I’m delighted to have a wonderful Australian historical romance writer as my special blog guest today. Please give a special welcome to Alison Stuart. I’ve been a big fan of hers for years and I was thrilled to meet her at last at the Romance Writers of Australia conference in Melbourne last month.
Thank you for having me as your guest today, Elizabeth. I always love spending time with fellow historical writers. I am running a rafflecopter contest for the launch period of THE KING’S MAN … to enter click HERE
Antonia Fraser’s Cromwell, a major inspiration for Alison
I’m often asked where the idea for a story comes from. Very often it is places such as Harvington Hall which was the inspiration for Seven Ways in BY THE SWORD, or Baddesley Clinton, the inspiration for Holdston Hall in GATHER THE BONES. However the idea for THE KING’S MAN came from a throwaway line in Antonia Fraser’s CROMWELL, OUR CHIEF OF MEN. (My much loved and battered copy… purchased in 1976 in Cromwell Road, London)
‘In February 1654, a Miss Granville hurled a brickbat at the Lord Protector’s Coach.’
I never was able to discover who Miss Granville was or why she hurling bits of broken brick at Oliver Cromwell’s coach, but in the course of my research I discovered a whole nest of royalist plots to assassinate Cromwell – none of which were successful, thanks to the diligent spy network established by Cromwell’s Secretary of State, John Thurloe. I couldn’t make up the ludicrous plots! Put the two things together and THE KING’S MAN practically wrote itself… well, not quite!
Here is the opening from THE KING’S MAN… and you will see how I used Miss Granville for my own devious ends…
Excerpt
London
February 1654
Thamsine Granville had not begun the day with the intention of killing Oliver Cromwell.
Around her a jovial crowd pressed against the barricades, determined to enjoy the spectacle of the Lord Protector’s ride in state to dine with the Lord Mayor of London. But from across the road, he had seen her. A triumphant smile crossed his handsome face and he raised his hand to his hat, doffing it as he bowed. She saw him mouth her name and push his way towards the barricade. Thamsine swallowed, her mouth dry with fear. She only had a few moments to make good her escape, but the press of people to her rear hemmed her in, pushing her toward the barriers.
The bells of London, silenced for so many years, rang out, and above her the flags of the City Guilds flapped in the chill wind. A roar went up from the crowd as the coach bearing Cromwell approached.
From where she stood she could see the Lord Protector, clad in a reddish-coloured suit embroidered with gold. He inclined his head to acknowledge the cheers of the crowd with all the aplomb of a man born to such a station. She could see no trace of the simple farmer he had once professed to be. Thamsine’s heart beat a rapid tattoo. Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector, the false King, was about to become Thamsine Granville’s personal protector.
She stooped and gathered up the broken piece of brick at her feet.
Oblivious to his fate, Cromwell smiled, his right hand raised in a parody of benediction as if forgiving them their sins. At the sight of his face, solid and pudding-like, framed by the open window of the carriage, she raised her arm and threw with all the strength that she could muster.
ABOUT THE KING’S MAN
The second in a tantalising trilogy from award-winning author Alison Stuart, about warriors, the wounds they carry, and the women that help them heal.
London 1654: Kit Lovell is one of the King’s men, a disillusioned Royalist who passes his time cheating at cards, living off his wealthy and attractive mistress, and plotting the death of Oliver Cromwell.
Penniless and friendless, Thamsine Granville has lost everything. Terrified, in pain, and alone, she hurls a piece of brick at the coach of Oliver Cromwell, and earns herself an immediate death sentence. Only the quick thinking of a stranger saves her.
Far from the bored, benevolent rescuer that he seems, Kit plunges Thamsine into his world of espionage and betrayal – a world that has no room for falling in love.
Torn between Thamsine and loyalty to his master and King, Kit’s carefully constructed web of lies begins to unravel. He must make one last desperate gamble – the cost of which might be his life.
Buy THE KING’S MAN on KOBO, NOOK, iBooks and AMAZON
(Australian readers can still buy THE KING’S MAN for just 99c on AMAZON AUSTRALIA and the first book in the series, BY THE SWORD is currently free)
About Alison
The wonderful, talented and generous Alison Stuart.
Award winning Australian author, Alison Stuart learned her passion from history from her father. She has been writing stories since her teenage years but it was not until 2007 that her first full length novel was published. Alison has now published 6 full length historical romances and a collection of her short stories. Her disposition for writing about soldier heroes may come from her varied career as a lawyer in the military and fire services. These days when she is not writing she is travelling and routinely drags her long suffering husband around battlefields and castles.
DON’T FORGET TO ENTER THE RAFFLECOPTER CONTEST: Click HERE (The prize is a kindle Ereader)
(And if you would like a smile, THE KING’S MAN is featured in an ABC Art Nation program called ‘My Secret Art Life’… Australian readers can view it on my website… click HERE)
