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CEUTA - gateway to the Mediterranean

21/7/2021

View of Ceuta

I always feel that a location is an important aspect of any book, but maybe more so with historical novels. Those of you who have read books two and three of the City of Dreams trilogy, will remember that a great deal of the action occurred in a place called Sebta on the north African coast. In the 11th century that was the name given to Ceuta, now a Spanish territory on the African mainland. Its history is long and complicated, so I’ll keep it simple.

When you look at the map you will understand why Ceuta was such an important and strategic city. Along with Gibraltar, known as Jabal Ţāriq during the 11th century, it controlled the passage between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. These two cities were crucial for the movement of trade and troops. Whoever had control of the Pillars of Hercules as they had been called since ancient times, controlled access to the Mediterranean. This was still as true in the 20th century as it was in the 10th.

In the year 1000 BC the Phoenicians established an outpost in Ceuta, which later became occupied by the Romans and then the Vandals. But in the 8th century AD Islamic tribes conquered the Maghreb and with it, Ceuta, before moving across the Straits of Gibraltar to conquer and colonise southern Spain and establish a Moorish dynasty that lasted seven hundred years. They were finally expelled in 1492, the same year that Christopher Columbus set sail for America.
Ceuta, however, remained in Moorish hands until 1479 when it became a Portuguese possession for a hundred years, when it was declared a Portuguese possession, under the new King Philip I of Portugal. As he was also King Phillip II of Spain, Ceuta was eventually formally recognised as being part of Spain. (I told you it had a long and complicated history.) It remained part of the Spanish province of Cádiz until 1995 when it became an autonomous Spanish city, along with the city of Melilla, both of which share a border with Morocco.

Walls of Ceuta

The City of Dreams trilogy is set in the 11th century when Ceuta was largely controlled by the Barghawata tribe. Although they too were Muslims, they practised a slightly different version of Islam to the majority of Muslims, and this caused them to come in conflict with the rulers of Moorish Spain. For three hundred years they rebelled against the invaders. But, as with much of the history of the period, there are very few written accounts about this, and what do exist, are very inconsistent.

Arab baths

Today Ceuta is a cosmopolitan city. The majority of the inhabitants are a mixture of Christians, mostly Roman Catholics, and Arab-Berber Muslims, most of whom speak Spanish as their official language, and a small percentage speak Darija Arabic. Both major Christian and Muslim festivals are celebrated as public holidays.

Because of its position on the narrow straits of Gibraltar, the Ceuta Peninsula is famous for its migratory birds, such as hawks, storks, eagles and vultures, amongst many others, and has been designated an Important Bird Area by Birdlife International.

As far as its nearest neighbour, Morocco, is concerned, it would like the sovereignty of both Ceuta and Melilla transferred to Morocco, but the Spanish government argues that the cities have been an integral part of Spain since 17th century, and insist they remain so.

Migrating cranes in Autumn

Straits of Gibraltar

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READ OR WRITE? Books that have influenced my writing.

25/6/2021

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The other day I came across a Tweet from someone I didn’t know which said, ‘I love writing but I hate reading.’ I felt I ought to tell him that if you don’t read other people’s books your own writing will suffer. And that made me remember that a question which is often put to authors is which book has had the most influence on their writing.
When I am asked that question I’m unable to pick out any particular one, and all I can say is that I’m sure that they will all have had a cumulative effect on my style of writing. After all, if you want to write you have to read.
I am an only child, born in a time before television was commonplace, when there were no mobile phones, no iPads, no video games. Not surprising then that my constant companions were books, and my favourite place was the local library. In the many years that I have been a voracious reader it is hard to remember all the books I have read, but some still stick in my mind: The Narnia books, Tess of the d’Urbervilles, Mansfield Park, Anna Karenina, The Great Gatsby. I could go on and on.
So here are my comments on some of the books that have made an impression on me, and why.

Just recently I was trying to sort out my bookcase and it struck me just how many books I had which had a serious theme. They dealt with injustice or tragedy. Books such as The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, which I read when I was a teenager, and remember being overwhelmed by the suffering of the characters, who had to leave their homes and livelihood during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. Another book I read around the same time was Ernest Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls, a story set in the Spanish Civil War, where young people were fighting for a cause they thought was just. Set further back in history was Barry Unsworth’s Sacred Hunger, about the slave trade. So was this why most of my own books have a serious theme? Am I drawn to injustice and exploitation? I used to read about it, so now I write about it? I can’t answer that, but it’s a possibility. You aren’t always guaranteed a happy-ever-after ending with my books, but you will get a realistic one.
So did I pick up anything stylistically from these writers? Well, I admired the simplicity of Hemingway’s writing, but then again I’m a great fan of Hilary Mantel and her wonderful, rich descriptions of Tudor life. Really when it comes down to it, you write in a way that is natural to you. No-one can successfully copy the style of another writer. One or two excellent writers, such as William Boyd, have tried to write a James Bond book in the style of Ian Fleming, but in my opinion this never worked out well.

