Book review: A Christmas Visitor by Sarah J. McNeal

Blurb:

Matilda Barton’s broken heart may never heal. The love of her life, Sterling Thoroughgood, has been gone three years with no word. Is he dead or alive? Why should it matter to her? She’s spent the past three years trying to save her father, her ranch, and her dignity—but her heart has taken the worst battering of all. Now that her father has died, the livestock has been sold off, and the ranch is in disrepair, her life is empty. When Sterling Thoroughgood rides up to her house on Christmas Eve, is it any wonder she greets him with a shotgun instead of a kiss?

Sterling Throughgood has worked hard to build a ranch in Hazard, Wyoming. Admittedly, it took longer than he thought, but he had to have a good start for Matilda, the woman he’s always loved. Arriving at her house on Christmas Eve, he discovers a lot has changed in three years. Her father, his mentor, has passed away—and Matilda has become bitter because of what she felt were empty promises Sterling made in the past. But Sterling is not a quitter, and he will pit his determination against Matilda’s iron-clad will any day of the week—even on Christmas Eve.

He hopes that the puzzle box he made for her with his special gift inside will prove to her his ever-constant love, but is it too late for that? Can Matilda understand his three-year absence amidst all the loss she’s gone through? Is their love lost forever, or does the peculiar puzzle box hold the key to happiness for both of them? Can Sterling be more than just A CHRISTMAS VISITOR…

My Review:

What a cute Christmas story! Matilda and Sterling were sweethearts, but Sterling decided before he could marry her, he needed to make something of himself. Sadly, miscommunication left Matilda behind feeling lost and abandoned while Sterling strove and struggled to become worthy of her. Years past before Sterling returned, finding things weren’t quite as he expected.

Matilda used her stubbornness and strength to survive everything life had thrown at her after Sterling left, and your heart hurts for the depth of her dashed hopes and dreams. You also find yourself cheering for her as she works through her pride and reaches out to grab hold of her happy. 

Good thing Sterling also had a stubborn streak to keep up with Matilda and kept proving to her over and over his love for her - and it’s a good thing his heart was in the right place! I loved how he refused to give up and gifted Matilda with something she desperately needed.

This second chance love story offers a sweet and short Christmas time heart-warming happily ever after.

Purchase Links:

Secrets About A CHRISTMAS VISITOR by Sarah J. McNeal

A CHRISTMAS VISITOR just released earlier this month. I loved writing this Christmas story and it has a couple elements in it that may surprise you.

Although it does not have a Wilding in it, it DOES have a Thoroughgood and the Thoroughgoods took part in the Wildings series. See? I snuck that right in there.

In Banjo’s story he mentions Penelope Thoroughgood, a widow who taught him about love. I wrote Penelope Thoroughgood’s story in another Christmas story, WHEN LOVE COMES KNOCKING with Gil Thoroughgood, Penelope’s brother-in-law, as the hero. Gil Thoroughgood, a descendant of Sterling Thoroughgood in A CHRISTMAS VISITOR, was also a woodworker who liked to make whirligigs.

Gil and Penelope have a daughter who falls in love with Hank Wilding in the story, HOME FOR THE HEART.

In A CHRISTMAS VISITOR, Sterling has gone to a place called Hazard, Wyoming to build a ranch worthy enough to allow him to ask for Matilda Barton’s hand in marriage. The fictional town of Hazard is where all the Wilding stories take place.

So now I’ve told my all my secrets. A CHRISTMAS VISITOR is actually a part of the Wildings series. For those of you who have read some Wildings stories, maybe you caught the connection between Sterling Thoroughgood and the Thoroughgoods in the Wildings series. You probably see how crazy attached I became to the Hazard Wildings and their friends. In any case I truly enjoyed writing this Christmas story about Sterling and Matilda and the puzzle box that contains Sterling’s last hope to win Matilda’s heart.

A Puzzle Box With Two Doves Much Like Sterling's Box

If you haven’t read a Wilding story, I hope you’ll follow the link to my Wildings page at Prairie Rose Publications and check them out.  Here’s the link: The Wildings

In the meantime, here is the buy link for A CHRISTMAS VISITOR:

Amazon Kindle: A Christmas Visitor

Blurb:

 

Matilda Barton’s broken heart may never heal. The love of her life, Sterling Thoroughgood, has been gone three years with no word. Is he dead or alive? Why should it matter to her? She’s spent the past three years trying to save her father, her ranch, and her dignity—but her heart has taken the worst battering of all. Now that her father has died, the livestock has been sold off, and the ranch is in disrepair, her life is empty. When Sterling Thoroughgood rides up to her house on Christmas Eve, is it any wonder she greets him with a shotgun instead of a kiss?

