I’m delighted to welcome Asya M. Pereltsvaig to my blog today as part of the Coffee Pot Book Club tour, with an excerpt from her novel Murder in Petrograd. Set against the turbulent backdrop of Russia in 1916, the novel reimagines the events surrounding Rasputin’s murder, exploring the people, politics, and moral dilemmas at the heart of one of history’s most enduring controversies.
Here’s the Blurb:
Petrograd, 1916. As Russia is swept up in the maelstrom of war, Oswald Rayner, a bookish Oxford graduate, is sent by British Intelligence to Petrograd. His mission is to curb Rasputin’s influence and eliminate the man himself if needed. But Oswald soon realizes that his remit goes against his morals. Will he shirk his duty or be forever haunted by the blood on his hands and the burden of secrecy?
Murder in Petrograd re-imagines the web of forces surrounding Rasputin’s murder in a gripping saga of obsession, politics, loyalty, friendship, love, and fate. Taking the reader from Russia in 1905 to Oxford and California fifty-five years later, the novel delves into the emotional lives of a wide cast of real historical figures to explore the central questions of power, complicity, morality, and destiny. Murder in Petrograd asks whether it is ever morally right to take the life of a human being, however repugnant and dangerous he might be. Blending archival research, immersive period detail, and vivid narrative reconstruction, it bridges scholarship and storytelling with cinematic scope.
An excerpt:
Irina buried her face in her husband’s chest and burst into tears on his shoulder:
“I thought I might never see you again,” she wailed.
“There, there, it’s alright, my love, I’m here now,” Felix stroked her hair as if she were a child.
“I wouldn’t want our child to grow fatherless,” she continued sobbing inconsolably.
“Our child, my darling?” he asked, bewildered.
“Yes, yes, we are going to have a little one!” Irina choked back tears, realizing her that crying was not good for the baby.
Felix hugged her even firmer:
“We must go home! At once!” he said resolutely. “Our baby must be born and brought up in Russia.”
But it was easier said than done. Although the authorities told them to immediately leave Berlin, they provided them with no means to do so. Trains were cancelled, and roads — even if they could find an automobile on such a short notice — were closed. Their money, it seemed, lost all its value at once. The only thing that they still appeared to possess and which could get them out of Germany was their connections, so they made a frantic use of the hotel telephone that day.
Asya M Pereltsvaig
Author Bio
Asya Pereltsvaig is a native of Saint Petersburg, Russia. After earning a BA in English and History and a doctorate in Linguistics and teaching at Cornell and Stanford, she turned to doing what she loves most: teaching Russian history in lifelong education and writing historical fiction.
Her debut historical fiction novel, centered on the assassination of Rasputin, is a sweeping saga of murder, love and fate. Her upcoming historical mystery series, Detective Rosen Mysteries, explores social tensions, political instability and the world of crime in the early 20th-century Saint Petersburg.
When she is not writing, Asya is an intrepid traveler, avid reader, and dedicated ballroom dancer.
Today I’m pleased to feature Grace, the latest historical fiction novel from Helen Steadman. Published by Bell Jar Books on 4 November 2026, Grace is currently touring with the Coffee Pot Book Club, and I’m delighted to be taking part.
A young woman answers a cry across the water and loses herself in the echo.
Longstone Lighthouse, 1838.
Grace Darling wakens to the howl of wind screaming over stone and the sight of a ship smashed against the rocks. No stranger to the fury of the sea, she braves the raging waters, risking her life to save nine survivors.
Her valour captures the nation’s heart, and in the aftermath of her daring rescue, she is hailed as a heroine. Painted, praised and relentlessly pursued, Grace is swept out from the shadows of solitude and into the limelight. But fame brings its own tempest, and the lighthouse keeper’s daughter soon finds herself eclipsed by her own legend.
Grace is a haunting portrait of a modest young woman consumed by the voracious gaze of Victorian Britain.
Helen Steadman
Author Bio:
Helen Steadman mostly writes biographical historical fiction (think herbs, healing, witch trials, swords, shipwrecks and lighthouses) set in the north east of England.
So far, she’s written the Newcastle Witch Trials Trilogy (Widdershins, Sunwise and Solstice), The Running Wolf (about the Shotley Bridge swordmakers) and Grace (about Grace Darling, the Northumbrian lighthouse keeper’s daughter).
