Tudor Fiction

Spanish Netherlands, 1620s: raised by her father Lucas to know her mind, Antonia Vorsterman sees everything that goes on in her world—all the rivalries and jealousies that course through the artists' studios and workshops of Antwerp. Drawn into the lively household of the artist Peter Paul Rubens, whose work her father engraves for a living, Antonia begins to see a life of colour and possibility for herself—until Lucas entrusts her with a terrible secret that will alter the course of their family's future.

1326: Queen Isabella refuses to leave France and humiliates her husband, King Edward II, by flaunting her adulterous relationship with the arch-traitor Sir Roger Mortimer. The King is furious when he hears she has also betrothed their son to the daughter of the French Count of Hainault, and all England fears invasion. As news of an invasion fleet is received, the King’s knights, including Sir Baldwin de Furnshill, are commanded to London to protect the King and his realm.

With the death of her aunt, the narrator is left to sift through an apartment full of faded photographs, old postcards, letters, diaries, and heaps of souvenirs: a withered repository of a century of life in Russia. Carefully reassembled with calm, steady hands, these shards tell the story of how a seemingly ordinary Jewish family somehow managed to survive the myriad persecutions and repressions of the last century. In dialogue with writers like Roland Barthes, W. G. Sebald, Susan Sontag, and Osip Mandelstam, In Memory of Memory is imbued with rare intellectual curiosity and a poetic voice.

The house was built in the Old Queen's time: built for an Elizabethan pirate who was knighted for the plunder he brought home. It survived many eras, many reigns: it saw the passing of Cromwell and the Civil War. It became rich with an Indian Nabob and poor with a 20th century innkeeper. It saw wars, and lovers, and death. Children were born there, both heirs and bastards. It had ghosts and legends and a history that grew stranger with every generation.

Bree Johnston has given up trying to be the perfect lawyer. It's time to focus on her own dreams, so she decides to leave the city and set up an alpaca farm and wool shop. Her grandmother Rose might be her only supporter, but that's fine. Bree's done trying to win her parents' approval. She finds the perfect property in the charming small town of Wagtail Ridge but gets more than she bargained for when sparks start flying with the handsome real estate agent.

Forty years ago, Exeter's Cathedral Close was the scene of a vicious ambush. Afterwards, the bodies left lying in their blood bore witness to the conflicts tearing at the heart of the cathedral itself. Today, in 1323, murder is again polluting the Cathedral Close - but this killer is not so easily caught. The victim, Henry Potell, was feared and hated; he held secrets that some wished to keep hidden....

Roger Mortimer was once the king’s most able commander, but now he is his most hated enemy. Escaping from the tower, Mortimer made his way to France and has hired an assassin to murder the king - but others have the same idea. As the body of a local craftsman and that of a king’s messenger who was carrying a dangerous secret are found in the city’s streets, Sir Baldwin de Furnshill and his friend, Bailiff Simon Puttock, are asked by the bishop to find out who is responsible. But when murderers can use magic, no one is safe....

One tiny discovery can have enormous consequences.... Almost 10-year-old Octavia Bloom is looking for adventure, but when it comes, it's in the shape of a tiny fairy door. Dragging her reluctant sister and cousins into the mystery, Octavia discovers her family are hiding not one but two life-changing secrets.

When King Edward II is informed that his wife, Queen Isabella, has defied him and remained in France with their son, he flies into a rage. It is Sir Baldwin de Furnshill and his friend Bailiff Simon Puttock who have broken the news to him and are now no longer in the king’s favour. They return to their homes in Devon, but they find that outlaws hold sway in the land. Sir Robert, a knight from the King’s household, has turned outlaw from his castle near Crediton. When a pair of clerics are found murdered, Baldwin and Simon are asked to investigate.

1325: Sir Baldwin de Furnshill and his friend Simon Puttock are sent to France to guard the King’s son. The King’s son must pay homage to the French King if he is to enable the English to keep hold of vital territory, but they are unaware that King Edward’s wife, Isabella, has grown so disaffected that she has begun to plot her revenge.

Frenchwoman Avril Montdidier is on a mission: to emigrate to Australia and start her own fashion business, leaving the tragedies of the Second World War behind her. She has family in Melbourne and an apprenticeship at Dior in Paris under her tailored belt, so the future seems bright. Avril settles into 1950s Melbourne and makes friends and contacts for her business-to-be. But just as she's ready to begin, an event in her personal life forces her to make the difficult decision to flee to a cattle station in southern Queensland to work as a nanny. It is here Avril meets Tim.