So how can I decide which books have helped me with my writing? Well, the truth is, I can’t. What I can do is ask myself which books did I enjoy and why, and which did I find hard to finish? I enjoyed Biggest Elvis by P F Kluge because it was set in a place I knew very little about - a US naval base in the Philippines. It was a story that had both humour and pathos. I couldn’t put down Hannah Kent’s debut historical novel Burial Rights, which was set in 19th century Iceland; another country I knew little about. What this tells me is that it’s important to have an interesting setting for your story, and that the reader would feel they were learning something new.
Another important ingredient for a good novel is the main characters; they have to be memorable. You have to feel that you’d recognise them if you met them in the street. Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina is surely one of the best known female characters in fiction. And who could forget Lisbeth Salander, the quirky but complex heroine of the Millennium series by Stieg Larsson? Or Mr Darcy from Jane Austin’s Pride and Prejudice? Then there’s the inimitable Hercule Poirot from the books by Agatha Christie. And the matchless James Bond, whose film persona has hardly changed over the decades.
So, if you want to write your own novel, remember the importance of the location, make your characters come alive and write in your own style. Be yourself and don’t try to copy anyone else, however much you admire them.

If you’d like some suggestions for gritty authors to read, I would recommend:
Andrew Greig, a Scottish author and poet
Stevie Davies, whose novels are set as widely apart as Egypt and Germany
Niall Williams, an Irish writer, whose novels are both eloquent and funny
Roddy Doyle, another Irish writer, whose characters surmount unbelievable hardships, such as the main character in a Star called Henry
Barbara Kingsolver, an American writer, who takes a subject and goes right to the heart of the matter, as in The Poisonwood Bible.
Carlos Ruiz Zafón, a Spaniard whose series Cemetery of Forgotten Books speaks so eloquently of post-Civil War Spain.
I could go on and on… but what all these writers have in common is that they are able to construct a world so rich in detail and colour that the reader is drawn into it, and it remains with them long after the book is closed. For me, the biggest compliment I can receive from a reader is that they couldn't put my book down until the last page. That's how I feel about these books.

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David Penny, author of historical mysteries

19/5/2021

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Guest interview with David Penny
Good morning David. Thank you for being the guest on my blog this month. I see you are writing as prolifically as ever, so it’s good of you to take time out of your busy schedule to talk to me.

Question 1
My first question has to be, how have you coped during what can only be described as a turbulent year? Has your writing suffered from the Covid restrictions? Or has so much time at home helped you?

Someone asked me a very similar question the other day, and my reply was the same as I’m going to give to you. Apart from wearing a face-mask and having a few months of Ocado deliveries, my life has been pretty much the same as usual. I sit in my office and write most of the day. I think I’ve probably been no more or no less productive, bearing in mind, as you know Joan, I am ridiculously Schedule drive with spreadsheets telling me when my current, next and the next again book will be started and finished.
The big change has not being able to meet up with our kids or family, and not being able to get out to our house in Spain.

Question 2
I know that you’ve been writing for some years now. Has it always been in the same genre?

I started writing at 9, and was published at the age of 23. At that time I wrote exclusively in the science-fiction genre. I had 4 novels published by Robert Hale between 1974-79, together with short stories in Galaxy and Vertex, and then I stopped writing. Not all at once, but gradually, until it was no longer something I did. But I never forgot I wanted to be a writer.

Sometime around 2010 I was approaching if not retirement then something one the edge of it. I realised I had forsaken by dream of writing, so began to do it again. However, I no longer read much science-fiction so started to write what I read, which was mainly Mystery books.

I probably started and abandoned a dozen works until I fell on the idea of Thomas Berrington. Recently I have branched out into a completely new genre of Paranormal Spy Thrillers with a new series. I also have several other projects on the back-burner waiting for the time to get to them.

The Thomas Berrington Series

Question 3
You are best known for the Thomas Berrington series of historical novels set in medieval Spain. What inspired you to use Moorish Spain as your location?

That’s a great question to which I don’t really have any rational answer. I do know some time around 2011 or 12 all the family were sitting around the living room watching the TV. I can’t rermember what was on but it certainly had nothing to do with Moorish Spain. But I said, “I wonder if anyone’s ever written a murder mystery set in Moorish Spain?”
That was it.
I thought it such a mesmeric period of history somebody must have done so. A month later I had found nothing. So, I decided, that would be my job to write that book. And it would be a series. One book a year from 1482 to 1492. I almost made it, but there wasn’t enough history or battles, so the series ended up as 9 books only. It also makes the box sets easier with only three titles in each.

Question 4
Your hero is an interesting man, an Englishman and a surgeon, who finds himself working in a Moorish palace. Can you tell us a little about him. Was he inspired by anyone you know?

