MORE FREE BOOKS

The London 2012 Olympics end next weekend. The Free Download for THE BOY WITH TWO HEADS was so popular that author Julia Newsome wants to give her young fans another chance to read it free. So next Sunday 12th August we will celebrate the end of a splendid Olympics by offering not just one free book, but four:

Editor's Choice Historical Novels Review

August 2009

PATHS OF EXILE is a wonderful story, one that conjures up this long-gone age in extraordinary detail and reveals a profound understanding of its politics, cultures, and religions based on extensive research. It may be true, as Nayland admits, that “solid facts are rare indeed in 7th-century Britain”, but these characters—some real, others pure fiction—are so solid and credible that they will stay with you long after you turn the last page....
Full review on the Historical Novel Society website

MOON IN LEO: 

 4.0 out of 5 stars A fabulous journey through the 1670's  24 July 2011

By 

Shazjera (Bournemouth) - (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

At the beginning of our journey through life in the 1670's, we meet our heroine Rosamund. Having sent out a `spiritual call' for her twin Stephen, she is waiting for him to return from his Grand Tour of Europe. Her father is an alchemist and we know she is eagerly awaiting her brothers' return to complete the Sacred Marriage. As she sees him crossing the dangerous sands in Morecombe Bay, something happens to unsettle her and Stephen's homecoming is not as joyous as she imagined. ...

I really enjoyed this story - the way we get to experience how life was lived in the 17th century (the author has painstakingly researched); how the politics of the day are portrayed and the underlying rebellion; the celebrations of the Sabbats (Sabbats are the yearly cycle of the earth's seasons and would have been important during the time the story is set); the magic; the characters and the setting!

If you like historical fiction, then you will enjoy MOON IN LEO


And finally, after three really big, meaty reads- a little gem: a previously unknown and unpublished tale, by respected scholar and novelist Kathleen Herbert, who retells Guinevere's story from her point of view.
THE ONCE AND FUTURE QUEEN gives us a a view of Guinevere which speaks to our age.
 

TIE A KNOT TO REMIND YOURSELF!

FREE DOWNLOAD

The Boy with Two Heads is free to download on Amazon until Sunday!  They are going fast, but they are only limited by time, so get it while it's hot!


Look out for more Trifolium Books promotions in the next few weeks:

NOTHING MUCH CHANGES; A NEW REVIEW OF MOON IN LEO

"... the intrigue within today's politics, the suspicion and distrust between indigenous and immigrant communities ..."
 
Recently I have been thinking more about sending out review copies of The Boy with Two Heads, and wrestling with the Kindle edition to think about the other books. However, I occasionally check them out on Amazon, and was delighted to find a new review of Moon in Leo. I print it here in its entirety as it's the first to highlight the book's relevance to today's audience, and it uncannily echoes some of Kathleen's thoughts in her letters to me.

I don't really read historical novels, but "Moon in Leo" came to my attention for two reasons. First, my wife was reading it and I was attracted by the cover and secondly it is set, albeit three hundred and fifty years ago, in the county where I live. Aldingham shown on the cover map is somewhere I used regularly to visit.
Right! So what did I make of the book? Well, it is well researched redolent of the period. One word "guffawing" (page243) jarred a little, I thought it a more modern word, but discovered it had been around for about hundred years at the time this book is set, so one-nil to Kathleen Herbert!
Here, I have no intention of providing a précis of the plot, but make a suggestion! Forget, as you read, when it is set, instead reflect on the intrigue within today's politics, the suspicion and distrust between indigenous and immigrant communities and as you read, you will come to the conclusion that not much changes – we just call things by different names.
This book had a number of problems with me; I've put it that way around deliberately. First, for my taste it is too long at 400 pages, and the font is quite small, I'm getting old and my attention span is not what it once was. Secondly, there are (again for me) too many characters. However, the publisher provides a handy list of characters at the front, to which I repeatedly had to refer. It would though, have been better if this list had been alphabetical.
The holidays are coming up, so go off to Spain, but take with you a small slice of Cumberland in the shape of this novel. It is excellent value, beautifully written and will provide you with an entertaining and educational insight of times gone by. Click on the "Buy" button and be hugely entertained.

This is what Kathleen wrote to me:

I have looked over my novel about Furness during the Popish Plot- which is firmly based on truth… during these last weeks, the story has suddenly become incredibly topical- … for the background  we have:

• a King called Charles, with a complicated marital and family life
• a society of the rich and famous who produce a new scandal with every edition of the newspapers
•   a government that is not only stale but starting to smell     
• an established religion that has run out of steam, and numbers of cults that are boiling with enthusiasm- some for good, some for evil, both inside and outside Christianity     
• and a large number of “alternative” Englands that are barely suspected to exist by “official” England     
• It’s 1678, but change the clothes and it could be today.

And later:

I wrote a novel about the different folk who have come to our islands (for good, bad, fear, food, etc) and how they are still coming. I put the story into the past, so no folk could be insulted or unhappy or frightened.

... AND THREE HEADS ARE EVEN BETTER THAN TWO!

Our house is full of dogs, children, cats- and adults in various states of seasonal gluttony,  hangoverdom and/or denial, and three of us are working! 'Tis the season for the whole family to gather at our house, and these days that includes two very young dogs who are at present tearing around our feet play-fighting and terrorising the cats (also guests)


The three working people amongst the negligent throng (the kids are playing chess- the younger insisting to the older that "You can't move dinagonally Ted!") are myself, in my editing and managing capacity for Trifolium Books, daughter Kate, our designer, and Julia author of the soon to be published Boy with Two Heads.


...And indeed the three heads are working well and  producing cover designs, promotional ideas and... Julia's new blog  http://kneadtowrite.blogspot.com/. Please click and visit!