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A compelling read about two cultures and one family’s struggle to deal with the past. Eeva has a happy life in Finland, with a caring mother, her beloved Pappa, and an older sister Anja who is entering the difficult teenage years. Then Pappa moves the family to Stockholm where he has found a better-paying job, and Eeva’s life changes. Anja, who has learned Swedish, makes friends easily, although not always the best kind. Eeva and her mother struggle to learn a new language, which causes social problems for them both since they are bullied for being Finnish. The relationship between her mother and her father becomes strained and ugly. Her father takes to drinking vodka and eventually beats his wife, which leads to a divorce. This novel is a believable, but dark, story of family dynamics. Eeva was badly affected by the divorce. As an adult, she seldom sees her mother and has avoided her father for three decades in an attempt to adjust her life to avoid the pain of her parent’s separation.  Although she at first seems psychologically stable, there was a hint that all was not that well with her when it is revealed she has never gone back to Finland to see her grandmother, whom she loves deeply. Instead, she relies on a weekly exchange of letters, but she never follows up when her grandmother fails to write her for three weeks in a row. Human frailty is the basis of the story and the faults in each of the characters are on full display. When the family is forced together again for the grandmother’s funeral, its members, and especially Eeva, have to face the truth of their twisted relationships. When the real reason behind the parents’ divorce is revealed, it becomes clear why each family member has dealt with the fallout in their own way. This is a well-written novel, if not the most pleasant. At its bones, it is a dish of reality served up by an author who knows how to present it. The setting – Finland and Sweden – was novel for me, and the characters were well drawn and never boring. It was a good and compelling read. About the author (Amazon) Helena Halme writes Nordic fiction with a hint of both Romance and Noir. A prize-winning author, former BBC journalist, bookseller, and magazine editor, she holds an MSc in Marketing and an MA in Creative Writing. Full-time author and self-publishing coach, Helena also acts as Nordic Ambassador for The Alliance of Independent Authors and has published twelve Nordic fiction titles and three nonfiction books. Apart from writing stories, Helena is addicted to Nordic Noir and dances to Abba songs when nobody’s watching. You can find more about Helena Halme On twitter: @helenahalme On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HelenaHalmeAuthor/ On Instagram (@helenahalme) And on her book site: https://helenahalme.com/ You can find Coffee and Vodka on Amazon: 0 0

D. Wallace Peach is, to me, the master of world creation. In The Ferryman and the Sea Witch she blends a romping nautical adventure with a population of beautiful and deadly Merrows (think mer-people on steroids) and various greedy, powerful rulers and just plain nasty characters against a vivid backdrop that transports you to the vastness and beauty of the sea with her gorgeous descriptions. The story: The officers on a ship from the country of Brid Clarion captured a Merrow, the Sea Witch Panmar’s daughter, in a net. Out of the water, she is dying. Callum, the ferryman, demands his captain to free her but is refused. In retaliation for her death, Panmar rips the ship and sinks it into the Deep. Callum survives because he tried to save her daughter, and Panmar allows him to be the only one to cross the Deep between the countries of Brid Clarion and Haf Killick without being sunk. But there is a punishment: Callum can’t step on land until someone of royal blood in Brid Clarion or Half Killick is sacrificed. Neither Caspia, the queen of Haf Killick, an artificial island nation, nor Thayne, the king of Brid Killick, are willing to pay royal blood to satisfy Panmar’s vengeance. So Callum keeps sailing, year after year, bringing fruits, vegetables, cloth, and other livelihood items for Haf Killick and bringing back treasure in payment to Brid Clarion. Complicating matters is the fact Caspia has Thayne’s son as a hostage and Thayne has her daughter. There are plenty of secrets held by the main characters and twists and turns in the story kept me turning pages as fast as I could. Callum’s frustration and anger and growing sense of isolation impart to the reader as does the nasty doings Caspia, Thayne and the fickle Panmar. The Merrows are particularly delightful, at once playful and deadly. But I also read the author’s books for the gorgeous and lyrical quality of her descriptions. As a sailor myself, I was right at home on Callum’s ship, hearing the slapping of the lines and sails, feeling the rocking with the waves, and smelling the brine of the