Five Minute History with Wendy J. Dunn

 

Five Minute History with Wendy J. Dunn

What is the history behind Shades of Yellow? Actually, two historical periods inform my novel. The story takes place mostly in 2010, fifteen years ago. During the time I wrote my story, it became clearer and clearer the world had changed a lot since 2010. So much so, it embodied those powerful words that identify a work as historical fiction: ‘The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.’ It surprised me how much research I needed to do to re-create this less dark time to that of our present world. For example, if you possessed a membership card, visiting the Tower of London was a lot simpler in 2010. You just showed your card and entered. The cityscape of London has changed a lot too. If had set the story in 2025, Lucy Ellis, my twenty-nine-year-old main character, would have had a few more life-changing options regarding her medical treatment. Also, if she was born in 1996 instead of around 1980, other factors would have shaped her worldview.

The second period of history to inform my story is that of the Tudors, an era of history that keeps me fascinated. Lucy is writing a novel about Amy Robsart, the first wife of Robert Dudley, the man who came closest to marrying Elizabeth Tudor. Amy was born in 1532, and met Robert when, in 1549, he accompanied his father, John Dudley, then the Earl of Warwick, to put down the Kett rebellion in Norfolk. History suggests Robert and Amy fell in love, and their parents agreed to their marriage when they were both about eighteen. Amy was the heir of her father, after all.

 The next few years threw tragedy after tragedy into their lives after John Dudley, now the Duke of Northumberland, attempted to place Lady Jane Grey onto the throne. Mary Tudor succeeded in claiming the crown and executed John Dudley. Robert and his four brothers are all imprisoned in the Tower of London. The following year, another rebellion results in the execution of Lady Jane Grey and her husband Guildford Dudley. Robert and his other brothers remain at the Tower for another year. The oldest brother died shortly after his release because of his poor health by the time he and his brothers were released. It is my belief that this dark time affected Amy and Robert’s relationship. By the time Elizabeth became Queen, Robert and Amy, most of the time, were living separate lives. Robert and Elizabeth appeared then to be in love – and became the epicentre of scandal. Amy died in suspicious circumstances the day after Elizabeth I turned twenty-seven. No one has ever solved the mystery of Amy Dudley’s death, and her husband Robert never escaped the suspicion that he set in motion her murder.

***

 

Find out more about Wendy's new book - Scroll down!

Publication Date: February 28th, 2025

Publisher: Other Terrain Press

Pages: 350

Genre: Women's Fiction / Literary Fiction

During her battle with illness, Lucy Ellis found solace in writing a novel about the mysterious death of Amy Robsart, the first wife of Robert Dudley, the man who came close to marrying Elizabeth I. As Lucy delves into Amy’s story, she also navigates the aftermath of her own experience that brought her close to death and the collapse of her marriage.

After taking leave from her teaching job to complete her novel, Lucy falls ill again. Fearing she will die before she finishes her book, she flees to England to solve the mystery of Amy Robsart’s death.

Can she find the strength to confront her past, forgive the man who broke her heart, and take control of her own destiny?

Who better to write about a betrayed woman than a woman betrayed?

Praise for Shades of Yellow:

"Shifting between 2010 and the Elizabethan era, Wendy J. Dunn's compelling new novel Shades of Yellow explores the complexities of relationships, creative ambition, and medical pain through the eyes of two brave women living centuries apart. Forced to confront the decisions that have brought them to their respective crisis points, Lucy and Amy seek to rewrite their own destinies. A treat for lovers of history and strong stories."

~ Lauren Chater, author of The Beauties

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Wendy J. Dunn

Wendy J. Dunn is a multi-award-winning Australian writer fascinated by Tudor history – so much so she was not surprised to discover a family connection to the Tudors, not long after the publication of Dear Heart, How Like You This, her first Anne Boleyn novel, which narrated the Anne Boleyn story through the eyes of Sir Thomas Wyatt, the elder.

