text:
HISTORICAL BOOK REVIEW SERIES: 'Queen of the North' by Anne O'Brien
Published on July 19, 2018 July 19, 2018 by Caroline AngusLeave a comment
1399: England's crown is under threat. King Richard II holds onto his power by an ever-weakening thread, with exiled Henry of Lancaster back to reclaim his place on the throne.
For Elizabeth Mortimer, there is only one rightful King – her eight-year-old nephew, Edmund. Only he can guarantee her fortunes, and protect her family's rule over the precious Northern lands bordering Scotland.
But many, including Elizabeth's husband, do not want another child-King. Elizabeth must hide her true ambitions in Court, and go against her husband's wishes to help build a rebel army.
To question her loyalty to the King places Elizabeth in the shadow of the axe.
To concede would curdle her Plantagenet blood.
This is one woman's quest to turn history on its head.
It's 1399 and King Edward III's descendant Elizabeth Mortimer is married to Henry Hotspur Percy, heir of the Earl of Northumberland. Richard II is king, and deposed by Henry Bolingbroke under dubious circumstances. Richard II had no heirs, but he did have someone ready to replace him until Henry IV takes his crown. That is where Elizabeth comes in.
Elizabeth expected her nephew Edmund Mortimer to take the throne, also a descendant of Edward III, a boy born of royal Plantagenet blood. Elizabeth's family has just as good a claim to the throne as the new Lancaster king. Whenever there are multiple claims to a throne, blood is certain to follow.
Elizabeth is not a man who can go into battle for the Mortimer claimant. She is not a beautiful young princess to be traded by families and launched into power. Elizabeth is a smart noble woman, who knows her family has a valid claim, who has given her husband the children he needs, and, to history, should be left on the sidelines. But Elizabeth is not a woman who should be cast aside in the battles of men and the throne, for she has the knowledge, skill and education to make a difference in the Mortimer claim to the crown.
All sides the early battles had legitimate claims to the throne, and we have a viewpoint in Elizabeth which is valid yet undemanding, unlike the men who surround her. Real life Elizabeth is not a well-known figure of history, so the author has had to use historical detail of others, and weave Elizabeth into the story, which gives new life to an old tale. Percy takes the Lancaster's side of the war and Elizabeth is rich in the blood of the Mortimers, and nobler than her husband. But what can a wife do in such challenges? Elizabeth is the wife of Percy, who holds the north. Whether it is from London or the Scots, the Percys have plenty of battles to face and Elizabeth is the northerners queen.
No sooner than choices are made, Elizabeth and Percy find they should be on the side of the Mortimer. Politics, treason and ambition are going to explode, and I am desperately trying not to write spoilers, but all I can say is you really need to read this book! Everyone knows what happened to Hotspur Percy at the Battle of Shrewsbury, part of a plot to overthrow Henry IV, but Elizabeth and her family's claim carries on. The Bolingbrokes and the Mortimers are going to need to be friends if civil wars for the throne are to end, and greed is as powerful as blood. This book has historical accuracy combined with beautiful storytelling. I adored this novel.
Gallery•Categories ALL REVIEWS, England 1000-1400, fiction, Historical Book Review Series•Tags anne o'brien, earl of northumberland, edmund mortimer, edward iii, elizabeth mortimer, england, henry bolingbroke, henry hotspur percy, henry iv, Henry V, lancaster, Plantagenet, queen of the north, richard ii, Spain, York
HISTORICAL BOOK REVIEW SERIES: 'The King's Witch' by Tracy Borman
As she helps to nurse the dying Queen Elizabeth, Frances Gorges longs for the fields and ancient woods of her parents' Hampshire estate, where she has learned to use the flowers and herbs to become a much-loved healer.
Frances is happy to stay in her beloved countryside when the new King arrives from Scotland, bringing change, fear and suspicion. His court may be shockingly decadent, but James's religion is Puritan, intolerant of all the old ways; he has already put to death many men for treason and women for witchcraft.
So when her ambitious uncle forcibly brings Frances to court, she is trapped in a claustrophobic world of intrigue and betrayal – and a ready target for the twisted scheming of Lord Cecil, the King's first minister.
Surrounded by mortal dangers, Frances finds happiness only with the precocious young Princess Elizabeth, and Tom Wintour, the one courtier she can trust.
Or can she?
I am a very big Tracy Borman fan. I did not angle for a review copy, instead I went to a store and purchased her first novel myself. The new release stand was full on release day, here on the other side of the world, a rare occasion for the books I tend to review.