I’m afraid not, and if there was someone like Thomas Berrington out there I’m not sure I’d want to meet him. He is an honourable man, but trouble keeps finding him. Thank goodness, or the books would prove very dull.
Thomas came about as a construct from the research I carried out. I’m not an historian so had nothing to start with. I had to look everything up. I also had to find the material as well, because Moorish Spain is very poorly documented. It some way this makes my job harder, but it also makes it easier because there is less I can be taken to task over if I get it wrong.
He became a surgeon after I read of the great Moorish and Islamic physicians and scientists.
He was English because I thought it would be interesting to have him cast adrift in an alien culture.
And strangely, from his very first inception, his name was going to be Thomas Berrington. It could not have been anything else.

Question 5
On a more personal note, you and your wife have a holiday home in Spain now. Has being able to stay in Spain for a prolonged period of time helped with your writing?

Before writing the first book Meg and myself flew out to Spain to get a feel for the country. It was my first time setting foot there since I was sixteen-years-old and went on a school trip that included a visit to the Alhambra. I have a very vague recollection of the palace, but remember better the fact we could get served beers in the bars of Granada.
After several field trips we were attending the A Place in the Sun exhibition in Birmingham and I persuaded Meg to do a screen test alongside me for the show. Neither of us expected to be chosen but one Monday the phone rang and someone asked if we were still interested in appearing. I said yes. They said can you fly to Malaga next Sunday?
We purchased the second house we were shown. If they had not taken us there – and they had not intended to but something else fell through – we would not have bought anything. Fate, perhaps.
Being there, on the ground, is invaluable. The first ever time we flew out to what was our house we were sitting on a bank looking across the great bowl of the valley where our house sits and Meg said, “Do you know, we can hear every word those olive pickers are saying.” They were at least half a mile away. That went into one of the scenes in one of the books. Nothing can beat actually being there and seeing, hearing and smelling the land.

Question 6
You’ve written nine novels in the series. Are there any more to come or is Thomas Berrington going to retire now?

The ninth book closes the Spanish cycle of the series, but Thomas, Jorge and the others are returning to England for what will be a relaunch as a Tudor Mystery series when Catherine of Aragon comes to England to marry Prince Arthur. How many of the Thomas Berrington Lemster Mysteries there will be I don’t know. As many as I can conjure up plots for, I think.
Eventually I will take pity on Thomas and allow him to return to his beloved Granada. When that happens his son, Will, will continue the family tradition as Henry VIII comes to the throne and marries Catherine.

Question 7
Historical fiction seems to have been your passion for the last few years, but you’ve been writing something quite different lately. Tell us about your new book, Unit -13, An Imperfect Future.

An Imperfect Future is the culmination of a book I started and abandoned 14 years ago. That too was an idea that came perfectly formed. What if a man could see into the future, but only by ten seconds. What might be made of that?
I started the book then abandoned it. After finishing Book 9 of Thomas I needed a break and pulled it out of the drawer. This time I finished it, and there will be at least six more in the Unit-13 series. The book pulls together my interest in history, but also elements of the paranormal and spy thrillers, so melding several of the strands I used to write about.

Thank you David, the best of luck with your writing. If you want to find out more about David Penny and his work go to his Website, or check him out on Facebook and Twitter. Or, better still, sign up to his Newsletter.

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GABI PLUMM actor, narrator and writer

27/2/2021

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One of the real pleasures of using social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter is that sometimes you meet really interesting people. The sort of people that you would happily have as a friend in the "real world" and meet up with from time to time to share ideas and have a glass of wine. The chances of my ever meeting Gabi face to face are slim, but one never knows.

Gabi Plumm began life in the UK in the 50s. Her talents as an actor, screen and theatre performer, narrator, writer and editor didn’t take hold until after her second son was born and the suggested emigration to Australia brought forth the startling news that she had been adopted … and never told. Her subsequent search for her birth parents led Gabi to the greatest gift she has received, the knowledge that her talents had a provenance: her mother was a singer, performer, artist and art teacher and her father spoke seven languages fluently. (Gabi only speaks three, but who’s counting?)

The move to Australia, and an amicable divorce propelled Gabi into the writing, editing and presenting of four documentary films: one on the subject of Aboriginal culture and tourism, the other three about the early inhabitants of Polynesia. (To be found in https://vimeo.com/plummtreeproductions ).

The desire to write books appeared while she was studying Creative Writing and Communication at University. It was then that the children’s books — Mumble & Jumble — Magic & Mayhem were began followed swiftly by the first of Teapots Trilogy.

Teapots 1: The Fifth Husband is now available exclusively on Amazon with the audio version presently in production.
Teapots 2: Turning Back the Clock is also available through Amazon exclusively, with the audio version in narration by Gabi at the moment.
The latest Teapots 3: Hideaway House is presently exclusive with Amazon and will eventually have an audio version to accompany it.

Gabi is presently making all the Teapots books into paperbacks.

Apart from working on the audio versions of all her books, Gabi is still available as an editor of novels, and many other texts in all genres, as well as a narrator, and is planning the sequel to the final Teapots book. Can a Trilogy become a Quartet?

You can find out more about Gabi on her social media pages

https://www.facebook.com/gabiplummauthoreditornarrator

http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=27131837&trk=nav_responsive_tab_profile

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El Cid, hero or turncoat?

22/2/2021

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When I was writing ‘The Prisoner,’ book three in The City of Dreams series, I decided to introduce a new character, a Christian mercenary, named Jabalah. I based him on the legendary El Cid, known to us all through books and films. But the portrayal of El Cid that legend gives us, is not the whole truth.

King Ferdinand I of Castille and León

The situation in Spain during the 11th century, was one of chaos and turbulence. The country was split between the Christians in the north and the Muslims in the south, but it was also divided into dozens of principalities, the taifas of the Moors and the rivalling kingdoms and principalities of the Christians, who fought many battles between each other. However, the Christian kings were often happy to make alliances with the Moorish taifas in order to take advantage of their wealth. Alliances of Christian and Moorish armies fought against rival Moorish taifas, as well as upstart Christian princes. The Christians relied on the Moorish gold, and the Moors relied on the extra manpower supplied by the Christian mercenaries. Many Moorish taifas paid a handsome tribute to a Christian king for his protection. One such example was King Fernando I, the most powerful Christian monarch in Spain at that time, having united a large swathe of the north, including Leon and Castile, Galicia and Asturias. He exacted annual tributes from the Moorish taifas of Zaragoza, Toledo, Badajoz and Seville. These enormous bribes enabled the Moors to hold the Christians at bay and prevented the reconquest of Andalucia for many generations.

This was an era of adventurers and paid mercenaries, men with no loyalty to either religion or state, who fought for gold and power rather than king and country. The common image of these men as chivalrous knights fighting for Christianity is a fiction. By and large, they were rough, brutish, uneducated louts, Even their princes lacked education. They were men of the sword and nothing more. The Moors on the other hand, after centuries of civilisation and comfortable living, were a highly cultured and educated people. Their rulers were not only expected to be warriors, but also poets. They were cultured and well educated, but their armies were depleted and they were a poor match for their Christian adversaries.

Many of these mercenaries formed their own armies and served those who paid them the most. Rodrigo Diaz of Bivar was one such mercenary. El Cid as he became known to his Moorish paymasters, got his name from the Arabic, el Sid, or Seyyid, which means simply master. He was an outstanding warrior and his exploits were soon listed in the chronicles of the period as El Cid el Campeador, The Champion, because he particularly excelled in the bouts of one-to-one combat that preceded a battle. It was customary at that time, for the Champion to march ahead of his troops, and challenge the opposing army to send out their own champion. The two men would fight to the death, and the resulting victory would act as a great motivation to the army of the winner. El Cid’s skill as a swordsman soon became legendary.

But who was he really? When we step away from the myths and legends that surround his name, we can see that he had as many faults as virtues. He would fight for the Moors as easily as the Christians, and neither mosques nor churches were safe from looting.
He was first mentioned in 1064, when as a youth in his twenties, he won his title of Champion after defeating a knight from Navarra in a challenge. This victory got him promoted to Commander-in-chief of the Castillian army, serving first under King Sancho, and later King Alfonso. However, by 1081, he had made so many enemies within the court that the king banished him. Such was his common popularity that when he left the city, he took many of his followers with him, and rode directly to the city of Zaragoza and offered his services to its powerful Moorish ruler.

Sorting truth from fiction is never easy, but the further you go back into the past, the more difficult it becomes. It is even hazier with Rodrigo Diaz of Bivar. To the Spanish Christians he was the hero of the age, a brave, gallant leader of men, a magnificent soldier who fought for Christianity against the infidels, and the Champion of Castille. But when the minstrels sang the songs that were written about him, they forgot to mention that he not only fought against the infidels, but also fought with them, and that his only loyalty was to himself.

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Who owns the Great Mosque of Córdoba?

9/2/2021

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Even if you have never visited the beautiful mosque in the centre of Córdoba’s old city, you will have most probably have heard of it. While I was writing the al-Andalus trilogy, which was set in 10th century Córdoba, I visited it many times. It is a truly magnificent place.

The Mezquita’s fame is widespread, and its history stretches back to the time of the Moors in the 8th century. Work was begun in 785 AD, on the banks of the Guadalquivir, under the orders of Emir Abd al Rahman I. He had bought the site from the Christian community for 100,000 dinars. As was customary in the ancient world, he had chosen a site that already had religious connections; it had been a Visigoth hermitage, before that it was the site of a Roman temple, and from the middle of the 8th century, Christians and Muslims had both worshipped there.

Plan of the Mosque showing when each part was built.

The Moors were a major presence in Spain for over 700 years, but this is the only mosque surviving from that period of history. It is also one of the largest—180m x 130m—having been extended by Abd al Rahman II in 833 AD to cope with an ever expanding population. His successor, Abd al Rahman III was too busy uniting the kingdom and building his new city in Madinat al Zahra to spend money on the mosque in Córdoba--although he did build the orangery.

So it wasn’t until after his death, that his son, al Hakam II undertook another enlargement of the mosque in 926 AD. Then finally in 987 AD, al-Mansor, the de facto ruler of al-Andalus after the death of Abd al Hakam, almost doubled the size of the building. Yet, despite so many additions to this magnificent building over a long period of time, the architects managed to maintain its structural unity.

Plan showing the Christian alterations

Until that is, the conquest of Córdoba by Ferdinand in 1236, when the city was taken over by the Christians. In 1257 the Bishop of Córdoba decided to consecrate part of the mosque as a cathedral.

First-time visitors to the mosque are amazed to suddenly find themselves in a Christian cathedral. Sadly a lot of the additions to the mosque made by Abd al Rahman II and al-Mansur, were dismantled during the creation of the cathedral.

Further work was done to the cathedral in 1523 under the orders of the Bishop and without the consent of the Cathedral chapter. They tried to stop any further changes by threatening them with the death penalty if they did any more work without Royal assent. So the bishop appealed to King Charles I, who gave his consent.

According to rumour, when the king later visited the cathedral, he is reported to have said: ‘I did not know what this was, otherwise I would not have allowed the old part to be changed; because you are doing what can be done elsewhere, whereas you have destroyed something that is unique in the world.’

That was almost five hundred years ago and yet still there is a dispute between the citizens of Córdoba and Church over the great Mosque. A law passed in 1946, during the Franco regime allowed the Catholic Church to acquire thousands of properties in its name. In 1998, the government of the day extended this right to cover places of worship, and the Church swallowed up hundreds of cemeteries, chapels and cathedrals. One estimate is of 4,500 properties. But the most controversial was in 2006, when the then Bishop of Córdoba registered the Mezquita as the property of the Catholic Church, and paid the sum of €30 to do so. It was an attempt by the bishopric to wipe out all traces of Córdoba’s Islamic past and their justification for doing this was that in 1236 Ferdinand III of Castile had decided that the site of the Mosque should be “consecrated and converted into a cathedral.”

But the citizens of Córdoba are not happy. The Mezquita, which was declared a World Heritage Site over thirty years ago, is one of the biggest tourist attractions in Spain. Despite formal complaints by angry citizens, the Spanish Heritage office ruled in 2014 that the Church had done nothing wrong. Then a few years ago the Andalusian regional government commissioned a report on whether it could request the rights to the management of the property. I was unable to find a copy of the report but a summary of its conclusion states that a monument of such national significance cannot be owned by any individual or institution. This puts the Church’s position in jeopardy, but I couldn’t find anything to say that things had changed.

A number of organisations, such as the Navarre Heritage Defence Platform are leading the fight to overturn many of these unconstitutional registrations by the Church.

If anyone has any recent news about the ownership of the Mezquita, please let me know.

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THE OX OR THE CAMEL? Transport in Moorish Spain

9/1/2021

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If you have ever visited southern Spain and ventured into one of the numerous small white villages of Andalusia, you may have been surprised to suddenly come across a flight of steps where the road should be, or a sudden sharp right-angled turn. Maybe you were walking along and the road narrowed from three metres to one metre for no obvious reason, and you heave a sigh of relief that you parked your car at the entrance to the village. These roads were originally never constructed for wagons, but for pedestrians, both human and animal. The lack of wheeled transport in medieval Spain means that you can still find many towns and villages like that in Andalusia today.

When the Moors conquered Spain in the eighth century, they brought with them horses, mules and camels, to use both for haulage and to fight in battle. But they brought no wagons, nor any kind of wheeled transport. Why was that? It was not because people in the Middle East didn’t know about the wheel; they had used it for centuries, for making pottery, irrigating the land, and for haulage. During that time there were wagons and chariots in frequent use, but that was before the camel came along. Once that happened there was no contest between the wheeled oxcart and the camel.

Despite its slow pace, walking at roughly two and a half miles per hour, the camel could cover twenty miles a day for weeks on end without tiring. Even at that speed it was faster and more durable than the plodding ox, besides which the camel could carry between 140 and 230 kg on its back, as much if not more than the oxcart. The camel was also cheaper to maintain and easier to care for than the ox. So ultimately it came down to cash. The pack camel was more efficient and more economical than the slow, lumbering ox. It was also more suited to the dry desert pathways, but to start with, although it was widely used in the villages and nomadic areas of the desert, it wasn’t common in the cities. You may wonder why the medieval Muslim traders didn’t combine both and hitch the camel to a wagon. The simple answer to that was that they didn’t have a suitable harness in the Middle East at that time, not even to allow them to use a horse as a draught animal.

When a new camel saddle was developed, one which allowed the riders more manoeuvrability, nomads became able to fight more effectively and began to dominate the desert caravan trails, and seize control of the long-distance trade routes. Many of the subsequent Islamic conquests were financed by the profits from the camel caravan trade.

Gradually, over the years, the camel became more common in cities and farms; people gave up using their wagons and rented camels from the nomads when they needed transport for haulage. Eventually wheeled transport disappeared altogether and the wagon making industry collapsed in the Middle East and throughout its conquered territories, including Spain. However, as the camel became more popular amongst traders and merchants, they also became more expensive. If people couldn’t afford to buy a camel, or didn’t need to transport their goods over long distances, they would use donkeys and mules, just as they still continue to do in some of the Spanish villages, today.

In the same way as the camel was important to nomads and merchants, so the horse was important to the elite Moorish cavalry, and the quality of their horses was greatly prized. The Arabian horse is a distinct breed and one of the oldest in the world, having hardly changed in 4,500 years. It was bred in the desert, in the dry, hot climate of the Arabian peninsula, and because of its exposure to constant sunshine, had a black skin although its coat could be a variety of colours: bay, grey, chestnut, black or roan. These were the horses that the Moors brought with them to Spain; this versatile breed was perfect for the cavalry, being able to travel long distances in hot climates, requiring minimal food and water and with bones that were denser than other breeds and a short back, they could support a heavily armoured horseman with little problem. It was a high spirited animal, with a keen sense of alertness and a good turn of speed.

For centuries, Arab horses had lived closely with their nomadic owners, even sharing their owners’ tents. Because they were so highly prized, it was not surprising that many myths and legends were told about them. One such a legend relates that Mohammed wanted to test the courage and loyalty of his herd, so he set them loose to race towards an oasis, but before they reached the water, he called them back to him. Only five of the horses returned. These loyal animals were said to be the first Arabian horses and all subsequent ones were descended from them.

Whatever the truth of the legends, the Arabian horse is certainly one of the oldest domesticated breeds in existence, and the distinctive features of its head and its high tail carriage have been found carved on Egyptian artefacts from the 16th century BC.

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CHRISTMAS GREETINGS

1/12/2020

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Here we are in December; Christmas is almost upon us and COVID-19 restrictions are becoming a part of our daily life. For a large part of this year many people have been working from home – something that has its benefits and its drawbacks. True it must be nice not to have the hassle of rush hour traffic, or all the expenses that are associated with going to work, petrol, clothing, and lunch out. And of course, less cars on the road are better for the environment. It’s fun for a while to sit at the computer wearing your tracksuit bottoms and eating from your own kitchen, but the downside must be the lack of social contact, the bouncing of ideas back and forth between colleagues. Yes, I can hear you saying, but there's always Zoom. Without Zoom, FaceTime, WhatsApp and a host of other ways of contacting each other digitally, it's true that life would indeed be very bleak.

But the downside of working from home is the long hours spent at the computer. I have friends who are working harder and longer than ever before; they don't have any downtime, especially if they work for a multinational company. Video meetings are not uncommon on a Sunday evening, nor is a working day that stretches long into the night. They are expected to be contactable 24/7.

Christmas lights in Málaga 2020

When I first came to Spain, over twenty years ago, I was surprised and pleased by the friendliness of the people. Every person you passed when walking down the street would greet you with a “Buenos días” and a smile or a nod. I soon got into the habit of replying. It was the same if you were in the waiting room of the local doctor, or going into the bank. Your presence was acknowledged in a friendly and positive way. But people’s behaviour has changed.
Now, when I go for my morning walk along the promenade I have to wear a mask, as does everyone else, and it is as if I’m not really there. Nobody speaks, nobody even looks at me. The mask has made me invisible. Occasionally I will pass one of my neighbours and they will stop and speak. And then what a lot better I feel. Before the pandemic, I hadn’t realised just how much those casual greetings could lift your spirits. I hope that when this is over and we all return to normality, that people won’t have forgotten how to greet each other as they used to do.

Happy Christmas to all my readers. Here’s hoping you all get to spend it with the people you love and that 2021 brings us all good health and prosperity.

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How one book turned into six

24/11/2020

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Madinat al Zahra

I first became interested in Moorish history after visiting Madinat al Zahra, a ruined city outside Córdoba, in 2000. And I was inspired to write the story of a family of artisans who were involved in the construction and decoration of that new city. It took me a year to research and write The Shining City, and when it was finished I knew that there were other wonderful stories to tell about that period. So one book became three. My original plan was to write about a different period in Spanish history next, but there was still a lot to tell about the time when the Moors lived in Spain.

At the end of book three Córdoba had been sacked by Berber armies, the Golden Age was over, and a once united country had split into numerous small states, called taifas. I looked at the history of the period (early 11th century), and thought it was impossible to make a coherent story from it; the rulers changed with such regularity, some only reigning a few months, others a couple of years. It was a tumultuous time for the once peaceful land of al-Andalus.

Then one day, as I was reading about the comings and going’s of the numerous rulers, I came across the makings of a new trilogy:
A Caliph who should have ruled from Córdoba, but decided to establish the taifa of Málaga instead.
His sons sent into exile by the Caliph’s uncle, who seizes the throne on his brother’s death.
A ruler who threw his own brother into jail and murdered his brother-in-law, and a wife who murdered her husband to avenge her brother’s death.
Besides the various internecine conflicts, there were taifas such as Seville who were growing larger and stronger, year by year, by conquering their Muslim neighbours.
And then there were the Christian princes who had their eyes on the Muslim gold. It was a time of intrigue, murder and a lust for power. It had the perfect ingredients for a historical novel.

Alcazaba, Málaga

So I turned once again to my family of artisans who escaped from Córdoba just before the city fell.
When The City of Dreams trilogy opens, twenty-two years have passed, some of the family have died, others have grown, married and have children of their own. And it is these family members who moved to Málaga to start a new life. They expect peace and prosperity, but almost immediately Makoud, who is now an apothecary, finds himself involved in the suspicious death of the Caliph.

The three books in The City of Dreams trilogy are The Apothecary, The Pirate and The Prisoner, all set in Málaga, a prosperous and thriving port on the Mediterranean sea. That in itself meant I had to widen my research to pirates, shipbuilding and other sea related topics that hadn’t been necessary for the previous books set in Córdoba.

The new series is available in paperback, on Kindle and as audiobooks. It is also being translated into Spanish and Portuguese.

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AUTHORS' CORNER REVISITED: Ann Victoria Roberts

18/7/2020

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Six years ago I ran a blog called Authors’ Corner and interviewed a number of independent authors. I thought it would be fun to see how things had gone for them in the last six years and whether they were still writing. Today we're speaking to Ann Victoria Roberts
Good morning Ann. Welcome to Author’s Corner Revisited. It’s more than six years since I interviewed you about your writing. So thank you for agreeing to come along and tell us how things have progressed in that period.
My first question is how has the lockdown of the recent months affected your writing? Has it inspired anything new or have you found it hard to get into your usual routine?

I must admit it was tough at first. My husband and I had just returned from two weeks’ holiday – we got back on 10th March, just as lockdown began. As a writer, used to working at home, it should have been almost normal, but a range of different anxieties made it difficult to focus. I couldn’t manage anything new, but I had a memoir on the back-burner…

Yes, Joan, it’s the one that I was working on six years ago, when you first interviewed me! It relates some of the history behind my first two novels – ‘Louisa Elliott’ and ‘Liam’s Story’ – and the series of coincidences and odd events which led to their writing and publication. But I was not entirely happy with it, so it was shelved in favour of a new novel. ‘One Night, Two Lives’ – but more of that later.

While we’ve been in lockdown, I’ve been cutting and re-shaping this memoir of the 1980s, and given it a new, tongue in cheek title – ‘Housewife Writes Bestseller!’ – a reflection of the tabloid headlines of 1989 when ‘Louisa Elliott’ was first published. The fact that a woman who was primarily a wife and mother could write a successful novel was clearly newsworthy – which shows how far women have come in the years since.
The story behind the two Elliott novels is a story in itself, but woven into this memoir is my life at the time as a sea-captain’s wife. While Peter was away on long voyages, I was writing and holding the fort at home. Opportunities to travel together did come up occasionally, and the children and I joined him whenever possible. Incredible though it seems, I received news that a top literary agent was keen to represent me, while I was on the bridge of an oil tanker entering the port of Bilbao!

You obviously enjoy writing about the 19th century, do you plan to write any more novels set in this period?

I have enjoyed it in the past, but at this stage of my life I’m not sure I have the drive and passion to embark upon another full-length historical novel. But who knows? So far, each book has been sparked by a moment of inspiration which has fired me and driven me forward. Between novels I’ve tended to revert to painting and travelling, which doesn’t sound very professional, I’m afraid. I stand back in admiration of authors who write excellent series – and somehow, keep going, year after year. I’ve often worked ridiculous hours to create and complete a novel, but afterwards I’m a limp rag!

From your books and your posts on Facebook I can see that two strong influences on your writing are the sea and the city of York. How have these affected your writing?

On board MV Nordic Sky 1981

Oddly enough, I’ve been reflecting on these very topics in the memoir. Thanks to my mother’s family, York was almost a second home to me while growing up, and it’s always been special. Even as a child I was reading books inherited from the 1890s – but the items that started me writing about the fictional Elliott family were a WW1 diary, and the photo of a handsome young soldier in Australian uniform. I’d discovered them amongst those old books in Grandma’s attic, but it was not until they came into my possession that I started digging into the family history. I’d planned to write a WW1 novel, but the facts were so curious, what began as backstory turned into ‘Louisa Elliott’, a big romantic saga set in 1890s York.

By contrast, ‘Liam’s Story’ is a novel which opens in York almost a century later, when re-discovered letters and photos take the reader into the lives of the Elliott family just before WW1. The story unfolds through links between two sets of lovers and two different eras, revealing a tragedy waiting to be resolved.

At the time of writing ‘Louisa Elliott’, my husband was Master of an oil tanker trading between Kuwait and Karachi at the height of the 1980s Gulf War. Although the sea-captain in ‘Liam’s Story’ is not directly based on Peter, the character of Stephen Elliott arose through my own observations of men at sea. ‘Liam’s Story’ enabled me to say something about everyday life aboard merchant ships – something most people know little about – and how it feels to be alone at home with only letters as contact.

Later, it was through Peter that I was shown the Southampton Dockmaster’s Log Book for 1912, logging all ships coming into and out of the port. Those for April, showed the Titanic departing for New York, but the earlier ones for March, revealed some previously unknown facts about her Master, Captain EJ Smith.

I have to say that I was never a Titanic buff, but when I saw the entries in that book, I knew at once that here was a story begging to be told. It was such a powerful conviction, it was as though I had Captain Smith at my shoulder, saying, ‘Go on – you know what the pressures are like, you can make sense of this…’ And so, two years and a lot of research later, ‘The Master’s Tale,’ based on the life of Captain Smith, was complete.

If you could choose one character from all your books, which is your favourite and why?

It has to be Liam Elliott. The character was based on my grandfather’s brother, Will – the man who wrote the WW1 diary. For years I’d been planning to write his story, but even as I began, it was overtaken by other voices. As I followed the clues, coincidence became commonplace. These odd events carried on throughout the writing of both Elliott novels, and only came to an end when ‘Liam’s Story’ was published in September 1991. Recently, however, there have been more – enough to prompt me into publishing the memoir!

When last we spoke you were planning a new historical novel. How did it turn out?

The one I was planning was shelved in favour of something more modern. An old friend and I were discussing the subject of illegitimacy in the Elliott novels, and the fact that social condemnation barely changed until the late 1960s. Only then – thanks to the advent of the Pill and legal abortion – did women gain the freedoms that are taken for granted today

Several conversations later – plus the highlighting of a lot of sexual assault cases around the same time – I began work on a new novel, ‘One Night, Two Lives’, published a year ago. It opens a window on the comparatively recent past, when pregnant but unmarried women were coerced into giving up their babies for adoption. Set mainly in Yorkshire, the story opens in 2004, when Suzie – a successful woman in her late fifties – is shocked by the unexpected arrival of former boyfriend James. First love and sudden betrayal – after what he did, why should she agree to search for their son? But he’s opened a door on the past, and the memories won’t go away.

Originally you were a traditionally published author but now that you self publish, have you found it more satisfying, and if so, in which ways?

Although I do miss the backing team of a traditional publisher – everything from professional editing, to book covers and marketing – I do not miss the intense pressure to produce the right kind of book to a deadline. I’m not predictable, and my novels refuse to follow a template, which makes them difficult for the traditional publisher to promote. So for me, doing it independently was, and still is, the best route.
Despite publishing very few novels, I have found a good market for the re-issued bestsellers with their timeless themes. Unless the books had been filmed – and there was much talk of filming ‘Moon Rising’ set in 1880s Whitby – the chances of my former publishers releasing new editions was unlikely. So readers both old and new are now enjoying them in their fresh formats.
Luckily, coincidence – again – put me in touch with the designer who did the original cover for ‘Louisa Elliott’, and we’ve worked together ever since. In fact it was his design for the new memoir that decided me on the title, ‘Housewife Writes Bestseller!’ And I have recently discovered that the ebook publishers I’ve used to distribute four of my previous novels – eBookPartners – have recently moved into print book publishing. So they will be handling the memoir.
I wish I could say my marketing skills have improved, but they haven’t. Despite my early success, I still suffer from the old northern ethic that says bragging is practically a hanging sin! But I do have a following of old fans, who enjoy the blogs and the rare new novel, such as ‘One Night, Two Lives’. I find that being asked to speak about my books in public is the best way to engage with people, and can generate a decent number of sales. And in a bid to find new readers, I’ve also donated copies of my books to local libraries.

Are you working on a new book at the moment? Can you tell us a little about it?

I’m thinking of writing a few more seafaring tales for my blog – if people like them, I may gather them together for another memoir. We’ll see how it goes. ‘Housewife Writes Bestseller’ will be published – independently, of course – before Christmas . But before I get back to my search for photos, I’d just like to say thank you, Joan, for inviting me back to your blog – it’s been a real pleasure.

Thank you so much for talking to us, Ann, and good luck with your next book.

If you want to learn more about Ann and her books you can find her on:

www.annvictoriaroberts.co.uk
https://www.facebook.com/AnnVictoriaRoberts#
and on her Amazon page

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