Wednesday, November 6, 2019

Blog Tour Guest Post: Royal Beauty Bright by Ryan Byrnes

Please join me in welcoming Ryan Byrnes to Let Them Read Books! Ryan is touring the blogosphere with his debut historical novel, Royal Beauty Bright. Ryan wrote this book in high school (!!!), and he's here today with a guest post about the inspiration for his novel, the Christmas truce of 1914. Read on and enter to win a copy of Royal Beauty Bright! And if you'd like to buy a copy, Ryan is donating all proceeds to the Immigrant and Refugee Women’s Program. How cool is that?

After an autistic man ends up in the trenches of World War I, a nun-turned-journalist dances with treason to care for him, and a candy store clerk posing as Santa Claus risks everything to bring him home.

While in France, Luther meets Ethyl, an aspiring journalist who tries to expose his plight. As Christmas approaches, Luther sinks into despair and Ethyl is threatened with punishment.

Back home, Luther’s brother Jim enlists with the British Army Postal Service. His job, delivering sacks of Christmas gifts to the frontline soldiers, is a cover for his plan to rescue Luther. The plan is made even more difficult by three refugee girls convinced that Jim, with his bag of gifts, is Santa Claus.

Jim and Ethyl finally cross paths with Luther on Christmas Day, 1914, when they witness one of the most uplifting spectacles of nonviolence in history, when thousands of soldiers broke orders and refused to fire on each other during the Christmas Truce of 1914.

AMAZON | BARNES AND NOBLE | INDIEBOUND


Peace on Earth (at least for the Holidays)
By Ryan Byrnes

105 Christmases ago, during one of the most destructive wars in history, the most dangerous thing a person could say was, “Sorry, General, we just don’t feel like fighting anymore.”

I find it ironic that hundreds of novels describe the fighting of WWI, yet only a few show us the ever-hopeful non-violence of WWI. It was a war where a soldier once sprinted into an enemy trench just to gift them a chocolate cake; it was a war where enemy soldiers disobeyed direct orders just to play soccer together; it was a war where opposing armies dropped their weapons for a month-long Christmas party.

So how come nobody tells these stories?

Non-violence is even more subversive, and yes, more dangerous, than the comforting narrative of good versus bad. Given the state of our world, we need these hopeful stories more than ever.
Hi. I’m the author, Ryan Byrnes, and I wrote this novel in high school. That’s me doing some research.

I was deeply moved to pick up a pen when I researched the hidden stories of WWI, realizing how much they apply to us in the 21st century. I read about the uncomfortably familiar refugee crisis of 1914, where thousands of families in Belgium fled the German soldiers, walking across entire countries while trying to create a sense of normalcy for their children, celebrating Christmas in tents in the French countryside. I read about candy-makers all over England banding together to send chocolates as holiday gifts to the troops because candy was the only trade they knew. I read about children who sold their Christmas tree ornaments as scrap metal to help the family. I read about a princess who sent two million brass boxes as Christmas presents to the troops. Luckily, I was able to obtain one of those brass boxes during my research. The 105-year-old artifact is pictured below.


In the weeks leading up to my high school graduation, I visited the research library at the National World War I Museum and Memorial, where I pored through some of their archives to piece together the story of what really happened on the first Christmas of WWI. My notes, pictured below, were quite messy. If you squint really close, you will find spoilers.


Here’s what I learned. On Christmas Eve 1914, the British Army manned a 27-mile-long trench through the frosty turnip farms of rural Belgium. In one report, a chorus of entrenched German soldiers sang “Silent Night” for the British soldiers, prompting the British to respond with their own music. Captain Sir Edward Hulse of the Scots Guards, a witness, wrote that at 8:30 PM on Christmas Eve, the Germans sent a party of four into full sight of the British guns, and “Their spokesmen started off by saying that he thought it only right to come over and wish us a happy Christmas, and trusted us implicitly to keep the truce.” Thousands of soldiers simply decided they didn’t feel like fighting anymore, and they left the trenches to throw a massive Christmas party right on the battlefield, much to the surprise of their commanders.

This truce was illegal; no documents or signatures approved it; the truce rose completely and spontaneously from the lowest-ranking soldiers in the trenches. It was truly a grassroots movement. The soldiers would normally have been punished for fraternizing with the enemy, but there were just too many of them to punish. So it was allowed.

The Germans lined their trenches with Christmas Trees. Private Murker of the Scots Guards wrote in his diary that he “met a German Patrol and was given a glass of whisky and some cigars.” Soldiers who had worked as barbers in their past lives offered free haircuts to their enemies, and ex-showmen put on juggling performances. Thoughts of war, fear, and hatred melted as holiday joy took hold of the Western Front.

After completing my research, I spent my final two months of high school pounding away at the keyboard until I had drafted my novel, Royal Beauty Bright, which describes the Christmas of 1914 through the eyes of a nurse, three refugee sisters, the owner of a candy store, and a man with autism. My publisher and I have worked very hard to tell the most vivid story we can about regular people trying to do good in an irregular time.


All author proceeds for this book will go to the Immigrant and Refugee Women’s Program, a nonprofit that teaches immigrants and refugees to read, write, and speak English. This book was meant to be a holiday gift to readers; I hope it is enjoyed! Thank you to the blog for hosting this guest post. Happy Holidays everyone; stay hopeful!

About the Author:

Ryan Byrnes is a St. Louis native. His first foray into writing was founding the publishing imprint Avency Press, where he wrote one illustrated chapter book, The Adventures of Wheatail, and four young adult fantasy novels in the Son of Time series. Since then, he has worked with a publishing company, a literary agency, and various aspiring writers seeking to self-publish. Ryan now lives in Iowa as a student in mechanical engineering and English. Between work hours, he builds Mars Rovers with his roommates, plays with cats, and watches Wes Anderson movies.

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Royal Beauty Bright is on a blog tour!
Click her to view the tour schedule


GIVEAWAY!

During the Blog Tour, we are giving away a copy of Royal Beauty Bright by Ryan Byrnes!
To enter, please use the Gleam form below.

Giveaway Rules:

– Giveaway ends at 11:59 pm EST on November 14th. You must be 18 or older to enter.
– Paperback giveaway is open to the US only.
– Only one entry per household.
– All giveaway entrants agree to be honest and not cheat the systems; any suspicion of fraud will be decided upon by blog/site owner and the sponsor, and entrants may be disqualified at our discretion.
– The winner has 48 hours to claim prize or a new winner is chosen.

Royal Beauty Bright

4 comments:

  1. This was a great book that I hope you will all check out! Thanks so much for hosting Ryan's post & tour, Jenny!

    Amy
    HF Virtual Book Tours

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  2. I can't wait to read this and recommend it to friends. Ryan, congratulations.

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  3. Sounds like another great book with the WWII setting. Always very good reading from this period even though emotional and disturbing. Thank you for this review.

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