Welcome back to Brook's Journal!
I've been out and about in the great state of Alaska for a couple of weeks. It was a refreshing break from the norm, glassing for breaching whales, sea-otters, and grizzlies.
This week, I'm so thrilled to introduce a sweet friend as my guest-author. Elizabeth (Liz) St. John is in my author support group and has been a true collaborator for my next project. She is an exceptionally gifted lady and recently won the Historical Fiction Company's Book of the Year Award for her most recent novel, The Godmother's Secret. In addition, she has recently started recording her books herself on audio, beginning with The Godmother's Secret, and even auditioned successfully for her work to be marketed on Tantor Media.
It's such a joy working with Liz. Full of insights and with an editorial eye, she was integral to seeing my next book come to fruition, and I'm delighted to have her on board this week, featuring the audio-book of her debut , The Lady in the Tower. And for those whose appetites are whetted, I have read The Lady myself. It's an exceptional story, and I urge you to consider getting it--either the print copy, ebook, or audio-book.
Read ON, everybody!
Excerpt from The Lady in the Tower
By Elizabeth St. John
PROLOGUE
God, who holds my fate in Thy hands, give me strength, I implore, for today I enter a prison like no other on this earth, and perhaps one that even Hell does not equal in its fiery despair. Give me fortitude to walk through those gates where so many traitors have gone before and never left. Give me compassion to hear the cries of forgotten men and not turn my head away. Give me, above all, Heavenly Father, courage to bear myself with dignity and Your grace when I am inwardly trembling with fear at the horrors that lie behind those walls.
Lucy
23rd March 1617
Silver drizzle veiled the stone walls rising from the moat’s stagnant water. To the north, the White Tower glistened but bade no welcome for all its shining. Gabled roofs with ornate chimneys pierced the mist and hid again, hinting a house within the fortress. I was not comforted, for it reminded me that the kept must have their keepers.
Thunder resounded through the fog from water swirling around the center arches of the bridge, just upriver from our tethered barge. The first time I was rowed in a shuddering boat through the narrow span of columns was terrifying. “Shooting the bridge” the locals called it, the currents created by the arches manifesting river water into whirlpools. Recollections of impaled traitors' heads grinning from the pikes appeared before my closed eyes. What hell’s gate was I approaching?
“Ho! Tie here!”
A clash of metal resounded as the pikemen stood to attention on the wharf. I pulled my mind back to the present.
“Aye, make way for the lady.”
Roughened hands guided me from the rocking boat, and I carefully picked my way up the water steps. My heart beat faster as I gazed up at the sheer ramparts. They loomed over my head, broken only by a low arch with an iron portcullis. Blackened bars jutted forth, a reminder I entered a prison.
I shivered from the damp air, and not a little from apprehension, and stood still on the wharf. Behind me, the Thames ebbed now, and the ferrymen urgently called patrons to catch the running tide. In front, the moat lay impenetrably black and still. The cold seeped through the soles of my shoes, for in my anxiety I had forgotten my pattens. Out of the gloom, a man appeared beside me.
"Princess Elizabeth paused here," The Keeper spoke quietly, his words brushed by the lilt of an Irish accent.
"She declared she was no traitor and refused to enter through that arch, for those who arrive through Traitors’ Gate do not leave again.”
All About the Audio/Book!
"Elizabeth St John has brought the Stuart Court vividly to life. She weaves together the known facts of Lucy’s life with colourful scenes of fictional imagination, drawing on innocent romance and bleak deception to create a believable heroine and an intriguing plot." Historic Novel Society Book Review
"The Lady of the Tower is a beautifully produced novel with a well-crafted story that will keep you both engaged and entertained. A joy to read. Thank you for sharing your world with us."
Writers Digest 24th Annual Book Awards
London, 1609.
When Lucy St.John, a beautiful highborn orphan at the court of King James, is seduced by the Earl of Suffolk, she never imagines the powerful enemy she creates in his beloved sister, the Countess of Rochester. Or that her own sister Barbara would betray her and force Lucy to leave the court in disgrace. Spirited, educated, and skilled in medicine and precious remedies, Lucy fights her way back into society, and through an unexpected love match, becomes mistress of the Tower of London.
Living inside the walls of the infamous prison, she defies plague, political intrigues and tragic executions to tend to aristocratic prisoners and criminals alike. Now married into the immensely powerful Villiers family, Barbara unites with the king’s favorite, the Duke of Buckingham, to raise the fortunes of Lucy and her family to dizzying heights. But with great wealth comes treachery, leaving Lucy to fight for her survival—and her honor—in a world of deceit and debauchery.
Elizabeth St.John’s critically acclaimed debut novel tells the true story of her ancestress Lucy through her family’s surviving diaries, letters, and court papers. Lucy’s personal friendships with historical figures such as Sir Walter Raleigh and the Stuart kings brings a unique perspective to the history of seventeenth century England.
All About Elizabeth
Elizabeth St.John’s critically acclaimed historical fiction novels tell the stories of her ancestors: extraordinary women whose intriguing kinship with England's kings and queens brings an intimately unique perspective to Medieval, Tudor, and Stuart times.
Inspired by family archives and residences from Lydiard Park to the Tower of London, Elizabeth spends much of her time exploring ancestral portraits, diaries, and lost gardens. And encountering the occasional ghost. But that’s another story.
Living between California, England, and the past, Elizabeth is the International Ambassador for The Friends of Lydiard Park, an English charity dedicated to conserving and enhancing this beautiful centuries-old country house and park. As a curator for The Lydiard Archives, she is constantly looking for an undiscovered treasure to inspire her next novel.
Elizabeth's books include her trilogy, The Lydiard Chronicles, set in 17th Century England during the Civil War, and her newest release, The Godmother's Secret, which explores the medieval mystery of the missing Princes in the Tower of London.
BUY THE AUDIO/BOOK!!!
The ebook is available to read on Kindle Unlimited.
Audiobook Buy Links:
CONNECT WITH ELIZABETH
