Patricia Furstenberg, Writer of Historical Fiction, Children's Books
Travel via Stories
In my new historical fiction When Secrets Bloom out 27 June, Vlad Dracula is no more than a memory, but oh, what a memory he is. He haunts the story not as a specter of horror, but as a mentor whose shadow shaped the life of the novel’s protagonist, Kate, a Saxon healer caught between duty and accusation in 15th-century Transylvania.
Continue reading “What Would You Do if Vlad Dracula Wrote to You?”
Between oath and silence, two outcasts carry a kingdom’s oldest secret.
I’m thrilled to share that my newest historical fiction novel, Where Secrets Bloom, is now available for pre-order from Amazon worldwide for 0.99c / 0.99p!
Journey to 15th-century Transylvania, where Kate – a Saxon healer – faces accusations of witchcraft, and Moise – a young printing apprentice – finds himself entangled in a perilous weaving of secrets and shifting loyalties.
The e-book is ready for pre-order today from Amazon. Publication day: Friday 27 June!
I’ll keep you updated the moment the paperback and audiobook editions are released too.
Pressed Poppies is a short story told through two voices, echoing across the quiet space where hearts once met. It is a story of parting. A parting that is wordless, weighted, and irreversible. Where affection shrinks under the burden of duty or pain; where all that was left is unsaid. What remains is remembrance: delicate, haunting and full of questions. And red, as the poppies once shared.
Out on Spillwords Press today!
Join me on a wintry pilgrimage through the heart of Romania. Snow on the Tracks: Shadowing Vlad the Impaler to Sighișoara is a travel essay close to my heart, recently featured as a finalist in the Pilgrimages writing competition on Intrepid Times. This journey by train, from Bucharest to the birthplace of Vlad the Impaler, the medieval town of Sighisoara, threads through snow-dusted forests, ancestral echoes and the pulse of a country still shaped by its legends.
It’s a story of looking out the window. And into the past.
Read the full piece here: Snow on the Tracks: Shadowing Vlad the Impaler to Sighișoara.
With thanks to Intrepid Times for publishing my travel story and to my wonderful husband for supplying those gorgeous pictures.
History is often told through the stories of kings, rulers or warriors, yet behind these grand narratives are countless women whose lives shaped the country in profound and often unsung ways. We saw the surprising ways in which medieval Romanian queens shaped history, what strange laws defined women’s lives and what their life entailed.
But what about the unknown women from Romania’s prehistory, the classical era, and even modern times? The commoners who might not have held thrones or led armies but played pivotal roles in preserving traditions, influencing culture and driving change? You can read about them in my book Dreamland, which honors the legacies of these remarkable women whose impact, though often quiet, echoes through the pages of Romania’s history. Yo can discover a few of them here, on Women’s History Month.
Continue reading “Romanian Heroines from Dreamland, Women Whose Stories Made History”