ocean. This is a must-read for anyone in love the with sea, the concept of mermaids (Merrows) , and sheer fantasy! The cover is a winner, too! Five stars About the author from Amazon): D. Wallace Peach started writing later in life after the kids were grown and a move left her with hours to fill. Years of working in business surrendered to a full-time indulgence in the imaginative world of books, and when she started writing, she was instantly hooked. Diana lives in a log cabin amongst the tall evergreens and emerald moss of Oregon’s rainforest with her husband, two dogs, two owls, a horde of bats, and the occasional family of coyotes. The author can be found On twitter: @Dwallacepeach On her blog: http://mythsofthemirror.com On her website: dwallacepeachbooks.com You can find The Ferryman and the Sea Witch on Amazon: 0 0

This is a post from several years ago when I did Renaissance artists for my A-Z challenge. Andrea Mantegna (c. 1431 – September 13, 1506) was an Italian painter and a student of Roman archeology.  He was the first to experiment with perspective, in which objects become smaller as their distance from the observer increases, and foreshortening, whereby an object’s dimensions along the receding line of sight are shorter than dimensions across the line of sight. He is also one of my favorite artists of the period because he drew figures with accurate anatomical features. This is a little longer than my other blogs because I find this artist so fascinating. Mantegna was born close to Padua, part of the Republic of Venice.  At eleven, he became the apprentice of Francesco Squarcione, a painter interested in the ancient art and architecture of Rome and Greece.  Mantegna was said to be a favorite pupil, and during this time Squarcione and his pupils, including Mantegna, began the series of frescoes in the church of Sant’ Agostino degli Eremitani, almost entirely lost in the 1944 allied bombings  of Padua.  One of these, St. James Being Led to his Execution, is clearly Mantegna’s but only old photographs exist today. It is notable for his worms-eye view of the scene and is a good example of the artist’s understanding of perspective. At the ripe age of seventeen, Mantegna left Squarcione’s studio for the Venetian art firm of Jacopo Bellini, claiming Squarcione exploited him. Mantegna’s early style is best represented by the Agony in the Garden, painted in 1455. Note the angels in the upper left, with the disciples sleeping in the foreground. In the background, Judas comes with soldiers to arrest Christ. Jerusalem is depicted as a walled city, with monuments more suitable to Rome (an equestrian statue, a column with relief sculpture), undoubtedly from the influence of Squarcione. In Verona around 1459, he painted an altarpiece for the church of San Zeno Maggiore, depicting a Madonna and angels, with four saints on each side. Note the use of classical details and perspective in all of the panels. In 1460 Mantegna was appointed court artist for the Marquis of Mantua; he was paid a salary of 75 lire month, a huge sum which marked the high regard in which his art was held. His Mantuan masterpiece was painted in what is now known as the Wedding Chamber of the Marquis’ castle: a series of frescoes including various portraits of the Gonzaga family, of which the Marquis was a member. It was finished around 1474. After the Marquis died and Francesco II of Gonzaga was elected, Mantegna’s artistic commissions resumed. During this period he painted St. Sebastian, one of three he painted.  The saint is tied to a classical arch and seen from an unusually low perspective, to create the dominance of his figure. The head and eyes are turned toward heaven and at his feet are two people intended to create a contrast between the man of faith and one attracted by earthly pleasures. Pope Innocent VIII commissioned him in 1488 to paint frescos in the Belvedere Chapel in Rome, now destroyed, after which Mantegna returned to Mantua.  There he finished nine tempera pictures of the Triumphs of Caesar, which he had probably begun before leaving for Rome.  These are gorgeous depictions of the splendor of Caesar and are considered Mantegna’s finest work. Note the elephants in one of the processional scenes and then Caesar, a stony-faced figure high on his chariot, which is the last in the series. Caesar’s features were copied from Roman busts and coins, his body stiff as a sculpture, while the people around him are more alive. During this later period, Mantegna also painted the Lamentation of the Dead Christ, which portrays the body of Christ supine on a marble slab.  This painting is often used to demonstrate Mantegna’s extreme and talented use of perspective.  In this painting, there are rich contrasts of light and dark, with the realism and tragedy of the scene enhanced by the perspective.  An analysis of the painting has shown that the size of the figure’s feet has been reduced since in their exact size, they would have blocked some of the body from that angle.  Note Mantegna’s obvious knowledge of anatomy, particularly in the thorax, hand, and feet. This is one of my favorite paintings of his. Mantegna died in Mantua in 1506. In 1516, a monument was erected in his honor by his sons in a chapel of the church of San Andrea in that city.                                   Bust of  Andrea Mantegna made by himself or Gian Marco Cavalli If you like these Renaissance diversions I will find more to re-post! 0 0

