Saturday Lunch

I made a favourite vegetarian meal for Saturday lunch. It's Sweet Potato Balti, a mixture of sweet potatoes, spinach, butter beans and tomatoes spiced asofoetida, curry powder and soup stock. Delicious served with mint and cucumber raita i.e. grated cucumber drained in a tea towel for half an hour, finely chopped mint, salt and a tiny amount of sugar mixed with yoghurt. I made a double quantity of the balti to freeze and then enjoy it on another day.

Springtime

My back garden I shouting that spring is in the air and elsewhere. The delicate white blossoms of the bullace (wild plum tree) are flowering, masses of daffodils and crocus are in bloom and so is the forsythia. The rhubarb is pushing it's way up out of the ground, and the bluebells and forget-me-nots are about to flower.

I have a wonderful book that traces the history of gardens in the u.k. There is a section about monastery gardens in which it describes each monk being allocated a small plot in which they were allowed to grow whatever they pleased. I have another book which traces the history of plants native to the u.k. and the introduction of foreign species. One day I would like to marry the two in fiction.

Review of Taming a Gentleman Spy - Book 2 of The Spies of Mayfair Series

Taming A Gentleman Spy

 

Book 2 of The Spies of Mayfair Setries

 

By

 

Maggi Anderson

 

“If ever beauty I did see

Which I desired, and got, ‘twas but a dream of thee.”

The Good Morrow. John Donne.

 Taming A Gentleman Spy is an enthralling historical novel set in The Regency era after Napoleon has been defeated at the Battle of Waterloo and then exiled. At that time the Government feared the effect of The French Revolution and its supporters at home and abroad whose aim was to overturn law and order.

 John Haldane, 4^th Earl of Strathairn, a gentleman spy, returned to England after fighting the French in the Peninsula Wars and at the Battle of Waterloo. His experiences gathering information have marked him, and no one is more aware of this than Sibella, sister of the Marquess of Brandreth.

 Brandreth, who has heard rumours about Strathairn’s link with the war office and the spymaster, warns Strathairn not to pay particular attention to Sibella, “…who loves home and hearth. She looks for a husband who will sit by the fire with her at night.” Brandreth doubts Strathairn could make Sibella happy.

 Sibella is curious as to why Strathairn does not intend to marry in the foreseeable future. She thinks they are well-suited and his kiss thrilled her.

 Strathairn will not marry Sibella because he could be killed like his partner, Nesbit, whose widow is pregnant.

On the ground, next to Nesbit’s lifeless body, lay a cravat pin in the shape of an eagle like the one favoured by Count Fornay, a dangerous revolutionary who fermented rebellion in England, and is presumed dead. “And why,” Strathairn asked himself, does Passion, a lady’s perfume linger in the air at the scene of the murder.

 Urged on by her mother and brother, Sibella agrees to marry Lord Coombe in the hope that she will learn to love him. However, she is determined to discover the truth about his first wife’s death.

 Maggi Anderson does not overwhelm the reader with historical facts but she does impart ‘the flavour’ of the times

Reviews of Fiction. Phew!

Phew, perfectly expresses my feelings. I have reviewed each book in a tottering pile and posted my reviews to amazon.co.uk, amazon.com and good reads. It's amazing how good I feel after completing a task I have meant to tackle since mid-February.

I have one more novel to review for a friend, and then I'll be up to date with the fiction. However, I have a number of non-fiction books to review in the future, but I don't consider this urgent.

Reviewing Books

I have decided to focus on one 'writerly' thing a day, or during each writing session. This morning I have been catching up with reviews of the tottering pile of fiction and non-fiction. One of the books I have reviewed is Louise Allen's excellent non-fiction book, Walks Through Regency London. I might not complete all of the ten suggested walks on one occasion, but I will complete part of them when I visit London.

Time Management

I am trying to manage my time more efficiently. Instead of working on several things every day, I have decided to concentrate on one thing every day + blogging and dealing with e-mails. Yesterday, I caught up with critiques of submissions by members of writers' groups that I belong to. Today, I have concentrated on  critiques of my chapters.

 For the rest of the week I shall get on with writing my new novel Monday's Child and hope to write at least 6,000 words provided I don't need to do too much research.

Spring Bulbs

I round up mismatched china and, in the autumn, put charcoal in the bottom of bowls, cups, flower vases, tureens etc., in the bottom of each one. Next, I add compost and put bulbs on top of it before adding more compost. Last year I planted hyacinths, mini-daffodils, crocuses and dwarf tulips. The first three are flowering, so I've brought them from the greenhouse into the house. Beautiful - and the flowers are cheaper and last longer than cut flowers.

