The Kiss of the Concubine: The story of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn by Judith Arnopp

The Kiss of the Concubine:
The story of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn 
By Judith Arnopp

Publication Date: 15th October 2019
Publisher: Independently Published
Page Length: 342 Pages
Genre: Historical Fiction / Biographical Fiction

28th January 1547. 

It is almost midnight and the cream of the English nobility hold their breath as King Henry VIII prepares to face his God. As the royal physicians wring their hands and Archbishop Cranmer gallops through the frigid night, two dispossessed princesses pray for their father’s soul and a boy, soon to be king, snivels into his velvet sleeve. Time slows, and dread settles around the royal bed, the candles dip and something stirs in the darkness … something, or someone, who has come to tell the king it is time to pay his dues. The Kiss of the Concubine is the story of Anne Boleyn, second of Henry VIII’s queens.

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 The Kiss of the Concubine
HERE!

Judith Arnopp

 A lifelong history enthusiast and avid reader, Judith holds a BA in English/Creative writing and a Masters in Medieval Studies. She lives on the coast of West Wales where she writes both fiction and non-fiction. She is best known for her novels set in the Medieval and Tudor period, focussing on the perspective of historical women but recently she has written a trilogy from the perspective of Henry VIII himself. Judith is also a founder member of a re-enactment group called The Fyne Companye of Cambria which is when and why she began to experiment with sewing historical garments. She now makes clothes and accessories both for the group and others. She is not a professionally trained sewer but through trial, error and determination has learned how to make authentic looking, if not strictly historically accurate clothing. A non-fiction book about Tudor clothing, How to Dress like a Tudor, was published in 2023 by Pen and Sword. She runs a small seaside holiday let in Aberporth and when she has time for fun, likes to garden and restore antique doll’s houses. You can find her on most social media platforms. 

Her novels include:

A Song of Sixpence: the story of Elizabeth of York 

The Beaufort Chronicle: the life of Lady Margaret Beaufort (three book series) 

A Matter of Conscience: Henry VIII, the Aragon Years (Book One of The Henrician Chronicle) A Matter of Faith: Henry VIII, the Days of the Phoenix (Book Two of The Henrician Chronicle) A Matter of Time: Henry VIII, the Dying of the Light (Book Three of The Henrician Chronicle) The Kiss of the Concubine: a story of Anne Boleyn

The Winchester Goose: at the court of Henry VIII

Intractable Heart: the story of Katheryn Parr

Sisters of Arden: on the Pilgrimage of Grace

The Heretic Wind: the life of Mary Tudor, Queen of England

Peaceweaver

The Forest Dwellers

The Song of Heledd

The Book of Thornhold

A Daughter of Warwick: the story of Anne Neville, Queen of Richard III

Marguerite: Hell Hath no Fury (Coming soon) 

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The Light in the Labyrinth: The Last Days of Anne Boleyn (The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn Book 3) by Wendy J. Dunn

 

The Light in the Labyrinth: 

The Last Days of Anne Boleyn
(The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn Book 3) 
By Wendy J. Dunn

Publication Date: 7th September 2023

Publisher: Poesy Quill Publishing; 3rd edition

Page Length: 350

Genre: Historical Biographical Fiction

IN THE WINTER OF 1535, young Kate Carey lives with her mother and her new family, far from the royal court. Unhappy with her life and wanting to escape her home, she accepts the invitation of Anne Boleyn, the aunt she idolises, to join her household in London.

But the dark, dangerous labyrinth of Henry VIII’s court forces Kate to grow up fast as she witnesses her aunt’s final tragic days — and when she discovers a secret that changes her life forever.

All things must end—all things but love.

This new edition of The Light in the Labyrinth includes two short stories and a poem inspired by Catherine Carey.

Pick up your copy of

The Light in the Labyrinth: 

The Last Days of Anne Boleyn

HERE!

Wendy J. Dunn

Wendy J. Dunn is an award-winning Australian writer fascinated by Tudor history – so much so she was not surprised to discover a family connection to the Tudors, not long after the publication of her first Anne Boleyn novel, which narrated the Anne Boleyn story through the eyes of Sir Thomas Wyatt, the elder. Her family tree reveals the intriguing fact that one of her ancestral families – possibly over three generations – had purchased land from both the Boleyn and Wyatt families to build up their own holdings. It seems very likely Wendy’s ancestors knew the Wyatts and Boleyns personally. 

Wendy is married, the mother of three sons and one daughter—named after a certain Tudor queen, surprisingly, not Anne. She is also the grandmother of two amazing small boys. She gained her PhD in 2014 and loves walking in the footsteps of the historical people she gives voice to in her novels. Wendy also tutors at Swinburne University of Technology, Australia.

