 I’m honoured and delighted to welcome Elisabeth Storrs to the blog today – a longstanding historical fiction writing friend. Elisabeth has a great love for history and myths. She is the award-winning author of A Tale of Ancient Rome trilogy which was endorsed by Ursula Le Guin, Kate Quinn and Ben Kane.
Now her obsession lies with Trojan treasure and twisted Germanic prehistory in her new release, Fables & Lies: A World War II Novel. Elisabeth is also the founder of the Historical Novel Society Australasia and the $155,000 ARA Historical Novel Prize. She lives in Sydney with her husband in a house surrounded by jacarandas.
I was keen to read Elisabeth’s new novel Fables & Lies set in 1930s and 1940s Germany as my MA dissertation investigated the status of young women who entered the German armed forces at the time. The whole role of women changed radically over the period. But the real lessons are about how people can be misled and seduced politically and when disillusion sets in, how to survive as a woman under a repressive and misogynistic society.
Over to Elisabeth!
Fables & Lies follows the journey of Freyja Bremer; a Berlin museum assistant who is a child of the Reich. Her eyes are opened when she falls in love with archaeologist, Darien Lessing, who shows her the rot beneath the Nazi Regime’s lies. Their love story, and efforts to safeguard their nation’s treasures, form the spine of the novel.
A plethora of WW2 books tell stories from the Allied perspective, many of which are set in the Western theatres of war. Given my story was about Berlin museum curators, I was faced with the challenge of writing my book from the perspective of an ‘everyday’ German. To do so, I read numerous books and journal articles examining whether ordinary Germans were victims of an oppressive regime or fervent adherents of Nazism. The answer is far from black and white. To consider an entire population as a monolith is to ignore the diversity of motivations of millions of individuals. My solution was to depict the Bremer family whose four members represented different responses to the circumstances leading up to the Third Reich and its subsequent rule: Conrad, (the father) a disabled veteran whose Christian beliefs lead to resistance; Elze (the mother) who’s struggled through WW1 and its aftermath and welcomes Hitler’s pathway to a better life; the sister, Volla, the fanatic; and finally, Freyja, indoctrinated throughout her schooling, but unsettled by the oppressions of the Regime.
The rise of Hitler and his National Socialist Party did not happen in a vacuum. Germany suffered terribly after WW1 due to the sanctions imposed on it by the Allied powers under the Treaty of Versailles, including the payment of millions in war reparations. There was a profound sense of shame in defeat as well as a bitter grievance that previously held Polish and Russian lands were surrendered. An unfounded conspiracy theory known as ‘the stab in the back’ asserted the German army had not been defeated in 1918 but instead the country had been brought down by Jews, socialists, and corrupt Weimar Republican politicians who fomented civil rebellion.
Post WW1 Germany saw industrial heartlands taken over by the French and Polish, the German armed forces neutered, and crippling hyperinflation. The Great Depression fuelled the flames of discontent higher. A huge influx of rural people seeking work in the cities led to severe overcrowding together with widespread unemployment. Russian Jews fleeing pogroms sought refuge in Germany, exacerbating existing deep-rooted antisemitism and the conspiracy Jews were overrunning the country. Add fears of a Bolshevik takeover inspired by the Russian Revolution, a fractious parliament cobbled together from various coalitions, and a veritable perfect storm was brewing.
In the beginning, the National Socialists did deliver relief to various echelons of society, supported rural communities, assisted veterans, and provided employment opportunities for disaffected youth. The welfare provided, however, was reserved for ‘valuable Germans’. This Nazi Utopia disintegrated into totalitarian rule when Hitler turned Germany into a one-party state. The reign of terror begun.
 A member of the SA throws confiscated books into the bonfire during the public burning of “un-German” books on the Opernplatz in Berlin. (US Holocaust Memorial Museum, Public Domain) Deprived of the chance to read or hear foreign news, Germans were subjected to unrelenting propaganda. Foreign books were banned and subsequently burned. People were restricted to listening to radio programs transmitted via wirelesses limited to local frequencies. Loudspeakers were installed in public spaces to blast out government edicts. SS and SA troops ran rampant with unchecked violence. Political dissidents, journalists and intellectuals were interned in concentration camps as ‘enemies of the State’. Surveillance was imposed through Party ‘Block Wardens’ monitoring neighbourhoods. People were encouraged to turn on each other leading to a wave of denunciations to the Gestapo. And of course, failure to perform the Nazi salute was punishable by severe penalty.
As the climate of fear grew, the onslaught of policies that eroded or eliminated public institutions and civil liberties led to a degree of apathy among many. Overwhelmed, citizens passively accepted the changes, feeling powerless or afraid to stop the abuses of power. In other words, ‘good people did nothing.’
Of course, a huge number of Germans were true believers ready to blindly follow the Führer and support the Reich. And there is no avoiding the fact antisemitism was entrenched in every level of society in varying degrees which led in turn to indifference, complicity or culpability for the escalating persecution of the Jews.
Hitler saw the importance of indoctrinating children. The education system was immediately attacked with only Nazi teachers employed. The curriculum was limited, with physical fitness a priority. Girls were destined to be wives and mothers, boys to be soldiers. I found a poster which depicted the Nazi ‘Life Plan from Cradle to Adulthood’ setting out the roles expected within each age group, all of which emphasized the limitations placed on women to be ‘Mutter und Hausfrauen’.
Nazis worked hard to alienate children from parents who may have harboured anti- Nazi sentiment, actively encouraging them to inform on them. Between the age of 10 – 18, both boys and girls were required to attend programs run by the Hitler Youth or the League of German Maidens. German exceptionalism was already prevalent but the belief in German supremacy was further stoked by the ‘Aryan Myth.’ Children were brainwashed they were part of the ‘Master Race’ who were superior to ‘sub-humans’ i.e. Romani, Slavs, People of Colour and, most particularly, Jews. ‘Aryans’ were superior ‘bearers of culture’ who were destined to be rulers. In comparison, the sub-humans were there to ‘destroy’ German culture by overbreeding – an example of virulent replacement theory which lay the grounds for genocide.
