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Book Review: The Traitor's Son by Wendy Johnson
Today I’m hosting The Traitor’s Son by Wendy Johnson, a story about the early life of Richard, Duke of Gloucester (later Richard III), as part of the Coffee Pot Blog Tour. I read the novel (thank you for the Advanced Reader Copy), and have written a review (see below). But first, the blurb:
Caught between a king and a kingmaker, young Richard Plantagenet knows he’ll have to choose...
1461: Richard Duke of York, King by Right, has been branded a traitor and slain by his Lancastrian foes. For his eight-year-old son—Richard Plantagenet—England has become a dangerous place.
As the boy grapples with grief and uncertainty, his elder brother, Edward, defeats the enemy and claims the throne. Dazzled by his glorious sibling, young Richard soon discovers that imperfections lurk beneath his brother's majestic façade. Enter Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick—cousin, tutor, luminary—whose life has given him everything but that which he truly craves: a son. A filial bond forms between man and boy as they fill the void in each other’s lives. Yet, when treachery tears their world asunder, Richard faces an agonizing dilemma: pledge allegiance to Edward—his blood brother and anointed king—or to Warwick, the father figure who has shaped his life and affections.
Painfully trapped between duty and devotion, Richard faces a grim reality: whatever he decides will mean a fight to the death.
In "The Traitor’s Son", Wendy Johnson weaves a tapestry of loyalty, love, and sacrifice against the backdrop of England's turbulent history. Through the eyes of a young Richard III, readers are transported into a world where every choice is fraught with peril, and the bonds of kinship are tested to their limits.
The Cameo Keeper by Deborah Swift
I’m delighted to be hosting The Cameo Keeper today on the Coffee Pot Book Club Blog Tour. (Isn’t it a beautiful cover?)
I’m doing an excerpt, but first, the description:
Rome 1644: A Novel of Love, Power, and Poison
Remember tonight... for it is the beginning of always ― Dante Alighieri
In the heart of Rome, the conclave is choosing a new Pope, and whoever wins will determine the fate of the Eternal City.
Astrologer Mia and her fiancé Jacopo, a physician at the Santo Spirito Hospital, plan to marry, but the election result is a shock and changes everything.
As Pope Innocent X takes the throne, he brings along his sister-in-law, the formidable Donna Olimpia Maidalchini, known as La Papessa – the female Pope. When Mia is offered a position as her personal astrologer, she and Jacopo find themselves on opposite sides of the most powerful family in Rome.
Mia is determined to protect her mother, Giulia Tofana, a renowned poisoner. But with La Papessa obsessed with bringing Giulia to justice, Mia and Jacopo's love is put to the ultimate test.
As the new dawn of Renaissance medicine emerges, Mia must navigate the dangerous political landscape of Rome while trying to protect her family and her heart. Will she be able to save her mother, or will she lose everything she holds dear?
For fans of "The Borgias" and "The Crown," this gripping tale of love, power, and poison will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end.
Praise:
'historical fiction that is brisk, fresh and bristling with intrigue'
~ Bookmarked Reviews ★★★★★
Hypatia of Alexandria
Few figures from the ancient world deserve as much wonder, controversy, and myth-making as Hypatia of Alexandria. Renowned as a philosopher, astronomer, and mathematician in a city often riven by political and religious turbulence, Hypatia has come to symbolise both the intellectual heights of late antiquity and the dangers faced by women who dared to wield knowledge and influence.
Who Was Hypatia?
Hypatia (c. 355–415 CE) was the daughter of Theon of Alexandria, himself a respected scholar and the last recorded member of the Museum—the great scholarly institution associated with the Library of Alexandria (interesting fact of the day about the term ‘Museum’). Raised in this environment, Hypatia received an exceptional education in mathematics, astronomy, and Platonic philosophy. By adulthood she had surpassed her father’s reputation, becoming:
A leading lecturer in Neoplatonism, attracting Christian, pagan, and Jewish students alike;
An authority in mathematics, editing and refining works such as Diophantus’s Arithmetica and Apollonius’s Conics;
A public intellectual, known for her counsel to civic leaders, including the Roman prefect Orestes
She was, quite simply, quite a woman!
Murder Most Foul
LADY OF LINCOLN Wins Book of the Year Award!
I can’t quite believe I’m posting this, but besides winning the Gold Medal for Historical Biographical Fiction, LADY OF LINCOLN won the Book of the Year Award in the Coffee Pot Book Club annual awards!
I’m so honoured that my novel has been recognised amongst such great fiction, and so pleased to have done the memory of NIcola de la Haye proud! 😀
LADY OF LINCOLN wins the Gold Medal Award!
I’m absolutely thrilled that LADY OF LINCOLN has won the Gold Medal in the Historical Biographical Fiction category in the Coffee Pot Book Club ‘Book of the Year’ awards!
