I am delighted to welcome Deborah Swift today and learn more about her new release in the Women of Pepys Diary Series - A Plague on Mr Pepys. There is a fantastic giveaway at the end of this post, so don't miss out!
Series:
Women of Pepys Diary Series #2
Genre: Historical Fiction
Release Date: July 5th 2018
Publisher: Accent Press
The second
novel in the series based on the different women in Samuel Pepys’s famous
diary.
Sometimes the pursuit of money costs too much...
Ambitious Bess Bagwell is determined that her carpenter husband, Will, should
make a name for himself in the Navy shipyards. To further his career, she
schemes for him to meet Samuel Pepys, diarist, friend of the King and an
important man in the Navy.
But Pepys has his own motive for cultivating the attractive Bess, and it's certainly not to benefit her husband. Bess soon finds she is caught in a trap of her own making.
But Pepys has his own motive for cultivating the attractive Bess, and it's certainly not to benefit her husband. Bess soon finds she is caught in a trap of her own making.
As the
summer heat rises, the Great Plague has London in its grip. Red crosses mark
the doors, wealthy citizens flee and only the poor remain to face the march of
death.
With
pestilence rife in the city, all trade ceases.
With no work
as a carpenter, Will is forced to invest in his unscrupulous cousin Jack's
dubious 'cure' for the pestilence which horrifies Bess and leaves them deeper
in debt.
Now they are
desperate for money and the dreaded disease is moving ever closer. Will Mr
Pepys honour his promises or break them? And will they be able to heal the
divide that threatens to tear their marriage apart?
EXTRACT
London,
March 1663
‘Here’s the address,’ Bess said, pressing the
paper down on the table in front of her husband. She patted him on the
shoulder, which released a puff of dust. Will was a fine figure of a man – tall
and blond, with arms muscled from lifting timber, and the fine-boned hands of a
craftsman, but his clothes were always full of sawdust and wood-shavings.
He turned
and smiled, with an expression that said he was ready to humour her.
‘It’s on the
other side of the Thames, close to one of the shipyards. Big houses all round.
A nice neighbourhood. Quiet.’
‘Where?’
Will asked, standing to pick up the paper, and stooping from habit because
their attic room was so low.
‘Deptford.’
She held her breath.
‘Deptford?’ he
said, throwing it back down. ‘We’re not living in Deptford.’
‘Oh, Will,
it has to stop sometime. He won’t even know we’re there.’
‘You don’t
know my father, he gets to know everyone’s business.’
‘That’s no
reason. That terrible brimstone preacher lives just round the corner, and we
manage well enough to avoid him.’
‘Ho, ho.’
‘We need
never see your father. The Deptford yard is enormous. More than a mile end to
end. Just think, you could work there fitting out ships, and you’d never set
eyes on him.’ She tugged at his sleeve. ‘The workshop’s so fine – you should
see the workbench. More than eight foot long, and it runs right under the
window. You can nearly see the whole shipyard from there.’ She paused; she knew
his weak spot well. ‘And the house will be perfect for your new commission. You
won’t have to hire a work place again.’
‘It’s more
than we can afford, love, to buy a house.’
‘You’ll get
better commissions though, once people see Hertford’s chairs. You should see
it! There’s room for your lathes and there’s already a wall with hooks for
hanging tools. Just come and look, Will. That’s all.’
Will sighed.
‘Suppose looking won’t hurt.’
*
In the
panelled chambers of Thavie’s Inn, Holborn, Will Bagwell lifted the quill and
dipped it in the ink. His heart was pounding beneath the buttons of his
doublet. The paper before him was thick vellum, as if to emphasise the serious
nature of the agreement. Ten years’ of his wages in a good year. An enormous
loan. He wanted to read it again, for it was a lot of writing to take in, in a
language that took some fathoming. But they were all waiting.
Behind him,
he could hear Bess breathing; feel the heat of her hand on his shoulder. He
tapped the nib on the edge of the bottle to shake off the excess droplets of
ink; Bess’s hand tightened. He swallowed. Just shy of sixty pounds. If he
signed this, there would be no going back.
He
hesitated, and looked up. Opposite him, the turtle-faced goldsmith, Kite,
nodded and narrowed his eyes in a tight smile of encouragement. The notary, an
official from the Inn of Chancery in a blindingly white cravat, was impatient,
shifting from foot to foot. No doubt he’d seen such an agreement many times.
A deep
breath. Will felt the nib touch the paper and suddenly, there it was – his
signature flowing across the page. He had no sooner lifted the pen from the
document than it was swiped out from under his gaze, and Kite the money-lender
was scribbling his name under Will’s. Immediately, a serving boy came with a
stub of smoking sealing wax, and even before Kite had time to press the metal
die into the red puddle on the paper, the notary was adding his witness
signature.
It was over
in a few seconds and Will’s damp palm was gripped momentarily in Kite’s
wrinkled one, before the duplicate loan agreement and the house deeds were
thrust into his hand for him to sign.
‘My man
Bastable will collect the repayments on the last day of each month,’ Kite said.
Will felt
dazed. He wanted to turn back time, give the agreement back. But they were all
smiling, Bess most of all. Her face lit up the room. She had her fine house
now, and he couldn’t let her down, could he? But all he could think of was the
feeling of his empty purse, like a lung with the breath squeezed out of it.
BUY LINK
Check out book 1 in
the series!
PRAISE FOR PLEASING MR PEPYS
'Swift is a consummate historical novelist, basing her books on
immaculate research and then filling the gaps between real events and
real people with eloquent storytelling, atmospheric scene setting and
imaginative plot lines' The Visitor
'Pepys and his world spring to vibrant life...Gripping, revealing and stunningly
imagined, Pleasing Mr Pepys is guaranteed to please' Lancashire Evening
Post
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
From Deborah Swift:
I write historical fiction, a genre I love. I
loved the Victorian classics such as Jane Eyre, Lorna Doone and Wuthering
Heights. As I child I loved to read and when I had read my own library books, I
used to borrow my mother's library copies of Anya Seton and Daphne du Maurier.
I have loved reading historical novels ever since; though I'm a bookaholic and
I read widely - contemporary and classic fiction as well as historicals.
In the past I used to work as a set and costume
designer for theatre and TV, so I enjoy the research aspect of creating
historical fiction, something I loved doing as a scenographer. Each book takes
about six months of research before I am ready to begin writing. More details
of my research and writing process can be found on my website. I like to write
about extraordinary characters set against the background of real historical
events.
I live in North Lancashire on the edge of the
Lake District, an area made famous by the Romantic Poets such as Wordsworth and
Coleridge.
I took an MA in Creative Writing in 2007 and now teach classes and courses in writing, and offer editorial advice from my home. A Plague on Mr Pepys is my ninth published novel.
I took an MA in Creative Writing in 2007 and now teach classes and courses in writing, and offer editorial advice from my home. A Plague on Mr Pepys is my ninth published novel.
GIVEAWAY
1 paperback (UK only) & 1
ebook(international)
