Guest Author ....Michael E. Wills

I am delighted to welcome back to the blog historical fiction writer

Michael E. Wills

 Michael has written this fascination guest post about The Lure of Miklagård...
                         

In the third of my quartet of Viking novels for young readers,” Children of the Chieftain: Bounty”, a seventeen-year-old boy voyages with his crew down the rivers of Russia and the Ukraine to Miklagård, the Viking name for Constantinople, or Istanbul as it is known today. There they seek their fortune and are well rewarded by the emperor for their services. Fanciful? Not at all, there is an historical precedent, a story which really illustrates the statement, “the truth can be stranger than fiction”.

St Olaf is the patron saint of Norway and many churches, even in England, are dedicated to him. He was killed in 1030 when defeated in a battle against his discontented subjects. At his side in the battle was his fifteen-year-old half-brother Harald Sigurdsson. The boy was commanding six-hundred warriors, his own followers.

Harald was wounded in the battle, but his men managed to rescue him and take him into hiding in a farm in the mountains between Norway and Sweden, before they escaped into Sweden. There he spent the winter recovering from his injuries. In the spring, his men returned to collect their leader. The small army was re-armed by the king of Sweden and set off east to serve Grand Prince Jarolslav, the ruler of a huge area of what is now Russia. At the age of sixteen, Harald was made captain of Jaroslav’s forces as they fought insurrections and invasions by Poles.

Before Harald was twenty, seeking his fortune, he led his force of six-hundred down the Dneiper River and across the Black Sea to Constantinople, which the Vikings knew as Miklagård. There he offered his services to the Emperor of Greece. (The area now known as Turkey!) And in the service of Emperor Michael IV, Harald and his men really did make their fortunes. They were given the task of ridding the Aegean Sea of pirates who had been plundering the islands. This work was extremely lucrative as not only were the Scandinavians paid for doing the work, but they were able to keep the goods, many of them valuable cargoes, which they seized. The Emperor required only a small percentage of what they recovered.

Impressed by their work, their employer drafted the force into his elite personal guard, the Varangians. Harald was given the rank of commander of this unit. Much of the work of the Varangians was to guard the Emperor, but they also acted on orders to take retribution and revenge on enemies of the state. This work was often far from pleasant as apart from executions, a standard form of punishment was “blinding”.

Nevertheless. Varangians were not always gainfully employed and seemed to have plentiful spare time. In what was once the Greek Empire there are still today, some ancient relics which have Scandinavian runes scrawled on them, graffiti written by bored Varangians. One example of this is shown in the picture. This marble lion statue on the left is three metres tall and was sculpted around 350 BC. It once stood in Piraeus, the harbour of Athens. 

Clearly, it was visited by the Varangians as can be seen in the close up picture of a copy of this lion, in Stockholm Museum of History. The runic text commemorates a dead Varangian warrior called Horsi. He came from Roslagen, north of Stockholm and the runes tell us that he had “earned much gold”.

                         

Harald and his men became victims of their own success. In 1042, when they had amassed a considerable fortune they asked for the Emperor’s permission to go home. By this time there was a new ruler of the Greek Empire, Empress Zoe. She refused to let the Varnagians return to their own country, they were too valuable to her. However, risking the terrible vengeance of his employer, Harald managed to ecape with a few of his men in two ships laden with valuables. He then embarked on the lengthy and dangerous voyage home to Norway. On his way, he visited Grand Price Jaroslav and persuaded him that he was now wealthy enough to marry the Prince’s daughter, Princess Elisiv.

On his return to Norway, Harald used his enormous wealth to gain the throne. But his ambition did not stop there. He decided that he had a legitimate claim to the throne of England. He built up a formidable army of around sixteen thousand men and a fleet of three hundred ships to mount an invasion to claim the throne. Forming an alliance with Tostig, the exiled brother of King Harold of England, he landed in the north of England in September 1066. That year is of course most famous for the Battle of Hastings, however, Harald’s invading army was far bigger than the Norman one. What happened next was to shape the future of England, its people, its language and culture.