Learning this gave me greater context to depict Freyja – a girl who is briefly exposed to pre-Nazi education (via her grandmother) but then comes under total domination of Nazi teachings through the League of German Maidens. However, Freyja has the benefit of living with her father whose Christian beliefs lead him to secret rebellion through the Confessing Church movement. There is also an undercurrent of dissatisfaction in her about the future offered to women. As a result, she is prepared to listen to the alternative views of an outsider like Darien Lessing who is German but educated at Cambridge. Darien sees no such limitations for females, appreciating Freyja’s intelligence, and encouraging her to look beyond the Fascist creed. When Freyja meets Darien’s sister, Parisa, who is married to a Jewish doctor, her awakening leads to a dangerous resistance in aiding this ‘mixed-race’ couple.
From my research, it appears the majority of Germans were dismayed when Hitler sparked another war, but widespread support followed as the Wehrmacht swiftly recovered lost territory from hated enemies. Yet the impact on civilians from Hitler’s voracious thirst for conquest of Western countries was immediate. The Allies blockaded ports resulting in strict rationing. It was also a shock when RAF squadrons finally reached Berlin as Goering had reassured them the distance from England was too far for planes to fly. His boast ‘Call me Meyer’ i.e. a ‘Monkey’s Uncle’ should such attacks occur became a running joke. Air raid sirens were thereafter called ‘Meyer’s Bugle.’
Germany’s lighting fast victories stalled after Hitler overcommitted resources to invade Russia and Ukraine. With the tide of the war turning, the Regime viciously prosecuted critics with the offence of ‘undermining the war effort.’ Listening to foreign radio was forbidden. The death penalty was employed for the barest infractions with the ‘falling axe’ used overtime to guillotine offenders.
 The “big” diadem from Priam’s Treasure, excavated By Heinrich Schliemann on the supposed site of Troy. Looted from Berlin in 1945 by the Soviets, the majority of the artefacts are currently in the Pushkin Museum in Moscow. (Photo by Sailko, Creative Commons) As the war progressed, air raids became incessant, mirroring the Luftwaffe’s own relentless blitzes. Hitler had ‘sown the wind’ and now Germans must ‘reap the whirlwind’. The RAF employed ‘saturation’ bombing while the American’s ‘blockbusters’ obliterated entire city blocks. From 1944, Berliners faced twice daily raids – US in the day and RAF at night.
A once glorious city was reduced to rubble with hundreds of thousands killed, maimed and made homeless. With the air thick with ash after each blitz, Berliners were forced to live in shelters eking out a miserable existence. Freyja and her family struggle to survive these air campaigns, increasing deprivations, as well as Nazi oppression. Throughout, she risks her life frantically packing her museum’s exhibits for safekeeping in the small windows between the daytime and night time bombings.
At the bitter end, Hitler considered Germans had failed him and their country. He refused to surrender, preferring his people face annihilation. Bridges were destroyed to prevent escape from Berlin, leaving Berliners trapped in the ‘Devil’s Cauldron’ pummelled by Russian artillery fire. SS squads set up ‘gallows alleys’ to hang citizens who displayed a white flag. The terrifying fate awaiting German women is well documented. Soviet retribution was particularly monstrous given they sought vengeance for the starvation, slaughter and dispossession of 20 million Slavs in the East.
When I started the book over ten years ago, I never thought to see our world turning to more authoritarian leaders, with democracy undermined by similar strategies from the Nazi playbook. History is repeating in disturbing ways. I feel Fables & Lies is a novel for our times and will give readers a better understanding of how a populace can fall under the spell of zealots – and how devastating the consequences are when apathy, fear or complicity stifles free speech. And, with a glimmer of light, I hope historical fiction fans will enjoy learning about the quest to save not only Germany’s, but the world’s, great antiquities from destruction.
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Connect with Elisabeth
Subscribe to her newsletter for monthly inspirational interviews.
What’s Fables & Lies about?
 Under a brutal regime, what price must be paid to preserve truth, treasure and love in a world built on lies?
WWII Berlin. Freyja Bremer, a patriotic museum assistant, marries Kaspar Voigt, an ambitious SS scholar, to protect her father. Yet she is unaware her husband is instrumental in Himmler’s twisted quest for Aryan supremacy.
As she strives to safeguard the priceless Priam’s Treasure from air raids, Freyja falls in love with Darien Lessing, an archaeologist who exposes the moral decay beneath the Regime’s myths. Her awakening drives her into perilous resistance – aiding a Jewish doctor and his wife, Darien’s sister – while uncovering Kaspar’s role in the SS’s darkest programs, which subvert history to justify invasion, abduction and murder.
As Berlin collapses into chaos and bloodshed, Freyja, caught between duty, deception and desire, must risk everything to preserve truth in a world built on lies.
A heartbreaking yet triumphant love story, Fables & Lies shines light on lesser-known aspects of the Nazi Regime. It gives voice to the complex moral struggles of German women, the forgotten resistance of Gentiles married to Jews, the dangers of contested history, the evils of Himmler’s racial studies program and the unsung bravery of German museum curators who saved their nation’s treasures.
