by Roseanna White | Jun 5, 2013 | 17th-19th Centuries, Remember When Wednesdays
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| Versailles, the setting of Fairchild’s Lady |
Since I’m still celebrating the release of this free novella, I thought today I’d chat a bit about its setting. A departure from my American-set historicals that take up the rest of the series, this one follows Isaac Fairchild, a character everyone seemed to love in
Ring of Secrets, on another covert assignment–in France, on the eve of revolution.
Being a history lover, it was fun for me to find another war to set this little book around, one that has certainly been the backdrop of its fair share of books! In a novella I obviously didn’t have the time to explore much of the revolution that turned into the Terror, so I decided to keep it simple and have Fairchild travel to Versailles at the very beginning of the uprising, climaxing at the storming of the Bastille.
France, you see, was in rather dire financial straits. Bankrupt. They tried to balance things out a bit by raising the taxes on the rich, but the nobility simply refused to pay them. (American-me has a hard time imagining an entire class just saying, “No thanks. I think I won’t pay that higher rate.” LOL) Which means the poor had to take up the slack…but couldn’t. So while the rich were partying in style at Versailles, their villeins were starving mere miles away–and because the court was so cut off from the rest of the country, being ensconced as they were in the palace, many of them didn’t even know.
The class system in France were broken up into Estates. The First Estate being the priests, the Second the nobility, and the Third the commoners. Well, right about then a special meeting was called, called the Estates General. They were all getting together to figure this thing out. Revolution, officially, wasn’t on the agenda. But the Third Estate had had enough. They rejected that name, called themselves an assembly instead and basically held the court hostage, saying they wouldn’t budge until they were given a constitution.
Though the Revolution quickly escalated and turned far bloodier than America’s was, at the start, they had no interest in ousting their king–they loved him. They merely wanted him to recognize them as something more than a servant class, something deserving of a fair chance. And for a while after they stormed the old prison (which was more armory than prison at that point), they were happy with Louis’s overtures…until they weren’t anymore.
Fairchild’s Lady ends soon after the rioting in the streets of Paris that day when the Bastille was fired upon, but hovering over the story is that certain knowledge that in the coming months and years, anyone with noble blood had to either flee…or face the guillotine.
I also got to weave this into the next full Culper Ring book,
Whispers from the Shadows, which CBD will have in stock in less than a month (woo hoo!!!). Not only is my heroine the daughter of these folks from
Fairchild’s Lady, but my hero’s best friend came from a family of French nobility who fled to America at the start of the French Revolution. Alain Arnaud was a lot of fun to write, and I hope everyone enjoys his brooding Gallic attitude as much as I did. 😉
Vive le France!
by Roseanna White | Jun 3, 2013 | Word of the Week
First, have you grabbed your free copy Fairchild’s Lady yet? If not, check out Saturday’s post for all the links to your choice of retailers!
Now onto the Word of the Week. =) This will be short but sweet. Carnival. I confess that when I see the word, I mostly think of a fair. But carnival in fact has its roots far more firmly in the famous Brazilian celebration–meaning literally “goodbye, meat!” in Latin, it has been a time of merrymaking before Lent since the 1540s.
Color me surprised. I really had no idea the pre-Lent festival was so old! The more generic “fair” meaning didn’t actually come around until the 1930s.
Have a lovely Monday, all! We’re heading back to Johns Hopkins today for Xoe’s follow-up. Prayers appreciated that her arm is healing up perfectly! =)
by Roseanna White | Jun 1, 2013 | Uncategorized
This bonus romantic novella is set in the
intervening years between Ring of Secrets and Whispers from the Shadows
by Roseanna M. White. In 1789 General Isaac Fairchild travels across the
Channel on a very special assignment. After surviving the American
Revolution, he is now gathering information on life at King Louis XVI’s
court. But he must also locate a countess and her grown daughter and
escort them back to England before revolution explodes in France. He
knows danger is in the task set before him, but when he meets the
beautiful Julienne, a new peril beckons him deeper into the intrigue of
Versailles.
I’m really excited about this little story. =) After reading Ring of Secrets, my critique partners and editor all wanted to know what happened to Fairchild in the years between RoS and Whispers from the Shadows, so I was thrilled to be given the chance to write his love story–and to offer it for free!
You can download it at Amazon, CBD, B&N, iTunes, and GooglePlay. (I’ll post other links as they go live!)