Sterling Throughgood has worked hard to build a ranch in Hazard, Wyoming. Admittedly, it took longer than he thought, but he had to have a good start for Matilda, the woman he’s always loved. Arriving at her house on Christmas Eve, he discovers a lot has changed in three years. Her father, his mentor, has passed away—and Matilda has become bitter because of what she felt were empty promises Sterling made in the past. But Sterling is not a quitter, and he will pit his determination against Matilda’s iron-clad will any day of the week—even on Christmas Eve.

He hopes that the puzzle box he made for her with his special gift inside will prove to her his ever-constant love, but is it too late for that? Can Matilda understand his three-year absence amidst all the loss she’s gone through? Is their love lost forever, or does the peculiar puzzle box hold the key to happiness for both of them? Can Sterling be more than just A CHRISTMAS VISITOR…

 Excerpt:

            “Don’t you even think about stepping up on this porch, Sterling Alexander Thoroughgood, or I’ll shoot a hole in you big enough for a team of horses to jump through.” The woman wearing a faded blue calico dress aimed the shotgun straight at his heart…and sometimes his liver since she wasn’t holding the shotgun all that steady.

Sterling raised his hands in the air. His bare hands were practically numb from the cold. He glanced up at the slate gray sky. Snow’s comin’. Then he grinned at the woman holding the shotgun. “Merry Christmas to you, too, Matilda.”

She dipped the shotgun for just a moment, but raised it again as if on a second thought. “What do you want here after being gone for three years? Did you break some hearts up in Wyoming? Maybe you have some fathers and brothers gunning for you and you thought you’d come running back here to hide.”

Well, there it was. He’d hurt her when he left and she wasn’t about to let him forget it. “I came to see Allister. I told him I’d be coming back soon as I got my place up and running. We had an agreement about him selling me some cattle and maybe a bull to get a good, diverse herd started of my own.” He reached out his hand to press down on the barrel of her shotgun pointing it toward the broken down boards of the porch. “So, if you could see yourself clear to let me speak to your daddy, I’d be obliged.”

Matilda placed a hand on her hip while the other held tight to that shotgun. “Seems you’re a little too late, Mr. Thoroughgood. Pa died last year from pneumonia. He’d been sick a while and I had to sell off all of the livestock except for the mule and a few chickens to pay for the doctor and his medicine. I guess you’ll be leaving here empty handed.”

“Tilly, darlin’, I’m so sorry to hear the news that Allister has passed away. He was a good man and a good friend to me.” He stretched out a hand to touch her arm, but she stepped back just out of reach.

“Don’t you dare call me sweet names or my nickname, you snake. You’ve been gone three years and not a single word from you in all that time. All that sweet talk means nothing to me now.” She opened the door and stepped back to wave him into the house.

“I need to get my horses settled in the barn first, but I’d be obliged if I could come in for some coffee after that. It’s been a long trip from Wyoming.” He tipped his hat and turned to step off the porch. Once he had hold of the reigns of both horses, he glanced back up at Matilda who still stood with her hand on the door wearing a strange expression on her face.

“Don’t be surprised at the condition of the barn. Part of the roof has a hole in it. You might want to put the horses in the stalls on the left to keep ‘em warm and dry. There’s a little hay in the loft still.” Her voice seemed less determined and ornery. Sterling liked it better when she cussed him than when she pretended to be obliging.

“Thank you, Matilda. I brought some feed with me. Do you have some stock you need me to feed or have anything I need to bring in for you?”

Her throat worked for a moment and her eyes took a watery sheen. Please don’t cry, darlin’. His heart hurt for her. Things must have been tough for her over the past year. Finally, she managed to speak and her voice had its defiant edge to it again. “Hector, the mule, could use some hay and there are a few chickens needing to be fed some dried corn, if you don’t mind a little work.”

Sterling chuckled relieved she had regained her starch. “No trouble at all. I’ll see to things in the barn. You best get on in the house out of the cold. You reckon we could have a cup of coffee and talk when I get back from the barn? I’ve been riding for days in the cold to get here and could use something hot to get me percolating again.”