Her family tree reveals the intriguing fact that one of her ancestral families – possibly over three generations – had purchased land from both the Boleyn and Wyatt families to build up their holdings. It seems very likely Wendy’s ancestors knew the Wyatts and Boleyns personally.

Wendy gained her PhD in 2014 and tutors in writing at Swinburne University of Technology, Australia. She loves walking in the footsteps of the historical people she gives voice to in her books.

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The magical gris-gris - a journey in understanding by Laura Rahme

The magical gris-gris - a journey in understanding

By Laura Rahme

While I was growing up in Dakar, my grandparents hired domestic helpers from the region of Casamance, a province south of Senegal. One of them, I remember strongly. She was Marie-Hélène Sambou, a young Serer woman.

From infancy, Marie-Hélène helped to feed me, took care of me, dressed my hair into African braids, taught me Wolof phrases and dances, and walked me to school. She was among the Senegalese minority to adorn her neck with a Christian cross, yet Marie-Hélène also wore what looked like tiny pellets attached round her waist or pinned to the underside of her garments. When I asked her what these were, she warned me never to touch, and I sensed in her tone, a fear, and a dependence on these little objects. I learned that the little pellets were called, gris-gris and that they were given to her by a marabout – a religious guide with magic abilities – to protect her from any evil and to keep her safe. This confused me at the time because I believed Marie-Hélène to be a Christian like me.

I fondly remember the year when Marie-Hélène accompanied my family to France. The winter of 1984-1985 was exceptionally cold with record temperatures. For many nights, I tucked close to Marie-Hélène beneath the covers and begged her to tell me the stories she knew until way past my bedtime. Her tales had me enraptured. They were filled with sorcerers, marabouts, magic spells, writhing snakes, and other themes that were beyond any fairy tale I knew. What most captivated me was her gravity and the awe in her voice when she narrated these stories, asserting that they were all true. Marie-Hélène’s belief in the magic was absolute.

Marie-Hélène was not unique in her blending of Christian and animistic beliefs. Whether a Senegalese is a member of the Muslim Sufi majority or the Christian minority, animism will guide their behavior.

My novel, The Signare of Gorée, is set during the period before France invaded and colonized Senegal. At this time, local populations held strong beliefs in the existence of a soul or sentience in animals, rivers, and other geographical features. These beliefs existed alongside notions of Islam which locals had encountered through the Almoravids since the 11th century, but which did not influence them until the 17th century. For the Lebou, one of Senegal’s cultural groups, who inhabited coastal villages including the region known today as Dakar, Islamization came even later. Begun toward the second half of the 19th century, it gained ground in the Lebou villages in 1900.

As early as the 1820s, ecclesiastics including the Sisters of Cluny, the Brothers of Ploërmel originating from Brittany, and métis priests, had attempted to foster Christian values in the predominantly Wolof population of Saint-Louis and Gorée island.

David Boilat, who appears in The Signare of Gorée, was one of those métis priests. To his frustration, he was confronted with what, today, remains a syncretistic belief system, merging traditional elements of Islam with fetishist practices.

Among Boilat’s illustrations, is this 1843 portrait of a Tukulor marabout. It depicts the sort of man Boilat would have wished his congregation to avoid. Traditionally, a marabout is a learned Muslim scholar, but in 19th century Senegal, as in modern times, one can distinguish various shades of marabouts from the traditionalist Muslim scholar, the syncretistic animist well-versed in the occult, to the other extreme, the charlatan. Boilat was not fond of any of them.

Tukulor Marabout by David Boilat

One of the arts practiced by marabouts, even today, was to create charms or gris-gris. The creation of a gris-gris is a secret process transferred from one generation to the next. Often, they take the form of a tiny leather bag that encloses some kind of incantation or spell. The receiver of the gris-gris wears it to guard against evil spirits, or djinns.

