Where Are You Now?

Nefret · Post by **Nefret** » Thu May 14th, 2009, 12:03 am

[quote=""Mattigan""]The Traitor's Wife by Susan Higginbotham.

Which book are you visiting?[/quote]

The very same. How are you liking your visit?

annis · Post by **annis** » Thu May 14th, 2009, 12:37 am

Posted by Ken

t is 1244 and I'm Gruffudd ap Llewelyn (Llewelyn's ap G's dad) and I'm in the Tower of London. Although I've gained a few pounds in captivity, I think it would be cool to make a rope of the bed sheets and scale down the Tower walls from my window, so I can go and claim my Welsh Prince heritage! Oops!! Bad idea!

I remember this scene so well and yet do you think I can recall the name of the book?!
You'll have to put me out of my misery and remind me of the title, Ken

Chatterbox · Post by **Chatterbox** » Thu May 14th, 2009, 12:56 am

I'm hearing about John Donne's scandalous reputation from my cousin, and reading his poetry is making me blush.

Ken · Post by **Ken** » Thu May 14th, 2009, 7:18 am

[quote=""annis""]Posted by Ken

I remember this scene so well and yet do you think I can recall the name of the book?!
You'll have to put me out of my misery and remind me of the title, Ken

[/quote]

SKP's 'Falls the Shadow', Chapter XV, page 194! (and a few other historical books as well). Senena, Gruffudd's wife (another incredible MA woman!), helps him drug his guards and Owain, his son starts to lower him down, until ........! King Henry 111 then releases Owain, to cause unrest between his brothers Dafydd and Llewelyn over their claims to Gwynedd.
Great stuff isn't it?

boswellbaxter · Post by **boswellbaxter** » Thu May 14th, 2009, 12:34 pm

[quote=""Ken""]SKP's 'Falls the Shadow', Chapter XV, page 194! (and a few other historical books as well). Senena, Gruffudd's wife (another incredible MA woman!), helps him drug his guards and Owain, his son starts to lower him down, until ........! King Henry 111 then releases Owain, to cause unrest between his brothers Dafydd and Llewelyn over their claims to Gwynedd.
Great stuff isn't it?[/quote]

I would love to see a novel with a sympathetic Serena. (She might have been in Edith Pargeter's trilogy, but I couldn't get through it and can't recall.)

Ken · Post by **Ken** » Thu May 14th, 2009, 1:37 pm

[quote=""boswellbaxter""]I would love to see a novel with a sympathetic Serena. (She might have been in Edith Pargeter's trilogy, but I couldn't get through it and can't recall.)[/quote]

She was and her treatment was pretty sympathetic. Senena actually had a major influence on the history of Wales. When Llewelyn Fawr died in 1240, Dafydd his legitimate son by Joanne, succeeded him despite being younger than the rightful heir (under Welsh law), his half-brother Gruffudd. When Gruffudd challenged his succession, Dafydd had him imprisoned in Cricieth castle along with Gruffudd's son Owain.
Senena went to the court of Henry 111 and complained at the injustice of it all. The King appeared sympathetic, but he had his own plans for Gwynedd! Although he agreed to force Dafydd to release her husband and son, it would only be on the condition that they be transferred to London, where he could deliberate on the 'portioning' of Gwynnedd between them all!!

Gruffudd therefore just exchanged a prison in Wales for a cell in the Tower of London. If Senena had not petitioned Henry for his release, Gruffudd would not have died trying to escape and who knows, might have secured his freedom from Cricieth. The subsequent succession of Llewelyn ap Gruffudd, following the death of Dafydd in 1246, may not have happened!!!

Who needs fiction? The real events are remarkable enough!!

Mattigan · Post by **Mattigan** » Sat May 16th, 2009, 9:14 am

[quote=""Nefret""]The very same. How are you liking your visit?[/quote]

I'm not there any longer but I enjoyed the visit. I wouldn't have minded for the story to have gone on. Maybe Hugh and Besswill revisit some of them.

I wonder when it will be published?

boswellbaxter · Post by **boswellbaxter** » Sat May 16th, 2009, 11:27 am

[quote=""Mattigan""]I'm not there any longer but I enjoyed the visit. I wouldn't have minded for the story to have gone on. Maybe Hugh and Besswill revisit some of them.

I wonder when it will be published?[/quote]

August 1, since you ask.

Nefret · Post by **Nefret** » Sun May 17th, 2009, 3:15 am

[quote=""Mattigan""]I'm not there any longer but I enjoyed the visit. I wouldn't have minded for the story to have gone on. Maybe Hugh and Besswill revisit some of them.

I wonder when it will be published?[/quote]

Ah, I am still visiting there. Was briefly sent to modern Chicago.

And August seems so far away.

Vanessa · Post by **Vanessa** » Tue May 19th, 2009, 7:30 am

I'm on a cotton farm in the Mississippi Delta in 1946 and the house I'm living in is not what I expected.