“Ran out of coffee three days ago. Hot water might have to do.”

“I brought provisions with me and some things I thought Allister and you might need. I need to see to my horse first, so I’ll just get on out and get those chores done. You take it easy for a while and I’ll fix us up a fine pot of coffee as soon as I get back from the barn.”

Matilda nodded her head as an answer, took up her shotgun and walked into the house shutting the door with a decided bang behind her.

Sarah J. McNeal

Diverse stories filled with heart

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Nothing New Under the Sun by Keena Kincaid

Someone recently commented that chaos would follow this election, regardless of who wins.

As an historian, I have to confess: the chaos has started.

For the most part, everyone likes history, but I think the one thing you get from studying history versus just reading history is the long-view of life on earth. You learn how to take an event and follow the ripples through the centuries and realizing that seemingly unconnected events are, in fact, so intertwined one would not happen without the other.

The best example of this is probably James Burke’s Connections series. He actually tells you what an event has to do with the price of tea in China, and the series gives you an idea of how the long-view will change how you see the world.

So what does all of this have to do with the current presidential elections? As we all know, this election is out of control. Pundits and extremists on both sides have predicted chaos on Nov. 9 if “their” candidate isn’t elected.

If you take the long-view, however, the chaos has started. It actually started decades ago, if not in the fall out of World War 1, which was itself a consequence of our on-going shift from agrarian to industrial and now to automation.

More importantly for this election, people are losing jobs and those jobs aren’t coming back regardless of campaign promises. The jobs of the future haven’t jelled yet, so we don’t know where to go for deliverance. It’s a normal part of the ebb and flow of society but it’s unsettling. Hence the anger, the preppers, the mass shootings, the rioters, the people quietly googling “where should I live after Nov. 8?"

One problem is it’s hard to see the long-view amidst chaos. A bigger problem is most people don’t even look for it.

Businesses focus on the next quarter.

Politicians focus on the next election.

People focus on the next weekend.

Few of us are looking beyond the immediate pain to see where we’re going and lay foundations to get there. Instead, we want a quick fix and assurances that we will be safe. This is why guns, bunker manufacturing, food preservation and training for the apocalypse have become multibillion-dollar industries.

Trump’s appeal lies in his outsider role and promises of quick fixes. He’s cast himself as the lone wolf hero (a very American literary archetype) and makes it OK to lay the blame for the chaos on whatever scapegoat you choose. And it’s very nice to have someone to blame…whether it’s Christians in Ancient Rome, Jews in Medieval Europe, Witches in colonial Salem or Communists in McCarthy’s America.

As a woman, the misogyny that’s erupted around this campaign reminds me that it’s easy to lose rights, even those pledged to us.

My area of study is the 12^thcentury, the era of Eleanor of Aquitaine, Empress Matilda, and some men you might have heard about, Henry II (son of Matilda and husband to Eleanor), Thomas of Beckett (annoyance to Eleanor) and Richard the Lionhearted (son of Eleanor and husband to no woman).

Matilda was the only legitimate daughter of King Henry I, who had upward of 20 illegitimate children. His son and heir, William, drowned when the White Ship burned and sank in the English Channel in 1120, throwing the succession into chaos.

At the King’s urging, the barons vowed to support Matilda as “king,” but when the time came to crown her in 1140, her cousin Stephen of Blois raced to Winchester and had himself crowned before Matilda reached England. Enough of the nobility broke their vow and supported Stephen that civil war followed.

By the summer of 1141, she was winning the fight. Then the chatter started. Chroniclers tell us that Matilda:

• Displayed “intolerable pride and willfulness”
• Possessed an “extremely arrogant demeanor instead of the modest gait and bearing proper to the gentle sex”
• Was “lifted up into an insufferable arrogance”
• “Alienated the hearts of almost everyone”
• Was “unfemininely willful and unnaturally domineering”

 Sound familiar?

For the record, Matilda never became queen. "Empress" is a nickname bestowed on her by her enemies because of her haughty nature. 

And for those keeping track, I have problems with Clinton. I think her vision is small, short-term and unprogressive. But I also think history will be kinder to her than her peers have been. History takes a long-view and knows when it’s seen this shit before.

Most importantly, though, history also tells us not to despair. Chaos ends, just as fat and happy times pass.

Even in the midst of The Black Death, people still married, still made wills, still sued their neighbor for diverting his sewer into their backyard. On the Camino, you’ll see all types of graffiti but one of the most common phrases is: LIVE YOUR LIFE.