I cannot thank the committee enough for recognising the novel, the hard work in putting it together, but also Nicola de la Haye’s story!
Medieval Succession: When Henry II’s Empire Imploded
When Succession first aired, audiences were transfixed by its portrait of a modern dynasty at war with itself: scheming heirs, a manipulative patriarch, and a fortune vast enough to make loyalty negotiable. But centuries before Logan Roy was terrifying his children in glass-walled boardrooms, another ruthless family feud was playing out across medieval Europe.
In 1173, the most powerful man in Christendom—King Henry II of England—faced a rebellion led not by rivals or barons, but by his own wife and sons. Chroniclers called it the Great Rebellion; historians often dub it the Revolt of the Eaglets, after the young “eagles” who turned on the parent bird.
And just like in Succession, the real question was: who inherits the empire?
Finalist in Book of the Year! 🥳
I was overwhelmed last night to receive this surprise email:
“I am pleased to announce that your book, Lady of Lincoln, is a Finalist in The Coffee Pot Book Club Book Of The Year Awards 2025.”
Lady of Lincoln is a finalist for Book of the Year Award with the Coffee Pot Book Club
I’m overjoyed and delighted. 🎊🎊🎊🎊🥂🥂🥂🥳🥳🥳
In particular, I’m so pleased that Nicola (Nicholaa) de la Haye’s story is gaining recognition! 🏰
Seeds of the Pomegranate by Suzanne Uttaro Samuels
I’m very pleased to be hosting Seeds of the Pomegranate on the blog tour today, a novel not just in the historical Fiction genre, but also women’s fiction, immigrant (Sicilian, no less…) fiction, heritage fiction, and gangland crime fiction!!
I’ve got an excerpt from the author (see below), but first, the blurb:
A gritty story of a woman learning to survive in 20th century Gangland New York
In early 20th-century Sicily, noblewoman Mimi Inglese, a talented painter, dreams of escaping the rigid expectations of her class by gaining admission to the Palermo Art Academy. But when she contracts tuberculosis, her ambitions are shattered. With the Sicilian nobility in decline, she and her family leave for New York City in search of a fresh start.
Instead of opportunity, Mimi is pulled into the dark underbelly of city life and her father’s money laundering scheme. When he is sent to prison, desperation forces her to put her artistic talent to a new use—counterfeiting $5 bills to keep her family from starvation and, perhaps, to one day reclaim her dream of painting. But as Gangland violence escalates and tragedy strikes, Mimi must summon the courage to flee before she is trapped forever in a life she never wanted.
From Sicily’s sun-bleached shores to the crowded streets of immigrant New York, Seeds of the Pomegranate is a story of courage, art, and the women who refused to disappear.
Zenobia of Palmyra: the Queen Who Defied Rome
In the third century CE, as Rome teetered on the brink of fragmentation, a woman from the desert city of Palmyra rose to challenge the empire itself.
Her name was Zenobia — scholar, strategist, queen, and for a brief, extraordinary moment, empress of the East.
Richard de Brito: The Forgotten Killer; and a very Dangerous Friend
In legend he struck the final blow; in fiction, he will cause a torrent of trouble for his friend William FitzErneis in Lady of Lincoln.
When Archbishop Thomas Becket was cut down before the altar of Canterbury Cathedral in December 1170, the man who delivered the fatal stroke was Richard de Brito—sometimes styled le Breton. His sword, witnesses said, split Becket’s skull so deeply that the blade snapped on the flagstones.
Unlike the other knights, de Brito cried out as he struck:
“Take that for the love of my lord William FitzEmpress!”
The words stunned those who heard them. He was killing the archbishop not in Henry II’s name, but in that of Henry’s brother—the late William FitzEmpress, Henry II’s brother.
Book Review: Ripples Through Time by Christina Courtenay
A fun timeslip modern-day and Viking era set romance novel, Christina Courtney’s tale ticks all the right boxes.
An attractive man and woman in modern day England, brought together by unhappy circumstances. An attractive Viking (Norse) man and a Saxon woman in England, brought together by unhappy circumstances.
There are family betrayals and jealousy, buried treasure, and two kind people, attracted to each other—in both timelines!
And did I mention the fantastic setting—Viking invaded Saxon England? Swords and axes, healing herbs, and ancient stone monuments to the dead...
What Remains is Hope by Bonnie Suchman
Today’s Coffee Pot Blog Tour features What Remains is Hope, a Holocaust saga. I’m providing an excerpt (see below), but first, take a look at the book description:
Beginning in 1930s Germany and based on their real lives, four cousins as close as siblings—Bettina, Trudi, Gustav, and Gertrud—share the experiences of the young, including first loves, marriages, and children.
Bettina, the oldest, struggles to help her parents with their failing business. Trudi dresses in the latest fashions and tries to make everything look beautiful. Gustav is an artist at heart and hopes to one day open a tailoring shop. Gertrud, the youngest, is forced by her parents to keep secrets, but that doesn’t stop her from chasing boys. However, over their seemingly ordinary lives hangs one critical truth—they’re Jewish—putting them increasingly at risk.
When World War II breaks out, the four are still in Germany or German-occupied lands, unable or unwilling to leave. How will these cousins avoid the horrors of the Nazi regime, a regime that wants them dead? Will they be able to avoid the deportations and concentration camps that have claimed their fellow Jews? Danger is their constant companion, and it will take hope and more to survive.
Vibia Sabina: Empress, Wife of Hadrian
I bet that if you think of Emperor Hadrian, you think about his great wall in the north of England. Possibly you might think of the Roman decadence of villas and statues made from marble. Yet beside him, often erased from the narrative, stood Vibia Sabina, his wife and Rome’s empress for more than four decades.
Her likeness survives on hundreds of coins, but her voice does not. She remains one of antiquity’s most silent women.
Ravenscourt by Samantha Ward-Smith
He wanted to be gone from the dark enclosing room, with its mocking misery, to be gone from this house of nightmares, of shattered dreams, and discovered secrets which could not be put back in the box.
Venice, 1880.
Alexander, Viscount Dundarran, seeks refuge from scandal amidst the fading grandeur of crumbling palazzos during the infamous Carnival in the city. There he encounters the enigmatic Lady Arabella Pembrook—a young, beautiful widow. Both are scarred by their pasts but find solace in each other and a chance at redemption.
But when duty calls Alexander back to England upon his father's death, a darker journey begins. Travelling to Ravenscourt, the decaying estate once belonging to Arabella’s late husband, Alexander must confront the house’s disturbing legacy which has echoed through the generations. Within its walls lie secrets that refuse to stay buried and will threaten everything he thought he knew. But can Alex uncover the truth in time?
Hugh de Morville: The Knight Who Would Not Repent
Lord of Westmorland and Knaresborough, de Morville escaped execution, but not history’s judgment.
When Thomas Becket fell beneath the knights’ swords on that winter night in Canterbury, Hugh de Morville was there, but whether he struck or simply stood aside remains one of history’s greyest shadows.
He was the oldest of the four and the most powerful: Lord of Westmorland and Knaresborough, baron of the north, and keeper of one of the most formidable castles in England. While Reginald FitzUrse raged, William de Tracy hesitated, and Richard de Brito delivered the fatal blow, de Morville watched . But his silence proved to be as damning as any sword.
Lady of Lincoln Receives a 5-Star Review from The Coffee Pot Book Club!
I’m absolutely delighted, and a little bit overwhelmed, to share that Lady of Lincoln has received a 5-star review from the highly respected Coffee Pot Book Club!
For those who don’t know, The Coffee Pot Book Club is one of the most trusted and independent voices in the historical fiction community, known for its thoughtful, in-depth reviews and support for authors who bring history vividly to life.
As a debut author, it’s both humbling and thrilling to have Lady of Lincoln recognised by such an esteemed platform.
Claudia Procula, Pontius Pilate’s wife
Most of us know Pontius Pilate — the Roman governor who condemned Jesus to death. But how many of us know the woman who tried to stop him?
Claudia Procula (sometimes called Procula or Procla) appears only once in the New Testament, yet her brief act of conscience made her one of the most intriguing women in early Christian history, a woman caught between empire, superstition, and moral conviction.
A Virtuoso in America: Adrian by Fred Raymond Goldman
Today’s Coffee Pot Blog Tour features A Virtuoso in America: Adrian, book two in the Holocaust-related series. I’m providing an excerpt (see below), but first, take a look at the book description.
How do you reconcile a decision you made in the past when the world erupts in war, threatening the life of someone you love and believe you were protecting?
Adrian Mazurek immigrated to the United States from Krakow, Poland, 14 years ago and is now a successful violin soloist and concertmaster of The Eleventh State Symphony Orchestra in New York. But despite his outward success, Adrian is inwardly harboring a shameful secret, one he has not revealed to anyone.
William de Tracy: The Penitent Knight of Canterbury
William de Tracy helped slay Thomas Becket—then sought forgiveness on a pilgrimage to Rome and the Holy Land. Can a murderer find redemption?
On that bitter December evening in 1170, when Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury, fell beneath four flashing swords, one of those four blades belonged to Sir William de Tracy. Chroniclers called him the calmest of the murderers; steady-handed, methodical, a man who believed he was acting under royal command. Yet for the rest of his life, remorse and infamy would drive him abroad.