Painted Lady
Publication Date: April 30, 2014
Red Door Publishing Ltd
eBook & Paperback; 240 Pages
Genre: Historical Romance
Blurb
From her luxurious mansion in St James’s, London, Milady looks back through the years – to hear the church bells ringing in celebration of Wellington’s great victory at Waterloo, at the time when she left clacking tongues behind her in the Sussex village of Alfriston for adventure and employment in fashionable Brighton, the ‘second capital of England’. There as the seventeen-year-old Sary Snudden, with her reputation already ruined, she becomes a prostitute, the ‘Painted Lady’ of the title. Yet even Regency conventions are to prove too narrow for a girl of Sary’s flamboyant character. Caught up in a passionate affair with young David Stanville, heir to Lord Southbourne’s great estate of Hadderton, she and her lover cross the Alps on a perilous journey by coach and sled to the excitement of a popular revolution in Turin and an erotically charged idyll in the Italian lakes. But the question of how she’ll cross the greater gulf, which lies between her humble origins and the noble status David seeks for her, remains the central problem of Milady’s life. Moving from the great military encampments of Napoleonic Sussex to the pleasure grounds of nineteenth century Europe, from the practical routines of a well-run brothel, to the elegant manners of St James’s, Painted Lady spans a colourful half-century of European history. A delightful, romping adventure, the novel introduces an unforgettable new heroine to historical fiction.
My Review
The novel, Painted Lady by Richard Masefield was an
interesting adventure through Regency England, as well as through different
social classes. As an older women, the main character looks back on her life,
and tells the story of her adventures in life and love. Her story shows what a
strong and resilient woman she is, and how she paved her own road in life, and
climbed the ladder in society during a time when being a prostitute was a
hopeless and dreary existence. The love story within the novel is passionate
and exciting, and the reader truly is hopeful that despite the huge social gap
between them, they will somehow find a way to end up together. Her story takes
the reader through regency London and Brighton, and then on to cross the Alps,
and through Northern Italy.
I enjoyed reading this novel, but I admit that it started
out a little slowly for me. I’m glad that I kept going, because I did end up
really enjoying it. Also, the main character, known both as Milady (when she is
older) and Sary (when she was a young prostitute), was very likeable. The fact
that she is the narrator of her own story really gives the reader an inside
look at her thoughts and feelings during her life. I wouldn’t say that this is
one of the best historical fiction novels that you’ll ever read, but it’s
enjoyable, and it will keep you entertained for sure! It’s definitely worth
picking up to read!
I give Painted Lady a FOUR out of FIVE stars!
The White Cross
Publication Date: September 24, 2014
Red Door Publishing Ltd
eBook & Paperback; 496 Pages
Genre: Historical Fiction
The White Cross is a whole new reading experience; a book that brings something entirely original to historical fiction. Set in the late twelfth century at the time of King Richard I’s crusade to win back Jerusalem from the Saracens, the story deals with timeless issues – with the moralities of warfare and fundamental religion, the abuse of power, the heights of martial fervour and the depths of disillusionment The writing blazes with colour (literally in the case of the printed edition, which makes groundbreaking use of colour throughout). It pulses with life, capturing the sights and sounds, the very smells of medieval life. At the novel’s heart is the relationship between Garon and Elise – the story of an arranged marriage which rapidly develops into something deeper, to challenge a young husband’s strongly held beliefs and set him on a long and painful journey to self-realisation, to break and finally restore a woman’s spirit as she battles for recognition and for justice in a brutal man’s world. And then there is the Berge dal becce; a character who is surely more than he appears? The only way to uncover all the secrets of The White Cross is to read it!
Chalkhill Blue
Publication Date: April 30, 2014
Red Door Publishing Ltd
eBook & Paperback; 352 Pages
Genre: Historical Fiction
Chalkhill Blue is an award-winning novel of the First World War, and of so much else besides. A grand romance in the English narrative tradition, it spans more than two decades, from the Edwardian heyday through the cataclysm of the ‘war to end wars’ to the uncertain new world of the 1920s. As a study of deception and self-deception, it traces the lives of two women who have dared to flout the rules of their society, and those of the men who love them; the double strands of a remarkable love story which concludes with a heart-stopping double-twist that makes it literally unforgettable. But far more than a romance, this is also a descriptive novel of tremendous scope, transporting the reader from the parched drove-trails of Queensland to the horse-drawn congestion of Edwardian London; from the snow-capped cordilleras of the Andes to a truly astonishing underground city deep in the chalk of Artois. The timeless downland landscapes of Sussex and the little blue butterfly that haunts them are horrifyingly contrasted with the man-made desolation of their notorious counterparts across the Channel at Arras and on the Somme. Based on a true story, Chalkhill Blue is compulsory reading for anyone with a taste for the authentic and the unusual.
Brimstone
Publication Date: May 1, 2014
Red Door Publishing Ltd
eBook & Paperback; 288 Pages
Genre: Historical/Romance/Adventure
Brimstone is a story of temptation, ambition and their consequences. The year is 1793. The Terror is at its height in France, Britain is at war with her old enemy once more, and along the coast of Sussex the smugglers’ trade in spirits and tobacco is flourishing. The novel’s two heroes are brothers bound by love, but separated by opposing characters which come to represent two the two faces of eighteenth century England – its brutality and its enlightenment. For the reckless Aaron Corbyn, there are adventures to be had and profits to be made from contrabanding. While his elder brother Rafe, a sobrely steadfast physician, runs the family estate of Chalkdean, Aaron builds an illegal empire as master smuggler across the Channel, at Fecamp in Normandy. Ellin Rimmer, daughter of a ‘fire and brimstone’ preacher, marries one brother to escape the loneliness of life in a parsonage, only to find herself hopelessly attracted to the other – and to be compelled through him to an impetuous decision that will have drastic consequences for all three. Sweeping from the open downland and flintstone villages of Sussex to the coast of revolutionary France, from Newgate prison and the subhuman conditions of a convict transport ship to the penal colony of New South Wales, Brimstone weighs the destructive aspects of sexual obsession against the healing power of generosity to bring its heroine an unexpected redemption.
About the Author
Richard Masefield comes from a family of writers – John Masefield was his cousin – and with a love of animals and the outdoors he decided at a young age that he would farm and write, if necessary both at once.
It took years of hard work before Richard could realise his dream, and in fact his first published novel was written while milking a herd of Friesian cows. He still lives on his farm in Sussex with his wife Lee and together they spend as much time as possible with their large family of children and grandchildren.
You can visit Richard’s website at www.richardmasefield.co.uk.
Blog Tour Schedule
Review at Back Porchervations (The White Cross)
Monday, August 14
Review at Historical Fiction Obsession (The Painted Lady)
Wednesday, July 20
Review at Back Porchervations (The Painted Lady)
Tuesday, July 26
Review at Back Porchervations (Chalk Hill Blue)
Monday, August 1
Review at Back Porchervations (Brimstone)
Wednesday, August 3
Review at Book Nerd (The White Cross)
Tuesday, August 9
Review at Book Nerd (The Painted Lady)
Wednesday, August 10
Review at Diana's Book Reviews (Brimstone)
Thursday, August 11
Review at The Silver Dagger Scriptorium (The Painted Lady)
Saturday, August 13
Review at The Silver Dagger Scriptorium (The White Cross)
Monday, August 15 Review at Broken Teepee (The White Cross)
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