Connect with Wendy:

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The Ring: An anthology of historical short stories

The Ring:

An anthology of historical short stories

By Fiona Forsyth, Alistair Forrest, Jacquie Rogers, Alistair Tosh, Eleanor Swift-Hook, Mark Turnbull, Maggie Richell-Davies, Robert Bordas, Val Penny, Graham Brack

Publication Date: 1st May 2025

Publisher: Independently published

Page Length: 204

Genre:  Historical Fiction Anthologies

Forged over 2000 years ago, when Rome was still a republic, a simple gold ring was inscribed with the name and symbol of Fortuna, capricious goddess of fate. From the seven hills of Ancient Rome to the streets of modern day New York, the ring passes from hand to hand, through the centuries, shaping destinies and unveiling secrets.

A Roman patrician gambles his future on its luck. A crusading knight takes it from the finger of a slain foe. A child is gifted it by a soldier in the Thirty Years War and trusts it to keep her father safe. A jeweller takes it to America in the Gilded Age, seeking a new life. Each tale is a moment in time, a new wearer, and a twist of fate — sometimes fortune smiles, but all too often the ring brings ill luck.

In these stories, history seems driven by the will of chance. Those who possess the ring seek to shape their own destinies, but it is always Fortuna herself who has the final say.

A spellbinding anthology of interconnected short stories, where luck is never what it seems.

Pick up your copy of

The Ring

HERE!

Fiona Forsyth

I will never fully understand the Romans, and that is the challenge. 

I have loved the ancient world since I read my first Greek myth, Theseus and the Minotaur. After reading Classics at Oxford, I taught at a boys’ public school for twenty-five years, but then my family moved to Qatar. There wasn’t much call for Latin teachers, so I wrote, and now I am back in the UK, all the questions I have asked myself about the Romans over the years are turning into novels. 

I was once accused by a slightly indignant teenager of being in love with Cicero. This is not strictly true…

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Novice Threads (Silver Sampler Series Book 1) by Nancy Jardine

Novice Threads
(Silver Sampler Series Book 1)
By Nancy Jardine

Publication Date: 15th May 2024
Publisher: Nancy Jardine with Ocelot Press 
Page Length: 388 Pages
Genre: Historical Fiction

A thirst for education. Shattered dreams. Fragile relations.

1840s Scotland

Being sent to school is the most exhilarating thing that’s ever happened to young Margaret Law. She sharpens her newly-acquired education on her best friend, Jessie Morison, till Jessie is spirited away to become a scullery maid. But how can Margaret fulfil her visions of becoming a schoolteacher when her parents’ tailoring and drapery business suddenly collapses and she must find a job?

Salvation from domestic drudgery – or never-ending seamstress work – comes via Jessie whose employer seeks a tutor for his daughter. Free time exploring Edinburgh with Jessie is great fun, but increasing tension in the household claws at Margaret’s nerves.

Margaret also worries about her parents' estrangement, and the mystery of Jessie's unknown father.

When tragedy befalls the household in Edinburgh, Margaret must forge a new pathway for the future – though where will that be?

Pick up your copy of
Novice Threads
HERE!

Nancy Jardine

Nancy Jardine lives in the spectacular ‘Castle Country’ of Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Her main writing focus has, to date, been historical and time travel fiction set in Roman Britain, though she’s also published contemporary mystery novels with genealogy plots. If not writing, researching (an unending obsession), reading or gardening, her young grandchildren will probably be entertaining her, or she’ll be binge-watching historical films and series made for TV. 

She loves signing/ selling her novels at local events and gives author presentations locally across Aberdeenshire. These are generally about her novels or with a focus on Ancient Roman Scotland, presented to groups large and small. Zoom sessions have been an entertaining alternative to presenting face-to-face events during, and since, the Covid 19 pandemic restrictions.

Current memberships are with the Historical Novel Society; Scottish Association of Writers; Federation of Writers Scotland, Romantic Novelists Association and the Alliance of Independent Authors. She’s self-published with the author co-operative Ocelot Press.

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A Necessary Killing (William Constable Spy Thriller series Book 2) by Paul Walker

 

A Necessary Killing
(William Constable Spy Thriller series Book 2)
By Paul Walker

Publication Date: 23rd October 2019

Publisher: Sharpe Books 

Page Length: 279 Pages

Genre: Historical Fiction

1579.

