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About
Rosemary Morris
I lived in England where I was
born until 1961 when I joined my late husband in Kenya. Subsequently, I and
four of my five children lived in an ashram in France, where we studied
Sanscrit literature.
Today, I live in Hertfordshire
within easy reach of my children and grandchildren and pursue my career,
writing romantic historical fact fiction.
I grow as many of herbs, fruit
and vegetables as possible in my organic garden which I put to good use in my
own and my family’s vegetarian diet. A row of jars filled with homemade
chutney, pickles and jam gives me as much pleasure as writing.
It’s impossible to remember when
I first started writing stories. Blessed with a love of history and a vivid,
often overactive imagination, since childhood I have read historical fiction
and non-fiction. Now I combine this love with writing novels. I describe them
as romantic, because the hero and heroine fall in love, historical because my
books are set in times past, and fact fiction because I include details such as
types of Brussels lace and snuff boxes, child labour in a Regency cotton
factory, food and clothes and much more. My characters are not 21st
century ones dressed in costume, their behaviour is appropriate for their era.
My novels are sensual but contain
no explicit sex.
Viewpoint.
I attend Watford Writers on most
Monday evenings where authors are invited to read extracts from their work so
that they may receive constructive comments. Viewpoint is an aspect of writing
which inexperienced fiction authors often struggle with. As a matter of fact,
it was something which I struggled with for a long time. Once as my older
grandchildren would put it ‘I actually got my head around it’ one of my novels
was accepted for publication. Until then I head hopped from my viewpoint as an
author to, for example, the hero, then the heroine and someone else in a single
scene.
There are several ways to deal
with viewpoint.
The first way is from that of the
omniscient author. In Marina Oliver’s book Writing & Selling A Novel she
explains: “This means the narrator sees everything from some lofty outside
standpoint entering each character’s mind in turn. The problem is that this
style of writing creates a distance between the reader and the omniscient author,
and the risk is that the reader won’t care about the characters. Of course,
many Victorian novels were written in this style which is no longer popular new
fiction.
The second way uses the first
person. This means that everything is seen and heard through a single
character. It enables the author to show the main character in action and
reveal his or her deepest emotions and reactions. However, it means that when
other protaonists are not present in a scene the author can’t reveal what they
are thinking and can’t follow them when they leave.
The third way uses the third
person. It enables the author to present several characters whose actions and
thoughts are important.
However, third person is most
effective if there is no head hopping in a scene. In other words, the author
needs to show everything from one person’s viewpoint in each scene. Also, it is
necessary to avoid writing something such as; distraught Ann pushed back her
black hair. Ann knows her hair is black. It is unlikely that she would think of
her hair as black.
Yvonne,
Lady of Cassio.
A
Medieval Novel Set in the Reign of Edward II
Chapter
One
Cassio
Castle – South East England
1298
“Alice stumbled after the squire, who
guided her from her home in Lovage village to the nearby island fortress,
Cassio Castle. After she followed him up stone stairs, they trod the length of
a dim corridor. The squire halted. He pointed at a massive oak door which stood
ajar. “In there.”
Alice
stepped across the threshold of a magnificent bedchamber furnished with a huge
bed, painted coffers and many other items. She gasped for she had never
imagined such luxury. Until now, she only knew the two rooms in the thatched
cottage she and her large family shared with the livestock they hoped would
survive winter’s frozen grip. Here a log fire blazed and a blend of familiar
dried lemon balm and lavender scented the air.
Too
frightened to face Simon Lovage, Alice quivered. She took a deep breath and
looked down at her feet. She
could recite frightening tales of the muscular, fiery-haired Earl of Cassio -
accounts of his insistence on bedding peasant women, whether they were willing or not.”
This extract answers the important questions: Who, What, When, Where,
How and Why? from Alice’s viewpoint. I could have used the first person, but it
would have prevented me entering other people’s heads while writing Volume One
of the saga.
Yvonne,
Lady of Cassio
Back
Cover
When Yvonne and Elizabeth, daughters of ruthless
Simon Lovage, Earl of Cassio, are born under the same star to different
mothers, no one could have foretold their lives would be irrevocably entangled.
Against the background of
Edward II’s turbulent reign in the fourteenth century, Yvonne, Lady of Cassio,
contains imaginary and historical characters.
It is said the past is a
foreign country in which things were done differently. Nevertheless, although
that is true of attitudes, such as those towards women and children, our
ancestors were also prompted by ambition, anger, greed, jealousy, humanity,
duty, loyalty, unselfishness and love.
From early childhood, despite
those who love her and want to protect her, Yvonne is forced to face difficult
economic, personal and political circumstances, during a long, often bitter
struggle
Yvonne, Lady of Cassio
Review
Ms. Morris's first book in a new series, Yvonne, Lady of Cassio,
sweeps the reader back to the 14th century following the advent of William the
Conqueror in 1066 with his army on the shores of Britain. Morris's meticulous
research provides a rich background for an engaging story. Readers like myself
who know nothing about this period of English history can enjoy the novel and
learn something new at the same time.
Following a tragedy involving one of the main characters, one of
the noble overlords remarks the villeins of Saxon descent didn't experience
grief in the same way as his own people. Considering the Norman forbears were
Vikings not too sympathetic by anyone's analysis, it provided an intriguing
insight into how perceptions could change over the course of centuries. I
highly recommend the book for those who enjoy historical fiction as well as
readers who want to read a different story set against a new background in the
genre of historical fiction.
Novels
by Rosemary Morris
Early 18th Century novels
Tangled
Love,
Far Beyond Rubies, The Captain and The Countess
Regency Novels
False Pretences, Sunday’s Child, Monday’s
Child, Tuesday’s Child, Wednesday’s Child
Mediaeval Novel
Yvonne
Lady of Cassio. The Lovages of Cassio Book One
Your comments would be very welcome.
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