The Queen's Tears by Elizabeth St.John

 

The Queen's Tears 

By Elizabeth St.John

Publication Date: October 15th, 2026
Publisher: Falcon Historical Press
Pages: 400
Genre: Historical Fiction / Dual-Timeline

A stolen crown jewel and an enigmatic portrait force two women to confront the devastating choices they made for love—and summon the courage to live with the truth.

1619: Barbara, Lady Villiers, at the bidding of her brother-in-law, the Duke of Buckingham, has stolen the dying Queen Anna’s jewels—and kept the greatest prize for herself. The Queen’s Tears, a brooch of impossible value, torments her: too dangerous to sell, too priceless to discard, and possibly her only means of securing her children’s future. When the family fortunes are shattered, Barbara faces an impossible choice: remain loyal to Buckingham—or betray him by confessing the theft to King Charles.

Present Day: Julia Darke opens her Cotswolds bookshop to start life over peacefully. Instead, a Van Dyck portrait of Barbara’s daughter, with tantalising signs of the missing Queen’s Tears hidden in plain sight, brings her face-to-face with Oliver Villiers, the Oxford art conservator she once loved and walked away from.

Reluctantly drawn together to uncover Barbara’s secret, Julia and Oliver follow the trail of the Queen’s Tears—and the closer Julia comes to Barbara’s truth, the harder it becomes to hide from her own.

Inspired by the true stories of Queen Anna of Denmark’s stolen jewels and a missing Van Dyck painting, The Queen’s Tears weaves history, fiction, and family research across the centuries. Readers of The Lydiard Chronicles will find old favourites—and a new heroine following in their footsteps.

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Elizabeth St. John

Elizabeth St.John's acclaimed historical fiction brings to life her ancestors—remarkable women linked to England's royalty—offering unique insights into Medieval, Tudor, and Stuart times. Her novels unfold not just as traditional series, but as an interlocking web of lives: The Lydiard Chronicles—including the celebrated The Lady of the Tower—The Godmother's Secret, and The King's Intelligencer explore everything from the English Civil War to the mystery of the Princes in the Tower. Her newest novel, The Queen’s Tears, a dual timeline pursuing a stolen crown jewel, reunites favourite characters from the seventeenth-century with a present-day bookstore owner heroine.

At the heart of her writing is the transformation of real ancestral histories into narratives of historical continuity. She follows threads of legacy through generations, guided as much by wills, letters, portraits, country churches, ruined castles, manor houses, and lost gardens as by imagination.

Locations become constant companions through time, while characters whisper across centuries—their decisions resonating in the lives of their descendants to reveal how choices shape legacies. Grounded in historic sites like Lydiard Park and the Tower of London, her work creates a living archival flow that continues to flourish as the past yields its secrets.

Elizabeth divides her time between California, England, and the past, surrounded by books, gardens, and animals, with a slightly bewildered, ever-supportive husband beside her.

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Five Minutes of History: William Edwards

Five Minutes of History: William Edwards

In 1719, in the small Welsh village of Eglwysilan, a boy was born who would eventually build one of the most remarkable bridges of the eighteenth century. William Edwards was not born into a family of architects or engineers. His father was a farmer, and William grew up in a rural community where practical skills mattered and opportunities for formal education were limited.

He began working with stone while still a young man. According to accounts of his life, Edwards taught himself much of the mason's craft, gaining experience by building walls, houses and other structures in the surrounding countryside. He had an instinctive understanding of stone and of the forces acting upon it, developed through practical experience rather than the engineering education we would expect today.

But masonry was only part of his life. Edwards was also a Nonconformist minister. He began preaching while still young and was ordained as pastor of an Independent congregation at Groeswen in 1750. For the rest of his life, these two occupations existed alongside each other: preacher and builder, concerned with both the spiritual and practical needs of the communities around him.

The work for which he is remembered began when he was commissioned to build a bridge across the River Taff at Pontypridd, then known as Newbridge.

Crossing the Taff was no small undertaking. The river could change dramatically after heavy rain in the Welsh hills, rising rapidly and carrying considerable force. Edwards's first bridge was completed in the 1740s, only to be destroyed by flooding. A second attempt also failed.

