Patricia Furstenberg, Writer of Historical Fiction, Children's Books
Travel via Stories
History is not forged in glory. It is hammered into shape through mud, hunger, and the stubborn refusal to yield even when reason demands it. But, when the world demands you choose a side, what part of yourself are you willing to lose?
Within our historical fiction anthology Courage: Tales of History, Mystery and Hope Derek Birks includes an evocative story.
Continue reading “Rebel Sword by Derek Birks, When Choosing Means Losing”
Long before Bram Stoker wrote Dracula there was Vlad the Impaler: voivode of Wallachia, enemy of the Ottomans, ruler feared as much for his punishments as for his political cunning.
This is the Vlad who moves through the pages of When Secrets Bloom and Kate’s Letter, included in the Courage Anthology out 17 JUNE. Vlad the man, consumed by passions and hidden fears—not as a figure of legend already swallowed by bats and myth. A man still anchored in the hard geography of his own century.
Continue reading “Vlad the Impaler and How Dracula’s Epic Shadow Was Made”
There is something haunting about an old letter.
While writing Kate’s Letter for the anthology Courage: Tales of History, Mystery and Hope (OUT JUNE 17), I found myself drawn not only to the emotions within the letter, but to the physical reality of medieval correspondence itself. How did people protect private messages before envelopes existed? What did secrecy look like in an age of spies, kingdoms, and fragile loyalties?
Continue reading “What Did Medieval Epistles Really Look Like? And Kate’s Surprise Letter”
Some conversations are like a shared meal: nourishing, layered with memory and meaning. When Robbie Cheadle speaks about the books she reads she does so, with generosity. With Robbie, reading and cooking meet at the same table.
In her thoughtful feature of When Secrets Bloom on Latinos USA simple pleasures take centre stage: the turning of a page, the slow preparation of food, the way both acts bind us to history and to one another.
Continue reading “Simmering Stories: Robbie Cheadle Reviews When Secrets Bloom and I Share a Historical Recipe”
There are endings that close a story and there are endings that open something far larger, echoing like footsteps across a void road. When an empire falls what truly ends… and what quietly survives?
Within our historical fiction anthology Courage: Tales of History, Mystery and Hope Marian L. Thorpe shares a remarkable story.
Continue reading “Empire’s Passing by Marian L. Thorpe: How to Live the Passing of an Era”