Ahem...
Believe me folks, get a cover designer. Not even Stephen King could sell a book with a cover page as terrible as this.... |
Believe me folks, get a cover designer. Not even Stephen King could sell a book with a cover page as terrible as this.... |
The answer to "What happens if you get stabbed?" is NOT necessarily "You die!"
Most stabbings aren’t fatal, and with proper care, over time your wounds will heal, but interesting things happen to your body after you get stabbed.
First of all, due to the inevitable blood loss, your circulatory system may struggle to work properly, resulting in a lack of oxygen to important organs like the heart and brain.
When you lose one-fifth or more of your body’s blood supply, you will experience a condition known as hypovolemic or hemorrhagic shock. This causes a whole bunch of unpleasant symptoms.
-- Your body stops circulation to the skin making it pale, cold, and clammy.
-- And as your brain continues to lack insufficient oxygen, you may begin to feel dizzy or confused.
Hypovolemic shock can lead to hypothermia, organ damage, heart attack, gangrene, and death. However, your outcome will vary largely depending on how much blood you lose, how fast you lose it, and where you were injured.
For example, a stab wound in a major artery or vein will cause you to lose blood very fast. In just 3 or 4 minutes, you could lose 40% of your blood volume. Losing any more than that is considered fatal.
Treatment of stab wounds begins with the application of pressure to the wound. This is to stop or lessen the amount of blood loss. Then call the emergency number in your country (911, 112...) and get to a hospital where a doctor will determine how severe your injury is and whether it requires surgery.
And this was another segment of "What happens to your body after an unpleasant event."
Happy Reading & Stay Safe
JS
Reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9-OTMnqT10
BWL PUBLISHING FREE NOVEL DOWNLOAD
CLICK THIS BOOK COVER TO DOWNLOAD THE NOVEL OF THE MONTH
Forced
from France by her devious guardian on the eve of the French
Revolution, Countess Bettina Jonquiere must deliver an important package
to further the royalist cause. In England, she discovers the package is
full of blank papers, the address false and she’s penniless. Stranded
in a Cornish village, Bettina toils in a bawdy tavern and falls in love
with a man who may have murdered his unfaithful wife. Tracked by
ruthless revolutionaries, she must uncover the truth about her father’s
murder—and her lover’s guilt—while her life is threatened.
...wonderfully
researched and the reader is taken right into the drawing rooms,
kitchens and taverns of the dark days of late eighteenth century
England."
- Historical Novels Reviews blog
“Diane
Scott Lewis writes with a fresh, clear voice, keeping all the threads
of betrayal, intrigue and lies from becoming tangled as she weaves them
into her story”- The Muse
A
love story steeped in secrets and set against the backdrop of the
French Revolution, ... woven with the right amount of fact as well as
fiction, each balancing the other in a perfect harmony. Diane Scott
Lewis has the power of descriptive writing that makes readers feel as
though they are traveling alongside Bettina as she faces the unknown.
Simply brilliant. Historical Novel Society
Click here for Diane Scott Lewis' Author Page
Review and Purchase Links Here
My novel, Grace, Lady of Cassio, begins in 1331 during the reign of Edward III. It will be published in August 2022.
At heart I am a historian. My novels are rich in historical detail that requires intensive research, some of which I am sharing in this blog.
Medieval Recipes
Lemon Rice With Almonds
Grated skin, juice and pulp of1 large lemon. (I use an organic one.) 1 cup ground almonds. 1cup rice. 2 cups water. ½ teaspoon salt. ½ teaspoon of cinnamon. 1 tablespoon butter. 2/3 cup of currants. 1 cup dry white wine. (I use apple juice.) 1 cup fresh peas. Garnish. 12 teaspoons of honey. (I use organic honey.)
Put the water, rice, salt, cinnamon, butter and lemon in a non-stick saucepan with a lid. Stir once while boiling it for 10 minutes until most of the fluid is absorbed. Simmer the almonds and currants in the white wine or apple juice for 7 minutes then add it to rice fluffed with a fork. Stir in fresh peas (sometimes I use frozen peas) simmer for 5 or 7 minutes, adding a little boiling water if the rice sticks to the bottom of the saucepan. Garnish each portion with honey.