The King's Witch opens with poor old Elizabeth I, in her dying moments. The book follows Frances Gorges, an expert in healing and herbs. King James is now on the throne, a dramatic change for England. Women healing and using herbs and their developed skills, rather than that of a male doctor, are seen as evil, as devil's work. King James is terrified of witches and witchcraft, so to be a woman with knowledge makes young Frances right in the firing line against puritanical opinions and fears. Frances does have allies, Tom, a courtier, and the Princess Elizabeth. Whether she can trust her own friends is never truly clear to Frances.
This novel starts slowly, showing Frances' life, indeed lives for 'normal' people in this awkward time period in England. What I did see early on was that there would be a twist coming, which keeps you turning the page. Frances grows as their reader gets to know her, from a scared girl into a woman who gets to see behind the lavish exteriors of a royal court for what really lies in individuals.
When reading Borman, you know you are getting historical accuracy with your fiction (I swear some people only read to point out inaccuracies in fiction; you lot will be disappointed with this). It is nice to hear from a new voice, rather than through the eyes of characters done so often before. Being cast as a witch was simple in the 17th century, all a woman had to do was piss off the closest man and she would be accused. So being a woman with knowledge naturally scares the pants off men. While the king is determined to cast out all remaining Catholics in England, religion remains ingrained in all decisions made.
Frances' biggest issue is that her friend Tom is Tom Wintour, one of the men in the gunpowder plot with Guy Fawkes (shout-out to all of us born on November 5!). Tom is ready to blow up parliament and the attention to the how's and why's rather than simply the actions taken in 1603 is beautifully told. The gunpowder plot men are generally thought of as crazies, when they actually had quite an elaborate plan and motive. While we all know what happened to the gunpowder plot, seeing it through the eyes of someone close to these men makes it painful to read through, knowing the conclusion.
I really enjoyed reading this book; I went in with high expectations and was not disappointed. Love, torture, witchcraft, what a combination to write about and get to muse over, knowing that the early 1600's really was one hell of a cauldron of superstition. Frances' uncle, the Earl of Northampton, makes an appearance as a sometimes friend, sometimes overly creepy uncle everyone doesn't want visiting, and don't forget Lord Cecil, a grump at the best of times, aiding the king's paranoia for gain but harming Frances' safety even more.
Some are witches being killed, others are being tortured and executed for trying to change the monarchy. You know it's all going to end in tears but you can't stop reading anyway. Thank you to Tracy Borman for humanising those in an often misunderstood piece of history.
Gallery•Categories ALL REVIEWS, fiction, Historical Book Review Series•Tags england, fiction, gunpowder plot, guy fawkes, history, king james i, lord cecil, princess elizabeth, Spain, the king's witch, tom wintour, tracy borman, witchcraft
HISTORICAL BOOK REVIEW SERIES: 'The Raven's Widow: A Novel of Jane Boleyn' by Adrienne Dillard
Published on January 28, 2018 January 28, 2018 by Caroline AngusLeave a comment
The river was as calm as I had ever seen it. Ordinarily, the tide would have been wild by this time of year, and woe unto any man unfortunate enough to fall into the fierce currents of the Thames. Tonight the tides were still, and the surface of the water appeared glassy. When I peered down into the dark depths, I saw my tired, drawn face wavering in the reflection. I quickly turned away as I fought back a wave of nausea, frightened by the anguish I saw etched there.
"Only a few moments more my lady, the Tower is just ahead."
Jane Parker never dreamed that her marriage into the Boleyn family would raise her star to such dizzying heights. Before long, she finds herself as trusted servant and confidante to her sister-in-law, Anne Boleyn; King Henry VIII's second queen. On a gorgeous spring day, that golden era is cut short by the swing of a sword. Jane is unmoored by the tragic death of her husband, George, and her loss sets her on a reckless path that leads to her own imprisonment in the Tower of London. Surrounded by the remnants of her former life, Jane must come to terms with her actions. In the Tower, she will face up to who she really is and how everything went so wrong.
No one with the name Boleyn has fared well through history or fiction, and Jane Boleyn is definitely no exception. In recent times, Jane has been pained as a snitch, a mean, meddling and jealous woman, one who helped get her husband beheaded. Here, Dillard sets out to paint a very different woman.
Jane Parker was born in around 1505 to Henry Parker, Baron Morley and Alice St John (so through her mother's family, a distant relative of King Henry). By 1520 Jane was in service to Queen Katherine, and considered an attractive woman for her time. By 1525, marriage had been arranged to George Boleyn, brother of two women, Anne and Mary Boleyn, whom also served Queen Katherine. As the Boleyn family were of little consequence at the time, little is recorded about the marriage, or Jane herself. It seems they had a loving marriage, though no children were ever born to the pair. Here, possible miscarriages and losses are added to the book to gain a different insight with artistic licence.