This is the fourth book of five in No Woman Is an Island: Inspiring and Empowering International Women, a collection of novels written by different authors and edited by Jean Gill. I agreed to review this as a member of Rosie’s Book Review Team, for which I received a copy in return for a fair and honest review. The Chalky Sea is a story of the physical, mental and romantic tribulations of people from different backgrounds and countries brought together by the disruptions of war. Clare Flynn has set her novel in England during WW II and tells it from two viewpoints, one English, one Canadian. I doing so, she paints a very realistic picture of the vagaries and horror of that war. Englishwoman Glen Collinwood lives in Eastbourne on the eastern coast of England and is enduring a farewell to her husband, who is heading off to an unknown job in the Army during WW II. Despite the fact she knows she may never see him again, her good-bye is muted, almost sterile, which is an early hint to her character. Two weeks later, her sleepy little town is attacked by German bombers, who will return several times over the next two years. Jim Armstrong is a wheat farmer in Ontario, uncertain whether he should volunteer for the army. But when he learns his fiancée is having an affair with his younger brother, he leaves the farm and two weeks later, is on a ship bound for England with other enlistees. As the war progresses, Gwen is called upon to intercept and translate German radio broadcasts, the job which Jim, who is billeted in her house, will take over. The presence of the soldiers, as well as of a young mother with two children who loses her home in a bombing attack, causes Gwen to re-evaluate her distant and unemotional relationships – not only with her husband but also with the other people in her life. A romance with Jim brings her shortcomings into clarity. The author brings in some interesting facts – the Canadian army volunteers find themselves stuck in England, enduring unending and prolonged training before they are ever considered ready for combat, and the German bombed non-critical targets to demoralize the British. This, along with the expected disruptions caused by the war, wartime romances between young soldiers and local girls, unexpected pregnancies, rationing, and death notices underscore the common theme is how war changes people in basic ways, sometime for better and sometimes for worse. Gwen’s gradual metamorphosis is at the heart of this premise. There were a few parts of the plot that didn’t ring true: Jim’s best friend falling instantaneously in love with one of the ‘common’ women and marrying her at once, Jim’s relationship with a woman he doesn’t understand and doesn’t seem to like, followed by his intense relationship with Gwen, which ends with no lasting emotion. The ending was abrupt, but happy, for one of these characters, while the future of the other was left hanging at a crucial juncture. I would have liked to see the former drawn out more and the latter resolved. Nevertheless, I enjoyed this historical romance. The characters were for the most part believable and the settings rendered with such realism that the reader is sucked into the story. The author has done her research, and the tension and deprivations the war brought to England are palpable. This is the first book in the author’s Canadians series, and I plan to read the other two books in that series: The Alien Corn and The Frozen River. About the author (Amazon) Historical novelist Clare Flynn is a former global marketing director and business owner. She now lives in Eastbourne on the south coast of England and most of her time these days is spent writing her novels. She is the author of twelve novels and a short story collection. Her books deal with displacement – her characters are wrenched away from their comfortable existences and forced to face new challenges – often in outposts of an empire that largely disappeared after WW2. Clare’s novels often feature places she knows well and she does extensive research to build the period and geographic flavor of her books. Fluent in Italian, she loves spending time in Italy. In her spare time she likes to quilt, paint and travel as often and as widely as possible. She is an active member of the Historical Novel Society, the Romantic Novelists Association, The Society of Authors, and the Alliance of Independent Authors. You can find Clare Flynn On twitter: @Clarefly On her book site:  www.clareflynn.co.uk. On Face book: https://www.facebook.com/clarefly You can find The Chalky Sea in the anthology or as a standalone book on Amazon: 0 0

