The History of Silk Weaving
Today it’s my great pleasure to welcome an exciting new author, Helena Fairfax, with a feature on the intriguing history of silk weaving…
The Silk Romance and the history of silk-weaving
Helena Fairfax
My first novel The Silk Romance is set in present-day Lyon, a city that was once the centre of a vibrant silk-weaving industry. Today, most of the looms have stopped working in the historic Croix-Rousse district, but their legacy remains as part of the fabric of the city.
I have my hero say about the disappearing silk industry: ‘We have a saying that there are three rivers at the heart of Lyon. There’s the river Rhône, the river Saône and there’s the river of tears left by the silk workers.’
Croix-Rousse by night
Ladies Ride Aside!
It’s my great privilege to welcome the fabulous author Helen Hollick to my blog for a first guest post on the fascinating subject of sidesaddle riding:
Ladies Ride Aside
By Helen Hollick
Downton Abbey has revived an interest in riding aside – the correct term for riding Side Saddle. My daughter rides (and competes and jumps) aside.
Yes, that is what I said: jumps.
And the winner is…!
I’m delighted to announce that the winner of the giveaway to celebrate the release of ‘The Lost Duchess’ and the launch of this blog is Audra. Congratulations to Audra! – a signed first edition copy of ‘The Lost Duchess’ will be posted to you very soon… (more…)
Mini-launch of The Lost Duchess!
The Lost Duchess is released this Thursday, 7 November, and there’ll be a mini-launch at Bromham Library, Springfield Drive, Bedford MK43 8NT at 2.30, when I’ll be giving a little presentation about Raleigh’s ‘Lost Colony’ and the background to the book, with tea and cakes kindly provided by Bedford Borough Libraries. Please do come along! There’s an invitation here:
I’m also proud to say that the first review of The Lost Duchess has appeared online on Bookishly Attentive and it’s come as a complete and magnificent surprise, not least because I have no connection with this site or the reviewer at all. “In my almost five years of reviewing… there have been a few times, and only a few, when I have been completely and totally blown away by a book that I’ve read,” says Debra Ross. “This usually happens when there is a happy confluence of subject matter, writing prowess, research skill and character development, wrapped up in a believable, action filled story. If you haven’t already guessed, The Lost Duchess, by Jenny Barden, is one of those books… The last few chapters are suspenseful, dramatic, and satisfying in their resolution. It’s at this point that the pages practically turned by themselves. Revelations come fast and furious; love and life are affirmed between father and son, friends, and lovers. I did not want it to end.”
Isn’t that fabulous?! The full review can be found here: http://bookishlyattentive.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/the-lost-duchess-by-jenny-barden.html?spref=fb
That’s got the Duchess off to a good start!
The ‘Jaffareadstoo’ Spotlight!
Today it’s my turn to be under the author spotlight at ‘Jaffareadstoo’:
http://jaffareadstoo.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/my-author-spotlight-falls-on-jenny.html
… and there’s another giveaway of The Lost Duchess on offer!
Here’s the interview as it appears:
My author spotlight falls on Jenny Barden….
Do tell us about your latest novel The Lost Duchess
That’s right, but there’s no need to read Mistress of the Sea first to enjoy the story. The Lost Duchess is a stand alone book, though one of the characters (KitDoonan) also appears in my first novel. Both are epic romantic Elizabethan adventures.
‘The Secret Writer’ Interview
I’m very grateful to Calum ‘The Secret Writer’ for featuring this interview:
http://www.thesecretwriterblog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/an-interview-with-author-jenny-barden.html
(To win the giveaway you’ll need to visit the site!)
Here’s the interview as it appears there –
An Interview with the Author Jenny Barden and the Opportunity to Win a Copy of Her Latest Release, ‘The Lost Duchess’!
Can I ask what sort of books did you like reading as a child?