So even as chaos rages, be kind, have faith, and live your life. 

My story Beyond All Else (set during the 12th century civil war) is part of PRP’s latest medieval anthology, One Winter Knight, which releases Thursday, Nov. 3. Here an excerpt:

The will-o-wisp flickered through the trees, a shimmering lure that her deep into the heart of the forest. Alais followed, focused solely on the light winking at her.

“Will you slow down. Not everyone is the size of a brùnaidh.”

Alais looked back at her friend, who struggled to free her clothes from a thorn bush. “I am not that small.”

“You are a good deal smaller than me.” Johanna yanked her mantle, then frowned in disgust at the torn fabric. “What is your hurry? We have nowhere to go to beat the storm and war already vexes the kingdom.”

War did more than trouble a kingdom. Half the world seemed drawn into the fight between King Stephen and Empress Matilda for the throne. But Alais had bigger worries than what might vex a kingdom. A death sentence hung over her head and at least one sheriff seemed determined to deliver it personally.

In the spirit of Live Your Life share with us the one thing you've always wanted to do but haven't yet?

New Release — A Christmas Visitor by Sarah J. McNeal

Matilda Barton’s broken heart may never heal. The love of her life, Sterling Thoroughgood, has been gone three years with no word. Is he dead or alive? Why should it matter to her? She’s spent the past three years trying to save her father, her ranch, and her dignity—but her heart has taken the worst battering of all. Now that her father has died, the livestock has been sold off, and the ranch is in disrepair, her life is empty. When Sterling Thoroughgood rides up to her house on Christmas Eve, is it any wonder she greets him with a shotgun instead of a kiss?

Sterling Throughgood has worked hard to build a ranch in Hazard, Wyoming. Admittedly, it took longer than he thought, but he had to have a good start for Matilda, the woman he’s always loved. Arriving at her house on Christmas Eve, he discovers a lot has changed in three years. Her father, his mentor, has passed away—and Matilda has become bitter because of what she felt were empty promises Sterling made in the past. But Sterling is not a quitter, and he will pit his determination against Matilda’s iron-clad will any day of the week—even on Christmas Eve.

He hopes that the puzzle box he made for her with his special gift inside will prove to her his ever-constant love, but is it too late for that? Can Matilda understand his three-year absence amidst all the loss she’s gone through? Is their love lost forever, or does the peculiar puzzle box hold the key to happiness for both of them? Can Sterling be more than just A CHRISTMAS VISITOR…

EXCERPT

     “Don’t you even think about stepping up on this porch, Sterling Alexander Thoroughgood, or I’ll shoot a hole in you big enough for a team of horses to jump through.” The woman wearing a faded blue calico dress aimed the shotgun straight at his heart…and sometimes his liver, since she wasn’t holding the shotgun all that steady.

     Sterling raised his hands in the air. His bare hands were practically numb from the cold. He glanced up at the slate gray sky. Snow’s comin’. Then, he grinned at the woman holding the shotgun. “Merry Christmas to you, too, Matilda.”

Moravian Christmas #MoravianStar #MoravianCookies By Sarah J. McNeal

The Emblem of the Moravian Church  

Who are the Moravians and exactly what so they do? Some have thought of the Moravians as Amish or Mormons, but they  are completely different.

Moravians are protestants much like the Methodists. Hans Hus (John Hus in English)started the Moravian movement in Bohemia, now the Czech Republic, in the early 15^th century. He objected to the practices and doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church that dominated Europe. For instance, he wanted the liturgy to be celebrated in the common language of the people (Czech), lay people to receive communion in both bread and wine, priests to be allowed to marry, and to eliminate the idea of purgatory. These concepts predate the Protestant Reformation by a century and some historians claim the Moravian Church was actually the first Protestant Church. Even though the movement gained support in the Crown of Bohemia, Hus was summoned to the Council of Constance where he was declared a heretic and released him to the secular authority which sentenced him to be burned at the stake on July 6, 1415.

Hans Hus burned at the stake

The Moravian Church did not die with Hus, instead, the movement spread even to far flung places like Greenland, Africa, Tanzania, and the West Indies. The Moravians wanted to spread the Gospel even though they did not try to convert others to their religion. By the middle of the 16^th century 90% of the inhabitants of the Bohemian Crown had become Protestant. The majority of the nobility was Protestant, and the schools and printing shops established by the Moravian Church were flourishing.