And then – because why not – there’s God of Fire set on Mount Olympus, which is absolutely nowhere near the north east of England.
Triggers: It’s based on the true story of the SS Forfarshire being shipwrecked, with most passengers not surviving (mainly death by drowning), including 2 children (a boy aged 8 and a girl aged 6). The eponymous heroine, Grace Darling, also dies of consumption (TB).
This title is available to read on #KindleUnlimited.
Secrets of the Penny University offers a dual timeline journey through hidden truths, long‑held hopes, and the moments that change everything. Set in Oxford, it draws the past into the present until the two feel inseparable. The result is a story that unfolds with purpose and leaves a lasting impression.
Step into a tale where time speaks in two voices. Here’s the blurb:
Tilly risks everything on a promise. Amy wants the truth.
“I think something terrible happened here”
2025: When Amy and her husband buy an old property on Oxford’s High Street with plans to open a new coffee shop, the discovery of a mural painted on a wall hints at a story that has lain dormant for centuries. Before long, Amy is seeing and hearing echoes of the past, and a young woman who once lived there. As the penny university reveals its secrets, will Amy’s growing obsession with the past lose her everything she has in the present?
1656: Abandoned by her lover and pregnant, Tilly is sent from the small village of Islip to live with cousins in Oxford where she will work in their coffeehouse. She is soon drawn into the excitement of her new life in the city, until the return of a nightmare from her past changes the course of her future. As the time for her child to arrive draws closer, Tilly is faced with a difficult decision; does she turn her back on everything she has hoped for and settle for a different life? She follows her instincts and gambles.
Amanda Roberts
Author Bio:
Author, bookworm and history lover, Amanda grew up in Derbyshire but has lived in Oxfordshire since 1997. A magazine editor by profession, she has published four novels and a short story.
Her first novel, The Roots of the Tree, was based on a true family story and is close to her heart, but her real love is historical fiction. She has published two dual timeline books set in Oxfordshire (The Woman in the Painting and its sequel Secrets of the Penny University) and Lady of the Quay, the first in a series of historical crime/suspense novels set in 1560 in Berwick-upon-Tweed. Second book in this, the Isabella Gillhespy series, will follow in 2027.
When not writing or attending bookish events, she can be found exploring crumbling ruins – wherever in the world she happens to be – or relaxing with her two ginger cats.
When The Wizard of Oz graced the silver screen in 1939, it changed cinema and popular culture forever. But the true story began decades earlier with the young composer who risked everything to bring it to the Broadway stage.
At the turn of the century, twenty-three-year-old Paul Tietjens is a gifted classical pianist with dreams of greatness and a non-refundable ticket to Europe to study with the master composers of his time.
But when the bank calls in the debt on his family’s Missouri farm, Paul forgoes his dream to save them from financial ruin. Desperate to find a new road to success, he moves to up-and-coming Chicago, where he persuades author L. Frank Baum to collaborate on a comic opera of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, setting the stage for the defining cultural touchstone that we know today.
Paul embarks on his opera with high hopes, but scandal threatens his soaring ambition when he falls in love with his best friend’s beautiful but married sister, and his fears grow as the Wizard of Oz demands not only his talent but his soul.
Inspired by Paul’s 1901 diary, The Lark follows Paul as he journeys from the theaters of Chicago to the streets of Manhattan, from his family’s Missouri farm to the beaches of Michigan, fighting to hang onto the chance of a lifetime, his integrity, and the woman he loves.
Laura C. Rader
Author Bio:
Laura C. Rader is the award-winning author of the biographical historical novel Hatfield 1677. When she isn’t writing, you can find her conducting research, playing her 1905 antique piano, and spending time with her family, friends, and pets.
A native of Southern California, she now lives north of Raleigh, North Carolina.
Come with me, and step back into the world as it once was with an excerpt from Sparrow’s Song by Marilee Aufdenkamp. This is the story of a young woman who steps out of the noise and grime of factory life in 1917 and into a new world. She entered a fledgling nursing school, hoping only for a chance to breathe, yet soon found herself rising through its ranks.
With her new authority brings strain, and every lesson she teaches carried its own quiet weight. Her journey stretches from the first great war into the second, shaped by courage, longing, and the quiet battles fought behind hospital doors.
