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 This is a huge thrill for me to welcome my friend, Carol McGrath today. Acclaimed historical fiction author, Carol has brought the shadowy figure of Elizabeth Cromwell to life in a wonderful new book. Yes, we all know about the Machiavellian figure of Thomas Cromwell, advisor to Henry VIII, but the life of his wife (who died too young) is less well known and largely left to conjecture. Before her marriage to Cromwell, Elizabeth was a respected business woman in her own right. Let's bring this woman out of the shadows! As I do with all my guests, I asked Carol to share a snippet of her research into the book... Thomas Cromwell had his secrets...The Woman in the Shadows is the story of Thomas Cromwell’s marriage and early career, recounted through the eyes of his wife, Elizabeth. Thomas Cromwell was, of course, Henry VIII’s infamous statesman who achieved finally the King’s divorce from Catherine of Aragon. The novel is not really about The King’s Great Matter but rather about a London housewife and cloth merchant. She was a young, attractive wealthy widow when she married Thomas Cromwell in 1514 and as her family were in the Cloth Trade I placed her in that sphere as well. Elizabeth was more interested in interesting courtiers in her finer goods than she was in drawing too close to court. The book is a portrait of a Tudor woman married to a fascinating ambitious man. Anne Boleyn, King Henry and Thomas Wolsey do not have a voice but remain in the background, gossiped about by London merchant wives. The interesting fun fact that I discovered whilst researching was that Thomas Cromwell possibly was father to a love child, born whilst he was married happily to Elizabeth. Jane Cromwell, the child, is mentioned in his will and Historians, such as Tracy Borman, have worked out that she was probably born in 1520. Jane Cromwell was married in due course to a man who worked for Thomas Cromwell and she grew up on Merseyside, not London. Since Thomas Cromwell is regarded as a family man and never remarried after Elizabeth’s death in 1528, I found this fact curious. I used it in the story and, in the excerpt from The Woman in the Shadows below, he is about to be exposed through Elizabeth’s discovery of a little book in his cloak pocket. Read the novel to find out more and the consequences of this startling discovery.
The Woman in the Shadows Elizabeth Cromwell is an attractive widow of two and twenty. As a female cloth merchant, she trades, despite the cloth guild’s opposition, in silk mixes loved by courtiers. She marries the steely ambitious cloth merchant and lawyer Thomas Cromwell. The couple set up home in a substantial house close to the Tower. As Thomas fills it with gorgeous Flanders tapestries, fabulously carved German chests, cupboards, closets and precious objects, she makes exquisite sample books for their cloth business. Together, they face and overcome the dangerous consequences of a shadowy secret, one which presents obstacles to their future until she discovers that Thomas carries his own secret. Early Tudor London is a ruthless city of merchants, heretics, cut purses, tricksters and fabulous pageantry. Can their marriage survive? Read an excerpt...I removed my blue kirtle and bodice from my clothing pole, and searched for a suitable over-gown. At length I saw one, a green flowery over skirt which hung amongst Thomas’s tawny velvet coats, the ones he wore for the Cardinal’s work. As I lifted away the over dress, a small book poking out of a wide pocket that Thomas always had set into the fabric of his velvet coats tumbled out. I scooped it up and placed it on the chest below the window wondering if it contained poems. With teaching the children their letters every day, I had been too busy to read for my own pleasure. I would look at it later. Bessie arrived, glanced at my choice of gown and appraised it. ‘Very fine, Mistress Elizabeth. You will look a treat in that gown.’ She helped me into it and found me a pair of contrasting sleeves. ‘Hurry, Bessie,’ I said with impatience. ‘We will miss the sword-fighting, and I promised Gregory.’ ‘Here, you’re done, Mistress Elizabeth.’ She tied the last ribbon and stood back to inspect me. In my haste to dress, I left my linen work cap lying on top of the book. I changed my slippers for stouter shoes and set the slippers on the chest beside it. Meet Carol McGrath Based in England, Carol McGrath writes Historical Fiction. She studied History at Queens University Belfast, has an MA in Creative Writing from the Seamus Heaney Centre, Queens University Belfast and an English MPhil from Royal Holloway, University of London. The Handfasted Wife is her debut novel, first in a trilogy titled The Daughters of Hastings. The second and third novels The Swan-Daughter and The Betrothed Sister have followed and are now available on amazon and in bookshops. Carol is an historian specialised in The Medieval Era. Her first love, however, is writing. She is an avid reader and reviewer.
Visit her website www.carolcmcgrath.co.uk 
It is my great pleasure to welcome Mari Anne Christie to my tea table today.
I have to confess Mari is a 'new to me' author and having just returned from a 6 week jaunt to the USA, and steeping myself in history (as I do), I am particularly interested in the subject of her new book BLIND TRIBUTE, the moral dilemma of the impartial reporter, oddly resonant in today's political situation. As I do with all my guests I asked Mari to share a particular piece of interesting research with us and if you scroll to the end of this post, Mari is giving away a quill pen (like Harry's) and powdered ink, a swag pack including Harry's Editorials Collection, and a e-copy of the book to one winner. Who was Harry Wentworth?
Palmer Harrold Wentworth III, “Harry,” fictional protagonist of Blind Tribute, is based on a real journalist who made real history, but whose name has not enjoyed the longevity of his conjoined contribution to journalism and the business world.