Protestantism had a strong influence in education of the population. By the mid 16^th century every single town in Bohemia had a Protestant school, and many more had more than one with two to six teachers each. Girls were given equal education to boys studying at a level of high grammar school including lectures on Latin, Greek, Rhetoric, Dialects, fundamentals of Philosophy and fine arts as well as religion according to the Lutheran Augustana.


The Catholic churches could not compete with the Moravian schools and soon they began to persecute the Moravians. The Moravian refugees sought shelter in other countries and, eventually, made settlements in America. The first settlement in Georgia failed to thrive, so they moved to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and the Salem, North Carolina where they grew into thriving communities. 

Old Salem, North Carolina

The Moravians are best known for their beautiful music 

The Moravian Forsyth County Band in North Carolina 1900

and for their Love Feast which is celebrated upon the first gathering after Pentecost by breaking bread with one another. 

Salem, now referred to as Old Salem, has been preserved as it was in 1766 with its buildings intact and is now an historical site where visitors can go to the shops and purchase wares similar to those originally sold when the community began. I just have to add here that the women’s college in Old Salem was the first college for women in America. The Moravian women held the same level of offices as the men and held as equals in the society. 

Salem College and Campus, the Oldest Female College in the U.S., Winston-Salem, NC

Seasonal celebrations are still carried out in Old Salem including Christmas.

And Christmas is why I wanted to post about the Moravians because there are two Moravian Christmas traditions that people continue even to this day: The Moravian Star and Moravian cookies. 

The Moravian Star is a multi-dimensional creation made of glass or paper that are used today with a light inside and displayed at the entrance of homes and on Christmas tree tops. 

Moravian Gingerbread and Molasses Cookies

The famous Moravian cookies are thin, delicate gingerbread or molasses type cookies about the size of a silver dollar and shaped like a flower. 

Old Salem Bakery

They are still sold in the Winkler Bakery in Old Salem. They also make a traditional sugar cake that is mighty tasty. I’ve included recipes.

Moravian Christmas Cookies Recipe

Moravian Sugar Cake Recipe

December has just begun, but I’d like to wish you all who celebrate it, a very Merry Christmas! 

A CHRISTMAS VISITOR

By Sarah J. McNeal

Prairie Rose Publications

Buy Link: A Christmas Visitor

Blurb:

 

Matilda Barton’s broken heart may never heal. The love of her life, Sterling Thoroughgood, has been gone three years with no word. Is he dead or alive? Why should it matter to her? She’s spent the past three years trying to save her father, her ranch, and her dignity—but her heart has taken the worst battering of all. Now that her father has died, the livestock has been sold off, and the ranch is in disrepair, her life is empty. When Sterling Thoroughgood rides up to her house on Christmas Eve, is it any wonder she greets him with a shotgun instead of a kiss?

Sterling Throughgood has worked hard to build a ranch in Hazard, Wyoming. Admittedly, it took longer than he thought, but he had to have a good start for Matilda, the woman he’s always loved. Arriving at her house on Christmas Eve, he discovers a lot has changed in three years. Her father, his mentor, has passed away—and Matilda has become bitter because of what she felt were empty promises Sterling made in the past. But Sterling is not a quitter, and he will pit his determination against Matilda’s iron-clad will any day of the week—even on Christmas Eve.

He hopes that the puzzle box he made for her with his special gift inside will prove to her his ever-constant love, but is it too late for that? Can Matilda understand his three-year absence amidst all the loss she’s gone through? Is their love lost forever, or does the peculiar puzzle box hold the key to happiness for both of them? Can Sterling be more than just A CHRISTMAS VISITOR…

 Excerpt:

“Don’t you even think about stepping up on this porch, Sterling Alexander Thoroughgood, or I’ll shoot a hole in you big enough for a team of horses to jump through.” The woman wearing a faded blue calico dress aimed the shotgun straight at his heart…and sometimes his liver since she wasn’t holding the shotgun all that steady.

Sterling raised his hands in the air. His bare hands were practically numb from the cold. He glanced up at the slate gray sky. Snow’s comin’. Then he grinned at the woman holding the shotgun. “Merry Christmas to you, too, Matilda.”

She dipped the shotgun for just a moment, but raised it again as if on a second thought. “What do you want here after being gone for three years? Did you break some hearts up in Wyoming? Maybe you have some fathers and brothers gunning for you and you thought you’d come running back here to hide.”