Blurb:
Shortly after Kathryn Scheibel leaves her cigar‑making job in 1917, she enters the Army School of Nursing, a pioneering WWI nurse‑training program that offers the education she’s longed for but couldn’t afford. More than two decades later, her career carries her, as an instructor, into the Cadet Nurse Corps, the federal WWII nursing‑education initiative created to support the war effort. There she sees the same pressures she once felt now directed at students with even fewer protections. When two Black students are treated unfairly, Kathryn must decide how to respond.
Sparrow’s Song is a sweeping, intimate novel about resilience and belonging, rooted in the real history of wartime federal nursing education and the evolving landscape of modern American nursing. At its heart is a young immigrant woman pushing herself toward the advantages she’s convinced education will unlock, even as that drive pulls her away from the people and heritage she loves.
An excerpt from Sparrow’s Song:
Getting ready for the yellow party was a source of anxiety and excitement. “A little shorter, please, Mutti. I don’t want Mrs. Abbott’s friends thinking I’m old-fashioned.” Kathryn stood in the living room on the wooden box that Mutter used to reach her sausage grinder and other seldom-used items stored on the highest shelf in the kitchen.
Kathryn’s mother lifted the hem, so it fell just at the point where Kathryn’s lower leg began its steepest taper toward her sturdy ankles. She worked quickly, circling Kathryn on her knees, straight pins held captive by her pursed lips. Großmutter, who scowled at length as the dress was being made, came over to inspect the sleeves and flatten the collar. Broad stripes in alternating shades of pale and bright white ran up and down the cotton voile overlay.
“Oh, Großmutter,” Kathryn said. “Your handiwork is the nicest there is. Some pale-yellow trimming, even the tiniest bit of tatting on the sleeves and collar, would make me feel like the grandest lady at Mrs. Abbott’s party.”
“Okay. I’ll do it,” Großmutter said, “but don’t get your head full of fancy ideas about being something other than what Gott intended. As much as you paid for this little bit of nothing, you could’ve had a nice swath of blue serge, enough to make three skirts and some left over. It’s pert near like you’ve lost your head since you got over there with that Abbott woman.”
While Kathryn’s mother finished pinning the hem, Großmutter brought out her tatting supplies. “No yellow,” she said, “but this should be nice against that sheer white.” She picked up a ball of ivory thread and began winding one of her wooden tatting shuttles.
Kathryn motioned for her mother to stop pinning. She jumped off the box and hurried to Großmutter. “That would be beautiful, Großmutter, but for this party the trim on my dress has to be yellow.”
“This Mrs. Abbott tells you what color you have to make your clothes to wear to a party?”
“It’s because it’s a yellow party. For suffrage.”
“What is this suffrage? I never heard of it.”
“It’s the right to vote. For women. Yellow represents the light. Mrs. Abbott says that when we wear yellow—only she says when we don yellow. The closest in our language, I think, means to put on. Mrs. Abbott says that when we don yellow for suffrage, we are like sunflowers turning our faces to the light. She said we’re going to decorate the whole house yellow for the party. She’s even going to pay Mutti to help with the decorating.”
Großmutter shook her head. “What kind of foolishness are you speaking about? This is what happens when a woman has too much money so that she doesn’t have to spend any time taking care of her family. She starts talking nonsense.” Großmutter went back to her chair. She stared out the window and continued muttering under her breath. She spoke at length, shaking her head from time to time, but it was impossible to hear what she was saying. Kathryn’s jaw tightened. It seemed Großmutter liked nothing more than being in control and making people miserable. In Russia, she had been the head of the family. Here, Kathryn knew, she felt of little value. Her crossness was understandable, but lately it seemed she was more critical than usual, and at times Kathryn tried to avoid her.
Kathryn turned to her mother. “I brought the measurements for the porch. Mrs. Abbott said she called the dry goods store and told the proprietor you’d come by next week to get some fabric for the bunting and that he is to put it on her account. She’s leaving it to you to buy the pattern and choose the fabric. I told her you won’t need to buy a pattern at all. That you just have to look at the picture in the store and you’ll be able to come home and make your own pattern.”
“I guess you can buy me some yellow tatting thread while you’re at the dry goods,” Großmutter said. “Maybe that Mrs. Abbott should be buying the thread for the dress, too, if she’s taking it upon herself to decide what can be worn at one of her fancy doings.”