Percival Huntington Whaley (Percy to friends, P.H. to readers, and not incidentally the caricature on the cover of Blind Tribute), is the man from whom Harry inherited his profession, his Charleston ancestry, his barrier-island plantation, his beloved (but not enslaved) black nursemaid, and his writing career (to say nothing of his monogram). He is also the man whom I credit with indirectly giving me my love of letters. Educated at Hobart and Kenyon, P. H. Whaley was a reporter and editor for the Charleston News and Courier beginning in 1909, the first Executive Editor of the Philadelphia Evening Ledger from 1914 to 1918, and Publisher of the Whaley-Eaton Service, an international newsgathering organization based in Washington, D.C., from 1918 to 1957. He died in 1964 at Prospect Hill Plantation on Edisto Island, South Carolina, on land owned by his family since the 1700s. Analogous to Wentworth and Hoyt Business Service in Blind Tribute—although almost 60 years after Harry’s venture—Whaley-Eaton had offices, at various times, in Washington, London, Paris, and Tokyo. As well as private research on behalf of business clients and multiple periodicals through the years, Whaley-Eaton published bimonthly Whaley-Eaton Pamphlets on matters of interest to businessmen, and the Whaley-Eaton American Letter and Foreign Letter, the first widely circulated investment newsletters in the United States. These weekly publications were precursors to, and friendly competitors with, The Kiplinger Letter, still in circulation and often wrongly cited as the “first business newsletter” in America.
About BLIND TRIBUTE
Every newspaper editor may owe tribute to the devil, but Harry Wentworth’s bill just came due.
As America marches toward the Civil War, Harry Wentworth, gentleman of distinction and journalist of renown, finds his calls for peaceful resolution have fallen on deaf—nay, hostile—ears, so he must finally resolve his own moral quandary. Comment on the war from his influential—and safe—position in Northern Society, or make a news story and a target of himself South of the Mason-Dixon Line, in a city haunted by a life he has long since left behind? The day-to-day struggle against countervailing forces, his personal and professional tragedies on both sides of the conflict, and the elegant and emotive writings that define him, all serve to illuminate the trials of this newsman’s crusade, irreparably altering his mind, his body, his spirit, and his purpose as an honorable man. Blind Tribute exposes the shifting stones of the moral high ground, as Harry’s family and friendships, North and South, are shattered by his acts of conscience. Read an excerpt...
Anne’s face contorted, red with rage. Her entire being seemed to swell three sizes. As many weeks as Harry had been considering this evening’s discussion, so had she. She would spring at him any moment with two weeks’ worth—two months’ worth—of argument she’d been amassing. He should have known; she’d been much too accommodating of his opinions thus far.
“Far be it from me to keep you from suicide, Palmer, for I shall be a very merry widow, but you cannot expect me to uproot my children over a minor conflict about which you have a bad feeling. You would have me leave everything I know to assuage your fears for our safety, when you refuse to stay and ensure it yourself?! I have family here, and a home, and two girls to present and marry. There is no chance the fighting will reach Pennsylvania before the insurrection is put down, and I’ll not disrupt everything for you, or for this ridiculous war!” Instead of backing away, he stepped forward. “I married you because you read the newspaper, Anne, and because you do not usually speak drivel. Can you be so short-sighted? You would refuse to take our children to safety, simply because it is I who suggest it?” He raised his voice for the first time since their argument began. “No, Anne! I will not hear it! I have chosen the safest course for you and the children, and the only course for myself. Stop screeching about something you should have expected. I’ve had enough argument from you for one evening. The decision has been made.” Her tone lowered from a shriek to a loud yell as she took a step backward. “I never believed you could do such an awful thing to your wife and children! Tearing us away from everything—our whole lives—so you can stand on some ill-defined principle! It’s inhuman!” She stomped her foot again, retaking the ground she had lost, shaking the pictures on the blue silk walls and the curios interspersed among the bookshelves. An Argentinean mask toppled off a shelf, but didn’t break on the Persian carpet. He saw the tears well up, and hoped sincerely he would ultimately be allowed to soothe her when he won the disagreement, rather than watch her walk away from the fight, lock the door to her rooms, and prepare herself for continued battle until she’d won her point. Unfortunately, Anne’s tears in such a situation could portend anything—except surrender. Meet Mari Anne Christie
Mari was “raised up” in journalism (mostly raising her glass at the Denver Press Club bar) after the advent of the web press, but before the desktop computer. She has since plied her trade as a writer, editor, and designer across many different fields, and currently works as a technical writer and editor.
Under the name Mari Christie, she has released a book-length epic poem, Saqil pa Q'equ'mal: Light in Darkness: Poetry of the Mayan Underworld, and under pen name Mariana Gabrielle, she has written several Regency romances, including the Sailing Home Series and La Déesse Noire: The Black Goddess. Blind Tribute is her first mainstream historical novel. She expects to release the first book in a new family saga, The Lion’s Club, in 2018. She holds a BA in Writing, summa cum laude and With Distinction, from the University of Colorado Denver, and is a member of the Speakeasy Scribes, the Historical Novel Society, and the Denver Press Club. She has a long family history in Charleston, South Carolina, and is the great-great niece of a man in the mold of Harry Wentworth. Author Website & blog: www.MariAnneChristie.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MariChristieAuthor Twitter: https://twitter.com/mchristieauthor Enter Mari's contest... |
Alison StuartAlison writes historical romances and short stories set in England and Australia and across different periods of history. Archives
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