Tag: spotlight

Book Blast: The Tides Between by Elizabeth Jane Corbett

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The spotlight today is on The Tides Between by Elizabeth Jane Corbett, described by one reviewer as ‘a wonderful book for all ages’ and by another as ‘a lovely captivating story, beautifully written’.

I’m grateful to Elizabeth for my review copy of The Tides Between which, on the basis of those reviews, I’m looking forward to reading soon.

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The Tides BetweenAbout the Book

She fancied herself part of a timeless chain without beginning or end, linked only by the silver strong words of its tellers.

In the year 1841, on the eve of her departure from London, Bride’s mother demands she forget her dead father and prepare for a sensible, adult life in Port Phillip. Desperate to save her childhood, fifteen-year-old Bridie is determined to smuggle a notebook filled with her father’s fairytales to the far side of the world.  When Rhys Bevan, a soft-voiced young storyteller and fellow traveller realises Bridie is hiding something, a magical friendship is born. But Rhys has his own secrets and the words written in Bridie’s notebook carry a dark double meaning.  As they inch towards their destination, Rhys’s past returns to haunt him. Bridie grapples with the implications of her dad’s final message. The pair take refuge in fairytales, little expecting the trouble it will cause.

Format: Paperback (300 pp.)         Publisher: Odyssey Books
Published: 20th October 2017        Genre: Historical Fiction, YA

Purchase Links*
Odyssey Books ǀ Amazon.co.uk ǀ Amazon.com ǀ iBooks ǀ Kobo  
*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

 

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Elizabeth Jane CorbettThe Tides Between TeaserAbout the Author

When Elizabeth Jane Corbett isn’t writing, she works as a librarian, teaches Welsh at the Melbourne Celtic Club, writes reviews and articles for the Historical Novel Society and blogs at elizabethjanecorbett.com.

In 2009, her short-story, ‘Beyond the Blackout Curtain’, won the Bristol Short Story Prize. Another, ‘Silent Night’, was short listed for the Allan Marshall Short Story Award. An early draft of her debut novel, The Tides Between, was shortlisted for a HarperCollins Varuna manuscript development award.

Elizabeth lives with her husband, Andrew, in a renovated timber cottage in Melbourne’s inner-north. She likes red shoes, dark chocolate, commuter cycling, and reading quirky, character driven novels set once-upon-a-time in lands far, far away.

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Spotlight: Treason by James Jackson

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‘Remember, Remember, the Fifth of November. Gunpowder, Treason and Plot!

If you’re excitedly anticipating Bonfire Night or you’ve been enjoying the series Gunpowder on BBC TV then I have the perfect book for you: Treason by James Jackson.

You can find an extract from this dramatic historical thriller below.

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TreasonAbout the Book

Behind the famous rhyme lies a murderous conspiracy that goes far beyond Guy Fawkes and his ill-fated Gunpowder Plot . . .

In a desperate race against time, spy Christian Hardy must uncover a web of deceit that runs from the cock-fighting pits of Shoe Lane, to the tunnels beneath a bear-baiting arena in Southwark, and from the bad lands of Clerkenwell to a brutal firefight in The Globe theatre.

But of the forces ranged against Hardy, all pale beside the renegade Spanish agent codenamed Realm.

 

Format: Paperback (336 pp.)        Publisher: Bonnier Zaffre
Published: 19th October 2017       Genre: Historical Fiction

Purchase Links*
Amazon.co.uk ǀ Amazon.com
*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

Find Treason on Goodreads

Extract: Treason by James Jackson

A longboat was making the Thames crossing, edging through the early morning mist from the south bank to the foot of the stairs at Westminster. Those on board had chosen this hour for good reason. They carried with them a consignment of gunpowder, twenty barrels brought from the Lambeth home of Robin Catesby and destined to be stowed beneath the House of Lords. The next stage of the plan was underway.

Waiting at the steps, his lantern held aloft, Guido Fawkes guided his comrades in. There was no need for talk. They transferred the load quickly, the large handcart filling and Jack Wright remaining ashore as the quartermaster Keyes cast off and returned into the gloom. Should there be an ambush it would happen here and now. The swordsman peered into the shadows blanketing the silent halls and empty buildings. It was as though he had landed on some foreign shore, was come to do battle with a distant foe. Like the natives of the Americas who tried to stem the Spanish, the incumbent regime stood no chance against invasion. Each man took up position on the poles and began to move the cart towards the passage.

‘Our ordnance at last is come.’ There was almost wonder in the voice of Thomas Percy. ‘Now are we ready for our moment.’

They stood in a corner of the ground-floor undercroft set beneath the raised hall of the House of Lords, a discreet place of storage almost forgotten and generally ignored by the denizens of Westminster. Percy was glad for its existence. It meant mining could be abandoned and its dangers replaced by the rental of space from a coal-merchant directly below the target. As a gentleman and official bodyguard to King James, he had reason and right to be there; as a married man with lodgings now available a few paces instant, he had excuse to seek a convenient overflow for his possessions. Twenty hidden barrels of explosive were now added to his inventory.

He turned to Wright. ‘When shall Keyes bring the rest?’

‘There is no need for haste.’

‘Yet there is necessity we prepare and create a blast to devour all. The King brings to London his youngest maggot Charles and it seems we have no street army.’

The swordsman was as taciturn as the mercenary beside him. ‘We have sufficient force to hunt them.’

‘To erase Charles and his elder brother Henry? To prevent their flight or survival of any loyal member of the court?’

‘A regime beheaded cannot resist. When explosion is done, confusion will be our friend.’

james-jackson1About the Author

James Jackson is the author of numerous historical and contemporary thrillers, including Sunday Times bestsellers Blood Rock and Pilgrim. He is a former political risk consultant and a postgraduate in military studies, and acts as an advisor for film-maker Guy Ritchie and thriller writer Frederick Forsyth. He is also a qualified barrister and member of the Inner Temple. He lives in London.

Connect with James

Website ǀ Goodreads