King Harold of England force marched his army to York to meet the threat. His arrival was completely unexpected by Harald of Norway who was still celebrating a victory over the local Earls. Despite his army being travel weary and outnumbered, the English King won the Battle of Stamford Bridge on 25th September. Harald Sigurdsson and Tostig were both killed. However, the price in English lives was high and when King Harold then set off south to counter the second invasion, that of the Normans, his army was much depleted.  He had few cavalry left and most of his best archers were dead. The rest is history, but there is no doubt that had Harald of Norway not interfered, the Battle of Hastings might well have gone another way.

As I said at the beginning, “the truth can be stranger than fiction”. The story of Harald, who later became known as “Harald Hardrada”, that is, “Harald Hard Ruler”, is so incredible that I doubt that any historical fiction writer could have written it.

About the Author

Michael is the author of a series of Viking adventure novels aimed at younger readers.

Find Michael on his website

Follow him on Twitter @MWillsofSarum

Huge thanks to Michael for this informative guest post about The Lure of Miklagård.


His latest novel Children of the Chieftain: Bounty is soon to be published by Silverwood Books.

Silverwood Books

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Blog Tour ~ The Yorkshire Shepherdess by Amanda Owen

Jaffareadstoo is delighted to host the first day of the  Blog Tour 

for 

A Year in the Life of the Yorkshire Shepherdess

Sidgwick & Jackson
Now out in paperback

What's it all about ...

In A Year in the Life of the Yorkshire Shepherdess the reader joins Amanda as she describes the age-old cycles of a farming year and the constant challenges the family faces: from being cut off in winter to tending their flock on some of the country’s highest, wildest moors - land so inaccessible that in places it can only be reached on foot.

Writing with her trademark warmth and humour, Amanda tells us how her nine-year-old son Miles got his first flock, Reuben took up the flugelhorn and she herself gave birth to a new baby girl. She shares the touching stories of an epic two-day journey taken by a ewe determined to find her lamb and of Queenie, an ageing and neglected horse who comes to live at the farm. Meanwhile, her husband Clive is almost arrested on a midnight stakeout to catch a sheep-worrying dog and becomes the object of affection for a randy young bull.

Amanda’s stories abound with humour and warmth that bring the countryside alive.

My thoughts about the book..

There's something refreshingly original about reading Amanda's account of life at Ravenseat. The image of this remote stone built farm, brooding in weather that sometimes leaves the farm isolated for days at a time, and perched high in the Yorkshire Dales, could be conjured right out of a Bronte novel. The Owen family live and work in glorious isolation, often at the mercy of whatever the weather or life throws at them, but always with a sense of realism and a huge dollop of good old fashioned Yorkshire pragmatism.

Photo Credit : Ian Forsyth

The book starts in January when the weather in Swaledale can be brutal but with remarkable resilience, the children are up and about early, and even before most school children have dragged themselves out of bed, the Owen children have tended to their chores, feeding chickens, collecting eggs and mucking out horses. In Amanda’s world no child is too young or too small to play a part in farm life.

With nine children to look after, Amanda and her husband Clive are constantly on the go, literally from dawn until dusk with little respite from either, the weather, or of the difficulties and dangers of managing a remote hill farm, and yet, throughout the book Amanda talks about her life with such warmth and humour that you can’t help but be envious of a life which at first appears relentlessly difficult.

With about a thousand sheep to look after, this huge flock features heavily in the year’s calendar, after all that’s where the family’s living comes from, but I never expected the sheep to have such distinct personalities or of the family’s emotional attachment to them. Amanda recounts her daily dealings with her flock with great affection, some of her stories made me laugh out loud, particularly the sheep who always seemed to know when a publicity photographer was around, or the way she has of warming up vulnerable baby lambs in the oven.

Photo Credit: Ian Forsyth

It’s not all about sheep, although they do feature large, but it’s also about how the changing seasons affects the family, of the adventures and mishaps of daily life, and of the determination needed to keep the farm productive and sustainable.

I raced through the book, always finding something of interest, a quip that made me smile, a story that tugged away at my heartstrings or an event which brings Ravenseat to life in Amanda’s indomitable style. It must be said that by the end of the book I was in awe of this family who live, work and play with such a unique perspective , and with such utter joy of living life to the full.

Best read with...One of Amanda's home baked scones and a large mug of tea..