Boilat was a determined evangelist and beneath one of his illustrations which depicts an unfolded gris-gris, he wrote, perhaps with a touch of annoyance, “I confiscated this gris-gris found in the boutique of a signare in Saint-Louis.” 

Gris-gris by David Boilat

In this instance, the aim of the charm was to ensure that the signare’s boutique would prosper and that she would always sell without a loss.

Modern Senegal is a secular, majority Muslim country where 95 percent of adherents belong to a Sufi brotherhood, more than in any other Muslim population in the world. It is no coincidence, for this syncretistic culture at least, that Sufism teachings encourage tolerance over dogmatism.

The anthropologist David Maranz explains that while Wolof society seems to revolve around Islam, it practices this faith at two levels. There is the visible level with Muslim ritual prayers, fasts, and festivals, and there is the core "folk" level which blends Sufi Islam with African traditional religion. The result is that animistic practices persist even if in appearance, they are performed by Muslims.

In his book, Peace is Everything, David Maranz also highlights the Senegalese goal of transcendent peace. This desire for peace extends to relationships between people and spiritual forces, and between people and nature. A Senegalese will seek harmony with the forces that govern the world, including God and spiritual beings such as djinns and rabs. Just like Marie-Hélène, and the signare whom David Boilat apprehended back in the 19th century, they will use charms and amulets to gain protection from destructive cosmic forces.

My childhood encounter with Marie-Hélène left a deep mark in my psyche. Forty years later, still in awe of her stories, I wove Senegalese magical belief into The Signare of Gorée. I hope readers will enjoy Senegal’s nuanced culture as I much as I do.

The Signare of Gorée
By Laura Rahme

Publication Date: 9th September 2024

Publisher: Independently Published

Pages: 301 Pages

Genre: Historical Mystery / Historical Fiction

1846. 

In the heat of West Africa, the French navy uncovers the corpses of two French soldiers. Inspector Maurice Leroux arrives at the island of Gorée. It seems death has come to this small colonial outpost off the Senegal coast, home to the prosperous mixed-blood women known as the signares.

The navy suspects that the Bambara people, emboldened by approaching emancipation, may be out for blood. While confronted by the locals’ strange magical beliefs, Maurice remains skeptical. Does malevolence play a part, or are these deaths accidental, brought upon by the brutality of nature in an island known as the white man's grave?

But when murder strikes, it becomes clear that a killer is stalking Gorée.

Swept by a mystery unlike any he has known, Maurice meets Signare Angélique Aussenac. The proud métis, deserted by her wealthy Bordeaux lover, casts her spell upon Maurice.

But beyond the throbbing sounds of the tam-tams and the glittering signare soirées, danger lurks. Someone is watching. And the deaths go on.

Could the killer be one of the rich Bordeaux merchants? Or are they hiding among the powerful signares?

A historical mystery spanning France and Senegal, THE SIGNARE OF GORÉE explores a world of magic, murder, and passion.

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Laura Rahme

Laura Rahme is the author of seven historical novels. Born in Dakar, Senegal where she spent her early childhood, she moved to Australia at the age of ten. A graduate of two Honors degrees in Aerospace Engineering and Psychology, she has worked over two decades as an IT professional. Her greatest joy comes from travel, researching history, and penning historical mysteries. She now lives in France with her screenwriting husband.

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Five Minute History: The Spy Kit used by Undercover Agents in WW2 by Deborah Swift

Five Minute History
The Spy Kit used by Undercover Agents in WW2
By Deborah Swift

Undercover agents in Britain, particularly those working for the Special Operations Executive (SOE) and the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS, or MI6), relied on various disguised objects to carry out their missions. Many of these devices were employed by female operatives in the field such as Nancy Callaghan, my agent in the Secret Agent Series and Operation Tulip.

The Biscuit Tin Radio Transmitter

 https://www.cryptomuseum.com/ 

Agents needed a reliable way to send and receive information without being detected by enemy forces, hence the concealed radio transmitter. These radios were often hidden in everyday objects like suitcases, briefcases, or even household items such as a loaf of bread or a tin of biscuits.

The Type 3 Mark II radio, also known as the "Biscuit Tin Radio," was one such device. It was small, portable, and could be disguised easily, making it ideal for agents working in enemy territory. The radio allowed agents to communicate with their handlers in Britain, sending encoded messages that were crucial for coordinating resistance activities, reporting enemy movements, and requesting supplies or evacuation.

The Microdot Camera

The microdot camera was a ground-breaking piece of espionage technology that allowed agents to smuggle vast amounts of information in a format that was almost impossible to detect. The camera could reduce entire pages of documents to a single, tiny dot that could be embedded in a letter, photograph, or even within a period at the end of a sentence. These microdots were then sent through regular mail, evading enemy censorship. Originally a German invention, it was soon picked up by the Allies as an essential tool, as was the means of decoding it.

Once received, the microdot could be magnified back to its original size using a specialized viewer. The use of microdots became so prevalent that Winston Churchill himself referred to them as the size of a full stop. This technology enabled agents to transmit detailed plans, maps, and other critical intelligence without arousing suspicion.

Pic caption : photo of microdots taped inside the label of an envelope. The envelope was sent by German spies in Mexico City to Lisbon during WW2, but was intercepted by Allied intelligence

The Cyanide Pill (L-Pill)

The constant threat of capture by enemy forces was all too real. In the event of being caught, the consequences were usually torture followed by execution. Agents feared to reveal sensitive information, so they were often equipped with a cyanide pill, known as the "L-Pill."

The L-Pill was a small, easily concealable capsule containing potassium cyanide, a deadly poison that could kill within seconds. It was typically hidden in items like pens, false teeth, or hollowed-out coins. If an agent believed they were about to be captured and could not escape, they could bite down on the capsule, ensuring a quick and painless death and so preventing the enemy from extracting information through torture and interrogation.

Assassin’s Kit 

The Assassin's Kit which was issued to agents included a small, easily concealed firearm, such as a single-shot pistol or a miniature revolver. These guns were often hidden in everyday items like gloves, cigarette cases, or even lipstick tubes. Another popular weapon was the garrote, a thin wire or cord used for strangulation, which could be concealed as part of a belt or hidden within the lining of a coat.

For agents working behind enemy lines, the Fairbairn-Sykes fighting knife became an iconic weapon. Designed specifically for close combat, this double-edged dagger was used by British commandos and SOE agents for its effectiveness in silent killing, and when Nancy is in training she is issued with one of these.

Invisible Ink and Coded Messages

Agents were trained in the use of various substances that could be used as invisible ink, such as lemon juice, milk, or special chemical compounds. These inks would only become visible when exposed to heat or a specific chemical reagent. In addition to invisible ink, agents used a variety of codes and ciphers to encrypt their messages. One of the most famous ciphers used during the war was the Playfair cipher, a substitution code that was relatively easy to use in the field but difficult for the enemy to crack without the key text. The picture is of a German machine used for creating code – its now at Bletchley Park in the UK.

The Bomb in a Suitcase

Sabotage was a key component of many undercover operations, and agents often needed portable explosives that could be easily concealed and transported. The suitcase bomb was one such device, designed to look like an ordinary suitcase but containing a powerful explosive charge.

These bombs were often equipped with timers or remote detonators, allowing agents to place them in strategic locations and make their escape before the explosion. The suitcase bomb was used in a variety of operations, from targeting enemy infrastructure to assassinating high-ranking officials.

In the Secret Agent Series Nancy makes use of all of these. How many can you spot in Operation Tulip?

Operation Tulip
By Deborah Swift

Publication Date: 12th September 2024

Publisher: HQ Digital

Pages: 410 Pages

Genre: Historical Fiction

Holland, 1944: Undercover British agent Nancy Callaghan has been given her toughest case yet. A key member of the Dutch resistance has been captured, and Nancy must play the role of a wealthy Nazi to win over a notorious SS officer, Detlef Keller, and gain crucial information.