Trigger Warnings:
Two off‑page suicides
One short scene involving sexual harassment / coercion
One brief scene of non‑graphic violence
Marilee Aufdenkamp
Author Bio:
Marilee Aufdenkamp is a retired nurse educator who taught undergraduate nursing for twenty‑six years before turning her full‑time focus to historical fiction. She writes early to mid‑twentieth‑century stories grounded in immigrant experience and working‑class life.
Her debut novel, Sparrow’s Song, was inspired by her early nursing career in Nebraska, where she came to admire the Germans from Russia she cared for at the end of their lives.
Originally from Southern California, she has spent her adult life in Nebraska.
This title/series is available to read on Kindle Unlimited.
Margaret’s story continues in this third instalment of Nancy Jardine’s Victorian Scottish saga, carrying her north to Aberdeen and along the rugged coastline beyond. This third novel follows her search for honest work and the quiet determination that drives her to use her skills well, wherever the road takes her. It’s a new stage in her journey and a fresh adventure for us to share with Nancy’s readers.
Escape In Paradise: Evasion
1870 Scotland
Fleeing from Peterhead, Margaret Law makes Aberdeen her refuge. Menial jobs keep her and her toddler son fed– till an unusual tutoring task boosts her finances, and self-worth. Letters to best friend Jessie contain the absolute truth, especially when Johnny Fraser re-enters her life. Is he the man for Margaret to grow old with? When better employment emerges in St. Andrews, Margaret is torn. Will the move mean losing Johnny?
When Johnny follows Margaret to St. Andrews, their life together is idyllic. But when menacing secrets unfold, will Johnny’s past indiscretions be their undoing? Will he lose the cherished family he is establishing with Margaret?
Praise for Fraying Skeins:
“Jardine has once again brought nineteenth-century Scotland vividly to life while keeping Margaret and the people around her firmly at the heart of the story. Watching the determined little girl I first met in Novice Threads grow into this resourceful and courageous woman has been immensely rewarding, and there are more than enough intriguing threads left to make me eager to continue Margaret’s journey in the next instalment.“
Nancy Jardine writes historical adventure fiction, historical saga, time travel historical adventure and contemporary mysteries. Research gobbles up lots of time but it’s a delight, and never a chore. Her garden wouldn’t win any prizes but tending it is a great way to unwind and gives her some lovely plants to post on Instagram!
When not creating her novels, or promoting her writing, she loves to interact with readers at Book and Craft Fairs where she signs/sells paperback versions of her novels. Recently she’s taken part in author panels at Book Festivals.
Memberships include: Historical Novel Society; Society of Authors; Scottish Association of Writers; Federation of Writers Scotland; Romantic Novelists’ Association; and Alliance of Independent Authors. She’s self-published with Ocelot Press.
I have an absolute treat for you today: an excerpt from the long‑awaited sequel to the global bestseller Leonardo’s Swans by screenwriter and award‑winning journalist Karen Essex.
The novel unfolds in Renaissance Italy, where Lucrezia Borgia and Isabella d’Este collide in a sumptuous story of intrigue, ambition, and buried secrets. It’s everything you could want from historical fiction—rich, dangerous, and irresistibly compelling.
About the novel:
Renaissance Rivals, the long-awaited sequel to the global bestseller Leonardo’s Swans, tells the story of the brutal rivalry between two of history’s most fascinating power women: Isabella d’Este, Marchesa of Mantua, celebrated in her own lifetime as “The First Lady of the World,” and Lucrezia Borgia, Duchess of Ferrara, daughter of the infamous Pope Alexander VI and one of the most maligned women in history.
Before Maggie O’Farrell’s doomed duchess in The Marriage Portrait, there were the women who built the courts, forged alliances, and commanded works of artistic genius. In both Renaissance Rivals and Leonardo’s Swans, Essex invites readers to step back one generation into the glittering courts of Renaissance Italy, where beauty, intellect, marriage, and ambition could determine the fate of nations.
The excerpt:
In the city of Rome, the Vatican, 1501
Lucrezia fell face up upon the gold brocade spread covering the bed, her spine sinking listlessly into the mattress while the room spun around her. Dust from the road still clung to her skirts, and her bodice reeked from days of travel. Her ladies tugged at her clothing, trying to free her from the fetid garments, but she waved them away.
