Tag: historical fiction

New release: ‘Megge of Bury Down’ by Rebecca Kightlinger

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‘Megge of Bury Down’ is the new release by Rebecca Kightlinger.  Courtesy photo, used with permission.

Rebecca Kightlinger is a novelist,  book critic for Historical Novels Review, fiction- submissions reader for New England Review and Stonecoast Review and a copy editor for Stonecoast Review. Earning an MFA from the University of Southern Maine’s Stonecoast MFA program and a copyediting certificate from UCSD, she turned her Masters thesis into her debut novel. Kightlinger and her husband reside in northwestern Pennsylvania. (Smith Publicity, 2018)

Confused, unsure, and trying to avoid a twist of fate, a vow that she fears will lead to murder, a young woman makes a decision that places her family in unimaginable danger. A story intertwining destiny with reckoning, and tradition with dreams, the debut coming-of-age novel ‘Megge of Bury Down: Book One of the Bury Down Chronicles’, by Rebecca Kightlinger, radiates feelings of togetherness and protectiveness as seen through the eyes of a young girl embroiled in a mystical struggle that threatens to tear her family apart.

Set in thirteenth-century Cornwall, on a sheep farm in the shadow of Bury Down, known for a thousand years as the land of the second sight, a healer has vowed to face flames rather than fail in her one task in this life: to bring her young daughter to vow to protect The Book of Seasons, an ancient grimoire whose power sustains the spirits of all their ancestors.

On the night of her vow-taking, wanting only to become a woman of Bury Down like her mother and aunts and drawn by an inexplicable yearning to possess her mother’s book, Megge reaches for it. But when she touches its cover, it burns her fingers and she hears it whisper, “Murderer.” Fearing that the book will make her harm those she loves, she rejects it and renounces her birthright.

To what lengths will Megge’s mother go to help the child find the courage to take that vow? And how far will Megge go to elude a terrifying destiny?

This newly released title, ‘Megge of Bury Down’, addresses family issues prevalent in today’s world in a tender yet cryptic setting, creating a story readers of all ages will want to visit again and again.

In this magical and suspenseful chronicle, ‘Megge of Bury Down’ depicts:

  • An unimaginable bond of family. Through generations, even after family members have passed, togetherness and protectiveness are ever-present in Megge’s family.
  • Powerful female characters and how their strength, wisdom, and compassion allow them to defy all odds.
  • The intense conflict between the yearning to belong and the need to find your own path.
  • Tolerance—understanding that the life you must lead to hone your skills may make you an outsider, even to those you serve.
  • A real-life setting—Bury Down is an ancient hill fort whose ruins can still be seen on a hilltop just outside of Lanreath, Cornwall.

‘Megge of Bury Down: Book One of the Bury Down Chronicles’ is available for purchase in paperback and e-book via Amazon and all major booksellers.

“Creating powerful female characters, combining magic and medicine, Rebecca Kightlinger tells a compelling tale of what it takes to walk the ‘path of the protector.’ In a timeless yet also timely story, Kightlinger’s heroine rallies supernatural strength and all matter of healing arts to find her path toward protecting books, the land, and most of all her fellow women. Readers will not forget the women of Bury Down.” —Elizabeth Searle, author We Got Him and librettist for Tonya and Nancy: The Rock Opera

Television adaptation: ‘The White Princess’ by Philippa Gregory

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‘The White Princess’ by Philippa Gregory has been adapted into a mini-series that will premiere on Starz on April 16, 2017. Photo: Barnes & Noble

Philippa Gregory is an English historical novelist best known for her novel “The Other Boleyn Girl” which won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award. Her first novel “Wideacre” became an instant bestseller and gave way to her first trilogy, The Wideacre Trilogy. Since then she has written stand-alone novels, short stories, children’s books and non-fiction books. Her other series of novels include Earthly Joys, The Tudor Court Series and The Cousins’ War Series. “The White Princess” is part of The Cousins’ War Series, now known as The Plantagenet and Tudor Novels and has been adapted into a television miniseries for Starz that will premiere on Sunday April 16. It is a sequel to The White Queen, the BBC produced miniseries that adapted the novels “The White Queen,” “The Red Queen” and “The Kingmaker’s Daughter.”

According to Amazon, The White Princess” is the story of Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV of England and Elizabeth Woodville and later the wife of Henry VII and mother of Henry VIII. After Henry Tudor kills the man she loves and becomes the new king of England, she must marry him to end the long running War of the Roses between the houses of Lancaster and York and guarantee the safety of her family. But Henry knows that she is still in love with his dead enemy and that her mother and half of England remain loyal to her brother, the missing heir. His greatest fear is that somewhere the rightful prince is waiting to claim his throne. When a young man who would be king invades England, Elizabeth must choose between the husband she has grown to love and the young man who claims to be her long-lost brother.