The Bride Who Rode in With the Storm - Viking Romance adventure set on the Norfolk Coast

I'm excited to announce Satin Romance have published my Viking romance novel set on the Norfolk coast. The Bride Who Rode in With the Storm is available in ebook and print format on Amazon, but will be available via other outlets by next month.

912, Heimer’s Settlement, East Anglia

A rugged Viking surrounded by treacherous assassins and a virtuous nun hounded by more than the storm. Two cultures collide when Anglo-Saxon Rosamund bursts into the mead hall of jaded Varangian Guard Grimulf and demands he marries her.

Since her nunnery was sacked, Rosa has been on the run. She has relied on her wits to keep her safe, but now she needs someone willing to wield shield and sword for her.

Grimulf is Rosa’s wild warrior, who conceals his past traumas from his years as a soldier in the East. Rosa is the innocent novice forced to bind herself to him for protection.

As their story unfolds, she discovers this broad, scarred hero has a tender, protective side. A complex man who does not force her to slake his lust but slowly seduces her until she is close to begging for his touch.

However, will the lies she has whispered in his ear be their undoing?

Later on I'll be posting blog posts about Viking culture, settlement life and their impact on Norfolk, so please follow to find out more :)

Surprise at the Seaside - The People's Friend Summer Special - Runaway Bathing Machines

Illustration by Tracy Fennell

The horse bolted across the shoreline, dragging the bathing machine and Chastity. They thundered through the holiday-goers.

Brightly coloured beach huts are a common sight along the British seafront, but they weren’t always so static. Back in the 18^th century, as can be seen throughout classic books, the latest health craze was ‘taking the waters’ – going to the spas in Bath – or a ‘change of air’. With poor sanitation and smog in crowded cities, a fresh sea breeze was often what doctors prescribed. Seaside holidays were gaining appeal.

The only problem was the need for propriety jarred with enjoying the beach. Men and women were banned from mixing and specific areas were cordoned off. Swimming costumes for men only became a rule in the 1860s. Women’s swimming costume weren’t very comfortable. These dresses were made of heavy flannel and would even have small weights attached to the skirt to stop the waves from lifting it up and exposing the lady’s – shock and horror! – covered legs.

Bathing machines were a way of allowing women and men the privacy of sea bathing without causing a scandal. Even Queen Victoria owned one.

These machines were huts on wheels, some a basic changing room while others were quite fancy with decorations and a looking glass. Horses would pull them to the shoreline. When the holidaymaker was ready, they opened the door and went down the little steps – more getting their feet wet than actually swimming. Dippers were also employed to plunge the swimmer in and out of the water for something more bracing.

I rather like the thought of a bathing machine to relax in, able to wheel myself wherever I fancied, but there could be some peril involved. I was surprised to discover deaths connected with bathing machines. In the Illustrated Police News dated 1871, a young woman died in Great Yarmouth after leaving her bathing machine. There was also something similar in Dieppe. Although it was after almost drowning in the sea rather than the actual machine, but that did not stop the newspaper titling the article – Death in a Bathing Machine!

By 1901, separate swimming areas were no longer imposed. There was no need for modesty and so the bathing machines lost their appeal. Rather than being broken up and forgotten, most had their wheels removed and were turned into the beach huts we know today.

What are your memories of the beach and their huts? Would you have preferred the privacy of a bathing machine?

In my latest short story, Surprise at the Seaside, in The People’s Friend Summer Special, Lady Ashworth finds herself in peril when a clandestine meeting leads to her struggling with a runaway bathing machine.

Some research links from when I was writing the story :)

http://www.victoriana.com/library/Beach/FashionableBathingSuits.htm

https://blog.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/2019/08/20/death-in-a-bathing-machine-other-bathing-machine-headlines/

http://www.regrom.com/2019/03/22/regency-reader-questions-spas-and-bathing/

http://www.ourgreatyarmouth.org.uk/page_id__162.aspx?path=0p5p99p

https://www.visitnorfolk.co.uk/inspire/history-of-norfolk-seaside-holidays.aspx

https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/school-radio/audio-stories-victorian-seaside/zfxjkmn

 

Flash Fiction - The People's Friend - #PFWritingHour June 8th

As I dipped down beneath the waves, my hair spread out amongst the seaweed, tawny strands braided with reds and greens. Pebbles gleamed with a thousand shades of joy and peeking between them were tiny jelly lumps. 

Beyond, the waters were deep. Endless. I grasped at the shadows, greedy to know, wanting to dive and feel the needle shimmer of little fishes tickle my arms. Orange claws poked out, sand billowing into mist. A dark shape heaved past, as heavy as a crashing wave.

It twisted, whiskers flicking as if laughing at me. Tiny bubbles darted away, and I knew my time in this other world was short. The hands around my ankles tightened, heaved, and I erupted from the sea.

My brother staggered back, his straw boater kicked off as we fell together, entangled in my petticoats. Sand crunched beneath, gritty grains smearing across my palm. Mother raced towards us, waving her parasol and shouting just what did we think we were doing.

A flash fiction I really enjoyed writing during The People's Friend #PFWritingHour on twitter :)

Norfolk Photos - Coast and Country

Just added to my blog a Norfolk photo gallery to show off some of the beautiful coast and countryside in the county :) Considering the majority of my short stories are set in Norfolk, I thought it'd be fun to include some of my photos so readers can see some of the locations which inspired me.

Kitty-Lydia Dye: Norfolk Photo Gallery (kittylydiadye.blogspot.com)

 

Tell It To The Bees - The People's Friend Special 209

The lives of bees and humans have been entwined as far back as the Egyptians. Bees were linked with royalty, appeared in hieroglyphs, and jars of honey were even included in a marriage contract. The Vikings viewed honey as a precious commodity when trading, especially as it was used for their much-loved mead, while the Greeks and Romans viewed bees as messengers from the Gods and Goddesses.