She was weary. Weary from the jolting journey by horse, mule, and litter that had carried her home, but even more exhausted by the resistance her entire being had mounted against every mile traveled toward Rome.
Her arm failed her and dropped heavily onto the bed.
“Draw me a bath,” she murmured.
Once they had gone, she raised her hand and let it fall again upon the lavish coverlet, noticing that no dust rose from it. The extravagant decorations in her Vatican apartments were so new there had scarcely been time for dust to settle. She could still smell the dyes upon the rich velvets, tapestries, and brocades draped throughout the room and see the fresh-polished gleam of the newly crafted furnishings.
How beautiful it all was, this hastily assembled opulence, a whirl of deep colors and sumptuous textures arranged to please her and erase the memory of her final days within these very rooms, from which she had fled so suddenly only months before at the command of her father, His Holiness, Pope Alexander Borgia.
“I cannot tolerate your tears, Lucrezia,” he had said, never mind the reason for them. “Do you not trust us to know what is best for you?”
For the first time in her life, she had not immediately bent to his will, and he had sent her away to grieve behind the thick fortified walls of the fortress at Nepi in Lazio, north of Rome.
Even Cesare had neither stopped him nor wished to.
“You are not behaving like a Borgia,” Cesare had told her before turning his back as the litter carried her away.
The memory still stung now, despite that weeks later he had appeared at Nepi to reveal his plans and reassure her of his love.
Why had they not simply left her there?
Just as she had recovered her strength and begun to enjoy a life of solitude and reflection, the dreaded letter demanding her return had arrived. She had feared coming back to this Vatican chamber where she had suffered the greatest anguish of her life, but her father had anticipated this and assumed that fresh surroundings would erase the horrifying past.
Not a trace of the former décor remained. Everything had been swept away like yesterday’s gossip and remade into a setting for her future.
From her position upon the bed, she felt as though she were gazing upon a magnificent theatrical stage newly assembled for a grand production. Indeed, she suspected she was about to become a player in some new drama for which she had not yet been given her lines.
The spectacular painting of Venus, nude and reclining within a gilded frame upon an easel facing the bed, strongly suggested the nature of the role she was expected to perform. The goddess’s slightly parted pink lips seemed meant to lure the viewer into enchantment, yet to Lucrezia they appeared mocking.
Curled beneath knowing blue eyes, those lips looked on the verge of laughter. What did they know that she herself had yet to discover?
The pope had offered no explanation for summoning her back to Rome beyond claiming that he missed her and that it was time for her return. Perhaps he intended to travel and required her once again to oversee his secular affairs within the Vatican.
She had fulfilled those duties before, even before her twenty-first birthday, astonishing cardinals who wondered aloud what madness possessed the pope to leave a mere girl in charge while he traveled. When he announced that Lucrezia would govern in his stead and that her signature would carry his authority on legal documents, one of the more malicious old cardinals had risen and exclaimed: “But Your Holiness, she possesses no pen!”
The entire congregation had roared with laughter at the crude and overused euphemism for the male organ.
Regardless of gender, the cardinals remained perpetually enraged by the pope’s determination to elevate his children to greatness. Yet after months of performing administrative duties with the ease and grace of a seasoned magistrate, they had come to respect her, or at least those particular abilities.
The rest they neither respected nor ever would. And for that she could not entirely blame them, for she knew much of what she had done was sinful and shameful. Still, she took the sacraments daily and knew what must be done to repent.
She confessed directly to God, of course, for she could never tell the truth to her earthly confessors, who knew perfectly well who she was despite the chain metal and muslin curtain separating sinner from cleric within the confessional booths.
If she told the truth, she would be punished. Not directly. No, they punished her in subtler ways, by taking from her whatever she most cherished while showering her with luxuries and splendid things until she became too intoxicated by beauty to protest what had been done.
This last crime, however, had been different.
She had refused to be placated by silver and gold, by entertainments and distractions, by promises of a radiant future if only she obeyed. She had refused, and for that she had been banished. Then mysteriously she had been summoned back.
Before leaving Nepi, she had consulted the fortress astrologer in hopes of discovering why she was being recalled. The old seer had charted the movement of the stars and declared, Jupiter will soon shine favorably upon you, bestowing honors beyond your dreams within mere months of your return.
How much had Father paid for such a prophecy? she wondered.
