About Rosemary Morris, Historical Fiction Novelist by Rosemary Morris

 

 

To learn more about Rosemary please click on the image above

About Rosemary Morris, Historical Fiction Novelist.

 

Writing a novel is a solitary occupation. Every day, alone with my laptop, I work for eight hours, posting on face book and elsewhere, reading historical non-fiction to research my new classic historical romance rich in period detail and writing. Before the threat of covid, I visited places of historical interest to convey the lives and times of the protagonists in my tales of past times, who are not 21st characters in costume.

As a historical fiction novelist, I don’t think it is possible to portray every small fact about the past accurately, but I have a responsibility my readers to thoroughly research the eras in which my novels are set.

When my words flow well, I am tempted to work for many hours without a break, which is detrimental. Writing is mentally and physically tiring, so I have a five-minute break every hour, during which I stretch my body and exercise my eyes. If the weather permits, I work in my oranic garden. Prior to covid, I visited the health suite at the leisure centre to swim and enjoy the jacuzzi, steam room and sauna.

I don’t want to be a writer in a garret but sometimes I wish I lived in an ivory tower with nothing to distract me from my imaginary companions. However, the daily chores, cleaning, washing clothes, shopping etc., keep my feet on the ground, so does time with family and friends.

To read Rosemary’s historical, historical romance and literary fiction, set in Edward II’s reign, Queen Anne Stuart’s reign, and the Regency era, please visit her website to read the first three chapters

 

http://bwlpublishing.ca/morris-rosemary

 

http://rosemarymorris.co.uk

 

Rosemary’s novels are available from Amazon and Books We Love Publishers: https://bookswelove.ca/morris-rosemary/

 

 

Cornish Pasty - A Meal for the Miners by A.M. Westerling

 Today I’m sharing a classic British recipe that originated in Cornwall, the setting for my Regency romance series entitled The Ladies of Harrington House. I'm currently working on the third book Catherine's Passion and the hero in it, Lord Julian Fitzgerald, is reopening a tin mine. It’s thought the pasty originated as a convenient meal for Cornish miners who were unable to return to the surface at lunch time. Their hands would be dirty but the pasty could be held easily by the crust and provided a hearty meal.

Picture from the Spruce Eats website

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 Recipe found here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/classic_cornish_pasty_67037

 

Ingredients

For the pastry

·         5  500g/1lb 1oz strong bread flour

·          120g/4oz vegetable shortening or suet

·         11 tsp salt

·         25g/1oz margarine or butter

·         175ml/6fl oz cold water

·         1 free-range egg, beaten with a little salt (for glazing)

For the filling

·         350g/12oz good-quality beef skirt, rump steak or braising steak

·         350g/12oz waxy potatoes

·         200g/7oz swede/turnip

·         175g/6oz onions

·         ssalt and freshly ground black pepper

·         knob of butter or margarine

 

Method

1.    TTip the flour into the bowl and add the shortening, a pinch of salt, the margarine or butter and all of the water.

2.    Use a spoon to gently combine the ingredients. Then use your hands to crush everything together, bringing the ingredients together as a fairly dry dough.

3.    Turn out the dough onto a clean work surface (there’s no need to put flour or oil onto the surface because it’s a tight rather than sticky dough).

4.    Knead the dough to combine the ingredients properly. Use the heel of your hand to stretch the dough. Roll it back up into a ball, then turn it, stretch and roll it up again. Repeat this process for about 5-6 minutes. The dough will start to become smooth as the shortening breaks down. If the dough feels grainy, keep working it until it’s smooth and glossy. Don’t be afraid to be rough – you’ll need to use lots of pressure and work the dough vigorously to get the best results.

5.    When the dough is smooth, wrap it in cling film and put it in the fridge to rest for 30–60 minutes.

6.    While the dough is resting, peel and cut the potato, swede and onion into cubes about 1cm/½in square. Cut the beef into similar sized chunks. Put all four ingredients into a bowl and mix. Season well with salt and some freshly ground black pepper, then put the filling to one side until the dough is ready.

7.    Lightly grease a baking tray with margarine (or butter) and line with baking or silicone paper (not greaseproof).

8.    Preheat the oven to 170C (150C fan assisted)/325F/Gas 3.

9.    Once the dough has had time to relax, take it out of the fridge. The margarine or butter will have chilled, giving you a tight dough. Divide the dough into four equal-sized pieces. Shape each piece into a ball and use a rolling pin to roll each ball into a disc roughly 25cm/10in wide (roughly the same size as a dinner plate).

10. Spoon a quarter of the filling onto each disc. Spread the filling on one half of the disc, leaving the other half clear. Put a knob of butter or margarine on top of the filling.

11. Carefully fold the pastry over, join the edges and push with your fingers to seal. Crimp the edge to make sure the filling is held inside – either by using a fork, or by making small twists along the sealed edge. Traditionally Cornish pasties have around 20 crimps. When you’ve crimped along the edge, fold the end corners underneath.

12.  Put the pasties onto the baking tray and brush the top of each pasty with the egg and salt mixture. Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for about 45 minutes or until the pasties are golden-brown. If your pasties aren't browning, increase the oven temperature by 10C/25F for the last 10 minutes of cooking time.

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Now that you’ve made your pasties, munch on one while you’re reading the first two books in the series, Sophie's Choice and Leah's Surrender, available on the BWL Publishing website HERE.

