I wish you all a Merry Christmas!

The holidays are upon us. I wanted to share an excerpt from my book “A Christmas Crossing”.  It describes a night very long ago. A night filled with fear and promise. The night George Washington Crossed the Delaware, December 24^th, 1776. I hope you enjoy it and I wish you all a Merry Christmas!

It was Christmas. The night was dark. Snow filled clouds blocked out the stars offering them little to no light. With the hopes of freedom in their hearts, the men pressed on.

Battered by sleet and snow, Sarah stood huddled on the Pennsylvania shore, with the other women, as she watched them go. She clutched a thin blanket around her frail shoulders even though it did little to block out the frozen wind. Nonetheless, she was one of the lucky ones.

Many of Washington’s soldiers had no coats, and some no shoes. Their bare feet were numb from the cold. A trail of bloody footprints marked their way as they marched across the icy ground.

Tears stung her eyes as she watched her brother Silas step into the last Durham Boat. The deep wooden sides seemed to swallow him up as he sat down for the arduous voyage. The boat was originally constructed to carry iron, not men. She could hear the sound of creaking wood and cracking ice as it was poled off into the river. She said a prayer as it disappeared into the darkness.

Silence remained and she barely noticed as the other women around her shuffled back to camp. They would wait, as they had so many times before, for their men to return. Her body was shivering to warm itself from the bitterness of winter. With a fearful heart she turned and walked back to camp as well.

The sleet had topped the snow with ice. It crunched beneath her feet as she walked. She desperately hoped that the river would not freeze this night.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Guest Blogger: Romance Author Sarah Woodbury

Historical Romance Author Sarah Woodbury stopped into day with a wonderful History lesson!

 As you know, I love history and am tickled to death to have her visit!

Sarah has several wonderful titles. Today she is sharing Daughter of time, only .99, just in time for Cyber Monday!

Women in Celtic Society

It is a stereotype that women in the Middle Ages had two career options:  mother or holy woman, with prostitute or chattel filling in the gaps between those two.  Whether we like it or not, for the most part this stereotype is accurate and the status and role of women in that era revolved around these categories.

This is one reason that when an author sets fiction in this time, it is difficult to write a self-actualized female character who has any kind of autonomy or authority over her own life.  Thus, it is common practice to make fictional characters either healers of some sort (thus opening up a whole array of narrative possibilities for travel and interaction with interesting people) or to focus on high status women.  Such women may or may not actually have had more autonomy, but their lives didn’t consist of drudgery and child care from morning until night.

This is not to say that men in the Middle Ages weren’t equally restricted in their ‘careers’.  A serf is a serf after all, of whatever gender.  Men as a whole, however, did have control of women, of finances, of government, and of the Church, and thus organized and ruled the world.  Literally.

There are obvious exceptions—Eleanor of Aquitaine, anyone—but women such as she were one out of thousands upon thousands who were born, worked, and died within five miles of their home.

At the same time, within Celtic cultures, women at least had the possibility of greater personal autonomy.  In Ireland, where the Roman Church had less influence, women had a viable place both within the Druid religion and within the Celtic/Irish Church.  Wales too was less subject to the restrictions of the Church.  There, women had a higher status than in Christendom as a whole, including the right to divorce her husband and societal acceptance of illegitimate children. 

The Laws of Women (part of the Laws of Hywel Dda) included rules that governed marriage and the division of property if a married couple should separate. Women usually married through contract, but elopement was allowed, with the provision that if the relationship lasted seven years, a woman had the same entitlements as if she’d been given to her husband by her kin.

My book, Daughter of Time, tells the story a young widow, Meg, who falls through time into the Middle Ages—and into the arms of Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, the last Prince of Wales.  One aspect of the book that I found very interesting to write was her reaction to the status and role of women in medieval Wales, and how a modern woman might deal with it.  

Links:

My web page:  http://www.sarahwoodbury.com/

My Twitter code is:  http://twitter.com/#!/SarahWoodbury

On Facebook:   https://www.facebook.com/sarahwoodburybooks

Links to my books: 

Amazon and Amazon UK
Smashwords

Barnes and Noble

Apple

Contest! Enter to Win A Signed Print Copy of Chase the Moon

Contest! Enter to Win A Signed Print Copy of 

Chase the Moon by Lynn Hubbard

You will receive 1 entry for each activity you complete. Winner will be notified by email. 

Some entries are daily so check back for more chances! 

Click Here to Enter!

Chase the Moon is the latest Historical Romance from Lynn Hubbard, 

Best Selling Author of Run into the Wind

Amelia is enraptured by Chase’s charm and his touch. 

Will she fit into his world? Or, will Chase give up everything 

to fit into hers? 

Set in Mississippi 1886 

Meet Chase Stafford. Chase inherited his mother’s Comanche blood and his father’s sense of humor. After receiving a wedding invitation from his brother Brock, he heads off on a train to Mississippi. Along the way, he runs into Amelia. Half asleep, he mistakes her flowing alabaster hair for that of a banshee. After starting off on the wrong foot can Chase’s charm persuade her to give him another chance? 

Amelia’s initial encounter with Chase was unsettling to say the least. The glamorous city girl was taken aback by Chase’s forwardness. Nevertheless, she is bound and determined to awaken the sensations that only he can unleash. 

www.lynnhubbard.com

                                       

                                               Click Here to Enter!

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Christmas is Coming! Are you Naughty or Nice?

NICE

Christmas is just around the corner. 

One of my favorite times of the year, I am getting into the Christmas Spirit early!  

I wrote a short Christmas story to share with you. If you love Americana, history or me, you will enjoy this book. 

I was inspired to write A Christmas Crossing after visiting Yorktown, VA. I have always been enamored by the Revolutionary War and wanted to share my love for history with my love for Christmas. The ebook is .99 on Amazon, or if you need  a good gift get the full color print version. Take a peek below! I hope you enjoy it.

Amazon Kindle Version

Free Preview

Special Edition Gift Copy 

Feeling a bit Naughty this year?

Then pick up a free copy of my twisted Fairy Tale. Download Free!

NAUGHTY

The Gingerbread Man 

A Scrumptious Erotic Fairy Tale

Need a quickie? 

This is an adult fairy tale. Some, sugar, some spice,

 and a pinch of lust. 

Hope you enjoy! 

Leave a comment below (Naughty or Nice) so Santa knows what to bring you!