This is the third book in No Woman Is an Island: Inspiring and Empowering International Women, a collection of five novels written by different authors and edited by Jean Gill. I agreed to review this as a member of Rosie’s Book Review Team, for which I received a copy in return for a fair and honest review. The Chase was a pace and tone shift from the previous two books in the collection. I did not know this author before reading it but found that her writing captivated me more than the story. There are some authors I read for the joy of the written word, Pat Conroy being one of them, and I have added Lorna Fergusson to the list. Lorna Fergusson has woven a dark, emotional tale set in the beautiful Dordogne region of France. Once again, a house plays a vital role. Le Sanglier is a very old house buried deep in the woods of the Dordogne, a site layered with history as revealed by the author, stories within the story. I particularly liked this aspect of the book and its relationship to the ending. Without consulting his wife, the boorish, domineering and self-centered Gerald Feldwick buys a centuries-old house with an unpleasant past named Le Sanglier, during a trip to the region. I’m not sure at what time the story is set –1990s? – but it appears a number of British are moving there for retirement or vacation. He springs it on his wife, Annette, known as Netty (although she dislikes that name), telling her he sees it as a way of moving on from a tragedy in their life, the death of their young son. The young child was snatched from under Annette’s nose while she was talking to a friend, and Gerald blames her when his body is later found. Gerald believes that restoring Le Sanglier to some of its former glory will make Annette emerge from the fog of the tragedy and draw them closer together. In fact, it does the opposite. Annette is a flawed character, despite the tragedy. She is complex and highly self-absorbed and has, at best, a shaky relationship with Gerald, whom she doesn’t really love. She is uncomfortable in her relations with both of her grown children – her daughter because she is like her father and her son, who is gay. She shows no interest in her grandchildren and refuses to take the reins of her own life and prefers to blame others. I found her totally unsympathetic.  In fact, I didn’t much like any of the characters populating Annette’s world in France, although they were very wonderfully drawn – in particular, a retired professor named Rutherford Appleby (Fred), who lives nearby and has a sexual fetish and whom Gerald regards as an old fossil; the blue-blooded and black sheep Peter Rettlesham-Carey, a rude and heavy-drinking ex-pat, in whom Gerald finds a macho pal; and Claudine Bellenger, a French aristocrat who owns Bel Arbre, a palatial house and estate that is a museum to her dead husband. I found her to be the most compelling, perhaps because she was the least flawed. The story arc – Annette’s interactions with her neighbors, her unraveling marriage, the refurbishment of the house, her discovery of its history – proceeds at a glacial pace, and I must admit there were so many details of places in the Dordogne region, which the author clearly knows well and I don’t, that I was occasionally lost.  I kept hoping for some resolutions to Annette’s challenging relationships, but even in the end, they didn’t arrive. I cannot say I was engrossed by this novel, but oh! the writing. The author’s power of description of place and emotions was stunningly beautiful and although I was not drawn to the story, I read on, entranced by the author’s written word. It’s a tribute to the author that she could sustain my interest in reading this, despite the pacing and a protagonist I didn’t really like.  I will definitely read another offering from her. About the author (Amazon): Born and raised in Scotland, Lorna Fergusson moved to Oxford where she runs Fictionfire Literary Consultancy. She has taught creative writing for more than twenty years, including at the University of Winchester’s Writers’ Festival and on various programs for Oxford University’s Department for Continuing Education. Her novel, The Chase, was originally published by Bloomsbury: on the rights reverting, she published it under her own imprint, Fictionfire Press. She has won an Ian St James short story award, been shortlisted for the Bridport Prize, longlisted for the Fish Short Story Prize, and her children’s novel Hinterland reached the shortlist of four for Pan Macmillan’s Write Now Prize. She was a finalist in the Historical Novel Society’s short story competition in 2012, before winning in 2014 with her story ‘Salt’, initially published in Distant Echoes by Corazon Press and now republished in An Oxford Vengeance. Longlisted for the 2020 Mogford Prize for Food and Drink Writing and she was runner-up for the 2021 award. This is British author Lorna Fergusson’s first novel, although she has contributed several award-winning short stories to two books published as collections. You can find Lorna Fergusson On twitter: @lornafergusson On her book site: https://www.lornafergusson.com/ And on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LornaFergussonAuthor You can find The Chase on Amazon, either in the anthology or as a stand-alone novel. 0 0