Triggers: Child loss; miscarriages.
Karen Essex
Author Bio:
Karen Essex is the national and international bestselling author of RUN, DARLING, KLEOPATRA, PHARAOH, LEONARDO’S SWANS, STEALING ATHENA, DRACULA IN LOVE, AND BETTIE PAGE: LIFE OF A PINUP LEGEND. All feature iconic women—powerful women who seduced the world and ruled it.
Essex is also an active screenwriter and speaker, and an award-winning journalist. She divides her time between Los Angeles, New Orleans, and Europe. Her novels are published in twenty-nine languages.
Leonardo’s Swans, the prequel to Renaissance Rivals, was a runaway bestseller in Italy and won the prestigious Premio Roma for Foreign Fiction.
In the shadowed streets of ancient Rome, 37 CE, power is a blade that cuts both ways. Agrippina, a towering enigma of ambition, slips from Caligula’s gilded cage with her newborn son, Domitius, her mind a labyrinth of cold calculation. At her side prowls Messalina, a siren in scarlet, her seductive cunning as deadly as her blade. Together, they navigate a city teeming with decadence and deceit, pursued by whispers of treachery and the emperor’s wrath.
Their journey leads to the Temple of Fortuna where the enigmatic Prophet Cassandra unveils a cryptic fate – one that demands sacrifice and promises blood. As alleys echo with violence and forbidden passions ignite, Agrippina’s quest for dominion collides with Messalina’s ruthless desires. In a night where every step drips with danger, who will rise and who will fall?
VIA MALORUM is a visceral plunge into the heart of Roman darkness, blending historical intrigue with the chilling allure of giallo. Prepare for a tale where power bleeds red, and trust is a luxury none can afford.
Triggers: Some rough lesbian sex, moderate violence.
G.G. MacLeod
Author Bio:
The author is a 59-year-old Canadian male based in Calgary. The author has always had a tendency of combining genres like horror and action along with drama, psychological thrillers, giallo, and sometimes even comedy.
It really depends on how the author feels from moment to moment as they write because the author likes to entertain themselves first and then hope that a smattering of other people out there in the world will like it as well.
I would like to welcome my guest, Justin Newland, to my website. I’m delighted to be interviewing him about his novel. Before we begin, here is what the book is about:
From a land of milk,
And a Road of Silk,
To a ring of roses,
And a dance of posies,
Comes the tale of the spirit of the times!
In fourteenth-century Central Asia, Karia is a young woman living under the yoke of Mongol occupation. But she’s different. She’s a fighter with supernatural powers. She could use them to keep the Black Plague at bay and solve the mystery of the purple skies at dawn – if only she could overcome her self-doubt.
Travelling in caravans on the Silk Road, she faces dangers seen and unseen – from sandstorms and slave traders to the desert djinn and folk who believe she’s a witch. She fears losing Abi, her little cousin, who’s fascinated by roses and the dance of the Whirling Dervishes of Bukhara.
When Karia falls in love with an English sailor fleeing the Knights Hospitaller, they sail to England with Abi to unravel the meaning of the purple skies, a dance, a posy tree, and a ring of roses.
The Spirit of the Times is part history, part fiction and part speculation: on the origin of disease; the power of innocence; the unfortunate aspects of custom and dogma; and humanity’s ability to respond to the governing influence or spirit of the times.
During your research for The Spirit of the Times, did you come across anything that surprised you?’
Yes, many things. As I’m sure you know yourself, history is a table of plenty that’s packed with surprises.
Here’s one of them, a story about how karma works its way through the events of history – karma to mean the rebalancing of what is out of balance.
When they invaded the lands of Asia and Europe in the 13th century, the Mongol Empire had a strategy. A nomadic people, they prized gold, silver, precious jewels, silk and any other material plunder they would take back to their capital at Karakorum in Central Mongolia.
However, when they pushed into Europe, and defeated the Hungarian army at the Battle of Mohi in 1241, they found an impoverished people, with little carry-away riches to steal. As compensation, they enslaved the rump of the Hungarian army and sold them to the Venetians, who were one of the major slave traders of the time.
The Venetians then sold the Hungarian soldiers to the Sultan of Egypt. Then, in 1260 the Sultan’s army fought and beat the Mongols at the Battle of Ain Jalut. This victory permanently halted the Mongol advance into the Islamic world.