William Constable - physician and unwilling spy - is in Plymouth waiting to sail to the New World. The expedition, led by renowned explorers and traders, John Hawkins and Sir Humphrey Gilbert, has already suffered birth pangs.

William's friend, Captain Charles Wicken, is accused of killing the son of a wealthy merchant, but the testimonies appear suspect. When William learns that Wicken is one of Walsingham’s agents he uncovers evidence to suggest the murder and Wicken’s naming are designed to conceal a plot of invasion - backed by Rome and Spain.

The sailing of the expedition's fleet is delayed while this threat is examined. William is despatched to St Malo, the lawless haunt of corsairs, to investigate. His betrothed, Helen Morton, together with the fleet, wait for his return.

Malign forces conspire to prevent William from carrying vital intelligence back to Plymouth.

William must evade enemy agents and unravel a tangle of duplicity if he is to survive - and prevent the invasion.

Pick up your copy of

 A Necessary Killing

HERE!

Paul Walker

Paul is married and lives in a village 30 miles north of London. Having worked in universities and run his own business, he is now a full-time writer of fiction and part-time director of an education trust. His writing in a garden shed is regularly disrupted by children and a growing number of grandchildren and dogs.

Paul writes historical fiction. He inherited his love of British history and historical fiction from his mother, who was an avid member of Richard III Society. The William Constable series of historical thrillers is based around real characters and events in the late sixteenth century. The first two books in the series - "State of Treason" and "A Necessary Killing" - were published in 2019. The third book, titled, "The Queen’s Devil", was published in the summer of 2020.

He took a diversion to the early 20th century and wrote a thriller based at the peace conference in Paris at the end of the First World War. "A Turbulent Peace" was published in 2022. Now, it's back to the sixteenth century and more Elizabethan intrigue for William Constable and his confederates.

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Sayonara, My Sweet by Lea O'Harra

 

Sayonara, My Sweet
By Lea O'Harra

 Publication Date: 8th May 2025

Publisher: Black Rose Writing

Page Length: 272

Genre: Crime / Thriller

In the summer of 1988, beautiful young Kaori Hirakata meets Hiroki Sato. She's from a wealthy, respected family living in a small town in Kyushu while he's a local boy from the wrong side of the tracks, but they fall in love, and she decides to run away with him.

Is it a case of love being blind? When Hiroki admits he once belonged to a yakuza gang in Tokyo, Kaori is horrified. She considers breaking up with him but changes her mind after he apologizes and brings her a box of chocolates.

Eavesdropping, her younger brother, Aki, hears the sister he adores begin to cough violently. Hiroki disappears before an ambulance arrives, but it's too late, and Kaori dies, poisoned by the chocolates he brought her. Unable to find the main suspect, the police cannot solve the case, and Kaori's grief-stricken family moves away.

Twelve years later, Aki returns, determined to find out who killed his sister. Putting himself in danger, he pursues various leads, questioning Kaori's friends and the local yakuza. But will stirring up the past cause only more pain? Or is there hope amid the ruins?

Pick up your copy of

Sayonara, My Sweet

HERE!

Lea O'Harra

Lea O'Harra is the pen name I adopted for my so-called 'Inspector Inoue mystery series,' which marked my first venture into crime fiction. It comprises 'Imperfect Strangers' (2015), 'Progeny' (2016), and 'Lady First' (2017). An American by birth, I have lived in rural Japan for the past forty years, and my books are as much dissections of the dark underbelly of Japanese society as murder mysteries. Endeavour Press (UK) originally published the Inspector Inoue series, but Sharpe Books (UK) has recently reissued it, along with a fourth thriller entitled 'Dead Reckoning,' a standalone set in the American Midwest, which was published in September 2022. Black Rose Writing (Texas) will publish my fifth crime fiction novel, entitled 'Sayonara, My Sweet,' in May 2025.

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DANGEREUSE: Grandmother of Eleanor of Aquitaine (Medieval Babes: Tales of Little-Known Ladies Book 10) by J.P. Reedman

DANGEREUSE: 

Grandmother of Eleanor of Aquitaine

(Medieval Babes: Tales of Little-Known Ladies Book 10)

By J.P. Reedman

Publication Date: 5th September 2022

Publisher: Independently Published

Page Length: 117

Genre: Historical Fiction

Red-haired, wild and full of strong opinions, Dangereuse de l'Isle Bouchard thinks her marriage to Viscount Aimery is the highest honour to which she can aspire.

But then she meets his liege lord, William, Duke of Aquitaine. William the Troubadour, a former Crusader, whose court is full of music, merriment and bawdiness. Everything Dangereuse craves.

