Today it's the Publication Day Push for Christmas at Ladywell by Nicola Slade.
Enter the Giveaway below to Win a .mobi or PDF of The Convalescent Corpse by Nicola Slade (Open INT)
Nicola Slade is an award-winning, bestselling author of historical and contemporary mysteries and romantic fiction, all set in and around Winchester and Romsey in Hampshire – which is where she lives. The House at Ladywell – a contemporary romantic novel with historical echoes – won the Chatelaine Grand Prize for Romantic Fiction at the CIBA awards in April 2019.
She is the author of the mid-Victorian Charlotte Richmond mysteries and the contemporary Harriet Quigley mysteries and The Convalescent Corpse, published November 2018, is the first in a new series, The Fyttleton Mysteries, set in 1918.
Follow @nicolasladeuk on Twitter, on Facebook, on Pinterest, on Goodreads, on Amazon, nicolaslade.com, nicolaslade.wordpress.com, Buy Christmas at Ladywell
A time for spilling secrets…
Having refurbished her inherited house and upcycled her whole life in the process, Freya – now happily married to Patrick, and with a small child – has to transform her tiny stone barn into a romantic hideaway for a mystery guest who is also looking for change. With Christmas only a week away, things don’t go according to plan…
In the past old uncertainties are resolved when an elderly woman seeks the truth of a legend on Christmas Eve and confesses to a deception; a Tudor wife listens to a story that must never be repeated and is given a precious relic that must never be displayed; and in the early nineteenth century an old woman tells a younger one the story of the hares at Ladywell.
Past and present are only a whisper apart when Freya learns of an astonishing discovery that will make Ladywell famous, but meanwhile her house is full of unexpected visitors, she has a turkey to cook – and a very special secret of her own that must be told.
Perhaps it is wrong to say Freya is the main character, because that isn't really correct. The main character will always be Ladywell or the Lady's Well. The stories take place here - just in different periods of time and history. They are told mainly by the women who are empowered by the strength and earthly magic of Lady's Well.
Each one of them, and often also the men of the Wellman family, have a story to tell about survival and belief. How their resilience and determination to keep their family and Ladywell safe is the main factor throughout time.
It's magical realism and historical fiction combined with the story in the present. What's really intriguing is the way each snippet of the past constitutes its own story and all within the same setting. Then each tale and the characters are strengthened by the essence of faith or belief in the power of an almost ritualistic pagan magic. Be kind to the earth and creatures and that kindness will returned to you and yours tenfold. It's an important message in our day and age.
Slade takes an interesting element of earth or natural magic and the power of women, which is cemented in the soul and base of Mother Earth. It gives the story an aura of magic, but without wandering into the realm of magic.
Buy Christmas at Ladywell at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Crooked Cat Books; pub date 4 Nov. 2019. Buy at Amazon com.
Enter the Giveaway to Win a .mobi or PDF of The Convalescent Corpse by Nicola Slade (Open INT)
a Rafflecopter giveaway *Terms and Conditions –Worldwide entries welcome. Please enter using the Rafflecopter box below. The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over. Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data. I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize*
What a lovely, perceptive review, thank you, Cheryl. I love this sentence 'It gives the story an aura of magic, but without wandering into the realm of magic' That's exactly what I was aiming for!
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