Author Eliza Graham reveals her Desert Island Books and love of cakes

Today is the last of my Desert Island Posts. Today I'm not touring the blogosphere but actually really touring the Cumbrian landscape on my way to Cleator Moor Library to give a talk about THE GILDED LILY. Cleator Moor is one of the more remote towns in the county, up near the west coast, so it will take me almost two hours to drive there. On the way I'll have the company of Radio 4 and some spectacular scenery. Just looked out of the window and it's raining - but hey, you can't have it all! If you'd like to see where I have been touring lately, why not visit Hoydens and Firebrands for my post on Old London Bridge, or Historical Tapestry for my post on The Smell of Old Coffee Houses.
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Eliza Graham lives in Oxfordshire and is the author of four novels blending historical and contemporary themes. Eliza's first novel, "Playing with the Moon" was a smash hit in Germany where she has sold over 100,000 copies. Her latest, THE HISTORY ROOM, was published in May and combines reborn dolls and the Prague Spring in the setting of an English boarding school.
Eliza's first young adult novel, BLITZ KID, will be published this month as a Kindle e-book. Look out for further information.

Eliza's Website

More About The History Room

Over to Eliza:

For my classic novel, I would choose OUR MUTUAL FRIEND by Dickens. It was one of my A level novels and I've loved it ever since. It's a big novel in every sense of the world: a little messy in times, but full of life and insight. The descriptions of the murkier parts of Victorian London would probably make me look around my beautiful desert island with relief. 

 

For my contemporary novel, I would choose I CAPTURE THE CASTLE by Dodie Smith, even though it's not that contemporary, having been written in the fifties and set in the thirties. The descriptions of the novelist father imprisoned in an old castle dungeon to make him finish his novel would scare me into using the desert island as a chance to write, write, write. It's such a very English novel, too, that it would make me feel a little bit of home was with me.

 

For non-fiction I was going to select The Book of Common Prayer because, as a cradle Catholic, I had no exposure to its beautiful language. Each image is almost a novel in its own right. But now I'm going to crack and reveal my true greedy self and ask if I can choose Mary Berry's Book of Cakes (with a magic supply of equipment and ingredients). I'll be very healthy on that island, what with all the fish and tropical fruit, so a bit of indulgence on cake is in order.   

(Hope Eliza leaves me some of that cake when she goes!)

 

Gillian Bagwell chooses her Desert Island Books

Gillian Bagwell is a very clever woman. Not only has she managed to write two stunning historicals, and is working on a third, but she's also able to be in two places at once. She's on her way to the Historical Novel Society Conference in London, and she's also here minding my deserted blog, my Desert Island, whilst I'm touring the blogosphere.

Today The Gilded Lily is being reviewed at Unabridged Chick, pop over to see what the verdict is. I am also a guest on Passages to the Past with my post on the artists that inspired The Gilded Lily.You can win a book at both sites by entering the Giveaway.

Now - more about Gillian.

Gillian Bagwell grew up in Berkeley, California, and began her professional life as an actress, studying at the University of California Berkeley and the Drama Studio London at Berkeley before relocating to Los Angeles to pursue a career in film and television. She moved into directing and producing theatre, founding The Pasadena Shakespeare Company, where she served as artistic director for nine years, producing thirty-seven critically acclaimed productions.

She united her life-long love of books, British history, and theatre in writing The Darling Strumpet, based on the life of Nell Gwynn.

Her second novel, The King's Mistress, is about Jane Lane, an ordinary English girl who risked her life to help the young Charles II escape after the Battle of Worcester.

Here are Gillian's choices.

Classic – Complete Works of Shakespeare

I have to choose this – pound for pound it provides more material, and more compelling material, than just about anything else.  Having acted in, directed, and produced a lot of Shakespeare, I find that it’s in my blood.

