Wandering Wednesday | Researching The Songbird and the Spy

by J’nell Ciesielski

You know it when you read it. That certain something that you can’t quite put your finger on, but there it is, sparkling off the page to dazzle you into another realm. A whisk across a sun swept beach, a medieval castle filled with crumbling stone, or bouncing along the front lines in the back of an ambulance. You close the book and realize with a start that you’ve been sitting on your couch in sweat pants the whole time.

That, my friends, is research done right.

Research is my absolute favorite part of the writing process. I love reading all the details I can and finding ways to incorporate them into a story. For The Songbird and the Spy I stepped back in time when fear ran rampant under Nazi terror and ordinary (and not so ordinary) people fought back.

France was a natural choice because it was central to much of the fighting and occupation, and having lived in Europe for several years I was fairly familiar with the land and cityscapes. I’ve walked the cobblestone streets of tiny villages and seen the remnants of bullet holes in the garden walls. I’ve smelled Paris in the springtime while walking along the Seine, and strolled across Trafalgar Square with the big lions.

My American ideals of convenience have been stopped short when shops close down for people to enjoy long lunches at the local café. Taking all of these experiences with a dash of imagination thrown in, I was able to create the most realistic world I could for Claire and Michael to inhabit.

(I love Paris in the springtime)

Remember I mentioned living in Europe? 

I was stationed in Germany while a member of the Air Force. The military is a world in and of itself with its own language, dress, and code of behavior. Having left the service only months prior to writing Songbird, the lessons of four years were still heavily ingrained in me and were put to good use in Captain Michael Reichner, epitome of the dutiful soldier.

I’ve worn a service jacket with a hidden clasp rubbing against my neck while standing in open ranks. I’ve low crawled through mud under barbed wire, and stayed up late polishing boots to a high shine. And who but a fellow military member understands the significance of using baking soda to rub sweat stains from the inner rim of a cap (or in military speak a cover)?

(Yep, that’s me)

Now, before you think I’m only here to brag about my own experiences, know that I would be desolate without books, online articles, and movies. Movies offer a visual consumption of the times gone by and allows for a writer to see all the details of clothing, hairstyles, living conditions, etc.

It’s a total immersion that I do my utmost to relay to readers. 

When it comes to books and articles I try to read everything I can get my hands on. Firsthand accounts, battle plans, ration card descriptions, musical preferences, and even the weather patterns for that year.

These are what give insight to characters. Who they are at their core because of what is going on around them. It was terrifying to step inside the head of a Nazi like Ilsa, but as a writer I had to understand why she thought the way she did so that my hero and heroine would understand why it was so important to defeat her, and by her the ideology of the Nazis.

(Site of the book burnings in Berlin)

No detail is too small because those are what make a story and the characters who inhabit it come alive. Is it difficult to read about occupied lands under Nazi rule? Yes. I can’t tell you the number of times my heart broke over what was done to the citizens and any person who stood against the tyranny.

But in the ashes of sorrow rose the spark of hope. 

One flash of light sprang to ignite another, and then another until the fire of resistance set the world aflame and good triumphed. That is the essence of what I hoped to capture.

If I can but relate any of these details, even if I’m the only one who notices them, then I consider the story a success. Hopefully, readers will learn something they didn’t know before while wrapped in the delights of fiction.

About J’nell Ciesielski

Believing she was born in the wrong era, J’nell Ciesielski spends her days writing heart-stopping heroes, brave heroines, and adventurous exploits in times gone by. Winner of the Romance Through the Ages contest and Maggie Award, J’nell can often be found dreaming of a second home in Scotland, indulging in chocolate of any kind, or watching old black and white movies. Born a Florida girl, she now calls Virginia home, along with her very understanding husband, young daughter, and one lazy beagle.

