Tuesday, 29 September 2026

Beneath David's Throne: Michal's Story by Melissa Alfredson


 

Beneath David's Throne: Michal's Story 
By Melissa Alfredson


Publication Date: September 3rd, 2026
Publisher: ScarletWhite Press
Pages: 339
Genre: Literary Historical Fiction / Biblical Fiction


THEY CALL JERUSALEM DAVID’S TRIUMPH.

Michal calls it her cage.


Once a princess of Israel and the woman who helped secure King David’s crown, Michal now lives as a discarded queen in the palace her husband built upon the ruins of her father’s dynasty. Childless and increasingly sidelined as new wives and their sons rise around her, she clings to the fragile power her name still commands.


But when the house of David fractures under rival claims and hidden betrayals, Michal is drawn into the deadly politics of succession as she fights to protect the young princess Tamar, the one soul in the palace she cannot abandon.


As prophecy closes in around David’s throne and old wounds refuse to stay buried, Michal must confront the legacy of her father, the silence of the husband she once loved, and the God whose purposes she cannot escape.


Darkly lyrical and psychologically charged, Beneath David’s Throne is a work of literary historical fiction steeped in the court intrigue and dynastic politics of ancient Israel. For readers of The Red Tent and The Marriage Portrait, this first novel in the Beneath David’s Throne saga reclaims Michal, daughter of Saul—the forgotten woman who stood closest to David’s throne.


History remembered her as barren. This is the story it left out.




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Melissa Alfredson


Melissa Alfredson is an award-winning screenwriter and novelist with a passion for uncovering the stories history left untold. Her fiction explores the lives of women caught in the shadow of great events, bringing overlooked voices to life through richly imagined, character-driven prose.

Beneath David’s Throne is her debut novel.

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Monday, 28 September 2026

Blog Tour: What Love E'er Meant by Janet Wertman



What Love E'er Meant by Janet Wertman


Publication Date: Septembre 7th, 2026
Publisher: independently published
Pages: 432
Genre: Historical Biographical Fiction / Tudor Fiction


A new queen must prove she deserves the throne God gave her, while the path everyone insists will secure it might cost her everything.


Against all odds, Elizabeth Tudor has become Queen of England. Determined to fulfill what she sees as a divine responsibility, she sets out to heal a country ravaged by religious discord, war, and debt – and vindicate the legacy of Anne Boleyn, the mother who did not deserve her fate.


But Elizabeth’s crown is not fully secure: to the Catholic world, her cousin Mary Stuart is the rightful Queen of England and there are rumblings to put her there. Shoring up defenses requires that Elizabeth challenge France’s control of Scotland and Spain’s dominance on the seas, as well as calm internal strife. Above the din of menace, one question dominates all others: who will she marry?


William Cecil, her trusted Secretary of State, urges her to secure an alliance through a strategic match. Robert Dudley, the love of her life, pressures her to choose him. And Mary herself presents a cautionary tale. In the end, Elizabeth chooses not as a woman but as a queen, and learns the sobering truth of sovereignty: to rule is to stand alone.


What Love E’er Meant, the searing second volume in the Regina Trilogy, captures a young queen’s struggle to balance love and power, duty and desire…and the profound cost of choosing crown over heart.



Praise for Nothing Proved (Book #1):

"A compelling period piece which brings to life the early days of one of history's greatest monarchs..."
~ Kirkus Reviews



Buy Links:

Janet Wertman


Janet Wertman’s critically acclaimed, character-driven historical novels reflect a passion for the Tudor era she had harbored since she stayed up late at age eight to watch The Six Wives of Henry VIII and Elizabeth R.

Her Seymour Saga trilogy (Jane the Quene, The Path to Somerset, The Boy King) took her deep into one of the era’s central families – and now her follow-up Regina series (Nothing Proved and What Love E’er Meant out now, Forever Gloriana to come) explores Elizabeth’s journey from bastard to icon.

Janet shares interesting takes on the Tudors at janetwertman.com and her YouTube channel @TooMuchTudor.



