Tidelands by Philippa Gergory

 Hard to find someone to love?  Try being Alinor in the fifteenth century during the civil war of England.  So many restrictions.  So little independence.

Alinor's husband leaves on a work mission and hasn't returned, leaving her wondering if she's a widow or deserted.  The treacherous tideland homes a select group of typically poor farmers.  Alinor's neighbors always whisper about her and her magical herbs. 

Herbs aren't magical. She just knows how to use them.

James gets lost in the marshy lands where Alinor finds him and leads him to his destination.  Little does she know that he's her enemy and has come to help King James escape.

Whenever there's a mutual attraction, their opposition isn't enough to keep them apart.  Distance, rumors, and civil wars can't compete with love.  

I always get anxious when I read romances from eras before cars and planes because when the couple has to separate, it takes months for them to reunite.  I can only imagine the angst they feel waiting for the reunion, wondering if the other hasn't changed their mind, or one of them gets killed.  

And that makes for good reading.  Not to mention that Philippa Gregory writes the most fantastic historicals.  

Happy reading,

Dawn 

The Widow of the South by Robert Hicks

Based on the Battle of Franklin in 1864, the deadliest hours of the Civil War have found Carrie McGavock’s plantation. 

She had no choice.  Her home was chosen as the nearest and best solution for the upcoming war hospital.  She had no idea what she was in for as she waited for her love to return from his part in the war.

Yet Carrie knew his return was unlikely.  It was a hope she hung on to while literally piles of wounded and dead men scattered her yard and home.

One man had a special place in her home.  She gave him her bedroom to recover in and she kept him longer than any other mending soldier.

Something about the warmth and companionship in Zachariah Cashwell’s eyes tore at her heart.

He left with the last of the soldiers.

Carrie tended the garden of the dead where all soldiers had a proper burial.  She mourned for their families and mourned for the return of Zachariah.  She knew he was somewhere, still alive.

An amazing account of how the unseen chemistry will work and last the years until reunited when true love cannot be denied.

Happy reading,

Dawn

 

 

Thoughts on the Writing Process - Research & the Internet

I am currently working on a romance set during the Civil War….actually, that’s a misstatement…this romance is working me, making me grit my teeth, pull out my hair and giving me heartburn and it just seems so much different (and more difficult) than the westerns I normally write. I am compelled to write it though. My characters have been talking to me for a long time. I am compelled to finish it and appease the voices in my head (am I crazy? Well, the jury is still out on that question).

            But I digress (and my apologies for doing so….but you guys should be used to that by now). I’d like to talk today about research and well….getting lost in that wonderful (and dangerous) place called the Internet.

            How much historical fact is important to you when you read? Or information about the chosen profession of the characters? I understand you don’t want to be hit over the head with it, but little tidbits sprinkled here and there are good, aren’t they? And those little bits of information need to be correct, too, don’t they?

            Well, I like to think it’s important so…I went to look up one thing on the internet, one little fact…and well, three hours later, I was still looking up that one thing BUT oh, I had learned so much. And I admit, I had gotten lost. What did I want to look up? Hospitals during the Civil War. Where were they? How did they come to be? Who staffed them?

            I found that both Confederate and Union alike set up hospitals wherever they deemed necessary—in tents on the battlefield, sometimes right next to the cannons that fired continuously, in old barns that were falling down around their heads, in schools, and yes, in people’s homes. This last tidbit I found the most interesting. I also learned of Mary Edwards Walker, a woman surgeon during the war, which I also found most interesting, and led me to other women who participated in some way and is it any wonder why I got lost for so long?

As always, happy reading!

Marie