Tag Archives: alan gold

Giveaway – The Queen Of The Poor by Alan Gold @xpressotours #alangold #thequeenofthepoor

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The Queen of the Poor
Alan Gold
Publication date: August 9th 2023
Genres: Adult, Historical

Angela Burdett-Coutts was a wealthy woman who used her money, class and prestige to make a tangible difference for those less fortunate. She would become one of the most outspoken and dedicated philanthropists of her day. Throwing herself into the causes she valued the most, her charity work became renowned, earning her recognition from none other than Queen Victoria herself.

Coutts the bank was founded in 1692 but really took off when Thomas Coutts took over at the beginning of the 19th Century. He made a fortune, and left it to his second wife, 40 years younger and an actress. When she died, she left it all to Thomas’ granddaughter, Angela Burdett-Coutts.

Suddenly, Angela became the second wealthiest woman in England after Queen Victoria. She had to hire bodyguards to keep fortune hunters away. But because of her wealth and also because her father was a radical politician, she moved in the most interesting circles of Victorian society, where she met and has numerous affairs with famous people, like the chemist Michael Faraday and many others including Charles Dickens and the Duke of Wellington.

She caused something of a scandal with her radical lifestyle, but because of her wealth, and the fact that she spends most of her money on charity, opening schools for impoverished children, helping Dickens with the housing for the poor, housing prostitutes and getting them off the streets she’s almost beyond criticism…. until, at the age of 66, she caused absolute shock and outrage, because she chose to marry her 29-yearold secretary called William Lehman Ashmead Bartlett. Whilst this in itself does not appear particularly shocking, as he was, like her father, a Member of Parliament, the astonishing age gap left society aghast. Whilst she was sixty-seven, he was just twenty-nine years old.

Goodreads / Amazon

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EXCERPT:

When Harriot Mellon Coutts and the duke had married, it had caused a sensation, mainly because he was twenty-three years younger than she was. Also, despite her previous marriage to the late Thomas Coutts, she was still known far and wide in British aristocratic society as ‘the actress’. Appearing at the reading of his wife’s will wasn’t something which the duke would countenance, not with all her damnable relatives pointing and sniggering.

Explanation (On her death in 1837, her property and fortune went to her step granddaughter, selected as heir after careful scrutiny of the possible recipients, who as a condition of the inheritance adapted her name to Angela Burdett-Coutts.[7])

Author Bio:

Alan Gold began his career as a journalist, working in the UK, Europe, and Israel. In 1970, he emigrated to Australia with his wife, Eva, and now lives in St. Ives, Sydney, where he divides his time between writing novels and running his award-winning marketing consultancy.


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Giveaway – The Widow Queen and Her Lover by Alan Gold @XpressoTours

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The Widow Queen and her Lover
Alan Gold
Publication date: September 1st 2023
Genres: Adult, Historical

No longer one of the spoils of war, Catherine, Queen of England and France, resolves to fight for her new life – on her own terms

Catherine of Valois, daughter of the defeated king of France, looks down from the battlements as her future rides to greet her.

As one of the spoils of war, she is to be married to her father’s enemy, Henry V of England. She is prepared to do her duty – what could be worse than continuing to live with her ailing father and cold mother – but she wasn’t prepared to fall in love.

Henry is everything that she wanted in a husband, and a king. In him she finds a devoted lover and inspiring ruler. When he dies, shortly after she has delivered his heir, her future and that of her son is in doubt. Not only must she protect her baby, the young Henry VI, she must protect his legacy from the grasping and scheming of his uncle and protector.

When Owen Tudor — Welshman, commoner, troublesomely attractive — stumbles into her lap, she sees her future. A man who will not lead armies, nor rule kingdoms. Instead, one who will devote himself to protecting what is hers. But he must sacrifice everything he has in order to marry her, and even that may not be enough to keep them all safe.

Add to Goodreads

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EXCERPT:

Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, Gaspar saw movement. It was a woman coming up the steps from the rooms below in the castle. She’d heard the singing and wanted to see who was chanting. Monks? Townsfolk? Jongleurs? She didn’t look scared, and Gaspar recognised her immediately. It was the young and beautiful Catherine of Valois, only eighteen and the most beautiful girl he’d ever seen. Tall, majestic, regal, yet happy in her life, friendly, open, and warm … the very opposite of the mad father and especially the cold cow of a mother. God knows how she could be so happy and cheerful when she had a mother like that woman down below, that Bavarian bitch and a lunatic for a father.

