THE WHITE PRINCESS by Philippa Gregory is the story of Elizabeth of York, daughter of THE WHITE QUEEN (Elisabeth Woodville) and granddaughter of THE LADY OF THE RIVERS (Jacquetta de St Pol). […]
Anne Neville (1456-1485) is not well-known as a personality in her own right. She is most famous for being the wronged wife of Richard III (1452-1485). At the time of her death, […]
THE RED QUEEN is the story of Margaret Beaufort (1443-1509), mother of Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond (1457-1509), who defeated Richard III at Bosworth and reigned as King Henry VII from 1485 […]
Between us sat a table made of some substance like glass, for I could see the carpets on the floor through it. I regarded it dubiously. Would it shatter if I placed […]
The value of the Mark declined during the war, going from about 4.2 Marks to the dollar at the beginning of the war in August 1914, to about 8.91 Marks to the […]
THE WHITE QUEEN is the story of Elizabeth Woodville (1437-1492), Queen of Edward IV, mother of the Little Princes in the Tower, and also of Elizabeth of York, who married Henry Tudor […]
LADY OF THE RIVERS is Philippa Gregory’s latest foray into the world of the Wars of the Roses. Ms. Gregory has a talent for picking out a female heroine, who is both […]
What are three things people may not know about you? I learned to play violin when I was 3 years old. I have a PhD in Experimental Psychology. I wanted to study […]
Augustus the Bear ignored her. “You’re not quite real,” he declared rather foolhardily, for Pandora looked as if she were on the verge of throttling him. Then she said something that amazed […]
FAREWELL MY LIFE is in three parts. The third part, FAREWELL MY LIFE opens in Berlin, Germany in July 1938. At that time, Berlin was like a patient in a dentist’s chair […]
This novel is the sequel to LIONHEART, also narrated by Emily Gray. If you haven’t experienced this first novel, I suggest you do so BEFORE experiencing this one, as much of what […]
LIONHEART by Sharon Kay Penman is the story of Richard I during the early years of his reign, form 1189 when he ascended the throne of England to the end of 1192, […]
What historical time period do you gravitate towards the most with your personal reading? That depends on what I’m working on. When I was writing Thwarted Queen I read historical fiction about […]
He must be talking about the children that own these toys. What were their names? I always pride myself on my ability to remember the little one’s names, they get so upset […]
FAREWELL MY LIFE is in three parts. The second part, AN UNSUITABLE SUITOR opens in Berlin, Germany in January 1922. At that time, Berlin was a poor and impoverished city, still recovering […]
PARIS WIFE by Paula McLain is a fictionalized account of Ernest Hemingway’s first marriage to Hadley Richardson, and the time they spent together in Paris during the 1920s. Hadley Richardson was not […]
“Catch and Kill” refers to a tactic used by news organizations to get rid of stories they don’t like. They spend a (HUGE) sum of money to buy the rights to the […]
What was the first historical novel you read? I’m not sure, but I remember enjoying Jean Plaidy’s Isabella & Ferdinand trilogy (Castile for Isabella, Spain for the Sovereigns, and Daughters of Spain) […]
“The author knows her characters very, very well; this shows in the consistent and very individual way they act. This is not a plot-driven story; it’s character-driven. In this book, the characters are the jam which holds everything together. The best example of this is Grace, the talented violinist, who, simply, jumps off the page. I loved her.”
“Don’t you love when you get to the part in the book where the title makes an appearance and you’re like “ohhhhh”?! That was me with Farewell My Life!
“The newest book by Author Cynthia Sally Haggard is a long one but the way she divides it into three parts really help breaks it up. Plus the writing and the story are both so great that the pages just fly by.
“Farewell My Life tells the story of Angelina and her daughter, Grace. Angelina features mostly in the first part of the book, and then Grace features in parts two and three. She is a gifted musician and her talent takes her from Washington DC to Berlin where she trains with the most famous violinist in the world. The third part was a little darker as the Nazis start taking over, and the Oster Conspiracy of which I knew very little, is talked about.
“Beautifully written and hard to put down, I highly recommend Farewell My Life! Part coming-of-age, part mystery, part life story – it’s an incredible read.”
“The author…adeptly summons the era in all its manners and details with her descriptive prose…Her omniscient, third-person narrator effectively flits through the heads of various characters, offering momentary glimpses of their inner lives.”
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