You can find J'nell online at:

Website | Facebook | Goodreads | Pinterest | Twitter

About The Songbird and the Spy

As shells explode over Nazi-occupied France, American music student Claire Baudin is trapped behind enemy lines, struggling to protect her identity. Singing as a barmaid while she plans her escape, a handsome Third Reich captain threatens everything she knows to be true about the enemy.

Nazi Captain Michael Reiner isn’t who he claims to be. A British language expert turned spy, he discovers the truth about Claire, but he knows the importance of a secret. Struggling to resist his attraction to the songbird, he’s determined to complete his assignment, no matter the cost. His cover is threatened when a ruthless female Gestapo officer arrives hunting Resistance fighters. The raid forces Michael's hand: complete the mission or save Claire.

As the war threatens to tear them apart, they must rely on each other for survival. Is there hope—and a future—for an American songbird and a British spy?

You can buy The Songbird and the Spy at Amazon.

English Christmas through History

The Writing Life: A Passion for Christmas through History
posted by Donna Fletcher Crow

When asked to give advice for up-coming writers the first words out of my mouth are usually, "Write from your passion." Few things in my career give a better example of that than do my Christmas novels. 

I love Christmas! I love English history! I love novels! So what greater joy than to be able to combine these loves in telling stories that give us glimpses of English Christmases through the years and have allowed me to call on my own experiences in forming the stories, such as my first English Christmas in a Cotswold village in 2000.

Glastonbury, my epic of the Christian history of England, includes a Christmas story. After all, one could hardly tell 1500 years of history without including Christmas. As a matter of fact, the book opens with a druid on Glastonbury Tor observing the Star of Bethlehem.

It is in the section on Norman England, however, that we experience a full, Medieval Christmas when young Bors returns home to the manor house from schooling in the monastery. (Although not as young as my grandson when he slew his first dragon.) The full Twelve Days of Christmas are meticulously observed, complete with yule log, wassail, a roasted boar’s head, a Lord of Misrule, and mummers performing St. George and the Dragon.

Christmas celebrations in England became more subdued after the Reformation with suspicions that many of the former festivities were pagan. In 1647, Cromwell’s Puritan government actually canceled Christmas. Not only were traditional expressions of merriment strictly forbidden, but also shops were ordered to stay open, churches were closed and ministers arrested for preaching on Christmas day.

By the late 18^th and early 19^th centuries, although the traditions of a full-blown Dickensian Christmas had not yet been introduced (many of them started by German-born Prince Albert) festivities had been restored. My Where There is Love series encompasses six novels of love and faith—stories of real people and stirring historic events. Where Love Restores, book 4, recounts Granville Ryder’s struggle to find his place in his illustrious family, in God’s work and in Georgiana’s heart. The book takes the reader through the seasons of a late Regency year, including Christmas on an English country estate which included a fox hunt and hunt ball, constructing an English kissing ring, midnight Christmas Eve service, and alms-giving on Boxing Day. All as it was celebrated in Georgiana's home, Badminton House, which I had the delight of visiting many years ago.

For an out-of-the ordinary contemporary English Christmas I draw on the Christmas I spent in an English monastery “helping” my daughter prepare for her Epiphany wedding. Although, I hope I wasn’t quite as pushy as my heroine’s mother.

An All-Consuming Fire, book 5 in my Monastery Murders, finds Felicity and Antony happily planning a Christmas wedding in the monastery. It’s all idyllic until Felicity’s over-bearing mother arrives and tries to turn the whole event into a royal wedding. And Antony is drafted to narrate a television documentary on the English mystics. And then Felicity takes on the challenge of directing a Christmas pageant for Kirkthorpe’s troubled youth on a long-disused stage in an abandoned quarry at the back of the monastery grounds.

At least most of the vexing disruptions occurring on the filming locations are miles away from the Community of the Transfiguration. Until the threats move closer. Close enough to threaten the joy of Felicity and Antony's Christmas wedding.

I hope that one of my stories might help enrich your Christmas season with an understanding of past traditions and provide a few leisure hours spent reading by the light of your Christmas tree. I’d love to hear of some of your favorite traditions—whether from history or all-new.

See more at: https://www.donnafletchercrow.com/

Bookish Tuesday | Fawkes by Nadine Brandes

by Iola Goulton @iolagoulton

Remember, remember, the fifth of November ...

Fawkes begins in 1604, not long after King James I has ascended the throne of England and joined the thrones of England and Scotland. The country is filled with tension as two factions fight to rule.

The history books has this fight as being Roman Catholic vs. Protestant, with King James (and Queen Elizabeth before him) being firmly of the reformed Protestant faith. But Fawkes twists this into a fight between Keepers and Igniters, both blaming the other for the plague of stone that is at risk of taking over the land.

Fawkes begins with Thomas Fawkes, the narrator, at boarding school on the eve of his Color Test. 

Yes, there are echoes of Harry Potter and Divergent here, in that every adult has a Color which they can control to a greater or lesser extent. Keepers believe each person can and should only control one Color. Igniters believe the Keepers have been hiding the White Light from the public for centuries. Both sides believe the other caused the plague which kills by turning its victims to stone.

Thomas Fawkes is the son of Guy Fawkes, the most famous of the thirteen men who plotted to blow up the Houses of Parliament to kill King James I and restore a Catholic king to the throne (I live in New Zealand. We still "celebrate" Guy Fawkes with fireworks on 5 November every year). Those who know history (and know history is written by the victors) know the plot was foiled and Guy Fawkes has gone down in history as the bad guy.

Fawkes places us in the mind of Thomas. 

While he and his father have been estranged for years, both are Keepers. At least, Thomas thinks he's a Keeper ... except he keeps hearing the voice of the White Light. He has been raised to believe Keepers are right, and he has no reason to doubt that.

But he's never actually stopped to consider what is true.

And that's an unexpectedly modern theme—that what we believe to be right and true isn't necessarily so. Instead, we need to search for truth. Find truth. And fight for truth.

All of which are difficult in this modern era of #FakeNews.

Anyway, students of history will understand that while Fawkes is trying to persuade us that Thomas Fawkes (and the thirteen conspirators) are the "good guys", history tells us they are not. That makes the early chapters an uncomfortable read. But students of history will be pleased to know the story does run true to history. Well. Kind of. History doesn't have Keepers and Igniters and the Stone Plague. Fawkes does not have Roman Catholics and Protestants at loggerheads. But the parallels are there for those who know or care to look.

I'm not a big fantasy reader. But Fawkes worked for me, perhaps because it was a Harry Potter-esque twist on truth that allowed the reader to consider Truth. It got me thinking without taking me out of the story, and that's high praise.

Thanks to Thomas Nelson and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.

About Iola Goulton

Iola Goulton is a New Zealand book reviewer, freelance editor, and author, writing contemporary Christian romance with a Kiwi twist. She is a member of the Sisterhood of Unpronounceable Names (Iola is pronounced yo-la, not eye-ola and definitely not Lola).

Iola holds a degree in marketing, has a background in human resource consulting, and currently works as a freelance editor. When she’s not working, Iola is usually reading or writing her next book review. Iola lives in the beautiful Bay of Plenty in New Zealand (not far from Hobbiton) with her husband, two teenagers and one cat. She is currently working on her first novel.

Website | Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest | Twitter

Wandering Wednesday: Glastonbury—Holiest Earth in England

By Donna Fletcher Crow @DonnaFletcherCr

 I don’t remember where I first read those above words, but I’ll never forget the impact they made on me. As a devout Anglophile who prays daily for spiritual renewal in England, I knew Glastonbury would be an important place to me.

 And then the wonderful “Chariots of Fire” movie came out, popularizing “Jerusalem” also known as “The Glastonbury Hymn” from the William Blake poem:

        And did those feet in ancient time
        Walk upon England’s mountains green:
        And was the holy Lamb of God,
        On England’s pleasant pastures seen!