Well, there it was. He’d hurt her when he left and she wasn’t about to let him forget it. “I came to see Allister. I told him I’d be coming back soon as I got my place up and running. We had an agreement about him selling me some cattle and maybe a bull to get a good, diverse herd started of my own.” He reached out his hand to press down on the barrel of her shotgun pointing it toward the broken down boards of the porch. “So, if you could see yourself clear to let me speak to your daddy, I’d be obliged.”

Matilda placed a hand on her hip while the other held tight to that shotgun. “Seems you’re a little too late, Mr. Thoroughgood. Pa died last year from pneumonia. He’d been sick a while and I had to sell off all of the livestock except for the mule and a few chickens to pay for the doctor and his medicine. I guess you’ll be leaving here empty handed.”

“Tilly, darlin’, I’m so sorry to hear the news that Allister has passed away. He was a good man and a good friend to me.” He stretched out a hand to touch her arm, but she stepped back just out of reach.

“Don’t you dare call me sweet names or my nickname, you snake. You’ve been gone three years and not a single word from you in all that time. All that sweet talk means nothing to me now.” She opened the door and stepped back to wave him into the house.

“I need to get my horses settled in the barn first, but I’d be obliged if I could come in for some coffee after that. It’s been a long trip from Wyoming.” He tipped his hat and turned to step off the porch. Once he had hold of the reigns of both horses, he glanced back up at Matilda who still stood with her hand on the door wearing a strange expression on her face.

“Don’t be surprised at the condition of the barn. Part of the roof has a hole in it. You might want to put the horses in the stalls on the left to keep ‘em warm and dry. There’s a little hay in the loft still.” Her voice seemed less determined and ornery. Sterling liked it better when she cussed him than when she pretended to be obliging.

“Thank you, Matilda. I brought some feed with me. Do you have some stock you need me to feed or have anything I need to bring in for you?”

Her throat worked for a moment and her eyes took a watery sheen. Please don’t cry, darlin’. His heart hurt for her. Things must have been tough for her over the past year. Finally, she managed to speak and her voice had its defiant edge to it again. “Hector, the mule, could use some hay and there are a few chickens needing to be fed some dried corn, if you don’t mind a little work.”

Sterling chuckled relieved she had regained her starch. “No trouble at all. I’ll see to things in the barn. You best get on in the house out of the cold. You reckon we could have a cup of coffee and talk when I get back from the barn? I’ve been riding for days in the cold to get here and could use something hot to get me percolating again.”

“Ran out of coffee three days ago. Hot water might have to do.”

“I brought provisions with me and some things I thought Allister and you might need. I need to see to my horse first, so I’ll just get on out and get those chores done. You take it easy for a while and I’ll fix us up a fine pot of coffee as soon as I get back from the barn.”

Matilda nodded her head as an answer, took up her shotgun and walked into the house shutting the door with a decided bang behind her.

Sarah J. McNeal

Diverse stories filled with heart

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Twitter

Website

My Amazon Author’s Page

Prairie Rose Author Page

The Wildings

Prairie Rose Blog

Fantasy & Dreams Blog






   

Last of the Anglo-Normans - the loss of The White Ship

 

On November 25th, 1120, The White Ship was wrecked in a storm and sank in the English Channel. This terrible accident claimed over 300 lives and turned the course of English medieval history, since one of the victims was William 'the Atheling', seventeen years old and the only legitimate son of King Henry I of England and his queen Matilda, who had died two years before.

The White Ship was a modern vessel, a sturdy cog owned by Thomas FitzStephen, who was also on board, but the channel crossing from Normandy to England is treacherous, especially in winter. Henry's ship had already left Barfleur, on the north-western coast of France, in daylight, but when Fitzstephen's ship eventually sailed, after being loaded with more casks of wine, it was night. Worse, everyone on the ship was drunk. The ship struck a rock off Barfleur off the coast of north-western France and was wrecked. Only a butcher called Berthold from Rouen, on board to chase up payment, survived because the ramskins he was wearing saved him from exposure. Prince William and many of his friends, all young nobles, were drowned. Chroniclers of the time said that Thomas FitzStephen, knowing that Prince William was lost, allowed himself to drown rather than face King Henry.

At court, none of the barons dare tell the king. A child was finally sent with the terrible news. Henry fainted and afterwards was said never to smile again.