For many builders, that might have been the end of the matter.

Edwards tried again.

His eventual solution was ambitious. Rather than relying upon piers standing in the river, he created a single great stone arch spanning the Taff. This removed the vulnerability of supports that could obstruct floodwater and collect trees and other debris carried downstream.

But solving one problem created another.

The enormous weight of masonry above the sides of the arch placed forces upon the structure that threatened its stability. Edwards responded with an ingenious solution. He incorporated three circular openings through the masonry above each end of the arch. These openings reduced the weight while becoming one of the bridge's most recognisable features.

The completed bridge had a span of approximately 140 feet, or 43 metres. At the time, it was celebrated as the longest single-span stone bridge in Britain, and perhaps in Europe.

What makes the achievement particularly striking is the world in which Edwards worked. There were no computer calculations, hydraulic cranes or modern construction materials. Building a great masonry arch required an extraordinary understanding of geometry, stone and timber. Before the arch could support itself, an immense wooden framework known as centring had to carry the stones while they were laid. Only when the arch was complete could that support be removed and the builder discover whether his calculations, judgement and craftsmanship had succeeded.

Edwards went on to design and build other bridges in Wales, and his reputation spread far beyond the communities in which he had begun his working life. Yet he remained a minister at Groeswen and continued preaching alongside his work as a builder.

He died in 1789, aged seventy. The bridge at Pontypridd survived him and still stands today, although a later bridge alongside it now carries modern traffic.

For me, that combination of persistence, practical intelligence and apparent contradiction made Edwards an irresistible subject for a novel. Here was a farmer's son who became both a minister and an internationally admired bridge builder; a man without modern engineering training who attempted something extraordinary, saw his work fail, and began again.

That last part particularly interested me while writing When the Stones Held. We tend to encounter historic achievements after the uncertainty has disappeared. We see the bridge that survived. Edwards could not know that his would.

At some point the wooden supports had to come away.

And the stones had to hold.

It is public domain: Anonymous postcard. Public domain. Source: Wikimedia Commons / Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales.

When the Stones Held by David E. Owen

Publication Date: 16th May 2026

Publisher: Independently Published

Print Length: 331 Pages

Genre: Historical Fiction 

When the Stones Held is a historical novel inspired by the remarkable true story of William Edwards, the self-taught Welsh stonemason who built one of the great bridges of the eighteenth century.

Growing up in rural South Wales, William lives in a world of hard physical labour, dangerous rivers and limited opportunity. From an early age, he develops an instinctive understanding of stone, balance and the possibilities hidden within the landscape around him.

As the coal trade begins to transform the valleys and the need for safer routes grows, William accepts an extraordinary challenge: to build a bridge across the River Taff at Pontypridd. He is twenty-seven years old and has never built a bridge before.

What follows will test far more than his skill as a stonemason. Flood destroys his first bridge. Later attempts bring new failures and new problems to solve. With his reputation, livelihood and family affected by every decision he makes, William must decide how much he is prepared to risk for something no one can promise will succeed.

Set against a South Wales beginning to experience profound change, When the Stones Held is a story of ambition, family, community and resilience, and of an apparently ordinary man whose determination would leave a legacy that survives more than two and a half centuries later.

Any Triggers: Drowning, poverty

David E. Owen

After decades spent teaching around the world—from the UK to the Caribbean, Africa, and the Middle East—I came to writing fiction later in life. I started with fantasy before finding my voice in fast-paced, real-world spy thrillers. My stories are grounded in current issues like corruption, gender bias, and power, but always emphasise pace, surprise, and character-driven tension.

I’ve visited over 80 countries, worked as a radio host in Abu Dhabi, directed Shakespeare for African audiences in the bush, and even survived a flash flood in Mali and an armed hold-up. I was arrested for drug-smuggling in Nigeria but was eventually released when I refused to pay off the police captain, and I was boat-wrecked alone on a desert island in the Arabian Sea (but no tree) and rescued through a police search. Now retired from teaching, I split my time between writing, photography, and trying to get fit (thanks to a stubborn rowing machine). My latest novel, Hate Machine, tackles misogyny and gender radicalisation — not typical thriller territory, but I like a challenge.