Dangereuse and William embark on a secret affair--and soon he abducts her from her husband's castle and carries her off to Poitiers, where he installs her in the Maubergeon, a tower built especially for her within his palace.

With William's angry son and two former wives bent on revenge, life in Poitiers for the two lovers is never dull. Dangereuse decides to act as peacemaker, and arranges a marriage between William's boy, Will, and her own daughter Aenor from her union with Aimery. From this arrangement is born the most famous woman in medieval history-, a bold outspoken woman cast in her grandmother's mold--the indomitable Eleanor of Aquitaine.

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DANGEREUSE: 

Grandmother of Eleanor of Aquitaine

HERE!

J.P. Reedman

J.P. Reedman was born in Canada but has lived in the U.K. for nearly 30 years. 

Interests include folklore & anthropology, prehistoric archaeology (neolithic/bronze age Europe; ritual, burial & material culture), as well as The Wars of the Roses and the rest of the medieval era.

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Falling Pomegranate Seeds Duology: The Katherine of Aragon Story (Omnibus Edition) by Wendy J. Dunn

Falling Pomegranate Seeds Duology:

The Katherine of Aragon Story

(Omnibus Edition)

By Wendy J. Dunn

Publication Date: February 28th, 2025

Publisher: Poesy Quill

Pages: 1030

Genre: Historical Fiction / Tudor Fiction

In the Falling Pomegranate Seeds Duology, readers are transported to the rich historical tapestry of 15th and 16th-century Europe, where the lives of remarkable women unfold against the backdrop of political upheaval and personal struggles.

In the first book, beginning in 1490 Castile, Doña Beatriz Galindo, a passionate and respected scholar, serves as an advisor to Queen Isabel of Castile. Beatriz yearns for a life beyond the constraints imposed on women, desiring to control her own destiny. As she witnesses the Holy War led by Queen Isabel and her husband, King Ferdinand of Aragon, Beatriz dedicates herself to guiding Queen Isabel's youngest child, Catalina of Aragon, on her own path. Beatriz's role as a tutor and advisor becomes instrumental in shaping Catalina's future as she prepares to become England's queen.

Fast forward to the winter of 1539 in the second book, where María de Salinas, a dear friend and cousin of Catalina (now known as Katherine of Aragon), pens a heartfelt letter to her daughter, the Duchess of Suffolk. Unable to make the journey from her London home due to illness, María shares her life story, intricately woven with her experiences alongside Catalina. Their friendship has endured through exile and tumultuous times. María seeks to shed light for her daughter on the choices she has made in a story exploring themes of friendship, betrayal, hatred, and forgiveness.

Through María's narrative, the eternal question Will love ultimately triumph?

Praise for Falling Pomegranate Seeds: The Duty of Daughters (Book #1):

"...this profoundly moving story helps us appreciate today's more enlightened world. The Duty of Daughters is historical fiction at its best!"
~ Readers’ Favorite ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Excerpt

With a short laugh, Isabel’s arms tightened around her youngest sister. “Catalina, listen. Portugal is not so far away that I cannot ever come home. In any case, I know my duty and do it willingly.”

Catalina grabbed her sister’s habito, as if she wouldn’t let her go. Isabel frowned and shook her head, not one strand of hair daring to shift from its rightful place. “When you’re older, you too will do your duty and marry your English prince. You will not fail God or your country then. I will not fail it now.”

Gently Isabel extricated Catalina from her arms and dried her sister’s tears. A finger under Catalina’s chin, she forced her small sister to look at her.

“Child, needless weeping is not for Castilian princesses.” Isabel looked at the queen with pride. “Especially hijas of our mother, the greatest queen ever known to Christendom. And what reason for tears? I am happy to wed Alfonso. I learnt to love him long ago and go to him with joy in my heart.”

 From The Duty of Daughters

Pick up your copy of

Falling Pomegranate Seeds Duology:

The Katherine of Aragon Story

HERE!

Wendy J. Dunn

Wendy J. Dunn is an award-winning Australian writer fascinated by Tudor history – so much so she was not surprised to discover a family connection to the Tudors, not long after the publication of her first Anne Boleyn novel, which narrated the Anne Boleyn story through the eyes of Sir Thomas Wyatt, the elder.

Her family tree reveals the intriguing fact that one of her ancestral families – possibly over three generations – had purchased land from both the Boleyn and Wyatt families to build up their own holdings.

It seems very likely Wendy’s ancestors knew the Wyatts and Boleyns personally.

Connect with Wendy J. Dunn:

Website • Facebook • Instagram • Threads 

Amazon Author Page • BookBub • Goodreads

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