Sponsored by "Breaking the Spine". This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:

By Fire By Water, by Mitchell James Kaplan

Releases May 18, 2010

I am looking forward to this one.. my fellow HF Bloggers are also! This is a debut novel, and I have high hopes for it. I love the cover art!

I really enjoyed Jean Plaidy's "Castile for Isabella" and C.W. Gortner's "The Last Queen", but I don't think I've read much else for something set in Spain.

"Luis de Santángel, chancellor to the court and longtime friend of the lusty King Ferdinand, has had enough of the Spanish Inquisition. As the power of Inquisitor General Tomás deTorquemada grows, so does the brutality of the Spanish church and the suspicion and paranoia it inspires. When a dear friend’s demise brings the violence close to home, Santángel is enraged and takes retribution into his own hands. But he is from a family of conversos, and his Jewish heritage makes him an easy target. As Santángel witnesses the horrific persecution of his loved ones, he begins slowly to reconnect with the Jewish faith his family left behind. Feeding his curiosity about his past is his growing love for Judith Migdal, a clever and beautiful Jewish woman navigating the mounting tensions in Granada. While he struggles to decide what his reputation is worth and what he can sacrifice, one man offers him a chance he thought he’d lost…the chance to hope for a better world. Christopher Columbus has plans to discover a route to paradise, and only Luis de Santángel can help him.

Within the dramatic story lies a subtle, insightful examination of the crisis of faith at the heart of the Spanish Inquisition. Irresolvable conflict rages within the conversos in By Fire, By Water, torn between the religion they left behind and the conversion meant to ensure their safety. In this story of love, God, faith, and torture, fifteenth-century Spain comes to dazzling, engrossing life."

What are you waiting for this week?

It is available from Amazon.ca and Amazon.uk, and still not on Amazon USA which is driving me BONKERS, and here are the Google shopping results. It's like a treasure hunt. I am pretty sure my blogger pal at The Maiden's Court got her hands on a copy though.. I just may have to raid her house..

Hardcover: 352 pages
Publisher: Jonathan Cape Ltd (24 Sep 2009)
ISBN-10: 0224082264

Product Description:

"Elizabeth I was born into a world of women. As a child, she was served by a predominantly female household of servants and governesses, with occasional visits from her mother, Anne Bolyen, and the wives who later took her place. As Queen, Elizabeth was constantly attended by ladies of the bedchamber and maids of honor who clothed her, bathed her and watched her while she ate. Among her family, it was her female relations who had the greatest influence: from her sister Mary, who distrusted and later imprisoned her, to her cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots, who posed a constant and dangerous threat to her crown for almost thirty years. Despite the importance of women in Elizabeth's life, most historians and biographers have focused on her relationships with men. She has been portrayed as a 'man's woman' who loved to flirt with the many ambitious young men who frequented her court. Yet it is the women in her life who provide the most fascinating insight into the character of this remarkable monarch. With them she was jealous, spiteful and cruel, as well as loyal, kind and protective. She showed her frailties and her insecurities, but also her considerable shrewdness and strength. In short, she was more human than the public persona she presented to the rest of the court. It is her relationships with women that hold the key to the private Elizabeth.

In this original chronicling of the life of one of England's greatest monarchs, historian Tracy Borman explores Elizabeth's relationships with the key women in her life. Beginning with her mother and the governesses and stepmothers who cared for the young princess, including her beloved Kat Astley and the inspirational Katherine Parr, "Elizabeth's Women" sheds new light on her formative years. Elizabeth's turbulent relationships with her rivals are examined: from her sister, 'Bloody' Mary, to the sisters of Lady Jane Grey, and finally the most deadly of all her rivals, Mary, Queen of Scots who would give birth to the man Elizabeth would finally, inevitably have to recognize as heir to her throne. It is a chronicle of the servants, friends and 'flouting wenches' who brought out the best - and the worst - of Elizabeth's carefully cultivated image as Gloriana, the Virgin Queen, in the glittering world of her court."

Some of my favorite Elizabethan women include Lettice Knollys, Jane Grey, Bess of Hardwick and Bess' granddaughter, Arbella Stuart. I am always anxious to learn more about them and Elizabeth's interaction with the ladies of her time!

See Tracy Borman's site for upcoming events etc. She is also the author of Henrietta Howard: King’s Mistress, Queen’s Servant.

Sponsored by "Breaking the Spine". This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:

Dark Moon of Avalon, by Anna Elliott

Dark Moon of Avalon: A Novel of Trystan & Isolde is scheduled for release in May 2010. This is book two in Anna Elliotts' Avalon trilogy. I LOVED her Twilight of Avalon novel, and my review & Anna's guest post can be found here.

From the Prologue:

I have been a tear in the air,
I have been the dullest of stars.

I have been a course, I have been an eagle.
I have been a coracle in the seas.

Little more than the words remains, now, of the wisdom of the Old Ones. A wisdom that once allowed men to read the future in the flight of birds, or walk unharmed across a bed of burning coals. All that remains of Avalon, now no place in this world, but only a name in a harper's tale. A faint, mist-shrouded echo of what once was Britain's most sacred ground. Hidden like the Otherworld behind a veil of glass.

Sponsored by "Breaking the Spine". This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:

"Sophia Electress of Hanover: The Remarkable Life of the Mother of George I" by Josephine Duggan (Author)

Paperback: 300 pages
Publisher: Peter Owen Ltd; first edition (1 Nov 2009)
ISBN-13: 978-0720613421

Product Description:

Sophia, Electress of Hanover (1630 ~1714), grand-daughter of James I and mother of George I, is best remembered as the link between the Houses of Stuart and Hanover. But, above all, she was a gifted and prolific chronicler and her detailed memoirs and letters give us an insider's view of life for the top echelons of society in the 16th century. A true European, Sophia spoke English, French, German, Dutch and Italian fluently, she was open minded and intellectually curious. Her writings cover an astonishing variety of subjects: religion, philosophy, international gossip, household hints, politics and the details of her family life. Josephine Duggan has translated Sophia's memoir and thousands of letters to paint a remarkable portrait of a woman who deserves to be known by modern-day Europeans.

I have zero knowledge on this lady and I would love to see a glimpse of the actual memoirs of Sophia!

Sponsored by "Breaking the Spine". This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:

"The Tudors: The Complete Story of England's Most Notorious Dynasty" by G.J. Meyer

On Sale: February 23, 2010
Price: $30.00
ISBN: 978-0-385-34076-2 (0-385-34076-1)

I can never have too much Tudor stuff. Especially when it's non-fiction. I believe that newer books use the newer findings through historical research and utililize the good parts of all the previous works. Unlike some of the scholarly works that I've come across lately, this one is an affordable price. The post I did for a waiting on Arthur Tudor in May (here) is a whopping $95.00.

This is a 680-700 page body of work that I look forward to!

The author has also written "A World Undone: The Story of the Great War, 1914 to 1918" which has garnered 4.8 out of 5 stars on Amazon, so I'm eager to see what is in store for us with his research on The Tudors!

Sponsored by "Breaking the Spine". This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:

Coming in Fall 2009 is India's next novel, DELILAH (or Samson & Delilah, I've seen it both ways already). A retelling of the story of Samson and Delilah, DELILAH completes what turned in to an loosely-knit trilogy:

DELILAH, QUEENMAKER, and WISDOM'S DAUGHTER.

ISBN-10: 0312338910 Coming November, 2009

Visit the Author's Website to Read an excerpt from DELILAH

Previous books are:

Sponsored by "Breaking the Spine". This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:

Girl Mary: A Novel by Petru Popescu

Pub. Date: September 08, 2009

Simon and Schuster
ISBN-13: 9781416532637
368pp

"The epic story of the Virgin Mary--not the icon, but the real teenage girl who seduced everyone, even God, with her soulful simplicity. Brings to life Mary of Nazareth as a beautiful, complicated girl in love, seen through the eyes of famous characters."

Sponsored by "Breaking the Spine". This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:

No Product description on Amazon. David's website says "Military Imagery and Reality"

Hmmmm. Let me know if you know anything else about this one.

EDIT TO ADD: Thanks so much to DamnedConjurer!! (LOVING that name) Took the guess work away, and we now have a Product Description:

"A fascinating portrait which vividly brings to life the people behind the battles - monarchs, statesmen, courtiers and seadogs - and the ships, weapons and tactics which determined whether they lived or died. When Henry VII seized the throne after the Battle of Bosworth, his crown was far from secure. Yet for more than a hundred years his descendents ruled in England, surviving religious turmoil, rebellion, foreign armadas, diplomatic crises and losses overseas. Some of them went reluctantly to war whilst others embraced its potential, yet all relied upon military success for their own reflected power and prestige.

The Fighting Tudors explores this extraordinary dynasty's strategies for survival, and shows how military action to defend the throne became a sophisticated propoganda tool. It traces the great battles of the Tudor reigns, from campaigns in France and Scotland to the crises of the Armada, and reveals their public and private impact upon individual monarchs - Henry VII, the 'sea king' who pledged to bring peace to his ravaged country; Henry VIII who loved traditional jousting yet commissioned cutting-edge ships for his standing navy; Mary, whose loss of Calais compounded the disappointments of her reign; and Elizabeth, whose dramatic speech at Tilbury became a defining moment of her reign.

Ambitious courtiers and military commanders mingle with volatile monarchs and great seafarers - Drake, Hawkins, Raleigh and Frobisher - who through exploration, plunder and courageous defence finally brought England dominance on the seas."

Sponsored by "Breaking the Spine". This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:

The Virgin's Daughters: In the Court of Elizabeth I (Paperback)by Jeane Westin
Paperback: 416 pages
Publisher: NAL Trade (August 4, 2009)
ISBN-10: 0451226674

Product Description on Amazon:
"The story of Elizabeth I, as it’s never been told before—through the eyes of two ladies-in-waiting closest to her…In a court filled with repressed sexual longing, scandal, and intrigue, Lady Katherine Grey is Elizabeth’s most faithful servant. When the young queen is smitten by the dashing Robert Dudley, Katherine must choose between duty and desire—as her secret passion for a handsome earl threatens to turn Elizabeth against her. Once the queen becomes a bitter and capricious monarch, another lady-in-waiting, Mistress Mary Rogers, offers the queen comfort. But even Mary cannot remain impervious to the court’s sexual tension—and as Elizabeth gives her doomed heart to the mercurial Earl of Essex, Mary is drawn to the queen’s rakish godson…"

It shall be interesting to see what genre this leans towards. I've seen this on other blogs (Historically Obsessed) already posted but with all the blogs being created lately it's hard to keep up with who has posted about what. So I throw caution to the wind this week and select this one although it may be a repeat to some, ans so I will add a couple more links to ones that will also be worthy additions to my library:

Visit Passages to The Past for a Giveaway Chance for this read! (open till July 6th). I am looking forward to Susan Holloway Scott's French Mistress, although I have another two of hers that I haven't read yet but I really want to!!

Also on my list that I looked at are two of the Catherine De Medici novels, one is being written by C.W. Gortner and he is working on final revisions now, and another one The Devil's Queen by Jeanne Kalogridis that comes out in July.

Sponsored by "Breaking the Spine". This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:
Between Two Queens (The second book in the Secrets of the Tudor Court series) A novel by Kate Emerson
Coming January 2010
Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: Pocket Books
ISBN-10: 1416583270


Emerson returns to the Tudor Court in Between Two Queens. Nan Bassett's goal to marry a nobleman is halted when she falls for handsome but poor Ned.

http://www.kateemersonhistoricals.com/

I really enjoyed the first book that she wrote; I had devoured it in a weekend. See my review here.

Product Description: "The imprisonment and execution of Queen Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII's second wife, in May 1536 was unprecedented in the annals of English history. It was sensational in its day, and has exerted endless fascination over the minds of historians, novelists, dramatists, poets, artists and film-makers ever since. Anne was imprisoned in the Tower of London on 2 May 1536, and tried and found guilty of high treason on 15 May. Her supposed crimes included adultery with five men, one her own brother, and plotting the King's death. She was executed on 19 May 1536.
Mystery surrounds the circumstances leading up to her arrest. Was it Henry VIII who, estranged from Anne, instructed Master Secretary Thomas Cromwell to fabricate evidence to get rid of her so that he could marry Jane Seymour? Or did Cromwell, for reasons of his own, construct a case against Anne and her faction, and then present compelling evidence before the King? Following the coronation of her daughter Elizabeth I as queen, Anne was venerated as a martyr and heroine of the English Reformation. Over the centuries, Anne has inspired many artistic and cultural works and, as a result, has remained ever-present in England's popular memory.
In her impressive new book, Alison Weir has woven a detailed and intricate portrait of the last days of one of the most influential and important figures in English history."

While this is not just another biography of Anne herself, this focuses on the politics behind the trial of Anne, Anne's last days in imprisonment, and thus the execution. At 384 pages on the US version, this has got to be quite an intricate look at the devices behind the event. Too bad it wasn't released for the May 19th execution date, which would have been fitting. Anne was not the only one executed as a result of the adultery charges and this is a very tragic story which fascinates me still. I wonder what information will be shared about Jane Boleyn, Lady Rochford.

I still have several of Alison Weir's books to read that sit patiently on my shelf. I have read her "Wars of The Roses", "The Princes in the Tower" and the fictional "Innocent Traitor" about Jane Grey, which I really enjoyed although it seemed to receive mixed reviews. Still need to read "The Life of Elizabeth I", and the fictional "The Lady Elizabeth", "Queen Isabella: Treachery and Adultery" and I would like to also purchase the one on Katherine Swynford, John of Gaunt's mistress turned wife. Alison is working on Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine fictional book now for 2010, and also has contracted for a sequel to "The Lady Elizabeth".