Current – Ian Rankin. He’s a best-selling author in the U.K. and not very well known in the U.S. for some reason. I’ve read all of his Rebus series, and now I’m loving his new series with a new protagonist, Malcolm Fox of the Complaints – the internal investigation bureau of the Lothian and Borders police. Both are crime fiction set in contemporary Edinburgh, and are just want I want to read when I’m writing historical fiction, i.e., something that is completely different than historical fiction!

Non-fiction – all of Liza Picard’s books: Elizabethan London, Restoration London, Dr. Johnson’s London, and Victorian London. Ms. Picard provides a great deal of information about people’s everyday lives—what they ate, how much things cost, how they got around, entertainment and leisure, sex, health, etc. Just what I need when writing historical fiction!

I am a great fan of Liza Picard's books too, so I hope Gillian will leave her selection behind when she leaves!
You can find out more about Gillian and her books at

www.gillianbagwell.com

www.facebook.com/gillianbagwell

www.amazon.com/author/gillianbagwell

Twitter - @GillianBagwell

Desert Island Books with Award Winning Romantic Novelist Charlotte Betts

Today The Gilded Lily is being reviewed at Let Them Read Books and at The True Book Addict, where I have also written a guest Post on The Temptation of the Restoration.

While I am away, please welcome award-winning Romantic Novelist Charlotte Betts to my Desert Island.

It's getting quite crowded on here with novelists all scribbling away!

Always a bookworm, Charlotte discovered her passion for writing after her three children and two step-children had grown up . The Apothecary’s Daughter, a historical novel, was published in the summer of 2011 after winning an award with You-Write-On and a publishing deal with Piatkus, and her second, The Painter's Apprentice has just come out.

Classic Choice - Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

No matter how many times I read Rebecca, I never fail to shiver at the suspense and brooding sense of menace. A young bride is haunted by the legacy of lies and deceit left by her husband’s beautiful first wife. Perfect reading for a Cornish holiday!

Contemporary Choice - Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
A contemporary novel but set in 1862, Waters creates a rich, Dickensian world full of wonderful characters. This is a densely plotted tale of love and betrayal with as many twists and turns as a Victorian alleyway.

Non Fiction Choice – The History of Architecture on the Comparative Method by Bannister Fletcher
My edition is from 1938, bound in red leather and gilt with marbleised end papers. It’s an invaluable resource for checking architectural facts for writing historical novels but also full of endlessly fascinating illustrations.

http://architecture.dept.shef.ac.uk/ssoa_news/?p=117

The Painter’s Apprentice by Charlotte Betts
As the Glorious Revolution of 1688 throws Britain into turmoil, can Beth Ambrose find the courage to follow her heart, defend all she holds dear and change the course of history for good? The Painter’s Apprentice is the sequel to award-winning The Apothecary’s Daughter.



Thanks for sharing your choices, Charlotte, hope you are rescued soon.

Author Debra Brown is Castaway on a Desert Island

 Debra Brown is a romantic and a lover of history. 

She is the organiser of English Historical Fiction Authors well-respected blog, and the facebook group associated with it. Debra works tirelessly to promote historical fiction in all its genres. If you go there today you will see she is hosting a Giveaway of THE GILDED LILY. I am also at Tanzanite's Castle today.

Debra loves to read books and watch films where 'We can enter a world of wearing beautiful gowns each night to the dinner table and be served by butlers and dashing footmen. A world of polite conversation at balls and of gentlemen who do not turn their backs to a lady until he has excused himself from a conversation.'

It seems a shame to consign this woman of  indefatigable energy to my Desert Island, but sorry Debra, I've taken the boat.
Here are Debra Brown's Desert Island choices.

A Tale of Two Cities ~ I have actually never read it yet, and it is the bestseller in historical fiction.

For her second book, Debra asked me, "Does it have to be a novel? Because I am really hooked on The Schwarzbein Principle and The Schwarzbein Principle II right now and would love it if others had some exposure to it. If that is ok, here is why I like it."

It's a Desert Island, right. I thought I should be generous and allow Debra her choice. Go ahead Debra...