 I wasn’t sure what it meant, but somehow it gripped me.

 My first opportunity to walk upon Glastonbury’s green mountains came in 1985 when I was in the west of England with my then editor researching what has become my Where There is Love series. I included a side trip to Glastonbury in our itinerary.

My epic novel Glastonbury, The Novel of Christian England, was born as we were leaving when my editor read aloud from a pamphlet she had picked up at a bookstall:

“‘Did our Lord ever come to Glastonbury as a lad? The story lingers not only here, but elsewhere as well. The tradition is that our Lord, entrusted to the care of his Uncle Joseph of Arimathea by his mother Mary, daughter of Joseph’s elder brother, accompanied Joseph on one of his expeditions to Britain to seek metals for his flourishing trading company.’”

 I gave a shout of laughter. “What? That’s crazy!”

 But Carole kept on. “No, wait, this is interesting. It says, ‘Perhaps there is some truth in the tradition which still lingers in Somerset that St. Joseph of Arimathea came to Britain first as a metal merchant seeking tin from the Scilly Isles and Cornwall, and lead, copper, and other metals from the hills of Somerset, and that our Lord Himself came with him as a boy. The tradition is so startling that the first impulse is to reject it summarily as ridiculous.’”

“It sure is,” I said.

 But Carole kept on. “‘Amongst the old tin-workers, who always observed a certain mystery in their rites, there was regularly a moment when they interrupted their work to sing a quaint song beginning, “Joseph was in the tin trade.”

“‘If this is so, it is quite natural to believe that after the crucifixion, when the church was dispersing under persecution and in answer to the Great Commission, Joseph and his party would come to this land with which Joseph was already acquainted.

 “‘Among the cherished possessions the little band brought with them was the cup used at the Last Supper in Joseph of Arimathea’s Jerusalem residence, an ordinary cup in everyday use in his house, now become a sacred treasure, since with this cup of olivewood our Lord had inaugurated the new covenant.’”

Now my imagination was captured as I mused, “What a novel that would make!”

Donna Fletcher Crow is the author of some 40 novels, mostly dealing with British Christian History. The Arthurian epic Glastonbury is her best-known work. She currently authors 3 mystery series:The Monastery Murders,The Elizabeth and Richard Literary Suspense Series, and Lord Danvers Investigates, Victorian true-crime novels. You can see more on her website.

The Joys of Serendipitous Research

My father always told me, “You never learn anything you don’t use sometime.”

Just like most of the things my father taught me, I have found this to be true—especially when it comes to research for my novels. Because I live in the western US and set most of my novels in England, and because I try never to write about a place I haven’t visited, research looms large in my writing life. And because I’m always working on a tight schedule I’m very focused in my research.

I always set out knowing what I need to know and where I hope to find it. At least, I always “think” I know what I need to know—and how it will fit into my story. When something unexpected turns up—someone answers a question I didn’t ask, or suggests I go someplace I hadn’t planned to go—I used to dismiss that “extraneous” information.

Until at least the third or fourth time I was back in my office writing and discovered that that superfluous material was just what I needed—if only I could remember it, since I had failed to write it down.

I had an example of this when my husband and I visited the Royal Pavilion in Brighton as background for the novel I’m currently writing—A Lethal Spectre, book 5 in my Victorian true crime series Lord Danvers Investigates—I was enchanted to encounter a Regency dance group rehearsing to perform a program for an event later that night. But they were Regency, a whole generation earlier than the 1857 setting for my story. It was charming, but I needn’t take notes.

But wait, this was something I could report to the JaneAusten Society of North America newsletter. I sought out a pavilion official and got permission to take pictures—in spite of the prohibition against photography. 

Although I submitted the article to JASNA News, it was never published. A few days ago, however, when I needed to place my Victorian characters at a ball in the Royal Pavilion, I had my pictures to refer to for accurate details—adjusting for the changes in dance and dress fashion, of course.