And if you really want to make my day (wink, wink), please share about it with your friends on Facebook, Twitter, etc. I hope you enjoy it!
by Roseanna White | May 30, 2013 | Thoughtful Thursdays, Uncategorized
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| The Dance Class by Edgar Degas |
It’s a crazy-busy week around here right now, with everything from kids’ checkups to Xoe’s follow-up at Johns Hopkins on Monday. We have ballet rehearsal, ballet recital, I have a book talk on the free night between those…I’ve got book club and my checkup, dentist appointments and normal stuff for church. Oh, and in the midst of all that, I’ve got to get one title for WhiteFire edited, another laid out for press, final edits prepared on a third, and proof approval on a fourth.
Let’s not even look ahead to next week, when I have to start cutting my behemoth of a manuscript by 35K words. (Insert weeping and gnashing of teeth here.)
I’m a little busy. A little overwhelmed. And I don’t know about you, but when I get busy and overwhelmed, I get this strange sensation…I start to feel alone. Like the world is a sea tossing around me, and I’m all by myself on this little boat, just trying to stay afloat. The more emails I answer, the more I wonder why no one is really writing me…the more alerts I get on Facebook, the more it seems no one is paying attention. The more guest-posts I write for blogs, the more I feel like I’m talking into a vacuum. The more appointments I have, the fewer people I seem to see.
This is nothing but illusion in a lot of ways, a trick of my overwhelmed mind, and I know exactly where it comes from. Because in these times of super-busyness, of overwhelm, everything I usually love just feels like One Thing More. One thing more to do that isn’t helping me do what already needs done. One more decision. One more task. One more tap of the fingers on the keyboard.
As I got up this morning with that cloud of To Dos hanging over me, I said a little prayer for some help through it. And I heard a little reminder in the recesses of my mind. Be still.
I’ve always loved that verse–Be still, and know that I am God. It speaks to so much, doesn’t it? And in context it’s even better.
Come, behold the works of the Lord,
Who has made desolations in the earth.
9 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two;
He burns the chariot in the fire.
10 Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!
~Psalm 46:8-10
Today, you know what that means to me? That all our strife, all our work, all our mighty deeds are nothing. He makes it nothing. He brings peace where there is none. He wipes out where we build up. But he builds up where we would wipe out. And sometimes, He just wants us to stop so that he can work.
It’s a busy time of year for most of us. So much to do, and not doing it isn’t much of an option. But in this crazy weekend, I’m pausing. For just a breath, just a prayer, just a moment. I’m going to be still and give my heart and all its overwhelm to him. Knowing, trusting that whether I succeed or fail, whether I go or stop, whether I cry or laugh, He is God. He will be exalted among the nations. He will be exalted in the earth.
That means in me, too. I exalt you, Lord. May that remain always the task on the top of my list. My top priority. My anchor on those raging seas. I exalt You.
by Roseanna White | May 29, 2013 | 17th-19th Centuries, Remember When Wednesdays
Have I mentioned yet that I metaphorically typed The End last week? =) I did! Finished up Circle of Spies on Friday, so join me in a victorious “Woot!” LOL
I’m sure I have something fun I learned in the final research for that, but yesterday I hurriedly prepared a post I’d forgotten to do beforehand in the rush of that final stretch of CoS, so I thought I’d share that instead. 😉
Did you realize that we’re currently in the 200th Anniversary of the War of 1812? Yep! It will stretch into the beginning of 2015, though I’m especially glad to celebrate the events of late 1814, including the Battle of Fort McHenry–the event that serves as the backdrop for the climax of Whispers from the Shadows. This is a war that’s been largely forgotten, which is kinda sad. Today I’m talking a bit about it on Regency Reflections–please stop over and say hello!
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The Chasseur, one of the most famous privateers of the War of 1812. This Baltimore
captain harassed the British merchant fleet in their own waters. |
You know, it’s really kind of funny. When reading the Regency-set
novels I so love, I often find references to the on-going war with
France and the audacity of Napoleon. Only rarely, however, do we see the
British perspective of another war going on at the same time, one with
the upstart Colonists that had declared their independence a generation
before. Even America often forgets their War of 1812, and in
Europe…well, it tends to dim in comparison to the Napoleonic Wars. It’s
become overlooked by both sides. But oh, how interesting it is! Read the Full Article
Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. Having successfully launched two homeschool grads, she now spends her time writing fiction, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years, as well as a fantasy series and contemporary mysteries and romances. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary.