 5, 1118, the Countess of Leicester Isabel de Vermandois became a widow upon the death of her husband, Robert de Beaumont. Within a year, Isabel remarried and bore a son for William de Warenne, the second Earl of Surrey. At the outset, this union would seem perfectly respectable, a second chance at happiness for a woman still of childbearing age and blessed with a royal pedigree. Instead Isabel's second marriage concealed a long-standing affair with William, which involved her "abduction", resulted in an illegitimate child and contributed to the unhappy passing of her first husband. According to the historian Henry of Huntingdon, these unfortunate circumstances hastened the death of Robert de Beaumont, brokenhearted "after his wife ran off with his fellow earl."

Isabel de Vermandois descended from Count Hugh de Vermandois, brother to Philip I of France, one of the Capetian line of kings. In 1096, while Isabel was still a teenager, she married Robert de Beaumont, who would have been 50 years old. A hero of the battle of Hastings in 1066 and companion of the Conqueror, Robert served three successive Anglo-Norman kings. In his youth, William de Warenne did not enjoy such a companionable relationship with the same rulers. Like many among the newly-landed nobility of England whose fathers claimed victory at Hastings, William held property in the country of his birth and Normandy, resulting in divided loyalties.   

Remains of the motte at Robert's castle
of Leicester - Creative Commons 

The divisions faded for a time under the reign of King Henry I (1100-1135), who claimed England and Normandy. Isabel, Robert and William became part of the Anglo-Norman aristocracy at Henry's court, already rife with scandals of the sovereign's own making. Henry enjoyed the notoriety of love affairs with women of varying classes, resulting in 21 acknowledged illegitimate children. Before Henry took the throne, William sought and lost the hand of Edith, of royal blood derived from England's former rulers. Instead, she became Henry's queen just after his ascension. Henry tried diffusing any resentment by arranging a marriage between one of his illegitimate daughters and William, but the Church would later forbid the union. During the same time, Isabel and Robert's family grew to include 3 sons and 5 girls, starting with their daughter Emma in 1102 and twin boys in 1104. Robert's wealth and prestige increased in 1107, as the first Earl of Leicester.  

No one knows when the affair between Isabel and William began, but his purported abduction of her would have occurred sometime between February 1116 (when William and Robert last cooperated on a mission for the king) and Robert's death in 1118. Gossip even suggested William had not stolen Isabel away; rather, she agreed to run away with him, favoring a much younger man over her aged first husband. While the chronicles don't agree on the date, the birth of Gundred de Warenne likely resulted during the affair. It's also uncertain where the couple might have escaped Robert's wrath, since William held castles throughout Yorkshire, Sussex and Norfolk.

Ruins of Castle Acre, Norfolk: did William
take Isabel here after abducting her? - Creative Commons 

After her second marriage, the new Countess of Surrey went on to have another daughter and two more sons for William. At King Henry's command, William even served as part of a council of four charged with overseeing the estates of Robert's twin heirs. Interestingly, Isabel's children by both sets of partners seem to have coexisted happily. Robert's heirs and William's eldest son attended the deathbed of King Henry in 1135, and Gundred married Robert's nephew, Roger de Beaumont. 

Despite Isabel's scandalous affair with William, public disgrace did not taint her future or that of her children. Through their marital alliances, Isabel became the ancestress of famous medieval figures, including Simon de Montfort, Malcolm IV and his brother William I of Scotland, and Robert the Bruce.              

You can learn more about the love triangle of Isabel, Robert and William in my latest title, The Burning Candle. 

Lisa J. Yarde writes fiction inspired by the medieval period. She is the author of historical novels set in medieval England and Normandy, The Burning Candle, based on the life of Isabel de Vermandois, and On Falcon's Wings, chronicling the star-crossed romance between Norman and Saxon lovers. Lisa has also written Sultana and Sultana’s Legacy, novels set during a turbulent period of thirteenth century Spain,where rivalries and ambitions threaten the fragile bonds between members of a powerful family.