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Available in ebook, paperback and audio editions
https://elisabethstorrs.com/buy-books/buybooks-fables-lies/
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My thoughts
Elisabeth Storrs has indeed broken the mould by writing ‘from the other side’. Evocative, detailed and heart-rending as the heroine journeys through disillusion and danger in the Third Reich. We rarely get such a vivid a glimpse of the Second World War from an ordinary civilian on ‘the other side’. Even rarer from the point of view of a young girl having grown up considering the Third Reich as normal. Her gradual disillusionment is heartbreaking and helps us to understand the shattering effect of the destruction of personal lives and family dynamics, always supposing that family members survive.
Freyja does what many of us would do; she marries an attractive man, she continues to enjoy her work and later, she keeps her head down steering her way through the increasingly appalling environment. And we live every moment thanks to excellent research by the author.
This is a long read, sometimes a painful one, yet there is redemption and fortitude. Elisabeth Storrs’s sound writing takes us on a worthwhile and ultimately rewarding journey. Highly recommended.
Alison Morton is the author of Roma Nova thrillers – INCEPTIO, CARINA (novella), PERFIDITAS, SUCCESSIO, AURELIA, NEXUS (novella), INSURRECTIO and RETALIO, and ROMA NOVA EXTRA, a collection of short stories. JULIA PRIMA and EXSILIUM, set in the late 4th century, tell the story of Roma Nova’s foundation. Audiobooks are available for four of the series. Double Identity and Double Pursuit start a new contemporary thriller series. The third, Double Stakes is now out.
Find out more about Roma Nova, its origins, stories and heroines and taste world the latest contemporary thriller Double Identity… Download ‘Welcome to Alison Morton’s Thriller Worlds’, a FREE eBook, as a thank you gift when you sign up to Alison’s monthly email update. As a result, you’ll be among the first to know about news and book progress before everybody else, and take part in giveaways.
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 I’m delighted to welcome Deborah Swift back to the blog today – she’s so interesting! Deborah used to be a costume designer for the BBC before becoming a writer. Now she lives in an old English school house in a village full of 17th Century houses, near the glorious Lake District.
Deborah loves to write about how extraordinary events in history have transformed the lives of ordinary people, and how the events of the past can live on in her books and still resonate today.
Her WW2 novel Past Encounters was a BookViral Award winner, and The Poison Keeper was a winner of the Wishing Shelf Book of the Decade.
I invited Deborah to my blog today to highlight her new novel The Enemy’s Wife. Even that title intrigues! More than that, it’s set in a neglected part of the Second World War – the Japanese occupation of China.
We’re in Shanghai, located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River. The city grew to global prominence in the 19th century due to domestic and foreign trade and its favourable port location. It was one of five treaty ports obliged to open to trade with the Europeans after the First Opium War, with the Shanghai International Settlement and French Concession subsequently established. The city became a primary commercial and financial hub of Asia in the 1930s. But during the Second World War, it was the site of the Battle of Shanghai, where it fell under Japanese rule.
We meet Zofia, a Lithuanian Jew married to a Japanese husband; Theo, an American businessman running a successful company and living a gracious and luxurious lifestyle; plus a range of characters of many nationalities all trying to make sense and retain their humanity in a chaotic environment of war, brutal occupation and desperation to escape or at least survive. But other forces are on the move in 1940s China…
Here’s an excerpt from Theo’s point of view:
Shanghai, 1941
By midnight on the Sunday evening, Theo was too tired to go home and dozed in the chair in his office until a horn somewhere out on the river made him look up. His eyes were gritty and he still hadn’t finished the accounting. The telephone shrilled, making him startle.
Chan Yeung, at reception. ‘A message came, sir. Head office in Washington telephoned. Not good news. The Japanese have bombed Hawaii. America is at war with Japan.’
‘What?’
‘War, sir. They dropped bombs on the American fleet.’
‘When was this? Why didn’t they call me on my direct line?’
‘I don’t know, sir. Head office sounded panicked. They bombed Pearl Harbor. But because of the time difference we’ve only just got the news. New York says there’s nothing you can do except secure your assets as best you can. Get cash and get ready, because if America’s at war, you can expect a visit from the Japanese at any time.’
Theo didn’t take the lift but ran down the stairs two at a time. In the main office on the first floor, some of his Chinese employees had heard the news too via the radio and had arrived early, their faces as worried as his own.
‘Sir, is it true?’ ‘Sir!’ A cacophony of demands.
He brushed them aside, and seeing he wasn’t going to answer, they moved silently away so that he could look out to the street below. Though it was early, not yet dawn, the jetties were crowded with the usual silhouettes of sampans and junks, bobbing on the swell. Beggars clustered on the boardwalks in huddled heaps; dark figures wrapped like mummies against the cold. Theo glanced to the grey bulk of the HMS Peterel, and his belly tightened.
‘What’s that, sir?’ One of his secretaries pointed.
It was still dark, but he made out a launch flying the red sun as it powered over to the British gunboat from the Japanese warship Izumo and disgorged a group of dark-clad Japanese. He fixed his eyes on it, wondering what they were doing, but it appeared they were turned away because no white flag or Japanese flag went up and instead the launch returned to the Izumo.
He was about to walk away from the window when an almighty boom shuddered the whole building.
‘Christ almighty!’ The words were out of his mouth before he could think.
Smoke engulfed the Peterel. On the street, beggars leapt up to scatter like ants.
A few moments later and machine gun fire blitzed through the air with staccato efficiency and a few Japanese fell, but this was instantly rebuffed by huge shells aimed at the British ship. The explosions threw up white flashes and great spouts of water.
Theo blanched. There was actually a battle going on right here.
Another blast. The windows shuddered. ‘Whoa!’ Behind him the rest of his workers crushed up to the glass to see what was going on.
The Peterel was struck and began to list heavily to one side, gushing flames and smoke. Small black figures rushed hither and thither on deck trying to escape the firepower of the Japanese guns and the burning deck. Several men plunged into the sea.