It is 1601 and Queen Elizabeth I is dying. Will Marsden lives in Marsden Manor in the north of England. Will is training to be a knight and listens avidly to the true tales of adventure and intrigue told by the family every night around the roaring fire. When a visitor arrives bearing letters from the dying Queen to James VI of Scotland and a body is found in the woods soon after, Will sets out to find the murderer, helped by Meg, the quick-witted serving girl.

UN surgeon Rachel Forester is posted at a remote medical clinic deep in the jungle of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. With violence escalating in the region, Dr Forester risks her life by remaining to tend an injured child while the rest of her team evacuates. On the cusp of her final desperate chance to leave, a soldier is carried into the camp by three other members of his unit, his condition so critical, his airlift must take priority over hers.

When successful Sydney lawyer Miranda McIntyre searches for something old to go with her wedding dress, she remembers an antique necklace from her childhood. Her mother’s denial of its existence only deepens Miranda’s curiosity, but the discovery of a faded wedding photo and an old newspaper clipping reveal long-buried family secrets. Who is the woman in the photo? And why are these keepsakes hidden in her mother’s closet? Miranda’s quest for the truth takes her on a road trip, south to the idyllic seaside village of Pelican Point.

Otto Bloom has had an interesting start to his life, having been shielded in Fairy Land until a cure for the curse he was under could be found. Now he is back with his family, the Blooms. As an illness makes him feel low, he becomes riddled with doubts about his place in the family. He is caught off guard when an urgent message arrives from Fairy Land. Feeling like this is his time to step up to save his family, Otto makes a decision that will have dire consequences. Otto will need to believe in himself and the power of family in a bid to finally rid Fairy Land of its darkest threat.

Neil Munro (1863-1930) was a Scottish journalist, newspaper editor, author and literary critic who is now mainly known for his humorous short stories. 'The Tudor Cup' is an amusing tale based on stereotypes. Two crooked London art dealers are set on swindling an eccentric Scottish Laird of a valuable artefact in his collection: a Tudor cup of silver. A similar cup had sold recently at Sotheby's for a small fortune. But the canny Scot sees straight through the swindle and manages to double-cross the duo quite ingeniously.

Trudi Gerster (1919-2013) war die bekannteste Märchenerzählerin der Schweiz, Schauspielerin und Politikerin. 70 Jahre lang stand sie auf der Bühne und berührte mit ihrer einzigartigen Erzählkunst Hunderttausende von Menschen. Sie sammelte und bearbeite Geschichten aus aller Welt. Trudi Gerster setzte ihre Stimme auch politisch ein und trat 1968 mit den ersten Frauen in den Grossen Rat in Basel Stadt ein. Sie engagierte sich für Frauenrechte, Umweltschutz, Kultur, fairere Bedingungen für Kulturschaffende und Heimatschutz.

Trudi Gerster (1919-2013) war die bekannteste Märchenerzählerin der Schweiz, Schauspielerin und Politikerin. 70 Jahre lang stand sie auf der Bühne und berührte mit ihrer einzigartigen Erzählkunst Hunderttausende von Menschen. Sie sammelte und bearbeite Geschichten aus aller Welt. Trudi Gerster setzte ihre Stimme auch politisch ein und trat 1968 mit den ersten Frauen in den Grossen Rat in Basel Stadt ein. Sie engagierte sich für Frauenrechte, Umweltschutz, Kultur, fairere Bedingungen für Kulturschaffende und Heimatschutz.

Trudi Gerster (1919-2013) war die bekannteste Märchenerzählerin der Schweiz, Schauspielerin und Politikerin. 70 Jahre lang stand sie auf der Bühne und berührte mit ihrer einzigartigen Erzählkunst Hunderttausende von Menschen. Sie sammelte und bearbeite Geschichten aus aller Welt. Trudi Gerster setzte ihre Stimme auch politisch ein und trat 1968 mit den ersten Frauen in den Grossen Rat in Basel Stadt ein. Sie engagierte sich für Frauenrechte, Umweltschutz, Kultur, fairere Bedingungen für Kulturschaffende und Heimatschutz.

1850 Sarah Hallow is orphaned, penniless and alone, with only the skills learned from her midwife mother to guide her. Passage on a ship bound for the new settlement of Brisbane, Australia, is her last option. Though her skills are quickly dismissed by the ship's doctor, Sarah is pleased to find instant friendship with her cabin mate, Bridie, a fiery Irish girl with a sharp tongue and midwifery skills of her own. When the two women come to the aid of a labouring woman onboard, Sarah's dreams of opening her own midwifery practice in Brisbane don't seem so impossible.