A Phoenix Rising by Vivienne Brereton

A Phoenix Rising
by Vivienne Brereton

Publication Date: July 7, 2019
Yuletide Press
eBook & Paperback; 339 pages

Series: The House of the Red Duke (Book 1)
Genre: Historical Fiction/Romance

“If I have anything to do with it, we Howards will live forever.”

Thomas Howard Charismatic head of one of the most powerful Houses in Tudor England. An indomitable old man approaching eighty: soldier, courtier, politician, a ‘phoenix’ rising from the ashes. After a calamitous period of disgrace, the Howards, renowned for their good looks and charm, are once more riding high at the court of Henry VIII.

Set against the backdrop of the extraordinary 1520 ‘Field of Cloth of Gold’, it is a tale of ambition, love, and intrigue, with Thomas at the centre of this intricate tapestry

Will Thomas’s bold vow be fulfilled? Danger stalks the corridors of the royal courts of Europe. Uneasy lies the head beneath a crown. Every other ruler – a fickle bedfellow…or sworn enemy.

The action takes place in England, Scotland, and France. On either side of the Narrow Sea, four young lives are interwoven, partly unaware of each other, and certainly oblivious to what Dame Fortune has in store for them.

“Nicolas de La Barre laid his lute to one side, hardly bothering to stifle a yawn of boredom. Nevertheless, he couldn’t escape the fact he’d agreed to take on a new wife….”

Explosive family secrets are concealed behind the ancient walls of castles in three lands. But… “There are no secrets that time does not reveal.”

“From the moment I picked this book up, I was enthralled and the story was so well written that I simply had to keep reading. Brereton weaves a fascinating story of several famous houses which lived during the Tudor age, including the Howards, Stewarts, Boleyns and of course the famous Tudors. If you are looking for a new fiction series that will draw you in and keep you wanting more than this is certainly the book for you!” – Sarah Bryson, author of ‘La Reine Blanche’.

“I really enjoyed it. I sometimes struggle with books written from the point of view of several characters, as this one is, but this one worked quite well because it had to be told from the points of view of different characters because it is spread across several countries – England, France and Scotland. The addition of Tudor recipes was a nice touch, and demonstrated that the writer had really done her research.” – Helene Harrison, Tudorblogger

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About the Author

Born near historic Winchester in the UK, Vivienne Brereton has been passionate about the Tudors for as long as she can remember. This led to a degree in medieval history at university where she met her future husband. Three sons later and six countries she called home, she finally felt ready to write a novel.

Words have always played an important part in Vivienne’s life whether it’s been writing, editing, teaching English to foreigners, or just picking up a good book. In preparation for her novel, she read intensively on the skills needed to write well and did an enormous amount of research which she greatly enjoyed. Having three sons was helpful when she came to write about the characters, Tristan and Nicolas. All those squabbles she had to deal with came in very handy. She also used her husband and sons as guinea pigs for her Tudor cookery attempts with varying degrees of success (abuse).

Seeing ‘A Phoenix Rising’ in print for the first time was a moment of great joy for her and she hopes you enjoy reading it as much as she enjoyed writing it.

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Guest Post by Vivienne Brereton

Thank you for inviting me to talk about my novel. I would like to discuss why I decided to use multiple points of view to tell the story.

‘A Phoenix Rising’ is set in four courts across sixteenth century Europe: the Tudor court of England; Valois court of France; Stewart court of Scotland; and Habsburg court of the Burgundian Netherlands. Having such a wide geographical area and a large number of characters to match, I realized that using different viewpoints, or ‘head swapping’ as I’m calling it (quite apt in an era when so many unfortunate queens and courtiers lost theirs) would work the best for me. Of course, Thomas Howard, head of the formidable Howard dynasty that produced two Tudor queens, as the central character in the book, had his own viewpoint. So, too, did four other main characters: Tristan d’Ardres, half-French, half-Cornish; his Cornish cousin, Cecily Tredavoe; Nicolas de La Barre; and Valentine de Fleury. What I wasn’t expecting was for two of the kings, Henry VIII of England and James IV of Scotland to grab their own share of the limelight by demanding a viewpoint each. But then I shouldn’t be surprised by Henry’s behaviour, and strange things happen when your fingers touch the keyboard, and sometimes a little magic creeps into your writing from another place.

Next, I had to decide how to tell the story. I was inside a head but was it going to be in the first person or third person, or a slightly more distant approach as I used for the Prologue: a more bird’s eye view. In fact, I only used the latter for the Prologue because I wanted it to be a very short but important passage, like a memorable snapshot before the real story began. There was no question about which point of view Thomas was going to have or that we were going to hear his thoughts. The same went for the other four, although two are in the first person and two in the third person. The two kings are both in the third person, although we can hear their thoughts. James IV of Scotland was by far my favourite king, a pleasure to bring to life: a gentle, witty, extremely talented soul, with none of the bluster of his fellow king in the southern kingdom below, (and only one wife!).

