I have been very busy this winter and as a consequence terrible at keeping my news updated. We visited India again after Christmas which is always inspiring. This visit we spent four amazing days in Varanasi as well as several weeks in Goa and a few days in the famous Taj Hotel at The Gateway to India in Mumbai.
At Sunrise
Sunset at our hotel.
The Holy Ganges at Varanasi
The cow is the holiest of creatures and Varanasi the oldest and most holy city in India.
The Taj at Night, Mumbai.
At the Gateway to India, Mumbai.
This was not the end of our travels. It was my husband’s birthday in February so we visited Kyiv yet again. It’s a wonderful city, where I set my novel The Betrothed Sister. It was exciting to visit locations for this novel especially The Golden Gate and St Sophia. The opera season was in full swing and we both love the opera. It’s inexpensive and superbly performed. The pictures below show in order: The Golden Gate, a very cold author at The Motherland Statue and War Museum, eighteenth century churches, and St Sophia which existed during the eleventh century.
The Golden Gate since 11thC.
My new novel, The Silken Rose will be published in September. This story is about Ailenor of Provence and is the first in a series about medieval ‘she-wolf’ queens. The paperback is already flagged up on amazon pre-order. Meanwhile, I am researching the second novel in The Rose Trilogy. This will be about Eleanora of Castile. It’s title is The Damask Rose. My new novel also will contain a sub-plot involving a herbalist, secretly a female apothecary and a gardener. I am very excited about it. Meanwhile, do go over to amazon to pre-order The Silken Rose.
On 4th March I attended the RNA awards ceremony in London’s Gladstone Library which was superb. It’s always a very elegant occasion, and this year one of my favourite historians, writer Alison Weir presented the awards. I shall be giving a power-point presentation on Tudor Women and London at the Washington HNS Conference 2019 this June. Otherwise, I am writing and researching the next books. Pictures below show the RNA awards venue and Alison Weir who presented the RNA awards for Romantic Novels of the Year.
The RNA Awards Ceremony 2019.
Let us hope that spring is just around the corner though I have to report that February in Oxfordshire was unusually spring-like. I hope you all have a happy and fulfilling Easter this April.
