For over a year I have been posting information about the venues in which the first six novels of my Lady Apollonia West Country Mysteries have been set. I have supplemented these posts with others about some medieval phenomenon such as the plague which has appeared in one of my stories. I have also posted links for purchasing paperback or ebook versions of my books.
These blog posts have been supplemented with posts on three Facebook pages: My own Ellen Foster author page, a Lady Apollonia page, and the personal page of my husband, Louis Foster. Each of these Facebook postings has included a short text along with one or two pictures. Most of the pictures were taken by my husband in the parts of the West Country of England which I have described in my blog.
Currently I am writing the seventh and last novel in the series, Usurper’s Curse. It is set in Lady Apollonia’s home village of Aust in 1408 but has many scenes set in London at the time of King Henry IV, the usurper who deposed King Richard II in 1399. There will be more to say in future blog posts about the new story when it is closer to publication.
Meanwhile, I intend to use this blog in the coming months to discuss some general topics about medieval England. I plan to base my postings on the table of contents in Ian Mortimer’s book, The Time Traveller’s Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century. The front jacket cover of the American edition is pictured above. Ian Mortimer has also written other books dealing with my period. One that I have found these to be very helpful in my current project is The Fears of Henry IV: The life of England’s Self-Made King.
Topics for my monthly postings will include the landscape, the people, the medieval character, basic elements, what to wear, travelling, where to stay, what to eat and drink, health and hygiene, the law, and what to do. As I deal with these topics I hope to relate them to my stories. Next month the topic will be the medieval landscape of England.
Tags: Chaucer's England, historical fiction, medieval mysteries