by Roseanna White | Aug 30, 2017 | Remember When Wednesdays, The Great War
As I write a series about the Great War, set in Europe, I keep being reminded of one of the hardships that goes hand-in-hand with total war: hunger. Within months of the German invasion of France and Belgium in 1914, lack of food became an issue. First in Belgium, where citizens were accustomed to buying nearly all their everyday food from abroad, and then in occupied France, where the locally grown produce was being requisitioned by the German army.
In A Song Unheard, my hero is from Belgium, though he’s currently in Wales with an orchestra made up of other Belgian refugees. But his sister and mother are still in Brussels, and through the eyes of his little sister, Margot, we get a glimpse of wartime in an occupied country. The anxiety of realizing that there’s only a few weeks’ supply of food in the country. The reality of bread lines. The question of whether aid will come.
Something I found interesting as I was researching A Song Unheard–and which came up again in my research for the final book in the Shadows Over England Series, An Hour Unspent (due to my editor on Friday, eeep!)–is that the British were not happy with the idea of other countries sending food aid to Belgium and France.
Seems kind of strange, right? These were their allies. They obviously didn’t want the people to starve. But they held an American ship filled with food for Belgium for months in a British port. Why?
Because they didn’t want it to help the German army. And even if the rescue workers could guarantee all the food went to civilians, they still argued it would indirectly aid the German army, since it would mean less competition for what food was in the country. They’d blockaded German ports and wanted them to feel the pressure.
Eventually, the British government had to grant their approval to the aid. Hence began the Commission for Relief in Belgium (CRB), which took much-needed supplies into Belgium and Northern France throughout the war. Crossing front lines in both directions, allowed past blockades, and permitted to move freely through the war zones, the CRB was called, by one British diplomat, “a piratical state organized for benevolence.”
So naturally, they’re going to have to play a small role in my stories. 😉
by Roseanna White | Aug 16, 2017 | 17th-19th Centuries, Remember When Wednesdays
So after spending much of my birthday on Monday studying and getting the swing of making corn husk dolls, I figured I’d share my research and methods. =) I watched several tutorials on YouTube after first just looking at drawings on websites (so didn’t help me, LOL), and just kinda picked my favorite methods from a bunch of them.
You can use fresh or dried husks for these, store bought or straight from the cob. I husked 5 ears yesterday and was using those. I just cut the stalk ends off the cobs and then peeled the layers of husk away, and the silk. Most of them I used on Monday, but then I put the remainder under a bookend overnight to keep them from curling up. If you’re using dried husks, either steam-iron them flat (my mother-in-law’s favorite method) or soak them in water for 10-15 minutes to make them pliable again (drying them off before use, of course).
So begin by assembling your supplies. You’ll need the husks from 1 ear of corn (I didn’t use all of it, but that gives you a good selection of thicknesses and widths), some twine or thread (Native Americans traditionally used sinew), whatever you want to use for hair (the silk from the corn or yarn), and a pair of scissors.
I personally think the hair is an important part of a doll, so I chose the method that incorporated it directly into the construction of the head and didn’t require gluing it on separately. LOVE this! You can use the silk of the corn, and I did on one of the dolls, but I opted for yarn on this one–the plus of yarn being, of course, that you can choose whatever color you’d like. I’ve done blonde, brown, red, and black at this point. =) In this one, I chose black.
So you start by cutting your yarn. Keeping in mind that about two inches of it will be inside the doll, just measure it out as long as you’d like it to be, and as thick. I did this totally by sight. Once you’ve cut your yarn, tuck it inside 4 or 6 husks, with the ends up toward the pointy ends. Make sure you have an even number of husks.
Once you’ve got them hugging your hair, cut off a length of twine (I usually cut about 6 inches) and wrap it about an inch from the pointed ends of the husks.
Wrap it around and around until you’ve used most of the thread, pulling it as tight as you can. This will ensure your hair stays put!
Once you’ve done that, then start folding the husks down over the knot you just tied. This is creating the head, so shape it as desired–in this one I even balled up some bits of husks to round out the head a little more.
Then tie this off with another length of twine–good and tight again. This is forming the neck.
You now have a head and body. The next step is arms. Choose a husk and fold the tip inside it until it’s the length you want, and then roll up the husk into a slender cylinder.
Tie each end with twine to form hands. Once you have that cylinder tied at both ends, it’s time to insert it into the doll.
Divide the husks of the body evenly and just slide those arms right between them, positing it under the head, centered. Try to get it as far up the body as you can, as close to the head. Once you’ve got it where you want it, tie it into place.
So now you have a basic body, and if you like how it looks, you could pretty much stop there.
The next step, though, is to add shoulders and a bit of a bodice. For this, I chose thin, supple husks and split them to the width I wanted–about the width of my thumb. Position the square end at the waist (you can just trim off any hard pieces) and wrap it diagonally up the doll, over the opposite shoulder. Bring it around and take it over the end to hold it down. Make sure you leave enough of the wispy end to tie. Do the same thing on the opposite side, creating an X over the bodice of the doll. Tie this down with twine.
I very nearly stopped there, because I really liked how she looked. =) But since this was for instruction… Next step is the legs. If you’re making a male doll or just want your girl to have legs, you can either divide or cut the husks below the waist into two groups.
I really liked the way that top husk was sitting, so I opted to fold it out of the way and preserve it for the skirt and just cut the husks into equal parts to form the legs. You could also just gather them into two sections. Tie at the ends for the ankles, and you can tie another spot halfway up for the knees if you want (which I meant to do but forgot). And voila! Legs!
If you want a nice full skirt, select some wider husks. I was running out of wide ones at this point (these were my leftover husks from Monday, remember), so mine aren’t all that wide. You are working this step upside down and inside out, so it will look a bit strange.
But position the husks around her waist so that the side you want to show is against her body and the tip is pointing toward her feet. You might have to push her arms up out of the way, but layer them all the way around her. Once she’s surrounded, tie the tips tightly around her waist. Then fold them down to form the skirt.
There you go! She’s pretty much finished. Just trim the bottom of the dress to make it even.
Now, if you don’t want the arms standing straight out, just get a bit of twine or yarn or ribbon and tie them down at the sides. Once the doll is dried out, the arms will retrain that shape.
To get fuller hair, I separated the strands of yarn, which makes it nice and curly and full.
Decorate however you wish! You can leave them natural or use fabric to dress them. On this one, I just added a ribbon to her hair thus far.
On Monday, Xoe and I had a blast playing fashion designer. We just used scraps and bits from our craft basket, some fabric glue, and a few dabs of hot glue here and there. I personally love how a simple circle skirt looks on them. I measured it with one of my small plates, cut a small hole in the center, and then tied it in place with another strip of cloth. A simple triangle of cloth can serve as a shawl, and voila! You have a simply dressed but lovely doll! (Or get fancy and make a bride. You know. Whatever.)
I think I’m ready to teach my homeschool class the art now! And have a new past time for evenings after we’ve had some fresh corn from my family’s farm. =)
*Special thanks to the awesome Xoë, who not only manned the camera for me, but who donned my new super-high-heel shoes to give herself a better perspective. 😉
by Roseanna White | Jun 28, 2017 | 20th Century, Remember When Wednesdays
Y’all, A Name Unknown releases in six short days. Less than a week. It’s all getting so close! Yesterday I was packing up the pre-orders that had come into my shop for signed versions, which really brings the excitement home.
So today, I wanted to share with you guys a bit of the setting of the book. I’m sure I talked about it last autumn after I’d had the immense pleasure of visiting Cornwall, but some of my experiences actually came at home too. =)
First, taste. While there, we had to eat some famous Cornish pasties–handheld meat pies. And let me just tell you, they were good enough that I came home and immediately set about finding a recipe to get me as close as possible to the actual experience. I tried out several crust recipes before I found this one, and then watched video tutorials on how to crimp the edges (when I learn something, I’m determined to learn it well! LOL). The filling doesn’t require a recipe, per se, but to create an authentic, original Cornish pasty (for any American reader not familiar with the word, it’s pronounced with a short a, like in pat, not a long one like in pastry) you’re supposed to include only beef, potato, turnip, onion, a dab of butter, and salt and pepper. It’s amazing how those simple ingredients combine!
And for dessert, how about some ginger fairings? These cookies are so named because they were a favorite at fairs–and quickly became a favorite in my house too. I researched a few recipes and determined that they were quite similar, involving a few ingredients not exactly common in the US–I actually ordered the spice mix and the golden syrup from Amazon so I could make them, and they were well worth the investment! A bit like a gingersnap but with a hint of toffee flavor, a bit like gingerbread but minus the distinct molasses flavor, these became an instant success in my house. I used this recipe–and had invested a couple months ago in a gram scale because an increasing number of my recipes use weight instead of volume.
Curious about these? Well, stay tuned next week for my big A Name Unknown inspired giveaway, because a tin of cookies, handmade by me, will be one of the prizes!
Some other experiences I found to be unique to Cornwall were the so-dubbed “Cornish palms”–a tree that is actually a cabbage tree, but which looks distinctly like a palm tree. These things dot the Cornish landscape and give you a feel of being somewhere tropical…though the weather doesn’t agree. 😉
And of course, those famous Cornish cliffs.
All of these I enjoyed so very much. Then there were the harrowing sunken roads. My husband insists he loved driving on them, but I recall only the terror of praying we didn’t meet a tour bus or something… (Because yes, that pretty ribbon in the picture below is meant for two-way traffic. Somehow.)
All of these have made Cornwall come alive for me, and I pray it will also bring this beautiful countryside alive for you, through the eyes of Rosemary, who’s seeing it all for the first time, and Peter, who has to fight to keep his place in it.
Both of whom you’ll have the chance to meet in LESS THAN A WEEK! Squee!
by Roseanna White | Jun 14, 2017 | 20th Century, Remember When Wednesdays
We are book lovers. I am, and I assume you are too, if you’re here reading the blog of a novelist. 😉 We have all dreamed of walking into a room like the library in Beauty and the Beast, right? The idea of all those books in one place . . . it’s bliss. Pure and unmitigated.
But I am a book lover. And my collection regularly outpaces my shelves. Which means I frequently have random stacks of novels in front of the orderly ones. And on the tops of shelves. And occasionally even beside the shelves, if I’m really in need of a new bookcase. I figure I can’t possibly be the only with this problem . . . which led me to wonder what would happen if someone was so bad about it that they’d managed to turn the heaven that is a library into something far different. Something intimidating and chaotic and overwhelming.
This is the library at Kensey Manor in A Name Unknown.
Peter, the hero, is a lover of books. A writer of books. But he comes from a family with a bit of a, er, problem with collecting them, let’s say. His grandfather began the impressive collection, but ran out of shelf space. His father continued it, only adding to the issue without ever resolving it. And Peter . . . Peter has a remarkable ability to untidy something in thirty seconds flat, so don’t expect him to bring order from the bookish chaos.
Yet he needs order enough from the books to find a few specific tomes among them. Which is where Rosemary comes in.
Now, Rosemary isn’t really a librarian, she’s just posing as one. She doesn’t usually even like libraries all that much. So when she sees the chaos . . . she may have been sent running had she not been there for ulterior motives.
I loved the idea of taking something book lovers like us ought to adore, and making it something to dread. Of watching, over the course of the story, this room go from what they call “the cave” into a beautiful chamber that it’s a delight to spend time in. I loved having Rosemary, who isn’t a die-hard book fan, be the one to effect this change, and through doing so, come to love the place.
I loved making the library another character who had to undergo a transformation.
I hope you all are looking forward to meeting this library as much as I’m looking forward to introducing you to it!
by Roseanna White | May 31, 2017 | Companion Guides, Remember When Wednesdays
Okay, I just spent a ridiculous amount of time doctoring that photo that you can barely see in the title image, trying to make this Edwardian family at least pretend to match mine, LOL. Anyway…
In a month, you’ll get to meet The Family. The group of orphans and outcasts and misfits that have decided to stick together at all costs. To love each other. To sacrifice for each other. To beg, borrow, and steal to take care of each other. You’re about to meet a gang of thieves with a strange code of honor. The family of the Shadows Over England Series.
I hope you like them as much as I do.
In a perfect world, y’all will love this series so much that books will fly off the shelves and my publisher will be begging me to extend the series (ahem). In all likelihood, we’ll have only the three I’ve already sold to them, focusing on the eldest of the twelve children in this family–Rosemary Gresham, Willa Forsythe, and Barclay Pearce. But I wanted to take a minute to introduce you to the rest of the gang and tell you a bit about them, since the books, in an effort not to overwhelm you with names and identities, keep those details sparse.
For the purposes of this list, ages given are as they are in A Name Unknown.
BARCLAY(27)
The leader of this patchwork clan and hero of book 3, Barclay is the quintessential “big brother.” Overprotective and often accused (lovingly) of being a tyrant, he’s the one who set out the rules–never steal from those worse off, never give a gift that was stolen, etc–and enforces them. Though the other “siblings” occasionally resent him, they also adore him. He’s the one who teaches them all how to blend in with society, though no one’s quite sure how he learned. He’s remained decidedly mum about his early history; he met Rosemary and Willa when he was about 11.
ROSEMARY (24)
Our heroine in book 1, Rosemary is a Cockney girl whose parents died of fever when she was 8. Barkeeper Pauly found her rooting through his garbage and introduced her to
Barclay and Willa. She’s a whiz with a needle and can create clothing for them all to ensure they blend in when they sneak into galas in search of pretty baubles. And she’s also a whiz with languages. It’s the fact that she taught herself German for the British Museum heist that gets her the attention of Mr. V…which sets the whole series in motion.
WILLA (23)
Heroine in book 2, Willa is a cynical, untrusting young woman . . . and a
Violin prodigy. Abandoned by her parents when she was 6, Willa carried emotional baggage far heavier than her
Violin case–and is quite happy to stay forever with the family that
chose her, and who she chose. So long as she has her beat-up instrument and the little stump of a stage that Pauly built for her in his pub, she’ll be just fine.
RETTA (21)
There’s always a lover of beauty to be found in the dirtiest streets, and that’s Retta. Art is her passion…and copying it her gift. Which translates to very helpful skills like forging invitations to events…or documents, passports, and the like. Orphaned in a fire when she was 5, the original trio took her in that night, and she’s never looked back.
GEORGIE (17)
One of the oldest of the siblings but one of the newer additions to the family, Georgie hasn’t ever quite submitted to
Barclay‘s authority–but he’s so stinking endearing about it that they all just roll their eyes and give him a hug. Georgie is one of the first to sign up when war is declared–can’t beat 3 square meals a day, right?–and the family can’t stop missing him, disobedience and all.
ELINOR (17)
Ellie, it must be said, is getting far too pretty. And pretty doesn’t blend in well, so they have to be very careful which jobs they give her these days–restrictions she chafes under. And of course, the less the family lets her do, the more determined she is to prove herself. Elinor generally puts on her very-pretty smile, but it’s sometimes by sheer determination–she’s the only member of the family who was a part of, and then escaped, the orphanage and work house system.
LUCY (16)
Lucy was only a baby the night that same fire that orphaned Retta left her homeless as well. She remembers nothing but the family that took her in. They can tell by looking at her, of course, that she has a bit of India flowing in her veins, and the assumptions people in London make when they see her means that she can blend in perfectly with the servant class whenever she needs to find something out about a house or family. She’s also just discovering a true passion for baking and cooking.
CRESSIDA (12)
At that age when she’s not quite a child and not quite a grown-up, Cress is still sheltered from the family “business”…and eager to become a part of it and truly be one of them.
FERGUS (11)
Possessed with a sharp mind–and an equally sharp tongue–ginger-haired Fergus never minds telling people how it is, or how he wants it to be. And how can anyone turn down his freckle-faced charm? He’s perfectly at home in the family that took him in six years ago and can’t imagine life without them.
JORY (8)
Little Marjory has known nothing but the family either–and is a sister after
Barclay‘s own heart, always having a book in hand. You won’t ever hear her say much, but she quietly wraps the older ones around her finger and holds them there with a grin.
NIGEL (7)
Nigel might have physically blended in better with another gang, being of African descent, but his heart is all the family’s. He was another of Pauly’s rescues, and never regrets for a minute choosing to put his hand in
Barclay‘s and make their home his three years before.
OLIVIA (6)
The youngest of the crew, Olivia was just a tot when Rosemary and Willa found her in the arms of her dying mother, who begged them to see her to safety. They, of course, obliged and took her in. They don’t even know her last name, but that’s all right–when she’s old enough, she can choose one of theirs.
Quite the gang, eh? I’m still getting to know some of them myself, but it’s a
Joy to do so. They each have their quirks and charms, and I can’t wait to introduce you all more thoroughly in the pages of the books!
by Roseanna White | May 17, 2017 | Book News, Remember When Wednesdays
It’s always an exciting day when the first copy of a book arrives in the mail. For A Name Unknown, that day came over a week ago–a shocking two months before release. Not only did it make my day, it was a complete surprise.
Some things are always just a bit different than expected when you hold the final copy in your hands. The back cover copy may have been tweaked slightly, for instance…
It’s a bit blurrier than I wanted in this image, but here’s what it says:
She’s Out to Steal His Name.
Will He Steal Her Heart Instead?
Rosemary Gresham has no family beyond the band of former urchins that
helped her survive as a girl in the mean streets of London. Grown now,
they are no longer pickpockets–instead they focus on high-value items and have learned how to
blend into upper-class society. Rosemary is beginning to questions whether she can continue in this life when she’s offered the challenge of a lifetime–determine whether
a certain wealthy gentleman is loyal to Britain or to Germany. After all how does one steal a family’s
history, their very name?
As Europe moves ever closer to World War I, rumors swirl around Peter Holstein. Awkward and solitary, but with access to the king, many fear his influence. But Peter can’t help his German last name and wants to prove his loyalty to the Crown–so he can go back to anonymously writing a series of popular adventure novels. When Rosemary arrives on his doorstep pretending to be a well-credentialed historian, peter believes she’s the right person to help him dig through his family’s past.
When danger and suspicion continue to mount, both realize they’re in a race against time to discover the truth–about Peter’s past and about the undeniable attraction kindling between them.
Then there’s the spine–I had no idea what that would look like, but I LOVE it. They used Big Ben’s clock tower for the series, and that London icon plays an especially important role in book 3 (which I’m writing now), so it’s awesome to see it there!
The editors at Bethany House always include a little note with the first copy as well. I have 4 of these cards now, and I always keep them in that book, put it on a shelf, and treasure it. My previous three cards were all written by Karen Schurrer, who has since retired from Bethany House. Dave Long is now my main editor, so this one had a new script, a new personality. So fun to see his well wishes and add them to my collection!
And then there are those interior pages. There’s nothing in the world like flipping through them in a bound book!
And there we have it. =) I’m so excited for the release of this book, which is SO much fun. I pray you guys all enjoy it!
I’ll be highlighting different aspects of the book in the weeks leading up to release. For now though, I just wanted to share some images from the very first, fresh-off-the-presses copy!
Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. When not writing fiction, she’s homeschooling her two kids, editing, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary.