Blog Tour Q&A with May McGoldrick, Author of Highland Crown

Please join me in welcoming May McGoldrick (aka the husband and wife writing team of Nikoo & Jim McGoldrick) to Let Them Read Books! Having recently discovered and fallen in love with their stories, I was thrilled to have the chance to ask them some questions about the history behind their new Royal Highlander historical romance trilogy. Read on and pick up a copy of Highland Crown today!

Scottish pride, persuasion, and passion—this is Highland romance at its breathtaking best. 

Inverness, 1820

Perched on the North Sea, this port town—by turns legendary and mythological—is a place
where Highland rebels and English authorities clash in a mortal struggle for survival and
dominance. Among the fray is a lovely young widow who possesses rare and special gifts. 

WANTED: Isabella Drummond

A true beauty and trained physician, Isabella has inspired longing and mystery—and
fury—in a great many men. Hunted by both the British government and Scottish rebels, she
came to the Highlands in search of survival. But a dying ship’s captain will steer her fate
into even stormier waters . . . and her heart into flames. 

FOUND: Cinaed Mackintosh

Cast from his home as a child, Cinaed is a fierce soul whose allegiance is only to himself …
until Isabella saved his life—and added more risk to her own. Now, the only way Cinaed can
keep her safe to seek refuge at Dalmigavie Castle, the Mackintosh family seat. But when the
scandalous truth of his past comes out, any chance of Cinaed having a bright future with
Isabella is thrown into complete darkness. What will these two ill-fated lovers have to
sacrifice to be together . . . for eternity?

Hello, Nikoo and Jim! Thank you so much for stopping by Let Them Read Books!

This time period is a bit of an unusual setting for historical romance, but I greatly appreciated having a light shed on Scotland's "Radical War." Can you tell us what inspired you to weave a romance through this tumultuous yet underrepresented era in history?

We are historians and romantics. We believe that there is much to be learned from the past, from our achievements and our mistakes. In all of our work, we try to shed light on periods and events that we feel are relevant to our present time. As writers, we also believe that we have a responsibility to entertain but also to interest our readers in the political climate of a certain time period and place…and to pursue the truth of what was happening at the time.

‘Underrepresented’ is a great term for this era, but ‘hidden’ may be closer to the truth. The one who holds the pen writes the history, and in this case it was English doing the writing. Scotland’s Radical War of 1820 has many ‘forgotten’ revolutionaries and heroes.

We also believe that history repeats itself, and the events and upheaval during the late Regency period in England and Scotland and Ireland are tremendously relevant to us and our readers. Vast differences in living conditions between the rich and the poor. Governmental power being used to benefit the wealthy few. Citizen’s rights being taken away under false premises. Entrapment tactics being used against people who want reform, decent lives, and a voice in government. People being ousted from their homes in the name of ‘improvement’. Refugee populations soaring.

We also believe that the human spirit is indomitable, however. Love and compassion will always find a way to exist in the midst of struggle and suffering. That’s probably why we started writing historical romance to begin with.

So, to answer the question, we loved putting Isabella and Cinaed in the middle of Scotland’s Radical War. Theirs is a relationship tested by the social upheaval and the fires of their world. And we believe that struggle makes their story timeless. 

Guest Post: The Beginning of His Excellent and Eventful Career by Cameron MacKenzie

Please join me in welcoming Cameron MacKenzie to Let Them Read Books! Cameron is here today with a guest post about finding narrative voice as he wrote his debut historical novel about the early life of Pancho Villa. Read on, and enter to win a paperback copy of The Beginning of His Excellent and Eventful Career!

“I am not the revolution...I am the instrument of another hand.” So does Francisco “Pancho” Villa begin the tale of his rise from thief to warlord to the revolutionary leader of northern Mexico. By turns a confession and an act of seduction, The Beginning of His Excellent and Eventful Career chronicles a country remaking itself through blood and violence, giving shape to the boy who would dare to step from anonymity into power through the inexorable force of his will.

An exile at 16 after the murder of his family’s landowner, Villa begins a journey through dusty desert villages and barren mountaintop camps where his principles are formed and tested by endemic injustice. Building a group of outlaws around him, Villa begins to wage a war on the landowning dons that control the state, but as the savagery increases and the betrayals multiply, the ascension within Villa’s command of the mysterious and sadistic Rodolfo Fierro puts Villa’s ideals, and his vision of the future of Mexico, to the test.

Luminous, disturbing and powerful, The Beginning of His Excellent and Eventful Career weaves history and drama into a driving tale of ambition and brutality, insisting that those who would remake the world must first set fire to the old.

Narrative Voice

by Cameron MacKenzie

I think perhaps the most important (as well as the most difficult), element of the writing process is finding and controlling the narrative voice. If you can hit on the proper voice for the book, the book seems to come together around it. If you can’t find the right voice—and by voice here I’m talking about tone, about point of view, about vocabulary and length of line and rhythm—if you can’t find all that, the book can feel sunk before it starts.

A lot of historical fiction is told from the first person because it plants the reader concretely in the historical time and place. But in order to believably pull off a first person narrator in historical fiction, the writer needs to have a firm grasp on not only how people expressed themselves in that time and place, but how that particular character would understand him or herself from within a sociological, economic and cultural situation that is oftentimes quite foreign to us from where we sit today. The writer has got to do a ton of research to get this right.

I struggled for a long time with what perspective to use when writing my book on Pancho Villa, The Beginning of His Excellent and Eventful Career. I had good writing from Villa’s perspective in the first person, but the more I learned about Francisco “Pancho” Villa, the more intimidated I became. This was an epic figure, one of the more important leaders of the 20th century—a man who pulled himself up from poverty and through lawlessness in a perilous landscape to eventually lead a country to freedom. What could I believably say about him?

Blog Tour Spotlight: The Romanov Empress by C.W. Gortner

The Romanov Empress by C.W. Gortner

Publication Date: July 10, 2018

Ballantine Books

Hardcover; 448 pages

Genre: Historical Fiction

Even from behind the throne, a woman can rule.

Narrated by the mother of Russia’s last tsar, this vivid, historically authentic novel brings to life the courageous story of Maria Feodorovna, one of Imperial Russia’s most compelling women, who witnessed the splendor and tragic downfall of the Romanovs as she fought to save her dynasty in the final years of its long reign.

Barely nineteen, Minnie knows that her station in life as a Danish princess is to leave her family and enter into a royal marriage—as her older sister Alix has done, moving to England to wed Queen Victoria’s eldest son. The winds of fortune bring Minnie to Russia, where she marries the Romanov heir and becomes empress once he ascends the throne. When resistance to her husband’s reign strikes at the heart of her family and the tsar sets out to crush all who oppose him, Minnie—now called Maria—must tread a perilous path of compromise in a country she has come to love.

Her husband’s death leaves their son Nicholas II as the inexperienced ruler of a deeply divided and crumbling empire. Determined to guide him to reforms that will bring Russia into the modern age, Maria faces implacable opposition from Nicholas’s strong-willed wife, Alexandra, whose fervor has lead her into a disturbing relationship with a mystic named Rasputin. As the unstoppable wave of revolution rises anew to engulf Russia, Maria will face her most dangerous challenge and her greatest heartache.

From the opulent palaces of St. Petersburg and the intrigue-laced salons of the aristocracy to the World War I battlefields and the bloodied countryside occupied by the Bolsheviks, C. W. Gortner sweeps us into the anarchic fall of an empire and the complex, bold heart of the woman who tried to save it.

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound

Praise for The Romanov Empress:

"Gortner’s mesmerizing historical novel (following The Vatican Princess) depicts the remarkable life of the mother of the last Russian tsar. This insightful first-person account of the downfall of the Romanov rule will appeal to history buffs; at its core, it’s the powerful story of a mother trying to save her family and an aristocrat fighting to maintain rule in a country of rebellion, giving it an even broader appeal." —Publishers Weekly

“A sweeping saga that takes us from the opulence and glamor of Tsarist Russia to the violent, tragic last days of the Romanovs. C. W. Gortner breaks new ground here, skillfully painting an intimate, compelling portrait of this fascinating empress and her family.” —Stephanie Dray, New York Times bestselling author of America’s First Daughter

“The Romanov Empress has all the glitter and mystery of a Faberge egg, the outer decadence and beauty of Imperial Russia unfolding to reveal the mysteries and horrors within. The waning days of a doomed dynasty are recounted by the vivacious but tough Danish princess who would become one of Russia's most revered tsarinas, only to see her line end in war and revolution. Gortner pens a beautiful tribute to a lost world, weaving a tale sumptuous as a Russian sable.” —Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Alice Network

“A vivid, engaging tale of Tsarina Maria Feodorovna, the mother of Russia's last Tsar, her loves and her heartbreaks, bringing the troubled final decades of the Russian Empire to life.” —Eva Stachniak, author of The Winter Palace

Blog Tour Review: The Lost Season of Love and Snow by Jennifer Laam

From the Back Cover:

The unforgettable story of Alexander Pushkin’s beautiful wife, Natalya, a woman much admired at Court, and how she became reviled as the villain of St. Petersburg.

At the age of sixteen, Natalya Goncharova is stunningly beautiful and intellectually curious. But while she finds joy in French translations and a history of Russian poetry, her family is more concerned with her marriage prospects. It is only fitting that during the Christmas of 1828 at her first public ball in her hometown of Moscow she attracts the romantic attention of Russia’s most lauded rebel poet: Alexander Pushkin. 

Enchanted at first sight, Natalya is already a devoted reader of Alexander’s serialized novel in verse, Evgeny Onegin. The most recently published chapter ends in a duel, and she is dying to learn what happens next. Finding herself deeply attracted to Alexander’s intensity and joie de vivre, Natalya hopes to see him again as soon as possible.

What follows is a courtship and later marriage full of equal parts passion and domestic bliss but also destructive jealousies. When vicious court gossip leads to Alexander dying from injuries earned defending his honor as well as Natalya’s in a duel, Natalya finds herself reviled for her alleged role in his death. 

With beautiful writing and understanding, Jennifer Laam, and her compelling new novel, The Lost Season of Love and Snow, help Natalya tell her side of the story—the story of her greatest love and her inner struggle to create a fulfilling life despite the dangerous intrigues of a glamorous imperial Court.

My Thoughts:

I knew nothing about Alexander Pushkin other than that he was a famous poet, I knew nothing about his wife or that he died in a duel defending her honor, so of course once I saw the blurb for The Lost Season of Love and Snow, I had to read it. What a subject for a novel!

Despite being bound by the constraints of historical fact, this is very much a character-driven story. In the prologue, I was a bit put off by Natalya. Her husband has literally just breathed his last breath and all she can think about is how she is going to repair her reputation. But I told myself that I did not yet know what had happened to make this her first reaction, and as her past unfolds, the way her light is dimmed by the expectations of marriage and society, the way she bears the blame for the transgressions of others, the way she is robbed of her own destiny, witnessing her despair and regret, I could not help but feel for her.

We first meet young Natalya as an idealistic sixteen-year-old whose love for romantic novels shapes her expectations of love and courtship. A celebrated yet humble beauty with writing aspirations of her own, she catches the eye of Russia's favorite poet shortly after her introduction into society and quickly weaves grand dreams around a life with him. Eventually she will get that life, and though it will bring her passion and love, it will also bring her disappointment and heartbreak. The pressure of being Russia's greatest poet often takes a toll on Alexander, and Natalya often finds herself putting her husband's needs above her own. Never achieving the success she hoped for with her own attempts at writing, she begins to indulge in what she thinks are innocent pleasures where she can find them, mainly amidst the glittering and "courtly love" atmosphere of St. Petersburg society, where she has become the belle of the ball. But she unwittingly sets in motion a chain of events that will forever alter not only her own life, but the landscape of Russian literature.