 We've all had so many different diets to try for health and weight issues, but we still struggle with weight and aging illnesses like Type II Diabetes and many others. These books, written by a diabetes doctor, start with how the diet and medication normally prescribed by doctors was making people fatter, sicker and more miserable. Her patients were asking for something different, something that would help.

She started working with them, asking them to try writing down everything they ate and medications, as well as their responses to such. She then asked them to cut back to smaller portions of balanced meals, five times a day. The books describe how that affects the body's insulin- which in turn affects the other hormones and neurotransmitters, etc.

As her patients applied what she had learned, she saw them become healthier and more youthful looking, including weight loss or gain as needed, while eating an abundance of good food throughout the day. One interesting point that has brightened my diet is that fats do not put weight on a person. To store fat, insulin is required- a person must have an insulin response and that can come only from eating carbohydrates. So  the key is to balance the proportions of the foods- enough carbs to make some insulin, but not too much, and always with vegetable fiber, fats and protein.

My first personal experience with results is a funny story. As an author, my vision is of great importance (as for everyone). I got new prescription glasses in June, but my vision seemed to get worse and worse, on and off, quickly. One evening I picked up my Schwartzbein book and could barely read it. I thought I must be going blind. I knew, though, on the Schwartzbein diet, that it was time for me to eat. I ate my small balanced meal and sat back down to read- lo and behold, my vision was clear. Since then, I have kept my vision pretty clear by eating on time.

I'm sure the Desert Island will be filled with nutritious fruits and then there will always be fish! 
Here is Debra's  Victorian novel, The Companion of Lady Holmeshire which I hope makes her a nice companion during her stay.
Thanks for looking after my Island for the day, Debra. 
Debra's blog is at www.authordebrabrown.blogspot.com
 

Woman Friday, Desert Island Castaway - Anita Seymour

Today I'm at Peeking Between the Pages Blog where Darlene is reviewing The Gilded Lily.
Whilst I am off on my blog tour my Desert Island Guest for today is Anita Seymour, historical novelist and another fan of the 17th century.


Anita says on her website:
"The realities of everyday habits shape the actions of my characters, but although restricting, these are the details I find fascinating – for instance how long it took to travel between London and Exeter in a box coach without suspension, and where accidents were frequent on ill-made up roads that in parts became knee deep in mud during winter rain. In fact I find the research is the most exciting part and less arduous than actually writing the story. If I cannot obtain a definitive answer from more than one source, I leave it out. This can sometimes constrain my plot choices, but it’s all part of the challenge of writing a credible as well as an exciting story.

Getting inside my character’s heads is also vital. In the 17th Century, attitudes were very different to today. Education was not available to everyone, and we now disapprove of prejudice, chauvinism and religious fanaticism, but in the 1640’s, views were very different. My characters have to be true to their own time, I have to allow them to hold views we would dismiss now. Maybe they are bigoted, politically backwards and administer whippings to their misbehaving children – even their wife! I cannot pass judgment on them, or apologize for their beliefs. Not everyone was a free thinker ahead of their time.

Writing historical fiction is complicated and challenging, but my spirit lives in the past and I cannot imagine myself writing anything else."

Here are Anita's choices: 
"The Classic has got to be Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice - it's the best romantic love story ever written and can stand being read repeatedly with no loss of interest.

The Contemporary: The Distant Hours by Kate Morton - her narrative is so detailed, I enjoyed it the first time, but also sure I will find more in it on a second, third and fourth reading

The Non-Fiction: Courtiers: The Secret History of the Georgian Court by Lucy Worsley - so by the time I am rescued I will be an expert on the early Georgian court and thus writing my next biographic novel will be easy. 

Royalist Rebel looks wonderful and is coming soon from Pen and Sword. For details of her other books, check out Anita's Blog: http://thedisorganisedauthor.blogspot.com

Anita also writes as Anita Davison, Trencarrow Secret and her other books can be found here

Desert Island Books - Castaway Ann Weisgarber

I'm going off to tour the blogosphere and while I'm away I've invited a few other authors to my Deserted Blog. Whilst they are here they'll share their Desert Island Books.Needless to say I'm a big fan of the Radio 4 show, Desert Island Discs.