Thursday, 24 September 2026

Golden Flight by Lisajoy Sachs

 



Golden Flight 
By Lisajoy Sachs


Publication Date: July 14th, 2026
Publisher: Historium Press
Pages: 341
Genre: Historical Fiction / Coming of Age


In 1933, as antisemitism spreads across Europe, fifteen-year-old Berta leaves Czernowitz on a journey that will change her life forever.


Married to a man three times her age, Berta is forced to surrender childhood overnight, stepping into the role of wife before she has fully learned who she is. Marriage was meant to secure her future. Instead, it carries her across borders just as hostility toward Jews intensifies and the ground beneath her people begins to shift.


What was meant to be a quick and safe departure becomes a desperate migration as anti-Jewish persecution grows and escape routes narrow. By 1935, Berta and her husband Solomon are stranded in Istanbul, suspended between continents and consequences. Months pass in suffocating uncertainty. Promised departures collapse without explanation. Funds diminish. Friendships disappear into another ship's wake.


And within the confines of marriage, Berta begins to understand that protection does not always resemble love, and that survival may demand more maturity than she was ever meant to possess. When passage to Palestine is finally secured, relief does not come easily. She has learned how quickly certainty dissolves. Ahead lies open water and the fragile hope of safety.


Behind her, a Europe turning its back on Jews and closing its doors. Between those two realities stands a young woman who must decide which parts of herself she is willing to sacrifice to endure.


Set against the tightening grip of pre-war Europe, this sweeping and intimate second installment of the Bright One series traces Berta's forced coming of age amid exile, identity loss, and the quiet, often invisible costs of survival.




Praise


"This coming-of-age story of a young Jewish woman (the author’s grandmother) captures the heartbreak of leaving the past behind, while also showing her ability to overcome grief and form new friendships. At the same time, Berta continues to develop her education and self-worth as a young woman in a place and time that was not always kind to those in her position. It is a story of survival, friendship, loss, self-education, resilience, and budding independence."

~ Snap Dragon Lady, Amazon 5* Review


"Berta's story emerges against the darkening backdrop of prewar Europe, and Lisajoy Sachs grounds it in vivid historical detail while never losing sight of what Jewish families had to endure to survive."
~ Kit Sergeant, author of The Doctor of Auschwitz



Buy Links:

Lisajoy Sachs


Lisajoy Sachs is an award-winning author of historical fiction whose work explores memory, identity, and the enduring strength of the human spirit. Her best selling debut novel, Bright One, launched a six-part World War II saga inspired by true stories from her own family ancestry. The novel established her as a powerful voice in multigenerational storytelling grounded in rigorous historical research and emotional authenticity.

The third installment of the series, Aliyah, is currently in development and is scheduled for publication in 2027. The remaining titles in the completed saga include Folding Light, Restoring Hope, and Fading Night. Sachs has completed manuscripts for the entire six-book series, an ambitious literary undertaking that traces the lives, displacement, survival, and rebuilding of her ancestors across pre-war and wartime Europe.

Born and raised between Long Island and the Catskill Mountains of New York, Sachs was shaped by landscapes of sea and mountain that continue to influence the atmosphere and expansiveness of her fiction. She holds a Master of Fine Arts from the City University of New York and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Alfred University. Her professional background reflects a lifelong dedication to craft and design, with experience spanning fine arts, interior design, metal smithing, lapidary arts, and the craft beer and hospitality industries. She is an Accredited Jewelry Professional through the Gemological Institute of America, a Certified Beer Server® through the Cicerone® Certification Program, and a graduate of the Hop & Brew School at Yakima Chief Hops.

With the eye of a visual artist and the discipline of a historian, Sachs writes with cinematic scope and layered emotional depth. Her work is driven by a profound commitment to preserving family history and honoring those whose stories might otherwise be lost to time. Through richly detailed narrative and immersive storytelling, she illuminates the fragile threads that connect past and present.

Now residing in the Catskill Mountains of New York, Sachs continues to write and research while embracing an active life filled with cycling, skiing, and travel with her partner and their standard poodle, Hops.

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Beneath David's Throne: Michal's Story by Melissa Alfredson

  Beneath David's Throne: Michal's Story  By Melissa Alfredson Publication Date: September 3rd, 2026 Publisher: ScarletWhite Press P...