About the Author

Photo Credit : Ian Forsyth

Amanda Owen has been seen by millions on ITV’s The Dales and in Ben Fogle’s New Lives in the Wild and is currently appearing on ITV1’s Countrywise. Voted Yorkshirewoman of the Year by the Dalesman magazine, she is also the author of the top-ten bestseller The Yorkshire Shepherdess. Amanda lives and works at Ravenseat, a hill farm of 2,000 acres, which she shares with 1000 sheep, nine children, four dogs, and one husband. Not to mention chickens, pigs, cows, horses and an uncontrollable goat and a vole who has taken up residence in the living room. And she couldn’t be happier.

As well as looking after her animals and children, Amanda sells cream teas to walkers who stop at her farm on the Coast to Coast walk. Amanda’s farm Ravenseat is halfway along the 192 mile journey, which 16,000 people walk every year bringing new faces and stories to the farm each day.

Amanda also runs James Herriot tours for fans of the books, who visit her farm to see a way of life that hasn’t changed for decades. Amanda has also set up a traditional shepherds hut on the farm for couples wanting to experience a real country get away. After an encounter during a storm, Amanda now also counts former BBC Countryfile presenter Julia Bradbury as one of her good friends.

Amanda originally grew up in Huddersfield but was inspired by the James Herriot books to leave her town life behind and head to the countryside. After learning her craft as a freelance shepherdess, cow milker and alpaca shearer, she eventually settled down as a farmer's wife with her own flock of sheep at Ravenseat. Happily married with nine children, she wouldn't change a thing about her hectic but rewarding life.

Follow on Twitter @AmandaOwen8 or visit the Ravenseat website 

My thanks to Olivia at Midas PR for sending me a review copy of 

A Year in the Life of a Yorkshire Shepherdess

and for the invitation to be part of this blog tour.

Follow the blog tour on Twitter #yorkshireshepherdess

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Sunday WW1 Remembered..

The role that women played during the First World War must not be forgotten.

Women not only kept the home fires burning but also from 1917 they could be found, for the first time, in a military role.

The Women's Army Auxiliary Corps

© IWM (Art.IWM PST 13171)

In January 1917 the first women were recruited into the British Army to serve in a non-nursing role. The Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) provided a range of duties for the army including cooking, vehicle maintenance and clerical duties, thus enabling more men to take up a fighting role. In 1918 Queen Mary became the patron of the WAAC and the corps were renamed as the Queen Mary's Army Auxiliary Corps (QMAAC).

BBC Schools World War One

Although recruiting women into the army wasn’t popular, by March 1917, commander-in-chief of the British Army, Sir Douglas Haig, realised that women could play a vital role in the British Army stating “the principle of employing women in this country (France) is accepted and they will be made use of wherever conditions admit.”

The WAAC was organised into four units, cookery, mechanical, clerical and miscellaneous. The War Office confirmed that any job given to a member of WAAC, had to result in a man being released for front-line duties.

Pay in the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps was reliant on the work done. In the lower ranks, unqualified work was paid at the rate of 24 shillings a week. Shorthand typists could get 45 shillings a week. Money was also deducted per week for food although uniforms and accommodation were free.

There were no officer ranks in the WAAC as it was deemed that only men could achieve commission status, however, over 57,000 women enrolled and often worked very close to danger at the front-line. Three military medals for gallantry were subsequently awarded to women.

The QMAAC was eventually disbanded in September 1921.

The Women’s Royal Naval Service (WRNS) was formed in November 1917, with 3,000 women.  

The Women’s Royal Air Force (WRAF) was born on 1 April 1918 with the Royal Air Force. Members of both the WAAC and WRNS transferred to the new service, which grew to 32,000, serving at home and in Germany and France. They undertook mechanical and technical roles as well as cooking, driving and administration.  The WRAF and WRNS were both dissolved in 1920.

Source IWM : Firsts of the First World War 

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Close to Home ...Cath Staincliffe

As a book reviewer I have made contact with authors from all across the globe and feel immensely privileged to be able to share some amazing work. However, there is always something rather special when a book comes to my attention which has been written by an author in my part of the North of England. So with this in mind I have great pleasure in featuring some of those authors who are literally close to my home. Over the next few Saturdays, and hopefully beyond, I will be sharing the work of a very talented bunch of Northern authors and discovering just what being a Northerner means to them both in terms of inspiration and also in their writing.