This is the second in a collection of five novels written by different authors and edited by Jean Gill – No Woman Is an Island: Inspiring and Empowering International Women. I agreed to review this as a member of Rosie’s Book Review Team, for which I received a copy in return for a fair and honest review. Hidden is a time-shifting book that leaves the reader guessing the outcome to the very end. When the father she never knew dies, Miranda Norton inherits his sixteenth century house – and the art collection within – called Myddleton Mote.  Recently divorced from an overbearing and brutish husband, she finds herself at a crossroads in her life and decides to move on and live in the house. She invites her extended family to join her and together they begin a restoration and modernization to try making a business of house tours and events. When the ex-husband returns to bully her and vandalizes some of the artwork, Miranda discovers a secret held by the house for a hundred years. Celebrated artist Esme Howard lived in Myddleton Mote in 1917. With her fiancé killed in the war, still wanting to be loved and have a child, and with a sense of duty, she advertises in a newspaper: “Lady, fiancé killed, will gladly marry officer totally blinded or otherwise incapacitated by the war.” She meets a suitable responder, Captain Guy Carlyle, an officer whose face and body have been severely damaged in the war, and they decide to marry. Unfortunately, Esme is unaware of the tortured mind of her new husband, who suffers from what would now be called extreme post-traumatic stress syndrome. He daily relives the horrors of war in the trenches with increasing paranoia, screaming nightmares, and deep-seated suspicion of his new wife. Soon Esme realizes there will never be a child, something Guy did not tell her. Esme finds comfort in the company of the local physician and after one night of unexpected passion, finds herself pregnant. As the child grows within her, Guy’s wrath turns on her and she becomes locked by him in her own home. Her response is to paint a series of works, within which she places her cries for help, hoping that one day someone will find them. That person is Miranda. This is a cleverly devised story that captures the reader from the start. The house is not only a setting but also a character unto itself with its incredible atmosphere. Those that inhabit it project true emotions that lend reality to the story. The author deals with Guy’s descent into the madness of his PTSD with unblinking authenticity and pathos. Nevertheless, despite the heavy emotional matter, the author draws all the threads of the story to a satisfying, if sad, ending. About the author (Amazon) Linda Gillard lives in North Lanarkshire, Scotland. She’s the author of nine novels, including STAR GAZING (Piatkus), shortlisted in 2009 for Romantic Novel of the Year and The Robin Jenkins Literary Award for writing that promotes the Scottish landscape. Linda’s fourth novel, HOUSE OF SILENCE became a Kindle bestseller. It was selected by Amazon as one of their Top Ten Best of 2011 in the Indie Author category. In 2019 Amazon’s Lake Union imprint re-published THE TRYSTING TREE as THE MEMORY TREE and it became a #1 Kindle bestseller. You can find the author On Twitter: @lindagillard On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LindaGillardAuthor On her book site: http://lindagillard.co.uk/ Hidden is available on Amazon as part of the anthology or as a standalone: 0 0

As a member of Rosie’s Book Review team, I received a copy of this book from the author for a fair and honest review. The story: A close-knit group of long-time friends plan a several days’ hiking trip together in the remote and mountainous Tsitsikamma region of South Africa, along its southern border. When one of the group members, Michelle, can’t make the trip because of her duties as a high court judge, she has her daughter Clare go in her place. Clare is an anorexic, which is a poorly guarded secret, and has isolated herself from people because of her disorder. She agrees to go, so she can spend time with her father, Geoffrey, but it is clear from the outset that she feels and wants herself to be apart from the group. Although the story is Clare’s, it is also that of Faye, the middle-aged wife of Derek, who is an emotional batterer. Faye has little belief in herself or her independence after years of marriage to him and feels fearful and helpless. When Clare develops a