England: Coding expert Tom Lockwood is devastated that the Allies have failed to push back the Nazis, leaving Northern Holland completely cut off from the rest of Europe, and him from his beloved Nancy. Desperate to rescue the love of his life, Tom devises Operation Tulip, a plan to bring Nancy home.

But as Nancy infiltrates the Dutch SS, she finds herself catching the eye of an even more senior member of the Party. Is Nancy in too deep, or can Tom reach her before she gets caught?

Inspired by the true events of occupied Holland during WW2, don't miss this utterly gripping story of love, bravery and sacrifice.

Praise

'A well crafted tale… this book did not disappoint' NetGalley reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

'There is action, mystery and romantic entanglements stirred into the story for a fantastically entertaining read' NetGalley reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

'Deborah Swift never disappoints' NetGalley reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

'A joy to read' NetGalley reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Pick up your copy 

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Deborah Swift

Deborah Swift is a USA TODAY bestselling author of twenty books who is passionate about the past. 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. After taking a Masters Degree in Creative Writing, she enjoys mentoring aspiring novelists and has an award-winning historical fiction blog at her website www.deborahswift.com.

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. 

Recent books include The Poison Keeper, about the Renaissance poisoner Giulia Tofana, which was a winner of the Wishing Shelf Book of the Decade Award, and a Coffee Pot Book Club Gold Medal. Her most recent books are The Silk Code and The Shadow Network both set in the Second World War.

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The Historical Importance of Brittany by Jennifer Ivy Walker

 The Historical Importance of Brittany
By Jennifer Ivy Walker

La Bretagne (Brittany)-- the peninsula in northwestern France whose coastline borders the English Channel to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west-- is known for the many myths and legends of the Celtic people who once inhabited the region long before Julius Caesar and his Roman legions conquered Gaul in the first century BC.

Among the Celts of la Bretagne, men trained to become Druid priests or savage warriors (les guerriers), and women were often guérisseuses celtiques-- gifted healers whose natural remedies included herbs of the forest, healing crystals, and curative waters of Brittany’s sacred springs. There are many legends of mythical creatures in Brittany, including the famed fairies Morgane la Fée and the Lady of the Lake Viviane, in Arthurian tales from the enchanted Forest of Brocéliande. My trilogy, The Wild Rose and the Sea Raven, is a fantasy retelling of the Celtic medieval legend of Tristan et Yseult, interwoven with Arthurian myth. 

During the Second World War, Brittany was part of Hitler’s 2000 mile long Atlantic Wall, which extended from the southern coast of France all the way up the northern coast of Norway. Many Breton seaports were considered crucial in defending the German occupied territories against the anticipated Allied invasion. One of those key ports was the medieval walled city of Saint-Malo, on la Côte d’ Émeraude (the Emerald Coast), at the border between Brittany and Normandy. The Battle of Saint-Malo, which was fought between the fourth of August and the second of September 1944, is the culminating point of my novel, The Witch of the Breton Woods. 

After the D-Day invasion of Normandy in June 1944, the Allied Forces succeeded in retaking the Cotentin peninsula from the Germans, and moved west for the Battle of Brittany. The French Resistance was crucial in the Allies’ liberation of France. The Witch of the Breton Woods features a fictional band of Resistance members known as Les Loups (The Wolves), with a nod to the Celtic myths and Arthurian legends from the enchanted Forest of Brocéliande. 

The Witch of the Breton Woods
By Jennifer Ivy Walker

Publication Date: 10th July 2024

Publisher: The Wild Rose Press

Page Length: 163 Pages

Genre: Historical Romance

Traumatized by horrors witnessed during the Nazi invasion of France, a young woman retreats to the dense Breton woods where she becomes a member of the clandestine French Resistance. When she finds a critically injured American paratrooper whose plane was shot down, she shelters the wounded soldier in her secluded cottage, determined to heal him despite the enormous risk.

