Forever Amber by Kathleen Winsor

 Forever Amber by Kathleen Winsor

This novel was originally published in 1944 and republished several times. It was once banned for its sheer decadence. Young Amber falls in love with a man she can never have. She is left pregnant and abandoned in London. She is beautiful and witty and uses her feminine wiles to charm and sleep her way from farm girl to mistress of the king, gaining a fortune and titles all the way, all in the pursuit of Lord Bruce Carlton. The novel is often described as a timeless romance; however, this description is somewhat misleading. I would classify the relationship between Lord Carlton and Amber St. Clare as a seventeenth-century stalker novel.

A Respectable Trade by Philippa Gregory

This novel is far from what I’ve come to expect from Philippa Gregory. It was different and a surprisingly emotional read from beginning to end. Great characterization. I felt as if I knew these people and all of them touched me in one way or another. These are characters that I won’t soon forget. I enjoyed this novel and highly recommend it to historical fiction lovers.

The Wild Hunt by Elizabeth Chadwick

Medieval Britain, set in the Welsh border marches in 1098, a tantalizing love story emerges amid warring kingdoms. Ruthless land barons fight for dominance, while a young girl comes of age. This is a time when marriages are arranged and couples may not even know each other before vows are made before God. This novel was short and sweet and I loved every word. 

This is the story of Queen Juana of Spain, the second daughter of Queen Isabell I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon. She was known as the Mad Queen. Whether there was real mental illness or not, this novel gives some insight into a life that is full of tragedy and heartbreak. Queen Juana is stronger than her foes anticipate. From the beginning of her arranged marriage to a Flanders Prince, she is manipulated and betrayed by the very men who promised to love and cherish her. When Queen Isabell dies, Juana holds the prize that the men in her life are determined to have, her crown. She is used, abused, and manipulated, to assuage the power struggle for the men in her life, however, she refuses to abdicate her throne in the face of grave consequences.

Birth of the Legacy Series

 

I am sometimes asked if the first book in the Legacy Series, The Vance Legacy, is autobiographical. It isn’t. The Legacy stories are the result of historical research, a creative imagination, and a passion for storytelling. I think some people would feel more comfortable with the stories if they were autobiographical. Years after the great success of Alex Haley’s“Roots,” he admitted that the dialogue and incidents were fiction, although he had reportedly traced his roots back to his ancestor, Kunta Kinte. The Legacy stories are no more autobiographical than any other novel of the same genre, "Roots", "Gone with the Wind," and "The Kitchen House," etc.

All historical fiction is based on some historical fact. The black concubine on southern plantations is a well-known fact. This is one of the things that sparked my imagination. I learned that not all liaisons between planters and slaves were the result of assault. I began to wonder what would happen if the planter was actually in love with his slave, as was suspected in the relationship between Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson. What if Mammy in "Gone With the Wind" had been a statuesque woman of color whose beauty was captivating? To what lengths would the planter’s wife go to win her husband back from the arms of his slave? These questions sent my imagination soaring and produced the first novel. "The Vance Legacy" is at its' core a story of forbidden love and the consequences of lies and betrayal.

When "The Vance Legacy" came to an end, I really believed that the story was over. However, some of my readers questioned what happened to the three main female characters. A sequel never occurred to me until readers began to ask when the next novel was coming. I had to resurrect those characters at the point where they were abandoned. Readers consistently asked, "What happens to Lillian and Rebecca?" and "Will Beth return home to Philadelphia?" I began to ponder these questions as well. I wondered how Lillian and her daughter would navigate through the world as free women of color and what difficulties or obstacles they may face in the future. These are the questions that are answered in the second novel of the Legacy Series, "Dark Legacy."

About the same time that "Dark Legacy" came to an end, I read about a group of archeology students from the University of Pennsylvania who were excavating a site in Burlington County, New Jersey. They were able to uncover the remnants of an all-black town called Timbuctoo. The town was a stop on the Underground Railroad. The timeline of the Legacy novels would lead me to close the series at the end of the Civil War. An all-black town, a stop on the Underground Railroad, and the Civil War were all historical facts that would be the building blocks of a great historical novel. I began work on "The Bowman Legacy, Not For Sale" almost as soon as Dark Legacy was published.

The Vance Legacy details the consequences that ensue when a thirty-year-old lie comes to light, revealing a dangerous family secret. This American moves from class separation in old Philadelphia society to the violent dogma of an 1830s southern tobacco plantation.

The Legacy Continues . . .

The three Vance women leave the devastation of Virginia for a new life in Philadelphia. While Lillian is blessed to find the first friendship she has ever known and Beth embarks on a promising romance, Rebecca is deluded into thinking that with her light skin and green eyes, she would be able to blend into white society. It is a delusion that will put her life in jeopardy. 

The Bowman Legacy, Not For Sale is a novel of love, freedom, and war.

This story chronicles the lives of people who bravely survived the atrocities of slavery and subsequently worked hard to help others find freedom before the end of slavery. The young men of Timbuctoo, New Jersey, eagerly joined the Union Army and bravely fought to end slavery The War will change all their lives forever.

All novels are available on Amazon.com