You can see the results when A Lethal Spectre is published early next year, but in the meantime, my latest release is the all-new edition of ATincture of Murder, book 4 in Lord Danvers Investigates:

A devastating fire at Danvers’s ancestral home induces Charles to accept his brother Frederick’s plea for help with his work among fallen women and impoverished orphans in York. Charles soon finds himself struggling to identify a ruthless murderer while Antonia helps feed the women and children living in the asylum Frederick runs. The trial of notorious poisoner William Dove leads to surprising discoveries and sets legal precedent still followed today.

Posted by Donna Fletcher Crow. You can see more about all her books on her website.

                                                                                                                          

"Escape to the Country" and Write!

By Morgan Tarpley Smith

These past two weeks have been a little rough for this writer. I woke up one morning with a sore throat, and it quickly progressed into a really bad summer cold complete with runny nose and coughing until my whole head and neck were sore. I usually get hit pretty hard by these type things, but I usually can take some strong meds and knock it out.

Not this time though because I am currently 11 weeks pregnant, and there are not many strong meds you can take. Therefore, I found myself home from work several days and over the whole weekend. All I could do was take the meds I could, drink hot tea, and lie on the couch. By day two, it was taking its toll on me.

I tried to write. I tried to read. I could not focus on anything. I could barely get up off the couch. My head pounded, and I coughed nearly constantly. What was I to do?

Enter Netflix. I don’t watch many movies or television programs. I tend to write and read with my spare time. But scanning through Netflix’s offerings, I spotted a show that ended up saving my sanity and my writer’s mind over the course of nearly two weeks. It’s called “Escape to the Country,” and it truly was the escape I needed at the time.

It’s the neatest show – a combo of house hunting meets rural documentary. The show focuses on helping prospective buyers view three country home options in the U.K. with most of the shows filmed all over England. The buyers view the houses during the episode but also have a local experience with something of interest to them and the show’s host also experiences something that’s locally noted.

There is only one season on Netflix with 22 episodes. Each episode is 43 minutes in length – and I have now watched them all in just under two weeks. It was the escape I needed from my illness, and it also was what I needed to engage my writer’s mind – even if my mind was bit muddled at the time.

All the special little tidbits of British history and that county’s way of life definitely inspired me for future novels and trips to the U.K. You never know where inspiration will come from next.

Do you have a movie or television show that has inspired you recently in your writing or just in general? I’d love to hear about it.

Morgan Tarpley Smith

Morgan Tarpley Smith is an award-winning newspaper reporter and photographer in Louisiana. She is also an aspiring inspirational novelist for adults and middle grade students. 

Besides writing and traveling to over a dozen countries, her interests include acting in her local theater, genealogy, photography, and singing. She resides in Louisiana with her husband.

HAS THE WORLD GONE CRAZY?

by Marion Ueckermann

My husband and I have just returned from a six-week vacation in Europe and Britain. Despite being far away from South Africa with its increasing political issues, it was hard—even amidst the beautiful colorful countryside, majestic old castles and stately homes, and fresh scones with strawberry jam and clotted cream—to switch off at times from the negative issues from home as we chatted with fellow South Africans and family living abroad about our declining country with its myriad of problems.

The day before we left the UK, the tragic Manchester bombing shattered people’s lives. We’d bypassed this city merely 24 hours before, unaware of the tragedy that would happen the following night. As we explored the streets of Rome later that same week, we saw the effects of the increasing terror threats in Europe in the very visible military presence at all tourist attractions.

Soaking in the tranquil beauty of Tuscany, it was easy to forget about all the problems and suffering in the world. Until our own family crisis struck, something too personal to speak about here, but an event which caused tremendous heartache, leaving us wondering like the rest of the world: “How do we fix this?”

