If you have ever been swept away by a story where love fights to survive, where a heroine refuses to give in, and where the past feels achingly close to your heart, then this space is for you. Right now I am deep in the Wars of the Roses, following Alice Neville and Richard, Earl of Warwick, through the Blood of the Bear series. If you have just finished The Kingmaker's Spy, welcome. You are exactly where you need to be. Join 700+ readers who believe that courage is not just in grand gestures but in the quiet choices we make every day. Every week I send you a letter. Inside you will find the real history behind my stories, glimpses of what I am writing next, sneak peeks, special promotions, and occasionally a short story just for you. Some weeks it is a reflection or a piece of my own journey as a writer and a woman. These are not newsletters. They are letters, the kind I would write to a friend. The Shadow Years, the prequel to the Blood of the Bear series, is coming soon. Subscribers receive it first, for free. If you are here for the history, stay for the heart. I would be honoured to have you. Augusta
Loyalty Binds me or … Does it?
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Dear Reader, Thank you again for voting! The next Historical Tinder Profile will feature Richard III, England’s last Plantagenet king. His profile is ready, and I’ll be sharing it later this week. But before we get to the swiping, let’s explore a few fascinating details about Richard himself. 📜 His motto: “Loyaulte me lie” Translated as “Loyalty binds me,” this was Richard’s personal motto. It suggests a man who valued faithfulness above all else. Yet history has painted him as one of England’s great traitors. Was it heartfelt, or just clever propaganda? The irony of the motto hasn’t been lost on later generations. 👑 The Princes in the Tower In 1483, Richard took the crown after declaring his young nephew, Edward V, illegitimate. Both Edward and his brother, Richard of Shrewsbury, were lodged in the Tower of London—and then disappeared. No bodies were found at the time, but centuries later, bones of two children were unearthed beneath a staircase in the Tower. Were they the princes? Did Richard order their deaths, or were the Tudors all too eager to blame him to secure their own dynasty? The truth remains one of England’s greatest unsolved mysteries. This mystery even echoes through the events of Court of Lies, which takes place 13 years later during the rise of Perkin Warbeck, a man who claimed to be one of the lost princes. If you enjoy reading about scheming nobles and heroines caught between betrayal and survival, you’ll love the intrigue and danger woven into the story. ⚔ Villain, victim, or misunderstood? Shakespeare gave us a hunchbacked villain. Tudor chroniclers painted him as a ruthless usurper. Modern historians, however, are more divided. Some see him as a capable ruler undone by bad luck and propaganda, while others hold to the darker tale. Whatever the truth, Richard’s story is one of loyalty, betrayal, and the heavy cost of power. I’ll be sharing his full Tinder Profile later this week, complete with sharp crowns, sharper daggers, and a swipe-worthy verdict. What do you think? Was Richard III a villain, a victim, or just misunderstood? Hit reply and let me know your thoughts! With love (and a pile of Plantagenet drama), Augusta x
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Whispers: Come for the history, stay for the love that dares and the secrets that burn.
If you have ever been swept away by a story where love fights to survive, where a heroine refuses to give in, and where the past feels achingly close to your heart, then this space is for you. Right now I am deep in the Wars of the Roses, following Alice Neville and Richard, Earl of Warwick, through the Blood of the Bear series. If you have just finished The Kingmaker's Spy, welcome. You are exactly where you need to be. Join 700+ readers who believe that courage is not just in grand gestures but in the quiet choices we make every day. Every week I send you a letter. Inside you will find the real history behind my stories, glimpses of what I am writing next, sneak peeks, special promotions, and occasionally a short story just for you. Some weeks it is a reflection or a piece of my own journey as a writer and a woman. These are not newsletters. They are letters, the kind I would write to a friend. The Shadow Years, the prequel to the Blood of the Bear series, is coming soon. Subscribers receive it first, for free. If you are here for the history, stay for the heart. I would be honoured to have you. Augusta
Dear Reader It is a long bank holiday weekend here in the UK, the kind where you make a second cup of tea and mean to do something productive and then do not. Actually the weather is going to be really nice so ideal to sit in the garden or on the beach with a new book. So, I have made The Kingmaker's Spy free until Monday. This is the one set in Calais in 1457, when Warwick's garrison was bleeding men to the French and someone inside his own command was feeding the secrets out. Alice was the...
Dear Reader, The book is finished now and has gone out to my advance readers. I always find this part a little frightening. I have lived with this story for months. It was never meant to be more than a single book, and now it has become something much larger. Letting it go, even in stages, is not as easy as I pretend it is. The Kingmaker’s Spy launches in three weeks. And before that happens, there is something I want to tell you: I keep coming back to a detail most people forget. Not the...
Dear Reader, December has arrived. And in medieval England, this month wasn't festive. It was fatal. If you survived December, Christmas wasn't simply a celebration, it was relief, gratitude, and survival wrapped in evergreen boughs. This month, I'm taking you back there. Free Historical Fiction for Your December Evenings I've joined a collection of fellow historical fiction authors offering free reads this month: ancient worlds, medieval courts, Regency romance, Wild West adventures, and...