migraine, she stays behind at the group’s first overnight camp. The rest head off on a long hike, unaware that Derek has not told them that unseasonal rains have been predicted, which could create dangerous floods of the rivers they have to cross. After a few hours of hiking, Faye, feeling guilty about leaving Clare alone and wanting to be away from the ever-badgering husband, decides to head back alone to the first camp. The rains do come and the rivers flood, wreaking havoc with the hiking group, and Clare is seriously injured when she falls from an overlook of a river near the first camp. Faye takes control for both of them, building a shelter when she finds Clare is too badly injured to return to camp, nursing the young woman and sleeping by her side to keep her warm. Together, they discover that they share a common emotion – shame – which keeps them trapped in their situations. Despite the differences in their ages, both women, but Faye especially, uncover the reasons for their shame and also find courage through their growing relationship. This is a terrific book, entwining and describing with flashbacks the intricacies of the interpersonal relationships of the group and the lack of personal awareness in both Faye’s and Clare’s lives. Faye’s manipulation by Derek, who is wonderfully created as an overbearing person acting out his insecurities, and Clare’s extreme control of her life through her anorexia, develop through the backstory so the reader comes to understand how they reached this point. Anorexia is by its nature difficult to understand, and the author does a brilliant job explaining Clare’s descent into the illness. The reader can feel the physical challenges facing the members of the hiking group and the stark, isolated and challenging environment in which they find themselves. And one can’t help but cheer as Faye’s newly discovered resilience and resourcefulness helps to support Clare, as she faces increasing weakness and the possible outcome. The story is gripping, tense and well-wrought, in terms of the characters’ complex narratives, the beauty of the South African wilderness, and the constant danger surrounding the hikers. Spoiler: Not all will survive. This book is a powerful celebration of human resiliency, and I highly recommend it. Five stars. About the author: Penny Haw lives in South Africa and began her career by writing articles and columns for newspapers, magazines and websites, such as Business Day, Sunday Times, Financial Mail, Sunday Independent, and The Weekender. Her first book, Nicko, The Tale of a Vervet Monkey on an African Farm, was published to high acclaim in 2017 and is now included in middle-grade school curricula. The Wilderness Between Us is her debut novel of literary fiction and will be published by Koëhler Books on July 31, 2021 and is available on Amazon. The author can be found On twitter: @Penny Haw And online at two sites: https://pennyhaw.com/news  and https://pennyhaw.com 0 0

This past weekend my husband and I were given a wonderful tour of the First Parish Church/Meetinghouse in Plymouth, MA, by Peter Santaw. Although I grew up in Plymouth, I had never visited this place and it was only with the research for my historical novel, The Last Pilgrim, the Story of Mary Allerton Cushman, did this oversight occur to me! During the Pilgrims’ first winter in Plymouth 400 years ago, the colonists worshiped in a small wooden structure at the bottom of First Street, now called Leyden Street, near the harbor. Two years later, the fort constructed on Burial Hill in 1622 – the site of which is just above and behind the current church –served as a place of worship until the Pilgrims built their first church (a simple square structure) on the north side of Town Square in 1648. The beams of the fort were not wasted, however, and were incorporated into the Old Fort House/Harlow House about a half-mile away. As the congregation grew and the 1648 Meetinghouse fell into disrepair, it was replaced in 1683 by the second Meetinghouse. That building was set on common land at the highest point in what was, and still is, Plymouth’s Town Square, placed so it faced Leyden St. and Plymouth Harbor.                       Fort 1622,  First Meetinghouse 1648,  Second Meetinghouse  1683 Plan for Second Meeting House Until 1744 the church and the town were one entity, with the Meetinghouse serving both the religious and civic needs of the town. In 1744, however, the town gave the church the land upon which the second Meetinghouse sat and build a courthouse for civic proceedings, creating a division between church and state. The townspeople build a third church in 1744, to replace the 1683 structure. That church remained in use for nearly one hundred years, until 1831, when the fourth Meetinghouse, a large gothic wooden church, was constructed. The fourth Meetinghouse burned to the ground in 1892, and the congregation made plans for a new meetinghouse, one that became a reality thanks to donors throughout America. The cornerstone was laid in 1896 and the fifth Pilgrim Meetinghouse was completed in 1897 and dedicated on Forefathers’ Day, December 21, 1899. This is the structure we toured. Third Meetinghouse 1744, Fourth Meetinghouse, 1831, Fifth (and current) Meetinghouse 1897 Fifth Meetinghouse, 1908 Fifth Meetinghouse, 2021 The building is now designated as a Meetinghouse rather than a church, as the result of its donation to the town of Plymouth, and it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places by the United States Department of the Interior in 2014. Today, 124 years after its completion, it remains the centerpiece of Plymouth’s historic Town Square.                                             ****** As Peter Santaw, our docent, explained, the fifth Pilgrim Meetinghouse was designed during a period when the Arts & Crafts Movement was flourishing in Boston. Designed in the Romanesque Revival style, the Meetinghouse’s 88’ high Norman-inspired tower and flanking faux buttresses symbolically reflect the type of church with which the Pilgrims would have been familiar in England. The exterior reflects the Romanesque Revival style, with an 88-foot-high Norman-inspired tower and flanking faux buttresses reflecting the type of church with which the Pilgrims would have been familiar in England. The church has ten carillon bells and the tower also houses a Paul Revere bell, cast in 1801 and recast after being damaged during the 1892 fire that destroyed the fourth Meetinghouse. In keeping with the Arts and Crafts style, unique stained glass Tiffany windows celebrate the Pilgrim epic and Pilgrim values, which have become the core values of America. Meeting of Pilgrims with Massoit                                    Trial of Oldham and Lyford, Bradford presiding The sanctuary’s center chancel window is called the Signing of the Compact and depicts the signing of the Mayflower compact, the original American instrument of democratic government. The town-meeting concept was established by the Pilgrim Fathers, as was the annual election of officers. It is flanked stained glass windows depicting Civil Liberty and Religious Liberty. In addition, the sanctuary features carved quarter-sawn oak and is one of the finest examples of hammer-beam construction in the United States. The hand carving of the beams and the pulpit is extraordinary! At the present time, the interior of the church needs major repairs. A leaking roof did major damage over the years, during a time when the congregation could not afford to fix it. Not wanting to see the meeting house further decay, they gifted it to the town. A new $2 million dollar roof has been installed and now attention can be paid to the inside. The plaster walls are made with horsehair and must be repaired according to historical guidelines. Unfortunately, humidity degrades this plaster, so air conditioning and dehumidifiers must be installed for any interior repairs to hold up. I hope you enjoyed our tour! 0 0

No Woman is an Island is a collection of five novels written by different authors and edited by Jean Gill. I agreed to review this as a member of Rosie’s Book Review Team, for which I received a copy in return for a fair and honest review. These novels span time, beginning in the Middle Ages. Each is a stand-alone written by five internationally recognized authors. The books do have a common theme: the challenges women face, often created by the opposite sex. Some are real physical threats, others are more psychological. Some come from within. The good thing is that each has a satisfying ending, but with twists. And as the title says, they inspire and empower. I enjoyed each one in a different way, like a surprising variety of baked goods from a patisserie to go with cups of warm and steaming coffee. In this blog and another four are the individual reviews. You can find No Woman Is An Island on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Woman-Island-Inspiring-Empowering-International-ebook/dp/B094473R67/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=No+Woman+is+an+Island&qid=1627400608&sr=8-1 Four stars out of five ********* Blood Rose Angel, by Liza Perrat Héloïse is a midwife living in the French village of Luci-sur-Vionne in the mid-twelfth century.  