Please welcome Manchester Crime Writer

Cath Staincliffe

Hi and welcome to Jaffreadstoo Cath...

WHAT MANCHESTER DOES TODAY THE REST OF THE WORLD DOES TOMORROW

‘Cath Staincliffe moved to Manchester (all red brick and rain) from her home town, Bradford (hills and stone) to start a job. And stayed.’ The biography from my first novel Looking For Trouble. So I’m an incomer but I’ve lived in Manchester longer than anywhere else and it’s home. All my books are set here (even Half The World Away, the one that takes us to China, starts in Manchester). Blue Murder, the television series I created and the radio series Legacy are also based here as are the Scott and Bailey novels I was commissioned to write based on the TV show.

 

  

Looking For Trouble was inspired by the 1980s new wave of private eye fiction, where independent women investigated crime in vividly drawn urban settings. Sara Paretsky's Chicago and Sue Grafton’s Santa Teresa (based on Santa Barbara) feature almost as characters in their books. Wanting to emulate that in my Sal Kilkenny novels, I chose Manchester and not only because I lived and worked here (and am a reluctant researcher). Music and football (and post-industrial misery) may dominate people’s perception of Manchester and it has all that but Manchester has always been cutting edge. Home to the first free public library, the birthplace of the industrial revolution, of the first labour party and women’s suffrage movement, the city where the computer was invented and graphene, the first nuclear free city in the UK. But Manchester is also among the most deprived areas in the country, with reduced mortality, high unemployment and crime. There remains great inequality in the city and the contrast of innovation and creativity with lack of opportunity, of wealth and status with poverty, provides a tension to draw on. Ringed by satellite towns but still in striking distance of the Pennines and the Peaks, Manchester offers a hundred worlds to the writer. You can imagine how delighted I was when the estimable crime author Val McDermid was kind enough to say of that very first book, ‘Cath Staincliffe’s tour of the mean streets and leafy suburbs of Manchester reveals the city as the natural successor to Marlowe’s Los Angeles.’

Manchester and the North West inspire my work in a number of ways. First of all there’s the people here, the grit and humour, the warmth that characterises the way people deal with each other and how they talk. I think characters are shaped by the city and in turn shape it. And my characters are indivisible from their setting.

Locations give me ideas for scenes or for stories. So the stone archway at Heaton Park was the inspiration for a showdown at the end of one book as was the wooded sandstone ridge at Alderley Edge for another. The soulless Arndale Centre car park gave me an idea for the death at the heart of Towers of Silence. Famous landmarks like The Lowry or the Town Hall can provide the backdrop to encounters but so can that back alley off Piccadilly, the warehouses of the Northern Quarter before it was the Northern Quarter or the canal not yet refurbished and lined with luxury apartments. As a reader I love stories with a strong sense of place. I hope my work sparks recognition for people who know Manchester and gives an insight into what it’s like for those who don’t.

Incidents that happen here also inspire stories though I never write directly about real life events. Witness was a response to the tragic (and still unsolved) murder of teenager Jesse James at a time when gang violence made the murder statistics very grim reading. Assisted dying was the theme of The Kindest Thing and to make it as true to life as possible I spent time at the Crown Court watching trials and visited the women’s prison at Styal, speaking with the women there about life inside. Blink of an Eye gave me the opportunity to tell a contemporary story about death by dangerous driving but also to revisit the Manchester of the 1980s, and capture what I found when I first moved here. Like any major metropolis Manchester is in a constant process of change. Regeneration follows degeneration and the cityscape is always evolving, witness the ever-changing Metrolink network, the building for The Commonwealth Games, the development of Media City or the expansion of our three universities. People continue to move to the city, bringing their own contributions with them. Different cultures and communities, new areas of enterprise, are a continuing source of ideas for stories.

     

Over the years publishers and agents have expressed a desire to get me out of Manchester, in a literary sense. Perhaps it's because the publishing industry is so relentlessly London-centric. But why relocate when the North West remains so fertile a hunting ground for the stories I want to tell? Besides, do they not realise, Manchester is the centre of the universe.

