The Tudor Fair Blog
How Scotland arrived in Westminster
This week I’ve been re-reading Alison Weir’s The Lost Tudor Princess, Alison Weir’s book about Margaret Douglas, Henry VIII’s niece via his sister Margaret, who married the King of Scotland. When her husband died, she married again for love, and had Margaret, who, because she was born on English soil became a…
Teba: A Spanish Castle with a Scottish History
A crumbling castle in rural Andalusia with a Scottish history? And you can go wander around for free, and it only costs like €2 to get in to the building itself? Say what? Yep, that’s the Castle of the Stars at Teba. Teba itself is a pueblo blanco (white village –…
Everything New is Old Again: The ORA Choir launch
In about a week and a half I’m going back to London to attend (and write about) the launch of the ORA Singers, a new choir that is based on commissioning contemporary composers write reimagined reflections of Tudor masterworks. Full disclosure – I know Suzi Digby, the founder. About 5 years…
In which I connect the Spanish Armada and Hannah’s Move to a Big Girl Bed
I just spent the morning recording and pushing out a new podcast episode on the summer of 1588 when England successfully defended her borders from the Spanish Armada, intent on invading and overthrowing Protestant Elizabeth. At the same time, my babygirl is transitioning from her crib into a big girl…
The Mystical Magical Lindisfarne
I had this idea that January would be a good time to journey to the wilds of Northumberland to commune with my internal monks and vikings in the magical Holy Island, Lindisfarne. And I was right. Lindisfarne is a small island off the coast of Northumberland near Berwick upon Tweed,…
Historical Fiction Book Review: The Arrow of Sherwood by Lauren Johnson
Lauren Johnson is a medieval historian and consultant for Past Pleasures (the UK’s oldest costumed interpretation company) and a storyteller who has appeared on radio and TV. For all those reasons, I was excited to read her origin story about Robin Hood, and had high expectations for the history. In…
Drake’s Cadiz Raid: A Daring Bit of Badassery
I’m ashamed of how much I love Francis Drake. His daring badassery appeals to the baser sense of myself. The same part that watches Donald Trump’s campaign just because I keep wondering if he’s serious. Francis Drake is famous for being on the second man to captain a ship that…
Winter Music: The Irony of Harsh Darkness and Cozy Delight
It’s winter. Even here in Andalusia, the nights are bitterly cold, and the rain we got at the beginning of the week soaked through my bones and practically froze me. It’s time for big pots of chili and hot cocoa. Now that the holidays are over, we can get thoroughly…
Writing about Writing: The Fiction #NaNoWriMo Quest
It’s been a while since I’ve written about writing. With my babyloss memoir, the NetGalley Marketing Experiment has about a month left in it, and I’m continuing to get really good feedback, which makes me feel validated, but hasn’t resulted in a lot of book sales yet. In fact, I…
Renaissance Christmas Traditions
I’ve been spending much of December immersed in the holiday traditions of Renaissance England. That’s because I’ve been posting new bits of holiday goodness to the digital advent calendar I sent to all the mailing list subscribers at the beginning of the month. (Still want in? Sign up for the…
A Week in London at Christmas with a Toddler
So I’ve been negligent in posting lately (I’m getting back on top of that – thanks for sticking with me). I got back from a week in London with a 2 year old, which is no small feat, let me tell you. And on top of it all, the first…
New Podcast Up
So I just posted a fresh podcast on the Iron industry in the Weald of Kent in the 16th century. It’s an area I’m interested in, as I explain in the podcast, because one of the things that I really find most fascinating about the 16th century is the movement…