Vegetable Gruel
2 cups wheatgerm or buckwheat groats. 2 tablespoons butter. 4 cups milk. 1cup half inch slice of peeled carrots, ½ cup peeled, diced fresh parsnip, 1 cup raisins, ½ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon powdered ginger, ¼ teaspoon cinnamon, ½ teaspoon dried sweet basil, 6 tablespoons honey (
I prefer organic honey), 3 tablespoons plum jam.
Melt the butter in a non-stick saucepan. Add the groats and stir for 2 or 3 minutes over a low heat, then add the other ingredients, except for the basil, honey and jam. Simmer slowly for 20 minutes. To serve, ladle the gruel into bowls, put a tablespoon of honey in the centre and a dessertspoon of plum jam in the middle. Sprinkle the basil around the edges. Serve hot.
Pears with Carob Cream
6 firm, edible pears. Juice of 1 fresh lemon. (I use an organic lemon.) 2 heaped tablespoons carob powder. (A substitute of chocolate, available from health food shops. 2 tablespoons sugar (I prefer soft brown sugar) or honey (I prefer organic honey) ¼ teaspoon salt, 1 cup double cream/whipping cream.
Cut the pears in half with their skins on and scoop out the core area with a sharp knife, dredge each half with lemon juice. Bake pears in a 350 degree oven for 7 or 10 minutes and allow them to cool. Beat the cream, salt and carob powder together until it is thick. Pipe or spoon the carob cream onto the pear halves. Refrigerate for 30 minutes or more before serving.
rosemarymorris.co.uk
http://bwlpublishing.ca/morris-rosemary
Today is normally Katherine's blog day, but for health reasons she's away from us for a short time and in lieu of her normal blog post we're posting a celebration of Katherine Pym and her writing.
To read about and purchase any of Katherine's novels, visit her BWL Author Page:
https://bookswelove.net/pym-katherine/
COMING IN JUNE 2021
Jeannie Driftwood is alone. She is almost penniless after her husband walks out and empties their bank accounts. But Jeannie prevails.
With vignettes of her youth in Greendale Wisconsin, then her journey from abuse into the light near Dallas Texas, she finds contentment with her lot, and takes the boys to England for a year to research a novel of the French Revolution.
Their world on the verge of destruction, Kessav is shocked when his wife refuses to accompany him to a new land. As the ground splinters under her feet, Luna, a kitchen slave, is terrified. She finds Kessav in the market, fires exploding all around them. He takes her with him where they leap into an energy field to land in ancient Sumer, 4500 BCE.Their new world is clean with no fire belching from rents in the earth, but Elam, Kessav’s old friend, is furious over the wife's desertion and shows bitterness and hatred.
Kessav builds a new life but holds secrets from Luna, and Luna fears telling her secrets would destroy Kessav. After the loss of their firstborn to the great goddess, will their love bind them together? Will Elam exact a cruel revenge?
London 1661, the new king is on the throne, but old religious beliefs and Medieval superstition still prevail.
Catholics are not tolerated in this new era. Edgar and Emmatha Torbet are papists and fraternal twins, which means their mother was an adulteress. One of them is a legitimate heir, the other is a bastard. Which one of them is it?
It is
London 1666 and the plague is waning. The 2nd Anglo/Dutch war rages at
sea. Lord Pilcher, a staunch Cromwell man, hates his grandson who
followed King Charles II into exile. When Geoffrey returns to England, bereft and weary, he hopes for succor and support from his grandfather but Pilcher does everything he can to deny Geoffrey his inheritance. As a result, Geoffrey resorts to deceit. He steals goods and money from his grandfather that, by right, should be his.
After
the death of their parents, Erasmus and Desiderius find Gentleman Jack
and are welcomed into his gang of fellows. They learn sleight of hand,
transfer stolen goods to cunning hidey-holes.
They learn how to be nefarious and follow their leader’s skullduggery. Dodging the constables and the sheriff, will they be caught and hanged for highway robbery?
David
and Sara Kirke live in a time of upheaval under the reign of King
Charles I who gives, then takes. He gives David the nod of approval to
range up and down the French Canadian shores, burning colonies and
pillaging ships that are loaded with goods meant for the French. When
Louis XIII of France shouts his outrage, King Charles reneges. He takes
David’s prizes and returns them to the French, putting David and his
family in dire straits.
Undeterred, David and Sara will not be
denied. After years, the king relents. He knights David and gives him a
grant for the whole of Newfoundland and Labrador. There David and Sara
build a prosperous plantation. They trade fish and fish oil with
colonies down the American coast, Barbados and ports of call in the
Mediterranean. They thrive while England is torn in two by the civil
wars.