Her midwifery and skills at healing with various herbs have gained her the respect of many of the villagers, but there are whisperings that because of these skills and because she was born a bastard, she might be a witch. She is married to a handsome stonemason, Raol, and some of the most vicious gossip comes from a jealous woman who works in the local pub. When Raol returns from Florence, where the Black Plague is rampant, he brings with him a peddler who carries the disease. People in the village begin to die, and, terrified that Héloïse will bring the pestilence into their cottage by treating the victims, Raoul forbids her to help. She disobeys, opening chasm between them. The village devolves into grief, hysteria, and mayhem, abetted by the local priest. They need a scapegoat and Heloise is a perfect target. Héloïse places her faith in the protective powers of an angel talisman, given to her by her mother and said to be made of the bone of a saint. The villagers become more suspicious when she does not become sick, even while caring for those dying of the plague. Is it the talisman or Héloïse’s common sense approach to cleanliness and treating the sick? How can she prove she’s no servant of the devil and save the village? The author’s research has created a stunning tale of a medieval French village, herbal cures, midwifery, and the Black Plague in compelling detail.  Indeed, this reader is as weighed down with misery as much as Héloïse, as the story progressed from bad to worse. The author pulls you into it with her usual flair for description and emotion. Another wonderful, historically fact-based and compelling novel from Liza Perrat. About the author (Amazon) Liza Perrat grew up in Australia, where she worked as a general nurse and midwife for fifteen years. When she met her French husband on a Bangkok bus, she moved to France, where she has been living with her family for twenty years. She works part-time as a French-English medical translator, and as a novelist. Since completing a creative writing course ten years ago, several of her short stories have won awards, notably, the Writers Bureau annual competition of 2004. Her stories have been published widely in anthologies and small press magazines. Her articles on French culture and tradition have been published in international magazines such as France Magazine, France Today and The Good Life France. I highly recommend her other books: The Silent Kookaburra, The Swooping Magpie.  Wolfsangel, and Spirit of Lost Angels among them. Liza Perrat can be found: On twitter: @LizaPerrat On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Liza-Perrat-232382930192297/ On her website: www.lizaperrat.com Blood Rose Angel can be found on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B015XW42JO/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_taft_p1_i3 0 0

Hubs and I traveled to Maine recently for an author luncheon in Eastport, where I was the featured author, and for a vacation with my grandson and his parents. We stayed in our favorite place, Boothbay Harbor. The author luncheon was held in a hall next to the Eastport Methodist Church, which is why the backdrop looks like I should be preaching. It was an off-the-cuff talk about The Rhe Brewster Mystery series and my historical fiction novel, The Last Pilgrim.  The attendance was good, according to the organizer of the event, but I think they just wanted to get out and about as Maine just opened up! We had rented a small cottage in Boothbay Harbor and enjoyed eating seafood for the entire week. Not as much lobster as we wished, however, because the lobster prices are sky high. But we ate them almost every day anyway, whole steamed or lobster rolls. And what would a trip to Maine be without going to Damariscotta for oysters? The other highlight of the trip, aside from my grandson’s antics, was a visit to an alpaca farm. Who knew they raised alpacas in Maine?  They had two types of alpacas at the farm:  huacaya – their coat is short, dense, and crimpy, ‘teddy bear like’ and they are shorn yearly; and the suri, which have a silky coat with no crimp and ‘pencil like’ locks, and they are shorn every two years. You can tell them apart because the huacaya have what looks like pom-poms on their heads while the suri have bangs. Both types have soft, padded feet, and a three-compartment stomach like a typical ruminate. They also have no horns, claws or incisors, so they are less likely to hurt their owners! Their life span is about 20 years and they are adaptable to any climate.  They are also pretty neat animals, since they all only pee in one place in the yard or field. The alpacas are also very friendly. I was ‘kissed’ several times by one of them – a very whiskery kiss!  This is the one that kissed me. You can see where she was shorn in May. Alpacas are known for their fleeces. Alpaca fiber is incredibly soft, breathable and versatile. Each animal produces approximately five to fifteen pounds of fleece yearly. Depending upon its weight, quality, and cleanliness, an alpaca fleece can command $150 – $400.  The owners of the farm we visit send their fleece to a company that washes and spins it into yarn. That fiber is then spun into yarn, which they sell at the farm. Of course, as a knitter, I had to buy some. The yarn is the natural color of the alpaca and if you run out, there’s no problem matching the color since you can just call and give them the name of the alpaca whose yarn you want. No color matching, it’s always the same! My grandson was rather nonplussed with the alpaca but did enjoy an animal closer to him in size – a chicken! 0 0