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Learing to Breathe Again: A Novel (The Work of Becoming Trilogy – Book #1) by Tonya Cam

 

Learing to Breathe Again: A Novel 

(The Work of Becoming Trilogy – Book #1)

By Tonya Cam

Publication Date: May 5th, 2026

Publisher: Hammock Oak Publishing

Pages: 310

Genre: Historical Fiction / 20th Century Fiction / Depression Era

Two women. Lives they didn't choose. A friendship that dares them to want more.

Miami, 1933. Mary Simons was supposed to fill her scrapbook with photos of her baby's first smiles, locks of fine hair, and handwritten milestones. Instead, she records respiration rates and temperatures, hoping science can save what love can't. When her baby dies, the future she imagined dies with her.

A thousand miles north, Elena Wagner has spent years trying to bury the girl who nursed her mother and sister through their final days. Silk dresses and a husband who adores her keep the grief at arm's length. But an unplanned pregnancy, and a Depression that won't end, threaten to pull her back into the one role she swore she'd never play again.

A chance encounter at the Chicago World's Fair brings the two women together. When circumstances relocate them both to the sugarcane fields of Depression-era Florida, an unlikely friendship becomes the one thing they can't afford to lose. In a time when women are expected to endure in silence, Mary and Elena must decide: keep performing the lives they're supposed to live, or risk it all for the women they might still become.

A character-driven novel about loss, friendship, and courage. Sometimes the hardest thing isn't holding on. It's learning to breathe again.

For readers of Fiona Davis, Kristina McMorris, Marie Benedict, and Lisa Wingate.

Praise for Learning to Breathe Again:

"...a touching tale of love, loss, friendship, and the painful search for new beginnings."

~ Kirkus Reviews

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Tonya Cam

Tonya Cam is a third-generation Floridian, a lifelong collector of Depression-era memorabilia, and a writer drawn to women who are not only surviving. They are becoming.

Learning to Breathe Again is her debut novel and the first book in The Work of Becoming Trilogy. It's the story of two women whose lives collide at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair and whose friendship reshapes them in the sugarcane fields of Clewiston, Florida. It was inspired by her father's memories growing up, and the older brother he lost before he was born.

When she is not writing, she teaches middle school science in Gainesville, Florida. She is also the author of The Complete Guide to Shirley Temple Dolls and Collectibles.

If you love Fiona Davis, Marie Benedict, Lisa Wingate, or Kristina McMorris, you'll love the stories she writes.

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The Bonnet Brigade by Christy Matheson

 

The Bonnet Brigade by Christy Matheson

Publication Date: July 11th, 2026

Publisher: Dragonblade Publishing

Pages: 447

Genre: Regency Romance

She needs a husband. He cannot offer his hand. Together, they may lose everything—or find the future they never dared hope for.

When the fortune supporting Celia Westhaven and her cousins disappears overnight, she knows she must secure their future. The spirited Irishwoman needs an income, a home—and, by necessity, a husband. Since the one gentleman she truly wants insists he cannot marry her, she is prepared to wed anyone willing to provide for her family.

Peter Alcott was preparing to propose to Celia when anonymous threats against his sister changed everything. A former military strategist now entangled in dangerous intelligence work, he cannot risk bringing Celia into his uncertain life. To protect both his sister and the woman who secretly holds his heart, Peter must devise the most important strategy of his life.

As pressure mounts from an increasingly determined suitor, Celia's prospects—and her cousins' futures—grow more precarious by the day. Over tea and iced biscuits, Celia and her cousins form The Bonnet Brigade. With a self-appointed Madam General at the helm, they devise a plan to outmaneuver the London marriage mart before financial ruin strikes—or Celia's unwanted suitor makes his next move.

But as danger closes in and society's expectations tighten their grip, Celia and Peter must decide whether duty demands their sacrifice—or if love is worth risking everything.

Devour The Bonnet Brigade, a swoon-worthy Regency romance perfect for fans of Bridgerton's intrigue and Little Women's sisterly devotion. Featuring a secret spy, determined heroines, found family, and a slow-burn romance that sparks into passion, this charming tale of courage, loyalty, and love will capture your heart.

Praise for The Bonnet Brigade:

"The romantic line has excellent chemistry and tension. The surrounding events and characters create a vivid backdrop. The character building is strong. But what really brings this into 5-star territory for me is the writing, which is outstanding."

~ 5* Amazon Review

"Carefully crafted and well researched, which is refreshing and appreciated."

~ 5* Amazon Review

"The Bonnet Brigade is a wonderfully layered Regency Romance."

~ 5* Amazon Review

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Christy Matheson

Women who solve problems, men who fall first and fall hard… and endings that are more than a sugar rush.

When Christy Matheson is not throwing ordinary characters into fairy tales, she is busy raising five children. (Very busy.) She writes character-driven historical fiction with and without romance and fantasy elements, and her “fresh, smart, and totally charming” stories have won multiple awards.

Christy is also an embroidery artist, classically trained pianist, and sews all of her own clothes. She lives in Oregon, on a country property that fondly reminds her of a Regency estate (except with a swing set instead of faux Greek ruins), with her husband, five children, three Shelties, one bunny, and an improbable quantity of art supplies.

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The Roll of the Dice (We Who Endure) by J.A. Quarles

 

The Roll of the Dice 

(We Who Endure)

By J.A. Quarles

Publication Date: June 30th, 2026

Publisher: Historium Press

Pages: 330

Genre: Historical Fiction / Alternate History

As the fires of war spread across a divided nation, three brothers from Louisiana are swept into the storm that will decide the fate of the Confederacy-and perhaps the future of America itself.

In the bloody aftermath of Fredericksburg, young Confederate officer Johan Lutze escapes Union captivity through courage, cunning, and sheer determination. Returning to General Robert E. Lee's army just in time for the Battle of Chancellorsville, Johan performs an act of heroism that saves the life of the legendary General Stonewall Jackson and thrusts him into the inner circle of Confederate power.

Now, with Vicksburg under siege and the Confederacy teetering between survival and collapse, Johan's bold strategic ideas begin to influence President Jefferson Davis himself. But in Richmond, ambition and politics can be as deadly as bullets, and not everyone welcomes the rise of the young officer from Louisiana.

While Johan helps shape daring military campaigns alongside Generals Lee, Beauregard, and Johnston, his brothers wage battles of their own. Paul Lutze Jr., maimed at Shiloh and fitted with a prosthetic leg, enters the shadowy world of Confederate espionage, where secrets and sabotage may alter the course of the war. Meanwhile, sixteen-year-old Jacques Lutze marches north with the ferocious Louisiana Tigers, consumed by grief, vengeance, and a burning desire to kill Yankees before they kill him.

From the fields of Pennsylvania to the banks of the Mississippi, from the halls of Richmond to the courts of Europe and the rising empire in Mexico, the war expands into a conflict of global consequence. Armies maneuver. Governments scheme. Brothers bleed.

And as the summer of 1863 approaches its reckoning, the Lutze brothers will stand at the center of history-where triumph and tragedy walk hand in hand.

Praise 

"The author did a phenomenal job of utilizing historically accurate settings, people and culture that made this story very believable. The battle scenes were probably my favorite due to the accuracy of military knowledge the author has that truly made me feel like I was right there on the battlefield with the characters. I also enjoyed the multiple perspectives of the different characters as the book doesn’t just focus on one main character’s point of view which kept me engaged and ready to turn the next page. I can’t wait to for the next book to come out!"

Amazon 5* Review

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J. A. Quarles

Born and raised in New Orleans, Justin has always had a passion for storytelling. This writing process has always been important to him, a lifelong history nerd, who received a Bachelor’s in History from the University of New Orleans.

After he is done with his day job, Justin loves to come home and play with his two wonderful kiddos and watch movies with his wife.

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