Soon, these troubles engulf his family. David is carried in
chains back to England to stand trial for being a malignant, a follower
of Laud's high church. He entreats Sara to manage the Ferryland
plantation, a daunting task but with a strength that defies a stalwart
man, she digs in and prospers, becoming the first entrepreneur of
Newfoundland.
I used to be an avid reader and a prolific daydreamer. I’m not sure which made me a better writer, but the two did conspire to actually make me a writer. Daydreaming was the way I originally created stories. As a kid, I would go off into the hayfields and pick strawberries on sunny afternoons. It was during those lazy summer days with my fingers and tongue stained red that I would daydream about appearances on the Oprah Winfrey show, starring roles in plays and musicals, and being an author.
By the time
I got home, I was ready to pencil those fun, meandering stories onto loose-leaf
paper. Sometimes, I’d share them with my friends or my mom. Most of the time,
however, I’d tuck them away and keep them to myself. Little treasures that
lived in my own mind and in a shoe box under my bed.
As I grew up
and went off to college, the daydreams matured and took on longer lives of
their own. I longed to be an author, but it was one of those things that people
only did for fun. I was actually told that “writing isn’t a career” and to get
a real job.
Sadly, I
believed it and stopped daydreaming.
I got
married and had kids. Then a funny thing happened.
The daydreams came back. I have to say daydreaming with kids can be a lot of fun, especially stomping through the woods on a hike--which became a quest with sticks in place of swords. Or camping in a tent while the rain fell around us. I wrote stories about kids being turned into mice, little blue hippos in the wild, and even stories about bullies in schools. The stories we wrote were just for fun. I’d never even thought to publish them. Those stories and poems were created just for my kids.
One day, I dusted
off some of those old stories I’d written in college. I still wasn’t ready to
share them. They went back into a drawer. Instead, I went for long walks and
discovered new daydreams. More vivid and detailed with more twists and turns. Daydreams
that led to stories, which then became books.
This time, I
chose to follow my heart – and my daydreams.
And I became
a published author. Many times over with no end in sight.
All because of a daydream I had as a kid that one day I’d write books.
I still haven’t
been on the Oprah show, though.
Find many of my daydreams at:
http://bookswelove.net/bator-diane/
A few years ago I was at my day job selling tickets at a professional theatre when a man came in to buy a ticket to a drag show we were hosting. As with any other customer, I asked for his name and address to add to our computer program.
“Tiffany,” he said.
I’m not ashamed to admit I had a moment where was I positive I’d misheard him, but I didn’t look up. In fact, I barely skipped a beat before I asked for last name and went on to collect the rest of HER information followed by a fun chat.
Over the years since, we’ve become friends and she’s stopped by to see me at work a few times. I’ve been thrilled to share in news of her engagement along with all the ups and downs of life. Truth be told, I’ve learned a great deal about from this amazing woman. Which is why I gave her full disclosure when I wrote All That Shines. I even gave her a copy of the rough draft for her approval AND I have a copy of the finished book waiting for her.
My favorite scene in the book is the moment where Hamlet tells Sage and her sister Laken that he is a woman and would like to be called Quinn from now on. Quinn was tired of people treating her like she was a joke and lamented how difficult it was to become a woman. Yes, Sage and Laken have a moment of “is this for real?”, but in the end, they honor Quinn’s wishes and she quickly becomes part of the staff. In fact, Quinn Evans has become one of my favorite characters. Her honesty and openness bolsters Sage, who has always felt overshadowed by her supermodel sister, until she begins to shine in her own way.
I didn’t consciously set out to create a transgender character. She grew organically from a blend of people I know and love, as well as a need to tell a different story. While I share in my friends’ journeys, I would love to expose the good and the bad, but in a way that only a cozy can – gently and with love. True in this book no one has harsh judgements of her because no one has really gotten to know her yet. Once they realize she’s settling in for the long haul all that can, and will, change.
Cozy mysteries don’t normally deal with controversy which is why I had to walk softly. I wanted Quinn to be a character that readers could reasonably suspect of being a murderer, yet they rooted for her not to be.
True, Quinn is a little different, but deep down aren’t we all?
I find that real life is constantly being drawn into my books. Incidents that happen. Conversations I have or overhear. What a better way to make settings and characters feel more real than by drawing in reality.
Have a wonderful day,
Diane Bator
http://bookswelove.net/bator-diane/
http://dbator.blogspot.com/
Turning
Ideas into Fiction
I know well-meaning friends often say “You ought to write
this down, it would make a great story.
Well, actually, no it wouldn’t. I’m sure you’ve all heard the saying
“fact is stranger than fiction”, well it is. If you’re writing nonfiction, fine
go ahead and use the story about Uncle Joe getting stuck on the roof. It was a comical incident and would make a
great creative nonfiction story. However, for fiction the idea won’t make for a
great story without some changes. For
the most part, it’ll come off as false. Readers just won’t believe it. Besides
you, the author would be telling the story.
We want to show our stories.
Here’s our incident. Uncle Joe got stuck on the roof
while hanging Christmas lights. He had
put a ladder on the peak of the garage and when he went to get off the other
peak, he reached his foot out, the ladder slipped away. He moved toward and inched his way off the
roof, reached his foot out and hoped to snag the ladder. Again, it slipped
away. One more time and it slipped out of reach. By this time, he was hanging
by his elbows. No one was in the house. It was cold and the roof was covered
with snow. He looked around to see if a neighbor might have come out. Nothing –
his arms were getting tired and he didn’t know what to do. The only thing left was to jump. He knew if he landed on his feet, they’ slip
out from under him and he’d slide off the roof like a bullet. He took a deep breath and let go. Thankfully
he landed and didn’t slide.
If I were writing it for creative nonfiction, I’d
embellish it, make it humorous. It
almost sounds like an incident from National Lampoons’s Christmas
Vacation.
But, how do we create a story from this idea? Some people need to plot out the idea on
paper, which is fine. I wish I could do that.
But, I’m one of those writers that just start writing. Oh, I’ll jot down some ideas and know where I
want to go, but in the beginning, I usually have no idea how to get there. And that works for me. Whatever works for you is fine.
So, we have the idea.
A man is stuck on a roof. We
don’t have to have him putting up Christmas lights. He could be up there for a
variety of reasons.
One of the first things, even for me, is to create the
plot. I start, of course, with my
character's name, age and appearance. Okay let’s call our guy, Charlie. He’s
middle-aged, slightly balding, but tall and muscular. We’ll talk more about
characters in later lessons.
Next, I ask why Charlie was on the roof.
Once I have my characters, I develop my idea. First question: What genre’ am I writing? If I’m writing mystery I have to decide, is
it a murder mystery? Who gets killed,
where and why? This is where we start
asking the questions, what happened, how did it happen, etc.
Hmm - maybe someone moved the ladder. And maybe Charlie
makes it down but he knows someone is trying to kill him.
If Charlie is the
intended victim we’ll need to a potential killer.
Once we know the where and why, we need to know if the
murder is going to happen in the book, or behind the scenes. In other words, has the murder been committed
when we come on the scene or are we going to show our readers the murder? In this case it’s an attempted murder because
Charlie isn’t dead.
Then we need to know how our main character is going to
solve the crime. We need some clues,
usually not ones the reader will pick up on right away, but clues that at the
end of the story they’ll hit their foreheads and say “Oh I should have known.”
Do you see how we took a real-life incident and changed
it into something totally different? Sure, we could have written humor and
wrote something like National Lampoon, but why stop there. Explore different avenues. You could take the
same incident and change it into a romance or fantasy. Maybe even Science Fiction. I don’t write either so I’m not going try to
explain that. But who knows maybe while Charlie is repairing the roof, men from
mars kidnap him? Let your imagination
run wild.
Everything around us has potential for story ideas. We
only have to look at the world around us with a writer’s eye.
What do I mean by everything? Here’s a good example – Let’s say you’re
stuck in traffic. What do you usually do? Turn up the radio, call someone from
your cell phone, and tap the steering wheel impatiently? Next time turn that
negative energy into something positive. Who is in the car next to you, behind
you? Is that carload of kids off to a soccer game, Grandma’s house? Look at the
driver, what is she feeling, sitting there with a car full of kids bouncing and
jumping around. Her mouth is moving. Is she yelling, singing, playing a game
with them? Where are they going? It’s a potential story idea.
How about that young couple next to you, are they in
love, arguing? Put them in a scene - make up a story. That isn’t just a car
full of kids, or a young couple. Don’t’ think of it as being stuck in traffic.
The same thing applies to standing in line at a supermarket. We are viewing
potential characters, ideas, scenes, making up plots. Look in their carts. Are
they buying that wine and cheese for a rendezvous or a celebration? A cart full of groceries, three, maybe four
gallons of milk, family sized packages of meat, looks like a big family – maybe
they take in foster kids. Every place
you go you should see potential settings for stories. Everyone you see becomes
a potential a character.
But let’s go a little further -Check out the daily
newspaper. Many articles give us ideas for our next plot. Maybe the bank robber
will make a good character for our villain. Don’t just read the headlines, read
the small stories. Read the local pages.
But let’s not stop there, look in the classifieds? Under
help wanted ads, there are many different and unusual occupations for our
characters. And don’t skip the business opportunities and legal notices. I found an interesting Notice regarding a
Public Hearing on the merits of designating several old schools in the area as
city landmarks. This piqued my interest since I had attended two of these
schools. This could lead to a possible setting for a story or maybe a
nonfiction article about a trip down memory lane. Maybe one of these schools is slated to be
torn down. It’s been vacant for a long time. The crew goes into the abandoned
building and finds a body or an old suitcase full of money. See the potential.
Then of course there’s equipment. You can learn a lot about a community,
especially a small community by what kind of equipment is for sale. Farming community – farm tractors.
Don’t forget to read the for-sale ads. Every conceivable
item is for sale from antiques to stereo equipment. I particularly enjoy
looking through the jewelry section. One
ad for a diamond engagement ring valued at three thousand dollars was listed as
a must sell for twelve hundred. The ad raised my curiosity. I figured it was for sale because of a broken
engagement. But what if the woman’s husband died leaving her penniless and she
desperately needed money for medical bills. More interesting to me was the
thought of who would purchase the ring.
I wondered what man would buy a second-hand ring, albeit a good deal,
for his new fiancée. Then I thought maybe he took it to a jeweler and had it
put into a new setting. What would happen, I wondered, if the fiancée found out
she had a used diamond. Would she think what an ingenious idea or would she be
angry? All this from a one-line ad. The newspaper is an excellent source for
ideas.
Magazines are another good source for ideas. Open it to
any page, look at the pictures, even the advertisements - we see an attractive
woman or a couple. Imagine them in a scene. Create a plot around them. I picked up a magazine the other day and it
had an ad for a real estate company. It
showed a house with a for sale sign in front of it. It was a beautiful house with a well-kept
lawn and fabulous landscaping. Why, I
wondered is that house for sale? Who are
the people selling it? Are their children grown and they no longer need a house
this size? Or are they getting a divorce, was there a death in the family? My
imagination started to run away with all sorts of ideas about the owners and
why they were selling. There are many ways to create stories from simple
pictures.
But right in your own home you can get ideas. Look
around, what do you see? Right now, I
see a room with a computer, printer, and a scanner. However, it’s not just a
room. It’s a potential setting for a story. Now lean back and really look at
the room. My walls are pewter blue - a cream-colored shade covers the window.
If I were writing a story, I would elaborate on this through my character.
Want to turn it into a mystery – try this: Our character,
let’s call her Evelyn (I have no idea where I came up with that name it just
happened, but more about that later.) Evelyn goes to work; she enters her
office only to find someone ransacked it. Now through Evelyn we’re going to
show the office.
Evelyn yawned as
she put the key in the lock. Going to
have to quit these late nights, fun as they were her body just couldn’t take it
anymore. She pushed the door open and
froze. Her computer lay on the floor and the printer was upside down on the
counter. Papers lay scattered over the floor and a purple liquid dripped down
the pewter blue walls. Evelyn stifled a
scream. The cream-colored shades looked like they were splattered with
blood. (Hmm - I may have the beginning
of a new story here).
And don’t forget our chat room friends or writing
buddies. Many times, I got an idea for an article, just from our daily
conversation. Today the subject of being
the only one who managed to fill the ice cube trays came up. One thing led to another and it turned into
an idea for a humorous article. During
the course of the conversation, we took it a little further. Nothing is more
annoying than finding no toilet paper on the roll, which changed the whole tone
of the article from empty ice cube trays to why am I always the one who has to
do everything? Why can’t someone else in the house take the time to do a simple
task like add water to the ice cube tray before putting it back in the freezer?