After Mary Boleyn's time as the king mistress ended, it was Anne's turn to fall prey to Henry, whom loved her deeply right through the 1520's, and it was then that the Boleyns rose in the court and public eye. By 1533, Anne was queen of England, and Jane was in her service, now Viscountess Rochford. No part of Jane's life could have prepared her for such circumstances. Jane is written as caring, emotional, irrational but interesting through the trials of being the queen's sister-in-law, through the eyes of a courtier not often chosen as a main protagonist.
History remembers Jane as the one who told Cromwell that Anne and George were committing incest to gain a child to claim as King Henry's. But Jane n reality was a woman married to a man who was a womaniser (though is portrayed as kinder and more chaste in this book), and, when George lost his head, she had to plead and bow to regain favour.
In this book, as in life, Jane is a character who manages to survive, to serve Anne of Cleves and then Katherine Howard as queens, before Jane too loses her head for helping Queen Katherine set up dates with her secret lover in 1542. The twist in this book is how Jane is not written as the scheming bitch who happily served her husband and sister-in-law to the axe so she could continue to survive. Also, Jane's breakdown right before death is also given a fresh look. A book for those who are on the look out for something new.
Gallery•Categories ALL REVIEWS, fiction, Historical Book Review Series•Tags adrienne Dillard, Anne Boleyn, book review, england, fction, george boleyn, jane boleyn, jane parker, king henry, lady rochford, queen anne, Spain, Tudor
HISTORICAL BOOK REVIEW SERIES: 'Jane the Quene' by Janet Wertman
All Jane Seymour wants is a husband; but when she catches the eye of a volatile king, she is pulled deep into the Tudor court's realm of plot and intrigue….
England. 1535. Jane Seymour is 27 years old and increasingly desperate for the marriage that will provide her a real place in the world. She gets the perfect opportunity to shine when the court visits Wolf Hall, the Seymour ancestral manor. With new poise born from this event, it seems certain that her efficiency and diligence will shine through and finally attract a suitor.
Meanwhile, King Henry VIII is 45 and increasingly desperate for a son to secure his legacy. He left his first wife, a princess of Spain, changing his country's religion in the process, to marry Anne Boleyn — but she too has failed to deliver the promised heir. As Henry begins to fear he is cursed, Jane Seymour's honesty and innocence conjure redemption. Thomas Cromwell, an ambitious clerk who has built a career on strategically satisfying the King's desires, sees in Jane the perfect vehicle to calm the political unrest that threatens the country: he engineers the plot that ends with Jane becoming the King's third wife.Jane believes herself virtuous and her actions justified, but early miscarriages shake her confidence and hopes.
How can a woman who has done nothing wrong herself deal with the guilt of how she unseated her predecessor?
Jane's story begins in 1525, where at age 18 is still unmarried and becomes a maid of honour for mighty Katherine of Aragon. Jane is a quiet girl, keen to be part of the court instead of being a lowly spinster at home. But Jane's tuition at court is placed in the hands of two other maids to the queen – Anne and Mary Boleyn. They are distant cousins to Jane, but quiet Jane finds the pair to be disingenuous – Mary is already the king's mistress, and rumours swirl of Anne's virtue also. Jane, who sees herself as fair and perfect, considers her cousins to be intimidating and foolish, and they care not for the company of boring Jane. Years pass and Jane works in the court, slowly rising in favour until poor Katherine is ousted.
But then Jane's cousin Anne Boleyn is finally elevated from mistress to Henry's side as queen. Jane is still unwed, a seemingly boring woman in the company of Queen Anne, who sees nothing in her lady. But trouble soon comes when Anne gives birth to a daughter for Henry.
Jane isn't the only Seymour at court; her young sister Elizabeth found a husband quickly and the Seymours decide to swap out Jane for another sister, Dorothy. Quiet Jane needs a plan; she goes home to Wolf Hall, where the king plans to stay on summer progress, to host the royal party, and in return her brother will find her a decent husband.
But while everyone thinks they know Jane Seymour, quiet Jane is a totally new woman. Only she can interest Henry; not brash like Anne Boleyn, but no weakling as her family assumes. Jane has a plan all of her own. Jane goes into training; she will be no whore, and she will be no Anne Boleyn either. Jane wants better for herself and she is no pawn any longer. Jane is ready to stand up, and play her part at court, all to claim what she wants – the crown itself.