Wherever a hive is, humans are sure to benefit. Throughout the centuries honey has been used for art, medicine, food preserve, make-up, religious ceremonies, and we haven't even touched on it as a sweetener!

My short story, Tell It To The Bees, in issue 209 of The People’s Friend Special focuses on a mix of early and late Victorian beekeeping alongside the timelessness of bee folklore.

Illustration by Tracy Fennell

Various superstitions surround bees and their keepers. The most well-known is having to keep the hive abreast of family events. Be it a death, marriage or someone moving out, if you didn’t let the bees know it would be taken as an insult, causing them to fly off and never return. Certainly, something like an elopement would put them in a snit.

Covering the hive in mourning colours was the best way to tell them of a death, but there are also regional based rhymes which the new master could say. Newly married couples would also have to meet the bees and leave them a slice of wedding cake.

The origins of why the bees need such gossip is unknown, but it could be because our ancestors believed they had ties with the afterlife.

Other superstitions include:

•  Good luck will touch a household if a bee flies inside, but they must fly back out of their own accord for the luck to remain.
•  Bees are unable to harm a maiden. Also, a potential lover could be introduced to the hive, and if they get away without any stings they’ll remain faithful.
•  A bee landing on your hand means money is heading your way.
•  But if a swarm settled on a dying tree on someone’s property, death is coming instead.

To go alongside my story, I’m going to focus on Victorian beekeeping. Throughout housekeeping journals, honey is mentioned either as a sweetener or in recipes for delicious honey cakes. The wax was used for regular and religious candles, polish and moustache wax.

A beekeeping association was formed in 1874 (The British Beekeepers Association). The rise in popularity led to apiaries on estates, a yard of hives so the household could have their own homemade honey.

Protective equipment included a wide brimmed hat with a mesh veil and a blouse style top with ties, although there was a wicker mask outfit back in the 1500s which frankly looks terrifying.

At the time, skeps were still used by keepers to house bees. They were made of straw and looked like upside down baskets. When the honeycomb was ready to be harvested, rather than finding a new hive to drum the queen and her bees into, the skeps were pulled apart and the bees destroyed.

By the mid-19th century, Reverend Langstroth, had designed a box style wooden beehive similar to what we are familiar with now, making it easier and safer to collect honey from.

In the past, beekeeping methods have destroyed bees. Now keepers understand how precious bees are, not only as a provider of wax and honey but as a vital part of the natural environment.

However, bees are still under threat. Harmful chemicals in pesticides and the destruction of local green spaces have led to a reduction in the bee population.

There are many ways people can help, including signing petitions or writing to local politicians to champion environmental issues. But the most important thing is to plant bee friendly flowers, such as lavender, fox gloves, honeysuckle and primrose as well as putting up bee houses to give bees safe spaces while gathering pollen.

Three Data Units - The Dread Machine

 

My futuristic fairy tale, about love, division and mecha, has been reprinted on The Dread Machine website :)

The Dread Machine - Where nightmares are manufactured.

A Piece of the Sea - The People's Friend Special No. 202

A little bit—all right very, very late, but the issue is still out 😉 In The People’s Friend Special No. 202 is my seasonal story set on the coast, A Piece of the Sea.

Christmas is coming and the Dutch fair has returned to the shores of Great Yarmouth. Our character, a young basket weaver called Eli, intends on proposing to his Scots gutter girl sweetheart, only for trouble to find them when a stallholder accuses Morag of stealing a very expensive necklace…

With it being only about 113 miles across the sea from Amsterdam to Great Yarmouth, it’s no surprise that Dutch traders came to ply their wares. The fishing industry in this part of Norfolk boomed thanks to the Dutch sharing their fish preserving methods.

Great Yarmouth’s herring fair became known as the Dutch fair when the Dutch would beach their boats during hightide just before Christmas to sell toys, gifts and sweets to local people as well as the Scottish fishermen and gutter girls who arrived during the herring season. Some of the sweet treats included gingerbread and domino tile (dominosteine), which were several layers of Lebkuchen, jelly and marzipan with a dark chocolate icing.

One such fair was immortalised by George Vincent in his painting ‘Dutch Fair on Yarmouth Beach, Norfolk’ (1821) and is now part of the Great Yarmouth Museums Collection. Daniel Defoe also described visiting one of these fairs during his Norfolk travels in 1727.  

There have been historical records of a herring fair at Yarmouth beach since the 12^th century, and the last one was held during the 1830s.

Throughout Norfolk our coastal neighbour’s influence can still be seen, such as in the local architecture around Great Yarmouth and even the name of Norwich’s football team. Flemish weavers escaping religious persecution in the 16^th century made their home in the city, bringing with them their bright yellow canaries and weaving techniques.

I couldn’t help but throw in a few folklore references in the story as well. While browsing the market stalls, the couple find a strange wooden carving of a gnomish creature—a Korrigan (small-dwarf) from Breton folktales. They are fairy-like beings who like to dance around fountains.

However, Korrigans can also refer to female spirits who haunt fountains and wells. They are beautiful during the day, but when night comes their hair turns white and their eyes red. If a man becomes entranced by their singing, he will be lured to a watery grave. Korrigans are mentioned in Gaston Leroux’s The Phantom of the Opera.

Although A Piece of the Sea’s thief is something a little more earthly, one little girl believes it to be a Witte Wievan playing tricks—the spirit of a wise woman. The Dutch legend originates some time in the 7^th century. Wise women who had died would remain on this earth, either assisting or complicating matters for those in trouble. They were depicted as wearing white, roaming gravesites and emerging from the mists.