Henry, stricken with grief, also afraid for his crown. His other legitimate child, named Matilda like her mother, was a daughter and in the Middle Ages women were not thought capable of ruling without male help. The traditional role of a queen was as a help-meet of the king and an intermediary for petitioners seeking mercy from the king.

Henry was terrified of the prospect of no obvious male succession to the English crown, won by his father William of Normandy at the battle of 1066 - the more so perhaps because he owed his own title of king to an 'accident' in the New Forest in August 1100 when his older brother, William Rufus, the King of England, was killed by an arrow while out hunting. Accident or assassination? It is still unclear but the younger brother, landless Henry, wasted no time in seizing the royal treasury and securing his position.

The death of William Rufus had favored him but the sinking of The White Ship threw his dynastic aims into turmoil. He attempted to extract promises of loyalty from his barons to his daughter Matilda, but some of the barons favored Henry's favorite nephew Stephen and when King Henry died in 1135, Stephen was crowned king of England in his place.

Matilda and her supporters saw this as a betrayal and both factions fought for their claims over England for over 20 years.

Had William not been traveling on The White Ship all those years ago in 1120, if he had lived and succeeded his father, England would have seen a different line of Kings - Anglo-Normans instead of the later Angevins. No Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, no Richard the Lionheart, no King John - all descended from Matilda's marriage to Geoffrey of Anjou.

In my medieval fiction, I tend not to touch on the royal courts. I mention kings in passing, as being distant from my characters' lives - as in my novels "The Snow Bride" and "A Summer Bewitchment". There is more courtly intrigue in my novellas "Mistress Angel" and "Amice and the Mercenary".

Lindsay Townsend

New Release --- THAT SPECIAL SUMMER, MAID of the MIDLANDS, & MISTRESS of HUNTLEIGH HALL by Linda Swift

THAT SPECIAL SUMMER

When Paula's husband divorces her to “find himself”, she is devastated. To add insult to injury, he joins a band and begins to date a sexy young singer! Forced to start over in the job market, Paula returns to college for a degree in teaching Special Education.

Paula’s shattered ego receives a boost when two men show interest in dating her – Derek, a retired naval officer who’s back in college to qualify for a second career, and Greg, a wealthy businessman and philanthropist. Toss in a professor with a huge misconception, a campus stalker, and her daughter's upcoming wedding, and Paula's new world becomes more complicated than she ever dreamed it could be…

But re-inventing her life has some wonderful advantages she hadn’t expected. Falling in love again and starting over proves to be better than she could have ever imagined, and it all comes together in THAT SPECIAL SUMMER...

 MAID of the MIDLANDS

Sixteen-year-old Matilda’s placid life at Hafton Castle is turned upside down when she is chosen to be waiting-lady for the Queen of Scots. A queen who is brought to the castle as a “guest”… At the same time, Matilda falls in love with a handsome guard, Jondalar—who she is certain is “the one” for her.

But everything changes when Matilda learns that Jondalar has deceived her. He plots against the queen, and Matilda is forced to choose between her love for him and certain deadly betrayal of the woman she is obliged to serve. How can she make such a choice? Will she give up her love, or her honor—and how can she live with either decision?

MISTRESS of HUNTLEIGH HALL

~ The exciting stand-alone sequel to "Maid of the Midlands" from the award-winning author of "This Time Forever" Linda Swift ~

Wait for me…

Malcolm Gray asks only one thing of Alice Wykeham when he goes to sea. But ten long years go by, and Alice’s father will see her married—not to the man she loves, but to an elderly lord who is eager to claim her valuable dowry.

I’m here, my love…

Malcolm has been shipwrecked and severely injured. He remains in Amsterdam as he heals, then earns enough money to be able to ask for Alice’s hand. Though now successful, he returns to Hull too late to claim his true love. Still, he purchases a ship chandlery and stays nearby, watching over her without detection due to his changed appearance. 

When Alice’s younger sister, Mary, becomes pregnant and goes to Hull, Malcolm befriends her. But when Mary gives birth, Malcolm must end the charade and reveal himself when he sends for Alice—who wrongly assumes the child is his.

Treachery is afoot…

When Alice discovers the lord is involved in a treasonous plan to overthrow the king and has used her dowry for the cause, she must do something to avoid being caught up in his devious web herself! There can only be a tragic outcome for the Gunpowder Plot—and it could be the death of Alice, along with Malcolm, the only man she will ever love…