‘When Eden became Hell’
I’m very grateful to Sarah Johnson of ‘Reading the Past’ for hosting this essay and setting it out so beautifully. There’s a giveaway of The Lost Duchess on offer here too! http://readingthepast.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/when-eden-became-hell-vision-and-plight.html
The following text is from this post:
‘When Eden became Hell’ – the vision and plight of the first ‘Lost’ Colonists of Roanoke, a guest post by Jenny Barden
Jenny Barden, author of The Lost Duchess, is stopping by with an essay centering on what is perhaps the oldest unsolved mystery in American history: the unknown fate of the Roanoke colonists. Using excerpts from primary sources of the time, she looks even further back to the colony’s origins as a “land of plentie” and examines how this most promising of beginnings turned into disaster. The photos included below were taken by Jenny during her research travels for the book, and the map of Raleigh’s Virginia is also of her own design.
‘When Eden Became Hell’ –
Jenny Barden
The east coast of America was described in terms of wonder by Arthur Barlowe when he returned to England after his voyage of discovery in 1584. He wrote about taking possession in the name of Queen Elizabeth of the region now known as the Outer Banks of North Carolina and viewing it as: ‘So full of grapes, as the very beating, and surge of the Sea overflowed them, of which we founde such plenty… on the greene soile on the hils, and in the plaines, as well on every little shrubbe, as also climbing towards the toppes of the high Cedars, that I thinke in all the world the like aboundance is not to be founde.’
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| Ocracoke Shore – the scene at first arrival. |
Giveaway of ‘The Lost Duchess’!
To celebrate the upcoming launch of The Lost Duchess, and this blog as a recently added feature of my revamped website, I’ll be giving away a signed first edition copy of the Duchess to a winner chosen at random from amongst those who leave a comment here. If you’d like to have a chance of winning a copy, post paid anywhere in the world, then please leave a comment on this post before 11.00pm on Thursday 7 November. The winner will be announced here on Monday 11 November and notified by email. Now for a little more about the new book, read on…
Interview for ‘A Writer of History’
I’m grateful to the most excellent author, Mary Tod, for featuring an interview here http://awriterofhistory.com/2013/10/30/jenny-barden-the-lost-duchess/
from which this is a short excerpt:
After several weeks posting about either Unravelled or the historical fiction survey, I’m delighted to celebrate the return to ‘regular programming’ by interviewing Jenny Barden, author of Mistress of the Sea and her latest novel, The Lost Duchess. I first met Jenny during the run up to the 2012 Historical Novel Society conference in London and a few months ago I had the delightful privilege of reading Mistress of the Sea. If that dramatic, plot-twisting story is anything to go by, readers are in for a treat with Jenny’s second novel.
Can you tell us why the 16th century and tales involving ocean voyages are so intriguing to you as a writer?
Roanoke Island – 1587 and Now
My latest post on the English Historical Fiction Authors site might be of interest to anyone curious to know more about the first attempt to establish an English settlement in America – the ill-fated ‘Lost Colony’ of Roanoke: http://englishhistoryauthors.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/roanoke-island-1587-and-now.html
***
When America’s first English colonists arrived at Roanoke Island in 1587 they expected to find a land of bounty, with a benign climate, sparsely populated by gentle savages. Arthur Barlowe had described the region in glowing terms following his voyage of discovery with Philip Amadas in 1584. ‘I thinke in all the world the like aboundance is not to be founde,’ he wrote. He described finding an island ‘of many goodly woods, and full of Deere, Conies, Hares and Fowle,’ as well as ‘the highest, and reddest Cedars,’ waters teeming with fish, and ‘handsome’ people, ‘in their behaviour as mannerly, and civill as any of Europe.’
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| This view from modern day Hatteras Island is the kind of landscape the colonists would have seen on their way to make landfall in America, passing through a channel in the long thin strip of sand dune islands that fringes the vast shallow lagoon now known as Pamlico Sound. They would have used boats and their pinnace to reach Roanoke behind the outer barrier islands. |
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