Cath's latest novel The Silence Between Breaths is due to be published in paperback in May 2017

Huge thanks to Cath for spending time on the blog with us today.

You can discover more about Cath's writing on her website by clicking here 

or follow on Twitter @CathStaincliffe

I hope you have enjoyed this Close to Home feature

Coming next week: Sarah Jasmon

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Blog Tour ~ Burned and Broken by Mark Hardie

Jaffareadstoo is delighted to be part of the Burned and Broken Blog Tour

Peter James meets James Oswald in this gripping, gritty British crime debut

Now available in eBook

Sphere

The charred body of an enigmatic policeman – currently the subject of an internal investigation – is found in the burnt-out shell of his car on the Southend sea front.

Meanwhile, a vulnerable young woman, fresh out of the care system, is trying to discover the truth behind the sudden death of her best friend.

As DS Frank Pearson and DC Catherine Russell from the Essex Police Major Investigation Team are brought in to solve the mystery of their colleague's death, dark, dangerous secrets begin to surface. Can they solve both cases,  before it's too late?

My thoughts about the book...



The story starts with a rather brutal prologue which sets the scene for this dark and gritty crime novel which investigates the murder of a serving police officer and the unexplained the death of a vulnerable young woman who has recently left the care system. On the surface these two deaths should be unrelated but as the Essex Police Major Investigation Team find out, nothing is ever as it should be when dealing with the complexities of major crime incidents. Set in the seaside town of Southend-on -Sea, there is a definite air of faded gentility to a town that is going downhill fast, and for police investigators DS Frank Pearson and DC Catherine Russell the more they delve into the events leading up to both these deaths, the more deadly secrets they start to unravel.

As with any new police procedural crime series there is a certain amount of getting to know the major characters and both Frank Pearson and Catherine Russell are written with more than enough going on in their private lives to be able to make an emotional connection to them. However, I thought that some of the other characters lagged behind in the personality stakes a little, but that's no bad thing, as sometimes, inevitably, you will like one character above another, that's the way life goes. The police procedural element to the story is well written with more than enough twists and turns in the plot to keep the reader guessing until the end, and I must say that I enjoyed trying to second guess the investigation.


Burned and Broken is this author's debut novel and I am sure that as the series progresses we will see the writing go from strength to strength. 

Best Read With...  A few prawns, some crusty bread and a large glass of Chardonnay

About the Author

Mark Hardie was born in 1960 in Bow, East London. He began writing fulltime after completely losing his eyesight in 2002. He has completed a creative writing course and an advanced creative writing course at the Open University, both with distinction.

Mark lives with his wife Debbie in Southend-on-Sea.

Follow on Twitter @Markhardiecrime

#BurnedandBroken @TheCrimeVault

My thanks to Clara at Little, Brown for the invitation to be part of this exciting blog tour.

Burned and Broken will be out in paperback in May 2017

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Review ~ The Hope Family Calendar

Hodder&Stoughton
2016

A bit of blurb...

Tom Hope is broken. Ever since his wife Laura died he hasn't been the same man, and definitely not the same father. Luckily however, his mother-in-law Linda is there to pick up the pieces and look after his two struggling daughters, Evie and Lola.

But Tom getting arrested on the first anniversary of his wife's death is the last straw for Linda.

She decides on drastic action, and in a final attempt to make Tom reconnect with his daughters, Linda leaves for Australia. Now, with two fast-maturing girls on his hands, Tom has to learn how to accept his responsibilities and navigate the newly discovered world of single fatherhood - starting immediately.

While Linda finds her journey brings more than she bargained for, Tom suddenly has only himself to rely on. 

Will he fall back into grief or finally step up and be the father his girls need?

My thoughts about the book...

From the start of The Hope Family Calendar you can't help but be drawn into Tom's story. Devastated by the loss of his wife, Laura, he is struggling to care for his children and relies heavily on his mother-in-law to pick up the pieces. But sometimes tough love is what's needed and when Tom gets arrested on the first anniversary of his wife's death, well, his mother in law Linda feels it’s now make or break time for To who needs to take back control of his life. Leaving him to fend for himself and the children is not easy but Linda does what she thinks, under the circumstances to be the best thing for everyone.