The answer? We can’t. Only God can. And I stand amazed at the incredible ways He has brought people across our path who themselves have walked a similar road, or are close to someone on the same journey…people who could share their stories, offer comfort, give advice. Our Heavenly Father even sent little fireflies in the night to remind us that there is always a light in the dark, always a glimmer of hope.

One evening, several days later, my son and I were walking through the streets of Modena in Italy. We passed through a park and the most beautiful fragrance, like Jasmine on steroids, filled the air…a fragrance we’d enjoyed in Florence and wondered where it came from. I asked my son’s friends what trees held these gloriously fragrant blooms. Tiglio trees came the answer. I googled this later to discover these green giants are known as lime trees or linden in England, and basswood in North America.

We’d just exited this park, the Tiglio trees’ fragrance following us out, when my son shared with me his angst of not knowing what the future held. I reminded him that while we might not know, we serve a God who does. I encouraged him to focus on one day at a time, that Jesus told us not to worry about tomorrow because today had enough of its own worries, all the while trying to remind myself to remember this same principle.

When we got back to the house, I checked my emails and there was one from a twice-weekly devotion I subscribe to called Loop. These short devotions are written as personal letters from God to women. To me. The title immediately caught my attention, and as I read I allowed myself to return to the Tiglio trees. With permission, I share this devotion—My Fragrance—and the introductory email from the author, Jennifer J. Camp, with you.

Dear sister,

I want to live this day so aware of God in me—the Holy Spirit my guide and counselor, that I inhabit the fragrance of His presence. For it is beautiful there—this place where I am my true self.

What will that be like for you, this day? How will you be affected by this awareness? Will you be more patient, more kind, more filled with hope and joy? How will others around you, whom you love, be blessed by your heeding the rhythms of the Holy Spirit within you?

Jennifer

 My Fragrance

“For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing” (2 Corinthians 2:15).

I am for you. I am with you. I go before, knowing what is ahead. I stand behind, my hand on your shoulder, so close you can smell my presence. Yes, there is a fragrance of my Spirit. This is where I invite you to live—your truest self, stripped of all insecurities, all what-ifs, all doubts and fears and pains.

Breathe deeply, my dear one. Breathe in sweetness and hope. Breathe in newness and the clean air I bring.

I draw you in.

Let Me be your strength. There, you are glorious. Let Me be the hand you hold—all weight lifted, all sorrow behind. Let Me cup your face in my hands. Let Me look on you. Let Me hold you. Let Me walk next to you. Match my stride. 

I show you how.

There is a pace—within this fragrance of my presence—where I invite you to stay. Keep that pace. You know the pace, the rhythm, the movement of your moments when you can breathe Me and smell the fragrance of Me with you.

I envelop you. I carry you. And all whom you meet will be in my presence, with you, too. They will be enveloped in the fragrance of Me. All you do with Me points the people you meet to the fragrance. Let it spread. Keep in step. Check the pace. Let it be a rhythm that is natural.

Practice.

Breathe.

I show you how.

https://www.gatherministries.com/

Saturday night a week ago, we caught our flight back to South Africa from Milan. We landed in Doha at 6 AM to news of yet another terror attack in London on London Bridge and at Borough Market. More terror. More heartache. More needing to breathe in deep of the fragrance of our Heavenly Father.

This week has seen the most scenic parts of our country wiped out through out-of-control fires and gale force winds with thousands of people losing everything. Even as I write this, fires still rage in our beautiful garden route. We have family in those areas, we have friends, we have friends who have family… So many lives affected. So much tragedy. And in it all, God reminds us to breathe deep and see Him bring beauty from the ashes.

MARION UECKERMANN's passion for writing was sparked when she moved to Ireland with her family. Her love of travel has influenced her contemporary inspirational romances set in novel places. Marion and her husband again live in South Africa, but with two gorgeous grandsons hanging their hats at the house next door, their empty nest's no longer so empty.

Visit Marion at www.marionueckermann.net

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