Theo leapt away from the window. ‘Don’t just stand there gawping,’ he shouted. ‘That’s the British ship! We’ve got to help them!’
At the door, he paused, holding it open. But nobody followed him. It was then he saw all too clearly where people’s loyalties lay. They’d all turned away, as if they had seen nothing.
Sickened, he hurtled down the stairs alone, running, dodging all the Chinese beggars running in the other direction, away from the shore. The streets cleared like they did before monsoon rain. The stink of oil and gunpowder filled his nostrils. Theo ran hell for leather along the water’s edge, as wounded men splashed through the murky swell towards dry land. The water was a foul concoction littered with debris and rotting funeral flowers from the beggars who could not afford to bury their dead, and instead cast the bodies into the belly of the river each night.
As he reached the shore, the surface oil slick caught fire and Japanese snipers tried to pick off the men as they flailed and staggered towards land. Theo shouted in rapid Chinese to Lee, the sampan man who often took him across the river. Lee, a balding man with a face like old leather, and trousers tied up with string, grabbed an oar as Theo fumbled aboard.
‘Row!’ shouted Theo.
Together Theo and Lee tried to drag a man out of the river but the pepper of machine-gun fire forced them to crouch and duck. A whine of bullets zipped and splashed past and frothed the surface.
The boat turned slightly. A man’s head, white in the remaining moonlight, bobbed above his thrashing arms.
‘Here!’ Theo shouted. He plunged his arms into the freezing water to help the man climb aboard as the sampan swayed and rocked.
‘Thanks,’ the man gasped, rolling himself into the boat.
Lee rowed them towards the shore, head low as bullets streaked past. Over the wooden edge of the boat Theo fixed his gaze on the concrete jetty. Beneath it, a few exhausted, wounded men had crawled up onto the mud. In the confusion, further down the shore men were being picked up and taken away in Japanese launches.
Just shy of the mudflats Lee stashed his oars and refused to row on.
‘What’s the matter?’ Theo yelled, conscious of the man crumpled in a wet heap at his feet.
‘Give me your watch,’ Lee said.
Theo frowned and held out his arm. ‘This?’
‘Yes. I take. Or no row. Okay?’
About The Enemy’s Wife
 1941 – When Zofia’s beloved husband Haru is conscripted into the Imperial Japanese Army, she is left to navigate Japanese-occupied Shanghai alone.
Far from home and surrounded by a country at war, Zofia finds unexpected comfort in a bond with Hilly, a spirited young refugee escaping Nazi-occupied Austria.
As violence tightens its grip on the city, they seek shelter with Theo, Zofia’s American employer. But with every passing day, the horrors of war and Haru’s absence begin to reshape Zofia’s world – and her heart.
Can she still love someone who has become the enemy?
A poignant story of the impossible choices we make in the shadow of war, for fans of Daisy Wood and Marius Gabriel.
Buy The Enemy’s Wife from
Amazon: mybook.to/EnemysWife (universal link)
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/ww/en/ebook/the-enemy-s-wife
Apple: https://books.apple.com/gb/book/the-enemys-wife/id6748986389
B&N Nook: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-enemys-wife-deborah-swift/1147867924?ean=9780008739713
Audio: https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/The-Enemys-Wife-Book-2-Audiobook/B0FWS1TN94
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Connect with Deborah
Website: www.deborahswift.com
Amazon Author Page: http://author.to/DeborahSwift
Twitter / X: https://twitter.com/swiftstory
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authordeborahswift/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/deborahswift1/
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/deborah-swift
TikTok: http://www.tiktok.com/@deborahswiftauthor
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My thoughts
Deborah Swift excels at choosing to write unusual heroines in unusual situations. In this highly detailed poignant and powerful story of a of a range of characters led by the redoubtable Zofia, we live the experience of life in Shanghai under Japanese occupation. As a Lithuanian Jew having subsequently deported from Japan and separated from her Japanese husband, Zofia contrives to find a job, somewhere to live and something to eat while caring for a young emotionally scarred girl. And often, all three are a distinct challenge and sometimes ethics were mixed.
Ms Swift vividly weaves in the complexities of rising Chinese thirst for self-determination, the dying light of the British Empire, collapse of western commercial interests and local ferocious gangsterism and corruption. Characters were all well drawn and their voices both clear and complex. None was spared emotional conflict which made them intense and engaging. I found the plot a little slow to start, but the pace picked up considerably as the story progressed.
It was a pleasure to a Second World War novel set in China rather than in Europe. The emotions were intense; fear, hope, love, friendship, grief. As usual with this author, the research is obvious and detailed, thus bringing the sounds, smells and sheer desperation of life at the time to life.
Highly recommended.
Alison Morton is the author of Roma Nova thrillers – INCEPTIO, CARINA (novella), PERFIDITAS, SUCCESSIO, AURELIA, NEXUS (novella), INSURRECTIO and RETALIO, and ROMA NOVA EXTRA, a collection of short stories. JULIA PRIMA and EXSILIUM, set in the late 4th century, tell the story of Roma Nova’s foundation. Audiobooks are available for four of the series. Double Identity and Double Pursuit start a new contemporary thriller series. The third, Double Stakes is now out.
Find out more about Roma Nova, its origins, stories and heroines and taste world the latest contemporary thriller Double Identity… Download ‘Welcome to Alison Morton’s Thriller Worlds’, a FREE eBook, as a thank you gift when you sign up to Alison’s monthly email update. As a result, you’ll be among the first to know about news and book progress before everybody else, and take part in giveaways.
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 I’m delighted to welcome Rosemary Hayes back to the writing blog. She has written many books for children in a variety of genre, from edgy teenage fiction, historical fiction and middle grade fantasy to chapter books for early readers and texts for picture books. Many of her books have won or been shortlisted for awards and several have been translated into different languages.