How did I cope with this constant ‘head swapping’? Did I ever feel confused and make mistakes. Luckily, no. The characters are all so different and the events of their life both intertwined and yet, separate, that jumping into a new chapter and a new head was exciting and I hope kept my writing fresh. I’d like to give a couple of examples of how ‘head swapping’ can be useful for a writer. Let’s start with Thomas Howard, written in the first person. Obviously, this can be tricky when it comes to describing the appearance of someone, unless you place a mirror in front of them as I do with Valentine. I’m going to give two short extracts: one from Thomas himself, the second from James of Scotland to show what I mean:

The wind suddenly dropped completely so we could hear each other again. Right on cue, the sun came out, bathing us in pleasing warmth. Immediately, I felt my mood lift and was even able to smile back at my friend. We’d both aged, of course, and I could see that (unlike me, who prided myself on still having the wiry frame of one of my prize whippets) a love of his wife, Bessie’s, cooking had added flesh to Gilbert’s bones. The approach of old age hadn’t completely passed me by either. My knees were beginning to ache and I had more silver threaded through my hair than before. But to me the streaks were a badge of honour.

Evidence of a long life, lived well and to the full.

James Stewart was enjoying this parry of words. He had the greatest of respect for the formidable Earl of Surrey; the man had hardly a grey hair on his head of thick glossy hair, was surprisingly slight in stature, and almost graceful in his movements for one of the most respected and feared warriors of the age. His looks were quite remarkable for someone in their sixtieth year; heaven only knows what those dark intelligent eyes had witnessed in his long, spectacular career at court and on the battlefield. The Earl had a slender face, not one belonging to a man who allowed his appetite to get the better of him in the great hall. James smiled to himself as he took note of the wide sensual mouth beneath a long nose, leading him to believe that matters were verra different in the bedchamber. Of course his company was more interesting than that of the young Tudor girl, although she’d be a satisfactory enough wife, especially once she was old enough to start breeding.

It was great fun writing the conflicted relationship between Tristan d’Ardres, the Governor of Picardy’s younger son, destined for the Church, totally against his will, and Nicolas de La Barre, orphaned at the age of thirteen after a miserable childhood, and now the Governor’s ward. It is hate at first sight for the pair of them. I would like to finish with two extracts to demonstrate this. Thank you for letting me write for your Blog today and I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Tristan:   “‘Gilles won’t have to go and live in a monastery one day. Nor will Nicolas. It’s not fair!’

My mother wiped a tear from my cheek and cupped my face in her hands. ‘Gilles is your father’s elder son and will become Governor of Picardy. Nicolas has no father. That’s why he came to live with us.’

‘Why couldn’t he have gone to live in a monastery instead? I hate him being here.’

There was reproach in my mother’s green eyes. ‘That’s not very kind of you. This is Nicolas’s home now. You must try harder to get on with him. It was wrong of you to overturn the chess board the other day in a fit of pique. He was only trying to teach you chess because your father asked him to.’

‘I don’t care. I’m glad I hid all the pieces. And I’ll never tell anyone where I’ve put them. Not for so long as I live. Not even when I am making my confession to the priest on my death bed.’”

  Nicolas. “After that first meeting with Tristan d’Ardres on New Year’s Day, Nicolas had pitied the poor monks at the monastery where Tristan would one day live:

God have mercy on them, having to deal the vexing dewberry he’d thought.

Even though Monsieur Guy had asked Nicolas to teach Tristan chess, it was an unmitigated disaster, leading to an upturned board on more than one occasion. Nicolas had never found the chess pieces the qualling little hugger-mugger hid the other week, forcing Dame Grace to replace his precious chess set. It was obvious the younger boy never ceased to regard Nicolas as a rival for his father’s attentions and affection, particularly when the Governor gave Nicolas expensive presents, or Dame Grace praised him. What was even more clay-brained was how he seemed to apportion some kind of blame to Nicolas for the fact he was destined for the Church and Nicolas was not. Unfortunately, Tristan’s bat-fowling behaviour often drove Nicolas to distraction, making him act almost as badly in return.”

Blog Tour Schedule

Thursday, September 26
Review at Gwendalyn’s Books

Friday, September 27
Excerpt at Beady Jans Books
Review & Excerpt at Nursebookie

Saturday, September 28
Review at Reading is My Remedy
Guest Post at Short Book and Scribes

Tuesday, October 1
Review at WTF Are You Reading?
Guest Post at On the Tudor Trail

Wednesday, October 2
Excerpt at The Writing Desk

Thursday, October 3
Review at A Chick Who Reads

Friday, October 4
Review at Jessica Belmont

Monday, October 7
Review at Historical Fiction with Spirit

Tuesday, October 8
Review at Passages to the Past

Wednesday, October 9
Review at Red Headed Book Lady

Thursday, October 10
Excerpt at Myths, Legends, Books & Coffee Pots

Friday, October 11
Review at Donna’s Book Blog
Feature at CelticLady’s Reviews

Giveaway

During the Blog Tour, we are giving away a paperback copy of A Phoenix Rising! To enter, please use the Gleam form below.

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A Phoenix Rising