And why can’t they at least rinse the dish they set in the sink, although why
they can’t put it in the dishwasher is beyond me. Anyway, you get the gist of
it. A simple thing like an everyday
complaint turned into a very humorous article.
Now let’s change it to fiction. Your character bought a
bag of ice. When she opened it she found something – maybe a piece of jewelry?
How did it get there? We now have the potential for a good mystery. Did the woman’s husband put it there? Was it
planted by someone? Where did it come from? Was it stolen?
While creating ideas these are some of the questions to
ask. Who, Where, What and Why? Sources for ideas are limitless. We just need to
view the world around us with the writer’s eye.
Montreal in late nineteenth century, a gifted young poet falls victim to madness.
Today, a struggling father is driven to drink over the intransigence of his music-obsessed teenage son. An equally conflicted wife and mother threatens separation.
What connects these two worlds?
The Victorian fountain in Square Saint-Louis, a series of seemingly random incidents in the city, a bronze bust on a white plinth, and a school reunion where myth, art, and mysterious e-lixar fuse into dramatic reflections of family dynamics. Through mirroring, resolution proves possible.
“Stirling does it again, entertaining the reader with a parade of engrossing characters. Through a complexity of allusion simple truths are revealed. Contemporary, relevant, challenging, Séjour Saint-Louis is fused with ambiguity and subtle humour.”
Click link to purchase: https://bookswelove.net/stirling-reed/
A 911 call cut off mid-scream and a melted cellphone in a circle of burned grass hint at an alien abduction in Effigy Mounds National Monument.
Doug Fletcher’s cop intuition makes him reluctant to accept the investigative assignment. Jill Fletcher’s curiosity and desire to escape the oppressive Texas summer weather overcome his hesitancy.
To Purchase: https://bookswelove.net/hovey-dean/“Marrying off Murphy” – (Light-hearted Romance). Like all Cajun fairy tales, it began harmlessly enough. A match-making columnist promises to turn a stuffy professor into a charming prince. So, why does this confirmed bachelorette suddenly wish she was dressed for the Ball?
“Love Potion #9” – (Contemporary
Romance). Watch what happens when you mix a traditional Creole women
with a fun-loving Cajun man and throw in a Voodoo Love Potion—stand
back! The Louisiana Bayou ain’t never gonna be the same!
“A Slice of Scandal” – (Mystery/Suspense). A producer finds herself embroiled in a mystery as hot as her Bayou Cooking Show. When an undercover cop, turned chef shows up and dishes up more heat than a bottle of Louisiana hot peppers. Can she prove her innocence before the real killer finds her? Or, will she become the main-course in a murder trial?
“Pirate Ghost of Gombi Island” –
(Time Travel). After a violent storm dumps a Natchitoches historian on
the deck of an 18th century pirate ship, she finds herself with an
unexpected decision. Should she jump and swim to her doom, or accept
the pirate’s promise of a safe haven?
“1-800- FORTUNE” – (Paranormal).
Garlic hangs for the rafters, but this sexy Loupe Garou isn’t looking
for trouble, or a cure for what ails him. What’s a law-abiding werewolf
to do when a gypsy woman shows up with mischief on her mind? T.A.R.A. ,
2nd place Winner, Paranormal Romance.
April's free PDF download can be found at https://bookswelove.net (available April 1st)
Forced from France by her devious guardian on the eve of the French Revolution, Countess Bettina Jonquiere must deliver an important package to further the royalist cause. In England, she discovers the package is full of blank papers, the address false and she’s penniless. Stranded in a Cornish village, Bettina toils in a bawdy tavern and falls in love with a man who may have murdered his unfaithful wife. Tracked by ruthless revolutionaries, she must uncover the truth about her father’s murder—and her lover’s guilt—while her life is threatened.
Historical Novels Reviews blog
“Diane
Scott Lewis writes with a fresh, clear voice, keeping all the threads
of betrayal, intrigue and lies from becoming tangled as she weaves them
into her story”- The Muse
A
love story steeped in secrets and set against the backdrop of the
French Revolution, ... woven with the right amount of fact as well as
fiction, each balancing the other in a perfect harmony. Diane Scott
Lewis has the power of descriptive writing that makes readers feel as
though they are traveling alongside Bettina as she faces the unknown.
Simply brilliant. Historical Novel Society