Six Blake Friedmann Books out today!

It’s a big publication day at Blake Friedmann with six books by our authors being published in the UK today!

Barbara Erskine’s latest novel THE DARKEST HOUR is published by HarperCollins. An epic tale of love and heartbreak set in World War II and the present, Lucy’s husband is killed in a bizarre car accident and a painting he was to have restored leads Lucy back to the life of the artist, Evie. Finding a painted-over figure of a WWII pilot behind Evie’s self-portrait, Lucy unravels the mystery of the two men in Evie’s life, and their relevance to Lucy’s own. Barbara Erskine is the author of the bestselling novel LADY OF HAY, which has been continuously in print for 28 years and sold in 26 languages.

No. 1 Irish bestseller Sheila O’Flanagan’s new novel IF YOU WERE ME is published by Headline. Stressful presentations are part of a day’s work for Carlotta, but this one was in 2 languages. Missing her plane home wasn’t part of the plan, and missing her future mother-in-law’s birthday party is just the first of a sequence of events that turns her emotional and work life upside down.  Headline have sold more than 6 million books by Sheila.

Feminist, socialist and associate New Statesman editor Laurie Penny’s new book, UNSPEAKABLE THINGS, is published by Bloomsbury. Publishers Weekly called the book “a feminist book for our time that burns with a wild light and deserves attention.” Clear-eyed, witty and irreverent, Laurie Penny is as ruthless in her dissection of modern feminism and class politics as she is in discussing her own experiences in journalism, activism and underground culture. Read an extract in The Guardian here.

THE TESTIMONY OF THE HANGED MAN is the latest novel in Ann Granger’s Victorian Crime series, published by Headline. When Inspector Ben Ross is called to Newgate Prison by a man condemned to die by the hangman's noose he isn't expecting to give any credence to the man's testimony. But the account of a murder he witnessed over seventeen years ago is so utterly believeable that Ben can't help wondering if what he's heard is true. It's too late to save the man's life, but it's not too late to investigate a murder that has gone undetected for all these years.  She has more than 5 million books in print in English and German.

Told in her trademark multiple first-person style, AN OPEN MARRIAGE is the new novel by Tess Stimson published by Macmillan. Mia Allen has never quite adjusted to living in England. Her husband Kit though, loves the sense of community and his job as a school teacher in a private school.  Like Mia, Kit's boss Charlie is also looking for more excitement in her life. When she and Rob are invited to dinner with Mia and Kit, she jumps at the chance to make new friends. One evening, the increasing attraction between them all moves up a notch, but it's not long before the seductive highs of these new friendships lead to desperate lows. Can any of their relationships survive this unconventional arrangement? 

Finally the paperback of THE SUMMER QUEEN, the first book in Elizabeth Chadwick’s stunning Eleanor of Aquitaine trilogy, is published by Sphere. You can view a trailer for the book here. Choice Magazine called it “engrossingly written and well researched.”   Chadwick has delivered the manuscript for the second volume, THE WINTER CROWN and is now writing the final volume THE AUTUMN THRONE.  She is a New York Times bestselling author and according to The Historical Novel Review is “The best writer of medieval fiction currently around.”                                                    

New trailer for Elizabeth Chadwick’s THE SUMMER QUEEN!

Elizabeth Chadwick’s THE SUMMER QUEEN has a new trailer, which you can watch on youtube:

THE SUMMER QUEEN is the first in Chadwick’s Eleanor of Aquitaine trilogy, taking an entirely fresh approach to this Queen who was a wife to, and mother of, kings. It was published in the UK by Sphere in 2013 in hardback, and the paperback will be released on 19 June 2014.

It is published in the US by Sourcebooks in July, with rights also sold in Germany (Blanvalet), Latvia (Kontinent) and Russia (Azbooka).

 

Praise for Elizabeth Chadwick:

'The best writer of medieval fiction currently around.' -- Historical Novel Review

'The author blends authentic period details with modern convention for emotional drama.' -- Elizabeth Buchan, Mail on Sunday

'No one does medieval historical fiction quite like Elizabeth Chadwick, and her latest novel, LADY OF THE ENGLISH is just one more example of her enormous talent for bringing the past to life!' -- Passages to the Past

Eleanor of Aquitaine trilogy sold in US

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Elizabeth Chadwick's forthcoming Eleanor of Aquitaine trilogy is now commissioned on both sides of the Atlantic: Sourcebooks have just acquired US rights and Sphere are publishing the trilogy in the UK. Chadwick chronicles the compelling life of Eleanor of Aquitaine, taking an entirely fresh approach to this Queen who was a wife to, and the mother of, kings. The first in the series, THE SUMMER QUEEN, is delivered and will be published in the UK in June. The next two novels in the trilogy are THE WINTER CROWN and THE AUTUMN THRONE.

Chadwick, who was winner of the Romantic Novelists' Association Historical Novel of the Year Award in 2011, is a New York Times bestseller. Sourcebooks have reissued a number of her backlist titles with stunning new covers, including SHADOWS AND STRONGHOLDS which they have just published. We are thrilled that Sourcebooks have continued their dedication to this brilliant author.

 

Praise for Elizabeth Chadwick:

'The best writer of medieval fiction currently around.' -- Historical Novel Review
'The author blends authentic period details with modern convention for emotional drama.' -- Elizabeth Buchan, Mail on Sunday
'No one does medieval historical fiction quite like Elizabeth Chadwick, and her latest novel, LADY OF THE ENGLISH is just one more example of her enormous talent for bringing the past to life!' -- Passages to the Past