Waterloo

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Corn Dollies: a guest post from Alina K. Field

In researching British harvest festivals for Under the Harvest Moon, we came across the tradition of weaving corn dollies.

Corn, for American readers, refers to cereal grains such as wheat or barley, and though spirits are involved, the dolly is not a human-shaped creation like a voodoo doll!

When the harvest was almost finished, the last of the sheaves were taken and made into a corn dolly. Corn dollies are created by weaving stalks of grain, often into hollow spirals, a place where the Corn Spirit, perhaps the goddess Ceres, could stay during the winter months.

When ploughing started, a farmer would place the dolly hosting the Corn Spirit into the first furrow to be ploughed back into the earth to ensure a good growing season.

In the fictional Cheshire town of Reabridge, the harvest festival includes a corn doll contest. I can only imagine the beautiful woven designs that adorned the town’s homes and hearths!

Link to a video about making traditional corn dolls: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYpcfzd4ov0

Also, Wikipedia has a good article on the subject: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corn_dolly

Under the Harvest Moon, A Bluestocking Belles with Friends Collection

By Caroline Warfield, Jude Knight, Sherry Ewing, Cerise DeLand, Elizabeth Ellen Carter, Collette Cameron, Mary Lancaster, Alina K. Field, and Rue Allyn

As the village of Reabridge in Cheshire prepares for the first Harvest Festival following Waterloo, families are overjoyed to welcome back their loved ones from the war.

But excitement quickly turns to mystery when mere weeks before the festival, an orphaned child turns up in the town—a toddler born near Toulouse to an English mother who left clues that tie her to Reabridge.

With two prominent families feuding for generations and the central event of the Harvest Moon festival looming, tensions rise, and secrets begin to surface.

Nine award winning and bestselling authors have combined their talents to create this engaging and enchanting collection of interrelated tales. Under the Harvest Moon promises an unforgettable read for fans of Regency romance.

Universal Link: https://books2read.com/UnderHarvestMoon

Under the Champagne Moon by Alina K Field

Orphaned by the French Revolution and rescued by a British family, Fleur Hardouin was a solemn and often sullen child. She didn’t—or wouldn’t—speak, until the jolly young Gareth Ardleigh crossed her path one summer and saved her from bullies.

Fifteen years later, Fleur’s life takes another twist when she and the beloved lady she serves lose their home and return to the town of Reabridge. Determined to rescue them both through an advantageous marriage, Fleur tries to brush off the attention she receives from Captain Gareth Ardleigh, who’s home from the wars and as handsome as ever. Her heart longs for him, but her head knows he can’t provide the security she needs.

Gareth’s excuse for visiting Reabridge is to deliver the personal effects of his best friend who perished at Quatre Bras. But his real purpose is finding the little French girl he met years ago, for marriage—not to him, but to the Frenchman who helped save his life. Little does Fleur know that she’s heir to a wealthy French vintner who’s demanded Gareth’s help finding Fleur as repayment of his rescue from Napoleon’s army.

Astonished to find that Fleur has grown into a beautiful—and still intriguing—young woman, it soon becomes clear he must choose between honoring a promise or trying to win the hand of the woman he loves.

Author Biography:

USA Today bestselling author Alina K. Field earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English and German literature but prefers the happier world of romance fiction. Her roots are in the Midwestern U.S., but after six very, very, very cold years in Chicago, she moved to Southern California where she shares a midcentury home with a golden-eyed terrier and a feisty chihuahua and only occasionally misses snow.

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Website: https://alinakfield.com/

Amazon Author Page https://www.amazon.com/Alina-K.-Field/e/B00DZHWOKY

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Spotlight on “Moonlight Wishes and Midnight Kisses” in Under the Harvest Moon

by Collette Cameron

Chronicles of the Westbrook Brides

Time can heal most wounds. Only love can heal what remains…

A wounded veteran with no future…

There was a time when Cortland Marlow-Westbrook wanted little more than to marry the Scottish lass who stole his heart and build a life with her. But that was before the war left its mark on his body and soul. Now, scarred and disabled, all he wants is to be left alone. Unfortunately, fate—and the only woman he ever loved—have another plan in mind…

An heiress who mourns the past…

Avery Levingtone was heartbroken when Cortland went off to war and never responded to a single letter she sent. But now he’s back, and she refuses to waste the second chance they’ve been given. She’ll do whatever it takes to win back her wounded warrior’s heart and prove they were meant to be together—or she’ll remain a spinster forever. On this there can be no compromise…

Can Cortland overcome the pain of his past and embrace a loving future with Avery? Or will he deny his happily ever after…and hers?

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“Moonlight Wishes and Midnight Kisses” is the first story in Under the Harvest Moon, now on preorder at the special pre-release price of 99c.

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Waterloo, with Christopher Plummer as Wellington

This is great! A few historical inaccuracies, but superb for seeing the lay of the land. We watched the full movie, also available on YouTube (Link below). I was particularly struck by the scene in which the imperial guard attack the British squares. I’ve read about it, and seen diagrams, but watching it play out in front of me was a much more visceral thing. And the two leads were amazing.

 

 

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The Hundred Days

Storm & Shelter, the new Bluestocking Belles With Friends box set, has an interesting political backdrop. Our heroes, heroines, villains, and other characters are caught up in a massive storm off the North Sea, which begins with steady rain on 31st March, steadily worsening until the early hours of 1st April, and rampaging for two days, only finally dying away on the 3rd of April. Meanwhile, a storm of a different kind is gathering in Europe.

After eleven months in exile on the island of Elba, the Emperor Napoleon was once again on the move. He landed at Cannes on the 1st of March, leading 1,500 men. On 7th of March, his path was intercepted by the 5th Regiment, who had been ordered to stop him. He approached them on his own, shouting, “Here I am. Kill your emperor if you wish!” The soldiers rallied to him, and joined the march on Paris. On 14th March, Marshall Ney, who had been ordered to arrest Napoleon, joined him with 6,000 men. By the time Napoleon entered Paris on 20th of March,  Louis XVIII had fled the capital in terror. The period known as Cent Jours, or One Hundred Days, had begun.

The crisis in Europe and the confrontation between Napoleon and his 200,000 men and the Seventh Coalition (Prussia, Britain, Austria and Russia) would end in the Battle of Waterloo on 18th June. Napoleon abdicated for the second time on 22nd June, in favour of his son. On 8th July, Louis XVIII was returned to his throne and Cent Jours was over.

Napoleon finally surrendered on 15th July, and was exiled to St Helena in the South Atlantic, where he died six years later.

In the eight novellas of Storm & Shelter, quite a few of our characters are on the move because of Napoleon’s bid to take back his empire. You’ll recognise them when you see them!