'Palace of the Fountains' available for pre-order

My new romantic suspense title, Palace of the Fountains, is now ready to pre-order from Bookstrand at a discount until mid-August.

Here's the link.

 

Inspiring a heroine: 'Princess Caraboo'

In "A Knight's Prize" my heroine Edith pretends to be an exotic eastern princess, The Lady of Lilies, to save herself and her fellow villagers from starvation after the pestilence (the Black Death, which struck England in 1348).

Edith is a peasant woman and blacksmith, but presents herself as a strange princess with her own seductive costumes, language and customs. One of my inspirations for this particular desperate deception was a real-life fake from the eighteenth century, the Princess Caraboo.

This ‘princess’ was a young woman who appeared in a Gloucestershire village in 1817, dressed in unusual clothes and speaking a strange language. Upon investigation by the local magistrate, it was discovered she called herself Caraboo and later a sailor claimed he knew her language and translated her story. Caraboo claimed to be a princess from an island in the Indian ocean, who had escaped after being captured by pirates.

The magistrate, Stephen Worrall, and his wife took in Princess Caraboo. She lived with them for several weeks, famous and fêted by the local community.

In reality Princess Caraboo turned out to be Mary Baker, the daughter of an English cobbler. When the hoax was revealed due to her picture in the 'Bristol Journal' being recognized, the Worralls arranged for Mary to leave for Philadelphia.

Mary did go to America but returned later to England and died there. It was the story of her unusual deception that inspired a 1994 film, Princess Caraboo and partly inspired my own novel.

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Medieval jugglers and others

In the Middle Ages, professional musicians and minstrels were highly thought of and ranked in royal and noble households as the equals to huntsmen and falconers. Dancers, too, were well regarded - in 1306, the only woman paid as a musician in the royal household was an acrobatic dancer (saltatrix, 'tumbler') with the 'stage name’ of Matilda Makejoy. She possibly danced by bending backwards and touching her head with her feet, or on her hands, or on knives - in medieval stained glass Salome was shown dancing on knives.

Such dancers could be athletic and graceful or tumble in a jesting manner, playing for laughter. They could also be well paid and respected - Richard II paid John Katerine, a dancer from Venice, over £6 for playing and dancing before him, a sum not far short of £3,000 today.

Amongst the minstrels themselves there was a kind of ranking, with professional musicians at the top and jugglers and puppeteers at the bottom. Jugglers especially were considered at the time to be coarse, especially those who made a living wandering from fair to fair or village to village. Jugglers were felt to have few morals and to be able to do their tricks through magic - always a dangerous idea in the Middle Ages.

However jugglers were also held in affection, even by the church, and many illuminated manuscripts show jugglers. From the time of William the Conqueror, a 'King of the Jugglers' appeared at the court and would continue to appear through the Middle Ages. Whoever held this title had many rights to go with it. There is also a medieval legend of a juggler who, having nothing else to give, made an 'offering' of his juggling skills before a statue of the Virgin and Child in church. According to some variations of this story, the Madonna or Jesus caught one of the balls.

Juggling using different objects is more difficult than using the same objects. Bouncing objects off a floor is easier than tossing them in the air, and throwing all the objects in the air - called multiplexing in modern juggling - is easier than one after another.

Balls were commonly used for juggling but other things could also be used. In the Irish story of Cuchulainn, the hero juggles nine apples. The later Viking sagas also mention juggling and sometimes with weapons - Snorri Sturluson writes in one saga, "In the doorway of the hall, Gylfi saw a man juggling with knives, keeping seven in the air at a time.", a trick also mastered by Sunniva in "A Knight's Captive"

Geraint, my Welsh hero, is a tumbler and juggler. To read more about him and the medieval exorcist Yolande, please take a look at "Dark Maiden"

[Illustrations from Wikimedia Commons.]

Five Red Roses for 'To Touch the Knight'

A lovely review today for my latest!:

Ranulf is called the Black Knight for good reason. He defeats all challengers in the joust and he broods – on the death of his wife and his guilt. When he meets the Lady of the Lilies – a princess from far Cathay - he is intrigued and his mood lightens. The Princess always goes veiled and her clothes are exotic scraps of fine cloth, which she fashions in her own style. Who is she and why does she follow the tourney? Torn between the Princess and a little brown maid he saw peeping at him on the riverbank, Ranulf is determined to solve the mystery.

Edith and her people have run from a cruel master. In a land stalked by pestilence they have to find a way to survive both the Black Death and hunger, and they live in fear of discovery by their old lord. Only the Lady of the Lilies and her mystery stand between them and a terrible punishment. But perhaps now there is a new saviour in the person of the Black Knight. Can Ranulf keep them safe and lead them to a new life?

The time of the Black Death was terrible for people in England and Europe. Townsend treats this period with honesty and sympathy. Parts of the book are perhaps dark because of the period but there is also a great deal of humour, fun and sensuality in this book, which should delight Townsend’s fans. I found it a thoroughly enjoyable read and the equal of her earlier knight books. This author is one to be followed as she carves a prominent place for herself on the historical list. If you enjoy medieval you must read this, because it is one of the best.

This book completely deserves its five red roses.

Linda Sole

http://redrosesforauthors.blogspot.com/2011/07/to-touch-knight.html

Sample Sunday - a new excerpt from 'A Knight's Prize'

Here, as part of Sample Sunday, is a new excerpt from A Knight's Prize. In it, Edith realizes she has been out-played for the moment in the courtly game by the fearsome - and attractive - knight, Ranulf.

Excerpt:

"Those are my lord's terms," said the squire. "A kiss for each favor.
       The lanky young man stopped, scarlet in the face. Had Edith been less incensed she might have felt for him, but she had her own troubles.
       “He will acknowledge me as his Master at this joust, and carry my favor?”
       “As his Mistress and lady, you mean?” The squire swallowed, staring now at his feet. “Yes, my lady.”
       That was something, at least. Edith glanced at Teodwin, seeing his shuttered expression and sensing his near-panic. At the back of the great tent, behind the screen, Maria’s light breathing had quickened and Walter was saying to her, very quietly in the old dialect, “Do not worry. Edith will make all well, as she has before.”
       But even Walter knew she could not be unveiled. It would be too great a blow to her mystique, and dangerous if Sir Giles saw her.
       How can I keep my word and still be unknown?
      Hoodman blind - the answer flew to her lips and she spoke. “I will agree to all these terms, squire, on one condition. Your lord must agree to be blind-folded. It is the custom in my land that only a bride and married women may appear unveiled. If he will be blind-folded within my tent, then we may exchange a kiss of peace.”
     He will never agree. He will not agree and my people and I will remain safe.

Edith gripped the edge of the table, feeling as if her whole world was see-sawing. "He does what?" she whispered.
     "He agrees to your terms, my lady," gasped the squire. He was still short of breath, having run hard up the field. "He asks that you have the cloths ready when he comes presently."
     He bowed out of her presence and Edith sank into her crouch, holding her head. She felt dizzy with a kind of thumping dread and a dazed anticipation. "He is coming now? What will I do? What should I do?"
     "Kiss him and be done," said Teodwin curtly. "Will you have Sir Tancred admitted? He is hovering outside, even now."
     "No!" She wanted no one to witness this. Wait - did I not say to Ranulf earlier that Sir Tancred was my chaperone? All these truths and half-truths! I cannot remember! "No, I mean, yes. Admit him, yes."

To see more, please see here:

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When should a heroine tell lies?

When is it OK for a heroine to lie?

In my latest, "A Knight's Prize" my heroine, Edith, is a liar. She lies to save herself and her fellow-villagers. She makes an illusion in order to survive. Does that make her evil?

To me it does not. But heroines in romantic fiction tend to have less leeway than heroes.

Take a hero who sows his wild oats. That is seen as normal, possibly even considerate, as he will then be experienced when making love to the virginal heroine. But how many hearts has he broken on the way?

Take a hero who is driven, obsessed, vengeful. 'Yum yum!', perhaps, is the response of some romance readers. But I wonder what happens when that engine of revenge is spent. What then? And if the hero is obsessed will he not remain obsessive? That energy, once he and the heroine are together, may be diverted into other things. He will no longer be a driven lover, but what?

Can the truly vengeful have a happy ever after ending?

What of the heroine who is driven and ambitious? Why is that seen as something to be diluted in her but not in the hero?

As a romance writer, I love a happy ever after end. To ensure it I look forward into my characters' lives, projecting them far into their futures. Will they still be content in old age? Will their different characteristics still mesh?

When couples remain and stay together they tend to end any disputes with tolerance and laughter, a mutual appreciation and understanding. This is what I like to show in my romances - the start of that process.

So, as A Knight's Prize progresses, Edith realizes she can tell Ranulf the truth. That trust from her is vital.

Ranulf also realizes that his grief for his late wife is also laced by guilt and resentment that he needs to lose.

Edith accepts him and realizes he believes more in the church than she does. She respects that, even as she begins to question her own hard-headed, practical way of always looking at the world.

Ranulf accepts that she told lies and accepts why she did so. He forgives her - though to Edith he has nothing to forgive.

I'm with Edith. How about you?

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