Ann Weisgarber is my Castaway today. 
Ann was born and raised in Kettering, Ohio, a suburb of Dayton. After graduating from Wright State University with a Bachelor of Arts in Social Work, she was a social worker in a psychiatric hospital. She moved to Houston and attended the University of Houston where she earned a Masters of Arts in Sociology. She taught sociology at several community colleges in the Houston area.
In addition to Ohio and Texas, Ann has lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and in Des Moines, Iowa. She now splits her time between Sugar Land, Texas, and Galveston, Texas. She and her husband, Rob, are admirers of America's national parks and try to visit a park each year. Ann's next novel, The Promise, will be released in England, March 2013. It is the story of a marriage during the 1900 Galveston, Texas, hurricane.

Here is Ann's selection of a classic, a contemporary and a non-fiction book for her stay on my island.

Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe. Since I'm on a deserted island, I'll need every survivor tip imaginable. This classic is a good place to begin.

First Edition cover

Charlotte's Web by E.B. White. This is a children's book but is my favorite novel. It's not all that contemporary but keeping in mind the deserted island issue, I'll need this story about a spider who saves the day.  

  

Ultimate Visual Dictionary edited by DK Publishing. The illustrations range from how to tie a knot to the Coliseum in Rome. The pictures are so beautiful and detailed that I'll be entertained for years.

And Ann's new book The Promise is out soon, meanwhile she can enjoy re-reading her own The Personal History of Rachel DuPree, recipient of the Langum Prize for American Historical Fiction for 2010.

It is 1917 in the South Dakota Badlands, and summer has been hard. Fourteen years have passed since Rachel and Isaac DuPree left Chicago to stake a claim in this unforgiving land. Isaac, a former Buffalo Soldier, is fiercely proud: black families are rare in the West, and black ranchers even rarer. But it hasn't rained in months, the cattle bellow with thirst, and supplies are dwindling. Pregnant, and struggling to feed her family, Rachel is isolated by more than just geography.She is determined to give her surviving children the life they deserve, but she knows that her husband will never leave his ranch: land means a measure of equality with the white man, and Isaac DuPree is not about to give it up just because times are hard. Somehow Rachel must find the strength to do what is right - for her children, for her husband, and for herself. Moving and majestic, "The Personal History of Rachel DuPree" is an unforgettable novel about love and loyalty, homeland and belonging. Above all, it is the story of one woman's courage in the face of the most punishing adversity.

Desert Island Books - Castaway Deborah Swift

I'm going off to tour the blogosphere and while I'm away I've invited a few other authors to my Deserted Blog. Whilst they are here they'll share their Desert Island Books.Needless to say I'm a big fan of the Radio 4 show, Desert Island Discs.

Each author has chosen one classic, one modern and one non-fiction book to take to their Desert Island, along with one of their own books, just to remind them how clever they are!

Before I go off tomorrow, here is my selection:

Here's my classic. Why? Because it's long - very long, and I might not be rescued for a very long time! It also has lots of  fantasy and material for daydreaming. I might even want to edit it and re-write sections. I can never resist a bit of editing! Also I figured that the landscape of Middle Earth is about as far as I could get from the desert island.

I loved Wolf Hall, but I'm daunted by another the size of this. On my island I'd have plenty of time to really savour Mantel's magnificent writing style.

I don't know if I'd have painting things on my island, but I'd certainly want to meditate on nature and my surroundings, and if not I could enjoy the change of view this book would give me.




And of course I would take a large stack of paper to keep writing until someone rescues me! (possibly of course the only thing I might write is SOS in large letters!)

Tomorrow my Desert Island Castaway is Orange-nominated and Langum Prize winner Ann Weisgarber, and I will be at Bippity Boppety Book and Lit Addicted Brit