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Heavenly Hostas by A.M. Westerling

Hostas are some of my favourite perennials as they’re showy, easy to grow and like shaded spots. My hosta garden is on the south side of the house beneath an ornamental crab apple and they really seem to love it there. Which reinforces my mantra to find the plants that like the space you have – it makes you look like a gardening genius! Here's my shade garden during July a few years ago. I planted sweet woodruff and cranesbill geranium along with the hostas.

These plants are native to Korea, Japan and China where they are found in moist woodlands, along stream banks and rivers, and open grasslands. They’re also known as Plantain Lily, Funkia and Corfu Lily. Their known use as a garden plant, food, medicinal herb and a source of aromatics goes back to the Han Dynasty. A Chinese legend has it that a goddess dropped her hairpin from which grew the beautiful hosta and often the decorative part of a woman’s hairpin is made from jade shaped similarly to the unopened flower.

The first hostas appeared on the European continent in the 1780s and at that time were grown under glass for its tropical attributes.

They’re hardy and long lived and although I have mine in a bed, they also do well in containers and rock gardens. They come in a variety of sizes, colors and textures and usually have a spread and height of between 1 and 3 feet. While they’re mostly known for their lovely foliage, the plants also produce lovely spikes of flowers in shades of pink, white, light blue and lavender. Hummingbirds and bees really love hosta flowers. You can see the hosta flowers in behind the pink geraniums:

Hostas do best in dappled or deep shade because of their large leaves but they can take the heat of full sun if they’re kept in moist, fertile soil. Snails, slugs, rabbits and deer like hostas so keep an eye out for those pests.

Plant potted hostas any time but probably best in the spring. Put them at the same soil level as in the pot and water until the soil is moist. I use 20 20 20 fertilizer after planting and also when new growth comes in the spring. My hosta bed has automatic sprinklers so they get a shower every morning around 5 am which keeps the soil nice and moist. You can pinch the flower stalks to encourage new growth however I never bother. Maybe that’s something I should try this year!

It’s best to transplant and divide in the early spring when the leaves just start to poke through the crown. They don’t usually need dividing, however, because they will simply grow less quickly if they have less space. They are slow growers and may take two to four years to reach their full size. Below you can see the hostas poking up through the petals of the ornamental crab, in late May, and below that, the hostas in late July.

Young hosta leaves are edible, with a flavor similar to lettuce and asparagus. In Japan, they’re known as urui and are boiled, fried in tempura or eaten raw. If you want to try this, boil them for about 20 seconds until the leaves are bright green. They’re sometimes included in salads to add texture more than flavor. The flowers are said to have anticancer properties and are also edible with a peppery flavor. The essential oils obtained from the leaves are used in perfume.

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It’s likely that the gardens at Harrington House contained these lovely plants!  Find Sophie's Choice, Book 1, and Leah's Surrender, Book 2 of the Ladies of Harrington House series HERE.

 

Thoughts on Writing a Series by A.M.Westerling

 The Ladies of Harrington House is the first series I’ve tackled as I usually write single title, stand alone stories. My process remained the same - before I start writing a book, I spend some time researching the time period. The Ladies is a Regency era series, a period I’m familiar with so I didn’t need to do much research. The series originally consisted of three novels however an opportunity arose to write a Christmas novella so I turned that into the prequel. For all the books, I spent a few days getting to know my characters and coming up with plot lines.

I usually keep a letter size file folder for every book I write. In it are my character arcs, notes to myself, daily writing progress and print outs of material I’ve found online that I think are worthwhile to have in hard copy, particularly if it’s something I can use for other books ie names, Regency slang, Regency clothing, types of carriages, etc.

However, in the case of The Ladies of Harrington House, I put together a series bible in a three-ring binder as I needed to keep track of details throughout all the books as of course the characters appear throughout the series.

I have separate sections for Sophie, Leah, Catherine and Evelyn, plus sections that are pertinent to all four such as a description of Harrington House and its servants and a description of the fictional town of Trewater. At the front I have a map of Cornwall marked with the location of the Harrington lands. 

A close up of the character tabs - in case you're wondering, Evelyn is included in the Characters section - I suppose I could add a tab for her but I know where to find her so it works.

Peaking out from the back (above) are the pertinent research print outs of Cornish history, covering such things as mining, smuggling and fishing in the area.

As I write, I jot down notes for each character in their appropriate section to make sure I’m consistent with their appearance and to keep the names straight. This is particularly important the deeper into the series I go.

I’m more of a pantser but I always have certain scenes that I know I will be including. In Sophie’s Choice, it’s the scene in the library where Sophie finds incriminating papers on Bryce. In Leah’s Surrender, it’s the shipwreck scene. I’ve just started Catherine’s Passion and already I know I will be including a scene where a mining disaster will involve the hero, Julian. For Evelyn’s Christmas Beau, the prequel, it’s the final scene under the mistletoe.

Over the years I’ve learned not to spend too much time plotting because invariably my characters run the show. When that happens, I know I’m on the right track!

It’s the first time I had to write a series blurb and this is what I came up with:

The Ladies of Harrington House is an exciting new series from BWL Publishing that is set in Regency era Cornwall. Three sisters, three stories: Sophie Harrington, the independent minded one determined to choose her own husband. However, has she lost her heart to the wrong man? Leah Harrington, the prim and proper miss. She survives a shipwreck but can she survive heartbreak? And Catherine Harrington, the quiet musician. Will her passion for the keyboard lead to passion in a man’s arms?

The first two books are already available HERE. 

 

Evelyn's Christmas Beau will be available in October of this year and Catherine's Passion is coming in January 2022. 

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