What the follows is the story of a man who is shattered into a million pieces, who is trying his best to make everything normal, but normal doesn't always work out. Tom needs to figure out, with the help his children, just how to go forward so that they can all begin to mend and heal and maybe, one day,  go forward as a new family unit.

The author writes with great warmth and compassion and shows both the strength and, with huge insight shows the vulnerabilities of all of the characters. From the start of the story both Tom and Linda have their own emotional journeys to travel on and I looked forward to reading their individual stories in alternate chapters. And yet, right at the heart of the novel, it mustn't be forgotten that the children were also grieving the loss of their mother and the way that their progression was explained also added depth in what is a very fascinating insight into modern family life.

 I am sure that fans of Mike Gayle's previous novels will find much to enjoy in this book as it has all the fine attention detail that we have come to know and love about his books.

Best Read With ...A large mug of tea and a crispy bacon buttie, ketchup on the side..

About the Author

  

Previously an Agony Uncle, Mike Gayle is a freelance journalist who has contributed to a variety of magazines including FHM, Sunday Times Style and Cosmopolitan. His bestselling novels include MY LEGENDARY GIRLFRIEND, MR COMMITMENT, TURNING THIRTY, HIS 'N' HERS and BRAND NEW FRIEND. He keeps a website at www.mikegayle.co.uk and can be found on Facebook and on twitter.com/mikegayle

My thanks to Hodder&Stoughton for the opportunity to read and review The Hope Family Calendar

Review ~ The Marriage Lie by Kimberly Belle

HQ Books
December 2016

A bit of book blurb...

A chillingly unsettling psychological thriller, perfect for fans of Paula Hawkins, Liane Moriarty , Shari Lapena and Clare Macintosh. Are you ready to question if everything in your life is really as it seems…

She thought they had a perfect marriage.

When a plane crashes, Iris Griffiths watches the news unfold with horrorand then relief. Her beloved husband Will had just flown out from the same airport, but he was on a different flight.

So why is his name on the list of victims?

Surely there’s some mistake her husband would never lie to her. Would he? But wading deeper into the truth of her husband’s deception, Iris begins to think the unthinkable.

Maybe she’s glad that he’s dead.

My Thoughts about the book...

It's really difficult to imagine just what it would be like if you heard on the news that a plane had crashed, and to have a huge sense of relief wash over you when you realise that your husband was on a different flight, only to have then have the stuffing knocked out of you when your husband's name appears on the list of passengers from the crashed plane. For Iris Griffiths this becomes the frightening reality which is only superceded by the fact that her husband Will lied to her for a host of complicated reasons. These reasons become apparent in this tightly knit suspense story which grabs your attention from the start and which doesn't let up until the story is concluded.

Rather like the book action, I raced through this at high speed. Believe me, it's one of those stories that will leave you gasping in places, stunned into disbelief about what is unfurling on the page.

The author writes well and controls the narrative with a fine eye for detail. She makes her characters believable, I especially like Iris and found her family, particularly her twin brother Dave, to be very supportive and huge comfort to her. It really is a nightmare scenario that Iris finds herself in and I can't say much more as that would give away huge spoilers but what I can say is that ti thought that the story was really well explored. The twists and turns were a genuine surprise to me and I liked never quite knowing where the story would go next or indeed who I could trust to be telling me the truth.

If you enjoy psychological suspense stories that will leave you feeling like you have been through a roller coaster of emotions then do give this one a try. It's a great read from start to finish.

Best Read With ...A bag of savory snacks and a large take-out filter coffee..

About the author

Kimberly Belle grew up in Eastern Tennessee, in a small town nestled in the foothills of the Appalachians. A graduate of Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Georgia, Kimberly lived for over a decade in the Netherlands and has worked in marketing and fundraising for various nonprofits. She’s the author of two novels, THE LAST BREATH and THE ONES WE TRUST (August 2015). She divides her time between Atlanta and Amsterdam.

Website
Twitter @KimberlySBelle

My thanks to Alice at Midas PR and also to HQ (Harper Collins) for the opportunity to read The Marriage Lie