Ostracized by villagers who have labeled her a witch, she is betrayed by an informant who reports to the Butcher—the monstrous leader of the local paramilitary organization that collaborates with the Germans. As the enemy closes in, she must elude the Gestapo while helping the Resistance reunite the American with his regiment and join the Allied Forces in the Battle of Brittany.

Can true love triumph against all odds under the oppressive Third Reich?

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Jennifer Ivy Walker

Jennifer Ivy Walker has an MA in French literature and is a former high school teacher and professor of French at a state college in Florida.  Her novels encompass a love for French language, literature, history, and culture, incorporating her lifelong study, summers abroad, and many trips to France.

The Witch of the Breton Woods is heart-pounding suspense set during WWII in Nazi-occupied France, where a young woman in the French Resistance shelters and heals a wounded American soldier, hiding him from the Gestapo and the monstrous Butcher who are relentlessly hunting him.

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Five minute history - The Coal and Iron Police by Jennifer M. Lane

Five minute history - The Coal and Iron Police

By Jennifer M. Lane

My favorite thing about reading historical fiction is being inspired by little pieces of history that leap off the page. Quite often, I find myself launched into an unexpected, adjacent realm of research, like the time I was a teenage girl and found myself researching Napoleon's days in exile after reading about Waterloo.

As a historical fiction writer, I often find myself in an eddy of research that informs the work but doesn't end up on the page. Such was the case in Downriver - with the Coal and Iron Police.

Though the facts and town of Downriver are fictional, the circumstances and background that shape the story are rooted in fact. Safety and worker conditions and the history of worker uprisings are central to the plot of Downriver, and none of those things can be studied without mention of the Coal and Iron Police.

In 1868, Pennsylvania granted companies the right to create their own law enforcement to uphold their own rules. It seems strange by today's standard, that a state would allow a company to run its own law enforcement, but at the time, there were no state-level police efforts. Only counties and towns managed law enforcement. As coal patch towns popped up in the wilderness, it made sense to both the coal company and the state to allow for privatized law enforcement to protect company interests. But it was deadly for many workers. What emerged was the Coal and Iron Police (C&IP).

What looked good on paper was put to sinister use. Underpaid workers who faced horrible working conditions, whose livelihoods that were essentially indentured servitude, engaged in strikes. Coal bosses used the Coal and Iron Police for strike-breaking and to evict striking families from their homes. For example, in 1910, the C&IP were used as strikebreakers in Westmoreland, evicting workers from their houses and forcing them to live in tents for a winter. During the long strike, 16 people - miners and their wives - were shot and killed, some while sleeping in their tents while others were trampled by horses.

This endless fight for safety, workers rights, and fair pay would have framed much of Charlotte’s father’s life. 

Twenty-three years before Downriver takes place, the Molly Maguires were tried for a years-long string of violence and murder in their actions against the coal bosses. Frank Morris would have been in his twenties when Jack Kehoe was hanged after being found guilty of leading the Molly Maguires on a deadly retribution spree.

And only three years before our story takes place, in 1897, the Lattimer Massacre occurred. An estimated 15,000 mine workers from coal companies throughout Luzerne, Carbon, and Schuylkill Counties protested dangerous working conditions, unpaid overtime, and high prices at the company store by marching, which led to a strike.

The Luzerne County sheriff declared a state of civil disorder and deputized 87 men - mostly managers in coal companies - and armed them with rifles and bullets. He warned the unarmed, striking workers of the Pardee Company not to march toward Lattimer - just west of modern-day Hazelton - but they did anyway.

When the 400 striking men arrived, they encountered a band of about 150 Coal & Iron Police and volunteers. After a brief scuffle, shots were fired. History disagrees about who fired first, but the 400 unarmed striking workers scattered while the sheriff's men shot them in their backs. Nineteen men were murdered, 38 severely wounded, and the massacre made headlines around the country. 

It was this landscape into which I painted Frank Morris, a quiet man who stood on a soapbox and asked peacefully for workers’ rights in a time after violence failed. But we follow his firebrand of a daughter, part of the first generation after an era of violence, as she seeks to put right the wrongs in her path.

Downriver
By Jennifer M. Lane

Publication Date: May 28, 2024

Publisher: Pen & Key Publishing

Pages: 344 pages

Genre: Historical

A sulfur sky poisoned her family and her heart. Now revenge tastes sweeter than justice.

It’s 1900. In a Pennsylvania coal town tainted by corruption and pollution, Charlotte's world collapses when her parents meet a tragic end. Sent to a foster family in a Maryland fishing village, she’s fueled by grief and embarks on a relentless quest for justice against the ruthless coal boss, Nels Pritchard.

But Charlotte is no ordinary girl. She shares the fiery spirit of her father, whose powerful speeches inspired worker riots. With a burning desire for vengeance, she sets out to uncover the truth behind Pritchard's crimes, unearthing a shocking connection between the town's toxic air and the lifeless fish washing up on the shore of her Chesapeake Bay foster town.

To expose the truth, Charlotte builds a network of unexpected allies. There are gutsy suffragists, a literary society of teenage girls willing to print the truth… and Weylan. The captivating young man lost his own family to Pritchard’s poison. He offers support, but Charlotte questions his true motives when he lures her to break the law. Could she be falling into a dangerous trap, leading her to a fate worse than poison?

With her unwavering spirit and determination, Charlotte must forge alliances and navigate a web of treachery before Pritchard seeks his own ruthless revenge.

The newest book by award-winning author Jennifer M. Lane is perfect for fans of Jeannette Walls’ Hang the Moon and the fiery protagonist in The Hunger Games. Join Charlotte in this small town, coming-of-age dystopian historical saga as she finds resilience, courage, and triumph in her search for identity, independence, and her true home.

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Jennifer M. Lane

A Maryland native and Pennsylvanian at heart, Jennifer M. Lane holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Barton College and a master’s in liberal arts with a focus on museum studies from the University of Delaware, where she wrote her thesis on the material culture of roadside memorials.

Jennifer is a member of the Authors Guild and the Historical Novel Society. Her first book, Of Metal and Earth, won the 2019 Next Generation Indie Book Award for First Novel and was a Finalist in the 2018 IAN Book of the Year Awards in the category of Literary / General Fiction. She is also the author of Stick Figures from Rockport, and the six book series, The Collected Stories of Ramsbolt.

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Five minute history - Kingdom of Hungary (15th Century) by Katerina Dunne

 

Five minute history - Kingdom of Hungary (15th Century) by Katerina Dunne

Return to the Eyrie is a personal story with fictional main characters but is set against the complex historical background of the late 15th century Kingdom of Hungary. Medieval Hungary was a powerful multi-ethnic and multi-lingual kingdom, which covered a large part of Central Europe. 

15th-century Europe map copied from

https://www.gifex.com/detail-en/2009-09-17-811/Europe-during-the-15th-Century.html

During most of the 15th century, the main danger for Hungary came from the Ottoman Empire, which was rapidly expanding towards the west and north. Smaller kingdoms and principalities, such as Serbia, Bulgaria or Wallachia, had already become vassals of the Ottomans while Constantinople fell to them in 1453. All this meant that Hungary was now the last frontier holding back the Sultan’s advance towards Central Europe.

The years between 1458 and 1490 were dominated by the figure of Mátyás (Matthias) Hunyadi, who became king aged fifteen in January 1458. Although his family’s origins are a little obscure and subject to many theories, it seems that Mátyás was the first king of Hungary who was elected despite not being of royal blood. Therefore, this caused problems to his rule right from the start. Powerful barons and prelates within Hungary as well as the Holy Roman Emperor and the King of Poland disputed his legitimacy. So, Mátyás had to secure his throne first and foremost before dealing with the Ottoman threat. In fact, he spent more time at war with his Christian neighbours than fighting the Ottomans. He also spent much effort trying to influence politics in Bosnia, Wallachia and Moldavia, by supporting his favourite candidates as rulers there. The most famous example was Vlad Dracul III (also known as Vlad the Impaler) whom Mátyás initially supported, then arrested and imprisoned for many years until he finally released him in 1475 and sent him back to Wallachia to reclaim his throne. However, Vlad’s rule was short-lived as he was killed at the end of 1476. Similarly, Mátyás fought against the Moldavian Prince, Stefan III (later known as Stefan the Great), during the early years of his rule; however, he later supported Stefan in his efforts to repel the Ottoman attacks on Moldavia.

Some historians believe that Mátyás probably realised that the only way for him to be successful against the Sultan’s armies was to unite the neighbouring countries under his rule and thus increase his military strength. Others believe that he was more interested in becoming the Holy Roman Emperor himself.

But apart from his political and military achievements, Mátyás was also well-known for bringing the Italian Renaissance and Humanism to Hungary, becoming the patron of many scholars and artists and establishing the famous Corvina Library in his Buda palace.

All these elements of the historical background of the time are woven through the storyline of Return to the Eyrie. The main characters participate in the King’s military campaigns, while they also witness the devastation of the Ottoman attacks on the border areas of Hungary. The different battle tactics—from cannons, siege machines and gunboats to armoured cavalry and mounted archers—are depicted in the novel, showing the size and variety of the military forces Mátyás had at his disposal. As the characters travel across the kingdom, they meet people of different ethnic origins who speak a variety of languages, accentuating the multi-cultural nature of medieval Hungary. In addition, the splendour of the royal palace and the King’s legendary fair judgement (which became the subject of popular folk tales after his death) are also demonstrated when he deals with the heroine of the novel.

Bust of King Mátyás Hunyadi at the Royal Palace in Visegrád (author photograph)

Return to the Eyrie 
By Katerina Dunne

Publication Date: 30th April 2024

Publisher: Historium Press

Page Length: 404 Pages

Genre: Historical Fiction (Medieval) / Historical Romance

Honour, revenge, and the quest for justice.

Belgrade, Kingdom of Hungary, 1470.

Raised in exile, adolescent noblewoman Margit Szilágyi dreams of returning to her homeland of Transylvania to avenge her father's murder and reclaim her stolen legacy. To achieve this, she must break the constraints of her gender and social status and secretly train in combat. When the king offers her a chance at justice, she seizes it—even if it means disguising herself as a man to infiltrate the vultures' nest that now occupies her ancestral ‘eyrie’.

Plagued by childhood trauma and torn between two passionate loves, Margit faces brutal battles, her murderous kin's traps and inner demons on her quest for vengeance. Only by confronting the past can she reclaim her honour—if she can survive long enough to see it through.

Return to the Eyrie is an epic coming-of-age tale of a young woman's unwavering pursuit of justice and destiny in 15th century Hungary.

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Katerina Dunne

Katerina Dunne is the pen-name of Katerina Vavoulidou. Originally from Athens, Greece, Katerina has been living in Ireland since 1999. She has a degree in English Language and Literature from the University of Athens, an MA in Film Studies from University College Dublin and an MPhil in Medieval History from Trinity College Dublin.

Katerina is passionate about history, especially medieval history, and her main area of interest is 13th to 15th century Hungary. Although the main characters of her stories are fictional, Katerina uses real events and personalities as part of her narrative in order to bring to life the fascinating history of the medieval Kingdom of Hungary, a location and time period not so well-known to English-speaking readers.

Return to the Eyrie (published April 2024) is the second book in the Medieval Hungary series, a sequel to Lord of the Eyrie (published in February 2022).

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