Jane is always written as the boring queen and I enjoyed reading a book where she was anything but. Jane plays the games at court well, ready to scheme her way onto the throne, rather than being shoved on by her brother. Her brother Edward is a likable man, a product of his time, and young brother Thomas is a cad, as history suggests. Everyone knows of Edward's second wife Anne, the bitchy sidekick of her husband. This time, Anne is a kinder woman, while my book-husband Thomas Cromwell is a man who can work with anyone, always ready to come out on top. Cromwell's POV is used a little too, which was a bonus for me.
It was fun to read Jane's perspective, who is sometimes seen as appearing from nowhere to take a king, when she was instead in the background, understanding court politics. And this book is the first in a series, so make room on your shelf!
Gallery•Categories ALL REVIEWS, fiction, Historical Book Review Series•Tags Anne Boleyn, anne seymour, book review, edward seymour, england, fiction, Henry VIII, jane seymour, janet wertman, king henry, spin, Thomas Cromwell, thomas seymour, wolf hall


At Slideoo Mold Removal within Detroit, Michigan, our mold testing team understands how serious a mold issue might be. Consequently, they'll make certain that your mold testing services at your Detroit, MI home or office are started in the quickest fashion. Upon the well-timed completion of our services, the mold in your Detroit home or business will be eliminated. To ensure your wellbeing and Detroit home or business are not in mold's way, give our experts a call at (866) 578-5244 at this time.
The Significant Concern, "Does My Home Contain Mold"?
Does your Detroit, Michigan home or business feature standing water or a moldy odor? If so, mold has probably made itself at home within your home or business. Failing to have the mold professionally pulled from your Detroit, MI business or home quickly enough can lead to pricey damage to property together with health problems. Fortunately that if you contact us early on, our seasoned mold testing staff throughout Detroit and equipment will solve the problem well before it magnifies. If mold is in your Detroit home or office, you cannot afford to hold out much longer so give our mold testing experts from Slideoo Mold Removal within Detroit a call at (866) 578-5244 now.
If you're like many people, you most likely figure that the worst thing that will come from having mold inside your Detroit, Michigan home or office is a stopped-up nose and watery eyes. While those are clearly two traditional indicators connected with mold exposure, were you aware that mold exposure can cause damage to property along with major respiratory concerns throughout Detroit, MI. It's a proven fact, which means you need to recruit the assistance of the mold testing specialists from our company in Detroit quickly. Unless you wish to deal with potential property damage in addition to long-term health concerns, you should give our mold inspector team from our company within Detroit a call at (866) 578-5244 now.
At our company, our specialists can relate to the stress resulting from dealing with a mold issue in your house or business within Detroit, Michigan. Since this is the case, our mold testing experts in Detroit, MI do whatever it takes to make sure they're always improving their skills to better assist you. In addition, we present our experts with cutting-edge equipment to work with during their mold testing services within Detroit. To put it simply, our service works incredibly hard to have the mold taken from your house or company punctually and for a budget friendly price. Make sure you give our mold inspector staff with our company within Detroit a call at (866) 578-5244 if you don't feel like mold should acquire free rent in your house or company!


text:
Tales from Wild Wales
Thoughts on photography and other things by Jeremy Moore.
What if…..?
It has been a rather fallow period recently, photographically speaking, but there have been a couple of interesting experiences to recall.
A month or so ago I was snoozing at my desk (er…..editing images on the PC…..) when the phone woke me from my reverie.
"It's Barry from Hinterland" said the caller.
"Erm, sorry, who is that?" I asked, assuming it was a scam.
"Barry, from Hinterland, you know, the Welsh detective series?". I brightened up: perhaps they needed a stills photographer…..?
Hinterland is a bilingual TV drama filmed locally in which an unfeasibly large number of people are murdered in north Ceredigion. It has an aura of Nordic Noir about it and is good fun to watch in the hope of identifying an acquaintance or a location or spotting where a police car goes from A to B via C whereas in fact C is in completely the opposite direction.
"Oh, yes, hello!" said I.
"You put your name down to be an extra and we're wondering if you're free a week on Monday".
"Oh, OK. "
"There's a press conference scene and we're looking for photographers with their own kit to come along."
It sounded interesting and perhaps even fun, so I was keen to take part.
"I think I have a meeting then but I should be able to re-arrange it"
The Monday happened to be the morning of the big storm and spring tide at Aberystwyth, and it wasn't easy to walk upright between the car and the old County Hall, close to the sea-front, where many of the indoor scenes are shot. It certainly was interesting but did involve rather a lot of hanging around, waiting, and then waiting some more while the scene, which lasted about a minute, was shot and re-shot in English, then in Welsh, then re-shot again, then the audience was shot from two different angles, then the scene where the superintendent leaves the room was filmed from outside the room, then shot again from inside…… There was no heating on and over a period of about two hours everyone involved was getting colder and looking more pale. I wonder – if the scene makes the final cut -whether that will be apparent on screen?
There were three of us and all we had to do was pretend to take pictures while the detective made an announcement from the front of the room. I was sitting in the back row and had I actually been pressing the shutter I would have ended up with a large number of images of the back of the head of the person sitting in front of me. Hardly realistic, but hey….who cares? It's only TV.
A couple of weeks earlier I had been asked to judge the entries of a photography competition run by a University society. I've been a judge in a Camera Club competition and it took up an inordinate amount of time, but this sounded like it would be a one-off, in-and-out event – and I really couldn't say no. I arrived in good time to discover that I was actually one of two judges, the other being Janet Baxter, another local photographer, who is a direct competitor of mine. For many years Janet and I never spoke, so it could have been very embarrassing for all concerned. But fortunately we get on much better now!
It turned out to be a very interesting experience. The entries (about thirty of them) were printed and displayed very cheaply (frames courtesy Poundland…..). But there was a theme – "What if…..?" – which gave plenty of room for interpretation, and added another dimension to the competition. The entries varied from the frankly terrible to the quite professional looking. As far as judging was concerned we had to consider two separate aspects; firstly the images themselves, and secondly, how well they illustrated the dilemmas chosen by each photographer. Janet and I made a shortlist of five and went for a coffee to discuss the winning entries.
We're both very experienced landscape photographers and it may have been that we were more critical of the landscape entries. Whatever – there was only one pure landscape in the final three. Another was a street scene including a couple kissing passionately, which was either brilliantly seen and captured, or very professionally posed. Another on the short-list stood out from the other entries by a country mile, though. It was a gritty, black-and white, head and torso image of a middle-aged woman with only one breast. It was completely honest, not in any way designed to titillate or shock, and quite challenging to look at.
"What if ……… I live?".
I felt it was a very brave image, it was brave of the photographer to enter it, and brave of the organisers to show it. Janet said that she knew of women who had lost a breast and that they suffered in silence. We went though the motions of discussing the rest of the short-list but neither of us had much hesitation in awarding first prize to this photographer. It turned out that she is in fact a photography student, and a number of years older than the average undergraduate. The image was part of a series that she was doing of the woman – her own mother – as she recovered from surgery.
We returned to the Hall. The organisers were there to meet us. It had been discovered that the street scene with the kissing couple was actually stolen from the internet and the "photographer" was passing it off as their own. A hasty re-assessment of the prizewinners was required. You would expect members of the University Christian Union would be a little more honest than that, wouldn't you?
February 21, 2016 February 22, 2016 6 Comments
Extinction Rebellion, the BBC, and the War against Nature
Downsizing (including……the trouble with Canon.)
A good morning at Llyn Dinas and a new website……
The R-word (part 2) ……. or Caught Knepping……….
The R word.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Djarum Super 12 Cigarettes a machine-rolled kretek cigarette in the Regular Premium class, is made from top-grade Javanese and Madurese tobacco, blended together with premium quality cloves that have been rendered extremely fine through Djarum's Superfine Clove™ process. The finished product is distinguished by its fruity, aromatic flavor.The distinctly masculine red-and-black packaging bears a gold accent that represents the premium quality of the Djarum Super cigarettes.
First introduced in 1981, by 1989 Djarum Super 12 was the number one best selling high-end cigarette in Indonesia. Djarum Super continues to be known as a premium product in Indonesia thanks to careful efforts to maintain its quality and image.
Evoking a sense of pride. Djarum Super 16 Clove Cigarettes is a well known symbol of the kretek world.


text:
Trailer Music by IMAscore for the promotional campaign of "The Promise"
The track "Andrew's Song" from IMAscore's trailer music album "Kaleidoscope", which is available for licence exclusively at the trailer music label End Of Silence, was used in the advertising campaign of "The Promise".
The movie is a 2016 American historical drama film directed by Terry George and starring Oscar Isaac, Charlotte Le Bon and Christian Bale, set in the final years of the Ottoman Empire.
Music by IMAscore is a part of Despicable Me 3's promotional campaign
Making-of about the music production for Star Trek™: Operation Enterprise


The Bahamas signed its third Tax Information Exchange Agreement with the Republic of San Marino on September 24, 2009. San Marino is the third smallest state in Europe and is located in Italy. Similar to The Bahamas, the European country hangs its hat on its tourism and financial sectors, along with several other industries that drive its imports and exports.