Cooked for my Daughter & Her Family

Helped by my 4 year-old granddaughter, I made a vegetarian pasta sauce for myself, my daughter and her children.. I cut organic carrots, mushrooms, celery, leeks and green peppers into chunks, and then stir-fried the vegetables in olive oil in which I had steeped fresh oregano and basil several months ago. Next, I added two tins of organic chopped tomatoes and seasoned the mixture with salt, pepper and a little sugar. When the vegetables were cooked I tipped everything into the blender. The result? A delicious pasta sauce - and I made enough to freeze two cartons on another day.

Too Much To Do

My daughter is making a slow recovery, but I am still taking two of her children to school and collecting one of them at one o'clock, cooking main meals for them and going to her house in the evenings to help out. This means that writing my new novel, Monday's Child, as well as many 'writerly' activities are taking a proverbial back seat. Deep, deep sigh.

Collector's Copy

I took my daughter's younger children to pre-school and primary school and, later in the morning visited a friend after arranging the three children's evening meal. Next I indulged myself by trawling through the charity shops in one of which I found a collector's copy of I Will Repay  by Baroness Orczy, Author of The Scarlet Pimpernel published. My copy of I Will Repay was published in 1906 - 107 years ago.

Fiction I Read Recently.

I re-read three novels, Jane Eyre, The Scarlet Pimpernel and Gone With the Wind. Although I was aware of the bygone styles of writing while reading and Margaret Mitchell's questionable views on slavery, which are incorporated in her novel, the powerful stories swept me away.

I have also read The Last Runaway by Tracy Chevalier, which gripped me from the first page to the last. In complete contrast, I read Banishment, a light-hearted Regency Romance with twists in the tale by M. C. Beaton, author of Agatha Raisin, and liked it enough to begin reading Intrigue, the second in the series. The heroine of each novel is one of six sisters. If the second novel is as an enjoyable bedtime read as the first, I also hope to read Deception, Folly Romance and Homecoming.

Day Off

I took a day off from writing to sort my house out now that the kitchen has been redecorated. I'm pleased with everything other than the woodwork. The painter hasn't rubbed the old paint down properly and he did not fill in chips etc., in the wood. I've contacted his boss and have to wait and see what the response is. Tomorrow I shall try to make up lost writing time but as I'm still doing the school run, cooking and helping out my daughter in other ways don't know if I'll succeed.

Busy Day Ahead

I know my day will be very busy, so I woke at 6 a.m. posted an e-mail to The Romantic Novelist's Association  on line group, checked my e-mails and wrote 2,000 words of Monday's Child from the viewpoint of an important character in the sub-plot. I hope it will  amuse my readers.

It's nearly time to have breakfast, do one or two mundane chores and then get ready to take my 9 year-old grandson to play in a football match. Afterward, I am taking my daughter's three children and my second eldest son out to lunch.

My daughter was still in an awful state yesterday evening. I hope she will be a little better today, but will go round the corner to her house at tea time to help her and sit with the children until they go to bed.

It's really hard to see a person one loves suffer so much.

Daughter's Ill Health and my Novel.

I'm not superwoman so I am tired this evening. This morning I woke even earlier than usual and wrote 2,000 words of Monday's Child. Next I revised an earlier chapter before checking my e-mails.

I emptied another carton of kitchen paraphernalia and put it on the shelves in my new kitchen cupboards. By then it was time to take my daughter's older son to his gymnastics lesson. He is on the London South East team and is practising for a competition. Her younger son, who is nine, and I had a quick lunch and then returned his books to the library. He wanted to know about Shakespeare so he was delighted to find an informative book about the bard, his plays and poetry. At the moment he is learning about World War I at school and is a keen football player so he chose some books about these subjects.

After I took him home, I put my feet up for an hour and then cooked the evening meal for my daughter and the three children.

She is really suffering - asthma attacks, dreadful migraines and to make matters worse, as I mentioned yesterday  she has either dislocated her shoulder or the cartilage is swollen and wrapped around something. Deep, deep sigh, the anti-inflammatory medication which she should not have been prescribed have upset her entire system and I fear she is becoming dehydrated because she can't keep anything down.

I'm now tapping away on the laptop having put the four year old to bed and will stay at my daughter's house until it is time for the boys to go to sleep. By then, I'll be glad of my own comfortable bed.