Q&A with Elizabeth Jane Corbett, Author of The Tides Between

Please join me in welcoming Elizabeth Jane Corbett to Let Them Read Books! Elizabeth is touring the blogosphere with her debut novel, The Tides Between, and I recently had the chance to ask her some questions about her inspiration for this novel, Welsh fairy tales, and writing historical fiction. Read on and enter to win a signed copy of The Tides Between!

She fancied herself part of a timeless chain without beginning or end, linked only by the silver strong words of its tellers.

In the year 1841, on the eve of her departure from London, Bridie’s mother demands she forget her dead father and prepare for a sensible, adult life in Port Phillip. Desperate to save her childhood, fifteen-year-old Bridie is determined to smuggle a notebook filled with her father’s fairytales to the far side of the world.

When Rhys Bevan, a soft-voiced young storyteller and fellow traveller realises Bridie is hiding something, a magical friendship is born. But Rhys has his own secrets and the words written in Bridie’s notebook carry a dark double meaning.

As they inch towards their destination, Rhys’s past returns to haunt him. Bridie grapples with the implications of her dad’s final message. The pair take refuge in fairytales, little expecting the trouble it will cause.

Odyssey Books | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iBooks | Kobo

Hi Elizabeth! Thank you so much for taking the time to stop by Let Them Read Books!

Thank you so much for hosting me and for creating such an interesting list of questions.

What a fascinating premise The Tides Between has! What inspired you to write this novel?

The process started with a mid-life crisis. I decided I’d better attempt the long-cherished dream of writing a novel before it was too late. My initial aim was to write an Aussie immigration saga spanning several decades (so I could have easy access to reference materials). As I researched Australia’s early immigration system, a young girl entered my mind. I called her Bridie. She’d lost her father in tragic circumstances. I envisaged my novel would start with Bridie’s voyage to Australia and follow her life in early Melbourne. Due to my mum’s heritage, I made the fateful decision of including a young Welsh couple in my mix of immigrants. I had this idea they would help Bridie come to terms with her loss. But how to make that happen? Some quick research told me Wales had a strong bardic heritage. Hmm…maybe my Welsh couple could be storytellers? I read the Mabinogion and host of other Welsh fairy tales. Wow! Like wow! These stories were my heritage and I hadn’t even known they existed.

I’d never written a novel before and frankly I found how-to-write-a-novel books overwhelming. I thought if I take into account everything I need to know before writing this novel, I’ll be too scared to start. I basically just gave myself permission to write. As my fictitious ship set sail, I realised my Welsh couple had secrets. Bridie faced conflict on a number of levels. I kept writing. Somewhere around the Bay of Biscay, I faced a decision. Do I follow this story where it is leading? Or pull back and write the saga I’d initially intended. I chose the latter. I still haven’t written the saga.

Reading all of those Welsh fairy tales as you wrote must have been fun. Which is your favorite?

Ooh! That is tricky. Perhaps, the Lady of the Lake? I am haunted by those three causeless. That is so like life, isn’t it? We don’t always realise the consequences of our actions until it is too late. I can’t count the times I’ve thought: I wish I hadn’t said/done that?

While researching The Tides Between, I spent seven months living in Wales. While there, I was fortunate enough to attend a number of lectures on the Mabinigion. I also went to a talk on Fairy Tales by a man who I suspect really was a fairy. In his version of the Lady of the Lake, the three causeless blows were made with a piece of iron. This caused a degree of panic. Had I got the whole thing wrong? Would I need to re-draft yet again? To my relief, I found there were a number of possible variations, as is often the case with folk tales.