Author Bio:

Alan Gold began his career as a journalist, working in the UK, Europe, and Israel. In 1970, he emigrated to Australia with his wife, Eva, and now lives in St. Ives, Sydney, where he divides his time between writing novels and running his award-winning marketing consultancy.


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  • You can see my Giveaways HERE.
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  • If you like what you see, why don’t you follow me?
  • Look on the right sidebar and let’ talk.
  • Leave your link in the comments and I will drop by to see what’s shakin’.
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Giveaway – The Book Of Alys by Alan Gold @XpressoTours

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The Book of Alys
Alan Gold
Publication date: May 31st 2023
Genres: Adult, Historical Romance

King Henry II, exhausted from everlasting conflict with France and the bad habit of his sons rebelling against their father finds love, solace, and passion after falling for the youthful beauty of Alys and makes her his mistress.

Alys’ father, King Louis VII of France was a man in desperate need of an heir. Alys was his fourth daughter from two wives. After divorcing Eleanor, he married Alys’ mother Constance.

The desperate need for a son meant that King Louis was striding down the aisle just five weeks after Constance’s death (not to say that he wasn’t grieving, it was said he was deeply affected by his loss), this time with Adele of Champagne who was twenty years his junior. Alys was finally joined by the longed-for brother when she was five years old, and then another sister named Agnes.

Long before Alys came on to the scene her father had been at war, on and off, with Henry II of England. While Louis needed a son to inherit his throne, his daughters were also important as diplomatic tools. Alys first played her part in January 1169, when Louis and Henry met to sign the Treaty of Montmirail near Le Mans.

The treaty set out Henrys plans for his lands. His eldest son also Henry would inherit the English throne (he had been married to Alys’ sister Margaret in 1160). His second son, Geoffrey, was already betrothed to the heiress to the Duchy of Brittany, Constance.

As the third son Richard would inherit Aquitaine. The treaty formed the official betrothal of Alys to Prince Richard and agreed that she would be raised as a ward of King Henry, in the household of Queen Eleanor.

At this point Alys was never considered to be a future English queen. Richard was third in line to the throne, his older brothers were both healthy and had survived the worst dangers of infancy, and their marriages would take place before his.

Although she was only eight years old at the time, Alys was handed over to the English court to be raised alongside her anticipated future sister-in-law Constance of Brittany, and her own sister Margaret.

How much time she spent with her betrothed isn’t really known. Especially since Richard and his brothers then got into the bad habit of rebelling against their father.

As Alys grew up and the wedding with Richard didn’t take place, rumours began to circulate that she had become mistress to King Henry, and thus could not marry his son. Henry’s wife Eleanor of Aquitaine had been imprisoned in 1174 after supporting her rebellious sons. Henry reportedly was considering getting an annulment for his marriage to Eleanor so he could marry his mistress ‘Fair Rosamund’. However, one chronicler claimed that Henry was actually considering marrying Alys himself.

She was young, she was the daughter of a King of France, and her sons might have a potential claim to the French throne. It was even rumoured that Henry would disinherit his sons by Eleanor and replace them in the line of succession with any sons he might have by Alys. It was even stated that Alys already had at least one child, possibly two, by Henry in the time she was his mistress.

Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble

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EXCERPT:

Queen Eleanor of England and Aquitaine gripped the arms of her seat in fear for her safety, waiting for the coming onslaught. Although she was seated on the periphery of the dais, she knew from painful experience that when her husband’s temper was roused, anybody within range of his fists or feet or sword could suffer imminent death.

Accustomed to his explosive temper, and known to give as good as she received, even the Queen was shocked by his sudden violent outburst against the cardinal. The fat pompous cleric, looking more like a throbbing red pustule about to erupt than a Prince of the Church, was acting as though he, rather than King Henry, had been anointed by God as ruler of the nation.

Author Bio:

Alan Gold began his career as a journalist, working in the UK, Europe, and Israel. In 1970, he emigrated to Australia with his wife, Eva, and now lives in St. Ives, Sydney, where he divides his time between writing novels and running his award-winning marketing consultancy.


GIVEAWAY!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

—

  • You can see my Giveaways HERE.
  • You can see my Reviews HERE.
  • If you like what you see, why don’t you follow me?
  • Look on the right sidebar and let’ talk.
  • Leave your link in the comments and I will drop by to see what’s shakin’.
  • I am an Amazon affiliate/product images are linked.
  • Thanks for visiting fundinmental!