Behind my Writing Schedule

Every week I plan my 'writerly' activities. However, as I've posted before, real life often intervenes. My daughter's asthma attacks were decreasing. However she was suffering acute pain in her upper arm and shoulder so she saw a doctor at the emergency surgery. He did not know what was wrong and prescribed anti-inflammatory tablets. My daughter's asthma grew much worse. She then found out the medication is unsuitable for people who suffer from asthma. Back to the surgery today, where she saw another doctor. She has either dislocated her shoulder or the cartilage is swollen and wrapped round a muscle. Anyway, she can't drive so I did the school run and took her to hospital for an x ray.
I've made a huge pot of vegetarian Scotch broth for her and her family, but she doesn't feel like eating because she also has the migraine from hell. If it would help I would cry for her.

Plotting Monday's Child

I never plot my novels in advance in detail, but I do know what is going to happen and how the novel will end.

I am now approximately two thirds of the way through my new novel, Monday's Child, the sequel to Sunday's Child. I have a main plot and a sub-plot and was not sure of the sequence of events. This morning, I wrote a 1,000 words and then listed the events and the order in which they will take place - very satisfying!

Fatigue, Stress and The Leisure Centre

Three weeks ago or more, I had what I thought was only a heavy cold. I felt so ill that I went to the doctors, a no no for mere colds. I had a virus and completed a course of anti-biotics. The symptoms have cleared up but I felt so tired that it was an effort to do anything, and having a new kitchen installed and a new release, The Captain and The Countess made me even more tired. So, yesterday, I took most of the day off and went to the health suite. I swam and enjoyed the sauna, steam room and Jacuzzi. I enjoyed it so much that after I lunch out with one of my sons, I shall return to the leisure centre today.

The Future Queen Anne Stuart

Three of my novels set in the reign of Queen Anne have been published and I plan to write another one.

Sometimes, when I mention Queen Anne, people think I refer to Queen Anne Boleyn. In fact, I am referring to Queen Anne Stuart, so I decided to post about the future Queen of England who reigned from 1702 - 1714.

 

The Cinderella Princess

1

At the birth of the future Queen Anne, Sturart on the 6^th February, 1665 neither her uncle, the second King Charles, nor her father, James, and heir, imagined she would become the last of the Stuart monarchs. After all, Charles’ seven bastards proved his virility, and there was every reason to believe he and his queen of three years would have legitimate heirs to the throne. However, in the unlikely event of their not producing one, his brother and sister-in-law, James and Anne, the Duke and Duchess of York, had produced an elder brother and sister for the latest addition to their nursery, Baby Anne.

 

In those days infant mortality was high. The son ‘Cinderella’s’ mother carried when she married only lived for six months. Fortunately, Anne and her older sister, Mary, survived the Great Plague, which broke out in the year of her birth. The little princesses grew up in their nursery but their brother James, another brother and two little sisters died. One can imagine the effects of these deaths on ‘Cinderella’, a small girl with poor health whose weak eyes watered constantly.

 

Doubtless, it was with the best of intentions that with the consent of ‘Cinderella’s’ uncle, the king, her parents sent the four year old to her grandmother, widow of the executed first Charles, who now lived in France.

 

A portrait of the Anne as a small girl painted by an unknown artist at the French Court depicts a  plump, adorable little girl, dressed in brocade and playing with a King Charles spaniel. Yet her eyes, set in an oval face with a mouth shaped in a perfect cupid’s bow, are wary.

Yesterday and Today

No time to blog yesterday. Enjoyed pancakes for breakfast at my daughter's house, then went shopping, which took most of the morning, and the rest of the day galloped away with me.

Lots to do, and the house is still in a mess while the new kitchen is being redecorated and new units are being installed. However, I wrote another 2,000 words of Monday's Child this morning, which is very satisfying.

The Scarlet Pimpernel

I have finished re-reading The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy. I bought an illustrated copy of the 68th edition published in May, 1938. On the cover are gold embossed insignias of the Mary Datchett Girls' School, Camberwell, featuring a lady wearing a wimple and Cloth Workers London featuring their coat of arms, two winged creatures supporting a shield.

The novel was a prize for needlework given to Joan Eastland in July 1938.

I hope Joan enjoyed reading the book.

I first read The Scarlet Pimpernel years ago and, after watching adaptations of Baroness Orczy's famous tale,  had forgotten how the book ended.

The novel is written from the omniscient author's viewpoint and jumped from one person to another without spoiling my enjoyment although the style is so old-fashioned.

However, when I read the following, which I imagine made Joan's heart beat faster, I wondered how modern readers react to it.

"He (Percy Blakeney, The Scarlet Pimpernel) was  but a man madly, blindly, passionately in love, and as soon as her (his wife's) light footstep had died away within the house, he knelt down upon the terrace steps, and in the very madness of his love he kissed one by one the places where her small foot had trodden, and the stone balustrade there, where her tiny hand rested last."

After I read it, I could not help wondering if any man really would kiss the ground his beloved had stepped on.