So, the same soldiers that the Mongols had enslaved returned to defeat their enslavers, yielding a surprising example of karma in history.
The Spirit of the Times takes readers across the Silk Road. What first sparked your interest in this period and place?
My novels have focused on periods of history when ‘after’ is substantially different to ‘before’, such as the Ming Dynasty in China, the Tudor Age in England, and the Great Enlightenment in Europe.
The 14th century was one such transitional time, when the great Chinese Empire had, through its own internal weakness, split into two and when Europe was dominated by famine and war, plague and social change.
As a novelist, I wanted to explore the mechanisms for this transition in the 14th Century, by asking and trying to answer questions like: How did it happen? Why did it happen? Was it meant to happen in the way that it did? Were there other possibilities at the time and, if so, what were they, and why weren’t they taken?
The Silk Road played a huge role in this transition. For their time, the Mongols were remarkably tolerant both religiously and socially, and they opened up the Silk Road to trade and most importantly, to ideas. It was travelled by camels and mules, as well as spies and emissaries, priests and Sufis, imams and monks. This was a road of silk, a road of ideas, of silken ideas that crossed from east to west, breathing the winds of change, some of which are still blowing today.
Your novels often weave history with the supernatural. This story touches on the mystery of the purple dawn skies and the coming of the Black Death. How did that idea find its way into the book?
I am always intrigued by coincidences in history and otherwise. Because a coincidence is really a combination of facts for which the connections have yet to be revealed. It’s a bit like fairy tales, myths, folk tales and nursery rhymes. Never accept them at face value. They are all intended to conceal a deeper truth. Somehow, we must peer through the glass darkly, and perceive and uncover the greater mystery.
One coincidence I discovered was that the Black Plague arrived in Melcombe Regis, near Weymouth, around 24th June 1348. Only two months before, on 23rd April, King Edward III instituted England’s ancient and most prestigious chivalric order. That was no coincidence. The English royal family, like most of the English population, knew that the plague was rampaging through France and that it was only a matter of time before it broached England’s shores. The King knew it was coming. So, why institute the Order of the Garter when he did?
That’s the joy of a historical fiction writer, because you can speculate on what those connections are.
It was the same with the purple skies at dawn. I read in a history book that the onset of the plague in the 14th century was preceded – or presaged – by this uncanny phenomenon, that features on the cover of the novel. So, what did that mean? Why purple? Why at dawn? Was there a connection between the plague and the purple skies at dawn. And if so, what was it?
Justin Newland
Author Bio:
Justin Newland’s novels represent an innovative blend of genres, from historical adventure to supernatural thriller and magical realism.
Undeterred by the award of a doctorate in mathematics from Imperial College, London, he conceived his debut novel, The Genes of Isis (Matador, 2018), an epic fantasy set under Ancient Egyptian skies. Next came The Old Dragon’s Head (Matador, 2018), set in Ming Dynasty China in the shadows of the Great Wall.
The Coronation (Matador, 2019) features the Great Enlightenment and speculates on the genesis of the most important event in the modern world – the Industrial Revolution. The Abdication (Matador, 2021) is a mystery thriller in which a young woman confronts her faith in a higher purpose and what it means to abdicate that faith.
At this point in his writing career, after four self-published books, Justin was offered a part-funded contract with the Book Guild.
The Mark of the Salamander (Book Guild, 2023) is the first in a two-book ‘The Island of Angels’ series. It tells the epic tale of England’s coming of age during the Elizabethan era. The second in the series, The Midnight of Eights (Book Guild, 2024), charts the uncanny coincidences of time and tide that culminated in the repulse of the Spanish Armada.
His latest novel, The Spirit of the Times (Matador, 2026), is to be published in July. It tells the story of a young Kyrgyz woman’s journey westwards along the Silk Road. With purple skies at dawn, and a supporting cast of Genghis Khan, the Black Plague, a perplexing rhyme, a ring of roses, it explores the greatest mystery of all – the spirit of the times.
Justin’s enduring passion is to explore the origins of our current time. This prompted a broad research into what we’ve inherited from history – encompassing Egypt, China, Prussia and Tudor England. He also writes entertaining talks which he gives to the WI, U3A, Probus, Rotary and local historical associations. Please visit his website for a current list of the talks.