Rosemary has travelled widely but now lives in South Cambridgeshire. She has a background in publishing, having worked for Cambridge University Press before setting up her own company Anglia Young Books which she ran for some years. She has been a reader for a well-known authors’ advisory service, runs creative writing workshops for both children and adults and reviews for historical publications.
Rosemary has now turned her hand to writing adult fiction. Her historical novel ‘The King’s Command’ is about the terror and tragedy suffered by a French Huguenot family during the reign of Louis XIV. Traitor’s Game is the first book in the Soldier Spy trilogy, set during the Napoleonic Wars. The King’s Agent is the second and the third, Code of Honour, has recently been published.
Over to Rosemary to tell us about the fascinating history behind the stories in the ‘Soldier Spy’ trilogy.
 Arthur Wellesley, later Duke of Wellington The extent of spying on both sides during the Napoleonic Wars was considerable. Not only at a diplomatic level, through overseas embassies and through the Alien Office in London and highly placed double agents, but among networks of ordinary people, too, who passed on maps and documents, letters, money and even arms. Smaller documents or items of intelligence could be sewn into clothing or hidden in hollowed out walking sticks or riding crops. Or even, apparently, in a hatpin! Larger items were hidden in barrels or at drop off points on the French coast such as oyster sheds. And fishermen sometimes buried items on uninhabited islets for later collection.
Both sides employed complex codes and ciphers to protect their communications. Codebooks and cipher wheels were standard kit. One captured French codebook was worth its weight in gold to the British intelligence service.
In 1803, Britain declared war on France, ending a fragile peace between the two countries. In 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte crowned himself Emperor of the French.
 Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of the French The Napoleonic Wars were global and by 1808 France dominated the majority of continental Europe. The wars finally ended in 1815 with the Duke of Wellington’s defeat of the French at Waterloo.
The ‘Soldier Spy’ trilogy is set during the Peninsular War (1808-1814) in which the British, Spanish and Portuguese fought against the French. The war started because Portugal continued to trade with Britain. French troops marched through Spain into Portugal. Spain’s uneasy alliance with France soon broke down and French troops occupied Madrid.
In May 1808, Napoleon’s brother Joseph was installed as King of Spain, causing rebellions across the country. After the French suffered some defeats in Spain, Napoleon himself took charge and enjoyed some success, forcing British troops to withdraw.
But Napoleon did not stay long and he never returned to that theatre of war. He left in 1809 to oversee the defeat of Austria and then the disastrous invasion of Russia in 1812. His marshals were left in charge of the French troops in the peninsula.
Battles continued to rage in Portugal and Spain but it was the British victory at Salamanca in 1812 that was a major factor in Napoleon’s downfall. By this time, the ‘unbreakable’ Paris Cipher had been more or less cracked by the British so Wellington had advance knowledge of the battle plans of the French.
This, then, is the background to my three books, which begin in 1808 and end in 1812.
In the first book Traitor’s Game, we meet Captain Will Fraser, sent back from Portugal having been dismissed from the army in disgrace. With him is his sergeant, Duncan Armstrong, who has been severely wounded in battle. In London, they go to find Will’s brother, Jack. But Jack has vanished and in their desperate search for him they become unwittingly involved in the murky world of espionage, with tragic consequences.
In the second book, The King’s Agent, Will and Armstrong are working as agents for the British Government. Despatched to France to rescue undercover spies who have been exposed by a traitor, they must embed themselves with the enemy and play a dangerous game of deception. And Will Fraser also has a very personal score to settle.
In the final book of the trilogy, Code of Honour, Will and Armstrong are back in the thick of the Peninsular War, but this time as spies. The French are using a new code which is proving impossible to decipher. Now they must work with Spanish guerrillas to intercept messages between French Commanders and pass them to Wellington’s codebreakers, putting themselves in constant danger.
And it is here that Will’s troubled past catches up with him. Four years ago he lied to protect the woman he loved. Now he must tell the truth to save himself.
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Connect with Rosemary
Website: www.rosemaryhayes.co.uk
Twitter/X: https://x.com/HayesRosemary
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rosemary.hayes.129
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rosemary-Hayes/e/B00NAPAPZC
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/80106.Rosemary_Hayes
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What’s Code of Honour about?
1812. Britain’s war against Napoleon continues.
Will Fraser and Duncan Armstrong have served their country well as spies, exposing traitors and rescuing betrayed royalists.
Now they are asked to support military operations in the Peninsular War. The French are using a new code which is proving impossible to decipher. Will and Armstrong must work with Spanish guerrillas to intercept messages between French Commanders and pass them to Wellington’s codebreakers.
Will is reluctant, however. Portugal was where he was falsely accused of cowardice and desertion and forced to leave the army. And Captain Harcourt-Browne, the jealous and vengeful officer who caused his downfall, is still serving there.
But Will is given a compelling – and personal – reason to carry out the operation. If he does go, there’s a slim chance he could be reinstated.
Enemy agents are soon on their trail; agents who want them dead. Somehow Will and Armstrong must evade them and join the guerrillas in a daring attempt to uncover Napoleon’s battle plans.
But Will’s troubled past catches up with him. Four years ago he lied to protect the woman he loved. Now he must own up to that lie to save himself.
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Buy Code of Honour here: https://books2read.com/u/bQLnNZ
This series is available to read on #KindleUnlimited.
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My thoughts about Code of Honour
Another good story from this knowledgeable author. Although hero Will knows he’s been treated unfairly, he refuses to complain and has become reconciled that his military career has been peremptorily ended. He has adapted well to working on his father’s farm and is reluctant to leave it when the call comes. But, of course, although cautious at first, he will do his patriotic duty.
The period detail is rich and authentic, not only in the description of the London and in the Spanish Peninsula, but the practical side of life. You walk through the street with Will and his sidekick Armstrong, or travel in guerilla and enemy infested country and see it as it is in vivid detail. The secondary characters, from actresses to the powerful, fictional and real, are deftly drawn.
The author handles the plot well, with good pacing. It’s an entertaining read with a satisfactory ending, although one question isleft open. I wonder if the author has left open the possibility of a fourth adventure…
The story is so good that, again, I’m reluctant to mention some editing issues that jolt. However, that’s the responsibility of the publisher and should be remedied. Will Fraser’s adventures should be better served – the character certainly merits it.
Alison Morton is the author of Roma Nova thrillers – INCEPTIO, CARINA (novella), PERFIDITAS, SUCCESSIO, AURELIA, NEXUS (novella), INSURRECTIO and RETALIO, and ROMA NOVA EXTRA, a collection of short stories. Audiobooks are available for four of the series. Double Identity, a contemporary conspiracy, starts a new series of thrillers. JULIA PRIMA, Roma Nova story set in the late 4th century, starts the Foundation stories. The sequel, EXSILIUM, is now out.
Find out more about Roma Nova, its origins, stories and heroines and taste world the latest contemporary thriller Double Identity… Download ‘Welcome to Alison Morton’s Thriller Worlds’, a FREE eBook, as a thank you gift when you sign up to Alison’s monthly email update. As a result, you’ll be among the first to know about news and book progress before everybody else, and take part in giveaways.
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 Alison and Morgen Bailey Writers can’t help talking about writing, especially when they meet other writers. When I was invited by Morgen Bailey to take part in the online Self Pub Fest in January, I enthusiastically said yes!
Self-Pub Fest is a quarterly in person book festival celebrating self-published authors. The online festival via individual hourly Zoom – a new addition – features genre panels with up to six authors in each panel. See the About page for dates and timings of both versions.
In January, I contributed to the crime fiction and historical fiction panels and loved being part of both. My fellow panellists were knowledgeable and very open to sharing their experience and their writing and publishing tips.
Morgen kindly set up a contributor page and posted the video recordings of both panels. And as generously, interviewed me at length about all aspects of writing, the writing life, self-publishing, and marketing. We had fun discussing it all and exchanging ideas – we can both talk for Europe to at least Olympic level!
Watch the video: https://youtu.be/ia0utkB3k9Y
About Morgen Bailey
Based in Buckinghamshire, England, Morgen Bailey (“Morgen with an E”) is a freelance editor, author, tutor, mentor, blogger, podcaster, WI/U3A speaker, competition judge and former Writer’s Forum magazine Competitive Edge columnist. She also runs a free monthly 50-word competition.
As well as full-length and shorter fiction, Morgen’s 40+ books also include writer’s block workbooks, writer’s ideas diaries, and an editing guide.
Morgen has edited over 300 novels, non-fiction books and short stories for publishers and authors directly since 2005.Details and testimonials on https://morgenbailey.com/editor.
She has attended many UK conferences and festivals and has hosted workshops at various venues including NAWG Festival (editing), Troubador’s Self-publishing Conference (competitions and podcasting) and Buckingham U3A (creative writing).
Before moving to Buckinghamshire, Morgen hosted eleven one-day, five/ten-week creative writing courses for Northamptonshire County Council’s Adult Learning sector from 2014-2018.
To help other writers, Morgen recently created a new academy (https://mb-creative-writing-academy.teachable.com) where she hosts live Zoom Q&A sessions, interviews established authors, provides pre-recorded video tutorials, and offers 1:1 mentoring and group workshop sessions.
Like her, her blog, http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com, is consumed by all things literary. Her website is http://morgenbailey.com, and she is ‘morgenwriteruk’ on social media.
I will add that she’s a champion of indie/self-publishing authors and seems to be always on the lookout for new ways to support the community. So, thank you, Morgen!
Alison Morton is the author of Roma Nova thrillers – INCEPTIO, CARINA (novella), PERFIDITAS, SUCCESSIO, AURELIA, NEXUS (novella), INSURRECTIO and RETALIO, and ROMA NOVA EXTRA, a collection of short stories. Audiobooks are available for four of the series. Double Identity, a contemporary conspiracy, starts a new series of thrillers. JULIA PRIMA, Roma Nova story set in the late 4th century, starts the Foundation stories. The sequel, EXSILIUM, is now out.
Find out more about Roma Nova, its origins, stories and heroines and taste world the latest contemporary thriller Double Identity… Download ‘Welcome to Alison Morton’s Thriller Worlds’, a FREE eBook, as a thank you gift when you sign up to Alison’s monthly email update. As a result, you’ll be among the first to know about news and book progress before everybody else, and take part in giveaways.
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 I’m delighted to welcome Jane Davis to the blog today. She is the author of character-driven historical and contemporary fiction that bridges meticulous research with compelling emotionally-rich storytelling.
Her novels explore subjects ranging from the life of a pioneering female photographer to families searching for justice after a devastating disaster. Interested in what happens when ordinary people are pushed into extraordinary situations, Jane introduces her characters when they’re under pressure and then, by her own cheerful admission, throws them to the lions. Expect tangled relationships, moral crossroads and a smattering of dark family secrets!
Her first novel, ‘Half-Truths and White Lies’, won a national award established by Transworld in their quest to find the next Joanne Harris. Since then, her books have continued to earn acclaim. She was hailed by The Bookseller as ‘One to Watch’. ‘An Unknown Woman’ won Writing Magazine’s Self-Published Book of the Year in 2016 and was shortlisted for the IAN Awards. ‘Smash all the Windows’ won the first ever Selfies Book Award in 2019. ‘At the Stroke of Nine O’Clock’ went on to be featured by The Lady Magazine as one of their favourite books set in the 1950s and was a Historical Novel Society Editor’s Choice.
Jane lives in a Surrey cottage that was originally the ticket office for a Victorian pleasure garden, known locally as ‘the gingerbread house’. Her home frequently finds its way into her stories – in fact, it met a fiery end in the opening chapter of ‘An Unknown Woman’.
When she isn’t writing, you may spot Jane disappearing up the side of a mountain with a camera in hand, or haunting Victorian cemeteries searching for the perfect name for her next character.
Over to Jane to tell us about…
Forgotten Pioneers: 18th-Century Businesswomen in London
My novel The Temple of the Muses tells the second part of the life of Dorcas Lackington (c. 1750–1795), wife of the London bookseller, James Lackington. Although her name isn’t written in history books, she played an active role in his business, overseeing sales, stock, and customer service, helping turn Lackington’s into London’s most affordable bookshop – an idea that was radical in its day.
We imagine Georgian England as a time when a woman’s place was in the home, but the reality is very different. Dorcas was far from being alone. London was the largest city in Europe, a global trading hub that was fast becoming a consumer society. This created huge demand for small-scale trade and services — shopkeepers, market sellers, brewers, bakers, dressmakers, lodging-house keepers, pawnbrokers and moneylenders, retail assistants and apprentices.
It relied on the great number of working class women to provide the labour force. One of those women was Mary Collier (c.1688–1762), who came from a poor rural family, but found employment in London in manual labour and domestic service. A rare example of a working class voice, she wrote about women’s labour struggles, publishing The Woman’s Labour (1739) and Poems on Several Occasions (1762) defending women’s work and describing its realities, and writing defiantly in AN EPISTOLARY ANSWER To an Exciseman, Who doubted her being the Author of the Washerwoman’s Labour:
“Tho’ if we Education had
Which Justly is our due,
I doubt not, many of our Sex
Might fairly vie with you.”
I won’t trouble you with tales of upper class women born into aristocracy, inherited wealth and property, although it is true that some managed large estates and rental properties, lent money, handled investments and provided much needed patronage for the arts.
Instead, I want to delve into a chapter of history that has often been overlooked: the remarkable women who ran businesses, produced luxury goods, and shaped the city’s economy. From Cheapside to Chiswell Street, female entrepreneurs were the beating heart of London’s commercial life.
Discovering City Women in the 18th Century
Much of what we know about the sheer number of businesswomen in London comes from trade cards and directories, tax records, records of court cases and apprenticeship records. Thanks to archives like those collected by Sarah Sophia Banks at the British Museum, we can glimpse the vibrant world of 18th-century female entrepreneurship.
Imagine the streets of Georgian London bustling with workshops, shops, and trading activity and alive with innovation, and commerce. Cheapside, known for at least five centuries as a centre for luxury goods, was home to numerous businesswomen trading in furniture, printing, fan-making, silver and gold, millinery, and mantua-making, among other trades. It was there that Elizabeth Carter traded as a silk mercer and Mary Hilton as a milliner (hat and fashion seller). And in Fleet Street, Mrs Brown, milliner, sold the latest Paris fashions.
University of Cambridge historian Dr Amy Louise Erickson explains: “There was nothing unusual about these businesswomen at the time. They were members of trade families, and it was normal for women to be in charge.” Women were not just present, but essential architects of commerce.
 CC Wikimedia Commons Families, Trade, and the Role of Women
Many businesswomen learned the trade from their families and were active in hands-on management, overseeing production, bookkeeping, marketing, and client relations. Legal structures allowed widows to inherit businesses, giving them formal authority and maintaining continuity. Marital status was no barrier: women were single, married, and widowed, and collectively they employed thousands of men and women across the city.
Although legal principles prevented women from owning property in their own right and signing legal contracts, many women traded as “feme sole traders” (recognised legally as independent in business), and we see examples of courts frequently enforcing women’s commercial contracts. Just as today, London’s economy increasingly ran on small transactions, not just big merchants — and women dominated this level.
One striking example is Mary and Ann Hogarth, sisters of the artist William Hogarth. In 1730, Hogarth designed their business card as they moved to new premises. The sisters sold fabrics and ready-made clothes, and even supplied uniforms for Christ’s Hospital School, which educated orphaned children of City freemen.
 CC Wikimedia Commons Equally remarkable were the Sleepe sisters—Martha, Esther, and Mary—who built on the legacy of their mother, herself a fan-shop owner. Martha traded independently for over 35 years in St Paul’s Churchyard. Mary created a joint business card featuring both her own trade of fan-making and her husband’s as a turner and handle-maker. Esther married Charles Burney and bore nine children, including the novelist Frances Burney, while maintaining her business interests.
Notable 18th-Century Businesswomen
These women exemplify the range and impact of female entrepreneurship in London:
- Elizabeth Caslon (1730–1795)
Elizabeth worked alongside her husband in the Caslon Type Foundry on Chiswell Street, supplying metal type for printing across Britain and the American colonies. After her husband’s death, she continued managing the business alongside her sons, ensuring the family’s typographical legacy endured.
- Eleanor (Mary) Coade (1733–1821)
The daughter of a wool merchant and known as the “Queen of Artificial Stone,” Coade perfected Coade stone, a durable ceramic used for architectural ornamentation. Her firm, Coade & Co., produced statues, pediments, and decorative façades for royalty and public monuments, including St George’s Hall, Kew Gardens, and the Royal Pavilion, Brighton. Her success combined scientific experimentation with business acumen, navigating a male-dominated industry with extraordinary skill.
- Mary Hayley (1728–1808)
After the death of her husband, Mary ran a transatlantic trading firm, importing tea and other goods, and later operated whaling and sealing ventures. She conducted her business across London and Boston, a relatively rare example of a woman leading international trade.
- Martha Wray (1739–1788)
Martha inherited her husband’s medicinal warehouse and managed the sales of Turlington’s Balsam of Life, maintaining its popularity well into the 19th century.
- Hannah Humphrey (1750–1818)
As a print seller and publisher, Hannah worked alongside her husband and later independently, publishing works by James Gillray and becoming a central figure in London’s print culture.
- Elizabeth Godfrey (active 1720–1766)
A goldsmith and jeweller, Elizabeth ran her own workshop after her husband’s death, producing luxury items for aristocratic clients.
Patterns and Legacy
Several patterns emerge from these stories:
- Women often took over businesses as widows, but many were active co-managers during their husbands’ lifetimes. In the 18th century, widows and unmarried women could inherit property and run businesses in their own right, but upon marriage the common law principle of Coverture meant that her legal identity merged with her husband’s. This limited their formal control over property and business.
- Luxury and knowledge-based trades—books, printing, fans, jewellery, and fabrics—were common avenues for female entrepreneurship.
- The City of London’s livery companies and legal framework allowed women to inherit and run businesses formally, giving them real authority.
- Businesses were multi-generational, with workshops and homes often integrated under one roof.
As Dr Erickson notes: “These City businesswomen prospered and practiced a range of occupations in a way which would have been inconceivable in the middle of the 20th century. Historians still don’t understand exactly how or why women dropped out of the management of manufacturing and commerce.”
Part of the reason was that in the 18th century, trade was still largely artisan-based and workshop-centred, where family-run businesses were common, and women could contribute hands-on.
The 19th century saw the rise of industrial factories and large-scale commercial operations. Manufacturing became capital-intensive, increasingly male-dominated, and hierarchical. Women were often relegated to low-wage labour (assembly line, textile mills) rather than ownership or management.
In the 18th century, women were active members of livery companies, giving them formal recognition and networks. Over time, guilds became less central to commerce, removing a structure that had legitimised female business ownership.
Until The Marriage Property Act 1882 was passed, women did not have the right to full legal control over property they owned before marriage and property acquired after marriage. But by this time, cultural shifts had brought stronger ideas of “separate spheres”: men in the public sphere (commerce, politics, law) and women in the private, domestic sphere. Even women who had the skill or capital to run businesses were often discouraged from doing so because it was deemed socially inappropriate. Public respectability and social norms pressured middle- and upper-class women to focus on home, charity, and family.
Remembering London’s Forgotten Entrepreneurs
Late 18th Century life offers a vibrant snapshot of an era when women were vital participants in commerce, something that wouldn’t been seen again until the 20th century. I invite you to experience this extraordinary city – and one of its businesswomen – at a time of profound change.
The ebook of Jane’s novel The Temple of Muses is now out and the paperback will follow on 2 April 2026. See below for details.
———-
Connect with Jane
Website: https://jane-davis.co.uk
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/JaneDavisAuthorPage
Twitter/X: https://x.com/janedavisauthor
Pinterest: https://pinterest.com/janeeleanordavi/boards/
Get a FREE copy of her time-slip, photography-themed eBook, I Stopped Time, when you sign up to her newsletter
———-
About The Temple of the Muses
 Volume 2 of the Chiswell Street Chronicles
The story continues…
London, 1780. As the city smoulders in the aftermath of the Gordon Riots, booksellers James and Dorcas Lackington refuse to answer despair with charity. Instead, they place their faith in something far more radical: books.
Convinced that reading offers the surest escape from poverty, the Lackingtons launch a daring experiment—pricing books so cheaply that even apprentices and servant girls can afford them. It is a bold challenge to the rigid social order of Georgian England, and one that places them squarely in danger.
Dorcas knows that life alongside James and his unshakable optimism will never be smooth. But she is no mere helpmeet. She is his compass, his conscience, and often the sharper mind. In a modest corner of Moorfields, their bookshop ignites a quiet revolution as ordinary people encounter philosophy, liberty, reason, and love for the first time.
Not everyone welcomes this awakening. The Junto, a powerful circle of men who believe that books breed dangerous ideas in the minds of the poor, move swiftly to crush the Lackingtons’ venture. As threats and intimidation escalate, Dorcas realises that survival will not come from retreat—but from becoming too large to silence.
Her answer is audacious: to build a cathedral to literature, not for kings or scholars, but for every woman and man who has ever been told that knowledge is not theirs to claim – The Temple of the Muses.
Perfect for readers of Maggie O’Farrell, Tracy Chevalier, Hilary Mantel, Sarah Waters, and Philippa Gregory, and for anyone who loves women’s historical fiction, book club fiction, and stories about books and the lives they change.
Buy the ebook here: https://books2read.com/thetempleofthemuses
You may also like to read the first book in the series, The Bookseller’s Wife which is only 99p until 15 March 2026.
Alison Morton is the author of Roma Nova thrillers – INCEPTIO, CARINA (novella), PERFIDITAS, SUCCESSIO, AURELIA, NEXUS (novella), INSURRECTIO and RETALIO, and ROMA NOVA EXTRA, a collection of short stories. Audiobooks are available for four of the series. Double Identity, a contemporary conspiracy, starts a new series of thrillers. JULIA PRIMA, Roma Nova story set in the late 4th century, starts the Foundation stories. The sequel, EXSILIUM, is now out.
Find out more about Roma Nova, its origins, stories and heroines and taste world the latest contemporary thriller Double Identity… Download ‘Welcome to Alison Morton’s Thriller Worlds’, a FREE eBook, as a thank you gift when you sign up to Alison’s monthly email update. As a result, you’ll be among the first to know about news and book progress before everybody else, and take part in giveaways.
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