Five Minute History with Cathie Dunn
What would you do if you discovered human bones beneath your kitchen floor?
That’s the question Maddie asks herself in Love Lost in Time, when she makes the grim discovery during renovation works in her inherited cottage near the historic fortress of Carcassonne.
Well, my former neighbours in a French village in the Minervois kept them! Yep. They had discovered a femur and part of a skull when they refurbished the kitchen of their old village house, and one late night after the village fête, they showed them to us. It transpired that our quartier had been built on the remains of an ancient Visigoth necropolis. Cool, or what?!
I was so excited to handle the bones – carefully, of course – and I immediately wondered about them. Who did they belong to? What’s the story behind them? And so, the idea for the modern part in Love Lost in Time revealed itself. Human bones beneath a kitchen floor! With a paranormal twist, of course…
But what about the historic part of this dual-timeline project? What about the person those bones belonged to? What was their story? I had to poke my nose into local history.
I know very little about Visigoths, but plenty about the early medieval era in mainland Europe, so when I researched the family tree of local lords, I came across a man called Bellon (‘Bello’ in those Latin chronicles) who was supposed to have been the first Count of Carcassonne. At the same time, the Franks under leadership of Charlemagne pushed into Septimania, as the area here was called then. So the two men would have likely had dealings with one another.
Septimania at the time was unruly. The Umayyad Caliphate had pushed northwards from the Iberian Peninsula, occupying the ancient settlements of Narbonne and Béziers near the western Mediterranean Sea. Life in the towns was surprisingly calm – both Muslims and Christians practiced their religion alongside each other, under Umayyad rules.
The country inland was different. Ancient Visigoth settlements rebelled against the conquerors – both Umayyad and Franks – but they weren’t able to withstand the force of Charlemagne’s troops. Carcassonne was already a fortress, ever since Roman times, and Count Bellon exerted his influence across the region from his stronghold. He could keep an eye on movements on all sides across the plain, and on the Pyrenean Mountains in the south. And he appears to have supported the Franks.
Now, let’s get back to those bones! Whose are they? Bellon had sons. His and their names are recorded. But what about his wife? Who was she? Didn’t she have a name? The chroniclers of the day clearly didn’t think her worthy of mentioning. Very sad indeed. Another woman lost in the mists of time.
But that omission allowed me to bring her back to life, and to breathe life into those bones. Nanthild is entirely fictional, but it could indeed have been that Bellon married to forge an alliance. It was the done thing. So, given his alliance with the Franks, what about a Frankish lady? The circle closed, and we meet Nanthild, daughter of a Frankish count, wife of Bellon, and Countess of Carcassonne.
In recent years, my focus has turned towards forgotten women in history – and there are so many. The further we go back in time, the less we hear about them. Early medieval chroniclers really don’t seem to have liked women. Perhaps the occasional queen or empress, in conjunction with their husbands / fathers / sons, of course. But in their own right? Rarely. Boo!
But if we, as authors, just manage to introduce a few of these obscure women in our novels, we can ensure that their roles and their names – real or fictionalised – are remembered. We give them a life, a purpose, family. We show their beauty, intelligence, dreams, and capabilities.
I’m quite proud of Nanthild. She is resigned to her fate, as women had to in those days. She marries Bellon, and is fortunate in gaining a brave and fair husband, in a beautiful, sun-drenched if turbulent region. Perhaps it wasn’t so common, and many real women weren’t so fortunate, but I thought Nanthild deserved a good life. Before, you know, fate…
Now, we mustn’t forget about Carcassonne – that ancient fortress on top of a small hill in the plain between two mountain ranges, the Pyrenees to the south and the Massif Central to the north. Inhabited at least since the Bronze Age, it had been a fortified site at least since the Romans held sway in the region.
I often visit ‘la Cité’, as the old town with the fortress up on the hill is called. And when I walk along the old ramparts, through Tour Wisigothe – one of the oldest towers of the fortifications – I always think of Maddie’s experience in Love Lost in Time. Gulp!
Maybe, if you visit Carcassonne one day, you will have a vision of the distant past. I dare you!
INSERT IMAGE OF CARCASSONNE by Carcassonne Tours. All rights reserved.
Thank you for hosting me today, and letting me ramble on about the distant past of the beautiful region that I now call my home.
Cathie xx
By Cathie Dunn
Publisher: Ocelot Press
Print Length: 274 Pages
Genre: Duel Time-Line / Historical Mystery / Romance
A reluctant daughter. A dutiful wife. A mystery of the ages.
Languedoc, France, 2018
Historian Madeleine Winters would rather research her next project than rehash the strained relationship she had with her late mother. However, to claim her inheritance, she reluctantly agrees to stay the one year required in her late mother’s French home and begins renovations. But when she’s haunted by a female voice inside the house and tremors emanating from beneath her kitchen floorboards, she’s shocked to discover ancient human bones.
The Mediterranean coast, AD 777
Seventeen-year-old Nanthild is wise enough to know her place. Hiding her Pagan wisdom and dutifully accepting her political marriage, she’s surprised when she falls for her Christian husband, the Count of Carcassonne. But she struggles to keep her forbidden religious beliefs and her healing skills secret while her spouse goes off to fight in a terrible, bloody war.
As Maddie settles into her rustic village life, she becomes obsessed with unraveling the mysterious history buried in her new home. And when Nanthild is caught in the snare of an envious man, she’s terrified she’ll never embrace her beloved again.
Can two women torn apart by centuries help each other finally find peace?
Love Lost in Time is a vivid standalone historical fiction novel for fans of epoch-spanning enigmas. If you like dark mysteries, romantic connections, and hints of the paranormal, then you’ll adore Cathie Dunn’s tale of redemption and self-discovery.
Praise
"From the richness of Charlemagne's court and the regret of a daughter, as she stands over her mother's grave, to the realisation of an enemy and a skeleton under the kitchen floor, Love Lost in Time: A Tale of Love, Death and Redemption by Cathie Dunn is the unforgettable story that traverses two very different times."
The Coffee Pot Book Club, 5* Editorial Review
"The narrative is ripe with emotions as two independent women are pulled in unexpected directions... Both landscapes are beautifully penned for readers to easily get lost in. Additionally, the storylines are engaging, and each helped bring a satisfying conclusion to the other. An enjoyable tale about love, sacrifice, and self-discovery."
Historical Novel Society
Universal Buy Link
This book is available on #KindleUnlimited
Cathie Dunn
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