Alongside the talks, Justin promotes his work with regular book signings at TG Jones (ex. WH Smith) high street stores, selling over 3,500 books since 2019. He has sponsored over 40 UK and US blog tours, given frequent radio interviews and penned many guest posts.
His current book signing motto is: Enjoy, Imagine, Discover.
As a member of the Society of Authors, he has Public and Products Liability Insurance.
Born in Essex, England, three days before the end of 1953, he lives with his lady in plain sight of the Mendip Hills in Somerset, England.
Triggers: The story touches on the thorny and controversial subject of slavery. I felt it needed to be included, mainly because I wanted the story to be authentic, and slavery was a common feature in the 14th Century.
This title is available to read on Kindle Unlimited.
I would like to thank Anna Belfrage, Timelight Press, and the Coffee Pot Book Club for providing me with early access to Queen of Shadows for review. I received this novel for free, but my review is entirely honest
Blurb:
She should have stayed in the shadows—but Leonor de Guzmán yearned for the sun
Castile in the 1330s is a place of constant turmoil. King Alfonso must contend with the incursions from the Muslim Marinids eager to reclaim Al-Andalus while struggling with repeated rebellions against his firm rule.
When Alfonso needs respite, he finds it in the arms of his Leonor—the most beautiful woman in the realm. But while he may love Leonor over all others, his lawful wife, Maria of Portugal, is tired of being constantly displaced by the fair Leonor.
Leonor loves her man. She gives him healthy sons, a place to be himself. But she is only a mistress, even if Alfonso treats her like a queen. Leonor’s enemies watch and hate.
Flying too close to the sun comes at a high price. How much will Leonor’s love cost her?
Based on the true story of Alfonso XI and his complicated relationships to wife and life-long mistress.
My Review:
Leonor de Guzmán is a woman that history has attempted to sideline. Thanks to the author Anna Belfrage, the mistress of King Alfonso XI and fourteenth-century Castile become very much alive in this rich and exceptional novel.
Leonor is not the king’s passing favourite, but the love of his life and the woman he treated as his true partner. She bore him ten children, many of them sons, and held a place in his life that looked very much like queenship.
The difficulty was that Alfonso already had a wife. Maria of Portugal was the lawful queen, the political match, the woman with the crown, but she did not hold the king’s heart.
Alma, a young woman of mixed Castilian and Moorish heritage who serves Leonor, becomes the thread that reveals the deeper tensions of the kingdom. Through her, we see the uneasy coexistence of cultures and faiths, the contradictions people carry, and the quiet strength required simply to endure.
The author is equally skilled at evoking place. She gives us the stark northern plateau and the shimmering southern landscapes, the grandeur of palaces and the small, intimate details of daily life. Food, herbs, travel, the textures of work, and ritual all feel close enough to touch.
This is a story about power and love, about the cost of loyalty, about joy that sits beside fear. It is not a soft or romantic past. At times, it can be difficult to read, but it is an extremely rewarding one. These were people with familiar longings and sorrows, yet shaped by a world whose values can feel utterly foreign to us. The pacing, the tension and the vivid descriptions make this a rich and compelling read. I became utterly engrossed. This is a five-star review.
Anna Belfrage
Author Bio:
Had Anna been allowed to choose, she’d have become a time-traveller. As this was impossible, she became a financial professional with three absorbing interests: history, romance and writing. Anna has authored the acclaimed time travelling series The Graham Saga, set in 17th century Scotland and Maryland, as well as two equally acclaimed medieval series; The King’s Greatest Enemy which is set in 14th century England, and The Castilian Saga ,which is set against the medieval conquest of Wales. She has also published a time travel romance, The Whirlpools of Time, and its sequel Times of Turmoil, and is now considering just how to wiggle out of setting the next book in that series in Peter the Great’s Russia, as her characters are demanding. . .
All of Anna’s books have been awarded the IndieBRAG Medallion, she has several Historical Novel Society Editor’s Choices, and one of her books won the HNS Indie Award in 2015. She is also the proud recipient of various Reader’s Favorite medals as well as having won various Gold, Silver and Bronze Coffee Pot Book Club awards.
“A master storyteller” “This is what all historical fiction should be like. Superb.”
Find out more about Anna, her books and enjoy her eclectic historical blog on her website, www.annabelfrage.com where you will also find her post about Alfonso and Leonor:
